Karin "Ookami-san" Amasato's Story

Miiko Ito


The sky was mad, it rumbled and flashed bright lights declaring that it was not going to let up anytime soon. Rain splattered against the ground in a loud torrent, demanding to be heard. A little girl cowered in the corner of her bedroom, scared of the rain and the loud noises. She had a pillow squished against her head, her eyes closed in fear that she would see the lightning that flashed against the sky outside of her window. Someone knocked on the door, but the little girl refused to move or acknowledge the presence outside of her bedroom. Someone knocked again, but once again the child did not answer. The person outside opened the door and walked over to the bed, grabbing the girl by her wrist and yanking her off of the bed. "Come on, you have to take the trash out." She cowered as the woman dragged her downstairs and to the kitchen, practically throwing the child onto the floor and pointing to the trash bags waiting. "Go and don't come back inside until you've taken the pails to the side of the road."
"B-but I-I'm scared," the minor whimpered in reply; she jumped when thunder touched her ears, her lower lip quivering. Her foster mother glared at her, obviously not pleased by the girl's display. "I don't care," the woman hissed, poking the juvenile in the chest. "GO!" The little girl picked up the trash bag and dragged it out the door, her clothes soaked through within seconds of stepping off the porch. Another bolt crackled across the dim atmosphere and she screamed, dropping the sack of trash and running under the cover of the porch. "Let me in!" She toppled over her own feet as she ran up the steps, the thunder booming every chance it got. "Please, let me in." The child crawled up the rest of the steps and tried the door, only to find it locked. Another bolt, another boom and the porch was suddenly on fire.
Miiko woke up screaming and clawing at the air, her whole body shook with the intensity of the nightmare as a final sob racked her body and she sniffled, wiping her runny nose on the back of her sleeve. She rolled out of bed and crawled over to the window, dragging the blanket with her to check the weather. Miiko sighed with relief and wiped her tears away with her other sleeve. She stood up and unraveled the blanket from around her bottom, making the bed before going to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
A few minutes later, Miiko was dressed and ready for school. She went to the kitchen and saw her mail near the door, noticing that she had a few payments due, one to the owner of a the apartment building for something that had needed to be fixed in her bathroom. Miiko sighed and went to go get her money, she had done some odd jobs around town to earn some extra spending money because the money the government was giving her (until they could find a new guardian) was only enough for food and utilities.

It was still early morning when Devon got up, being a morning person had it's benefits occasionally. He looked over to his alarm clock, until a month or so ago it's alarm function had been useful. Now he just automatically wakes up before the alarm, mostly just setting it out of habit, and for the rare case that he doesn't wake up in time. He turned the alarm clock off and got himself dressed, Just a plain green shirt and a black pair of jeans would do. After all it wasn't that cold outside and the sun promised some warmer weather for later in the day.

Moments after getting dressed Devon heard Rem's alarm go off in the background. As he walked through the living room into the kitchen he silently counted the seconds that passed before the alarm stopped. He opened the cupboard above the fridge, grabbing a few slices of bread out of the bag. Normally he would make french toast on mondays, because the bread from friday would have become a bit old and dry, but since last week he had bought some bread on saturday it was still relatively fresh. As he grabbed the butter out of the fridge he heard the phone fall onto the ground and the alarm becoming louder as it resonated against the floorboards. Soon afterwards the alarm stopped and Devon continued making his bread. Two slices of bread with butter and some cinnamon sugar on it, afterall it didn't feel like monday morning without the sweet taste of cinnamon sugar.

As he took his first bite Devon looked over at the clock on the microwave. "Tatsuya probably is still sound asleep, and I'll bet he didn't even set his alarm for today. I think it's about time to wake him up." He thought as he made his way to Tatsuya's room. "Tatsuya, time to wake up." He said through the door as he knocked on it. After which he returned to the kitchen to eat his bread. After finishing his bread he dove back into the fridge to get a drink, settling for a glass of milk after noticing that there was no orange juice. As he was busy in the fridge he heard rem's footsteps as she quickly made her way to the door. Before he could ask her to eat breakfast or even just say good morning she was already out of the door. Devon sighed and thought: "It's been a year now, you'd think she'd adapt and get used to her new family, or at least to her new guardian. It's not like I am that scary, right?"

