| As the light cleared, she found herself kneeling on a white, tiled floor, dry, but still weak and bruised from her trial. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the floor of light around her, and all around her she could hear the sounds of people around her, but she was to weak to look for their speakers. When she gained enough strength, she sat down, observing the area around her. She was surprised to find herself surrounded by humans around her age. Their clothing was strange to her, and as she continued to look around, she started to become scared. She had prepared to leave her clan by learning common from some of the travelers than stayed for long periods of time, but it was her first time away from her clan. She was not prepared to leave so quickly before she got her chance to say goodbyes. One of the humans walked in front of her as she gazed upward at him. She guessed that he was one of the stronger of those present around her, his black hair and bulky figure noticably stronger than some of the others. In my condition, she figured, it would not be best for me to anger him in any way. He casually observed her, obviously gazing at her fur, her ears, and her tail. Then he looked behind her, but she was a little too weak to look at what captured the human's attention. "Nice costume there. Where did you pick it up?" She blinked at him in utter confusion. I can't believe he has never seen one of my people before. Maybe this is one of the slave-free areas in the human's territory. That, though, she could not be absolutely sure about, so she waited a bit longer before the tall human confronting her spoke again. "So where did you get it, huh?" She stood up slowly, her legs barely keeping her up as they wobbled. She shook her head, her tail swinging back and forth slowly. Her arms hanged limp on her sides as the tall human continued to observe her carefully. The words she uttered next took a lot of effort, her focus starting to waver on the human. "It is not....... a costume.... sir...." The human gazed at her quizically for a moment before he blinked in amazement. A sudden rush of pain filled her as someone or something grabbed her tail, causing her to fall back down on her knees. She turned her head long enough to see another human, shorter and weaker than the first, holding her tail tightly in his hands. He began to tug on her tail, causing waves of agony to overtake her mind and cause her to kick out wildly at him, grazing his right leg but missing with her claws. The first human growled down at her as she faced him again, weakness causing her sight to blur slightly. "No one can hurt my little brother Paul, especially a freak woman like you." Her gazed focused on his hand in terror as he raised it up to strike her. She closed her eyes and turned her head, waiting for him to strike her. She wondered how much longer she could withstand the torture she was enduring before she would fall unconscious, knowing that anything could go wrong if she passed out now. She waited and waited, but his hand never made any contact with hers. She slowly opened her eyes to stare in amazement in what she saw next. A third human, similar size to the second, held the taller human's arm back by the wrist as the tall one growled at him. The blonde haired human's face scared her even further, for it remained emotionless despite the tall human's reaction. The tall human wrenched his arm free, anger seething from his eyes, but it seemed that the blonde human could care less. His gaze changed from the tall one to Paul as he began to speak. " Let go of her tail, Paul, or I'll be forced to make you release it." "No one threatens my brother, Ren, and doesn't pay for it," sneered the tall one to the blonde. The waves of pain ceased as she felt her tail released from Paul's grip. Tears began to swell up in her eyes as she held her tail close to her body. She wondered how much longer she could have standed the pain as well as wishing that the pain in her tail would go away. The sound of a fist striking flesh caused her to lose her train of thought, however, and as she gazed up, she saw that the tall human had struck Ren in the cheek. Ren took a step back to recover from the blow before staring at the tall one, his face still emotionless. Ren held his hand in front of his face and spat in it, gazing at it for a moment. Then he turned his hand for the tall one to see what was on it, but she couldn't see anything on his hand or why he was showing the tall one his spit. "You didn't even draw blood, Mark. How do you expect to beat me up this way?" Mark was infuriated by the comment. He came at Ren with another punch aimed at his face, but Ren would not be struck a second time. Ren caught the fist short of striking his cheek again, gazing intently at Mark who pulled his fist away from Ren's hand. In anger, Mark followed up with two more punchs, still aimed at Ren's face. Using very little effort, Ren brought his left arm up, letting the fist strike it both times. Then it dawned on her. He is purposely getting him angered to make him lose focus, so he can take advantage when the big one makes a mistake. She carefully observed Ren, watching him as he continued to block or evade punch by punch sent to him by Mark. But it was when Mark winded up to strike Ren hard but missed completely when Ren took the offensive. Ren brought his knee up and into Mark's stomache as all the air rushed out of Mark's lungs as he stumbled back. Ren continued in his attack, striking Mark's right thigh with his heel. As Mark regained his balance, Ren punched at Mark's stomache over and over in rapid succession until Mark fell over, breathless and in pain. Ren's gaze then shifted to Paul behind her, who wasn't going to watch anymore. Paul charged at Ren in a blind rage. Ren merely blinked at him as Paul prepared to tackle Ren in his charge. Without warning, Ren shifted his stance for a moment before sending his elbow into Paul's stomache as he made the attempt to tackle Ren. Paul cried out in pain as Ren followed up with a well placed kick aimed at the back of Paul's knee as he buckled to the ground. With another push from his foot, Ren put Paul on the floor, crying while Paul held his stomache. Ren began to walk to her when she began to feel the pain and weakness in her body again. She was amazed by him so much that she had nearly forgotten the state her body was currently in. As Ren drew closer, panic started to fill her. She did not know what he would do next to her, and the fear of becoming a slave slowly overtook her. But it was the smile on Ren's face as he kneeled in front of that caused her mind to be at ease as he spoke softly to her. " Are you okay? You look tired and beaten.... and you seem to have been cut on your thigh." She shook her head, pride taking over her pleading mind as she gazed into his eyes. Ren's eyes were no longer cold like they were when he was fighting, but full of warmth and care for her as she slowly began to rise again. When she feel back down to her knees, however, he caught her in his arms and supported her on her feet. She was about to thank him when she noticed that Mark was up again, creeping up behind her and Ren. Someone in the crowd shouted, "Behind you Ren!" Not even bothering to look back, Ren kicked backward, striking Mark hard in the groin. Mark fell down again in an incredilbe amount of pain as he held his crotch. She winced as she saw him fall to the ground, but was thankful in her mind that she would not fall down again. Ren gazed back at her for a moment before helping her to a bench beside a wall made of stone. The crowd around them started to disperse as the sound of a loud bell sounded in the hall that she was in. As she sat down, she saw him checking her wound, making sure that it was not bleeding. He then smiled up at her, continuing to speak softly. "What is your name, if you do not mind me asking?" "Irai......" was all she could say as her body finally gave out as she fell unconscious. |