Paper Voice

Chapter Fourteen

A YYH Fanfic

Catherine grabbed Chu's leg and dragged him to the ground, "The question is, can you beat me?" Then she slipped back into the shadows as Chu jumped up. Yusuke laughed, "Can't fight someone you can't hit, Chu!" Catherine popped up and gave Chu the chance to take a swing at her before a trendril of her shadow picked him up and tossed him into the air. He twisted himself so that he'd land on his feet but she pitched a shadow ball at him that smashed him in the face and wrapped around his head. Chu struggled to rip the shadows off while Catherine wrapped more and more around him until it looked like he was wrapped in a cacoon of shadows. After a few minutes he stopped struggling and Catherine gently lowered him the ground and peeled the shadows away from his face. "I'd say I'm the winner of this fight," she declared.

"Crap, she beat Chu so easily!" Kuwabara shouted, "It took Yusuke forever to knock him out."

"Well, it ain't my fault that I didn't have as much power as I do now, and besides she didn't even have to touch him to knock him out!"

"C'mon, let's go see how Kat's fight is going," Catherine chimmed in.

Katrina knew that she had the disadvantage in this fight because Jin could easily put out her flames but she was determined to try any way. She ran at him and he flew up in the air, she created whips with her flames and caught Jin's arms and legs and swung him into a tree. He was so startled that he didn't fight back until he had already smashed into the tree and gasped for breath, Katrina pulled on the whips and he flew into the air this time dragging her with him, "now it's my turn," he said. Katrina wanted to let the flames disappear but they were to high up for her to have a safe landing. Jin pulled her close and punched her in the gut, she gasped and couldn't get enough breath to scream when her flames went out and she started falling. She was caught in a blast of wind and thrown into the trees, she hit a few branches on her way down and then finally the ground. Katrina blacked out and when she came to there was a crowd around her. "Ehhhh, my entire body hurts... but *koff* that was a good fight," her vision was blurry and she could only make out the shapes of people.

"Are you okay, Katrina?" Yukina asked, "do you need medical assistance?"

"Neh, I'm fine, um... can I have a little space?" Everyone surrounding Katrina backed up a little and Kurama scooped her up. "Hey, I'm fine, just a little sore, I can walk," she complained.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to hurt you so much," Jin said.

"Eh, I'm fine, it was a good fight I had fun, so who won Catherine and Chu's fight? Cause you've got to fight one of them and if it's Catherine I can bet'cha she's gonna kick your butt- Ow! Maybe, I do need medical attention, Yukina... cause, it kinda hurts to breathe too hard," Katrina grimmaced.

Kurama followed Yukina back to Genkai's and everyone else found a safe place to stand and watch Jin and Catherine's fight. A short distance away, safely hidden in the trees, a man sat watching Katrina being carried off. Hmm, she's a little injured, but that's not a problem. She will make a great addition to my vixen collection, if I could just get her away from everyone else... and her shadowy friend would make a great slave, though it looks like it'll be a challenge to get either one of them.

Later that night Katrina snuck out for a breath of fresh air, two of her ribs were cracked and it would be at least a month before Yukina let her do anything too strenuous. Katrina wandered into the woods and lay on her back looking at the stars through the shifting leaves, slowly, she drifted off to sleep. That's when the man jumped out of a nearby tree and snapped a collar around her neck, in her sleep Katrina shifted into a fox, then the man stuck a needle in one of her fore legs and injected her with his nano-bombs. The collar kept her in her animal form and the nano-bombs ensured that she wouldn't leave the designated area he set up for his vixens.

Katrina woke up in a cramped cage and jumped up letting out a bark of protest, I'm in my animal form, she thought. "Ah, good, you're awake," a man's voice came from above her.

"Where am I-" Katrina was cut off as a shock went through her neck.

"Ah, ah, ah! You're one of my vixen's now, you're not allowed to talk, before I let you out I have some rules that you would be wise to follow. 1. You are not allowed to shift out of you fox form unless I allow it 2. You have nano-bombs in your bloodstream that prevent you from going where I don't want you to, if you try a few will go off to warn you 3. You are not allowed to use your powers 4. I am your master and you will always do as I say if you don't want to get hurt. Now, I'm going to release you from this cage and you are welcome to go where you please on the island, but first, you are going to play with my hounds, if you survive then you are worthy of being one of my collection if you die... oh well. Good luck!"

