Read Please! Authors notes Hi, and thanks for reading Dark Heavens. Just to let all of the faithful know, the rating is probably going to switch from T to M, just because there are some pretty graphic scenes that will be coming up in later chapters so make a note that if you can't see Dark Heavens on the first page for awhile, switch your ratings from K—to—T to All. Thanks again to everyone who reads and reviews me. Oh and also as a Not I would like to stress that until I get at least two reviews for this chapter or the story in general, I'm not uploading chapter seven. Please read and review because I'd really like to make this story better for your reading pleasure and any and all comments help me to do that. I'd also like to make say a special thanks to my reviewers thus far: Hybrid Thing, Macky, Tiger5913, Tigerboy111, and Aimeelee. So one last time thanks and please remember this memo.

Calloused fingertips dragged slowly through pale silver hair as their owner scanned the room for traces of light. Reiji blinked his dark eyes, trying to recall what had woken him up from his—for once—dreamless sleep in the first place. He licked paper dry lips, rubbing his still clouded and "fuzzy" feeling eyeballs and waiting for them to moisten before taking a peep at the bedside alarm clock. He wrinkled his noise up upon seeing the time; 4:45 in the morning.

What in the hell? He thought in absolute disgust. Reiji did not get up before nine am on any morning unless he had to go to the bathroom, and he certainly did not feel like he had to take a piss at the moment. He was about to reach into the nightstand drawer and pull out two Tylenol PM, so he could knock himself out until a more decent time (like noon), when the reason to why he'd woken up in the first place came back.

A knock, more forceful than the first ones that had roused him from slumber, was coming from the front door of his small apartment.

Reiji let out a small moan. Who in the fuck would be visiting him at this hour?

At first he contemplated telling whoever had stumbled their way to his doorstep off, and in a very rude manner too. But considering the possibility that it might be an attractive young lady he worked with by the name of Maria, who had, on more than one occasion, offered to visit him some lonely night, the Crow-man opted for answering the door.

"Just a minute!" he called, voice still thick from sleep as he pushed back the thin blankets on his bed away to swing his legs over the side of his pullout. He grabbed the first pair of jeans he could lay his hands onto, pulling them quickly onto his muscular and very nude form.

"Hurry, the hell up, Reiji!" a voice, definitely female, but muffled by the walls and door, called out somewhat agitatedly.

Reiji grinned as he fumbled with the zipper on his jeans. If Maria was cranky, then that meant she was probably a little drunk, and a little drunk…His grin deepened.

"Jesus, babe, hold your horses, I'm coming as quick as I can!" he retorted, flicking on the lights and scrambling to pick up the place before going to the door.

"Well you'd better hurry a little faster, jackass, or I'm leaving!" the voice warned.

Reiji laughed outright as he stuffed a couple of pizza boxes down into the trash can hidden behind the kitchen counter. Deciding the place looked decent enough he made for the door once again. "Jesus, Maria, are you jonesing for me that bad? Lucky for you I'm in the right kind of mood to help you out." He opened the door intending for the awaiting damsel to fall passionately into his arms. Instead the woman on the other side crossed her arms, and gave him a less than impassioned stare with her dually colored eyes.

"Thanks, but I hardly need any help from you in that department, Reij," Nagi said rather dully. "And since when in the hell do I go by Maria?"

"Nagi?" Reiji asked in slight disbelief. He blinked; trying to verify it was really his best friend. "Nagi, how—why—what are you—"

Nagi chuckled uncrossing her arms to shove them into the pockets of her jeans. "Yeah, loser, it's me, you can stop blinking, I'm not going to disappear," she told him. "Now close your mouth and open the door, we've got to talk, and I don't have much time." Her eyes flashed dark for a second, and Reiji could see seriousness in her that almost startled him.

Reiji drew his eyebrows downward. "Come on," he said immediately stepping aside, ushering her in. Reiji noted the duffle bag she carried over one shoulder, and the travel boots she wore, this did not bode very well with him.

"So what brings you to my humble Tokyo Palace at four A.M.—without a hug—so urgently?" Reiji asked Nagi after she had sunk down into the nearest chair. Her face looked more tired and care-worn, and that worried Reiji, considering she was so world-weary already at her young age.

