Hi guys! :D … (a few moments later) … o.o Damn, not much to say ^^" Well lets leave it for the end then :P Oh Oh! I've never had a disclaimer before, so I'll just put one in XD

Oh before that, I told –humanequinn- that I would mention his/her story in this chapter, cuz its JUST THAT BRILLIANT to me. I love it. It's Natnao though, so if you're a natnao fan, give this story a shot. -humanequinn- deserves more reviews. The story is called 'Lick'.

Disclaimer: Yes I own Shiznat, I own Mai hime, I own it all! Bwahahahaha!

–Readers slap Ashley over the head causing her to fall flat onto the ground. (Face first)-

Readers: To hell with your author notes! Get on with the story!

Ashley: [Sobs] Hai… [Pouts]

Warning: This chapter contains just a bit? Of disturbing sexual themes, and abuse.

Chapter 5: The escape: Girlfriend crisis

[Kuga research facility]

"Hey, oji-chan, I need the leavers' pass."

A bloated bald old man sat at the desk near the lot that stored all staffs' vehicles, reading a… well… let's just say a magazine with nude girls on the front cover- Not bothering to even look up at the girl who was speaking to him. "You new?" He mumbled behind the obscenity of what appears to be a porno magazine; his face completely buried in it, totally indulged.

Natsuki was a little annoyed at his attitude but brushed it off since he was no one 'important', she wouldn't waste her energy getting worked up over a perverted jerk like that. "What, does it look like you've seen me around before?"

A shake of the oily bald head; still glued to the R rated pages.

She rolled her eyes. "Good, then you should know the answer to your own question." She spat coldly.

Putting down the magazine, he finally looked up at who he was talking to, probably out of curiosity of who was currently being a bitch to him at the moment. "Yeah, and?" He asked nonchalantly. His over sized nose was greasy and his eye bags were heavy and droopy. His lips were wet and Natsuki was sure she saw some left over spinaches from 50 years ago still stuck in the corners of his yellowed rotten teeth.

'Ugh' To say Natsuki was horribly disgusted was an understatement. She seriously felt like grabbing his ugly bald head and shoving it up an elephant's ass. "Oi hadn't you been listening to me for the past five minutes? I said I needed the leavers' pass, fast." The girl growled the last word, sounding as threatening as she can.

The man was either not intimidated by her at all, or was painstakingly trying not to wet his pants and try to keep up his ignorant attitude, by hiding the fact that he would be running to his mother by now, if she were here of course. Natsuki picked the second assumption, the sweat droplets forming on his naked forehead was a dead give away.

"Y-you need to get permission from the head of your division." And the stuttering.

Natsuki contemplated on doing either just that, or finding an excuse, but she suddenly remembered Shizuru was waiting for her, 'Shizuru…' and that she needed to do this quickly if she wanted to succeed, the outcome depended on her. She decided to do it the 'easy' way. "Look here fat-so," She closed the distance between them with a menacing look on her evil-worthy face, distorted by annoyance and hidden desperation- her eyes seemed to glow. "I have no time for that shit." She roughly grabbed his blue uniform collar and inwardly smirked at the ear-pleasing sound of his anxious dry gulp. "Incase you hadn't heard me before, I need the pass, NOW. You can either do this the easy way, or the bone crushing hard way." She said through gritted teeth, emphasizing on 'bone crushing' to make it sound more scary than it already was; coming from her.

Panic was evident on his pale face now. "I-I would love to, but you need a permission slip from your superior… I-I can't just give you a leavers' pass like that, it's against the rules!" He pleaded.

Natsuki was losing her already-thin patience, which was wearing thinner by the second. She then smirked evilly. She grabbed him from behind the counter and with enormous strength, pulled his fat ass over the counter as he landed painfully on his beefy knees before her. Hey she worked out… a lot. "Why I do have permission, from one very important person." She held her Taekwondo-styled clenched fist in front of his bulgy nose. "Say hello to Mr. Fist!" Natsuki was aware of how lame that sounded, but it sure worked in making the man piss himself. She had learned Taekwondo when she studied in America, much to her ex girlfriend's admiration.

His eyes bulged at the life threatening whitened knuckle and his nose wrinkled in fear. Still, he made no attempt to speak or move which irritated the girl greatly. She then pulled him closer by his collar about to punch his face in when she felt something poking her thighs. A brow lifted as emerald eyes searched for the cause of her discomfort. She traced her sight downwards to a long cylindery object that seemed to be joint too a pair of legs. She studied it more closely and squinted. Her face was blank for a moment as she tried to comprehend what she just saw. 'You've GOT to be kidding me.' Her eyes grew larger and her face paled as her mind finally processed what she was staring at.

"EW! Get away from me you pervert!" She screeched and kicked him in the nuts causing him to choke in his scream and fall forwards. His sweaty head brushed her leg making her freak out even more. "Stay away!" She was already red and huffing when she stomped his head at least 2 centimeters into the ground. Her face stopped scrunching up while she calmed down a few seconds later, only to gasp when she realized the damage she had done. "OH MY GOD Are you okay?" She bent down to help him up. Hey she hadn't meant to cause that much damage, even though he did deserve it, but hell she could've killed the guy.

What she witnessed when she held up the pervert's shoulders however, made her expression become stoic. He… was grinning at her. Well not at her, but he seemed to be staring into space; glazed over. WHAT A MASOCHIST. Emotionlessly she dropped him. It seemed like this was the only time where violence couldn't solve anything. Geez, guys like him 'enjoyed' it. 'What was I thinking, being all sympathetic and shit. There is only one way to deal with people like him. Disgusting perverts like him should all just go to hell.' She sighed and closed her eyes.

Calmly, she strode over to the desk where the porno magazine laid and picked it up. She narrowed her eyes at the pathetic pages and held it in front of the man's face. As expressionlessly as ever, she stripped off the first page and let it glide slowly to the ground. This invoked the man to shoot up on his knees and widen his eyes in a horrific manner. Yet, no words came out from his mouth. 'Persistent I see. Hmm, let's see how you like this, jerk.' She smirked, and grabbed a handful of pages, ripping them off the magazine.

"No Wait! NO! My collection!" The man grabbed his head and started shaking it violently.

Natsuki grinned evilly at this. "Hmmm, Mr. Hentai reacted to this quite enthusiastically. So what will his answer be then?" 'Speaking in third person? Are you serious? Oooooh Natsuki, you've been Fujinofied' The raven haired girl internally chuckled.

"I-I-I…"

Natsuki's eyebrows twitched. She grunted and took out her silver lighter from her jean pocket (which she JUST happened to had brought with her even though she didn't smoke?) and hastily flipped it open, held the pages above it, and silently threatened to burn it. "One press, and woosh. Gone."

"NO! OKAY OKAY I'LL GIVE YOU THE PASS, NOW LEAVE MY PRECIOUS PAGES ALONE!" He screamed desperately.

'Pathetic… simply pathetic' "And I assume you'll keep your mouth shut?"

"Uh…"

Natsuki lit up the lighter and waved the pages.

"YES YES!"

"Good."

She tapped her foot as she waited for him to return with a rectangular platinum plate with the words 'Leavers' Pass' imprinted on it in capital letters. She was about to say thanks, until she remembered how much she hated the guy to the core. Instead, she smiled a very fake smile and left. 'Now, to get Shizuru… and deal with the guards…' [Sigh.]

[At the Tokyo airport]

A girl no older than 18 got off a silver private jet, led down the steps by several maids and bodyguards. Her straight yet wild dark auburn hair with a few streaks of red highlights was layered down slightly past her shoulders to her back. Her uniform-clad body consisted of a sleeveless dark blue cardigan over her half buttoned white collared shirt, which revealed her well formed cleavage, with a maroon tie hanging loosely around her neck. The lower half of her body was covered with an extremely short grey and black checkered skirt which was suspended above her laps, revealing her long creamy smooth thighs. Her white sneakers hung at her ankles, uncovered by her ankle-length navy socks. You could tell from the school uniform, even if it was worn rebelliously, that she was a typical rich American girl who came from a very high standard school. Unfortunately, with rich, came spoilt. Sexy light brown eyes half hidden behind her side-parted fringe, scanned the area slowly. She was intoxicating to say the least. All men and women alike bent at her knees…all but one. Kuga Natsuki. The maids were either busy carrying her stuff, or taking her hand like a slave would take its master's as they walked. The guards, were… doing what a guard would do, being extra paranoid as ever.

"Hey! Back off boy! You have to be a known friend or relative of Mistress Lauren to be in the radius of 5 meters from her!" One of the guards yelled as another made to pull out a hand gun.

Needless to say, the boy pissed himself. "I-I'm sorry! I was just helping with the luggage!"

"Shut up!" Another guard shouted. "Are you blind? Can't you see we have maids to do that?!"

"B-b-but, they are girls! My granny always told me you should not let girls carry stuff that are heavy!"

"What are you? Some kind of goodie two shoes?" He pushed the boy over. "Scram!"

The boy rubbed his bottom and stood up, although it looked like his tears were on the verge of falling, he remained idle. "No."

