Lupicinus Well well well, everyone ready for Christmas?

Hiei: Christmas? What is this christmas you talk of?

Lonewolf486: It's a time of year when you give ppl you like presents, for instance (jabs thumb in kuwabara's direction) we would NOT give that baka any gift of any sort ,unless it was a handgun with a christmas card saying 'do everyone a favor and save Hiei the trouble'

Botan: OH MY! That's so harsh! He may be stupid but he's still a part of the team!

Lupicinus: (smiles evilly) A very expendable part of the team..........

Hiei, Lonewolf, Yusuke, Kurama and Lupicinus all snicker......well Yusuke is outright laughing his ass off....

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Chapter 13:

Kira's home 8:00 in the morning

The sun had risen and streamers of gold filtered into Kira's Bedroom, illuminating the many dust particles as they drifted by. A sleeping Kira thrashed about as she dreamed. Kira mumbled some uninterruptible words as she flipped onto her side, shaking her head as her blonde hair sprawled out over her pillow. The springs in her mattress were making small noises with her every move. She flipped again onto her stomach and frowned, again grumbling some inaudible words with her blankets tangled around her legs and torso.

Kira's room was large and square shaped with windows on the outer wall. The sun brightened the dark navy painted walls and made the sandy carpet look about three shades lighter. She had a computer stand with books, blank cds, and other items on the shelves and in its drawers. There was a cedar desk in the far left corner with a black desk lamp on it, as well as several picture frames and a ceramic pencil cup with mechanical pencils and other writing utensils sticking out. On the walls were print out pictures of her favorite anime shows and her favorite characters. The posters were that of wolves, dragons, and some with her favorite music artists and other interesting pictures. Her bed was against the wall beside the door. Beside the bed was a nightstand with a tall modern looking lamp and an alarm clock, not to mention a portable telephone. At the foot of Kira's bed was a little dog basket and within it was the adorable little corgi who went by the name of Yuri. After spending but a few minutes in the presence of the pup you were guaranteed to scream CUTE! The little darling was sleeping peacefully curled up in her adorable basket after having been thrashed out of Kira's bed later in the night.

Kira tossed again, sighing frustrated and cursing at an unknown person. Sweat matted her hair and streaked her face. Her dream was indeed a vivid one.

Kira's Dream

She could feel the cold wind and the moist air whip against her skin. She was now running through the outskirts of downtown. The orange street lamps were on and a misty haze veiled the car free and person less street. She was running now, but despite how fast she was running it was as if she was in slow motion and her limbs felt heavy. She felt a deep sense of anxiety, like she had to be somewhere to stop something. She had run like seemed miles before she spotted something in the middle of the orange lit street ahead of her. Kira began to slow down to a jog as she approached it. She recognized who it was and smiled.

(Satori!)

Kira's mouth didn't move but the words echoed around her. Satori was walking away from her, she was dressed in black pants and sleeve-less lavender looking top that had weaved strings across the open slit in the front. At the bottom of the shirt the fabric was more loose and flowing and was now being carried by the nipping wind. On her hands were black gloves. Satori also had Atomsk's guitar slung over her left shoulder. Kira was confused at why Satori was ignoring her call and tried to run faster in hopes of catching up, but she just couldn't reach her.

(Satori! Hold on!)

Satori stopped and she then turned around smiling faintly. She had some sort of tattoo on her face in the shape of some sort of symbol. Satori closed her eyes and when she opened them again they were crying tears of blood. Kira stopped running and stood there stunned. Why, why was Satori crying blood? Kira quickly turned around to look at the street behind her, which was empty, when she felt a twinge in her right hand and looked down; there lying on the ground in a puddle of blood was her right hand. Pain and numbness shot through her body for only a second before she felt nothing again.