He looked over at the clock on the microwave once more, it was about time for him to get going too. He still had to do groceries, and then at around eleven he would open up the cafe. "Tatsuya! Last chance to get up! I am going to the stores and if I find you here when I get back I'll cut your lunch money for next week in half!" He yelled across the house. Devon then grabbed his bags and left the house.

Devon then walked to the stairs intercepting the landlady on her way down. "Good morning miss Amasato. You look as beautiful as ever." He said with a smile as he made his way down the stairs.

Kishitani Ritsuka

beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-

A pale hand slid out from under the mound of blankets and swatted at the alarm clock, making it fall to the floor, where it, amazingly, stopped it's infernal beeping. The rest of the body that was attached to that hand appeared soon after, a thin Neko boy with bright blue hair, which was currently sticking up at all angles. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to wake himself up, though truth be told all he wanted to do was pull the covers back up and go back to sleep. He couldn't do that though. He had class today.

The weekends always end too quickly...he thought sadly as he stretched, groaning at how stiff his body felt. He really had to stop sleeping in that awkward, curled up position he always did. But try as he might, regardless of how he fell asleep, he was guaranteed to wake up stiff and sore.

He glanced to the clock that was now on the floor, and panicked. He was gonna be late! Untangling himself from the blankets, he rolled out of bed and began the scramble for clean clothes. He'd have to do the washing soon too.

And apparently food shopping as well, as he soon realised in the process of raiding the fridge for breakfast once he was dressed. Not finding anything worth taking, he grabbed an apple off the counter on the way out, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he did so.

Gonna be late, gonna be late! he thought frantically as he sprinted down the stairs, taking them two or three at a time. He could Not be late again! He was already on his last chance with his tutors.

On his way down he spotted Karin, and he gave her a quick wave and a "Morning Amasato-san!" as he rushed past. Thankfully, the college wasn't too far away...

MIIKO ITO

Miiko watched Rem take a seat, ignoring her which wasn't that unusual. "Yep, I'm new, I only arrived in Japan about a week ago actually. My name's Trayton Takahashi, but you can call me Tray." She turned back towards the boy, an English first name and a Japanese last name; how peculiar. "Those wings are so cool, can you really use them to fly?"
"Yes," Miiko nodded her head smiling as her cheeks turned a slight shade of red. She was always embarrassed when talking about her wings because to her they were just normal attributes, like freckles or red hair. Miiko seemed to forget quite often that they were not, in any sense of the way, normal. "I can fly higher than airplanes," it was true she had done it once and it had taken a lot out of her so she had not attempted it a second time.

An odd noise coming from outside the school building made her ears metaphorically perk up (she wasn't a neko or a kitsune, so her ears didn't move, but she did have ultra-sensitive senses). Outside was the owner of the apartment building she lived in, fighting with two people. Her attention snapped back to the classroom when their teacher began to speak. She shifted uneasily in her seat when no one moved to get the papers from his desk and sighed, standing up. She walked over to the desk and took the papers, handing them out to the students and trying not to be slightly jealous that everyone did better than her on the quiz.

MIIKO ITO

Miiko stood up and gathered her things, glad that she had an excuse to go home. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then," she said to Trayton as she left, slinging her bag over her shoulder and walking to the closest open window. Miiko turned around to make sure no one was in the way before climbing onto the ledge and opening her wings, jumping off and soaring as her feathers caught the air, allowing her to glide through the sky swiftly.

She looked down at the angry crowd and frowned, she had never seen such a large riot of humans in one place before. They certainly were mad. Miiko sighed and shook her head, it was only a few wing flaps to the apartment building from here, but she was worried about what would happen if they discovered a whole building of hybrids living right behind them.