"WHY YOU!" The guard was about to backhand him when a demanding yet feminine voice stopped him from doing so.

"Christopher, that's quite enough."

"Y-yes mistress."

Her hard glare softened as she turned to look at the boy. "Name?"

"U-uh… K-Kei Kanzaki miss!" He stuttered.

She smiled. "I see." She then turned around. "Rena Yumemiya."

"Y-yes mistress." The maid who Kei was trying to help before, responded.

"Give him the luggage."

"E-eh?"

"Just do what I say."

"Understood." She blushed, bowed and handed the luggage to him.

Lauren smirked a 'Nao smirk' and continued walking, while the boy known as Kei, and the maid, tagged along behind.

"Th-thank you, Mr Kanzaki was it?" She blushed.

"U-uh, don't mention it!" He blushed and scratched his neck. He then held out his hand, "N-nice to meet you, Rena Yumemiya, I'm Kei Kanza- oh right, you knew that already." Kei turned redder by the second and looked at the floor awkwardly as Rena giggled.

Meanwhile at the front of the group, Lauren took out a palm sized photograph and stared at it longingly. One of her closest bodyguards noticed her seemingly 'out-of-it' mood, and asked her, "Mistress Lauren, is everything alright?"

She ignored him for a while before replying, "No. Not at all actually. As soon as I was out of school today, I asked daddy to reserve a private jet for my flight to Japan. He didn't question me of course, but said that he would take care of my absentees in school. Spoiling me as always." She laughed dryly, never once taking her eyes off the photo. "But do you know why we are here John?" John shook his head as he continued paying attention to his mistress. "It is because of her." Without once looking at him, she handed him the photo. His eyebrows arched.

"Your ex-girlfriend?"

"There is no 'ex'." She deadpanned.

He continued to examine the picture. It was of Lauren hugging a blue haired girl possessively from behind; she was licking the girl's cheek, while the girl took the photo of both of them. 'That was, that was before Lauren fell into her state of depression and instability.' He thought as he studied the picture, then something clicked in his mind. "W-wait, Natsuki Kuga? The delinquent that—"

Lauren's eyes narrowed fiercely, shutting him up immediately. "It's KUGA Natsuki in Japan I believe." She didn't directly rebut, but the look she was giving him managed to send the hidden message across. He knew better than to open his mouth mindlessly again. After all, they had been childhood friends at one point, until they attended junior high school, where he had been assigned to become her protector due to his family needing the money. He was thankful for that, for if he was any other guard, he would've been sacked faster than lightning for badmouthing his mistress' most beloved person, or worse, he could've been beaten into a pulp and then fired.

'Damn… Damn that Natsuki Kuga. The mistress loves her with all he heart, and yet that delinquent had to hurt her. Why Kuga, why her… even though I was always so loyal to her, even though it was only her I ever looked at, why does she only look Kuga's way!? What does Kuga have that I don't? She doesn't even love Lauren as much as I do!' John's face remained neutral despite his internal resentment. All he could do was, clench his fist tightly. As tightly as he could. 'If it's for her happiness… I'll do whatever it takes to get it for her.'

On the other hand, Lauren was having some thoughts of her own. 'Natsuki you left me… You've hurt me… But it's alright, I know that it wasn't you who wanted to leave me. There must be SOMEONE ELSE who is holding your heart captive. But don't worry, I'll save you, I've come to eliminate all the disruptive objects that dare stand in our way… Yes, I'll destroy them all. And then I'll take you back, and we can be happy together again…Like before.' Lauren's eyes darkened and an evil grin formed across her flawless face.

"John," She commanded. "There is someone I'd like you to find the location of."

[Back at the Kuga research facilities.]

Running back to the lab, Natsuki clutched the leavers' pass in her hand, grinning. "Just a little more."

Shizuru sat Seiza-styled in the middle of her cell with her hands on her laps,holding the damaged piece of remote she managed to compress together. She has finally made up her mind, this is it, to save Natsuki from all the troubles yet to come, she had to let her in on the truth. Letting her mind drift off, she was lost in her thoughts. 'Saeko… Natsuki… I, I don't love Natsuki only because she reminds me of Saeko do I? No…that's not it. I love Natsuki, because she is the kind hearted girl I've known since ten years ago…But, how is it possible for me to love someone I've only seen 3 times in my life? I am not one to believe in love at first sight, but these feelings are just so strong, it is undeniable. This is so confusing…Why am I so indecisive?! I- I thought I was certain already, but it looks like I still have doubts. But if that's the case, how was I able to break out of Yuuki's trance and convince my demonic conscience that I do love her? Why, why do I feel as though I've known Natsuki even before the first time I met her 10 years ago? This is all too weird.' Shizuru creased her eyebrows together.

Deep in thought, Shizuru wasn't as alert as she usually was. The door to the lab opened, and only when the footsteps neared her cell, did she realise someone was in there with her. Expecting it to be Natsuki, she happily looked up, only to be met with 2 men in lab assistant uniforms. Her smile vanished and her face was replaced with a slightly sad and emotionless expression. 'It's them again.'

"Hey, let's do what we came to do and leave." One nudged the other.

"Aw c'mon Ryo, Tokiha's currently at a meeting and won't be back in another hour. Besides, I don't see the new cell attendant anywhere, do you? So let's take this time to have some fun."

"Yeah but Reiji, the door is open, meaning that the new cell attendant will be back any minute. Let's just deliver the message like we were told, and leave okay?"

"But the attendant isn't here! God dammit quit being a whimp." The man called Reiji pulled out his tranquilizer gun and pointed it at Shizuru. "We were initially supposed to deliver a message to the new cell attendant, and instruct them on how to 'cleanse' a test subject, but since they aren't here at the moment, let's do a little 'cleansing session' of our, own shall we?" He snickered and waved the gun. "Now get to the centre of the cell and be a good girl while we activate security entry." When she made no attempt to move, Reiji laughed. "C'mon Fujino, this isn't the first time we've done this. You know how things work. You don't want to be tranquilized again do you? Not knowing what happens to your body while you are knocked out, is a horrible experience isn't it."

The hematophian closed her eyes, stood up and walked to the center of the cell. "Good girl." Reiji's grin grew wider, but stopped. "Hm? How did you get those clothes?" When his would-be victim didn't reply, he shrugged. "Hah, well no matter, since it'll be coming off soon anyways. The new cell attendant, I bet he's a real shy pussy isn't he? That's why he brought you clothes! What a loser, he should be a real man and enjoy this." He laughed.

A glare started to form from the depths of those usually serene crimson eyes. 'SHE is shy, and the most adorable person I've ever seen in my whole life. No she isn't a loser, and she is kind and decent. Pffft man? You're a disgrace to all of them. Bastard. How unsightly you are. If it wasn't for the restrains and the gun, you wouldn't have gotten any where NEAR my body. [Sigh] I bet they don't realize that I can rip their throats out in an instant if I wish it. But sadly I shall not as I do not wish to cause a huge mess for my beloved Sae-' Momentary silence. 'It's Natsuki now.'

The other guy, Ryo, looked extremely guilty and was fidgeting uncomfortably. He clearly did not like this, nor did he want anything to do with it. But he didn't want to go against his brother either. He decided that he would most likely be told to do what he was always instructed to do after these 'sessions' anyway, which was to erase what had been recorded by the surveillance camera during the time that his brother would mess around with the test subject, since managing the surveillance records was his job anyhow. So all he did was, turn around and shut his eyes tight, feeling sorry for the beautiful inhuman woman.

Shizuru was now motionless at the centre of the cell as Reiji opened the cell door and entered it, with the tranquilizer gun still aimed at her. He poked the muzzle of the gun in between her breasts eliciting a half suppressed growl of which he just smirked at and got the remote out, about to activate security entry. "Mmm I love it when you growl. You should do it more often. On second thought, scrap that, I would love to hear you scream instead." He laughed menacingly, but immediately choked on it when a foot swung down on him, colliding with brute force against his jaw. There was a sickening crack as he flew to the floor, head banging against the cell bars loudly.

"I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOU SCREAM JACKASS!"

Shizuru gasped; a little glazed over at the moment. "Natsuki?"

"Shizuru! Are you okay? I'm so sorry, I never knew this would happen- had happened before and—" Natsuki observed the woman. 'Shizuru looks…ashamed? What?'

But before Natsuki could go on any further, Reiji who was in a half sitting half lying position, lifted his head and grunted rather rough and loudly. "WHAT IN THE FUCKING WORLD?!" He stared across the floor to find Ryo lying on the ground unconscious. 'Useless piece of shit.' "BITCH WHAT THE HELL?" He demanded. But his face grew pale after squinting against the light at the figure looming above him. "M-Mrs Kuga?"

Natsuki lifted a brow. 'Mrs? Since when was I married? And HEY how did he know my name? Oh, right. He has a boss, who I JUST happen to be the split image of.' "Mrs Kuga my ass crack, I'm only 20 you dick." She glared.

