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Like a lamb lead to slaughter, Suto mused as he stepped back toward Hitsu ignoring the retreating tech. Gently he placed a hand on the first buckle around her torso. He trailed his finger over it for a moment, thinking. He really didn’t want to give this girl up, the more subjects he had the better but his new experiment already proved he was going to be resilient as long as he possessed her. Undoing the first buckle he moved to the one on her wrist, still thinking and planning, all the while giving the impression he was actually going to let Hitsu go.

A plan was in order, Suto concluded in his head. In order to break the will of this…boy he needs to have something taken from him. Something precious. Suto turned to look at Yuki as he undid the strap on one of Hitsu’s wrists and moved to the one around her waist and then to her ankle on one side. But it seems, Suto suppressed a smile as he undid the ankle strap and moved to Hitsu’s other side, that I already possess that which is precious to him.

Knowing that he indeed had the leverage in this matter, Suto undid the last strap and allowed Hitsu free range to move on her own. Taking a step back he smiled and nodded to her as if to let her know it was okay to move. Stepping closer to the counter beside the table, Suto stood and watched Hitsu carefully, reaching out as non-suspiciously as possible to grab a few needles that lay there while no one was looking.

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“Hey!” Neko had wanted to stop him, but it had been too late. Yuki had already downed the odd concoction and seemed to be suffering the effects. “Hey, are you okay?” He stepped a little closer to examine his friend to see if he needed any help. Reaching up, Neko made to place a hand on Yuki’s shoulder to make sure he was braced. He wasn’t sure what that stuff was supposed to be but he had a feeling that this was only the beginning of something bad.

Ah, a happy moment. Suto took his time following behind Hitsu, letting her and this boy have their moment of bliss of being reunited. He could almost feel the happiness floating through the air, and it was suffocating. Time for this to all come to an end. He thought as he drew back his right hand, a needle between each finger. Sweeping his hand in a downward motion, Suto released the needles skillfully, aiming for Hitsu’s upper spin. Oh how artful, just as Yuki had thought he had saved her, a gentle touch to wipe away the tears, she would slip through his fingers once again. This was turning out to be rather easy.

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“He let her go?” Neko sounded just as relieved but was still a little skeptical since Yuki seemed to be okay. What reason would Suto have to let Hitsu go? He didn’t strike Neko as an honorable man. Still that aside, Neko stepped a little closer to the door as Hitsu approached. He was glad she was alive and hopefully soon they would all be leaving this place.

As usual, Suto only smiled as Yuki threatened him again. Such big words for a little boy. A lot of talk. When Yuki reached through the door trying to grab at Suto, he just stepped lightly to the side allowing Yuki to grope blindly at the air for a few short seconds. Taking one step closer to the door, Suto braced himself and reached out to grab hold of Yuki’s wrist while at the same time aiming to slam his shoulder into Yuki’s arm, forcing his humerus in his upper arm to hopefully break against the door from the pressure.

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“s**t, what happened?” Neko had been unable to see but from Yuki’s reaction it had been bad. Had this sick freak hurt her again? Ready to fight, Neko found himself unable to do anything since the only access they had to the lab was the small four by four window that Yuki currently had his arm in.

His inability to do anything, however, was short lived as he heard footsteps echoing through the hallway and not just a couple of footsteps a lot of footsteps. “Ah, ********.” Just down the hall from them lab techs seemed to pour in from all directions, weapons in their hands at the ready. Drawing a few blades Neko readied himself, though he wasn’t sure how well this would go. On a good day, this many people wouldn’t have been to big of a problem, but being injured was a whole other story.

“Yuki, look out!” Techs had come pouring in from the other direction as well and Neko had barely noticed. Taking a step back, Neko aimed at the tech closest to Yuki and hurled a blade at him. The knife swirled in the air a few times and landed on its mark square in the middle of the tech’s forehead. A short second went by before the tech slowly fell to his knees and crumpled over dead. But he wasn’t the only person Neko was concerned with, there were others coming. He blocked a blow to his face and just barely moved away from a flying syringe. “Yuki we need to get out of here!”

