Chained (Private Yuuki)

His days always started slow. They didn't start late-- he awoke with the earliest riser in the den, which was to say at the crack of dawn. The early risers tended to prepare themselves quickly and leave early to do their duties. He would follow them in their rituals to a point, being of aid when he could, otherwise just providing company, a gentle reminder of steps they may have forgotten. He'd awake from his hollow... The air in the mornings was cold, it always bit at his nose and clung to his skin. He always waited for the sun to warm the ground some before he braved the world.

It was part of his own private ritual. So many steps he'd learned in his all too long life, things designed to keep him healthy in body, soul, and mind. Ever since he was young, still on his mother's teat, he'd practiced certain techniques. It was an act of balance, an equalizer. He stuck to routine as often as he could, an upstart threatened much worse than a bad start to a day. Since before birth he'd suffered from a debilitating condition, something that made him different from his rambunctious little critters. If they could even be called that.

The wolf's heart beat differently than others if at all. He'd known this almost as soon as he began to have conscious thought. His mother was a rock, her heart beat was steady and slow. As early as he could remember, he could remember sinking into the sound of it, wrapping himself in the comfort of her life-giving breath. Even now, he took every opportunity that presented itself to fall asleep with his head cradled against her bosom. The thought of seeming childish never entered his mind.

Each morning he sank into himself the way he had sunk into his mother. His breathing grew slow, controlled. Each breath was deep, filling his chest cavity to capacity. He held his breath for several seconds before slowly exhaling, looking inward. His heart beat was hollow... but still powered his body. The beats were slow...blank...and cold, the sound not as deep and robust as he yearned it to be. There was a slosh, always a worry, blood leaking from where it was meant to be. Every morning he felt unsettled. his heart was cold and the blood that ran through his veins was made of ice...but he would not let that change him. Not in the slightest.

He filled his mind with pure, intelligent thoughts. The sound of his past tormentors, his enemies. The sound of blood being spilled, each unique, their beats as fast as their paws or their inquisitive minds. He focused, another deep breath, looked inward again. Slowly the beat of his heart leaned towards a more steady pace, calm energy pooled just above his gut. Around him, the sounds of his brothers in arms joining the world of the waking went ignored, his entire being preoccupied by maintaining the positive.

'This is me.' was the thought, 'And I can be as strong as I want.' His heart agreed, compromising on a steady if weak beat. Satisfied, he pulled himself back to the present, his breathing slowly returning to normal. His light violet eyes opened, greeting the warming sun that had peaked over the horizon and came brightly down on him. It was time to get lunch...the male had spent days without any kind of blood source and he felt himself becoming more and more thin. Stepping out from his hollow the small child narrowed his eyes and moved forward into the light...yes...the light. On his leash and chained to a wall the young fox creature sat...watching the sky darken with the heaviness of clouds as he inhaled through his muzzle. Reaching upward slightly as rain began to pour down upon him...soaking his pure white fur as his large ears swiveled atop his head like radar dishes. His large fluffy tail swayed behind him as he waited...stranded on the streets where everyone turned a blind eye...always turning the other cheek.

Serena groaned slightly and turned another corner, growing more and more lost as she went. She was definitely going to be late to college now.

Serena had just moved in to town, living in a small apartment while attending the local community college. She was living by herself, of course. It was all thanks to her grandmother, who own the complex and was lending her the room so long as she attended class. However, what she had not provided was a map to get from point A to point B. Hence, the being lost.

Clouds had spread overhead a little while ago and now rain had begun to fall. Of course it had. Her morning wasn't going badly enough as it was. She tried another street, now hoping to just get back to where she came from. Maybe she should ask for directions.

But it appeared that the rain had driven most pedestrians from the streets. She figured that maybe she could knock at someone's door and ask... would that be weird? She pouted a little.

There was a screech of tires, which was the only warning she had. The car tore out of no where, barreling straight for her. She screamed and dove out of the way as the vehicle bounced over the sidewalk, barely missing her. It swerved again, splashing muddy street water over her, before returning roughly to the street and vanishing around the block.

Serena lay there for a long time, feeling shaky and afraid. Her arms were now reporting pain of her impact on the concrete, possibly with scrapes. She felt tears at the corners of her eyes as she fought back her fear and suffering.

It was when she was stiffly getting back to her hands and knees that she saw it. A fox-like being sitting on a chain only twenty feet away. She froze. Was she seeing things?

No, it really was there. She started at it, scared to move. Scared to say anything.

Scared to death.

Time. The line of everlasting existence through events and history? Or was it something more? Fact was, time was not something that could truthfully be explained by anyone. It was infinite. Just like the mysteries it held deep within its roots. Many thought of time as a way to recognize the present...Others believed it to be so much more. A force beyond comprehension doing its work unintentionally and perfectly all at once. The stubborn existence of organization that held the past within a seal. The bringer of the future and the giver of the present. Some believed time to be a god all itself, invisible to the naked eye and unheard through religion. It very well could have been. When phrases are shouted out like ‘we are out of time!’ or ‘Times up.’ To some they are just phrases, to others they are tribute to the all mighty god of time. Whoever it may be weather it was real or not. Or perhaps…for something to be real one must simply believe it to be real? Faith was a powerful substance in many cultures throughout history.

