Chapter 2
The Way Our Lives Never Should Have Been
By lieiavalon2044
Shizuka stumbled down the rest of the stairs, her slippers slipping off her feet as she slid on a large section of wet tile. She slammed into the lab door, stumbling back as stars danced happily around her head. She shook them away and tore open the lab door, almost instantly blinking in horror. One of the two tanks was shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces floating in an immense puddle of purple liquid. She gasped and stepped forward quickly and carefully, avoiding as many of the glass pieces as possible, but jerked her foot back as soon as it touched the liquid.
Shizuka managed to balance herself on one foot as she nursed the other, rubbing it to relieve the unpleasant burning sensation. Then she looked up and sighed. Liquid was still spurting from broken tubes and shattered glass was everywhere. The other tank seemed to be fine except for a small scratch that marred the otherwise shiny side. This would take a very long time to fix... And to explain to Suiren, who had been eager to be there when one of their two creations awoke.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Where the hell am I?" a tall man with gray furry fox ears and wearing a white robes growled, looking around the room. He could smell that someone had been here recently and his tail swished back and forth in anger and frustration when he could find nothing. Excluding a closet full of clothes that fit him perfectly, though they were probably too big for some other person who had put them there in makeshift storage. All these clothes smelled different from the other clothes, like they'd been someone else's... But that didn't matter to the man. He just wanted to know where he was and why.
He was in that closet now and what he was wearing wasn't really an actual robe, but a bathrobe that was stained lilac by the purple liquid which, to his annoyance, clung to his skin. He'd checked the rooms outside and found no one, but then he heard a loud thud from downstairs. He vanished from the closet, tying the cloth belt tightly around his waist, checked that the length of the robes was decent and went swiftly down the stairs.
"I'm going to find out how the hell I got here and why I'm here in the first place!" he said angrily, jumping down stairs three at a time.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shizuka leaned heavily against the far wall, and slid down to her knees. Nine months of hard work... All gone. Only half the credit still here, and he might escape like the other had. She found herself drifting into thought as of how a really tall man with grey fox ears and tail would fare in a city like this one, littered with nightclubs where innocent men often became lost. And usually never returned from those nightclubs filled with the stench of smoke and alcohol and homicidal sluts whose taste of dress was worse than Yura's. Which was why most men ventured into the clubs in the first place. Women also were lost in those places, not because of other women, but because of the men who lurked outside in shadows waiting for the innocent and weak to wander past, still disillusioned from the alcohol and the strong smoke that cluttered their minds... And these prowlers weren't picky about the gender of their prey as long as it bled.
Shizuka hit herself hard, ignoring the pain when her head slammed back into the wall. She had known this town since she was little and she'd been taught one rather important life lesson for the innocent of this town. Be paranoid in any and all situations. She knew what the men were like who waited in shadows, mostly because her parents had left her in the middle of this horrible place. She had landed in an orphanage though, and even if it was absolutely horrible it was better than running away from people swinging sharp objects through the air at you, shouting things children aren't supposed to learn about until they were much older.
Of course the years of torture in the orphanage had paid off some. She'd met Suiren there, and there'd been others besides her. Three perky children who were strange and entirely lost, just like Suiren and Shizuka had been there, and friends for years. In fact, it had been them, Kishi, Shiki, and Kuroki, who had given them their names of Shizuka and Suiren. Their friendship had lasted until she and Suiren were eight and the others were nine when Kishi, Shiki and Kuroki were adopted and taken away to live elsewhere. Suiren and Shizuka had stayed in the orphanage for a few more years until they could leave. Then they'd somehow gotten into genetic engineering. They couldn't explain how, but they had. Maybe it was because what their friends had always wanted to do when they were older.
Shizuka gazed at the unbroken tank, the crack blurred by tears that lingered in her eyes, threatening to fall to the floor. She then looked back at the shattered tank and reminded herself why she really had gone into this particular project. She hadn't read the fine print. She'd thought it'd be something easy, like a fox or a cat. Only things that could really go wrong were... Lots of things. But not nearly as many as could be developed with humans. She'd never expected to create people and had been given enormous amounts of money that barely covered the cost of the equipment, so it hadn't done she or Suiren any good.
"I never should have accepted this project... Then Suiren got dragged into this mess... " she whispered, pulling her knees up under her chin. Can't cry... Not allowed... She sobbed quietly, but held back most of the tears that blurred her vision.