When Suto’s plan to break Yuki’s arm failed he gave a frown of discontentment. Feeling Yuki’s hand grope at the material of his jacket, Suto made to take a step back but his fate had already been sealed. With bone crushing force he face planted into the door as Yuki withdrew his arm. Once let go he stumbled back the shattered lenses of his glasses falling in pieces to the floor. Not that he needed them, he could see well enough without them, but it was the principle of the matter.

Clasping a hand over his now bloodied nose, Suto let out a snarl of his own. He would be sure to make Yuki pay for that in full. Not that he hadn’t encouraged the behavior, Suto thought as he gaze drifted to Hitsu’s lifeless form on the floor. And with that his cheery mood returned as he wiped the blood away from his face with the back of his hand. The pain of his nose seemed to be triggering a tingling sensation in the back of his mind and he rather enjoyed it.

“Are you crazy!” Neko spat as he ducked out of the way of another blow. It was lucky for him these guys weren’t very good at hand to hand combat but his slowing pace was becoming an increasing issue. “We need to retreat and come up with a plan!” Blocking another blow from a rod, Neko pushed the tech back and into a few others. “Don’t be such a dumbass, we need-” Before Neko could even finish his sentence he witnessed his friend teetering on his feet before he collapsed to the ********!” Fighting his way through the techs, Neko made his way to his fallen friend. “Yuki! Yuki get up!” Before he was even at his side though, Neko could already tell Yuki was not going to comply with his demands. He was out cold. The techs over him were about to gather Yuki up and carry him off but Neko was going to have nothing of it. “Don’t you touch him!” He swiped at them with his blades but they all moved back in time avoiding any sort of damage. He needed to get Yuki out of here so they could come up with a plan and come back.

Fending back the techs Neko waited until he had enough safe distance between them before he hauled Yuki up and slung him over his back. “Heavy b*****d,” Neko hissed. Choosing his steps carefully, Neko made his way down the hall. Any pain he felt he tried his best to ignore, if he faltered now he knew it would be game over. Being unable to fully protect himself, Neko tried his best to cover all fronts with his left arm while holding Yuki with his right. This didn’t pay off well in the end though when one of the last techs he passed got in a lucky shot with a rod across his already bloody wound.

A short gasp escaped Neko but he refused to pay the pain any mind. Skidding around the corner, Neko saw the stairs in sight. It took him little time to reach them but took a lot of effort to climb them. Once passed the stairs Neko made a straight run for the next set of stairs, paying Mitsu little mind as he passed by.

Mitsu was finally waking up from the sedative she had received earlier and was slowly pushing herself off the ground. As soon as she lifted her head she saw Neko run by with Yuki on his back. Why didn’t he have Hitsu? Where was Hitsu? “Neko!!” Her cries went unheard as he turned the corner and left her field of vision. No, they can’t leave without her! Trying her hardest, Mitsu banged on the glass to try and get them to turn back. Even though she knew they were already gone she continued to beat on the glass relentless, more power being displayed with each hit until a tiny hairline crack started to make its way across the wall.

With effort, Neko made it outside and continued to run for all he was worth. They needed to get a safe distance away but where would they stop? The elements weren’t exactly in their favor, as it appeared to have just started snowing. I guess I’ll have to settle for something close. As he went on his pace began to slow, he wasn’t going to last much longer, but he needed to get Yuki to safety. Stopping at the next semi-collapsed building, Neko set Yuki down with a thud, his strength finally giving out on him. If it hadn’t been for pure adrenaline he never would have made it.

His legs seemed to give out underneath him as he sat down, leaning up against the wall. Catching his breath in deep gasps, Neko reached down and touched the wound at his side and brought his hand up to see the damage. It was completely painted in crimson. A frustrated sigh left his lips as he balled up his fist dropping it to the ground. Tilting his head he looked back over at Yuki’s lifeless form wondering how much longer he would be out and if he would be awake himself. His vision was already going out, the room growing darker around him. The last thing he saw was the snow slowly drifting from above, covering their tracks in the snow and then all was black.