He continued staring, dumbfounded. 'T-this can't be Mrs Kuga… No, Mrs Kuga is cute and bubbly and polite… but holy hell she sure looks like her.' "Look, I'm a guy, and guys have needs. I was just looking for some fun to pass time. This is how we are, no need to fuss over it." He said literally painfully, while clutching his jaw. "Besides, she's just a test subject, a tool. It's no big deal.

Natsuki frowned. 'No I've seen better and wayyy more decent guys than you. Hell most of my friends back in America were guys. You're just an asshole.' She growled dangerously and pierced right through him with her death glare. 'No big deal? NO BIG DEAL? I'll show YOU no big deal!' Her glare intensified.

Reiji shivered, he had liked it when Shizuru growled but this growl, oh this growl was the most terrifying growl he had ever heard. He could've sworn he just saw his life flash before his eyes; it sounded like a wolf's growl in his opinion. By figuring he should hide his nervousness and fuel his ego, he made the biggest mistake of his life. "Oh come on, don't look at me like you're going to eat me. Though I personally, wouldn't mind that." He forced a smug smile just to piss his boss' look-alike off. Natsuki's raised eyebrow twitched. "And well, if you had given me a little more time, I'm sure the bitch over there would've enjoyed it as well." He gestured to Shizuru with a nod.

"ENJOY THIS!" Natsuki ran and back-kicked his gut. Hard. He wheezed and slumped further against the bars. Much to Shizuru's silent amusement. "You're going to regret, ever doing this you sicko! How long huh? How long has this been going on? Using test subjects to satisfy your sick desires…"

He coughed and glared. "Why don't you ask the little blood sucker over there?"

Natsuki blinked then stared at Shizuru anxiously, which the caramel haired woman gave a look of regression to. "Natsuki… I…"

"How long?"

Shizuru closed her eyes. "Before you arrived. I can't remember exactly how long… for I have lost track of time."

The rebellious scientist felt her blood boil and her skin crawl, just itching to move her body on its own, and strangle the shit out of the guy who had abused her… responsibility. "You little shit…" She walked over to him and stomped him hard on his head.

"ARGH!" He collapsed to the floor, with little movement that followed. He could feel his visions blurring as he spotted the rookie cell attendant picking his gun off the floor and stuffing it into her own jeans' pocket, before taking the vampire-like woman gently by the hand and heading towards the door. Summing up all of his remaining strength, he halted the girls' advances. "Wait! W-who are you…?"

Natsuki didn't fully turn around, but instead, gave him a sideway glance. "I am Test subject Fujino's…No. I am Fujino Shizuru's cell attendant," She corrected herself. "And NO ONE messes with my cell occupant. Got that bitch?" She used his own insult against him. She was about to totally ignore him and leave him there to die for all she cared, until she stopped, suddenly recalling something. She casually strode back to him and kicked him once more in the abdomen.

"Oof!"

"THAT was for calling Shizuru a blood sucker. (which she technically is but…ugh.)" That was the last, rather ungraceful thing he heard before he finally passed out for real. She went back to Shizuru and led her out the door. Satisfied.

Natsuki had let go of Shizuru's hand almost immediately after getting into the quiet corridors; a slight blush still on her face from the previous contact. 'Everyone except the minors and newbies, are at a meeting. Here's our chance to escape.' Natsuki remained silent, but glanced at her companion every 5 seconds or so. The older woman peeked at her savior a few times before really starting to feel uncomfortable with the zoned-out and slightly pissed? Expression on Natsuki's face. Being unable to sustain this awkward stillness of voices, Shizuru desperately tried to speak up. "Na…tsuki?"

"Hmmm?" Came the nonchalant reply. The girl never did, once stop to look at Shizuru however, and continued walking. The taller girl stared at the blue head in front of her for a moment before looking down grievingly. Natsuki realized the uneasiness between them and figured she should just say what she had been keeping inside her for the pass few minutes. "Listen, I'm sorry, but I need to know. With the enormous amount of speed and strength I know you possess, how did they manage to manipulate you all this time? And don't use the gun as an excuse Shizuru. I know you could've dodged that in a nanosecond."

Shizuru shook her head. "No Natsuki, this lab has been running for decades, they saw through all their previous mistakes. Everything here has been modified to keep 'us' in."

"Us? You mean… there's more than one hematophian here?"

"No, us as in any species of higher level life form they can get their hands on."

"There are more than 2 mythical creatures in existence?" Natsuki was truly shocked.

"Mythical?" Shizuru chuckled softly. "As you can see, we're anything but mythical, Natsuki. Anyways, those tranquilizer guns have been modified to shoot darts as fast as approximately half a light year every two seconds. That's equivalent to 10 shots in a blink of an eye. 5 times faster than a hematophian's movements. I wouldn't have been able to dodge that, and believe me I've tried."

Emerald eyes narrowed. "Jeez… Why's everything in this lab so science fictional…" Natsuki shook her head. "And why haven't you told anyone about this?"

Shizuru forced a sad smile. "You really think they'd believe such a dangerous test subject Natsuki? They've been told not to trust me."

"I wasn't told that." 'Meaning I don't give a fuck what they were told.'

"Well Mai-san is nice like that."

Natsuki cringed. 'Speaking of Mai, what the hell has she been doing? Gawd, letting all these vile stuff happen right under her nose and she doesn't even realize what has been going on.' While they talked they hadn't notice that they had already arrived at an intersection which is split into three new paths. Natsuki stopped walking and turned around to face Shizuru. She looked firmly into those seas of red. "I trust you." She whispered.

The red eyed goddess was thrown off her feet for a second by the kind, heart-warming words, but instantly regained her composure. "There is a side of me that cannot be trusted. I cannot be completely trusted. Sometimes I don't even trust myself. Our kind— "

"Tend to let their desires overpower their will sometimes. I know. I've been there, done that remember?" Natsuki instantly noticed a flash of guilt in hurt ruby eyes. She moved closer and reached out to the trembling figure in front of her. She hesitated a little before lightly wrapping her arms around the honey haired woman.

'E-eh? Wasn't she…Isn't she… afraid of me?' A surprised Shizuru thought. "Natsuki, I'm so sorr— "

"But I'm still here. I'm still here in spite of what happened, so don't apologise, ne?" The scientist cut her off.

Natsuki let Shizuru sob into her neck for about a minute before pulling away. "Wait for me here, I'll be back in a sec."

"H-huh?"

"Trust me, I'll be back I promise. I'm not leaving you alone any more." With that, Natsuki dashed off to the surveillance room to retrieve a certain tape which just happened to have recorded what went on in the cell room with Shizuru and the two now-unconscious men. 'Mai is gonna get an eyeful, and those assholes can kiss their jobs goodbye.' She inwardly grinned.

[At Nao's hideout about 2 hours ago.]

Sat upon the same window pane, Nao once again had her head turned to where the shady damp forest was, looking bored as ever as she recalled her tragic past with her sworn enemy, the 'vampire princess.' Gosh that sounds corny. She closed her eyes and let the forest breeze engulf her in gentle swift motions; air seeped in and out of her scattered red hair which were superficially licking at the sides of her face. If one was to see her at this very moment, they would not be able to imagine her as ever being harmful, but as a flamed-haired angel who had torn her wings and fell- so shattered. She was the very imprint of 'thoroughly content.' This deceiving exterior of what seemed to be a 'peaceful state' however, was a shell soon to fall into oblivion. And once it cracked, there would only be sorrow and an unforgettable grudge. There was no tranquility at all.

-The night was calm; most of the pack was asleep. It would be 2 more hours before they awoke at 10 pm to start their hunt and night lives. Nothing made a sound except the melodic noises of the creatures bound to the darkness. The alpha ruler and queen laid in their house-like den located in the middle of the wolf tribe village. Their youngest and only heir, the 3 year old Nao was unable to sleep, sensing something terrible was about to happen. But ignoring her instincts she chose to assure herself that she was just being paranoid.-

-Fifteen minutes after doubting her instincts, the young wolf pup was awoken by the screams of her fellow wolves. Strange she thought, the sun was no where near up but the village was ignited in a bright orange and red inferno. It was only a few minutes after this realization, that the door to her room burst open. Standing at the ruined doorway was her sweating father, her pregnant mother and their most trusted subject, Takeda. "Naota-sama, Kagura-sama! Please proceed to the underground chambers with Nao ojou-sama, the rest of us will take care of the attacker while you hide!" Takeda desperately insisted.-

-"No! As the ruler of my people it is my duty to assure the safety and well being of all of you! I cannot just abandon you for my own benefits and leave you all to die for me!" The alpha male retorted with much honor and heroism.-

-"Naota-sama, a LycanMorphian is no match for a raging pure-blood hematophian who has gone berserk. Please."-

-Kagura coughed in shock as she clutched her bloated belly. "The attacker is a hematophian? What about the peace treaty that was supposed to maintain order and neutrality between our kind and theirs? They may be of a more ruthless species, but the pure-bloods are no less honorable than we are. They wouldn't defy the agreement."-

-"Like I said, the pure-blood has gone berserk. She is not herself at the moment, so there is no knowing how far from the line, she'll cross." Takeda countered.-

-"She's acting in accordance to her emotions. There must have been a catalyst that triggered her instability, what happened?" asked the pregnant wolf.