She was much too busy preventing herself from crying to hear anyone enter, not that she would have heard the silent footsteps of the fox eared man anyway. But one second she'd been getting ready to just let out all her confusion in one incredibly long cry, and the next second she'd been slammed hard against the wall, claws digging into her shoulder. She gasped and her free arm moved up instinctively when she felt cold sharp metal graze her neck, but it was forced down and both her wrists were held now in a strong cool grip.
"Since you seem to be the only bitch I've found here, not to mention that your scent is everywhere, I suppose you may explain why I'm here..." the voice growled into her ear.
Shizuka shivered and tried to think, but her mind was still clogged with anguish and confusion. And if her brain was working, it was working very incredibly slowly. She let out a small high pitched squeak when the blade, which shimmered purple, pressed harder against her neck, drawing a very fine line of blood. The man inhaled lightly, still close enough to the girl to hear her increased heartbeat and frantic breathing. He sniffed again and his fox ears flicked forward in interest as he eyed her neck hungrily, licking his lips when he saw the line of rich crimson staining the girls pale skin. Shizuka gulped nervously, holding back the irresistible urge to scream and panic as she pulled back from the man, which proved difficult to do because a wall was conveniently right behind her.
She lost her control and let out a shrill cry when the man abruptly buried his face in her neck, pressing her hard against the wall. Her hands were pinned helplessly between his chest and her body and her head was forced up, making her feel absolutely helpless. The man pressed his body against hers to stop her struggling, which was annoying him, though only his ears and tail showed it with aggravated swishes. Then he inhaled again, smelling only her sweet blood which trickled over his cheeks and left tingling sensations after it flowed down his neck. He dug his claws deeper into the shoulder he held her by, feeling the pleasant sensation it caused as it flowed in red rivers down his fingers and dripped off his elbow.
"Ah... So sweet......" he breathed, bringing Shizuka slightly away from the wall against his self. Shizuka let out a high pitched 'eep', which instantly worsened her situation.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Suiren sat up, rubbing her eyes sleepily, glancing at the clock. One thirty in the morning. Perhaps too early for Shizuka to be up, but she did get up at odd hours to do various tasks around the lab and small house they lived in upstairs. Suiren swiftly ruled out the possibility of doing homework at this hour because, ironically, she didn't have any. And if she'd had some she would have simply blown it off until last minute. It was too early to do anything at all, least of all anything that required brain function. All she wanted to do was sleep after a full fourteen hour day of nothing but drinking hot chocolate and staring at monitors and the cute guy with the dragon tattoo that Shizuka had made... She blushed and shook her head at the thought of the guy but decided to see if she could make his third eye open again.
She forced herself out of bed, grabbed a robe to wear over her baggy outfit and walked into the silent hallway, heading downstairs to the laboratory to make herself a hot chocolate before checking on the boy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shizuka whimpered in pain. She'd known that this man wouldn't be normal, but fangs? It was too much. And the fact that she now felt like she was going to pass out from blood loss at any minute wasn't helping. She pushed against the man's chest, but it was feeble and he didn't even notice as he sank his fangs deeper into her blood stream, his eyes glazed with the wonderful taste and feel of blood running over his lips and tongue. He finally pulled out his fangs, holding the girl close to his body, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder as he licked the blood off her pale neck and his lips and fingers. Shizuka breathed in deeply resting her full weight on the man's shoulder. Ok, so he'd drunk her blood. At least he was polite afterwards.
Then Shizuka's mind started to work again, and perhaps too fast than was good for her at that time. She shoved herself away from him and attempted standing, but her legs gave way and she collapsed again. The man watched her, his golden eyes filled with an obvious blood lust and the warmth of her skin beneath his lips. He licked his slightly pale lips and walked to the girl, who shivered in fear and tried to move away from him only to feel a strong arm wrap around her waist to support her. She was unsure, but allowed him to help her up, trembling in fear. She'd been in a situation not nearly as vampiric as this one before, and she'd almost been raped. She knew that this man probably didn't know about that sort of thing yet, but he was acting like a demon. Wild and uncontrollable by any mind or power except his own. He might just do it out of some unfamiliar urge and she was praying he wouldn't.
"Why are you trembling? I'm the one lost here. You live here and hold power though you may fear me because I could easily slaughter you with another pierce of my fangs." he mused, running a hand through her hair absently. Shizuka shivered more at the point of his sentence and decided she might as well tell him. She opened her mouth to speak when she noticed the man was no longer paying attention, but had his attention fixed on the door.