At first, Yuki got no reaction. To the world Neko was gone but to the violent shaking and yelling Neko let out a soft groan his eyes drifting open. His vision was still blurred and he looked around a little frantically unsure where he was or who was around him. “Y…Yuki?” His voice was raspy from the cold and his skin was visibly paler from the lack of blood. Long ago Neko’s concentration on his form had gone and he now sported his split black tail and longer pointed ears to his own dismay. He preferred to keep his tail out of sight and his ears to a minimal point. It attracted much less attention. Placing his hands on the floor he tried to push himself into more of a sitting position, but after a few attempts settled on continuing to lean against the wall. He was so tired and his body ached, all he could wish for at this point was to close his eyes and go back to sleep, but he knew that wouldn’t be possible. Not yet.

“I’m feelin’ kinda useless right now,” Neko tried to grin despite himself. He hated to look weak and vulnerable, especially in front of his friend. Not like they needed any more trouble at the moment but there wasn’t much he could do. Pressing a hand to his wound, Neko held it there a moment. It seemed like the bleeding had slowed but that was probably more due to his lack of blood and the dropping temperature.

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Clean up at the lab took only a matter of minutes. The glass in the door had been swept up, the dead techs removed and placed in the incinerator, and the floor cleaned of all blood save for a few samples Suto thought might be interesting. It seemed that Yuki’s friend had been injured and Suto was curious to know about his companion as well. He watched as the data slowly downloaded on screen from the blood work. A nod here and there, a slight smile. It wasn’t until a particular code popped up on screen that a full out grin crossed Suto’s face. “Interesting, very interesting.” Gathering the attention of a nearby tech he spoke to him in a hurried manner. “Go upstairs and fetch Mitsu will you? I have some plans to set into motion.”

The tech nodded and left in a hurry to do as Suto asked of him. In the mean time, Suto made his way back over to the body prep table that they currently had Hitsu's body on laying face down. The needles had been removed with care and the wounds on her face were cleaned of the glass and blood. She was a little worse for wear but usable for further experiments. Thinking, Suto pressed a gentle finger to the bandage on his nose. It had been broken but it was of little concern, but the bandage was a nuisance.

Not happy about being tended to, Neko made sure to muffle his discontentment, but as Yuki expected he gave little resistance. Once his shirt was raised far enough it would reveal a wound that looked like it had been from a mace rather than a simple knife. The wound was huge, starting to spread across Neko’s abdomen and creeping up his side. The flesh around the area was decomposing, blackened in most spots while other parts were turning purple. It was obvious Neko’s body was trying to keep up with the healing but it was quickly becoming too weak to do so. If is hadn’t been for his regenerative ability whatever was on that knife would have eaten through his body long ago.

Content to not look at the wound, Neko diverted his eyes. He was already slightly panicked about it, though he tried his best to not show it. “So how bad is it?” His voice cracked a little as he spoke. In all truth, he really didn’t want to know. He secretly hoped Yuki would say it didn’t look bad and he could take care of it, but deep down he knew that news would never come. He wouldn’t be lying here half dead if it wasn’t ‘that bad.’

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Suto went about his work in the lab, preparing vials and setting them aside. He continued with this tedious task for a few more minutes before his assistant finally came back with Mitsu. She stood there nervously at the door looking over the lab for any sign of Hitsu. And then she saw her, laying face down on the body prep table, her arms dangling lifelessly off to the side. She was hooked up to nothing and wasn’t even strapped down which only meant one thing to Mitsu. There was no threat of escape because there was no reason she would be getting back up. You don’t check the vitals of someone who is dead.

Horror struck, Mitsu stared on with wide crimson eyes, drawing up shaky hands to cover her mouth. “H…Hitsu. Hitsu!” In a split second, Mitsu made an attempt to run to Hitsu’s side but was unable to. The lab tech had a firm hold of her arm preventing her from going anywhere. “No, let me go! Hitsu!!” As Mitsu continued to struggle to get to her fallen friend a few other lab techs had to run over and assist in restraining her. A loud scream echoed through the lab as they pinned Mitsu down to the floor. “What have you done to her?! Let me go I want to see her!” Her sentence had barely been audible through her tears as she continued to try and make her way to Hitsu. “Hitsu, wake up! Hitsu open your eyes!!”

