Would death ever come?[private]

[Kyouran]

((OOC: Requesting Invader Phantom with Atsuki.))

Annoying… Annoying… The damn grumbling in her stomach started to really irritate Shitsumei as she had heard the noise for the tenth time in the past five minutes. Hell, she was used to hunger, she was used to the dull pain in her body that came as the result of not eating. Even the dizziness that was almost constantly present didn’t bother her as much, but for her own body to interrupt her in her thoughts? No, that was something that required her attention, and a possible hunt. It was so troublesome… Having to go through all the difficulties of catching a pray, and than having to swallow every bite knowing it would bring her nothing but nausea. But at least she would be left alone to her thoughts then. Looking around rather lazily, she slowly got to her paws, the steel armor making more noise than she at the moment appreciated, and she snarled at the thought. “Damn… Just shut up, will ya? ….” Her eyes had a dreamy yet angered look in them, and Tsume shook her head to clear the blurry vision and hopefully get rid of the growing frustration that was building up inside of her.
The small branches on the ground broke as she made her way to an area she thought to be better suited for hunting, and she flinched as a particularly sharp one stabbed her scarred paw. The pain was minor and passed as soon as it appeared, but it was enough to remind her of what she was. What the reason for that pain was. Humans…. Humans, who she was ready to forgive, forgive for making her into something she was never supposed to be… What was she originally? She tried to recall the memories of her body before the experiments started, but she couldn’t, she was far too young then… A wolf? A dog? She had no idea. But, yeah… She was going to let the hatred for those being dissipate, as she was starting to realize not everyone was like that. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, her being a monster, if it meant she could protect the little girl entrusted to her. Just maybe her fate wasn’t going to be as horrifying as she had imagined. The small hands of a smiling child, who knew no fear of her unnatural size and menacing looks, going through her silver fur and patting her head stirred up a new feeling inside of her, one that replaced the constant burning and depression within her heart. She came to love the squealing sound her mistress let out whenever a kitty would pass by the house, and she stopped growing at the little animals. She was slowly changing, at least mentally, to her true form, the one untainted by curious minds of the White Coats. Her maw was graced with a smile, a freakish one, but smile non the less, more often than in all those years… And than… And that all her hopes and dreams, all the love she had begun harboring in her, it all came crashing down on her, extra cruel to punish her for having such thoughts. The reality was, indeed, merciless when it came to ignoring it. And the irony of it was, she was asleep as her world bled to death… Literally.

The warm and tingling sensation on her paws annoyed her; it made her itch and brought her back from her nightmare. Her eyes were closed, she wanted to savour the pleasant feeling of calmness she had every time she woke up from the memories of the lab, knowing she was safe from the scalpels and her own pained screams. The first thought that reached her mind, was that whatever stained her paws was hot… And her scent glands filled with a smell she knew not so well, but enough to get terrified at the strength of it. Her muscles tensed, and the first reaction of her body was to jump away, but the fear paralyzed her in one spot even before her mind could process everything. Still, she was conscious enough to open her gold eyes, which, at the sight before her, stayed wide open, almost blank. She had slipped… Fallen unconscious still half-sitting, like a statue made to scare everyone back from hell itself. The blood on the ground, on her, covering the huge steel claws… The heavy metallic scent in the air… The small room was filled with toys, for a child no older that two years, and the sight was almost ridiculous… But so no funny… A great hellish creature in the middle of it all, unmoving, trembling slightly, and blond soft hair that was stained and plastered together, sticky with half-dried blood, somehow made a sickening combination. And the still smiling face of a two-year-old girl, in contrast with her mauled body… It made no sense… She died too quickly to even realize it.

Tsume paused, a dark look on her features, as she breathed in deeply, attempting to stop the flow of horrors. She tried to focus on the trees that surrounded her, the breeze that toyed with her nose, making her sneeze. Even the pain, she’d welcome it if it would make the images go away. A small trail ob blood trickled down her maw as her fangs pierced her skin, jaws shut tightly to stop herself from crying out. It was her mistake, it was their mistake as well... She held no memory of the exact moment her body moved in her nightmare, claws slashing at nothing. At least, it should have been nothing... Her mistress shouldn't have been standing there... She shouldn't have died there...