Nagi smiled and rolled her eyes at her friend, "Stop whining, stupid," she ordered, though laughter was betrayed in her undertones, and she stood up to open her arms. Reiji embraced her immediately; hugging her so tight that Nagi feared he was trying to pop her head off. She couldn't blame him, though, she'd missed him just as much since they hadn't seen one another in over a year, and she hugged back with equal ferocity.

"You been okay?" he asked gruffly, pushing her back an arm's length. "Retreating in the mountains with the Dragon freak and the kid hasn't been too boring has it?" The joke sparkled in his eyes and brought a smile to Nagi's own lips.

"Oh no, a barrel full of laughs every single day," Nagi drawled, the sarcasm in her eyes ass think as venom. The darkness shimmered beneath her irises once again. "That's—um—kinda why I'm here, Reij."

Again, Reiji narrowed his eyes on his friend's pale face; he did not like this at all.

"What's going on?" he asked immediately, sitting down opposite Nagi on his creaky mattress. Resting his elbows on his knees, he met his best friend's eyes levelly, ready to take in all the news she had for him…he hoped. Nagi assumed a similar position, though she crossed her legs.

"Okay," she began taking a breath. "I—I don't know all that much about everything really. I—I've only got some bits and pieces. Little things I've seen, little things I can get from Mana's damn ramblings—" Reiji laughed outright, no one liked Mana's speeches, hell no one really liked Mana besides Ryoho, and he…well the entire group had speculations on that one.

"The point is," Nagi continued, trying not to smile or make a face over his comment. "There's…there's something that's going to happen, and chances are it's not gonna be good."

The look on the crow zoanthrope's face switched from curious to outright worried.

"What do you mean not good?" he demanded. "What kind of not good Nagi?"

"Not good, as in bad, Reiji," she retorted, rolling her as at him.

"How bad?"

"Bad as in I've got a ticket to Manhattan because I need to get in contact with the W.O.C., and some of the others from our little group, particularly Shina, Long, and Yugo."

Reiji's dark eyes grew wide as he processed these words through his head. His shoulders and his body went a little limp and he slid lower onto his seat.

Nagi, slightly worried by that action, reached across the distance and placed a stable hand on his forearm. He looked up to meet her eyes, finding a calm reassurance in them that he really needed to see.

"You want me to go with you, don't you Nagi?" he asked, seeing the question in her irises before her lips even moved.

She gave him a wry, half-smile. "How do you do that?" she chuckled. Nagi didn't bother waiting on him to answer. "Yeah, yeah, I do. I have a feeling that I'll need my partner for this new…whatever in the hell this is going to be."

"Adventure?" he suggested, the unbreakable sense of humor Nagi had become so used to returning already.

"One way to put it," Nagi said with a thoughtful shrug. "Another way is suicide mission. Especially when I go talk to Shina."

Reiji cocked an eyebrow. "Should I even ask about that?"

"No," Nagi sighed, pushing the hair back out of her eyes. "No, you shouldn't." She bit down on her plush lower lip. "It's bad enough I even have to think about it." Nagi let out another sigh. "I hate being the fucking messenger," she moaned. "They always shoot the fucking messenger."

"Nag, I hardly think Shina will kill you," Reiji said, now taking his turn to be the reassuring friend. "But then again I have no idea what you'll be telling her, so…" His eyes gleamed wickedly, and Nagi scowled reaching up to cuff him.

"You're such a good friend, you know that?" she said.

"You're best," he joked.

"Well, best friend, I hate to be so blunt but are you in?" she asked crossing her arms tightly over her white T-shirt. "Because we have five hours to prepare before our plane leaves."

The silver haired man looked Nagi, over; he really didn't want to do this sort of thing over again. Reiji'd had enough when fucking Ryoho's inner demon had almost been unleashed and he, Nagi, and the other zoanthropes in their knowledgeable little circle, had almost been killed. He most definitely did not want to have to go through that sort of thing ever again. Reiji was happy right there in Tokyo, in his little apartment, at his nice job as a software developer, he had no need to change it or any want to change it. Still…it was Nagi asking him, and if things were even half as big as she'd been hinting at, then, one way or another he was most likely going to be pulled in any case…

With a sigh he looked back up at Nagi. "Okay, you've got me I'll go," he told her. "But—" He shot in when Nagi began to smile. He grinned a little more devilishly than he had before, and Nagi could read the look in his eyes a mile away. "But, I need you to do something for me."