With that the cage opened and Katrina was shoved out, she landed roughly on the ground a couple of feet below her. She barked as pain shot through her ribs. "You'd best get running, vixen, I'm about to release the hounds, and they aren't mercyful." Katrina stood up as the hounds were released and a frenzy of barking went up behind her, she turned only to be attacked by the alpha dog. It latched onto her head and bit down almost hard enough to crush her skull. Panicing she struggled to get free as another dog bit into one of her hind legs and another her tail. She whinned in pain and clawed the alpha's head as deeply as she could, she managed to catch his eye and he howled in pain releasing her head. Katrina turned on the dog that had her leg in it's mouth and bit deeply into her ear, unfortunetly that dog didn't let go, so Katrina clawed and bit her face and grabbed her ear again twisting her head back and forth to cause as much pain as she could. The dog's ear tore off in her jaws and the dog yelped in severe pain, finally letting go of Katrina's leg. The pup attached to her tail seeing what had happened to his parents let go of her tail and she took off for a rock ledge she'd seen from the cage as soon as she was free.

The female dog's ear was still in her teeth and she spit it out, as much pain as she was in she resisted the urge to stop and lick her wounds, she had to get to that ledge and try and escape. When she was nearly there her collar sent a strong shock through her body that knocked her to the ground, she yelped and turned in a different direction. Katrina hated that she was letting this monster control her but there wasn't much that she could do about it at the moment. The dogs had almost caught up with her when she spoted a fox hole and ran into it. She went in as deep as she could then collapsed in exhaustion, her ribs were pounding, her face was bleeding as was her leg and tail but she didn't care, all she could think about was sleep. The dogs were at the entrance diging at the hole trying to get to her and howling for their master to help them. Katrina wanted to threaten them but she couldn't even gather enough energy to lift her muzzle.

The next morning Kurama knocked on Katrina's door, getting no reply he opened the door but she wasn't in there. He shruged assuming that she had already gotten up and went to eat breakfast. When Katrina hadn't shown her face an hour later Kurama asked if anyone had seen her but no one had. Catherine suggested she might be on the roof reading or out in the forest so Kurama checked the roof and then headed into the woods to see if he could find her.

Katrina woke up with dirt and blood crusted in her fur and her entire body was stiff, but it sounded like the dogs had been called off and it was safe to leave the den. Slowly she lifted her head but quickly decided against moving for a little while longer when a headache hit. She lay still until it subsided and she carefully started licking her wounds, the blood tasted disgusting but it was good to feel at least a little cleaner. When she had cleaned up as much as she could her tounge felt numb and the taste of copper in her mouth was sickening. She tried standing again and this time, though a little shaky, she managed, her first thought was to find clean water. Cautiously she approached the hole she'd entered and sniffed the air, the scent of dogs was still there but it was fainter, like they'd been gone for hours, so she climbed out and sniffed the air for water.

Picking up a faint scent and the distant sound of a river, Katrina headed in the direction her senses led her. At the river she laped thirstily, overjoyed as the cool water rushed down her throat and washed away the copper taste. She was tempted to step into the river and soak her sore muscles but she knew that she was too injured to handle shaking off the water afterward. Behind her leaves rustled and she turned around hackles rising and a growl building in her throat.

"Whoah, whoah, it's okay, I just want to help you," a small black fox said as he inched out of the bushes.

"Your mouth isn't moving, are we speaking to each other like animals do?" Katrina asked, still on the defense.

"Yep, now come on, the Master has a nice room set up for you, he sent me to find you and see if you survived the mutts."

"You smell like him, how can I trust you? And why would I want to live somewhere he set up for me when he captured me like a wild animal in the first place?"

"Well, you obviously need medical attention or your wounds will get infected, and yes, it seems weird but the Master is actually extremely kind to us if we survive his mutts. You don't have to trust me, but you don't want to die out here do you?"

"No," Katrina grudingly agreed.

"Good, now follow me and you'll be clean and comfortable in no time," the fox said, turning and heading back through the bushes without seeing if Katrina would follow.

