Chapter 2

Disclaimer: What the heck? Who is this Yukiru Sugisaki person? I thought I owned DN Angel!

Daisuke: No, sorry Pheo, but you don't.

Satoshi: Yeah, if you did, you'd probably make it totally unrecognizable.

Pheo: Oh yeah right! Although I would have made you and Krad separate entities, and made Krad nicer… and a lot of other things, like not EVER making Risa fall in love with Satoshi… Satoshi, you're way too good for her!

Me: Uh, Pheo, you were just saying a disclaimer, correct? Let's not start ranting about Risa… again…

Pheo: How'd you –What are you doing here?

Me: Just decided to check in on my 'other self', that's all. Maybe you should start Rue's story back up? This is getting close to a hundred and forty words…

Pheo: Fine. I don't own any of the characters but Rue. So far.

…

I managed to catch a mouse. That was it. I was so hungry by midnight you wouldn't believe it, and I didn't have anything for Krad. I felt terrible, but there was nothing here unless you wanted mutant cat for dinner. Personally, it wasn't to my taste. So I padded around, hoping to get lucky and spot something good. Anything. But the only thing living aside from the grass was me.

Snap. I flinched, unused to such a loud sound. Snap, snap, snap. I glanced over my shoulder, wondering exactly what that sound was, but I didn't see anything. It worried me. I began walking back the way I'd come, and the sound faded. I padded quietly over to the door to my uncle's –my master's laboratory stood. I have not described it to you yet, so I might as well do so now.

It was a one story building, and long. It was mainly cement and mortar, gray, with a steel enforced roof. The roof was flat, with a glass greenhouse on top. But that was more for Kei-sama's vegetation experiments than for plants… you would not want to go in there. I pawed at the door, and when no one answered, I just stood on my hind legs and turned the doorknob with my mouth. It tasted terrible, sour, like metal sometimes did. I did my best to ignore the taste, but I gagged as soon as the door swung open and I could let it go. I had to get something to eat; anything. I slunk in and very carefully nudged the door closed with my nose. There was the tiniest 'click' as the metal door shut, but nothing loud enough to wake someone.

I padded down the halls, knowing uncle –Kei-sama was around somewhere. I poked my muzzle through the door to his main laboratory, but I couldn't smell him. I wondered if I would recognize what was edible now and what wasn't. Well, the ham sandwich smells okay… but that's three days old… I didn't care. I walked over and wolfed it down. (No pun intended.) I felt a little better, and now I pricked my ears up. I could hear harsh, labored breathing, and rustling. That had to be Satoshi. I followed the sound, tense and ready to spring. But no one was near him. He was still chained, though he wasn't hanging from the wall any longer. He was sitting on the floor, his wings wrapped around his chest, asleep.

"Hello?" I rasped. I couldn't speak very well yet, I could tell I'd need some practice, but Satoshi woke with a start.

"Who are- what are you?" He asked. I walked over to him, and poked one of his wings with my nose.

"My name-" my voice stuck for a second, "Is Rue." Satoshi scratched my head, behind my ears, and I pulled my lips into as good a grin as I could manage. "Krad sent for me… I thought you might like to come too."

"I'm Satoshi," Satoshi said, "And I'd love to be out of here, but you don't have a key…" I pulled my head away from him, walked over to the ring of keys that had conveniently been left in reach on Kei-sama's desk, and walked back.

"Will these do?" I asked. He smiled and took them from me. "Work fast." Satoshi nodded and tried several keys before he found the correct one, then unlocked the shackles that bound him to the wall.

"Thank you," he said, "Where is my brother?" I turned and walked off, trusting that he would follow me. He did, and when I glanced back, he had folded his wings at his back, exposing his bare chest. If I hadn't had fur, I probably would have blushed.

"He's this way," I said, "Just keep walking. Can you fly? Have you tried?"

"Not yet," Satoshi replied, "But I feel like I could." I nodded.