She gasped and looked up again, now hanging from one of the street lamps was a rope with knot and tied into the knot and hanging upside-down were about 10 roses of different colors. Kira looked down at her left hand to find that she was now grasping an intricately detailed hand mirror that had what looked like an otter coiling around the handle. She stared at it confused but she quickly looked up as echoing footsteps sounded in her head. There in front of her was a young man but his face was covered in shadow. He smiled and held out a hand to her. Kira couldn't help but feel trusting and reached out her hand too. But she looked down and saw that rats were crawling all over the man's feet.

She sharply looked at her side as a shrill and foreboding screech echoed loudly in her head. She looked over to the source and noticed a big fantastical red bird with a nose piercing, perched on top of bench, looking at her with warning flaring in its bright neon eyes. Kira looked at it awkwardly but then looked in the direction she was previously running towards. Satori was no longer where she was standing before, but now she was suspended above the middle of the road wrapped and bound in white ribbons strung up on the lampposts like a spider web. The ribbons were turning red from Satori's tears of blood. There was also something written on the ribbons in black, she couldn't make them out but they looked like a mix of letters and numbers. Kira's eyes widened and she looked back to the man. He was still smiling with his hand outstretched towards her.

A bright light suddenly hit her face and she looked down. The light of the lamps were reflecting off of her mirror. She held it in front of her face and gazed into it, but saw nothing but a reflection of herself, but in the background different memories were playing out like film clips. She sighed and looked to the side, moving the mirror slightly as she did so. She looked back at the mirror and nearly dropped it when she looked at what it was now showing her. Aside from her reflection, she saw a terrible looking creature smiling at her with red eyes and a sharp toothy smile. It had a scaly and clawed hand outstretched towards her. She felt fear over come her as she realized that the monster was the reflection of the man. She looked up at him with confused eyes. His smile quickly faded and his hand fell limp at his side. He jerked his head up towards the dark sky and started cackling. He looked back at Kira and shot her a sick smile, revealing a mouth full of razor teeth stained red from what she could only guess was blood. It suddenly shrieked causing Kira to drop the mirror, which fell away to the side of the street near the great red bird who was now squawking and flapping its wings. Kira looked back towards her front, scared stiff, when the monster suddenly screamed and charged her. In the background she could have sworn she heard Satori whisper something, and then the firing of a gun accompanied by the sound of shattering glass exploded in her ears.

Kira shot up straight in her bed, "NO!!!!!"

She was panting heavily and she was covered in sweat. She realized it was just a dream and brought her knees to her chest and rested her head on them.

"What a bizarre dream. Whatever I ate I definitely am not going to eat it before I go to bed ever again…"

Kira's shout had woken up Yuri and the little corgi hopped up onto her bed and began licking Kira's hand whimpering. Kira looked up and stroked Yuri's head affectionately.

"Sorry to wake you up."

The dog barked cheerfully in response and hopped down. She started attacking Kira's shoes.

Kira cocked her head, "What ARE you doing?"

Yuri stopped and barked at Kira.

Kira stared at Yuri a bit more before it hit her, "Oh yeah! The park!"

She went to hop out of bed, but since she was all tangled up in covers she tripped and fell onto the floor causing everything in her room to tremor. Yuri barked as Kira tried to disentangle herself. After a few minutes her covers were finally unraveled from her legs and were thrown back onto her bed.

"Well so far this has been a terrible morning…I'm going to be late at this rate…."

She quickly got dressed and then went downstairs, grabbing a cooler bag and filling it with Stewarts and some ice to keep it cold. Kira's mom was sitting at the table smoking while reading a book; her long blonde hair was messy and unkept, and her bangs were still un brushed as they nearly hung over her eyes. She still had her pajamas on and her blue eyes were heavy with tiredness.

She looked up from her book, "Still plan on going to Dren Park today?"

Kira smiled, "Yup, but I don't know when I'll be back, I'll have my cell if you need me though." Her thoughts wondered back to her dream. She usually never remembered her dreams, and they were usually never that vivid.

"Alright, don't be an ass while you're there either. I don't need detective Mills calling me on the account of you tying some little kid to the monkey bars." She sniggered.

