Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own DN Angel, yadda yadda yadda…

AN: I don't really know what did it, but… I really love writing this story. I feel like telling you guys what inspired it, but then I feel like I'm taking away from the actual story and annoying you… maybe I'll put it at the end of the chapter. That way it doesn't interfere with this.

…

I sat up so fast my head spun. Satoshi must have found a knife to slit the back of his shirt open with, because he was wearing it. (The shirt, not the knife!) His wings were settled at his back, and the knives gleamed all around us in the dim light.

"What do you mean you found me?" I asked warily, standing up and stretching. I felt something click into place on my back, and sighed contentedly. It was funny that I still had that crick in my back after I slept, even in this form, but I didn't think much about it.

"I mean…" Satoshi trailed off. "Well, you'll have to come see." I followed him without another question to the very back of the building, where something large and silhouetted sat in the dark that not even the great lights in the front of the building could penetrate. The temperature must have been anywhere between ten and twenty degrees colder, and I shuddered, not only from the cold, but from the feeling that was coming from that thing… I didn't even need Satoshi's explanation.

There was a deafening bang. I heard someone screaming, screaming, and I didn't realize it was me until the screams stopped. My uncle was next to me, trying to stop the bleeding, trying to save me…

"Oh Rue," he said, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I can't…" he was crying. That was strange, he never cried. What had happened? "Damn them," he whispered, "Damn them all it wasn't supposed to be you!" I felt him pick me up. The sun was fading… what was going on? I was beginning to feel scared.

"Uncle," I said, surprised at how hard it was for me to even whisper, "What's happening?" I saw him looking at me, tears in his eyes.

"Rue, I'm doing this for your own good," he said, "I promise when you're healed I'll fix you, but… I'm not letting you die. You look so much like her…" by 'her' he meant my mother, his sister. He used to tell me about her when I was younger. "I don't want to do this," he said, and my vision was so fuzzy it was useless. I shut my eyes. I couldn't think straight either; I was focusing so hard on breathing, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out…

I walked up to the small cryogenic chamber, pawed away some of the crystals of ice and the frost that had settled on the glass, and saw my face. My face. I stared at myself for a long moment, then began trying to brush off some more of the frost from the glass. "They… they killed me," I whispered, "Someone… someone shot me." There it was. The bullet hole in my chest. The blood on my shirt. I had been shot. This was how my uncle had saved me, putting my mind in this body.

"Were you… are you a Hiwatari?" Satoshi asked. I nodded numbly. "And so was Kei?" Another nod from me. "The scientist and his niece…" He sounded as numb as I felt. "We… I… Krad…" he sighed. "Rue I'm sorry. This is my fault. We were being killed off one by one by this man, and… there was nothing else we could do. Lyra and Dark… they were the two…" I snarled and he shut up.

"You're saying that you and Krad ordered our deaths?" I asked, "And Lyra and Dark…" I jumped down from the chamber, hackles raised, snarling at Satoshi. He took one step back, then another. I continued approaching him, snarling.

"Rue," Satoshi said, "Calm down."

"Calm down!" I snarled, "No. No, you killed my uncle you killed me dammit I will not CALM DOWN!" I leapt at him but he jumped into the air and spread his wings.

"Rue," Satoshi said from the safety of one of the rafters, "This won't be solved by killing me." I growled. "Rue, please calm down."

The events of the day hit me like a sledgehammer. A very heavy sledgehammer. I blacked out.

…

I woke up in the same spot, Satoshi standing next to me. I didn't move. Every inch of my body ached, and I felt like I should just die now. Satoshi must not have realized I was awake, because he knelt down and stroked my head. It was wonderful feeling, and I wagged my tail. I loved being a wolf right then. "Satoshi," I said, "I'm sorry. I'm just… It's so hard to lose your only family to the same people who are rescuing you." Satoshi shook his head.