The blonde landed in front of the building and noticed a sign on the door advertising work in the new maid cafe. She reread it to make sure that she was seeing things right, then rubbed her eyes just in case. They were opening a maid cafe here? You've been short on money lately. Miiko thought to herself, maybe you should inquire? The girl pushed the glass doors open and looked around the lobby of the complex, but Amasato-sama was not there. "Hmm, I wonder where she could have gone." Miiko wondered aloud and headed up the stairs to her apartment.

Trayton

When the intercom sounded, telling everyone that school was canceled, a look of utter disappointment crossed Trayton's face. This was supposed to be my first day of school, I was looking forward to it. I guess there's not much to be done about it now though. He thought to himself. Then he saw Miiko walk to the window and jump out. Trayton ran to the window and watched in awe as she flew away. The sight of her flying through the sky on her own two wings was amazing to Trayton, something he had never known possible. I've only been here a week, and I'm already seeing some amazing things, I think I'll enjoy it here. Was the thought running through his head as the flying girl faded into the distance and a slight smile appeared on Trayton's face.

Still at the window, Trayton's gaze drifted downward where he caught sight of a mob of humans making quite a ruckus. That must be what the intercom was talking about. Wonder what they're doing. Trayton thought as he listened to hear what they were shouting. When he realized they were protesting against hybrids, Trayton's smile quickly turned to a frown. He knew that many humans didn't like hybrids, but to interrupt his first day of school to protest against hybrids, that made him rather angry. Nevertheless, he knew there wasn't much he could do about it. Now the only question was what to do with the rest of his day.

Trayton spun around and walked for the door, his tail wrapping around the handle of his book bag and picking it up as he passed his desk. Stepping out the door, he saw a woman standing in the hallway. "Oh, hello Miss Amasato. What are you doing at the school?" Trayton asked with a smile.

Trayton

Trayton stood still as he listened to Karin. His tail was still holding his book bag and his smile remained as Karin talked. He noticed When Karin said she might not go out of her way to help if they weren't hybrids, but he wasn't sure what to make of it. That is an odd way of saying that. He thought to himself. But then I'm not used to this culture, she probably just means it wouldn't be needed for her to help if we were humans. With that, he tucked the thought into the back of his mind and moved on.

"That's nice of you Miss Amasato." Trayton said, then a thought occurred to him. "Does Miss Miiko Ito live at your apartments? The reason I ask is she jumped out the window and flew away, I assume she was heading to her home." He told Karin, that way she wouldn't think she would need to wait for Miiko. He wasn't sure if Miiko lived in Karin's apartment complex or not, but he knew many of the hybrid students did, so he thought it was worth mentioning. Then his expression changed so he looked more excited. "She can fly! I never knew there were any hybrids that could fly, that is so cool! It must be lots of fun." He exclaimed.

Trayton

Listening to Karin's response, Trayton thought for a brief moment before talking. "The way I see it, there aren't many people that really want peace, they'd rather have someone to look down on or to fight. Because Hybrids are different, many humans use that difference as a reason to look down on us, let's them feel more important if we're less important." Trayton then stepped closer to the wall and leaned his back against it while his tail sat his book bag on the floor. Then he looked at Karin with a smile. "Of course not all humans are bad, there are nice ones like you Miss Amasato." Trayton finished cheerfully.

Trayton

Trayton continued leaning against the wall as Karin looked into the class room and called for the others. When no one responded, Karin said that the two of them would head back to the apartments on their own. Trayton stepped away from the wall, his tail grabbing his book bag once again, and he followed Karin as they made their way out of the school building.

While they were walking, Trayton began talking again. "Do things like these riots happen often here? I'm rather upset, this was supposed to be my first day of school, I've never been to a school before. I hope they don't stop school again tomorrow." Disappointment could be clearly heard in his voice as he talked. Then he looked at the bento boxes Karin was carrying. "What will you do with the lunches since school was canceled?" His voice now carried no disappointment, instead he just sounded curious.