Kira grinned and dropped an ice cube down her mother's nightshirt, "AH! Cold! It's cold dammit! You little snot!" She quickly stood and shook her nightshirt so the ice cube would fall out.

Kira smiled, "Chill out mom. Don't worry I'll behave. See ya! Taking Yuri too!"

Mai shook her head and sat back down, "Tell Satori I said hi."

Kira whistled for Yuri and she came running down the stairs, "C ya MOM!"

"Bye daughter."

Kira opened the screen door and let Yuri run outside. She then ran out and around to her bike, putting the cooler in a side bag. She hopped on and whistled for Yuri to hop up. With a lot of effort for being such a small dog, Yuri hopped up and got situated in front of Kira with her paws up between the handlebars. Her eyes were wide with anticipation and her tongue hung out excitedly as she waited for Kira to start her bike. Kira revved and then pulled out of her driveway and down the street towards Dren Park. Speeding no less.

At Satori's House

Dilandau had just finished getting dressed in his clothes from the previous night and headed downstairs. He looked around but Satori was nowhere in sight. Tsurina had left to go grocery shopping shortly after they had finished breakfast, the breakfast he could still smell lingering in the air. It was a very odd thing though, to have the woman who had just tried to strangle you to death happily make you bacon and eggs. Though he still couldn't fathom how he and Satori had managed to end up snuggling up to each other in the middle of the night into the suggestive position her mother had walked in on. He blushed and frowned simultaneously when he realized that last night was the best he'd slept in the longest time, free of haunting dreams and memories.

He shook the odd feeling off and was heading into the kitchen when he heard growling coming from outside. Curious, he went out to the deck and peered into the yard. Snarling at the woods was Satori's wolf. Dilandau eyed it and then looked into the forest, standing near the forest line was what looked to be a big stray dog. The dog took another step towards the Irerno residence, which caused Ururu to growl even more viciously; all of his razor teeth bared and hair puffed out as he hugged the ground. The stray dog started to growl back in a deeper and lazier voice.

Dilandau was rather amused with the whole situation and decided to take a seat on the deck railing.

The stray dog looked like some sort of mastiff mix with black mangled hair. It was dirty looking and saliva dripped from its mouth. Ururu's tail start to whip around in the air and he sent out two more warning snarls at the intruder. The mastiff growled back again and began to advance.

Dilandau smiled as the stray came at the wolf. He was hoping that it would get too close for the wolf's comfort and a fight would break out. He always was enchanted with the raw instincts and savage brutality that animals possessed when they fought.

Ururu had had enough and lunged forward at the stray, much to Dilandau's pleasure.

The mastiff barked ferociously and attempted to attack Ururu, but he dodged and appeared behind the lumbering dog and jumped on its back, biting and tearing at the back of its neck. The mastiff whelped in pain and whirled around, managing to throw off Ururu who landed back on his feet with feline like grace and teeth still bared. The mastiff lunged at his throat with surprising speed for a dog of that size. Ururu was almost taken off guard but he managed to counter and instead grab the mastiff's throat. The mastiff cried in pain and wriggled free. Ururu got one last bite at the stray's foot and backed off knowing he had won. The mastiff whimpered in pain and ran off back into the woods.

Dilandau smiled, "Well, sure would suck to be at the receiving end of those teeth."

Ururu howled triumphantly and ran back towards the house proudly. He bounded up the steps and onto the deck heading for the door to inside. He stopped and sniffed the air in Dilandau's direction noticing him for the first time. The scent was unfamiliar and a growl rumbled from his throat. Dilandau hopped up off of the railing and stared Ururu straight in the eye.

"Just give me one reason mutt and I'll floor you."

At the same time Satori emerged out onto the deck and whapped Ururu on the head.

"Knock it off! It's just Dilandau."

Ururu whimpered while Satori walked over to Dilandau and whapped him on the head too, "Floor my wolf and I floor you."

Dilandau rubbed his head and glared at her, "He started it. And what do you mean JUST Dilandau?" He looked at Ururu and could've sworn he was smirking at him.

