A New Kind of Pet

Chapter 1

"Gaah! The brat's escaped!"

"Quickly! Seal off all doors on this floor! We can't let our most successful experiment escape!"

"There he is! Quickly, someone grab him!"

The last shout caused Izaya to pick up speed and run down the nearest hall of the lab. He was so damn close to freedom that he could taste it, but he knew that he needed to get out of the lab before he could actually consider himself free. At the sound of pounding footsteps behind him, he pulled more speed from within, and raced toward the end of the hall. He was too close to getting away to allow them to catch him now. For once, he was thankful for all the "tasks" and "treatments" that they had given him. It had given him more stamina, more strength, and even more speed, which he didn't think was possible since he had already been faster than most when he was human. Of course, he could have went without the damn ears and tail that the treatments had bestowed upon him, but even they still had their benefits. For example, he could hear that some scientists had cut him off ahead and were waiting to ambush him, and that his tail allowed him to keep his balance as he turned sharply into the next hallway before the ambush.

He couldn't help but smirk as he heard the curses that came from the scientists as he used the gifts they had given him, to out wit them. Still though, as much fun as this was, he wanted out of there, and the window ahead was a perfect exit for that.

"He's going to go out the window!"

"There's no way he an make it! This is the third floor!"

He rolled his eyes at that, dug deep within to tap into the ability of the animal that they had blessed him with, and found his gaze narrowing as it was heightened, his speed increasing as his body became more light and agile, and his teeth and nails sharpening. The window was right in front of him, so he launched himself forward, bracing his arms in front of him at the last second, and smashed through the window. Wincing slightly at the shattering sound the glass made, and the small pricks that the smaller shards left on his skin. His eyes widened for the briefest of moments, and then he touched onto solid ground no more as if he had just jumped off it. Moving quickly he continued running, easily jumped over the wall that circled the lab, and started running straight for the lights that made the city of Ikebukuro.

Shizuo lit a cigarette as he walked alongside Tom, not really caring where they were heading since he knew that it was all for a job. All he was, was added muscle when needed, and even though he hated violence, he believed that these people deserved it. Seriously, how hard was it to pay back a debt. Not to mention the people were stupid to try and even fight it, they were the ones that borrowed the money, so they were putting themselves in responsibility to return the money as well. He blew smoke out and watched as it formed briefly before him before thinning out to nothing, and blinked when something ahead of them caught his eye. He looked ahead, and thought for sure that he was seeing things, and nudged Tom.

"In front of us. Am I seeing that right, or have I completely lost it?" He asked, pointing to what he was talking about, and sensed Tom tense beside him. A few yards ahead, a young teen was standing in front of a, suspicious looking, man with confusion written all over his face. The thing that had their attention though, was that the kid was wearing a thing white shirt and matching shorts, and had two black cat-like ears poking out of his brunette locks, and a long black cat-like tail twitching behind him.

"If you've gone crazy then so have I. Also, just to speak, that man is a known sex slave seller. Only reason he's not behind bar is that the police haven't been able to find enough evidence." Tom stated, and Shizuo was on the move. Sure the kid was weird looking, but who was he to judge, especially when he was friends with a Dullahan. He stopped behind the boy, watching as he tensed and looked over his shoulders with ruby eyes wide with fear. He looked over the boy, and glared at the man that looked to be frozen in place by his fear.

"You best be moving along before you find yourself in a world of pain." He growled at the man, watching as he went pale under the deadly gaze of the Monster of Ikebukuro, and then high tailed it as if hell hounds were after him. He waited to make sure that the man surely left, then turned to the...unique teen, who was looking after the man in shock.

"That didn't seem too nice of you. Although, the feeling I got off of him wasn't all that good either. He had a hidden motive that I couldn't trust." The teen stated, and Shizuo could tell that he was mostly speaking his thoughts out loud, not directly toward him. Now that he saw the kid up close, he could tell that he was in need of food, clean clothes, and sunlight.