Trayton

When asked if he had been schooled at all, Trayton smiled and said "Yes, I was homeschooled on the cargo ship i used to work on. The other sailors taught me. As far college, I haven't really given that much thought at this point."

As they walked, Trayton observed his surroundings intensely, watching how people they passed reacted to seeing a hybrid walking with a human. The reactions seemed quite varied, some seemed upset at the site while others didn't seem to care and a few just seemed surprised. Trayton had been told that Japan had equal rights for hybrids, but he had also been told that not everyone in Japan agreed with that they should. Trayton hadn't yet come to any conclusions on what to think about Japan and its people, there was still too much he didn't know.

When they arrived at the apartment, Trayton saw the security guards and became curious. While him and Karin were walking up the stairs he looked to Karin and asked "Do you have to post security often? Or is it on rare occasion only?"

Arriving at the ninth floor, Trayton began walking down the hallway towards the last room, which was his, but on the way he heard voices from one of the apartments. Looking over at Karin, he saw that she had heard them too and she seemed slightly curious. He stopped and listened for a moment, it didn't take long for him to recognize one of the voices as Miiko Ito, the girl he had met at school not long before. Then the thought occurred to Trayton that he was being rude and shouldn't listen in. But instead of going on to his apartment, Trayton turned to Karin and asked. "So, what do people around here usually do when something like school being canceled happens? Since school got canceled, I have hours of time until I'm supposed to be at my job."

Miiko Ito
Miiko hung up the phone with a sigh when she heard voices outside. The hybrid flung her apron off and ran to the door, pulling it open quickly. "Amasato-Sama," Miiko bowed in respect then quickly stood up. "Um-" how was she supposed to put this without freaking the owner of the apartment building out? "I found a girl, she's a hybrid and she's badly injured. I did what I could, but I think she needs proper medical attention." It wasn't until after she finished that Miiko noticed the boy standing there.

"Trayton, you live here too?" She asked, trying not to seem too excited. What floor did he live on? She wondered. What if they were neighbors? Her heart rate picked up a bit and Miiko realized she was staring. "The girl's in here," she turned around quickly as her cheeks flushed pink and she hoped that Amasato-Sama was following her because Miiko was too embarrassed to turn around and check.

Trayton

Trayton listened as Karin talked, but when she finished, Trayton still wasn't sure what he should do. But it made him realize he could do just about whatever he wanted. This was something he wasn't used to, when he was with the resistance group he was a slave and did what he was told to do, and then on the ship, although he wasn't a slave, there simply wasn't much he could do. He began to reply to Karin "So I can do whatever I want then." He said that more as a statement to himself than a replay to Karin. "Now I just need to figure out what I wa" Just then the door next to them flung open and Miiko began talking.

When Miiko asked if Trayton lived here too, he replied "yes, I live at the end of the hall." Miiko had seemed happy when she saw him, that made Trayton happy and he thought to himself "Maybe I really have made a friend on my first day of school." Then Miiko said the girl was inside and turned to walk back into her apartment. Trayton stood there, not quite sure what to do. then it hit him that she had said someone was hurt. "Per-perhaps I can be of some help too, if I may come in?" Trayton half said and half asked.

Miiko Ito

Miiko nodded her head and took the cream and the pill bottle from Amasato-Sama. "Thank you," she said and gave a respectful bow then turned to Trayton, "sure, come on in." She gestured towards the small apartment with the hand not holding the medications, wondering of Shikurai would mind if Trayton looked at her. She didn't know if the girl had anything against hybrids, or men, but Miiko sure hoped not.

"Is it alright if my friend Trayton takes a looks at your wounds?" She asked Shikurai, wondering if she and Trayton were actually friends and if not if he minded that she used that term. Miiko tended to over think things sometimes.

Shikurai glanced around nervously, a bit unsure.