-"I'm sorry Kagura-sama, I have no clue. But we must get you to safety." Takeda addressed all 3 of them. "If we die protecting the alphas, we'll be more than honored, and the loss can be recounted for. But if the alphas die, it will be the end for us. So please, for all of us, go to the underground chambers."-

-Naota was not about to protest any longer at the logic of his most trusted subject. "Okay we shall proceed." He sighed. "Don't die on me Takeda, and please hide Nao somewhere else, that way if we get discovered there will be less chance of the attacker getting to her. As long as she lives, all hope is not lost."-

-"No, otou-san, mama! I want to stay with you!" Despite her protests the young wolf was ignored.-

-Takeda nodded and took the young alpha-to-be, before dashing off into the forest, and hiding her high up in a tree cloaked in darkness and out of sight. He then rushed back down into the sea of blood and screams.-

-Nao remained up there for as long as she could remember, fearing the blood curdling cries, while curled up into a ball to hide from the frightening sight as well as drown out the music of death. She was petrified and all she could remember from that traumatic experience was hearing the roar of the vampire woman. "Who did this? Who killed him? Who, who dared take him away from me?! Reveal yourself and face me! ARGH!" And then, more screams. Her fear pinned her to the spot and what she managed to see in the ignited darkness was able to scar her for life: A dark opaque figure of a woman, and glowing red eyes. The most horrific red eyes she will EVER see.-

-The sun was almost up when the nightmare ended. "Oujo-sama." She heard someone call her. She slowly opened her tear-stained eyes and stared up at the gentle smiling figure, straight into comforting violet eyes. "It's over now oujo-sama." The blonde headed woman picked her up and swept off the tree, landing professionally on the blood covered ground. There were MANY dead bodies, and a lot of smoke from the extinguished flames. A Takeda coated in crimson liquid greeted her, along with another 15 or so, survivors. The bloodbath was over but none of them looked anywhere close to victorious. Nao didn't need to question any of them, to know that something was very wrong. Her instincts had already told her. It was just a matter of facing the truth.-

-Toddler Nao decided to speak up. "Haruka-san… Takeda, otou-san wa? Mama wa? Doko?" She felt a huge lump develop in her dry little throat.-

-The rest of the remaining pack let out sorrowful sighs and some, the younger ones in particular, broke down and began crying. Apparently there had been more than 15 survivors; the younger wolf pups were hidden in various locations, and collected once everything was over, much like she herself was. Takeda stepped forward as he felt it was his duty to deliver the painful truth to the young heir, since he was trusted so much. "Nao oujo-sama, your parents…" He looked away unconfidently before putting both his hands on each side of her tiny shoulders. He decided to be blunt as to get this painful news over and done with as soon as possible. "Listen to this, and listen to it very clearly oujo-sama. Your parents—"

Nao's eyes snapped opened as her flashback and thoughts were very abruptly interrupted. An overwhelming swarm of sweet and rusty aroma entered her lungs and dashed through every single nerve in her body; it was pleasantly electrifying. It surged its way up into her mind through every cell and became a part of her, causing her corneas to produce an incandescent liquid which illuminated her eyes in a bright verdant colour that could only be described as nothing less than beautiful. She breathed in hard, with a slightly opened mouth once more, tilting her head upwards with a satisfactory groan. 'Kuga Natsuki's blood has been spilled...' She sneered. 'So the warning has been sent. This is only the beginning, Fujino.' And with this, the girl began to plan her next move of much needed vengeance.

[Back at the lab (Present)]

Indigo hair flapped and glided in the air as the rebel scientist sprinted through the research facilities and into the surveillance room, nearly breaking the door down as she slammed it open. Striding to the tape player she immediately stopped recording and ejected the tape, placing it into a paper bag afterwards. Grabbing a thick black pen from her pocket, she hastily tore open the cap with her teeth and scribbled,

'TO: MAI

FROM: NATSUKI'

Just as she was about to close it, she scribbled something down at the last minute.

'WATCH THIS TAPE OR DIE (I mean it)'

Taking one last look at her barely readable hand writing, she closed the cap, stuffed her trusty pen back into her over-sized pockets and bolted out the door. She speedily took the closest route which was the cafeteria where all the other newbies were having their lunch and headed straight for Mai's office. She made sure she laid the tape down onto the desk right in front of Mai's chair, gently so it wouldn't so much as get scratched, and practically tore through the air to get back to where Shizuru was when she noticed some of her colleagues were already getting up and heading back to work. 'Shit! The hallways are going to get crowded soon! I have to get back to her before that happens, or we'll be doomed!' The azure haired girl added a few more horse powers to her speed and zoomed passed the first woman who got up to go back to work, causing the poor woman's tight white skirt to practically drop from her waist. No kidding, that was how fast Natsuki went by.

"Iyaaaaaaaaa!" Was the last distant thing she heard before getting back to the quiet corridors again.

'Whoops…' Her face went beat red, but she had no time to lose, and stopping and apologising was not an option in this situation.

Shizuru waited in anticipation, never once taking her eyes off the direction Natsuki sped away in. She was surprised when she heard foot steps coming from behind her, suddenly worried that she would get discovered and Natsuki would get in trouble. Her unstable brain sent tingles of warnings down her nerves, 'Must not be discovered, must NOT get Natsuki in trouble. Stop the witness from getting away, even if it means you have to kill…' Her fangs started extending as her eyes glowed a vicious vermillion, fully prepared to not let whoever it was who found her, get away. She waited for the mystery person to turn the corner, without a sound. Her threatening stance faltered however, when she recognised who the panting sound was coming from. It was low and rough; her heightened ears were able to pick it out in an instant. What she did not expect though, was for the person to come crashing right into her

"Ouch!" She remained standing, not feeling a thing, while Natsuki was on her bottom, rubbing her head. "What the- Oh it's just you Shizuru, thank go— OH MY GOD!"

Tilting her head in slight astonishment, Shizuru wondered what was wrong until she remembered her terrifying exterior. She gasped and brought her hand to her face before turning away. Natsuki's nearly-stopped heart started beating rapidly after a second and slowed down as she absorbed what had just happened. 'Okay cool it, it was just Shizuru… in a very scary state.' She brushed herself off, got up and put her hand on Shizuru's shoulder, spinning her round in a light embrace. She had no idea what was up with her cell occupant, but decided not to ask anyway. "Hey Shizuru, sorry I made you wait long." She smiled and took a look at the vampire's face, which has now returned to its normal beautiful self.

Taken aback by Natsuki's unusual calmness, she felt relief flood into her soul. She didn't know how she would've felt if she made Natsuki afraid of her again. "I didn't wait that long." Shizuru smiled back and snuggled into Natsuki's shoulder once more- unmoving; too surrounded by warmth and petrified with kindness she could just feel emitting from the younger girl.

"Um Shizuru, I'm flattered that you take a liking to my shoulder, but we really need to go, like now." Natsuki said playfully. Okay maybe half serious. She could feel her embracer nod in her shoulder, but no signs of movement came after that.

The blush was coming on, and she needed to get rid of it before anyone saw it and shatter her tough ego! "Uh Shizuru? We… well at least I, can't move with you clinging on to me like that."

The chestnut-coloured head lifted off her shoulder and looked up at her happily. There was neither a yes or no, just a simple and content, "Hmm. So which way do we go?"

Natsuki grinned, "C'mon." And the two of them headed to the back exit.

[Inside a limousine at the Tokyo airport.]

"We just got back from our friends at NASA. They've found the location on Natsuki K—" John paused, remembering that they were currently in Japan. "Kuga Natsuki." He corrected himself. Lauren was sitting beside him on his right, leaving the middle seats empty and only one bodyguard at the fenced out front, with the driver. The others were in other expensive vehicles of all sorts of course, surrounding their mistress, and attending to her every need.

Lauren gave a small nod. "How long is the trip to our destination gonna be?"

"It will take a few hours at the very least."

"What?" The rich girl's patience was wearing thin. She wanted to see Natsuki and she wanted to see her NOW. This is unacceptable, when she wanted something, she always got it. However, if she was going to get Natsuki back, she'll just have to be a good girl. For now at least. A devilish smirk formed in her mind. "And why is that?"

"It is because she lives in the outskirts of Tokyo, and the area is known for being especially isolated. In fact it is so isolated, it isn't even on any maps. We only found her thanks to the satellite. A house is still a house no matter where it is, so if it's a registered piece of land, it will be on the satellite data."

"Ugh, whatever. Just wake me up when we get there." Needless to say, she wasn't very pleased. Pulling out her iPod and stuffing her earphones in, she closed her eyes as the song 'Anything for you' by Evanescence came on.. She was a stuck up spoilt bitch indeed, but she looked like an angel when she was sleeping. All that vanity and over self-satisfaction just evaporated into nothing in an instant. All her vulnerability coming out of hiding, deep within her affectionate but shattered heart. But that's exactly what John loved about her. She's just her when she sleeps.