Nagi raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really, and just exactly what would that be, Reiji?"

"You know what," he chuckled standing to grasp her hand and pull her to her feet. His hands slipped down about her waist, fingertips slipping between her shirt and jeans to caress the bare skin underneath. He dipped his head down just a little to press his lips to hers, or at least, he tried. Nagi didn't kiss back and When Reiji looked up at her with more than just a little bit of question in his eyes, she gave him only a dry face as she pushed him back a foot or so.

"Reiji, you remember that time you asked me why Shina, Alice, and Long thought you were tasteless and egotistical?" she questioned.

"Yeah…"

"Well this is why," she said and pushed him back so that he was once more sitting on the bed. "Now zip your fly up and go pack." Her hands moved to her hips, a no-nonsense position that told Reiji not to disobey. "Besides," she added with a certain smile that he, in his personal opinion, had not seen enough in his lifetime. "It's a fourteen hour plane ride, my friend…we'll have time to kill. Now, where the fuck is your bathroom?"

Reiji grinned and pointed to one of only two doors in the room. Nagi gave him a wink before sauntering towards it. Reiji smiled at her retreating backside, despite the feeling in the pit of his stomach that all hell was going to break loose, he was going to be enjoying the journey to Manhattan at least.

Interlude

The shadows in pre-dawn New York were intense, like demons beneath the soft moonlight and shallow glare of the street lamps. Of course that's when they were the most beautiful, at least that's what Dr. Stephan Goldberg, or more commonly on the streets, Stun, thought of them. He was a night owl to the truest form, loved the dark, loved the night sky, loved the sounds, but most of all e loved to watch the people as they milled around. All sorts of interesting people moved around the city in the night. Thugs, Dock workers, drunkards, strippers, ladies of the evening and their clientele, they all moved about freely in the night, seeking for things he, and sometimes they, could only wonder about. There was only one person he knew was seeking something for sure, and he was about to meet her.

"What's up bat brain?" he greeted Jenny, turning to meet her before she'd even landed.

"The sky of course, Bug-boy," she joked, reverting from her bat form and into her human. She tossed back her golden blonde hair as she adjusted her suit. She smiled and stepped over to clasp his wide blue palm. "And how have you been, old friend? I trust you've been well enough?"

"Fine, I'm always, fine, you know that, Jen," Stun told her with a chuckle. "And you? The life of an international intelligence officer's still keeping you well, I can see."

"Work has been fine," she told him. "Or it was the last time I did any of it. I took some time off, for…personal reasons." The smile on her full carmine lips faded into a melancholy line that Stun truly hated to see.

"Shina?" he asked. "She's still not speaking to you or Alan?"

Jenny shook her head, shoulders rigid and defensive even then. "No," the former model said, shaking her head, eyes glimmering with a pain that he could never understand. "I—I tried to talk to her earlier this evening but…well…I don't think it could have gone worse, let's say." Jenny chuckled morosely, for a moment Stun could have sworn that he'd seen moisture in his old friend's eyes but the moment he blinked it was gone and Jenny was smiling at him.

"I'm sorry, Jenny," he offered in the most sincere and supportive voice that he could manage. He patted her arm. "Just…give her time…she can't hate you both that much."

Jenny gave him a disquieting look that told Stun she questioned that very much.

"I only hope that she doesn't blast Alan too badly when he comes to see her Tuesday," she said. "He wants her to go to Brazil with him and the team so badly he'd cut his arm off for it."

"I still say that you should tell her the reason you revealed the past to her to begin with," Stun said, crossing his arms as he rebuked Jenny with his intelligent eyes. "Maybe if you let her know that the woman who brought her into the world was soon going to—"

"No!" Jenny cut him off harshly, emerald eyes ablaze. "No, no, and no. A million times no." Jenny took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I can't do that to her, Steph, it's not—not—fair."

"Neither is Shina's running away," Stun reminded her.