Katrina still didn't trust the fox but she knew he was right, she didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to live, so reluctantly she followed him. It was a long trek through the woods and Katrina limped and tripped a few times, whenever she did the fox would turn around and allow her to lean on him until she growled at him that she was fine. She appreciated his help but she didn't want him to know that. Eventually as it was getting dark they finally reached a castle where tons of foxes and vixens were wandering around freely. "See, I told you the Master is good to us, he lets us have this entire castle to ourselves and even provides us with slaves to take care of us when there are things we can't do."

"Slaves?" Katrina growled, she hated the thought of ordering a slave around.

"It's fine, we never see them unless we're injured or sick, so come on I'll show you to your room," the fox replied.

The room that he showed Katrina was huge and was set up just right for a fox, there were soft pillows on the floor and a huge window that could be pushed open or pulled closed by a rope, even an area for the bathroom that was cleaned regularly by unseen slaves. A slave was sitting politely by a mat and she had needles and bandages and other supplies for healing Katrina's wounds. "I'll leave you to be taken care of, maybe I'll see you later?" Katrina just growled at the fox as he turned his head with a slight pleading look in his eyes; then she walked over to the slave to be healed. She didn't like the thought of a slave having to take care of her but the woman seemed to enjoy gently washing and drying her off then bandaging and stitching up the wounds. The woman never spoke but she radiated kindness and had a very calming effect on Katrina's frayed nerves.

After the slave was sure Katrina was okay and had everything she needed she left and Katrina started pacing the room trying to figure out if she could escape. She heard the door to her room open and close and she assumed it was the slave woman coming back for something she forgot. But then she felt another pelt brush agianst her own and she turned to see a grey fox grining at her, "Who are you?" she asked in a stern voice.

"Oh, you mean the kit didn't tell you? The Master has assigned you a mate and he's chosen me, he thinks that you will provide him with strong kits. He told me to be careful with you because you're injured and he doesn't want you dying before giving him a good litter or two."

Katrina backed up and growled her hackles rising, "I am no one's mate, and I will not have kits with some bully like you! I am going to get out of here and get home, then, I'm going to tell a friend of mine about your Master and free all of the others here."

"Oh really, that's going to be a little hard when you can't leave this island and since I'm your mate that means I have control of you and I want kits!" The grey fox lunged at her an knocked her to the floor, she held back a yelp of pain and bit his fore leg, but she didn't have the strenth to hurt him. Growling he gently gripped her muzzle in his mouth, "You're a fiesty one, the Master's right, you'll provide him with strong kits." The grey fox forced her onto her back but before he could do anything he was kocked off of her, she whipped her head around to see the grey fox fighting with a silver one. "Who are you and what do you think your doing in here?" the grey fox growled.

"I'm her mate and I don't think that she wants you forcing her to do anything!" the silver fox barked. The grey fox bit the silver one's paw and the silver one bit the grey's muzzle. They rolled into the wall and jumped apart then charged and bit and clawed each other over and over. Katrina backed away continuing to growl, she didn't know who this silver fox was but she was pissed at him claming to be her mate, she didn't have a mate and she didn't want one. The silver fox was clawed across the face and pulled back for a second giving the grey fox the upper paw. He lunged at the silver fox aiming for his throat when Katrina jumped between them and the grey fox ended up biting her shouler. She yelped and the silver fox slipped around her and bit deeply into the grey fox's throat, blood whelled up around his muzzle and the grey fox shuddered then collapsed. The silver fox dropped him on the floor and turned to Katrina, "are you okay?"

"Am I okay? I'm fine, you just killed him!" she barked.

"I was trying to protect you, and he would have killed me! He wouldn't have stopped until he'd killed me and had you as his mate! What was I supposed to do, let him do as he pleased with you?"

"I can handle myself, you didn't need to kill him! And why did you say you were my mate? I don't have a mate!"

"Because it was a way to catch him off gaurd and maybe get him to leave you alone!"

"Hmph, who are you anyway?"

"You mean you don't recignize me?" Katrina took a minute to sniff him but she still didn't know who he was, she figured he was just another fox living here who happend to hate the grey fox. "No, why should I?"

"Never mind, I'll let you figure it out, Katrina."

"How do you know my name I never told you?" The silver fox smiled and sighed, then picked up the grey fox and took him to the 'bathroom' area and started digging, reluctantly Katrina joined him and asked who he was again. "You can call me Yoko," he replied.