Wild Cat

Chapter Six: Another Like Me

Author: Setzu

Rated: R

It had been raining ever since dawn, and Relena cursed whatever God was out there. She had left the motel around six that morning, not wanting to stay long for fear of being found out. If the boys were looking for her, then no doubt they were looking into every hotel or motel within the area and they would soon enough come here.

So that was why she was walking down the once more desolate sidewalk, becoming soaked to the bone in the rain. Her ears twitched under her hood in annoyance as the wet fabric weighed down on them, pressing them against her head. Relena still had to find a bandana, and was planning to head back towards that retro store to find one, but first she needed money to even buy the bandana. She had used the money she had in her pocket for the motel last night, and was now broke.

So instead of attempting to steal and possibly get caught and make things worse, she was going to take a different risk. She moved towards the other side of town as quickly as she could in the rain, not that it mattered how much longer she was in the rain since she was soaking wet as it was. Once on the other side she'd find a cash machine and use her credit card to get a bundle of money and then take a cab back to the darker side of town where she'd been earlier. She knew that by using her credit card, it would alert the boys that she was still in the city, but she didn't have much choice. She would just have to be very wary of the people around her, and watch for them. If they did find her, they would have to take her back, and she wasn't ready for that.

"Aha!" she mumbled to herself as she spotted a cash machine nearby. She figured she was far enough from the motel by now that they wouldn't think to check in that area. She shuffled through her jacket pocket until she found her wallet then took the card out. She glanced to each side, noting the people around her as she inserted her card and punched in her numbers. There weren't many, but it only took one to recognize her, even with her hood up.

Five hundred dollars popped out and she quickly stuffed it into her pockets and backed away from the machine, her head bowed so the camera above her couldn't get a face shot of her. She may have been pampered most of her life, but she wasn't stupid and had learned many things during the war. Raising her hand she waved a taxi down and hopped in.

"Where too little lady?" The driver asked as he turned around to look at her intrigued. Relena glared at him and he raised an eyebrow but looked away and pulled away from the curb.

"To Mcnally Park," her voice was quiet, but still loud enough to be heard, and the driver nodded. Despite her warning glare, he continued to talk to her.

"Why would a little lady like you wanna go to the park on a day like this?"

"Because I feel like it," came her curt reply. She was in no mood to be interrogated, especially by a taxi cab driver.

"Aw, having a bad day little lady? Why even though it's raining out, don't mean you should be down. What if I took you to that nice o'l shopping mall downtown instead? I bet you'd have more fun there…" Relena was getting frustrated with the man and she could feel her temper begin to flare up. Her hands clenched at her side.

"No."

"Aw, you sure? I heard it's real nice…Whoa!" Relena hissed and shot her hand through the small opening in the glass between them and wrapped her slender hands around his throat.

"Shut up and just drive, do you understand me?" her low voice growled out into his ear as she leaned forward. He nodded vigorously and she let go and sat back. The remaining five minutes were silent as the terrified man drove to Mcnally Park. He slammed on his breaks once the destination was reached and she immediately got out and handed him thirty dollars.

"Keep the change," she muttered before walking off and leaving a stunned taxi drivers. He shook his head before driving off in a hurry.

Relena looked over her shoulder slowly to see him gone, and sighed in relief. She had managed to keep her temper mostly in check while in the car, and was thankful for that. She didn't want to loose it and kill someone else, especially someone so innocent as him.

She moved silently and quickly through the park, making sure she didn't attract too much attention as she headed once more towards the retro store.

"We have a hit!" Duo barged into Heero's office, grin plastered on his face and paper in hand. Duo waved the paper in Heero's face and he glared.

"Give that to me you idiot," Heero snatched the paper from him and read it over quickly. "Did you send anyone down there?" Duo nodded his head.

"Yea, I sent Trowa to go and check it out and he said he'd call if he came up with anything. Do you think she's going anywhere? She withdrew five hundred dollars."

"I don't know, I don't think so. I don't think Relena is sure what's going on either so I doubt she'll go anywhere too far away," Heero watched in annoyance as Duo hopped up onto his desk.

"Oh yea, that background check Wufei did on Dr. Jones is done. There didn't seem to be anything too abnormal about the guy, except that about eighteen years ago he disappeared for awhile. When he popped up again he claimed he couldn't' remember anything about that year."

"Alright, I want you and Chang to dig deeper then into that incident. Someone had to have found out something about that year. Also, I have a meeting with Lady Une in awhile, so if you need to contact me you'll just have to wait unless it's an emergency." Heero stated evenly as he got up from his chair and grabbed a few folders.

"Yes captain!" Duo grinned and mocked saluted him. Heero glared.

"Duo, shut up." And he left.

The store was old and smelled of disgusting mold, making Relena scrunch her nose up for a minute in extreme distaste. She would get used to it eventually however. Her blue eyes looked at all of the racks of clothing from the past and she raised an eyebrow in particular at a horrible blue and red polka dot dress. She wondered who would have the guts to wear such an ugly thing, and shook her head as she moved smoothly towards a small bucket near one of the walls.

The bucket held an assortment of bandanas and hats and Relena reached a clawed hand in and began to shift through the material gently until her hand came up with a black bandana. Perfect, it would go with anything she wore. She tugged her hood tighter around her head at the thought of her ears and looked around. The store was practically deserted, the cashier wasn't even at the desk.