Jenny shook her head in adamant disagreement. "She had every right to be angry with us, especially with me," she defended the girl. "I can't blame her for doing something that I would have done and I'm not going to forge a relationship out of her with a guilt trip. That's not the right way, it's sneaky, and I can't do that to Shina. Especially with all the tales I've already spun around her."

Stun looked away, he knew that Jenny was right, and he felt very sorry for Shina. Still, when he saw how this whole situation with the younger woman was rending poor Jenny's heart to bits, it was very hard for the big beetle-man not to be more than a little upset with Shina. Besides, unlike Stun, Shina did not have the whole idea of what was going on with the bat zoanthrope, and he was sure that if she did, Gado's daughter would be singing a different tune when it came to Jenny's revelations.

"So what did you want to tell me?" Jenny asked him after a few moments of composure gathering silence. "Your phone call sounded pretty urgent."

"It was…in a way," Stun told her with a shrug of his massive blue shoulders. "I'm actually not so sure what to file this one under Jen."

The blonde raised an exquisitely arched eyebrow.

"Follow me," he said motioning for her to follow him before turning to the rooftop door that opened up on the building's stairwell to go in. Jenny trailed her friend down six or seven stories, past all the floors and into the bowels of the building, trekking into a basement below the basement and boiler room. A basement that one had to pass through sliding metal doors with an access code to get into, and that looked about as much like a basement as Jenny's penthouse in the Hamptons did. Of course it wasn't as lavish as all that, it was simply very well lit and it had many different rooms, like an underground housing system, which is exactly what it was.

"Nice place," Jenny murmured as Stun ushered her into the front hallway. "I wish I knew how you stretched your budget this far, Steph. Because it certainly looks like I wrote a check for twenty million instead of five."

"Simple, we take care of only the necessities down here," Stun told her with a chuckle, leading her from the first hallway and into another, wider, and longer one. Like the entrance it was well lit, with a homey atmosphere to it instead of sterile, six doors standing on each side. He glanced at Jenny through the corner of his eye and smiled. "That and unlike you, old friend, no one down here has an unworn designer gown for each day over the next ten years."

"Your charges?" Jenny asked nodding to the doors, ignoring the jibe, though the corners of her mouth were wrinkling.

"Two of them are the children's bedrooms, yes," Stun said motioning to the first doors on each side. "Bathrooms are there," he pointed to third and fourth pairs. "That's the activity room," the fifth door on the left. "The library." Fifth on the right. "And the last two are my quarters and private study."

"Very nice," Jenny commended him. "You've been more thrifty with my money than I have."

"Jenny, dear, a compulsive gambler would be more thrifty with your money than you would," he teased, earning a dry look from the woman along with a soft punch in the arm. "

You're so funny."

"I know," he chuckled as he put a hand on the very last door at the halls end. He began to open it while saying, "This is our kitchen by the way—" And as he opened up the door a roll of white smoke greeted him and Jenny. Both shielded their eyes against the cloud, coughing, as they had not moved quickly enough. When the fog faded, both Jenny and Stun found themselves dusted with what appeared to be a light coating of powdered sugar, and a bear cub wearing a pair of pajamas staring at on the other side of the door. In the cub's paws there was a rather large and overturned container of powdered sugar.

There were a few moments of stunned silence before anyone could speak.

"Well, speak of the devil," Stun chuckled finally. He looked over at Jenny, "This is Ursula, Jen, she's one of my charges." To the little girl he smiled and said, "Good morning, Ursula, you're up very early this morning, aren't you?"

Almost at once the child dropped the empty sugar container and reverted to her human form, that of an adorable brown haired and eyed girl with a cherub's face and pigtails.

"I'm sorry Uncle Stun!" she apologized immediately, her voice as adorable as her face. She immediately ran to grab up a broom and dustpan, both of which she held very awkwardly in her small hands, as she attempted to clean up the mess. "I—I was just going to make breakfast for everyone. I—"

"It's all right Ursula," Stun assured the little girl with a short chuckle. "That was very thoughtful of you dear, but I believe that you should leave breakfast to me, Jonathan, or Martinique." He stooped down to gently pry the cleaning tools from Ursula's tiny hands and ruffle her hair. "All right then?"