I'd give anything, to give me to you,

Can you forget the world that you thought you knew?

If you want me, come and find me

Nothing's stopping you so please release me.

I'll believe all your lies, just pretend you love me.

Make believe, close your eyes.

I'll be anything for you.

[Back at the lab]

Smoothly making it out, both escapees stood around the corner of the massive building; backs facing the wall as Natsuki popped her head out the side to peek at the guard house. "Thank goodness I chose to park my bike outside of the parking area today. It's just a few meters from the guard house, hidden behind some trees, so we're almost there." She gave Shizuru a small smile. "It would've been much more troublesome if I parked in the car park, cause then we'd have to go through vehicle registration and check outs and shit."

Shizuru said nothing to that but gave a little chuckle at Natsuki's attempt of trying to keep her calm by being humorous even in a situation such as this. "Okay, you ready for this Fujino?" Natsuki asked.

"Anytime Kuga." The older woman smirked back.

Natsuki grinned in response. "Leavers' pass? Check." With that, she took Shizuru's hand and strode over to her destination. A tall man wearing sun glasses and a uniform turned his head when he noticed two beautiful women approaching him. He had his hair covered by a dark blue cap and had an ear piece sticking out of one of his ears. He waltzed over to them casually but stopped in his tracks when he noticed Shizuru's crimson eyes that bore in to him. He looked suspiciously at her while he chewed his gum. Her eyes were too inhuman for her to be one of the scientists, so his intuition automatically categorized her as a test subject. Looking at the other girl however, his brain processed her to be the person who employed him. "Mrs Kuga." He saluted.

Natsuki's right eye twitched and she immediately face palmed in her head. 'You've got to be joking… What am I, her twin? I'm her daughter for god's sake. Surely there must be SOME obvious difference.' She just wanted to scream and smack him over his dense head, but unfortunately in order to get out of this place, she'd have to play along. "Um yeah… Open the gates Mr..." Natsuki stole a glance at his name tag. "Shinto."

"Sure thing." He replied politely. "But why are you taking a test subject out of its cell if I may be so bold to ask? I've never seen you personally do so." This man obviously had been here for quite a while. He wasn't as dense as Natsuki hoped he would be. She mentally cursed.

'Her. Shizuru isn't an it dammit.' "It is an order from the higher ups, that I take her home to continuously observe her through ordinary daily life." 'Heck yeah! I dunno where that one came from but bless my fast thinking talented mind.' Natsuki cheered herself on to eliminate her anxiety. Mr Shinto had appeared to buy her lie and nodded his head in response. "Alright then, may I have your leavers' pass please?"

Natsuki made no hesitance in handing the platinum plate over to him. A wave of relief washed over both women as the eighteen-feet gate began to swing open with only a slight creak; it was well oiled and maintained. Natsuki continued down the path and exited the premises with Shizuru in toll, hands still clutching each other's. 'Finally… the hardest part has passed, for now.' The blue haired beauty couldn't prolong that thought however, as soon as she heard some shuffling behind her. It appeared that the guard's suspicion was confirmed. He had been staring at her from behind for quite sometime now, ever since she exited through the gates. Finally noticing she wasn't Saeko Kuga, made him walk on towards them. First of all, she was a bit taller than Saeko was, and secondly, she had a smaller ass and chest. And we are all wondering why those were the only things the guard was looking at. Yup, definitely not Saeko. As soon as she felt him start to make a move towards them she grunted. 'UGH can nothing ever go as smoothly as I plan? How many people do I have to knock out today? Geez…'

"Hey, wait a minute… you're not Mrs—" The guard started. Almost in an instant, Natsuki whipped out the stun gun from her jeans pocket, stuck her arms backwards and pulled the trigger. "Oof!" And with that the guard went down; clean shot to the chest and all. The gunner let out a long exasperated sigh, "Seriously, why can't anything ever go the way I want?" She then stopped in her tracks.

"Wait right here Shizuru, this will be the last time I'm making you wait for me today I promise. I just need to get Mr Shinto's body off the middle of the path and into the guard house, where he'll be comfy in his chair when he wakes up." She turned around as she said the last bit and sprinted towards the body. Shizuru stared after her with adoration in her maroon eyes. Natsuki is indeed, an honourable and kind soul. A pure soul, unlike hers; one unstained and one she can never have.

When the younger woman was done with the task, she sprinted back to Shizuru; hair flowing behind her evenly. She calculated that they wouldn't have much time before some one realises they were gone, and decided to pick up the pace a little bit. Shizuru nearly called out to Natsuki as the girl sprinted right pass her but her anxiety dissipated and she let out a relived sigh when she saw the younger girl get behind a thick tree to pull out a beautiful dark blue Ducati. "It's custom made." Natsuki grinned and stuck out her tongue briefly, making Shizuru chuckle. She pushed the extravagant bike towards Shizuru and straddled it, then motioned for the older woman to get on as well. Shizuru stared at it blankly. She had not ridden a motorcycle in her life. Ever. Natsuki's already tiny smile dropped slightly as she waited a little too long for the brunette's response.

'Oh no… Please tell me she isn't afraid of riding a bike. Well DUH there weren't bikes 100 years ago dummy! And now you're shoving a big scary looking two-wheeled vehicle with no seat belts, in her face. Of course she'd be nervous.' Natsuki cringed and wondered if they'd have to walk to her house now. NOT a good idea. Natsuki was just about to get off her bike but stopped midway when she noticed a new found gleam in those rusty eyes. They seemed to glower with… excitement?

Shizuru felt like a little girl who was excited about opening her very first birthday present. Excitement. An emotion she thought she had lost years ago, that is until this extraordinary girl came into her life. She enthusiastically crept up to the back seat of the bike and placed both her palms on the sitting area behind Natsuki, and proceeded to stroke it oh so slowly. Too slowly in Natsuki's opinion. She then lifted her left leg and placed it over the seat so it rested at the left side of the bike, and dragged her right thigh along the edge of the seat, to meet the opposite side of her left leg so that her legs were now side by side with only the bike separating them through the middle. She dragged her shapely ass along the end of the seat, sliding up all the way until her chest pressed up firmly against Natsuki's back. Once satisfied, she locked her arms around Natsuki's strong slim waist and smiled predatorily. Little did she know… no actually, she knew. And she knew pretty damn well. Natsuki's back stiffened and she choked a nervous strangled sound. Not because she was being cold or found Shizuru disgusting, but because she was probably already pinned to the seat with a phenomenal blush, rising up from her feet all the way to the tip of her head. Oh Shizuru knew this alright, and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

A blue stiff head rotated to the side robotically and gave Shizuru a questioning glance. Natsuki's eye brow twitched when Shizuru gave her an innocent smile as if nothing had just happened. 'DAMN THIS WOMAN. It's a bike! A frggin' bike for gods sake! Why is it everything just seems so much more suggestive with her?' The younger woman huffed and turned her head back to face the front with a pout as Shizuru giggled. She sighed and ignited the engine just as she remembered she'd forgotten to bring out the helmets from the compartment under the black leather seat. Oh fuck it. She's not going to be driving 400 miles per hour and there is no on coming traffic in this secluded area. Besides, it'd probably be nice to let Shizuru feel the comfortable breeze flow through her hair on her first bike ride. She stopped thinking about safety, and instead thought about how she wanted to make this first experience memorable for Shizuru.

"Hang on tight." She addressed the woman behind her, receiving an excited nod in response. Grinning at the fact that Shizuru seemed more than delighted, she twisted the right handle with her strong wrist and set her bike in motion. She sped across the forest taking a shorter route rather than the main road home. Though she'd have to be careful not to trip her bike over some huge tree roots amongst other things sticking out of the grassed ground, she figured that she'd be least likely to be detected and spotted in this short cut, deeming it the safer route. True, she was riding fast indeed, but she wasn't riding as viciously as she normally would, therefore the 'trip objects' on the ground should be able to be successfully avoided by her skills.

Shizuru took this chance to rest the side of her head on Natsuki's white-coated back and sighed contently as the bike cruised through the forest. The sunlight was shining bright through the trees but the leaves provided enough shade to block out the heat. The breeze was gently tickling at the side of her face, that isn't molded up against Natsuki's strong but feminine back. She was comfortable where she was and snuggled into Natsuki even more after tightening her grip into a blissful hug. The short times she had spent with Natsuki had truly been the happiest days she had ever had ever since she was ensnared into the life of a test subject.

She had been kept in the dark for so long, she had almost forgotten what it was like to be outside in the wild again, to feel the wind in her hair, to breathe in the outside air- it was all so natural. To feel the sunlight eat away slowly at her untarnished skin. Sure the legends were wrong about vampires turning to ash under the sunlight, but it isn't good for their skin nonetheless. They belonged to the night, still, Shizuru liked where she was right now. She liked that it wasn't dark, just so she could see her breath taking cell attendant's face ever so clearly. Being a pure blood, Shizuru of course, had better endurance in the sun than others of her kind. And honestly she would die to be outside with Natsuki right now than to be inside another lightless, lone cold cell in an experiment room. Just these very specific moments with the young scientist, were able to drown out all the previous sufferings she had felt and wash them out like waves of raging rivers. 'Just Natsuki has this effect on me… Just her.'

