Chapter 3

He lay in limbo as his body throbbed and ached in a way he had never thought possible. The pain was present, as were his thoughts, however his body lay limp and non-responsive on what seemed to be ice itself. Its cold, hard surface bit into the exposed skin and he didn't have the strength to recoil.

"Maybe I was assimilated," Kira pondered thinking back to stories his tribe told about spirits. "Your body and soul will rot until you become one of them," Hibiki had whispered around the campfire which seemed like aeons ago.

Hushed voices accompanied with echoing footsteps interrupted Kira's train of thought. He listened as hard as he could from the lifeless corpse he was encased in. Strangely he recognised the language they spoke, even through their unfamiliar accents.

"The creature is currently in a stable condition. We have already taken various samples from the it and some are being analysed as we speak." The conversation continued in a similar fashion until the footsteps halted.

Fear and hope danced through Kira's body, was this another okami-tribe he had stumbled upon or was it the ones who had so brutally chased him earlier?

They were upon him now but there was no escaping. They were so close he could feel their warm breath upon his face. Kira involuntarily shuddered. The warmth on his face in comparison to the ice he was lying on was enough to make anyone shiver. However the movement was extremely painful renewing the pain that raked through his body.

This movement brought a high pitched squeal from one of the onlookers. The high note bouncing off the walls was almost unbearable against Kira's sensitive ears.

Nicol screamed like a girl jumping back like he had just touched an electric fence. The lab scientist, Rau Le Cruset, looked sceptically in the direction of the young ranger. "Sorry," Nicol muttered shuffling back to the huddle around the cage.

"I'm so glad that you boys were the one to find him. I'm certain that I will be able to make good use of him." Athrun felt a chill run down his spine and he was sure Nicol felt it too. How glad he was that it was not him was not inside the cage.

"What do you intend to use him for," Yzak queried. Athrun was sure that Rau must have been surprised to receive such a question a from a lowly ranger but he obliged and answered the question with more zest than necessary. "I hope to test the creatures physical capabilities and then perhaps apply them to a new drug I have been working on, maybe even use it in some genetic transfusions by the genetic modification teams upstairs. I can't say much more since it is highly classified but I'm sure this creature will be the break through that I have been waiting for. And I'm also sure that you boys will prove to be a great help too." Athrun for the second time shuddered. What was up with this guy? Long platinum blonde hair, and wearing a mask that seriously was creepy enough without all the dim artificial lights in the lab making it glow. He was looking forward to getting out of that room as soon as possible.

"When are we going to be discharged from this sector," whined Dearka. They had been sitting in the cafeteria for hours after they had finished their meeting with Rau down in the lab. "What do you want me to say?" Yzak snapped, thoroughly annoyed with Dearka."That we can leave," Dearka replied hopefully. "Fine. You can go now." "You know, this is why nobody likes you," huffed Dearka.

"I don't think were going to be leaving anytime soon. I'm pretty sure we've stumbled across something we weren't meant to find," Athrun sighed raking his hand through his hair thinking back to what Rau had said earlier. "We should stick together and watch our backs. I think Athrun is right about this guy," Nicol said in agreement nodding his head to Athrun's statement.

A pretty sad chapter since my writing skills are a bit rusty.

I'm following the pointers from LittleBlueNayru and thanks for their support. :D