"Someone is out there..." he muttered, eyes narrowing in suspicion. He hadn't smelled anyone else here. He'd only been able to find one scent, and that had been this girls...
"It must be my friend... Suiren ..." Shizuka whispered, feeling cold sweep through her body. She looked around the lab quickly. She always kept a blanket in here somewhere but Suiren had an absolutely horrible habit of moving things from their correct places. The man glanced down at the girl, due to the fact that he was at least a good foot taller. She was looking around and shivering like mad, leaning closer to him though she wasn't aware of it.
"Look up." he demanded softly, just loud enough for Shizuka to hear. She actually didn't hear what he said, but she looked up when she replied.
"What did you--" she asked, cut off by his lips sealing her own. Now she was more confused than anyone could ever have been confused in the history of the world. First he was holding a blade to her neck, then sunk his razor sharp fangs into her neck for a drink, and now he was kissing her, and quite deeply at that. She pulled away quickly, but his arm wrapped affectionately around her waist while the other went around her shoulders.
(Outside)
"Where is that damn key?!" Suiren questioned, searching through her pockets. Then she stopped. "Oh... Yes. It's upstairs..." she said, turning and bolting up the stairs.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shizuka finally relaxed in the man's arms. He was much warmer than she was and she was eager for any warmth to help her at the moment. She just didn't want to be any closer to him right now than she already was. The man smiled and separated his lips from hers. The young girl had definitely been surprised when he'd first kissed her and her pulling away had been out of fear. He'd given her nothing to fear and several seconds later she was happily resting in his arms, no longer kissing him, but relaxed and no doubt feeling secure.
He picked her up quickly and ran up a passage he'd found to secretly enter and exit this room earlier. The girl still seemed to registering the confused and secure thoughts she felt, but she needed to be warm now... Then he'd ask he where he was and why.
To be continued
Ok... I only got one review on the last chappie... **sob sob** Well, apparently that didn't discourage me! Until next chappie! And if you liked this, check out my other stories too! Please review!!!
Kittengrl39: Thank you! You're the first reviewer for this story! ^^
The Way Our Lives Never Should Have Been
By lieiavalon2044
Shizuka stumbled down the rest of the stairs, her slippers slipping off her feet as she slid on a large section of wet tile. She slammed into the lab door, stumbling back as stars danced happily around her head. She shook them away and tore open the lab door, almost instantly blinking in horror. One of the two tanks was shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces floating in an immense puddle of purple liquid. She gasped and stepped forward quickly and carefully, avoiding as many of the glass pieces as possible, but jerked her foot back as soon as it touched the liquid.
Shizuka managed to balance herself on one foot as she nursed the other, rubbing it to relieve the unpleasant burning sensation. Then she looked up and sighed. Liquid was still spurting from broken tubes and shattered glass was everywhere. The other tank seemed to be fine except for a small scratch that marred the otherwise shiny side. This would take a very long time to fix... And to explain to Suiren, who had been eager to be there when one of their two creations awoke.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Where the hell am I?" a tall man with gray furry fox ears and wearing a white robes growled, looking around the room. He could smell that someone had been here recently and his tail swished back and forth in anger and frustration when he could find nothing. Excluding a closet full of clothes that fit him perfectly, though they were probably too big for some other person who had put them there in makeshift storage. All these clothes smelled different from the other clothes, like they'd been someone else's... But that didn't matter to the man. He just wanted to know where he was and why.
He was in that closet now and what he was wearing wasn't really an actual robe, but a bathrobe that was stained lilac by the purple liquid which, to his annoyance, clung to his skin. He'd checked the rooms outside and found no one, but then he heard a loud thud from downstairs. He vanished from the closet, tying the cloth belt tightly around his waist, checked that the length of the robes was decent and went swiftly down the stairs.
"I'm going to find out how the hell I got here and why I'm here in the first place!" he said angrily, jumping down stairs three at a time.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shizuka leaned heavily against the far wall, and slid down to her knees. Nine months of hard work... All gone. Only half the credit still here, and he might escape like the other had. She found herself drifting into thought as of how a really tall man with grey fox ears and tail would fare in a city like this one, littered with nightclubs where innocent men often became lost. And usually never returned from those nightclubs filled with the stench of smoke and alcohol and homicidal sluts whose taste of dress was worse than Yura's. Which was why most men ventured into the clubs in the first place. Women also were lost in those places, not because of other women, but because of the men who lurked outside in shadows waiting for the innocent and weak to wander past, still disillusioned from the alcohol and the strong smoke that cluttered their minds... And these prowlers weren't picky about the gender of their prey as long as it bled.
