I snuck around the alley, waiting for the guy to leave his car. Not that it was a very god car to start out with; there is nothing good in the Animus district of Tokyo anyway. He left and entered some beat up building. I waited about five minutes, when he didn't come out, I approached the car.
I looked it over, not to bad, the color was horrible, but it could get me where I needed to go. Taking out a set of lock picks, I set to work. Being part fox can sometimes come in handy, not that makes up for all the misery it's caused me.
In case you haven't guessed, I'm a red fox Animus, a Kitsu. My name is Duo. Just plain Duo, by law I'm not allowed to have a last name. I've been living in Tokyo's Animus my whole life; my parents told me that I was born in America, not that that really does much for me. My parents died anyway, beaten to death. Heh, I guess it sounds like my life shits. Oh well, least I'm alive, that's one thing to be happy about.
So anyways, I was picking the lock to the car, completely focused on it. That's where I screwed up. Some guys snuck up behind me, and grabbed me. I struggled and kicked trying to get away. Some use that was. One of them hit me in the back of the head with something, and it all went dark.
I moaned and rolled over, my head was killing me.
"Hey, he's waking up. Quick tighten up his restraints." some voice said, it sounded far away and close at the same time.
My eyes flickered open. I felt groggy, and everything was blurry. Suddenly, someone tightened something around my ankles and wrists.
"So that's what they meant by restraints. Dammit, where the hell am I?" I thought to myself.
Things began to clear up, and I got a vague idea of where I was.
"Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit."
I was in a large warehouse type building. Everything was made of steel, the walls, the floor, the ceiling. It was like a steel box. Cages were lined up and stacked on top of one another. Most of them held an Animus.
I was tied up in back with two humans on either side of me.
"Guess I'm the new arrival. Yippee…"
"You're up. Now get your ass off the floor and follow us you dirty Kitsu." One of the men said.
"Aww now that's not very nice, the least you could do is offer me some food." I told him, smirking.
My response was a punch to the gut. I always was a smart aleck, God knows I wish I wasn't, but I am. Reluctantly I got up and followed the men to an empty cage to which I was rudely shoved in. Of all the places I could've been brought to, it had to be an underground slave ring.
True, Animus don't have nearly the same rights as humans. Hell we aren't even given the right to exist. But no one in any government is allowed to be kept as a slave, not even Animus. Just shows you how much we're hated around here. There is a whole black market that sells Animus for various reasons. Mostly as slaves and pets to rich people that have nothing better to do. There are even rumors that some people by whole groups of Animus and let them go in a privately owned forest just to shoot them, their own personal game. It's sick.
I slumped against the back of the cage and waited.
"I wonder what they'll do. Auction me off maybe? Or maybe they'll sell me to some sweatshop in Russia or something."
My thoughts were interrupted by the Animus in the next cage over.
"Hey you, Kitsu!"
I turned my head.
"It's Duo." I said.
The Animus smiled. She was a pretty Usigi, or rabbit Animus. She had pure white ears and short blue hair, a prime candidate for some old rich man's new toy.
She smiled.
"Hiya Duo! My name's Hilde! How did you get here?" she asked.
"Heh, they snuck up on me while I was trying to steal a car. You?"
Hilde laughed.
"Me and my gang broke into some human women's house, I got stuck climbing out of a window and they caught me."
I nodded.
Hilde and I talked all night long and became good friends over the days we spent in that warehouse. Neither of us seemed afraid. But I guess we were just trying to convince ourselves that everything would be fine and that maybe we would be released soon. I'll tell ya, it's amazing what you can talk yourself into.
Some loud rumbling noise woke me up.
"Huh? What's that?"
"Duo! Duo get up! Hurry!" Hilde's voice commanded me.
I slowly sat up, yawning.
"What is it Hilde? I was in the middle of a great dream. I was eating real food, not that crap they feed us here."
"Duo they're moving us! We're being shipped out! To an auction! Duo I'm scared, what's gonna happen."