"Umm.. I-" Abruptly, Shikurai was interrupted as she began coughing harshly into her hand. Feeling a wetness on her palm, she removed her hand to find blood, and the familiar metallic taste now lingered in her mouth. "Err.. M-Miiko-San..." She mumbled, showing the blonde her hand. Confused, she stared at the blood. What.. What's wrong with me?

Coughs subsiding, Shikurai pressed her blue ears against her head and continued. "Anyway, ummm I-I don't mind.." She finished, shooting a glance at the newly arrived hybrid. He seemed to be a monkey of sorts, judging by the tail. The other person appeared human, and Shikurai guessed this was the Amasato-Sama she'd heard Miiko talking about. Now knowin she's in the same room with a human, she became a bit uncomfortable, as her past memories have tainted her perception of humans.

Trayton

When Miiko invited him in, Trayton went in without hesitation. He followed Miiko to the the injured girl and waited as she asked the girl if it was ok for him to take a look at her wounds. When Miiko called him a friend, a small smile spread on his lips, but he didn't let his thoughts linger on that, he was too focused on the injured girl now. The smile quickly faded as he took note of the girl's coughing and the amount of blood that she coughed up. As soon as the girl said it was ok for him to look at her wounds Trayton kneeled down next to the couch she was laying on and began examining her. He looked closely at the girl's bruises, cuts and scrapes and recognized them immediately as wounds from someone beating her, he had seen them plenty on himself in his past. He began gently feeling her limbs for fractures, watching her expression for any reactions to pain, which he knew she would feel even though he was using a light touch. "I'm going to check your ribs for fractures." He said as he reached a hand over and felt along the side of her rib cage. Trayton wasn't used to being around women, so it didn't even occur to him that she might not want him touching her because he is a man, he was just focused on identifying any serious injuries.

Trayton finished examining the girl's wounds and began speaking to her. "You've been beaten, but you'll be ok once the doctors treat you." He said this without the thought occurring to him that she might prefer no one knowing she had been beaten. "It looks like your most serious wounds are a mild concussion, a slight fracture in your left arm and a fractured rib, thankfully it isn't broken. The blood you coughed up is likely just from a busted blood vessel and will heal fairly quickly. Of course the doctors will need to look you over to be sure, but I don't see anything life threatening. Your concussion should be fine by tomorrow, the fractures will need to be splinted so they can heal for a few weeks and the rest of your wounds will need to be cleaned out and bandaged." Then he turned and spoke to Miiko "I know she's in a lot of pain, but the medics will be here any minute, you probably shouldn't give her the painkillers, just let the medics decide what medications and painkillers to give her to make sure there is no complications on mixing drugs." Turning back to the injured girl, Trayton smiled reassuringly. "I may not have a medical degree, but I know what I'm doing when it comes to injuries. I spent a few years on a cargo ship, you have to learn to diagnose and treat injuries on a ship since you're so far from hospitals. You'll be fine once the doctors treat you, though you may have a few scars, I can't say one way or another on that one."

((OOC: ChaoticInsanity, I looked at your previous posts to estimate an amount of damage to Shikurai, I don't mean to control how injured she is, so I matched it up to what you put in your posts the best I could. If you want it changed, or just plain removed and redone completely, PM me and I'll make the changes.))

Miiko Ito

Miiko watched Trayton examine Shikurai and stood back a bit, waiting for his instructions on what to do. "I know she's in a lot of pain, but the medics will be here any minute, you probably shouldn't give her the painkillers, just let the medics decide what medications and painkillers to give her to make sure there is no complications on mixing drugs." Miiko nodded her head in understand. The ambulance arrived and Miiko stepped away to allow them access to Shikurai.

This was probably the busiest her apartment had been since she moved in. As much as she liked guests, it was a bit odd considering her guests were the owner of the apartment complex, medics, an injured hybrid, and a boy she had only met this boring. Eat your heart out kid from the third grade that had called her boring; Miiko's life was anything but.