Consisting side by side with time was the gift of memories. A function of history stored within the subconscious of ones mind throughout the period of their lives. Of course…there were always memories better left forgotten. Despite the fact memories would always eventually be forgotten in the downward spiral called time. The memories of the past, of those before us. Never told from the beholder but often from the witness. Stories and legends passed down generation to generation but with each generation only losing more and more of the truth as the line between reality and fantasy grows ever so thinner. It was the same with the beings that traveled the world. Over time ones blood does not strengthen. It weakens. If one were to make a copy, of a copy, of a copy it would not come out stronger. But weaker. This has always been true. The memories that held the truth where lost…forgotten In time.

At this time...13 was looking at something...the sky...confused as to why water was falling so heavily from its domain...as the fennec creature sat there and simply passed time by when the screeching of tires tore out of the corner 13's large ears fell flat upon his skull in shock and his hackles raised...bright turquoise orbs stared ahead...to see a young human girl on the ground shaking.

In 13's mind she looked as scared as he ever was...she looked a lot like him. And something about that tugged at his heart strings as the fox slowly crawled over to her on all fours as an animal would...although he had a humanoid form. His anatomy allowed him to move around on his hands and feet in such a way where it did not look unnatural. Going about as far as his chain would let him, he slowly approached the girl...nose twitching as he leaned forward and sniffed her...familiarizing himself with her scent as he moved his muzzle closer. Nuzzling the side of her head with his own in an attempt to provide comfort...whining lightly and nudging her cheek with his nose. As if to say 'get up'.

Serena panicked as she creature moved forward toward her, sniffing as it came. Her first instinct was to get away from it, before it killed her. But the sudden attempt at movement made her jarred body shriek in protest. Unable to pull back, she braced herself and whimpered.

It sniffed her and whined lightly. She felt it nose her cheek lightly... almost like it was concerned for her. She stared up at it in confusion. Slowly, her mind shifted from terror, into another gear. One of more... wary feelings. She started to sit up again and let out a small gasp of pain as she did so. One of her legs throbbed dully and was getting worse. A horrible thought hit her as she realize she might have broken it in the fall. God knew how far she was from her apartment. And no one would be checking for her there for quite a while. Did she have her cell phone? She wasn't sure. Her bag had landed a little ways away.

She swallowed again, he breathing shallow and pained. There was still the matter of this creature too. Now that she was pretty sure (And hoping) that it wasn't going to kill her, it had taken a momentary back burner for her problems. But it was still there, still watching her.

She took a moment to take in its appearance. A humanoid fox... how was that even possible? Things like this didn't exist. But here it was, with large ears, white fur and enormous blue eyes. It would have almost been considered beautiful if it weren't for her current circumstances.

And that raised another question. What was it doing here? It was chained here, so it must have been stuck here for some reason... but why? The scent of wet fur wafted passed her nose, reminding her that this rain couldn't be pleasant for it either.

She glanced at her bag, laying in a puddle a few feet behind her. Neither of them would be able to reach it like this. It hurt too much for her to move and the creature was chained. She weighed her options.

Finally, she spoke, her voice coming out in a quiet rasp. "Hello... can you understand me?"

Shadows stretched over the tall pines of the outskirts of the forest behind them as if to create a web of darkness. The trees echoed with the raw silence, other than the droplet rain hailing down upon the two. And as a small puddle formed the young fox drew his attention away from the girl for a moment...Staring at his reflection with a look of disgust and displeasure as if he were not pleased with something about himself. The lofty pines needles underneath his feet made the earth cool and spongy beneath his weight. The fox's vision never left the pond as it glistened in the moonlight, turning it a variety of sharp colors.

There are...so many kinds of monsters in the world...Monsters who do not show themselves and cause trouble. Monsters who abduct children. Monsters who devour dreams. Monsters who deceive us...and monsters...who always cause pain. But the scariest monster that no one seemed to think about...was the monster know one knew about. The unknown. That monster that always eluded...and with this thought there was Suddenly there was a raging series of booms and violent bangs within the clouds as if to proclaim war on one another.Thunder clashed once again in the sky and slowly the heavens began to cry down upon the pair as 13 turned his attention back to the girl who appeared to be in awe of his appearance.

Ignoring her gaze, his attention was drawn to her leg which appeared to be wounded...large ears flattened against his skull as he moved his muzzle to her leg and touched his blue nose to it. Offering a small and gentle lick to her leg as a soft luminous glow would emanate from his tongue onto the wound...healing the girl's leg. 13's kind where known for several things...healing was one of them. When she asked if he could understand her 13 simply looked at her and tilted his head...moving his muzzle in slowly before touching her nose with his own and whimpering as if to say 'yes.' The fox's body language was often very physical so he did only what felt right to his nature.