Finalising the conclusions of her thoughts, Shizuru breathed in one more ecstatic deep breath and closed her eyes. She could stay in this position forever. It was moments like this, where Shizuru wished that time could just stop. She didn't want to move; didn't want to wake up from this dream-like state. She could feel Natsuki's stiff back start to relax into her touch and she was sure that Natsuki felt her comfort and responded with just as much ease. There was definitely an unspoken bond between them.

The rest of the ride to Natsuki's house remained like that. Silent, but gratifying. Neither woman spoke a word but unlike before, this silence wasn't awkward at all, it was soothing.

[Kuga residence: Natsuki's pent house]

Releasing the breath she had been holding in the whole journey, Natsuki slowed her bike down into a dying acceleration once she could spot the door to her house and when it was between walking distance. Pulling it into the drive way that led to her garage, she got off and helped Shizuru off, instantly missing the feeling of Shizuru's face in her back. But like hell she was going to admit that. 'That was… the most comfortable bike ride I've had in ages. The first time was with Lauren-Oh scrap that.' Natsuki dismissed her thoughts promptly, once it led to her ex-girlfriend. She was OVER her. She's pretty god damned sure she is. Natsuki shivered as she recalled Lauren's obsession and over possessiveness of her. What's important right now is to get Shizuru cleaned up.

Shizuru instantly missed the warmth of Natsuki's broad shoulders and lithe back against her face. 'Natsuki's so comfy…' She pouted barely visibly, when she was helped off the vehicle. While Natsuki turned off the engine and advanced to rolling the bike into the garage, the older woman took this chance to turn her head round and inspect the area she had been so kindly brought into. The path from the forest they took, lead directly to the front of the house and the main road was an intersection and a drive-in away from the back of the house. The place was surrounded by a few trees, and the grass on either side of the drive-in are neatly trimmed. The house was a serene navy blue and the roof was a darker shade of the same colour. 'Nice place.' Shizuru mentally judged.

Natsuki emerged from the garage a few moments later to find Shizuru gaping at her surroundings. She smiled and waved her hand in front of Ruby eyes, "Earth to Fujino?" She chuckled when Shizuru blinked with a momentary startle due to being caught for checking out the place. Shizuru mentally kicked herself for appearing like a noob in an anime convention. Natsuki almost, almost, thought she caught sight of Shizuru's pout and chortled. "Sweet exterior huh? You should see the inside." Emerald eyes winked and Shizuru's heart skipped a beat.

The owner of the house led Shizuru to the front door and after walking up a few steps, she tugged on her jeans' pocket for her keys, of which she fumbled with to finally unlock the door with a click. She pushed it open with one hand and stepped to the side, gesturing for Shizuru to enter before her. "After you," she insisted. Shizuru giggled inaudibly before accepting Natsuki's sincere invitation into her home. As soon as she stepped inside, she felt an immediate warmth and sense of coziness rush into her body and out into the opening; surrounding the place with such pleasance. The interior gave off just as much of a homely welcoming atmosphere as the façade of the house.

The westernized design of the place was well thought out. The floors were made of nice polished and smoothened wooden planks, the lounge area was at least 10 by 10 meters, and the whole place was of calm colours. The walls were painted clean white and there were a few glassed sliding doors, one of which, leads to the back where there is a luxurious clear blue pool just waiting for someone to dive in, hidden between the house, garden and high blue walls that acted as fences to prevent any break-ins from the back of the residence. The garden was well maintained and it bloomed various different plants and flowers which were managed with much expertness. It would be easy for a scientist to manage plants thanks to their biological knowledge of how plant life works.

In the middle of the longue, spawned a small rectangular glass table which rested on top of an oval dark blue mat that was surrounded by various different-length couches of the same colour. On the right side of it, stood a 6 feet tall wooden bookshelf, containing books of all sorts of colours and sizes though Shizuru could tell they were well arranged according to alphabetical order in each genre section. Close to the front door which both women had just walked through, on the left, was the stairs leading up to the second level of the house, which was smaller than the first and contained a reasonable number of rooms and bathrooms, while there was also a short but narrower pathway which led to the rooftop, and next to it, a few steps that led to the balcony. Next to the stairs was an open space that followed into the wide and tidy, white coloured kitchen. Artistic photographs and paintings as well as different pieces of art work were frequently seen around the house along with some other outstanding decorations.

Shizuru blinked in amazement. She has never felt this at home in her life, and it isn't even her house. Her senses seemed to have acquainted incredibly well with what Natsuki had done to the place. She exhaled through her mouth quietly and gracefully. 'Ara, Natsuki has remarkable taste. This place is simply alluring.' In all honesty, Shizuru was expecting more of a scientific interior to appear before her eyes, but she definitely didn't expect this. This certainly isn't a place one would guess a scientist lives in. No one would expect a scientist's house to look like this. They'd probably expect the stereo typical anatomy model, or different sorts of scientific diagrams to be dispersed all over the place instead of pieces or art and elegant decoration. They'd expect piles and piles of documents and paper work to be lying around, perhaps even test tubes, but not plants and bookshelves. This wasn't the home of a scientist. It was the home of an ordinary woman who just so happened to be an artist. Shizuru was very impressed to say the least. Again, she was unconsciously gaping and Natsuki grinned and let her gape a little longer this time before distracting her again.

"Pretty cool isn't it? I decorated the place myself." Natsuki announced proudly, which the honey haired woman found exceptionally cute for some reason.

"It's quite exquisite, this place. I love it." Shizuru turned and returned Natsuki's light hearted and placid expression.

"Yup, this place isn't too huge nor is it too cramped. It's perfect, just the way I like it." Natsuki replied.

Shizuru glanced at Natsuki pleasantly. 'That's exactly my thoughts.'

After locking the door and pulling the key out, Natsuki hung the key on the key rack next to the door. "C'mon, I'll take you upstairs and we can get you cleaned." She grasped Shizuru's hand firmly and took her upstairs, showing genuine concern the whole way through. She reached for the handle to her room door but paused briefly, pondering how her room must have been filled with Nao's scent from earlier on. She knew it wouldn't be so strong as to make Shizuru lash out again, but she didn't want to take that risk, especially not in her own home so she changed course and set off to open the door to the enormous guest room instead.

Though it wasn't her own room, she did not hesitate to decorate and maintain the room just as perfectly as she did hers. She turned the door knob and pushed it, effectively swinging the door open. A nice but simple cream coloured room greeted Shizuru's eyes. Its king sized bed was a light shade of violet, and thick but eloquent purple curtains covered the three big windows in the room. Opposite the bed near the bathroom, there was a white closet as tall as the bookshelf downstairs. On the ceiling, hung a short medium sized chandelier that fitted the room just right and various art work were pinned to the walls in expensive frames. Next to the bed was a huge wooden table with an empty vase in the middle of it. The room itself was massive and left many empty spaces; this is so the guest could move things around or redecorate the room if they wanted to. Natsuki had thought all of this through, that is why she had such a comfortable house.

Shizuru was drawn by the glamorous colours and decoration of this room. It gave off a completely different environment compared to downstairs, but it worked just as well. She figured that this was creative, since too much of anything would eventually get boring. Natsuki walked Shizuru to the bed and sat her down. The bed was soft and Shizuru sunk into it a few inches as she sat down. The test subject longingly missed the softness and warmth of a bed and she only just noticed that, due to her lack of memories of how a bed once felt.

Seeing Shizuru's positive thoughtful expression, Natsuki felt a warm fuzzy feeling grow from her heart and spread through out her whole body in a second. Realising that she had forgotten to officially welcome Shizuru into her home, she spoke up. "Well um, this is my home which is also now temporarily yours. So welcome home." Natsuki said with as much tenderness as she possibly could. Shizuru responded with a grateful smile and willed herself not to let those tears break through the barrier of her eyes again. She had done enough crying for today.

Natsuki then took off her lab coat, placed it gently on the bed and made her way across the room towards the bathroom. "I'm going to get the bath started. You can sit there or roll on the bed, or whatever you want to do, just make yourself at home." She stuck her tongue out playfully making Shizuru's lips curve upwards more.

Walking into the bathroom, Natsuki kneeled down and turned the hot water tap on, evening it out with the cold water making the liquid in the tub, lukewarm. 'It's probably been a while now since Shizuru had been able to even enter a house,' She grinned to herself as she remembered Shizuru staring in awe at the place. 'It had definitely been the right decision to take her here. She seemed so…happy.' Feeling the water reach her finger tips which were daggling at the edge of the bathtub, Natsuki stopped her rumination and turned the tap off. Just as she got up, she heard the bathroom door open and spun round. What she saw nearly made the hinges of her jaw break off. "S-s-shizuru?!"