"What's your name kid? And where are you from?" Shizuo asked, watching as the boy tensed and looked up at him with those strange eyes of his. They stared at one another for a moment, then he blinked when the boy smiled and his tail swayed instead of how it was twitching earlier.

"You're really curious, and...concerned about me. I've never actually have someone care about my safety. My names Izaya, and I came from a lab where the scientists experimented by forcing animal dna into human dna. It's the reason why I have these ears and a tail. I also..." Shizuo quieted the boys talking by placing a hand over his mouth, his mind still trying to wrap around the idea of humans using kids for experiments. He looked at the boy, who was still looking up at him with trusting eyes, and frowned. He didn't like kids much, because they were annoying and never seemed to know when to shut up, just as this one had been doing. Still, it was obvious that this was the first time the kid had ever been outside the lab he had spoke of, so that meant he knew nothing about around here. And that was a danger in and of itself. He blinked when the kid stepped back and looked up at him with apologetic eyes.

"I'm a nuisance to you. Sorry. I...Just...Never met someone who actually seemed to care." Izaya whispered, and Shizuo blinked, surprised that the kid had a form of manners. He sighed and scratched the back of his head as he tried to figure out what to do. He couldn't just let the kid wander around, that would lead the kid to getting hurt, regardless of his ability to sense if someone was good or not. There were still people out there that could confuse him enough to take advantage of him.

"You're worrying about me again. You don't have to, you know. I have the abilities of a cat, so I'm quick in escapes." Izaya stated, he took another drag of his cigarette and shook his head.

"Sorry kid, can't do that. It's obvious that you'll be easy to take advantage of, so how about you stick close until I think of something." Shizuo stated, watching as the kid blinked in shock. Then gave him a confused look.

"You're so confusing. You're concerned about my well being, but also annoyed at me." The kid stated, and Shizuo frowned at how accurate the kid was on his emotions. Giving a grunt he grabbed the kid by the back of his shirt and blinked when he started hissing, and watched as his tail, ears, and original hair actually bristled like a cats would.

"Put me down. I can walk." He hissed, and Shizuo dropped him when he suddenly had to catch his hand that had swiped for his face. He blinked as he saw that what had once been blunt nails, were now sharp claws.

"Damn. I can't make heads or tails of this." He growled, tugging the hissing teen behind him as he met up with Tom again. He watched as his boss smiled at the kid, and the kid studied him before huffing.

"You find me as a nuisance and are just going to make both of us go somewhere else while you handle what ever you're thinking about." Izaya stated, looking away with a slight hurt look that Shizuo barely caught. He was surprised though, when the kid took a closer step to him as he actually took hold of his sleeve.

"Well. No denying that. I was thinking you could take the kid to see Shinra, see if he knows anything about it. The rest of the job I can handle without any problem." Tom stated, Shizuo nodded and motioned for the kid to follow him. He was surprised that the kid was able to match his steps, not going to far ahead but not lagging behind either, and staying within his sights. He glanced down at the kid, still curious about what the kid had gone through.

"If you wanna ask me anything, I'll answer it to the best of my abilities." Izaya stated, causing Shizuo to blink and glance down at the kid.

"Alright, first off. Stop doing that. You say the wrong person's emotions and you can find a gun pointed at ya, got it? Second, I am curious but I ain't gonna get into your past. There's no need to make you repeat it." Shizuo stated, watching from the corner of his eye as the kid seemed to think about what he said and then looked up at him.

"Why don't you wanna hear about my past?" Izaya asked, and Shizuo sighed as he tossed his cigarette away before looking into his red eyes.

"Because, I can pretty much figure that you went through hell in that place. If you wanna forget about it, then I shouldn't make you face it right away. Also, you still don't know me well enough to tell me something that personal, if even you trust me." He stated, watching as Izaya frowned and think about what he had said. He sighed and glanced away, his cat ears laying flat on the back of his head.

"Sorry. I just never met anyone that even remotely cared and I guess I got ahead of myself." Izaya stated, and Shizuo blinked, realizing that the kid had a point. If he had been coped up in a lab for all of his life with no one but people in lab coats poking and prodding at him, then he didn't know how to react to someone who cared. Which meant that when he did experience that care and worry, he would automatically cling to that person and see them as someone that he knew he could count on. Giving a sigh, he dragged a hand through his hair, and glanced down at the kid who was still frowning.

