Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I OWN DN ANGEL! *is tackled by lawyers* OKAY, NEVER MIND! *lawyers retreat* Well… That was odd… I guess I don't own DN Angel after all…

WARNINGS: Emiko. And I think that's about it.

…

"Well Rue," Daisuke said, "It's not much, but here's our house." Krad and Satoshi had gone off to who knows where (though I assumed a castle or wherever they lived), escorted by Dark, while Daisuke had taken me to his place to meet his parents. We hadn't needed to walk far. Daisuke's house was a beautiful work of stone that was built into the wall just behind the main gate (although how a wall had been constructed around such a gigantic area was beyond me), with a shabbily shingled roof and a huge, wraparound deck overlooking the few buildings that were visible from where we stood. Several gardens were in full bloom, one filled with every shade of red and yellow flowers like a patch of fire, another decorated with shades of blue and red and purple, and so many other colors it hurt my eyes to even look at. If I craned my head to the left just right, I could see a vegetable garden behind the house.

"Are you kidding?" I asked, "This is beautiful." Daisuke blushed at the compliment and we walked up to the door, which swung open when we were a few feet away. A blur of brown and green shot towards Daisuke, who instinctively took a step back, tripped over me, and knocked us both to the ground.

"Daisuke!" The blur (who I assumed was Daisuke's mother) promptly tackled him, pinning us both to the ground. I felt the breath leave my lungs, and let out a very un-wolf-like yelp of pain. "Oh my, did I hurt you?" She hadn't noticed me yet, I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was still speaking to Daisuke.

"No mom," Daisuke replied, "But… If you'd get off of me, I'd like to introduce you to someone." Instantly the woman scrambled to her feet, pulling Daisuke up with her. Then her gaze fell on me. Her jaw dropped. "Um… mom," Daisuke said, "I'd like you to meet Rue. Rue, this is my mom." I stood up, gratefully noting that I hadn't broken a rib.

"Pleasure to meet you," I said. Daisuke's mother fainted. "Oh… Sorry Daisuke… I guess that wasn't very tactful…" Daisuke smiled and shook his head.

"C'mon mom, you haven't really fainted in ages. Get up and I'll explain." The woman sat up slowly, still staring at me in shock. I sat down, so as to appear to be less like roadkill than I had been several seconds earlier, and gave her a small smile, trying not to bare my fangs.

"Dai," his mom said, "How do you explain this?" I didn't like her tone of voice much; she sounded like we'd met on not-very-good terms before.

"She's the scientist's niece," Daisuke replied. "Mom, this is Rue Hiwatari." I blinked. Oh yes, of course. Satoshi had asked me if I was a Hiwatari. I'd even confirmed his thoughts. But I had been too shocked by the discovery of my old body to fully comprehend his words, or mine. But that was my name. Rue Hiwatari. The woman stared at me like I was a ghost for a split second, and then her eyes turned cold.

"Well," she said, her voice too pleasant to match her eyes, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Rue. You can call me Emiko. I'm Daisuke and Dark's mother and gatekeeper here. Dai, could you come here for a moment?" She moved to what she deemed to be a safe distance away, about thirty feet, and Daisuke, sending a helpless 'I'm so sorry' look over his shoulder, followed her. I don't think either of them realized I could hear them both perfectly.

"Mom," Daisuke said, "What's wrong?"

"Where will she be staying?" Emiko hissed. "And where's Dark?"

"She'll be staying with us, of course," Daisuke replied, "And Dark's escorting Prince Krad and Prince Satoshi to the castle."

"So they're all okay then?" Emiko said. "Thank God, the whole kingdom's been on tenterhooks!" Then suddenly, her expression became stern (or at least, I assumed it did. My eyes weren't what they once were). "But Daisuke, what are we going to do with that wolf?"

"She's a human being mom. You can see that, can't you?" I smiled at Daisuke. Even after I had attempted to kill his brother, he could still stand up for me. I found myself wishing that more humans were like him. I also felt a stinging blow accompanying Emiko's words. I was more than a wolf. I knew I was. Why couldn't she see that? "And she's here to stay, at least until Prince Krad comes to pick her up." I felt the fur on the back of my neck stand on end. Krad… maybe it was the new eyes he had, but he seemed more cat-like than I had remembered on first meeting him, and he seemed to just set me on edge. I didn't want to be near him. Satoshi was okay, but Krad… I shook the thoughts out of my head. I wasn't sure whether wolves could be charged with treason, but I figured it would be best to play it safe.

"So what?" Emiko asked, "He's planning on training her as a war-hound?" There was that word again. Dark had mentioned it once, and gotten a sword thrown at his head for it. What did it mean? Obviously something to do with fighting, but that was the most I could figure out at the moment.

"I don't know," Daisuke admitted, "But mom, just let her stay. She's really nice, she'll help out around here, and the whole trip here; it was a day and a half, she didn't complain once. Look at the state of her paws."

I heard Emiko's voice soften just a bit. "What do you mean?"

"Her paws are practically torn to shreds mom. I saw her trying to clean them off every time we stopped, but she never complained once." Now that Daisuke had mentioned that, I felt like crying with gratitude. And of course, pain. Because suddenly, my front paws; my front legs, felt like they were going to give out. I lay down, trying to make the movement seem casual. Emiko sighed. I could hear her approaching footsteps, quick and light, like butterfly wings.

"I'm sorry Rue," she said, "Are you okay?" I felt her pick up one of my paws, which was rather uncomfortable, and then set it down.