The woman she was referring to was standing at the door way staring at her, with a straight face, unblinking red eyes, and she was absolutely naked. Clothe-less. Bare.

"W-w-whuh…" Natsuki stared wide eyed at the naked woman before her. "Why are you naked?!" She bellowed, failing to hide her blush.

"Ara," Shizuru started. "Why I do not believe anyone would wear their clothes into the shower." She pretended to be confused at Natsuki's cute little outburst.

Natsuki's eyebrow twitched. 'You've got to be kidding.' She had to counter Shizuru and state a reasonable explanation for her sudden fit dammit. "Y-you could've at least waited for me to go outside?"

"Hm? So Natsuki wanted to see me undress outside of the bathroom then?" An eyebrow arched.

"WHAT?" Natsuki face palmed. "That wasn't what I meant…" She whined, face over heating.

'Kawaii~' Shizuru thought to herself and took a few steps towards the cute girl. "Natsuki did I make you mad?" Her eyes looked watery and she turned her head to the side. "Besides… this isn't the first time you've seen my body…" She said softly.

Noticing Shizuru got closer, Natsuki backed away a little more about to die from the heat. "T-That's not why—"

"Then it's because you find my body unattractive?" Shizuru sniffled.

Natsuki panicked at the sniffle. 'No! I promised I'd make her happy, not make her cry! Do something you idiot!' "A-Ah-" She stuttered trying to think up an excuse.

'Got you.' "Then why is Natsuki so bothered?" Shizuru asked, stepping closer.

Natsuki couldn't handle the close proximity and stepped back nervously, without much thought about where to place her feet. "C-c-cuz…" She lost her footing and fell backwards into the tub with a splash. "Ah!"

Shizuru did her hardest to hide her amusement though feeling a little guilty since Natsuki had been so nice to her and all. But hey, she's a hematophian. She has an excuse not to control herself. 'Ara… perhaps I went a little too far.'

Natsuki surfaced from the water and stood up; soaking wet. She said nothing but stared blankly at Shizuru. The older woman did not seem the least bit upset. Natsuki sighed. 'She's such a drama queen.'

Shizuru winked and stuck her tongue out. "Well, seeing as Natsuki is already wet… we could take a bath together."

Natsuki looked down at her own clothes then back up at Shizuru. 'Heh, her amusement comes from my reluctance. Can't fool a scientist, we're experts at deductions. No matter, two can play at this game.' "Fine." She said simply.

Shizuru hid her surprise. 'Well that was easy…awww and I wanted to see Natsuki's cute expressions too.' Nonetheless, she was overjoyed at Natsuki's acceptance of this offer. In truth, she did all this to lighten up the previously darkened mood of both her and Natsuki, back at the lab. She had seen Natsuki try her best to cheer her up and it wouldn't have been fair if she kept up her sympathetic persona. Natsuki's efforts to lighten her day hadn't gone to waste, and she will show her that, by returning the favour. 'Thank you Natsuki.'

Both women were now sitting at the opposite ends of the bath tub. Natsuki had her elbow propped up on the ledge of the tub and held her chin in her hand, making her cheek puff out ever so slightly. It was one of the most adorable faces she'd ever make, and Shizuru was there to witness it. Natsuki pouted and frowned as she stole a glance at Shizuru. Shizuru was smiling innocently at her and the younger girl grunted. They've been in the bath for ten minutes now and the awkwardness had died down a little. (She had made Shizuru cover her eyes and only allowed Shizuru to see again, once she had stepped into the shower, and the water and steam had concealed her body.)

Natsuki sighed, causing Shizuru to giggle at her cute display. Seeing as how her cell occupant had a genuine smile on her face, Natsuki couldn't help but to return it 'Ah forget it. I can't stay mad at this woman for long.' Natsuki knew she loved it when Shizuru smiled. 'This is more I like it. I hated seeing her crying pitiable face. She's prettier when she smiles.' "See? This is a lot better than a disinfectant center now, isn't it?" She winked, knowing Shizuru would enjoy a proper bath she hasn't had in years.

"Indeed." Shizuru agreed with much gratitude. "Thank you Natsuki, really. For everything." She said with all her sincerity.

Natsuki blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. "It's, it's nothing. I said I'd treat you as a woman right?"

Shizuru stared at Natsuki in astonishment. 'Does she REALISE how she could make any girl's heart melt at her words? Like really, how can she not realise the charm of the things she say sometimes.' Her adoration for the biker scientist just kept growing.

They sat in comfortable silence for five more minutes before Natsuki noticed the holes in Shizuru's arms and remembered how Shizuru was strapped and bound to the chair earlier on in the lab. 'Punishment they say. Heh, more like an excuse to do further experimentation on her. Those bastards, just what do they do to her?' She settled on asking the victim of those punishments, after some contemplation. "Ne, Shizuru?"

"Hm?" Came the response.

"Can you tell me? Can you tell me what they did do to you?"

Shizuru looked down at her arms and frowned a little as memories came flooding back into her.

Natsuki realised she had broken the comfort between them and instantly regretted it. "I…" She looked away. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have reminded you—"

"It's alright." Shizuru looked up and smiled. "You've given me so much to look forward to Natsuki, so much hope. To be with you… all this is nothing. I can handle it."

Natsuki was at a lost for words. Was she too touched to say anything? Hm.

"Lets see, umm" Shizuru began light heartedly with no hints of distress. "They sedate me when I'm experimented on, most of the time. So I don't know what goes on during those sessions. But I do know that when it's a punishment, they usually keep me awake so I could feel it when they stab the needles into my veins to inject serums into me, or draw up my blood for tests. When I'm punished, they normally take up more amount of my blood than needed to leave me weak and helpless. And the side effects of some of the serums vary from time to time. The one I had yesterday made my muscles constrain, causing my tear ducts to dry up, which is why I appeared to be crying blood when you saw me."

Natsuki looked absolutely puzzled. Then her expression turned to one of sorrow and sympathy.

"Oh, but they don't hurt much and I heal quickly, so there's nothing to worry about." Shizuru added, to quell Natsuki's disturbance.

"I don't know why they are doing this to you, but I'll find out why, and I'll put a stop to it. I promise." Natsuki was pained at the thought of knowing what they did to their test subject. Maybe she would've been better off, not knowing. No, she definitely made the right decision to ask. Now she has more of a reason to want to protect Shizuru.

"Natsuki…" Shizuru whispered, once again feeling the strong urge to cry into the girl's strong defined shoulder. "Thank you," She said. "But don't worry about me. There are others in the lab that have to go through worse everyday. I'm not the only one."

The azure haired girl felt rage creeping up her nerves. That laboratory, is inhumane. This is NOT the kind of place she signed up to work in. She hadn't become a scientist to selfishly harm people like that. She didn't understand why scientists couldn't just ask if they could take a blood sample, or perhaps be gentler when they do it; why they couldn't treat test subjects with more respect and provide acceptable accommodation. This is rubbish, and definitely not what she saw scientists as, in her childhood.

Natsuki stopped Shizuru, before she could go on about Nao. "It's fine. You've told me enough for today. I can wait until you're ready to tell me what happened between you and Nao."

Shizuru was surprisingly calm and carefree. "But I promised I'd tell you everything Natsuki, I trust you."

"I know." Natsuki smiled. "But just… I just want you to be happy today without a thought." She leaned forward and gave a stunned Shizuru, a hug. Shizuru opened her mouth slightly, in astonishment. She was speechless as Natsuki initiated a long firm, full-body hug, and the absence of clothes gave Shizuru the full sensation of Natsuki's warmth. She could directly feel Natsuki's sensitivity and compassion. Closing her eyes, she returned the much needed hug, and allowed her cooped up tears to flow freely. The tears weren't hurtful this time, but pleasant; knowing there truly was someone who cared. It was comforting. She was pulled out of her thoughts completely however, when she heard a low grumble.

Natsuki appeared to have heard it as well. She released the hug and looked down at her stomach. 'E-eh?' She thought. The grumbling sounded again and she felt it this time. 'OH. MY. GOD. Why the hell is my stomach grumbling at a time like this? I mean I know I haven't eaten, but does it have complain to me while I'm hugging someone? Wow stomach, way to ruin the moment.'

Shizuru couldn't contain herself and laughed out loud.

A real laugh. A clear, loud, light-hearted laugh. Just what Natsuki had wanted to hear. Natsuki laughed as well. 'On second thought, way to go, stomach.'

"Well I think it's best I get out now. I need to get some food anyways." She grabbed a towel folded next to her on a towel rack and got up, wrapping herself in it and hoping she was quick enough for Shizuru to not see that much of her exposed body. She fought back a blush and stepped out. "Would you like anything?" She asked Shizuru, ignoring the fact that the person she addressed, wasn't human.

"I don't need ordinary food remember?" Shizuru teased. "Besides, I've already eaten… did Natsuki forget? She was delicious." Shizuru giggled as the shorter girl's face got redder.

"B-baka." Natsuki huffed. "I'll get you something anyways." She smiled and walked towards the exit of the bathroom.

"Natsuki?" Shizuru called out.