"All right," the girl said, easing up as she saw no traces of rage in Stephan's face. It was then that she looked past her guardian and to the lady standing a few feet behind him watching with keen eyes and a bemused smile. She edged towards Stun and tugging on his shirtsleeve, asked softly, "Who's that, Uncle?"

"This is Jenny, Ursula," he told the child. "She's a friend of mine."

"A very old friend," Jenny added with a smile, meeting Ursula's gaze warmly but not overbearingly. The girl edged towards her just a little, eyes wide as she looked Jenny over further. The bat zoanthrope let her get a little closer before she knelt and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Jennifer Burtory, but you can call me Jenny."

Ursula smiled and, with a very adult flair, put her hand within Jenny's and shook it. "Ursula, you can call me Ursula."

Jenny's smile became wider. "Thank you, and how old are you Ursula?" she asked, turning on the charisma all her clients knew her for. "No don't tell me! Let me guess…eighteen?"

"No!" Ursula giggled, putting her hands over her mouth as her cheeks glowed a shade of rose.

"Oh, really?" Jenny asked with such feigned surprise that it almost shattered Stun's composure to bring him to his knees laughing. "Interesting…I'm hardly ever wrong you know. Well, let me try one more time…" Jenny held her chin, putting on a mask of intense concentration as Ursula continued to giggle and Stun continued to watch with lidded humor. Finally, Jenny exclaimed, "Twenty—five!"

"No!" Ursula giggled again. "Silly, I'm only eight!"

"Only eight?" Jenny exclaimed. "That's impossible! A pretty little thing like you? Only eight? I don't believe you!"

"It's true!" Ursula insisted. She glanced to the big blue zoanthrope standing behind her. "Tell her, Uncle Stun! Tell her how old I am! Tell her!"

"She actually is only eight, Jenny," Stun said, playing along with the game his friend had started.

Jenny's eyebrows went up and she cocked her head to the side. "Well, I guess maybe you are only eight, after all, your Uncle Stun wouldn't fib to me."

"Never," Stun quipped from the background.

"Why are you here?" Ursula asked Jenny. "Just to see Uncle? Or are you going to live here like me and my brothers and sisters?"

"Actually Jenny came here to visit you, Ursula," Stun told her, glancing at Jenny and signaling her to play along with him. "You see, Jenny is a very smart lady and lots of people ask her her opinions on things."

"What kinds of things?" Ursula questioned.

"Oh all sorts of things," he said. "But especially art. And I told Jenny that one of my kids was a very talented artist, she insisted on coming to see for herself."

"You mean!" Ursula almost squealed.

"Yes, Ursula, Jenny came to see the pictures you've been drawing, the ones in the big booklet," Stun said. He grinned as the little girl began jumping up and down and clapping her hands with glee. It took him a moment to settle her down.

"Really?" Ursula asked Jenny, eyes big and hopeful. "You came just to see my pictures!"

"I sure did," Jenny told the girl, hoping Stun would fill her in on what was going on sometime very soon.

"Why don't you go get them for her to see, heh?" Stun asked giving her a little push between her shoulder blades.

"Yes, Sir!" Ursula said, bolting immediately for the door Stun however, had and afterthought and reached out to grasp her by the collar of her pajamas. "And be very quiet," he added. "It's not even sun up, there's no need for the others to be up too early."

"Okay," Ursula whispered with an obedient nod. Stun gave the girl a smile along with a pat on the head before releasing her to quietly exit the room. Jenny waited for the door to close and Ursula's footsteps to fade down the hall before she looked at Stun with questioningly sharp green eyes.

"Pray tell, just exactly is this all about, old friend?" she asked, or commanded, it could have been considered the same thing, the way her eyes were boring into his face. "Did you really bring me here to look at your charge's pictures or is something else belaying this whole thing."

"Both," Stun answered, voice carrying an eerie undertone that would have given Jenny chills had she not complete control of her nerves.

"What does that mean?" she inquired, pupils and irises still locked and edgily on the blue zoanthrope's face.

"I let you see the drawings first," he told her, his tone still somewhat mysterious. "Then…then we'll talk. All right. Just do me a favor will you please, Jenny?"

"Depends," Jenny replied, one brow raised.