"It's fine," he said gently, "Do you think you can walk?" I struggled shakily to my feet and stood. I'd be able to walk, but I doubted very far. I nodded anyway. "Okay," Satoshi said, "Let's get back to the others. We've been here almost half an hour." I nodded and turned to follow him, but something caught my eye.

"Wait a sec," I said, and slowly moved toward the something that was glinting in the light. It shimmered and sparkled in the moonlight, sparkled gold in the silver light off the black blade. "Satoshi, I want to take this." It was a sword, but not a sword. It was like a long dagger, maybe a foot and a half long, with the hilt in the middle of the blade. It would be perfect for me to carry, if I didn't mind nine inches of steel protruding from either side of my mouth. Behind me, Satoshi gasped.

"That blade… Hanone… was lost to us long ago," he said in awe, looking at it. "It was always said that a wolf would bring it back to us and wield it… It is yours." I blinked.

"What about this wolf?" I asked, shocked. I picked up the blade and a chill ran through me.

"Just old legends," Satoshi said, "I never believed them. I'm going to say this is coincidence that you found the sword… and since you're technically human, a wolf didn't find it." I shrugged (well, it shouldn't be called a shrug, but it was habit,) and ignored the strength that was surging through me. Like I'd find a magic sword. That was legend, just like Satoshi said. I was being careful not to damage the leather or drool on the hilt, but it was hard. Plus, Hanone was heavy.

(AN: Hanone is 'Fang' in Japanese. Of course, if you know me, this wouldn't surprise you.)

"Well," I mumbled, finding it almost impossible to talk with the weapon in my mouth, "May-he we hould ge' baa." I dropped Hanone and tried again. "Maybe we should get back?"

"Good idea," Satoshi said as though he hadn't suggested it less than two minutes earlier. I grabbed Hanone and trotted out with him following closely behind me. "I'll have to have Krad look at the swords back there. If you found Hanone, maybe he can find its sister blade."

"Wha's tha?" I asked around Hanone.

"Tsume," Satoshi answered. "If you believe in legends, it would be in there. I doubt it though." I laughed.

(AN: Tsume= Claw in Japanese.)

"I don no wha to belee in," I mumbled, "Nah anymoe." Satoshi laughed. I knew I sounded ridiculous, but it still stung a little. I was a predator now, a strong fearless wolf, and yet he was laughing at me! Of course, I had to snicker a bit too, until I laughed loudly at myself for sounding so ridiculous, dropping Hanone on my foot in the process. I stepped back just in time, picked it back up, and didn't speak for the rest of the trip back to the lab. It was still dark out, but there was a pale gray-pink strip of sky on the eastern horizon.

Krad saw me almost immediatly. "You found Hanone?" He asked in shock. I walked over to him and placed the sword in his hand. He took it and spun it around, whirling it until he finally threw it at the wall. It stuck there, quivering, and I ran over and grabbed it.

"You're good," I commented after setting the blade down.

"You'll be better," Krad said, "It was made to be used by a wolf." I was still trying to figure that out, because as far as I could tell, it wasn't going to be easy to use. Eighteen inches of heavy steel and leather…

"Krad," Satoshi said, "Don't tell me you actually believe in those old legends." Krad shrugged. I wondered briefly where Daisuke had gone, but shoved the thought from my mind as Krad answered.

"Satoshi," Krad said, "Don't you remember the legend of the wolf? Were you never told the story of the wolf and the angel?" I felt my jaw drop, and glancing over at Satoshi, saw him staring at me like he couldn't believe I was there.

"I was never told that," Satoshi said, "I'll have to check the library. But for now, maybe we should set off. How long do you think it'll take us to get home? And where's Daisuke?" Krad shrugged.

"I'm not sure how long it'll take us," he admitted, "And as for Daisuke, I sent him out to guard the front. You can go get him if you want, but I want to try and find Tsume before we leave. Rue, would you come with me?" I nodded, and the three of us split up outside of the lab.