Satori shook her head; "He's protecting his territory, so actually he's not at fault."

Dilandau closed his eyes and looked away, "So you're defending your pet over me? I see how it is."

Satori rolled her eyes and headed back inside with Ururu at her heels, "Of course, Ururu would never betray me, but you on the other hand…" She shot him a challenging stare and walked over to the fridge.

Dilandau followed after her a bit insulted, "What's that supposed to mean?" he let the screen door slam.

Satori pulled out a water bottle from the fridge and turned to Dilandau, "Do you want something to take to the park?" she asked in an attempt to change the subject.

He leaned against the island and nodded, "You still didn't answer me. What is that supposed to mean?" he frowned.

Satori took out two frappuccino's and put them into a bag, "Humans do anything for the right price, even you would do something like that for the right amount."

A surprised gasp escaped her lips as two strong arms whirled her around causing her to drop the bag.

Dilandau pinned her to the counter and glared, "Is that what you think? There are conditions to that you know." If he weren't in a heated rage, he would be red in the face over how close they were. It had definitely been a while since he'd been this close to her; her warmth and heartbeat were intoxicating.

She shot him a skeptical glance and looked away, "You're a survivor Dilandau, if sacrificing your friends for your own safety is the only option for your survival, you would take it. But of course only if it was entirely necessary. Even you couldn't stand being alone, that's one of your worst fears. But please correct me if that theory we were just tossing around was wrong."

Dilandau smirked and released her, "Just for the record, you are wrong. I would not sacrifice any of my allies, it's hard enough to find people I can stand let alone consider a friend these days. Yes, I may be a survivor, I managed to survive losing you for six years, but I can't be bought that easily Irerno. I thought you knew me better."

She smiled, "What a relief…. Though from what I hear, now a days you act like a stranger and I wouldn't know who you were anymore." Satori was grinning inwardly. It had been a long time and she needed to test him to find out if he was still himself deep down. She prayed she could salvage what was left; then again it was her who had induced this.

She sighed, grabbed the bag, and headed out to her Vespa. She put the bag in her side bag, and then walked over to a shelf in the garage. She found a container of gas and filled up her Vespa, cursing her own foolishness to not have noticed howlow her fuel had been.

Dilandau watched her through the open door to the garage as she filled her Vespa up. He wasn't looking forward to this little outing. He smelled like sunscreen and he was already imagining how terrible the bugs were going to be. Not to mention the popularity of the park with little children. Little children everywhere screaming and laughing and yelling, he was already getting a headache just thinking about it.

Satori came back in and shut the door behind her. She was wearing dark blue athletic pants with three sky blue stripes up the sides and a white tank top with the kanji for lunatic on it. She ran upstairs and grabbed her tiny black bag and reappeared downstairs.

"Are you ready?"

Dilandau put his flamed sunglasses on and got up, "Yeah."

He heard a loud squawk coming from upstairs.

"What the hell is that?"

Satori grabbed Ururu's leash and attached it to his collar, "Aeris the eagle."

Dilandau stared at her brows raised, "Do you have any other pets I should know about?"

"Besides a little black ferret that's about it."

Dilandau shrugged and headed out into the garage and pushed the button to open the garage door and walked outside to where Satori had left his bike.

Satori hopped on her Vespa and fired it up. She then beckoned for Ururu and he bounded excitedly over and positioned himself on the floor panel with Satori's legs on both sides of him. She pulled out of the garage and shut it behind her. She waited for Dilandau to get ready on his bike. He finally did and they both pulled out onto the main road. The breeze was fair, the sun was bright (much to the discomfort of Dilandau) and everything seemed to be going good……..thus far.

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Akira in his werewolf form sitting on the couch in between lonewolf486 and lupicinus being petted happily.

Lupicinus: Akira, you would think you'd be a more vicious werewolf but look at you, you'rejust like a big puppy dog.

Lonewolf486: (sweatdrops) he IS a big puppy dog! Look at him!

Akira: holds up sign made from glue and macaroni noodles which says 'REVIEW'