Trayton

Trayton moved out of the way and stood next to Miiko as the medics came in. He heard Karin say that her and the others would follow the ambulance in a car. By 'others' I guess she means Miiko and I. I'll get to see what a proper medical facility looks like I guess. He thought to himself.

When the medics carried Shikurai out of the apartment and down the stairs, Trayton looked at Miiko and said. "I guess Miss Amasato is going to follow the ambulance and we are supposed to ride with her. The question is, who beat the girl to start with and how can it be prevented from happening again?" Pausing for only a brief second, Trayton spoke again. "So, how often does this sort of thing happen around here?" He asked with a quizzical expression.

~Shikurai

Shikurai tensed up as medics came and began carrying her to the ambulance. Her eyes darted around apprehensively, and she wondered what exactly an "ambulance" was. Of course, since she was locked up and beaten, she didn't get outside much, nor did she get to go to school, or watch TV, and things of that sort. So, right now, she was extremely confused and maybe even a bit scared, despite the reassuring words from the others. Forgetting about what she thought an ambulance was Shikurai shifted her thoughts over to her injuries.
Mild concussion? Fractured rib? Shikurai thought, unsure how she felt about all this. How long do I have to stay at this... Hospital place?

Miiko Ito

Miiko walked down with the others to the ground floor, she was quiet, thinking about what Shikurai might choose and remembering how she had once been in the same position. Abusive fosters were a terrible thing, unfortunately it happened a lot more often than not these days that the fosters took advantage of the money Japan gave them for housing the human/animal children.

Miiko's feathers ruffled at the memories, once they reached the ground floor Miiko spoke up. "Maybe I should stay here," it was selfish, her new friend was in pain and going off to get a complicated surgery and Miiko wanted to stay in the comfort of her apartment because she was scared of hospitals.

Trayton

Once on ground floor, Trayton saw the medics loading Shikurai into the ambulance but he didn't know what he was supposed to do at this point. Then Miiko spoke up, suggesting that she should stay behind. "Hmm, well I guess there isn't any real need for you, or me for that matter, to go if Miss Amasato is taking care of Shikurai, but why don't you want to go? Do you have another obligation?" He asked Miiko. Then he realized that he had work in a few hours himself and, looking to Karin, asked "Miss Amasato, how long will we be at the hospital? I still have a few hours before work, if need be I can walk back from the hospital assuming it isn't to far anyway." Then he waited for both of them to reply to his questions.

As Shikurai waited inside the ambulance, blankly staring into space, her ears pricked up as she overheard her name, and decided to eavesdrop as a means to somewhat divest her boredom.
"I hope what Shikurai sees at the hospital doesn't scare her. Some of the patients were saved from otherwise fatal injuries." This caused a smirk to creep onto Shikurai's pale, battered face.
Scare me? she thought with a scoff, It'd be nice to see the pain of someone other than my-fucking-self for once!

With that image in mind, the conversation she was listening to a moment ago now background noise, she became eager to arrive at the hospital, hoping to find some amusement there.

Miiko Ito
Miiko shifted from one foot to the other before finally answering Trayton's question, "I'm scared of hospitals." She had spent a fair amount of time in one herself before moving to Amasato-Sama's apartment building. It had been about a two month stay due to the beating by her foster parents and then after all of that, Miiko's parents absolved their relationship due to the fact that they thought she was too weak.

Trayton

"I'll ride with you." Trayton responded to Karin. He thought that was best so he didn't get in the way of the paramedics. He then listened to Miiko's response, noting how she shifted nervously. "Scared of hospitals? I've never been to one, I thought they weren't scary. At least that is what I would think with them being a place of healing." He said with an expression of slight puzzlement. Then he smiled and continued speaking. "Ok then, you stay here, Miss Amasato and I will make sure Shikurai is cared for. I'll see you at school tomorrow if we don't meet before then."

Trayton then hurried over to Karin and said "I'll follow you to your car."