Snap. I stiffened. Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap. My ears swiveled around, trying to pinpoint where that sound was coming from. I had thought it was the house, but… Snap. It was around here somewhere. I gave Krad the code to the building where the swords were (well, I shouted it at him) and tore off. Snap. It was getting louder. I kept running. I had to find out what was making that sound before I went insane. Then I stopped dead. I'd left Hanone with Krad, who'd been carrying it so we could talk, and I didn't know what I was going up against. I felt like an idiot, but didn't turn back. I approached more cautiously, but I didn't let myself turn back. Snap. Snap. SNAP. I jumped. The last snap had been so loud it hurt my ears.

I looked all around, but there was nothing there. I thought for a moment, then leapt up and sank my front paws into the earth. I started digging. I kept at it until I had a hole at least ten feet deep and five feet wide, and my paws were bleeding. If I could walk after this, it would be a miracle. No, it would be beyond a miracle. I curled up in the bottom of the hole to take a break-

And leapt back up, snarling in fright. Something had jabbed me! I stared at the ground for a long moment, searching for what must have been sticking out of the dirt, but I saw nothing. I curled up again, but almost immediately sprang back up. Still I saw nothing. That felt like… an electric shock. I shook my head. I couldn't dig another inch. The dirt was already mud on my paws where it had mixed with the blood that was caked in my fur, and I definitely wouldn't be walking for a while, so I couldn't get out. Yay… I'm stuck… in a hole… with something that keeps shocking me… The sun was just peeking over the horizon now, and I was so tired…

"Where is she?" I barked. That had sounded like Satoshi, thank God. "Rue?"

"Hey," I said, trying to sound casual, "I'm kinda stuck…" Satoshi sighed and jumped down the hole. He picked me up and jumped, spreading his wings, and then landed a few feet away. "There's something down there," I said once he'd set me down and I'd curled up on the ground, "Something that's shocking me." I heard someone walking towards us and growled, but it was just Krad.

"I couldn't find it," he said, "Maybe… Rue, what have you been doing?" I nodded towards the hole.

"Digging," I replied, "And tearing my paws open in the process." He sighed. "Krad, tell me if there's something down there. It feels like I'm being shocked every time I try to lie down in there, but I can't see anything. You're eyes are better than mine." He nodded and went to look.

"Rue, what led to this place?" He said after a moment.

"There was a sort of snapping noise…" I said, "It was driving me crazy, so I went to try and find out what it was." Krad grinned at me and jumped down.

"Well, you found Tsume," he called excitedly, jumping and scrambling out of the hole. It was quite undignified, but the excitement that shone from his eyes made up for it. In his hands he held a small piece of metal. It looked like a claw. A golden claw. I snorted.

"That's Tsume?" I asked incredulously.

"No," Krad said, "This is Tsume." He closed his fist around the small claw and his entire hand began to glow. There was a bright flash, and when I could see again…

Krad held a three foot long golden sword in a double handed grip. A gold sword, the blood channel an etched design of a fang, copied over and over and over again. I blinked at it, placing my head on my paws, trying to figure out what I'd just seen. I couldn't even process it. This thing had been calling to me ever since Krad had come. It made sense; it was meant for him as Hanone was meant for me.

"So Satoshi," Krad commented dryly, "Still don't believe in legends?"

…

AN: Well, okay. I promise that after this, I'll start bringing in more of the DN Angel cast. And I'm going to start trying to write longer chapters… but no guarantees, unfortunately, especially since I really need to seriously begin TEM II. Anyway, please R&R!

Oh, right, the inspiration. Well, this was actually inspired by a dream that I had a while back. I was Rue (except in the dream I was a red wolf with like... magical abilities or something, because I remember becoming invisible) and for some reason, I was actually a human that had been turned into a wolf, and now I was being kept in a castle as an experiment... I have weird dreams, don't I? I've actually forgotten most of the rest, and for some reason I think I ended up as a human at a tourist shop and found... I think it was a hawks wing... (don't ask) but just to shout this out: don't be afraid to write down your dreams! They might become something really cool! (At least, I consider this to be cool. Or at least fun to write.)