"Then be ready," I warned as we reached the door. There were no clouds tonight, so there would be no cloak of darkness to conceal us. "Just in case." I shoved the door open, and padded outside. I loved the feeling of crouching close to the grass, stalking towards the warehouse. I felt… alive, I suppose, for the first time in my life.

Snap. I jumped. Snap, snap, snap. Snap, snap… There was a long silence. I relaxed; continued forward. It had been nothing. Maybe the building settling, or the fence. Nothing to –

Crash. I howled and lunged forward. That sound had come from Kei-sama's house. I knew, in my heart of hearts, there was nothing I could do, but when I arrived at the small cottage, I hadn't even come close to preparing myself for what I saw. One wall was completely gone, another caving in. The wood had split. That's what had been making the snapping sound. Glass glistened in the grass, and I could hear whimpering.

"Rue," Satoshi said, coming behind me, "What's going on?" I shivered, scared out of my wits.

"I –I don't know," I whispered, "I don't know."

"This almost looks like… like…" Satoshi trailed off. I bent my head to the ground and sniffed, and sure enough, I could smell that same rich, earthy scent that radiated from Satoshi and Krad. I followed the scent, almost afraid of what I would find.

A girl with dirty blonde hair and tanned skin stood over my uncle, a long knife in her hand. I felt fury coursing through my veins, and snarled low from the back of my throat. The girl turned. She had startlingly blue eyes, heavily outlined in what looked like kohl. Murderous rage glowed within the blue, and I snarled again, the fur on the back of my neck bristling.

"So," the girl said, "What are you?" I snarled again. I didn't want to talk in front of this girl. Some part of me was saying that it would be a mistake. I hated my uncle, but the way I felt toward this girl was… completely indescribable. I wanted to nip her throat out, piece by tiny piece.

"It can't talk Lyra," Satoshi's voice rang through the night, mellow and bored. "None of his experiments can. This is his security." So this girl was Lyra. I had thought that she was Krad's mom, not… not… this.

"Oh, can't talk, can it," Lyra said sarcastically, "Poor puppy dog… I've fought children fiercer than you, you sweet little doggy." I started to see red. Did this girl want to be killed? I snarled, crouching low to the ground. I had never fought before in my life, but Kei-sama must have given me the instincts of a wolf as well as its body.

Then I spoke, my voice a low, quiet growl. "Step away from my uncle," I whispered, my lips parting from my teeth. I became strangely aware of a prickling up and down my back, but chose to ignore it.

Lyra twirled her knife between her fingers, puzzled. "Why would I do that? After all, it was this man who took the prince and his brother away from their kingdom… who took from me my fiancée. Why should I let him go? Give me one reason, dog."

I thought about it. One minute passed, then two. An owl hooted. I could not think of a single thing that might save my uncle. I went back through all of my life, though most of my memories were fuzzy. I was shaking with pain and fear, and then it came to me. The day that I had come here, when I was five. I didn't remember what I had been wearing, but I had come a week after my parents had died. My uncle hadn't been such a cruel man then. In fact, we used to catch butterflies and laugh together. I told all of this to Lyra, and how he used to read to me, and comfort me, and always come and tuck me in before bed. I told her all that and more.

"Please Lyra," I whimpered, "You cannot kill him." Lyra looked at me for a long moment. Her blue eyes, ringed with such dark black, her flyaway hair… she seemed almost to take comfort in what I had told her. Her eyes were sympathetic as she ran my uncle through with her long knife.

"Oops," she said, "My hand must have slipped." She twisted the knife cruelly as she drew it from my uncle's chest. I stopped seeing. My vision flooded with red, the red that was spilling from Kei-sama's chest, the red that would soon stain Lyra's skin…

I do not remember what I did, only that I lunged. I remember the taste of flesh and blood, blood and flesh. And I remember Satoshi's and Lyra's screams, and then there was nothing.

…

AN: Okay! Chapter two up, because my poll is tied… if you like this, please vote! Thanks, and reviews are always welcome!