Her screaming seemed to fall on deaf ears as Hitsu continued to lay there motionless. With tear filled eyes Mitsu finally gave up and let the techs fully restrain her and drag her to her feet. That was when Suto finally stepped forward an odd look on his face.

“My my, this brings back memories. I haven’t seen you this emotional since you were a whee tot.” He stepped a bit closer and reached up to wipe away Mitsu’s tears but she cowered away from his touch. He paid it little mind and continued. “I remember a little girl, who used to sit in her cell and cry for her mother over and over and over again.” Suto went on. “But your mother never came did she? Your cries echoed through these halls for weeks and your wretched mother never once tried to save you. You were abandoned. Though I’m sure you don’t remember.” Suto was right, Mitsu didn’t remember, not that she was really focused on it at the moment. She was still staring at Hitsu, hoping that she would pop up at any moment and it would have all been a game. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!” A rough hand grabbed Mitsu’s jaw and jerked her head around to look Suto square in the face. He was angry with her.

“Have these people messed with your mind?” Suto asked but Mitsu didn’t answer, she just looked into his eyes fearfully. He seemed to study her for a few more minutes before he released her jaw. “Nevermind, it’s not important at the moment. But I do have something I want you to do for me and if you complete this task I will omit any punishment I promised. Will you help me?” Mitsu didn’t know what to say, but she knew she really didn’t have a choice in the matter. Suto would have his way; he always got his way, whether it was by choice or by force. So slowly Mitsu nodded her head. “Good, you may release her.”

The techs reluctantly let go of Mitsu and backed away. Once free of their grasp Mitsu wanted nothing more than to run over to Hitsu but she stayed in place looking to the floor as if asking it for help. Stepping a bit closer Suto held out a small vial of opaque red liquid, which Mitsu took and held onto until instructed what to do with it.

“Hold onto that for a moment. I want to go through this first and you would do well to listen carefully. Not a single detail is to be overlooked. Do you understand?” He looked at Mitsu with his cold golden eyes, somehow without his glasses they looked even creepier. With a hard swallow Mitsu nodded again. “Good. You are to find the two men that were here after Ms. Hitsuzen earlier and you are to bring them back to me. You will lead them back into this room where there will be a trap waiting for them. Now, for the details of the plan.” Suto began to pace as he explained his intricate plan in depth.

“When you find them you will tell them you escaped. You were being lead back to the lab by minimal personnel due to their little rummage in the hall but before you were secured within the walls you broke free and made a run for it. You escaped the way they had so you can follow their scent with ease. Once you find them bring them in the back entrance since I sure they will be leery of coming the same way twice.”

“Back entrance?”

“Oh, you remember. Where you escaped all those months ago. I’m sure you’ll be able to find it by smell alone, no one has been up there to clean since then.” Suto went on but a smile crossed his face as he saw Mitsu’s nervous expression. She seemed to recall the event even if it was only briefly. “Bring them down that way, the lab here will be down a series of hallways just remember to keep taking rights.”

“But….”Mitsu faltered as she looked up at Suto with a question in her eyes.

“Continue.”

“What if they do not want to come?” Mitsu knew this wouldn’t be true but hopefully it would upset Suto’s plan and maybe he would forget it.

“I don’t think that will be a problem. I doubt they would leave her dead or alive, but if the problem does come up assure them she is alive and well.”

He had apparently thought of that too. Nodding again Mitsu looked back at the vial wondering what she was going to have to do with this.

Seeing that Mitsu was looking at the vial again Suto addressed it. “Drink.” Hesitant, Mitsu uncorked the vial and looked down into the liquid. It was thick like syrup and smelled of tar. “Drink.” Suto said a bit more forcefully. With haste, Mitsu tried to comply with his demand and downed the vile liquid until every last drop was gone. Once the vial was empty she handed it back to Suto and waited further instruction. “What you just drank,” Suto took back the container. “Was a poison. You have exactly two hours before it runs its course through your body and kills you. Your death will not be instant but I guarantee that it will be painful, but I have the antidote for you if you return successful. Tell neither of them anything of the plan and if I suspect no foul play you will be rewarded with your life and no punishment. Do you understand everything that I have told you?” Suto smiled at Mitsu as she began to physically shake with fear. Her heart had jumped up into her throat and continued to pound there as Suto had continued to speak. “Well, do you?”