((OOC: You don't have to read the dream, totally irrelevant, I just got bored))

Miiko Ito
Miiko nodded her head and went back inside of the building, the blonde walked up to her apartment and stripped off her uniform before flopping into bed and closing her eyes, Miiko really needed a shower, but she didn't feel like cleaning herself at the moment. Right now, the only thing Miiko wanted to do was sleep. Miiko's big blue eyes began to close and soon the girl found herself drifting off into one of her usual fitful sleeps.

How much time had passed? Miiko couldn't open her eyes because they were swollen shut. She was locked in a cage in the basement, her foster parents saying that because she was part animal, she should be treated as one. They had never liked her, but Miiko thought they would never take it this far. The hybrid foster program was supposed to be a good thing, but unfortunately, not everyone was paired with good fosters.

Miiko attempted to curl up on her side and quietly moaned in pain, a whimper escaping her blood covered lips. There was so much pain that Miiko could hardly move. What had prompted the attack? Probably the fact that Miiko had called the social worker four or five days ago saying that they were abusive. The social worker said she would tell someone and the phone had been ripped out of Miiko's hand by her foster father who then proceeded to beat her. She had been in the cage ever since then, her foster parents coming down once in a while to beat or yell at her.

The creaking of the door sliced through the silence, a sliver of light breaking through the darkness. Miiko quivered, scared as to what might come next. She pushed herself into the back of the cage, trying to make herself smaller. "You little brat," even from where he was standing at the bottom of the staircase, Miiko could smell the alcohol. He ripped open the door to the cage and yanked the girl out, taking off his belt and raising it into the air. "Animals are meant as pets not children!" He brought the belt down hard against her face, once, twice, before she finally fell over, blood dripping from her nose. "Stupid child, all you do is eat our food and use our money and what do we get in return? Nothing!" He dropped the belt and grabbed a fistful of the child's blonde hair in his hand, dragging her back towards the cage. Then he did something unexpected, he grabbed one of Miiko's wings. Realization and horror struck her features as she realized what he was about to do.

"No, please-!" Pain ripped through the child's back as the sound of bone crunched through the air, he pulled out handfuls of feathers and let them fall in bloody clumps to the ground. Miiko felt broken, both physically and mentally, she couldn't take this abuse anymore. Then it was as though an angel came to rescue her, the sound of sirens permeated the evil laughter and footsteps stomped on the deck outside. Miiko's foster father grumbled and locked the girl back into the cage. What felt like hours later but could have only been minutes, five police officers emerged at the top of the staircase. They made their way down and wore mixed expressions of shock and horror. One of them spoke into their walkie talkies and two more came down with a stretcher.

She was saved, but the nightmare wasn't over. Internal bleeding, a concussion, not to mention the mental scars Miiko was going have. To make matters worse, a day after surgery, Miiko's parents came to visit and told her they didn't want her back, they said she was too weak. Miiko was there for another two months, recovering, going through a barrage of therapy and talking to different government workers about what had happened and the next move.

Miiko awoke in a cold sweat, it had only been five minutes. She couldn't believe it, it only took five minutes for the memories the girl had so tried to repress to resurface. Poor Shikurai, had she gone through the same thing? Was anyone there for her in her time of need? Miiko had found her, but she hadn't gone with her to the hospital. Did that make Shikurai feel betrayed or sad? Miiko wondered, she sure hoped not.

Trayton

As Trayton entered the clinic, his head swiveled on his shoulders looking every which way to take in as much as possible. He listened intently as Karin spoke, his eyes opened wide when she said that last part. "Wow, where I'm from there isn't any medical techniques that can save someone once their head has been removed."

Following Karin into the waiting room, Trayton spoke up again. "While I don't know much about the politicians, I find it interesting to find out there are actually that many humans here that would be willing to step in to defend a hybrid. That's much different than where I'm from. also this medical facility looks amazing from what I've seen so far. I bet you have treatments for just about everything here. I've done my fair share of setting bones and bandaging wounds, but I just had cloth, sticks, a knife, and maybe some alcohol to disinfect if I was lucky."