That woke me up.
I turned to Hilde.
"Calm down Hilde. We're being sold, that's all. With luck you'll be sold to a nice loving family, or maybe we'll get sold to the same family. Don't worry, you'll be okay."
Okay so I was lying. What was I supposed to do? Tell her that she might become a slave to an abusive human family, or maybe be shot and put on display like some type of trophy? Hell no.
Hilde nodded slowly. She didn't believe me of course, she knew the hard truth just like I did, but she did seem to calm down a little.
All of us were loaded on to the backs of some semi trucks. They were no windows, some we had no idea where they were taking us. All we knew is that we were driving to some auction somewhere, and probably were not gonna see each other again.
After driving for hours, the door opened and florescent light flooded the area. We were unloaded, then removed from our cages. They chained our wrists and necks then spilt up by race and gender.
At one point a small Feilios, panther, boy tried to escape. One of the guards pulled out a hand gun and shot him. That pretty much dashed all my plans for escaping, I didn't care for the feeling of lead in my chest.
Three hours of standing and they rushed us out to the stage. The crowd was huge. There were hundreds of people all watching us turn and be showed off. The manager started with the females Usigis first. I sadly watched Hilde get sold off to some old man in the back for $20,000.
They finished off the females; those who weren't sold were pulled off stage with some men who held machine guns. I shivered and prayed that I got sold instead. Next thing I knew, I was shoved to the center of the stage.
"Next up we have a nice, male Kitsu. He's fast folks, good for races. Now, I'll start the bidding at $5,000." the manager said.
And it was off. First a woman to the mid-right, then some big muscled guy in the front. I got dizzy and gave up watching who was bidding for me, but I had to admit, I was quite flattered by the price. They were up to $55,500. I surveyed the crowd, mostly rich men. Creepy ones too. I got a few lustful looks and whistles.
Then someone in the crowd caught my eye. A slender man in the front with messy brown hair stared at me. Not like some of the others were staring at me, this guy had cold, deep, emotionless eyes. He was looking me over, that I could tell, but he didn't act drunk or horny so he didn't bother me that much. But his eyes sent chills up my spine and I tore my eyes away from him.
"Sold for $62,000! Here's your new Animus sir!" the manager called out happily. You can't really blame him; he did just get $62,000. So what if it was at the cost of another's freedom.
I didn't even know who I was being sold too. One of those guards shoved me forward and down some steps to this tall guy who took me by the arm, put a large stack of bills in the guards hand and dragged me away.
My new owner roughly dragged me out of the auction room and into one behind it. He dropped my arm, and held my chains instead. He looked me over.
"Hmm. The manager was right, you are a nice one." he said softly.
My ears bent back in anger.
"I'm not lying on my back for you if that's what you're thinking." I growled.
The man laughed.
"Of course you're not. You're fighting in Black Spade's Animus games." he said.
I cocked my head to the side.
"I'm what?"
"Black Spade is a millionaires club in Tokyo. The members buy Animus and train them to fight each other in the games. The Animus that wins the competition walks away free; and the former owner wins a million dollars, its simple enough."
"What happens to the ones that lose?"
He smirked.
"Some disappear, some keep fighting."
"So losing isn't an option huh?"
I looked him in the eyes.
"May I know the name of the man I'm wining this competition for?"
"My name is Solo."
"Pleasure to work for you, my name is Duo."
Solo punched my jaw and I hit the wall.
"I don't care what your name is Kitsu. All I need to know is that your fighting for me, and you'll win. Now get up and follow me."
"Oh yeah, this is the beginning of a long, long friendship."
To be continued…
*Disclaimer*
I have a bad habit of not writing disclaimers, so, this is the disclaimer for the prologue and chapter one. I do not, no matter how much I wish, own Gundam Wing. And I'm not responsible for any harm that may occur to Relena or Solo in this fic. Heh, plus this is yaoi, I swear. Nothing is going to happen between Duo and Hilde. Promise.
-BlackStar