Shizuka hit herself hard, ignoring the pain when her head slammed back into the wall. She had known this town since she was little and she'd been taught one rather important life lesson for the innocent of this town. Be paranoid in any and all situations. She knew what the men were like who waited in shadows, mostly because her parents had left her in the middle of this horrible place. She had landed in an orphanage though, and even if it was absolutely horrible it was better than running away from people swinging sharp objects through the air at you, shouting things children aren't supposed to learn about until they were much older.
Of course the years of torture in the orphanage had paid off some. She'd met Suiren there, and there'd been others besides her. Three perky children who were strange and entirely lost, just like Suiren and Shizuka had been there, and friends for years. In fact, it had been them, Kishi, Shiki, and Kuroki, who had given them their names of Shizuka and Suiren. Their friendship had lasted until she and Suiren were eight and the others were nine when Kishi, Shiki and Kuroki were adopted and taken away to live elsewhere. Suiren and Shizuka had stayed in the orphanage for a few more years until they could leave. Then they'd somehow gotten into genetic engineering. They couldn't explain how, but they had. Maybe it was because what their friends had always wanted to do when they were older.
Shizuka gazed at the unbroken tank, the crack blurred by tears that lingered in her eyes, threatening to fall to the floor. She then looked back at the shattered tank and reminded herself why she really had gone into this particular project. She hadn't read the fine print. She'd thought it'd be something easy, like a fox or a cat. Only things that could really go wrong were... Lots of things. But not nearly as many as could be developed with humans. She'd never expected to create people and had been given enormous amounts of money that barely covered the cost of the equipment, so it hadn't done she or Suiren any good.
"I never should have accepted this project... Then Suiren got dragged into this mess... " she whispered, pulling her knees up under her chin. Can't cry... Not allowed... She sobbed quietly, but held back most of the tears that blurred her vision.
She was much too busy preventing herself from crying to hear anyone enter, not that she would have heard the silent footsteps of the fox eared man anyway. But one second she'd been getting ready to just let out all her confusion in one incredibly long cry, and the next second she'd been slammed hard against the wall, claws digging into her shoulder. She gasped and her free arm moved up instinctively when she felt cold sharp metal graze her neck, but it was forced down and both her wrists were held now in a strong cool grip.
"Since you seem to be the only bitch I've found here, not to mention that your scent is everywhere, I suppose you may explain why I'm here..." the voice growled into her ear.
Shizuka shivered and tried to think, but her mind was still clogged with anguish and confusion. And if her brain was working, it was working very incredibly slowly. She let out a small high pitched squeak when the blade, which shimmered purple, pressed harder against her neck, drawing a very fine line of blood. The man inhaled lightly, still close enough to the girl to hear her increased heartbeat and frantic breathing. He sniffed again and his fox ears flicked forward in interest as he eyed her neck hungrily, licking his lips when he saw the line of rich crimson staining the girls pale skin. Shizuka gulped nervously, holding back the irresistible urge to scream and panic as she pulled back from the man, which proved difficult to do because a wall was conveniently right behind her.
She lost her control and let out a shrill cry when the man abruptly buried his face in her neck, pressing her hard against the wall. Her hands were pinned helplessly between his chest and her body and her head was forced up, making her feel absolutely helpless. The man pressed his body against hers to stop her struggling, which was annoying him, though only his ears and tail showed it with aggravated swishes. Then he inhaled again, smelling only her sweet blood which trickled over his cheeks and left tingling sensations after it flowed down his neck. He dug his claws deeper into the shoulder he held her by, feeling the pleasant sensation it caused as it flowed in red rivers down his fingers and dripped off his elbow.
