[Kitty]

Bella blinked and raised an eyebrow. The Fellox must have hit her head! And why was she in such a rush? She opened her mouth to speak, taking in a quick breath and gagged, just as an enormous scaly red foot landed a few yards from where she was sitting with a loud bang! it was at least three times the size of all four of her paws put togther. The familiar disgusting stench rippled around them in waves, each much worse than the last. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see an enormouse head appeared from the trees, but she didn't dare take her eyes off its other foot, which was practically ripping a tree from the ground.

A terrorizing screech and growling noise came from the direction of it's head, forcing her eyes to dart to it's face. That was a mistake. Its eyes, pure white, seemed to push her down, like the gravity had suddenly gotten much stronger. But she couldn't pull her gaze away, it was too inviting. Too strong. And that's when she knew that she was dead meat.

Completely paralized right down to her ragged breathing, all she could manage was a surprised squeak of total shock before she collapsed onto her side. She knew this monster would bring death to all who crossed it's path.

No. This monster didn't bring death; it was death.

{8}

[Azure]

The toxic aroma of death overwhelmed Katana's senses, its nauseating aura weighing down on her body as if manipulating the air itself to prevent her from escaping its source's deadly grasp. "Koroshi," Katana breathed in barely a whisper. As if his name was a trigger, scenes of blood and carnage danced before her eyes while mingling with tainted dreams, sending searing white pain to her mind as gruesome memories tormented her internally. Katana collapsed to the ground as she remembered painfully too well her past. Yet at the same time this torture pumped into her a new powerful surge of determination to prevent these memories from becoming reality again. No matter what, she musn't look into his eyes. Katana had made that fatal mistake only once, and her life was altered pernamently, eternally scarring her with the most unforgivable sins. Why, among all of Them, did it have to be Koroshi? The answer was obvious, though even after all this time Katana had refused to believe the truth until it was too late. Koroshi was the only one who had the power to bring her back, just as he'd brought her the first time.

A whimper of pure horror snapped her mind back to the present. Twisting towards the sound, Katana found the hydrokuna lying across the small clearing, eyes round with terror, directed at the crimson beast before them. Seeing the trembling creature's face brought a thunderstorm of shocks through Katana, erasing all remnants of her instinct of self-preservation. When she'd left Them, she'd vowed never to see a face like that again. And yet, because of her...

Ignoring reason, Katana rushed to stand guard in front of the hydrokuna, futile hopes of protecting her coursing through every fragment of her being.

**9**

[Kitty]

Bella's eyes darted across the dragon-like face of the creature. Her body was now shaking uncontrollably as the creature's weight bent a tree nearly in half before it snapped. What the heck was this thing? She knew it wasn't good, that it was extremely dangerous. And then the Fellox dragged herself infront of Bella, seemingly protecting her. A thought suddenly dawned on her. Why was this completely beat up beast trying to protect a completely healthy, completely capeable Hydrokhuna? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Bella heaved herself to her feet, and still shaking hevily, pushed her way infront of the Fellox. She took a deep breath and then began slowly backing up, nudging the hurt creature backwards into the woods. But before she managed to take any steps, the dragon-like beast caught sight of them and their eyes met. A big, evil like grin spread across its face and it bent low to her level, its breath now touching her face.

"I've been looking for you." It said, its erisistable low sounding voice drawing all her attention away from any other thought.

{9}

[Azure]

Katana resisted against the Hydrokuna's nudge. No matter what, she told herself, I will protect her. Katana tensed every muscle in her body in preparation for combat, her gaze lifting to the magnificent being before her-- deliberately avoiding his eyes-- then stopped dead. Katana had to seriously re-evaluate the situation they were in. Koroshi was at his full power, completely healthy, and had all of his nerves about him. They, on the other hand, were either weak and out of their wits or severely injured and utterly useless. As much as it hurt her pride to admit it, if she wanted to even have a fleeting chance of keeping the Hydrokuna and herself alive, flight would be the only option. Again. Katana gritted her teeth in frustration.

But every emotion, every thought, every feeling except for one was flushed away as words escaped from Koroshi's mouth. Some voice deep in her consciousness cursed a round of profanities. Apparently she'd forgotten that his eyes weren't the only way to win her into his grasp. And as long as she felt like this, held helplessly frozen before this remorseless beast, she was seriously screwed.

**10**

[Kitty]

This was absolutely insane! A walk in the woods, a hunting trip to find food, and this happened? Who had called it, or better yet, why was it looking for them? How long had this beast been tracking them?
Bella shook her head. Wait. This beast couldn't be tracking her aswell. That made no sense. So it was after the Fellox, and that beast didn't look at all happy. Baybe smugly victorious, but not happy. And, it looked dangerous. Very dangerous.
Her fur puffed out at the thoughts circling her head, making her look like a big puffer fish, and she arched her back, trying to look bigger than she was, even though she knew that it wouldn't do anything to scare or even alarm the beast. But a growl ripped loudly from her throat and she took a step forwar. If this Fellox was going to refuse to move - to run - and then freez up, then she'd better step down and let Bella take over. As much as she hated that thought.
But one look at the beast's face - it's dark, powerful and luering eyes - and she stepped back with a hiss of suprise. Suprise mostly because of the power and hatred and - longing? - she saw in his expression, his eyes. But they weren't directed at her, at first. they were watching the frozen Felox. Finally, Bella got frustrated with the confusion, terror, and utter lack of knowledge she had, and pushed her entire body into the injured fram of the Fellox, hoping to maker her stumble, fall over or anything that could wake her.
"Get a grip!" she cried angrily

{10}

[Azure]

The voice in the back of her head-- the sensible, aware voice-- tried to push itself back to the surface, but was weighed down by a crash of emotions, old ones merging with new. This is ridiculous, the voice yowled, how can you still think this way; still feel this way about him?? You were tricked and used and tortured because of him and even after knowing this and finally escaping Their grasp, you're willing to waste all your efforts because of something that was never there. Katana, wake up! Katana...