“Y…yes.”

“Then I suggest you get going, you have little time.”

Mitsu nodded frantically and made her way out of the lab and followed Neko and Yuki’s path of escape out of the hospital. She ran as fast as her legs would take her nearly tripping and falling as she overlooked the little things that stood in her way. There was no time, what was she going to do? She was leading them back into a trap, but if she didn’t she would die. Shutting her eyes tightly, Mitsu tried to think of the best solution, what should she do? It took her mere minutes to reach the top floor and burst out the front entrance of the hospital. The freshly fallen snow had long ago covered Yuki and Neko’s tracks but their scent still vaguely lingered in the air. She had to find them, one way or the other she knew she needed to find them.

Not good? That’s not what Neko wanted to hear though he knew it was coming. When Yuki continued with he had an idea Neko was a little less than enthusiastic as to what that might entail. “What’s going to hurt?” When Yuki pulled out one of his own blades it took Neko a minute to process what Yuki had meant. The wheels began to slowly turn and suddenly it clicked, and when it did his eyes went wide and he tried to push away though he didn’t get far. In fact, all he managed to do was push himself into a sitting position leaning against the wall.

Staring fearfully at the knife his friend now wielded he let out a whimper of distaste for the situation. “Q…quick?” He looked very doubtful and even tried his best to shy away from the blade but in his weakened state he was barely able to do that before Yuki began to carve away at the infected flesh. He let out a yelp before biting down on his hand to prevent himself from breaking his teeth. As the process continued Neko managed to bore holes into his hand with his fangs as he tried to fight through the pain. When Yuki was done the wound would be bigger than before and a complete bloody mess, but it would be free of the decaying flesh and that which infected it.

Shakily Neko withdrew his hand from his mouth panting from the pain, the cold, and loss of blood. “Holy *pant s**t….” He had never experienced pain quite like that before and hoped too never again. Feeling light headed and sick Neko took to lying on the floor, slowly lowering himself down on his elbow before lying down fully. “Never again…will you play doctor on me.”

“Tough one? If self mutilation is supposed to make you tough count me out,” The wounds on his hand had already stopped bleeding and showed signs of healing, hopefully his side was doing the same. “Thanks by the way…. Despite that being the worst experience of my life so far, I probably owe you my life.” Rolling over onto his back, Neko stretched out to keep his wound from healing weird. That’s all he needed was for it to heal while he was all balled up and have to stretch out the scar tissue. “So what’s the plan?” He knew it would be a while before they made another attempt so they both could have a slight break, but at the same time he knew they needed to move out soon. Tilting his head up he looked at Yuki, awaiting his answer. His split black tail twitching at his side impatiently. Neko’s eyes even had a more demonic look to them but he had exerted so much energy at this point he couldn’t hide his natural features.

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It was taking Mitsu longer than she expected to track down Yuki and Neko. The fallen snow had fully covered up their tracks and their scent was becoming faint. So faint she had to stop every once in a while to re-find it which took more time than she had. Two hours, how much of that time would she spend looking for them? Suto really was impatient if he wanted her to get this done in that time.

Having lost the scent again, Mitsu got down on all fours and searched the area, sniffing and pawing at the snow. When she had done this before she had found some frozen pools of blood, blood that smelled like Neko. It had her a bit worried but also reassured her she was on the right track. Hmm..no….no not here…not here either….no…..no….ah! Mitsu finally uncovered a few frozen droplets of blood. She had found her trail again. Hopeful that she was getting close she pressed on.

“Neko?” Mitsu ran a bit further ahead, she was a fair distance away from the hospital now among the tattered remains of buildings. “Yuki?” Her voice didn’t carry far since she was so soft spoken but hopefully they would hear her cries. Listening for a moment, Mitsu didn’t hear anything and pressed on. They must be further up ahead. The wind started to pick up bringing the snow down in sheets making it almost impossible to see through. The cold didn’t seem to bother Mitsu, this was the climate she was used to, but the inability to see was making her trek through the snow difficult. “Neko! Yuki!”