"Please, school any reactions you have in front of the girl," he asked, maybe even pleaded. "Because I'll tell you now, you'll probably not like what you see."

The curvaceous zoanthrope's eyes narrowed on her friends face, something that made Stun all the more wary than he already was. She opened her mouth to make a sharp, and probably nasty, query, when Ursula came trotting through the door once again, holding up a set of very and well-drawn, almost lifelike, pictures. Jenny's mouth went dry as she saw the first one, a colored pencil sketch of two people, but she managed to keep her face very calm.

She recognized both people, a man and a younger woman, though it took a little longer with the man. The woman had a fading tan, blonde hair, and brilliant sky blue eyes that flamed with hatred, as the man, a mountain of flesh with a missing left hand, grabbed her from behind and pressed a gun to her temple.

"Here," Ursula was saying though Jenny's ears felt somewhat detached, as the girl held out the pictures. "I call them my dream drawings 'cuz I see them in my dreams and then I draw them."

"Th—thank you, dear," Jenny's said voice only wavering for a moment as she accepted the drawings with numb hands. "I'll just have a look see." Though her outside was very serene, friendly even, Jenny's insides trembled with a combination of shock and fear from seeing her daughter in the clutches of one of her father's worst enemies; Yuri Petrov Bremen.

Interlude

Shenlong made his way quietly, almost stealthily, down a corridor in a large mansion that he his two cohorts had chosen for their base of operations during this whole trying era. It was warm and hot, like any night on a tropical isle so close to the Equator, but tonight a light breeze played about, cooling the muggy night to a degree as it simultaneously combed back his short black hair. As he walked he let his fingertips drag lazily across the nearest wall, red eyes gazing through the big pane-less windows that looked out on the beach and starry sky. This was possibly the most beautiful place in the world, or at least that's what he knew most normal people would think, of course, Shenlong wasn't all that normal so it did not come as a surprise to anyone when he remained indifferent towards the place. He just couldn't get worked up over a piece of land and some water, it was impossible for him. For awhile, though he wouldn't admit it, however, the clone had found some beauty in this place.

He frowned as memories, long auburn hair and smiling violet eyes flashed across his minds eye. Those times were gone. Besides, living for the here and now suited him far better in any case.

So then why do you keep coming back here? The question popped into his mind, like an evil little imp, determined to cause him any and all discomfort. The worst part was hat he had no answer for himself, or if he did he would not say it even in his head.

He neared the end of the corridor and a room that's ebony inlaid door had been left ajar for quite some time now. Long enough at least, for a thin gauzy dust to have spread over everything inside. He looked the room over, it wasn't a big space but it wasn't small either, and it did have one of the better views in the mansion, one big enough to see most of the island's western side. The furnishings within, were simple enough, a large four poster bed with once very clean, white, sheets; an armoire against the wall opposite the bed, a trunk at the its end, and an overstuffed easy chair next to a lamp that hadn't been used in ages along with large book stand. The red-eyed zoanthrope remembered a time in which he had seen this place in a totally different light, when it hadn't been so dusty, when it hadn't been empty, when it had actually been a living space and not just some old room tucked away in the corner of the mansion.

Beneath the cold layer of moonlight, Shenlong could see someone moving about doing day to day things, living, living right there. The form, black haired and lithe, was mostly found staring out the big windows, longingly gazing at the villagers in their little town below. Always looking, always needing to see what he was never sure of. Shenlong had tried to help, had tried everything to help ease the pain lingering behind his eyes, but it had never worked, nothing worked with him. Not until the day he had seen…

He thought back angrily to the day when Busuzima and Xion had said that the boy needed to learn what he'd been brought into the world for, what she had given her life to accomplish. That was part of what had made him run, and in all honesty Shenlong couldn't blame him. Shenlong couldn't even blame the boy when he'd attacked him, tried to wrest the life from his body, after all, how could he cold it against someone for doing what he himself had done to his creator? No, he could never blame the boy, but Xion and Busuzima could, and they did. And the two of them were rewarded by constantly hunting a prey that would never be found or forced. It was his gift after all, as it had been hers; Shenlong had smiled to himself when the Unborn and the chameleon had found their precious "charge" disappeared in the night. He smiled at their angst even then, even as embroiled as he was in their plan, holding his willing and intricate piece.