"No need to apologize. Izaya, was it? I can kinda see where you're coming from, and it's just making me want to protect you all the more. So, I should warn you. Shinra is known as an underground doctor that has a thing for unnatural things. So, he'll probably frighten you at first, but all you have to do is say no and he should back off." Shizuo stated, blinking when the kid's hands were suddenly on his wrist, causing him to stop and glance down at him.

"Please! No doctors! I can't trust them!" Izaya shouted, and Shizuo was thankful that it was late and no one but drunks were out and about. He carefully placed a hand on the kids head and rubbed it carefully.

"Hey, hey. No worries about Shinra, alright? I'm gonna be right there and I wont allow Shinra to do anything bad, alright?" Shizuo stated, blinking as the teens eyes clouded with tears, and his body began to tremble.

"H-how do I k-know that you w-wont get hurt as well. I-I don't want to get anyone hurt b-because of me." He whimpered, and Shizuo blinked. The kid was...worried about his safety. He couldn't help it, he laughed out loud. Causing Izaya to jump and look up at him in confusion, Shizuo quickly gathered himself but smiled down at the young boy.

"You've nothing to worry about me. Trust me on that. I'm not exactly normal either." He stated, watching as Izaya blinked and tilted his head slightly to the side. Shizuo patted his head again, being careful, and then placed his hand on the kids shoulder. When the kid blinked at him again, he just motioned him to follow and they headed for Shinra's and Celty's. Only to freeze when the boy tensed and hissed slightly.

"Shizuo. There are three men in the next alley way that are wanting to ambush you." Izaya whimpered, his ears twitching along with his tail. Shizuo blinked at him, then glanced toward the alley way that was only a few paces in front of them.

"I know you're there. Come out now." He growled, watching as three men stepped out glaring at Izaya who took a step back. He moved to the side to block their glares, and wrapped his hand around a nearby sign.

"So. What exactly were you three punks planning on doing?" He asked, tightening his grip on the sign when one pulled out a knife.

"Well, we were going to kill you then have some fun with freaky there." The man stated, and he felt a hand grab the back of his vest as a sharp gasp left the kid. It didn't take a genius to know what kind of fun they were talking about, and that was more than enough to piss him off.

"Stand back, Izaya." He growled, waiting for the man to release him, then yanked the sign out of the ground with ease and then pointed it toward the men. Each one tensed and swallowed, as they realized that they had been idiotic to try and face the Monster of Ikebukuro. He glared at them, waiting to see if they would still fight, or run away. It wasn't long before the other two dropped their knives and took off running as fast as they could. The third one though, crouched down and smiled.

"I'm facing you and that's that." He growled, rushing at him and ducking beneath the sign that he swung. He blinked when the man continued on pass him, and realized too late that he was going for Izaya. He watched as everything seemed to go in slow motion, one moment the man was thrusting the blade toward Izaya, and the next it was swiping at nothing but air. He quickly swung the sign again as the man tried to figure out where Izaya had disappeared to, and watched as the man slammed into the building nearest to them and crumpled to the ground. He then glanced around, feeling slightly panicked when he didn't see the kid anywhere.

"I-Is it safe to come down?" The shaken voice caused him to look up, and he blinked in shock as he saw Izaya peeking over the building awning with worried eyes. He moved until he was underneath him, looked to where Izaya had been, and then back to where he was. The kid was quick if he could cover that distance as fast as he had.

"It's safe. Come on down." He stated, watching as he carefully crawled onto the edge of the awning and then hopped down as if it was nothing. He watched as the kid looked at the unconscious man, and then to him with curiosity lighting his eyes.

"Were you held in a lab too?" He asked, and Shizuo shook his head.

"No. I was born with my strange strength. Now, lets get to Shinra already." He stated, walking off again, and blinked when the kid quickly followed. This time with a smile on his face as he followed.