Serena watched the fox's motions with her full attention now, as it looked at its reflection. It seemed... upset by it. Displeased maybe? That confused her. But before she could ask what had it unhappy, it has moved toward her injured leg. It made physical contact with it, which made her flinch.

But then her pain faded. Just like that, her injury was gone. Warily, she pulled her leg under her, testing it. Sure enough, the fox had healed her. Somehow. This being was full of surprises.

The fox crept forward and pressed its nose to hers, causing color to come to her cheeks. She had never had anyone so close to her and it brought an alien feeling to her. One that she couldn't place for the moment. But now she was sure it could understand her speech. It knew what she was saying.

She took a brief moment to take inventory of her other injuries. Both her arms where pretty sore and showing signs of bruising. Her left elbow was scraped. Her shoulders hurt pretty bad too. But nothing too threatening. And she wasn't about to ask the creature to patch her up completely. That seemed to be too much.

So instead, she asked something else of it.

"Why are you chained up out here? It seems wrong. Do you need help?"

She felt a little weird trying to communicate with it still. It didn't seem to speak, but it did understand her, so it was sentient. All the more reason she couldn't walk away. That, and she now felt she owed it. Maybe she could do something for it.

There was a moment where the fox caught a glimpse of nervousness within the eyes of the girl...did he make her feel uncomfortable? Then again, he was a feminine looking fox creature chained up to a fence...he was pretty much a freak of nature sitting out in the pouring rain. But at least this woman did not turn her back on him...that was always nice. 13 was not exactly use to the emotion of compassion so seeing her treat him as if he at least had feelings was a breath of fresh air.

He noticed as she blushed when he came into contact with her and simply asked why he was chained up and if he needed help...13's expression turned heavy with sadness and loneliness as his ears lowered upon his skull and his tail coiled around him...he would like help...but who would offer it? Where would he go? Where could he go? There was simply no place in the world for something like him and though she seemed nice enough. 13 was just a stray...thats all he ever could be while chained up like he was.

The sadness in the fox's eyes was almost tangible. It was trapped here; that much she was sure of. Serena finished getting up, her whole body aching as she did so. She grabbed her bag out of the puddle quickly, before returning to the fox's side. The first thing she did was examine the chain and how it connected to the fox. It wore a collar, which confused her. Did it have thumbs like hers? She hadn't seen. But if it did, why didn't the fox just remove it?

Now that she thought about it, was the fox male or female? She didn't know... her eyes wandered downward, where they probably shouldn't have, trying to get a revealing look. She felt awkward doing so on something that could understand her like another human being. But is seemed even worse to continue thinking of the creature as an "it."

In the meantime, she ran her fingers over the collar, brushing the slightly through his thick white fur. "Can't you slip out of this or something?" she asked. Or do you want me to try to break the chain on the fence?"

The chain itself actually looked pretty sturdy, but the fence had seen better days. If she could find something to hit the mount with, she might have been able to break it off. Maybe with a lead pipe of baseball bat... she might have to wander for a moment to find one though.

13 looked around in confusion as she got up and grabbed her bag...she looked as if she was studying the chain that bounded him to this cursed street and as she did she continued to examine him...what was she looking for? He followed her gaze as it fell down to his lower region and then just stopped...13's ear twitched with amusement as she suddenly asked him if he could slip out of the collar...13 shook his head and simply pulled on the chain hard. Chewing on it and shaking his head lightly. Showing her he himself was not strong enough to break it.

Serena flushed a little as she realized that the fox had noticed her examination. It was sentient, so it very likely knew exactly was she was looking at. She cursed herself internally for being such an idiot about that, but forced herself to not fuss over it. One problem at a time.

He (as she was now pretty sure it was a male) made it pretty clear that getting out of the collar was a no-go, so that left her the fence. She frowned at the mount into the wood and slowly nodded.

"I will be right back, I promise," she told him, before slipping away. It took her 10 minutes to find something, because she didn't want to wander too far from him (for fear of not being able to get back). But finally, she returned to him with a large lead pipe that had been sitting next to a dumpster only a couple of alleys away.

"Okay, with any luck..." she murmured, examining the mount once more. Finally, she set her bag down and took a deep breath. Serena took the pipe over head and took a deep breath.

She braced herself, knowing this was going to be loud and brought the object down on the mount as hard as she could, warping the thing. Scowling, she hit it again and saw it loosen. Her heartrate quickened with excitement at that. She could do this. Just a little more.

With all her might, she slammed it two more times, at different angles, causing the wood to splinter. Setting the pipe aside, she grabbed the chain in her hands and pulled, placing one foot on the fence as leverage.

Which turned out not to be the best plan. As soon as she yanked, the mount came loose, causing her to topple over backward with a squeak. She blinked a few times, while laying there and stared at the free chain stupidly. It actually took a minute for her to register that she had done it.

"Oh... hey, it worked," she said, giggling. "I did it... oh boy, I am gonna feel that one later."