Pain… It was sharp, searing pain in her maw, and even worse, she could feel the pain reach her back, not her legs though… Was her spine broken? No… Than, she’d be too lucky, to just die… The consciousness fought it’s way back, but that part of her that was aware of what awaited her didn’t want to wake up… Dreamless sleep, yes… That would work. But the reality was not done with having her twisted fun, punishing her foolish heart, and Tsume opened her eyes as yet another flash of pain ran through her body. It was all hazy, more so than usually, but a figure was standing next to her, yelling something… Another one, a little way back, hysterically crying and rocking something back and forth. Yes… She knew what was going on… The parents were back, with smiles and presents for their little princess. And than, they too were punished, maybe even more so that she was. The father, kind and good man who wished his daughter to live happy life, held a metal bar in his hands, knuckles white from gripping it way too hard, smashing her armor with all the strength his body possessed, and didn’t… She could not yet see them, but mixed with the sickly smell of lost life, she could tell the scent of tears filled the room. The mother was going insane, holding her dead child in her hands… It would be good if she lost her mind, at least then, she wouldn’t have to suffer…

Shitsumei broke into a run suddenly, the tear-like marks under her eyes now really wet, as she moved her feet without thinking, not seeing nor caring if she would crash. It was a rare thing now, to get overwhelmed like this, she thought she could control it already… But her emotions took over, urging her to run faster, beyond the physical possibilities of her messed up body. Tripping and falling a few times, she fell once more to stay on the ground. Her body was aching, her soul was slowly being ripped and torn and then put back together just so that it would start all over again. The female was shaking, her face buried under her monstrous paws, and the claws that still held a light red to them glistened in the noon sunlight. It mocked her, such a nice day… The green trees resembled nothing of red that she could now see, and the Sun shone to brightly to match the darkness threatening to obliterate her… She wanted to give in, to just die and make it stop. She wasn’t as strong as the White Coats made her to be, she was weak, cracking… The thought of something she heard from a fellow lab-rat long time ago, before they killed him, came to her: “I will survive! I will fight them and win! I won’t let the filthy bastards ruin and mess with my spirit!” He died a week after his announcement. She still had an image of his torn body, insides that weren’t inside anymore, clearly in her head. He didn’t look as convincing then. And she knew, she knew that she wouldn’t make it, ‘cause, this wasn’t a fair world where everyone had a happy ending. They got tears, and blood, and pain… And if they’re lucky enough, they were granted with insanity.
Standing back up, her legs almost buckled in underneath her, and she quickly stepped forward as not to fall yet again. At least, she’d die with her stomach full and not on her ass. At least, she hoped. Blinking the tears out of her eyes, she could now make out her surroundings. A big clearing, sky was fully visible and clear, and for a moment there was indeed a hand reaching out to her. Small one, with blood dripping off of its fingers, as it called her to Hell. She even went as far as too believe it, thrusting her head up, her eyes hopeful, that it would all end. But the illusion dissipated as quickly as it had come, and she was alone again. At least, she thought she was. A rustling sound came from somewhere on her left, and Tsume looked there, impassively, not caring the least who it was. It made no difference. Not now. Not yet.

[★Ryuujin★]

The coppery scent of blood filled Atsuki’s nose as he put his weight against the fallen tree, pushing it off of him and out of his path. The damn animal escaped. A stupid deer at that. How could he be so slow? With a growl, he mentally disciplined himself. Not only had he been slow, but he had been clumsy… if this continued up, he wouldn’t survive out here in the wild. His large form needed sustenance… a lot of nutrients – and he wasn’t getting them.

With a surprised squeal, the deer leaped out of the way as Atsuki landed in the spot where it once stood, lip curled back to reveal snow white, needle sharp fangs. Red eyes watched as the creature sped further up the mountain and a feral growl escaped the hellhound, claws digging into the ground before pushing against the earth to give chase. It was no problem for Atsuki to catch up, taking him only a few moments, but this deer was smart. A snap to one side, and the creature leaped to the other, a snap to the other, and the creature leaped back. But, the deer had seen something that Atsuki hadn’t. Digging its hooves into the ground, it quickly slowed to a stop, causing Atsuki to run right over the creature to attempt a stop on the other side.

