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Kikue felt horrible. This was the exact situation she hadn't wanted people to be in...why were the labs so intent on breaking people down? Because that's what it was, wasn't it? What other message could there be from that day? Or maybe it was, "Let's see what happens"?

It was sick. It was what she wanted to avoid. That was why she had created the database in the first place...

So he doesn't know what he is, yet... Kikue's look was timid. "You can call the labs, you know. They will tell you what it is, if you ask. I did that as soon as I found out what this place was...because I wanted to have some idea what was coming...

"What did they tell you to get you to come here?"

Sabin...! Kikue's heart felt like it had stopped. Her eyes widened. Sabin! Again...the same doctor...was it always...? "S-Sabin?" she stammered. "...He administered my first injection, too..." Her expression darkened. Already her impression of the labs was dissolving. The Halloween event had seen to that. The lies she had dealt with before...but why? Why do something like this on top of everything else?

She could understand that Miller wouldn't want to ask the labs. But it would be harder that way. "If you don't ask, you'll have to guess...but I understand why you wouldn't want to..." She frowned harder. "I wonder if Sabin had anything to do with the Halloween 'party'..."

It made sense that the labs had been involved in it. How else could it have been pulled off, except by them? The fake Annie, and everything else? Kikue's fur bristled. She rubbed the top of her muzzle again, even while she tried to pretend it wasn't there. "...We'll see about this..."

She glanced back at Miller. "...When I first came to the Island I started a database on my computer to keep track of everything about the people that I met. Nita and I are making surveys...to help fill it out, so that all of us can use it... I've been thinking maybe you could fill one out, too... Even from the Islanders you've mentioned already I don't know most of them..." Just goes to show how big this place really is...

"Would you want to fill one out, Miller-san?"

Kikue happily reached for a notebook placed under her bed, pulling it onto her lap and flipping the cover open. As she did, her large, new paws were all the more noticeable to her...she tried to ignore them. But how did one ignore an appendge on their body? "Great -- here you go --" she said, pushing her thoughts in her head. She carefully held a piece of looseleaf paper out to Miller, with marginally bad handwriting on it. She had still been trying to cope with her paws even before changing again...

The paper read :

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Nationality:

Serum:

Duplex #:

Why brought here:

When brought here:

Additional notes:


Kikue fumbled with the pencil that was slipped into the binding of the notebook. She was able to get it out, and laid it on the paper in Miller's lap with the utmost care. Her seemingly huge claws were impossible to ignore. "You can use the notebook to write on, if you want," she said, her voice faintly meek. The changes...

She forced a smile at his surprise about a computer. "Yes, I brought my laptop with me. There's no connection to the internet here, but I have all of my files, and I brought DVD's with me...I had planned on staying here for a while; they told me this was a physical therapy facility for intensive care..." She smiled a little more. "The operating system is in Japanese but, it's still a standard computer. I have music...most of the vocals are in Japanese though." She scratched the back of her head, laughing. "Eheh."

Kikue tried not to let the embarrassment show, but it was hard not to. Her smile was shakey. I can't let it get to me too much...but it only just happened...so it's harder...

She laughed. "I don't know what 'WoW' is...but I agree. I like Japanese music much better then English music, although I also like classical so I have a lot of files from that."

She pushed the hair back from her eyes, securing a rather long strand behind one of her large ears. "...The therapy was for my hand. My father crushed it one night after drinking. I took myself to therapy, because I need it to play violin...they directed me here, to help with the therapy process..." She trailed off, knowing she had little else to say to explain. Obviously this wasn't a physical therapy center -- her appearance erased all doubt.

Kikue was completely taken aback. She looked down at Miller giving her a hug, so much like Nita would do it -- Kikue almost didn't know how to react. She thought she knew the right answer, based on being with Nita before. She returned Miller's hug carefully, but gratefully. It was hardest to try and make sure her claws didn't hurt his back. It felt so...strange...him. A human. Even Nita had already had fur, when Kikue had met her. The only other person, that man -- the one she had bitten, that was the only other "person" that she could think of. And by now, he had no doubt changed, too...

"I'm okay," she said softly. Her ears dropped. "I...I can play again. I don't know if I can now...after this change but I...I could, last time..." Her own thoughts clouded everything. She must look terrifying..she hadn't even seen a mirror yet, but to someone who only knew that this was inevitable, that it would be coming for them too...and she was like one giant cat. A cat-person. Not even the regular kind, either, she added bitterly.

Kikue sighed through her nose, placing her feline head over his shoulder. She couldn't think of anything else to do, and this seemed to be the right thing, like when she had been with Nita. Hopefully the fur wasn't so scary to other people.

Kikue looked at one of her paws -- for they really couldn't be called hands anymore -- with her head still over Miller's shoulder. It seemed so big; it was surreal to look at it. The thick black pads...the claws. She brought it into a loose fist, then relaxed it again, just to remind herself that it was real...and that it was her.

It was.

She made no reply about her violin...she would have to try again, on her own, to see if she still could. What would the point be if she lost it all over again? Kikue swallowed hard. It would defeat the entire purpose...but she couldn't think about it now. No...not now...later...

She felt her face becoming hot. She had no idea if she could still noticeably blush or not. Pulling her head back, she looked at Miller's face, which was so very human. The contrast was startling. Her muzzle jutted out so far from her face, it felt like; the fact she had a muzzle in the first place... And Miller's face was so human! I was like that...

She put a large paw over her muzzle as if in shame. Mumbling out something incoherent, looked away.