Ichigo I'm going out for a bit my little darling.

I shudder at the endearment in his voice and quickly try and cover it up by rubbing my hands over my arms in a play at being cold.

Though I'm certain my master can see through this charade, he plays along and pulls a shall off the coat hanger to wrap around my shoulders.

"Really Ichigo you should be more careful of your health. If it is cold you should wear something warmer and have a shall or sweater to keep you warm."

I just nod and try to pretend that the fact that he still hasn't removed his hands from my shoulders is not the least bit disconcerting.

"It wasn't this cold when I woke up this morning." I reply lamely.

"No it was not." He replies cooly and steps back at last to grab a coat for himself.

"Well then I'm off. Make sure all your chores are done when I return."

"They will be. When will you return today master? " I ask, probably a bit too excitedly because he comes back to me and stares deep into my eyes placing a hand on my cheek.

"Be careful with the alien." He whispers seriously, "I doubt he'll try to hurt you again from fear of my wrath if he does but...should he find out that I'm gone, I don't know what he would do to you."

I just nod mechanically while inside I'm laughing hysterically. What he would do to me? He would probably go after you like a light if he knew how you behave around me and treated me in the past. What you did to me...

I shudder as the memories of that horrible night break from their tightly woven bonds in my mind.

Deep Blue smiles icily and kisses my hair gently.

"Be safe my little kitten."

I force a cheerful smile back at him.

"I will be."

With that he's through the door leaving me with a hated shall and potentially dangerous plan forming in my mind.

"What do you call him again?"

~*DS*~

Kisshu brushes the soft feathers of the once majestic griffon with as much care as he can with trembling arms. The drugs that Deep Blue uses are starting to take their toll on him, not to mention the pain and fatigue.

I try not let it bother me as I set down the food and forcefully kick the rats away while I reply calmly.

"Terrin."

"Terrin." He repeats the name softly and thoughtfully while still stroking the feathers then his voice changes and he suddenly seems to be speaking in a different language. I'm about to laugh and ask why he's speaking in old Tilbin when I notice Terrin looks alert and curious for the first time in months.

I gape and Kisshu turns in time to catch it and laugh brightly, if a little breathlessly.

"So it's true that cats like catching flies then?"

I shut my mouth quickly and give him a brief indignant glare before I go over and stroke Terrin as well.

Kisshu grins a bit and keeps chuckling as he turns back to Terrin, speaking in Tilbin once more.

I watch mesmerized as Terrin watches the boy and then gives his head a brief nod before he gets up tiredly and walks over to the food. The rats came in but he growls at them and, probably more in shock at the fact that he's doing anything than in fear, they scurry away. With hesitant dips of the head and several unsteady paws of the unyielding concrete floor, Terrin begins to eat.

"Ips golla." Kisshu says with a smile.

I understand that much at least. Very good.

"He...he's eating." I gasp, feeling tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.

Kisshu nods and wraps an arm around my shaking shoulders.

"I told him to. I said that he would have a chance of seeing the outside world again if he could only stay alive."

I burst into tears and happy yet biting laughter.

"The outside world?" I shriek, "None of us will ever see the outside world again! We're here till the master decides to kill us!"

Kisshu pulls me to his chest and wraps both arms around me tightly.

"I don't believe that. I can't believe that there's no hope."

I sob into his chest letting all of my built up pain and anguish over my fate, his fate, the fate of all the creatures in here, pour out onto his stained vest.

"How can you say that when you...when he's..."

I sob harder and barely even register that he's stroking my hair till his hand brushes one of my ears and makes it twitch.

"I thought I'd lost you last night." I whisper.

He sighs and drops one of his arms to his side.

"I can't curl my fingers in this hand anymore." He whispers, "I can barely even feel them. He must have severed the muscles and nerves that control them."

I stared in horror down at his useless hand.

"No. Why would he?"

I reach down and lift the dead fingers to my cheek, letting my tears trickle over them before shifting them to kiss the tips gently.

"You can't feel anything?" I whisper against them.

He shakes his head sadly and I shift the hand back to my cheek with another choked sob.

"No."

"Ichigo it's not the end of the world. It's just a few fingers."

But I can see the sorrow and fear flickering behind his eyes as I drop his hand and step forward to him again. I reach up and run a hand along his jawline before I rest it on his lips.

"I won't let him do anything like this to you again." I swear.

"Don't promise the impossible Ichigo." He whispers against my hand but a soft smile has broken across his face and his eyes look alive again. Oh those wonderful golden orbs of pure light.

I lean up and replace my hand with my lips as my hands tangle into his hair to bring him down closer.

He responds and instantly all the pain, the sorrow, the fear, the knowledge that time is ticking away, none of it matters.

At last a squawk from Terrin breaks us out of the happy daze and we break apart to look at the griffin. The creatures eyes look into my own and they seem to hold my thoughts within them, playing my greatest desires through them.

"What are you waiting for Ichigo? " they seem to sing and dance, "Take the risk, or forever wonder what might have happened."

She snapped her head away from them to turn back to Kisshu's eyes which were staring at her curiously.

"Ichigo...?"

"Come with me." I whisper, taking his good hand and leading him from the cell and down the long isle back towards his cell at the end but we're not going there. I turn away from the hateful room that offers my love his relief from the other room.

"Where are we going?" he asks nervously and a bit excitedly.

I don't respond till we reach the bottom of the steps.

"Upstairs."