"I think so," I replied, "Just tired." I couldn't let her know I'd overheard her conversation with Daisuke. And I wasn't in the mood to complain about anything. That was just my nature, and it had been burned (not literally) into my mind by my uncle. 'Don't complain. Don't complain. Don't complain.'

"Your paws are torn to shreds," Emiko said, her voice taking on a motherly tone. "Can you walk inside? I can get some salve on them… Daisuke, have Towa get some bandages ready. Are you okay Rue?"

"I'll be fine," I said, "Thank you." I stood up (not without a bit of difficulty) and we went inside.

The interior of the house was amazing. There were throw rugs absolutely everywhere to disguise the stone floor, and the walls were covered with paintings. A vase of flowers from the fire garden (as I later learned it was called) sat in a mounted wall bracket near the door, bright red and yellow and orange like a torch. A large sofa sat in front of a fireplace, which was empty and cold at the moment and was probably the size of a small shack. I could've curled up in there, even with the logs that were stacked in there already, without a problem. The thought of a roaring fire made me slightly homesick, but not much. I was still too much in awe of my surroundings to feel sad about what I had left behind. This was beautiful. This was home.

"Here Rue," Emiko said, "I'm not sure where you'll be sleeping just yet, but just lay in front of the fireplace for a while. I'm going to go find Towa… she's probably gotten lost again…" I wondered briefly exactly how large this house was, but then a girl stumbled into the room, looking utterly confused. She had short silver hair and jade green eyes, and was wearing a purple dress that ended just above her knees.

"Miss Emiko!" She cried, "Thank goodness! That attic is absolutely crawling with snakes again! They're so horrible…" She shuddered, as though there wasn't anything in the world worse than snakes. Personally, I didn't mind them as long as they weren't poisonous. Emiko sighed.

"Towa, for the last time: those snakes aren't poisonous! They won't hurt you." Then she glanced over at me. "Towa, this is Rue." She stepped to one side, and I put on my best 'I won't eat you' face. "Rue, this is Towa, our maid." I decided I'd risk a smile, and Towa didn't even blink as she grinned back. Apparently, her fears ended at snakes.

"So there's someone else like me!" She cheered. "It's so nice to meet someone else with my abilities, I thought for the longest time I was the only one!" I blinked, suddenly confused.

"What do you mean?" I asked before I could stop myself, the pain in my paws momentarily forgotten. Towa's face became confused.

"Why, you're a Morphling of course!" Towa exclaimed. "I've never met another, just heard about Argentine… but he's a servant at the castle, and he's a lizard, which is practically a snake…"

"I-I'm sorry," I said, "But you're going to have to explain this a little more. I'm from the Borderland… and I lived in the City for a few years before that…" Towa's mouth fell into a perfect 'o' shape.

"I'm going to go get some bandages then," Emiko said brightly, and dashed off, leaving me with a still slightly stunned Towa.

A moment later, the two of us still sitting in silence, Daisuke ran past us. "Have either of you seen Wiz?" He cried, panicking.

"Wiz?" Towa and I asked in unison.

"That little white rabbity thing," Daisuke explained, "It had big red eyes and a long thick tail…"

"No…" I replied, "Not since you and Krad had to come find me after I killed that moose, now that I think about it." Daisuke grabbed at his hair before running outside.

"He's such a klutz," Towa commented after he'd slammed the door shut. I couldn't help but nod in agreement. "But anyway… for you to have come from the City is really weird. Most of us don't make it very long there."

"I'm sorry," I said again, "But I still don't know why you're calling me a Morphling."

Towa gazed at me for a moment, then scrunched her eyes closed and screwed up her face, as though concentrating extremely hard. A moment later, there was a bright flash of pink, and in Towa's place sat a tiny pink bird. "See?" She said, "We can turn into animals at will!" Oh dear. This was going to be hard to explain.

"Um, Towa," I began, but she quickly cut me off.

"Are you stuck in that form?" She asked, "Don't worry! I was stuck like this for a week before I finally figured out how to turn back, the trick is–"

"Towa," I said again, "I'm not a Morphling. I wish I was, but…" I took a deep breath and told her the whole story, right up to first seeing this house. Towa's mouth fell open again. I half expected her to unwittingly swallow a fly. "You see? I'm human, but just… stuck, I guess you could say, in this body."

"So…" Towa still seemed a bit confused. "You're completely human, and yet you're a wolf?"

"Unfortunately, that's the easiest way to explain it," I sighed. Just then, Emiko walked back into the room with bandages, salve, and just about anything else you might be able to find in a first aid kit, as well as a bucket of water and several rags. "Miss Emiko…" I said, "Not that I have any right to question you…" I suddenly felt very tired after recounting my adventures to Towa. "But isn't that a bit… much?"

"No, no!" Emiko said brightly. "Besides, you've got mud and leaves and branches stuck in those paws of yours, we'll just have to dig most of that stuff out! And you'll probably need stitches…" She trailed off, looking thoughtful. "Yes, I think so. I'm going to run upstairs really quick Towa, I'll be right back!" She dashed off.

"Towa," I said, "I want to be unconscious by the time Emiko gets back here. Is that possible?" Towa, now back in her human form, shrugged and smiled. Odd… since when had there been three Towa's?

"Rue, I think you'll be asleep by then… just close your eyes." I sighed. Towa was probably right… And I was really tired… I closed my eyes and felt myself drifting away into the realms of dreams.

…

AN: I tried to make the ending a little more light-hearted than the rest of the chapter, if only because I've been writing a lot of darker stuff and needed a break. I hope you don't mind. And Emiko seems like the kind of person who could be all bright and peppy while listing off a bunch of injuries, don't you think? Please read and review!

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