Digging his paws into the muddy snow, Atsuki slowly slid to a stop. But his time was up, and the large creature had slammed into a tree. The loud crack the trunk made was enough to scare the deer away if Atsuki already hadn’t. With ears laid back, the hellhound moved his large head to look up as the tree cracked again, falling over on top of him.

Gathering his paws below him, Atsuki stood up with a groan, this was going to hurt tomorrow, even more so than it did now, and it made him shutter. He could handle pain, easily, but this was a sore stiffness that ran through his body, pulsing with every heartbeat. Licking the blood that slowly fell from his nose away, Atsuki made his way back the way he had came, head hung low. He wouldn’t be able to hunt accurately with the strong scent of his own blood invading his nose, and with this, and each passing moment, he became less positive that he would eat today.

Opening his maw to take in the tastes of the air to aid his nose, Atsuki closed his eyes, raising his head to the skies and breathed in deeply. Boar, Deer, Bear, other canines and pine could easily be tasted, some of them more foul than others, but there was one thing that he didn’t recognize too well. It was a living creature, yes, but… its taste reminded him of himself. Laying his ears back and opening his eyes, he lowered his head, maw closing slowly. That wasn’t the only thing he had tasted, blood, and it smelled more like his than he had smelled before, even more so over Chi.

Quickly breaking into a run, Atsuki allowed the tastes to guide him, his curiosity levels rising, which was unusual for him. And since it was a rare feeling, Atsuki always gave into its temptation. He had heard other canines say that curiosity killed the cat, and some believed that they were close enough to cats that they too could be killed by it. But Atsuki was far from a cat, or even any other canine, therefore, he never believed it. Though, to his surprise, he was lead to something else. His deer from earlier had collapsed next to a riverbank, covered in blood from the wounds delivered to it curtsey of the hellhound, and was now dead.

Bringing his giant form to a stop, he moved next to the deer, sniffing it. Nothing else had found it yet, good. This was his kill. A deep growl rumbled through his chest as he picked up the creature, small compared to him, in his maw before once again, breaking into a run. He had his food, and he needed a place to eat, a place under cover, or in the open where he could easily keep an eye out, he didn’t want any pests. His quest took him through a small valley and over two rather large hills, and through his journey, little did he know that his nose was once again leading him toward that strangely familiar scent. With each step he took through the snow that crunched beneath his paws, he was brought that much closer to the female that had entered the clearing and the bushes that separated him and her.

Easily clearing the bushes with one leap, he landed on the other side, paws landing heavily and deeply in the snow, sliding to a stop. Eyes surveyed the area around him before they stopped, his entire being freezing at what they had paused on. The source of the familiar scent stood before him, and didn’t look so well. Laying his ears back, the sickening realization that this creature was slowly dying from what looked like hunger struck him like a bat, and he realized, that he wasn’t so bad off.

Lowering his head, Atsuki slowly made his way forward, ears laid back in a silent message that he had no ill intentions and gently set the deer down before her. It wouldn’t be so hard to catch another for him, but he had no idea the condition the female was in. Once the deer was placed gently in the snow, Atsuki took a few steps back and turned away, closing his eyes. His first kind gesture to anyone other than Chi. It felt… strange

[Paris-Sama]

OOC // I take it you guys are not in the Dark Faith Pack. Are you a threat to Paris' reign here, if not, we'll leave you alone.

[Kyouran]

((OOC: No, Paris, we're not in the pack xDDD But, no need to worry, we just needed a place for our hellhounds to meet, they won't cause any trouble for your pack xD.))

When her eyes followed the sound of rustling that came somewhere on her left, she certainly didn’t expect to be greeted with such a sight. It was… huge. Yes, that’s the one and only word to describe the great creature that moved toward her. He was bigger than any other canine she had ever seen, even other lab-rats she had spent her time in the lab with couldn’t be compared to the male than now made his presence known. And she stood there, frozen in one place, but not in fear as one could suspect, but in shear amazement, the gold eyes once again gaining the dreamy look and that unreadable glint, the sorrow and pain momentarily forgotten and pushed back. She’d deal with those later. Or never, but that was too optimistic of a thought.