"Get a grip!"

Suddenly Katana found herself lying on the ground, a raging Hydrokuna clumsily sprawled on top of her. She stared at the trembling mass of bristling fur, and though she acted as though she was furious and ready to fight, her eyes betrayed her facade. The Hydrokuna was completely terrified. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she repeated "Get a grip!" to her. Finally Katana's rational side broke through her temporary world of fantasies of her past and absurd hopes of the present. They had to escape. Now.

Not daring to risk another glance at Koroshi, she picked herself up off the ground while simultaneously scooping the Hydrokuna by the scruff of her neck into her jaws. Ignoring her injuries that if this insane amount of adrenaline hadn't been there would be otherwise impossible even stand properly, she ran like hell.

**11**

[Kitty]

Bella blinked in suprise as the Fellox crumpled so easily under her fifteen pounds of weight. The two of them dropped like stones, and she let out an ouf of suprise, a cloud of dust rising over them, temporarily blocking her view of the beast infront of them. Bella pushed herself to her feet, shook her head, dirt flinging in every direction, and resumed her hissy fit against the dragon-like creature.
Beside her, the Fellox stood, suprise and confusion evident on her face, and Bella hoped she hadn't injured her further. But to her sudden suprise, the fellox clamped her teeth down on Bella's scruff, lifting her off her feet, and then took off. At first, she was completely unprepared for the sudden dash through the woods, but the way the Fellox moved was so slow and clumsy, even more so with her injuries.She didn't move with the air - the wind - like Bella could, and the feeling of moving without the grace and sureness Bella had made her anxious, and even angry. She wanted to run on her own, and she knew dang well she could keep up!
"Put me down!" she cried, paws flailing. "Let me run on my own! I bet I could run ten times faster than you!"
Even though she knew this wasn't the time for arguing, she knew they'd be better off running seperately, especialy because she knew this forest much better than the Fellox did.

{11}

[Azure]

Katana could hear the approaching beating of Koroshi's wings behind her as she scrambled through the forest, squinting through the leaves and dirt that danced before her which were uplifted from the pressure caused by his takeoff. If this was a battle of mobility, they wouldn't have the slightest chance against Their fastest flyer. She had to find someplace to hide if there was to be any hope of escaping.

She had to get out of sight and earshot before Koroshi caught up to them. And this Kunha's struggling isn't helping in the least bit. Katana winced as a flailing paw struck one of her wounds. Without slackening her pace, Katana let out an exasperated grunt. "Fine," she snapped and released her grasp on the Kunha. "If you know this forest so well, prove it. If we have any hope of making it though this, we need to hide. Now."

**12**

//Uhm... hehe yeah sorry this one came so late... >.> yesh I am a procrastinator. (and a damn good one at that) I'll try to post faster in the future, and what with summer vacation practically here I don't have an excuse to blow it off anymore. Anywaysss this message was more for myself to help me keep that promise. Otherwise, I'd probably go back to replying "in an hour from now" or "maybe tomorrow when I'm more in the mood". So yep. 'Nuff said.//

[Kitty]

Bella lands hard on her rear end with a grunt. She turned to glare at the Fellox - opening her mouth to complain - but saw the look in her eyes. and then her words registered with her. She was standing in only a second.
"There's a set of small caves nearby. He shouldn't be able to get to us. He's much to big."
She paused in speaking to pick up the pacce, feeling the wind carressing her fur and the spongey ground beneath her. "How fast do you do you think you can run?" she asks. She woried the Fellox was going to collaps at any moment.

[Azure]

Katana grunted. "I'll keep up," she replied brusquely. She could hear Koroshi's wings beating almost directly above them now. If it wasn't for the trees standing between Koroshi and them, he'd have already been able to swoop down and seize them both in an instant. They had to take advantage of this temporary obstruction while they still could. They had to get moving.

"Lead the way. I'm right behind you."

**13**

[Kitty]

"Lead the way. I'm right behind you."
After hearing this, she was off. Her body started moving like the wind through the trees as she ducked and dodged branches and roots, never hitting a single thing. Once again, she had the overwhelming joy of running through the forest no fear in the world - save for the giant flying beast just above them.
And then she seemed to remember the injured Fellox running much more slowly, much more clumsily than herself somewhere behind her. She knew she had to slow down, but she didn't want to. She loved this feeling too much. The two sides argued in her brain until finally, as the sound of the fellox crashing through the bushes started to fade and common sense took over, she did slow down untill the beast was back in sight.
By this time, they could see the caves just ahead. It was a rocky outcrop just like the one where Bella's cave and home lay.
Home. Would she ever see it again? Or was she doomed to run forever along side then ungreatful Fellox? she shook the thought away and as she padded ever so closer, she got a better view of the caves. There were two openings; one was bigger than the other, but one was almost big enough to fit the dragon-thing inside. well, maybe an arm and a foot. But still! They couldn't take a chance like that. She'd seen what it had done to those trees. She's felt the terror when it looked into the deapths of your eyes.
"The one on the right. The smaller one." she said as the Fellox caught up. "It'll be harder for it to get to us."

[13]