"Yes?"

"Does your lip still hurt?" Grimace slipped into the voice.

"If it still did, would I have been able to smile so much?" Natsuki stuck her tongue out and left.

Shizuru was left to be the judge of the answer to her question. She was still sorry for what she did, but she took Natsuki's word for it. "I'm glad it doesn't hurt anymore." She sank lower into the warm water and allowed herself to get indulged in it. She fully enjoyed the way the water surrounded the pores of her skin; her skin absorbing the water's nutrients. A bath was most certainly more delectable than a disinfectant center, where you were just put into a human sized capsule and sprayed with chemicals that killed germs.

She sighed contently and closed her eyes. She could stay here forever.

Natsuki walked to the guest room bed and picked up the clothes she had gotten for herself from her room, which were laying next to another set of clothes for Shizuru. Putting on a plain white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, she left the room and made her way towards the stairs, until she heard some shuffling coming from her own room. She stopped in her tracks and looked suspiciously at her room door. 'There's no one here but Shizuru and I. How can there possibly be sounds coming from my room… unless someone had broken in?' Natsuki went back into the guest room to retrieve the stun gun on the table, which she had taken out from her coat pocket and headed back to the entrance of her room.

She stealthily placed her right ear against the door and listened. More shuffling. Taking a deep breath, Natsuki positioned her hand on the handle, twisted it slowly and prepared to kick it open. Bringing her right foot up to the door, she kicked with enough strength for it to fly open in an instant, but not so much force that it would break the wood. Her eyes bulged at what was in her room, and her jaw threatened to break off for the second time.

A half naked redhead was bent over, ass facing the door, pulling up a skirt. The very same red skirt that had been left in this very room, early this morning. Natsuki still had her gun held in place, but was too dumbfounded to move a muscle. After doing up her skirt, the flame haired girl turned round to greet the owner of the house. "Ah, it's you." She smirked deviously. "Hey hottie, did'ya miss me?" After a few seconds of Natsuki's lack of response, the intruder frowned.

Natsuki still had a gun pointed at her, and her hands were twitching with confusion, as did her eye. The other girl seemed the least bit affected and walked seductively over to Natsuki who was still shocked but kept her position. "You're quite boring when you don't respond." The red headed girl said with a bored face. Getting tired of the silence, she smirked and leaned in to successfully peck Natsuki on the lips.

Natsuki's eyes widened and she backed away with such speed that she nearly fell over. "W-w-what the hell are you doing here?!" She exclaimed, but was careful not to be too loud in fear of alerting Shizuru to Nao's presence.

Nao broke out in laughter and dried her eyes. "I came to get the clothes I left here of course. You were… amazing last night by the way." She teased mercilessly.

Natsuki went beet red and glared at the younger girl. "You've got what you wanted, now leave. You can't be here." She harshly informed Nao; gun still in place.

Nao's amused smirk turned a little darker. "I know why you say that. It's because that woman is here."

"What are you talking about?" Natsuki pretended to be oblivious and heightened the gun so that it's leveled with Nao's head, to emphasise her point.

The wolf's smirk widened mockingly and she stepped forward making the gun touch her forehead, as if daring Natsuki to shoot her. "You know exactly what I'm talking about." She countered relentlessly. "Normally, I'd do what I want, whenever I want to, even if it's going in there to rip Fujino's head off. But fortunately for her I'm not strong enough as of yet. I still need to observe her longer to know what I'm up against, and you…" She backed an anxious Natsuki up against the wall and leaned in dangerously close, "Can help me do that."

"Never." Natsuki glared defiantly, only fueling Nao's amusement more.

"You don't have a choice, pup. You're marked, you're mine." The lycan morphian whispered.

Natsuki couldn't stop herself from trembling, nor could she resist the seductive wolf. 'Why the fuck, can't I push her away dammit? How dare she speak as though I'll betray Shizuru… I'd never…'

Noticing the blunette's vulnerability surface, Nao smirked devilishly and slid her fingers slowly up Natsuki's arm. Reaching the tip, she pushed Natsuki's gun hand down with one finger and lowered it till it was at the taller girl's side, victoriously getting rid of the barrier between them that is Natsuki's arm, and pressing her body right up against the human girl.

Natsuki found that she was staring deeply down into amused, wolfish lime green eyes. She caught herself thinking how beautiful they were and mentally slapped herself. She focused by only thinking of the woman she wanted to protect and shook off the trance she was falling into. "I won't let you touch her." She whispered huskily.

This didn't seem to faze Nao one bit however. The read headed vixen fixed her eyes upon the wound on Natsuki's lower lip and narrowed her eye lids. She had no idea what she was getting so mad about. Why would she care if Natsuki was hurt? She didn't care for the girl?... "Did she do that to you?" Nao asked, knowing the answer anyway.

"And that's your fault." Natsuki reflected harshly.

Nao felt a prodding at her heart. Guilt? No it can't be. She frowned a little. 'The fuck is this feeling?' She composed herself and laughed cruelly. "Don't be so bitter. The fact that she took the warning and attacked you even though she was fond of you, just proves that she is unpredictable and that she can't be trusted. If she's hurt you once, who's to know she won't do it again? Will you still want to protect her when she's ripping out your arteries? She's danger to you and always will be. Think about it."

Natsuki hated that a part of her was actually considering Nao's point valid. She didn't want to think about it, she didn't want to believe it. 'Get it straight, don't let her get to you. Shizuru would never…' Natsuki growled angrily.

Nao grinned. She knew she was getting to Natsuki, and enjoyed it. "But since I do agree that it was my fault you got that wound… let me make it up to you." In a flash, Natsuki's gun was taken out of her hand, tossed, and it slid half way across the room. The scientist was about to push the shorter girl away but Nao pressed up against her harder and held both her arms down in place, with her wolf-like strength.

"Let-me-go!" Natsuki struggled, but to no avail, so she stopped.

After the squirming faded, Nao leaned in slowly and licked at Natsuki's lower lip a few times, flicking her tongue back and forth. She let go of Natsuki after the procedure, and stepped back, giving the other girl some space. The navy haired girl weakly wiped her lip with her sleeve and glared at Nao, who just looked back at her with a stoic expression; neither amused or perturbed. "Relax, I won't do anything to your precious cell occupant today." Nao said nonchalantly.

Natsuki opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she found that her lip had stopped stinging. 'How did it recover so fast?' She took a look at Nao. 'It couldn't be… could it?' She was about to speak, but was interrupted the second time, by the ringing of her door bell. "What the… they couldn't have found out so fast could they?" Afraid that it was someone from the lab, Natsuki motioned for Nao to be quiet and perked her head out the window to take a peek at who is was.

It didn't seem like it was anyone from the lab, but it wasn't safe to say that they were harmless either. They looked suspicious. She saw a few limousines parked in her drive-in, and a girl who was wearing a high school uniform trashily, stood outside her door. As she inspected her uninvited guest more closely, she gasped. 'Isn't that high school uniform from Lauren's school?!'

At the same, she heard the door to the guest room creak open and a voice call out. "Natsuki? Do you have guests?"

Poor, poor Natsuki just wanted to bury herself in a hole at that very moment. 'This day just can't get any worse.'

I can't believe I actually finished this chapter. Yayyyy!

Okay, first of all, I'm sure many of you would've thought I died or something… since I haven't updated anything in almost a year. But a lot of things have happened, year 10 has gotten me busy with course work and shit, and we just found out my mum had cancer. So please please please, I beg for your forgiveness.

It's like, I had this chapter all played out in my mind, well, most of it, but it was hard to put into words, so I had a bit of a writer's block as well.

I have also started taking English creative writing courses so hurray, hopefully my writing got better. The first half of this chapter was written before I took the course, and the second half was written after. So if there's too much of a change in writing style, I apologise.

I know I've made all of you wait a long time and all, but I made this chapter the longest chapter I've ever written, so I could deliver more and hope to make up for the wait. I've also tried to improve my story skills, and by reading many awesome fics by many different authors, I've come up with some conclusions.

1)I lack of detail in my writing, where it's needed most and

2)I realised I kind of rushed the shiznat a little too much, and the relationship moves too quickly. So from here on, I decided to slow things down a bit, sorry if you get mad at me for this. But it's needed, in order to make the fic more believable.

I also apologise if you have forgotten most of the fic because of my incredibly late update, and needed to re-read it, before understanding what's going on in this chapter.

Now that I'm done with my sincere apologies and explanations and what not, I shall state that you will know bout Nao's and Shizuru's past a little more, later on in the fic, and I know this chapter is slow and does not contain that much action in it, but it is needed for the build up of tension.

Okay it's 5:45 am in the morning, so if there are any typos or errors, please let me know and I'll correct them.

I hope you guys liked the debut of Shizuru's and Nao's biggest love rival: Lauren Wayne. Yes, Natsuki's creepy ex.

And I hope you've enjoyed reading this chapter.

Ps. Okay okay, I know I added a little too much description for Natsuki's house… But god dammit I want that house T_T

All flames welcomed.

Ashley.