She watched carefully, more interested than scared, as he walked in her direction, ears lowered in what she could only guess was a sign he had no intention of picking a fight with her. Not now anyway. She took notice of his grey fur, and just for a split second he reminded her of stone, indestructible and protective. But the coldness of the illusion was obliterated by the fire in his eyes, full of life and spirit. She swore she saw a glimpse of curiosity mixed with sympathy somewhere before he closed his eyes, titling his head away. Tsume blinked. She had gone and done it again, got lost in her thoughts, completely ignoring the fact that a deer now lay at her paws, smeared with blood and clearly dead. Had the other been carrying the big animal whole this time? She couldn’t say, admitting her defeat, she sighed. It was never her thing to notice important stuff, even when they were just in front of her nose. Or paws…

The wind blew, harder, and the scent so familiar to her reached the hellhound, making her look at the male before her again. He was, now she was absolutely sure, like her. Changed and altered without being given a choice, because, humans didn’t do that. Show mercy. And one dark shadow crossed her features at that thought, a growl fighting its way out in her chest. But she shrugged it off; concentrating on the spinning masses of colors the world had turned into helping her get distracted. She had managed to ignore the dizziness due to the fact she was too occupied by the newcomer, but now, as the smell of blood that came from the deer, and she noticed grimly, from the hellhound himself, added to the sickening feeling in her stomach, she had to close her eyes tightly as not to have the ground slip from under her paws. She knew that the feeling wouldn’t go away, but still, silently she begged for it to loosen the grip it had on her.

She heard her stomach make that annoying noise again, and she lowered her head. Tsume knew the male was a complete stranger and that it was a rare time she would be shown kindness, let alone from someone who knew nothing about her. But even the fact she was incredibly hungry and desperately needed to get some food in her system, the thought and certainty of the nausea that would come in the minutes to follow her last bite brought discomfort. Already looking and being weak as it was, she could only guess how horrible she’d look than. It was not her wish to insult the stranger, though, even more so this one who managed to catch her interest, and she bowed her head, thanking him silently wether he saw it or not, before bringing the steel fangs to the now cold animal. They cut through the soft skin and flesh with such ease that it scared her. Was she really just a killing machine, unsuitable for anything else? After the earlier breakdown, it seemed quite possible.

The blood still held that metallic taste and smell, it was still hot even though it flew no more through the large body. She could feel it stained her maw, and as it trickled down her throat. But Tsume kept her paws, claws, away from the kill. To have them stained now would mean to again be reminded, and she wouldn’t have been able to stop it, like she wasn’t before. If she were a normal canine, the meat would have tasted great, fresh and from a young deer, but to her body, it felt… dead. It would come back out the moment it was enough for her to survive, and she dreaded that. Not only how shameful it was, but most disgusting. And she was helpless to fight it, her own body.

When done, her paws moved on their own, away from the soaked ground and unconsciously closer to the male. His scent had an oddly calming effect on her nerves, bringing the calmness and making her struggle less intimidating. The feeling was so strange to her, to be safe and protected, or so she thought, that she almost managed to convince herself she had wondered off into one of her daydreams again. But it was real, the red eyes and the huge body, so close next to her that it indeed felt like imagination. She had always believed that if she met someone who she thought she wouldn’t be able to beat, she’d run. But running was the last thing on her mind, the world could crumble to pieces and that wouldn’t change.

The breeze picked up again, and before she could register what she was doing, she found her own voice filling in the silence. “I, um… thank you for the deer.” The voice was low, hoarse from not being used in quite a while, and speaking didn’t help the matter of her growing nausea. Clearing her throat, she almost growled out a “sorry”, before jumping almost to her paws and hurrying off to the nearest bush.

“Damn! It couldn’t fail, now could it? Not even this one time…” Tsume licked her maw, cleaning the last trails of food and mixed blood off, ignoring the fact that wouldn't make the stench go away. Nor the disgusting feeling it caused in her mouth and stomach. But it couldn’t be helped, and she had made peace with that a long time ago and now wast the time to doubt that. It probably would never be. Her steps were slow, heavy, and the claws made a clattering sound as they hit the small rocks on the ground. She wanted to go to the place she was before the bile rose in her throat, but to be so close to him when she knew he would, without a fail, catch the smell coming off her, it felt embarrassing. Humiliating. Just, simply…. Not right. So she settled for a bit further away, but she didn’t sit. She slumped to the ground, with a low thud, and averted her eyes from him. Great, she had made a fool out of herself, completely and utterly.
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