No one would ever know just how much Long's clone hated himself at times for joining forces with those two fiends. Still he had to do what he had to do, he'd made promises and Shenlong would die to keep the particular ones he had made involving the scum. Even if it meant…

Again he could see the dark haired and slim form of the young one moving listlessly about the room, turning to grace him, and only him, with a smile. Trust echoed in his innocent eyes, trust and some form of adoration, like for a friend, maybe even a parent…

But then she returned to his mind. Violet eyes flashing and snapping with determination, a soft white body, strength and love that flowed into two supple arms. He remembered more of this than anything else, more than he remembered the boy, and he knew that as much as he despised it, he would have to pull the other pieces back, unwilling as they were.

Shenlong was so engrossed in his memories that he didn't even notice the figure slinking behind him until it's head popped up near his shoulder.

"Having fun?" Hans purred in his ultra feminine voice as he slithered up next to the tiger zoanthrope.

Shenlong, taken completely off guard, let out a roar and made a swipe for the blonde transvestite, a blow that might have taken his head off. Or it least it would have severed his spinal column quite neatly, but seeing as Hans ducked and scrambled away within the blink of an eye, it didn't matter.

"My, my," the German clucked, as Shenlong fought off the urge to transform and rip him to pieces. "Testy, testy, aren't we?"

"Go the hell away, you scum-sucking piece of Euro-trash," Shenlong growled, eyes glowing a dangerously bright cerise. His fingers twitched, still shaped into taut claws, legs trembling with the urge to leap and slash.

"Why don't you go and try to find him?" Hans continued to taunt, slinking with ease by the wall, as ready to dodge, as Shenlong was ready to attack and maim. "Poor little Starling can't be that hard to find. Or are you still just letting him be, Shenlong?"

"If I were you, I'd shut the fuck up and walk away right now, bastard," Shenlong warned him. Because you're making me very angry and quite frankly I'm in no mood to take shit off Busuzima's whore."

"Ooh! I'm so scared!" Hans chuckled. The laughter was his mistake, and as he took a split second to revel in his barb, Shenlong took a leap and rammed his fist into the side of the fox zoanthrope's face, knocking him back and into a wall. Shenlong smiled as he heard ribs crack, though he was disappointed that the initial punch had rendered Hans unconscious and therefore unable to enjoy the pain as he did. The gray tiger stood looking down at the limp figure for a few seconds, drinking in the awkward angle of his chest, before grasping him by the blonde ponytail to drag him down the hall. Every chance he got Shenlong to do it, he took to cause Busuzima any and all frustration, knowing full well that if he wanted their plans to reach the finale stages, he could not retaliate. And a broken up Hans was sure to be the best reaction gotten so far.

Interlude

"Just wait for me a little longer, chaton," Sy pleaded as he watched Shina's darkened condo in the wee hours of the morning. It was taking everything inside of him to stay where he was, to keep away from her just for the short time he knew he had to. He wanted their first moments together to be more meaningful than the hormonally driven one-night stand it might have become if he had went along with her earlier that evening. He wanted much more than that, he needed much more than that, and the only way he could achieve his goal was to make her wait on him. Even though he chaffed at the bit, wanting her so bad that he'd bitten the inside of his mouth to wash out her taste. He was going to hold to his intentions. Sying was not a man of weak will, the scars on his back and the scars in his mind were a pulsing testimony to that fact.

He shifted against the chimney he crouched by, despite the chill in the early spring air; he didn't feel cold at all. The passion and need for the woman he so intently gazed on through her open bedroom window, kept Sy warm enough. He snuggled closer to the bricks, their rough surface and cold solidity a strange comfort to his weak knees and ravenous mind. He rested his black and violet head against the stone, continuing to stare at her slumbering form with slavish adoration through lowered lids. He looked to be dozing almost as he curled there, but napping was the last thing he could do right then.

He waited until the sun rose, multifaceted in the purple and pink sky, before leaping to the ground and sprinting a few blocks to away to his awaiting car. Sying would go home, he would eat, and then he would throw himself very willingly into his blankets so that he could dream of his leopardess. And then…when the moon rose…He smiled.