With bandana in hand she walked casually over to the counter and waited for someone to come out of the back. Claws tapped gently on the plexi-glass that covered the counter and bored blue eyes glanced around again. After several minutes of no service Relena began to get irritated.

"Hello!" Relena called out towards the door she assumed led to the backroom. A frown marred her face as she sighed. Maybe she should just walk out with the bandana, it was only a dollar fifty anyway. She was about to move towards the door when her ears swiveled towards the back when they caught the sound of rustling. Someone was definitely back there, but the question was who, and why wouldn't they come out?

"Hello? I just want to buy something quickly!" Relena leaned over the counter, curious as her eyes trained themselves on the door. A loud crash came and she raised an eyebrow as she could hear curses. Finally the door flung open, making her jump at least two feet in the air.

"Alright, alright," grumbled a woman a few inches taller than herself with long dark red hair that spilled over her shoulders, and bangs that covered her eyes. "What do you want now?"

"Um…I just wanted to buy this…" Relena plopped the bandana on the counter and studied the woman even closer. She wore dark jeans and a red tank top that read 'eat me'. She seemed around Relena's age, eighteen or maybe a year older, nineteen. She tried to sniff the air discretely, to pick up the woman's scent, and couldn't help but furrow her brows in confusion.

"Something wrong?" Green eyes raised to meet Relena's in question and she hastily shook her head.

"Oh, uh…No, nothing," the woman didn't seem to buy it, but let it go for the moment as she took the tag off the bandana for Relena. She had a strange scent that Relena wasn't quite sure how to identify. It smelled human, and yet…Not quite so.

"Here." The woman tossed the bandana at Relena who easily caught it.

"Thanks…"

"Wait, my name's Kat, what's yours?" Relena was startled to say the least when the woman gave her name. She hadn't seemed all that friendly.

"Um…The names Rachel," she lied. She was even more surprised when Kat snorted.

"Bull, what's really your name half-breed?" Half-breed? Relena blinked in shock.

"Excuse me?"

"I can smell your lying."

"You can smell me lying…." Relena just stared, and stared for a minute more, her mind taking its sweet time to register what was just said. "You can smell like me?" she finally asked. Kat seemed confused for a moment, but then chuckled.

"You don't know what you are do you?" Relena shook her head, ashamed, but also relieved. If this woman knew what she was, then fixing this situation would go along much faster.

"Come with me into the back and we'll talk," murmured Kat as she glanced at the door. Relena followed her through the back door and into a small lounge like room. Slowly, she sat in a chair.

"How is it you don't know what you are?" inquired Kat.

"I…Just turned into this a few days ago." Kat stared at her in total confusion before speaking.

"That shouldn't be possible…You should have been like this from birth."

"Well I wasn't, and I'd like to know what I am!" Relena stated exasperatedly. She was so close, so close to finding out what she was, and this woman was asking questions!

"Calm down already, jeez. You're a demon all right? Or at least half by the smell of you," Kat then sniffed the air as if to confirm it.

"Half…Demon? Then are you half too?" Kat raised an eyebrow and laughed.

"Me a half? No, I'm not a half-breed. I'm full demon thank you!"

"But you look human to me…" Kat grinned and picked up the necklace she was wearing and took it off. Then, before Relena's eyes, she was different. He ears were now pointed, like an elf, and her hands were clawed.

"In general, some demons don't look all that different from humans anyway, but this is my real form, or at least, usually. When I get really, and I mean REALLY angry, I'll turn into a fox."

"Fox?" Kat rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I AM a fox demon. You on the other hand, are half cat demon. Because you're half, your demon traits are much more noticeable. Like the ears you're hiding." Relena's hands immediately went to her head and groaned. Kat's eyes softened as she watched Relena. She could tell the girl was confused an in turmoil. "You're the one that was on TV aren't you?" She asked softly and Relena sighed.

"Yes…That was me. I...I don't know why I did that though," Relena dropped her head into her hands and let her hood down, revealing her ears. "I don't understand how I have turned into this, or why. It's so sudden, and I get so angry sometimes and then everything goes out of control."

"My guess is that you don't have any control to start with, so when you get a little angry, it suddenly booms into a rage. Female demons tend to be a little more emotional then humans, and because you don't know how to control yourself anymore, your emotions go haywire and your demon blood begins to take control."

"How can my demon blood take control? It's just…Blood?" Kat shook her head.

"No, you have both human blood, and somehow demon blood in your system, and the two are fighting against each other to take control. You'll need to learn how to keep both in check to maintain balance, and I know a woman who can help you. She can also hide your new…features you seemed to have acquired."

"Thank you so much!" Relena was beyond relieved, she was exhilarated that things were starting to look up. She got up and smiled at Kat, a genuine smile that made Kat blush in embarrassment. She wasn't used to helping people, since she shied away from everyone. To Kat, making friends only meant hurt later one when they found out what she was. But now…There was someone else like her. She hadn't met anyone with demon blood for…Well, four centuries was it? Her last encounter with a full demon wasn't pleasant anyway.

"Hey, you can stay here for the night, then I'll take you to her tomorrow. By the way, what was your name? Your REAL one?" Relena smiled.

"My name is Relena, and thank you. I have a feeling we'll be good friends." Both women smiled and Kat led her to a spare room in the apartments above.