"Ah... So sweet......" he breathed, bringing Shizuka slightly away from the wall against his self. Shizuka let out a high pitched 'eep', which instantly worsened her situation.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Suiren sat up, rubbing her eyes sleepily, glancing at the clock. One thirty in the morning. Perhaps too early for Shizuka to be up, but she did get up at odd hours to do various tasks around the lab and small house they lived in upstairs. Suiren swiftly ruled out the possibility of doing homework at this hour because, ironically, she didn't have any. And if she'd had some she would have simply blown it off until last minute. It was too early to do anything at all, least of all anything that required brain function. All she wanted to do was sleep after a full fourteen hour day of nothing but drinking hot chocolate and staring at monitors and the cute guy with the dragon tattoo that Shizuka had made... She blushed and shook her head at the thought of the guy but decided to see if she could make his third eye open again.
She forced herself out of bed, grabbed a robe to wear over her baggy outfit and walked into the silent hallway, heading downstairs to the laboratory to make herself a hot chocolate before checking on the boy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shizuka whimpered in pain. She'd known that this man wouldn't be normal, but fangs? It was too much. And the fact that she now felt like she was going to pass out from blood loss at any minute wasn't helping. She pushed against the man's chest, but it was feeble and he didn't even notice as he sank his fangs deeper into her blood stream, his eyes glazed with the wonderful taste and feel of blood running over his lips and tongue. He finally pulled out his fangs, holding the girl close to his body, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder as he licked the blood off her pale neck and his lips and fingers. Shizuka breathed in deeply resting her full weight on the man's shoulder. Ok, so he'd drunk her blood. At least he was polite afterwards.
Then Shizuka's mind started to work again, and perhaps too fast than was good for her at that time. She shoved herself away from him and attempted standing, but her legs gave way and she collapsed again. The man watched her, his golden eyes filled with an obvious blood lust and the warmth of her skin beneath his lips. He licked his slightly pale lips and walked to the girl, who shivered in fear and tried to move away from him only to feel a strong arm wrap around her waist to support her. She was unsure, but allowed him to help her up, trembling in fear. She'd been in a situation not nearly as vampiric as this one before, and she'd almost been raped. She knew that this man probably didn't know about that sort of thing yet, but he was acting like a demon. Wild and uncontrollable by any mind or power except his own. He might just do it out of some unfamiliar urge and she was praying he wouldn't.
"Why are you trembling? I'm the one lost here. You live here and hold power though you may fear me because I could easily slaughter you with another pierce of my fangs." he mused, running a hand through her hair absently. Shizuka shivered more at the point of his sentence and decided she might as well tell him. She opened her mouth to speak when she noticed the man was no longer paying attention, but had his attention fixed on the door.
"Someone is out there..." he muttered, eyes narrowing in suspicion. He hadn't smelled anyone else here. He'd only been able to find one scent, and that had been this girls...
"It must be my friend... Suiren ..." Shizuka whispered, feeling cold sweep through her body. She looked around the lab quickly. She always kept a blanket in here somewhere but Suiren had an absolutely horrible habit of moving things from their correct places. The man glanced down at the girl, due to the fact that he was at least a good foot taller. She was looking around and shivering like mad, leaning closer to him though she wasn't aware of it.
"Look up." he demanded softly, just loud enough for Shizuka to hear. She actually didn't hear what he said, but she looked up when she replied.
"What did you--" she asked, cut off by his lips sealing her own. Now she was more confused than anyone could ever have been confused in the history of the world. First he was holding a blade to her neck, then sunk his razor sharp fangs into her neck for a drink, and now he was kissing her, and quite deeply at that. She pulled away quickly, but his arm wrapped affectionately around her waist while the other went around her shoulders.
(Outside)
"Where is that damn key?!" Suiren questioned, searching through her pockets. Then she stopped. "Oh... Yes. It's upstairs..." she said, turning and bolting up the stairs.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shizuka finally relaxed in the man's arms. He was much warmer than she was and she was eager for any warmth to help her at the moment. She just didn't want to be any closer to him right now than she already was. The man smiled and separated his lips from hers. The young girl had definitely been surprised when he'd first kissed her and her pulling away had been out of fear. He'd given her nothing to fear and several seconds later she was happily resting in his arms, no longer kissing him, but relaxed and no doubt feeling secure.
He picked her up quickly and ran up a passage he'd found to secretly enter and exit this room earlier. The girl still seemed to registering the confused and secure thoughts she felt, but she needed to be warm now... Then he'd ask he where he was and why.
To be continued
Ok... I only got one review on the last chappie... **sob sob** Well, apparently that didn't discourage me! Until next chappie! And if you liked this, check out my other stories too! Please review!!!
Kittengrl39: Thank you! You're the first reviewer for this story! ^^