There's a form of barbaric entertainment that has existed for many years in the Makai.

Dragon baiting, similar to the sport some humans find in dog fighting. The most aggressive and wildest dragons are taken from their natural homes and crossed with humans kidnapped from the human realm, creating a unique hybrid creature with the ferocity of the dragons yet the intelligence of a human.

While these hybridizations create unique killing machines found only in the fighting pit, they also create a new creature with the emotions of a human, yet the bloodlust of a dragon. Some fight against their inborn desires to kill, and lose their minds in the process. Others purposely try to loose their fights so they can escape and die in peace.

Among these hybrids, some are called 'Mercy's Angels'. They are the ones who have tried to die, but could not. Tried to stop, but could not. So they free their friends and families from the fate that is the arena. And they keep fighting to stay alive.

Ask every one of the 'Angels' if they hate their job, and they will not answer. It is because the dragon half of their souls enjoy the slaughter; enjoy the taking of life. Ask them if they want to die, and they will say they wait for another angel to free them. This is their lot in the sick game of life, and they can't help but go along with the flow of life.

There is one 'Angel' who is still waiting. Waiting for the one to help her escape before she can't help herself anymore. Anko, the Twilight Dragoness, still waits for someone to completely extinguish the flicker of a flame she calls her life.

......ooo......

'I don't know where my soul is...' Anko stirred briefly in her sleep. 'I don't know where my home is...'

Anko stirred briefly in her sleep. '

She was small for a hybrid, maybe only about 4'6" or 4'7". She got her nickname 'Twilight' from her father, which was a dragon Drake of some unique lineage. His parents had been a Darkness Dragon and a Light Dragon. Definetly not a flavor that would occur in nature naturally. Her mother had been a simple human woman, whom had died shortly after Anko's birth.

As a result, in her human shape she had black hair with a single white-blonde streak that went just past her shoulders, the single streak was in her bangs. Her skin was pale and slightly photo-sensitive, and she had the kanji for twilight branded in gold under her right eye.

Her left eye was a golden yellow, and the right was dark red (like Hiei's, that way you have some reference.). For the few that had seen her bare back, they knew she had what looked like bat wings tattoo'ed onto her upper back. Between the two wings was other information branded into her, like her ID number and her current owner.

That was the shape she was in now.

Anko slowly woke up as day turned into night. Not that she could see the day from the underground holding pen she was in. Fights were always held at night and underground, so her sleeping patterns followed accordingly.

The pens were relatively gross, with mold growing on the stone walls and the empty smell of decay lingering in the air. Torches were spread out along the walls every dozen or so feet in the halls connecting the small holding cells, which were barely big enough for their occupants. The pens didn't have doors, but rather transparent barriers that held the half-drags at bay.

Barriers hurt if you touched them, so it was an effective method of controlling the hybrids so they didn't get too rowdy in their pens.

Anko sat up and streched, before staring out at the dim hall. Her dragon eyes were easily accustomed to the darkness the hybrids spent the majority of their time in.

She stood up and walked over to the barrier, looking as far down the hall as she could. One of the guards was near-by, getting ready to pull all of the hybrids for that night's "games".

"Hey!" Anko called out to the demon. He had green skin and blood red eyes, along with big teeth. He obviously wasn't hired for intelligence, but for muscle. "Have the match-ups been settled?"

The demon blinked at her for a minute. "Yea, tonights participants have been drawn up. You'll be fightin' too, Twilight! Against Red Fang, no less. Supposed to be a good match up!"

i>Red... Why does it have to be him? /i> Anko thought bitterly. Like her, he was one of the 'Mercy Angels' that the others hybrids relied on to get free. They had shared a pen together once, and they had actually been good friends. He'd been a red dragon, but that hadn't been the reason his nick name was 'Red Fang'.

After a few moments, they walked her opponent down past her pen. He was tall and muscular, with dark red hair and a dark black eye. His other eye, the left one, had been sealed shut with a scar that started in the middle of his forehead and ran down in a thick line to his cheek. That happened during a fight a few years ago, making him blind on that side.

"Hideki." Anko stated simply, not looking at him. He was older than her by a few years, and had treated her like a younger sister.

"Anko." Was his reply. He looked at her and tried to smile, but it was never easy to face someone you knew in the pit. Never.

They dragged him off to the arena and came back for Anko shortly after.

"Can we do this easy for once, Twilight?" Her 'owner' was there, a slender human with short black hair and emerald green eyes. He was probably one of the few humans that participated in these little 'events', mostly because there was heavy betting involved. From what Anko had heard, she'd been expensive and had earned quite a bit of money, which was why he had held onto her for so long.

"C'mon, Kazu. You know I like a little exercise before a match." Anko replied sarcastically as she backed up to the wall on the far side of her pen. It was darkest there, and her single red eye glowed in anticipation.

Kazu sighed as he motioned the handlers into her pen. Anko smirked as the two demons were engulfed in a black flame. Their piteous screams filled the air as they fell back out, black fire consuming their bodies.

Anko's red eye glowed more brightly. Kazu may not have been able to see what she had done, but he knew that she had set them on fire by only touching them with her right hand.

"Not tonight, Anko. Don't make me-"

"Don't make you what, Kazu? Send me to fight Hideki?! You know that we are friends, yet you agreed to the match!" Anko's voice had gone hoarse.

Kazu was getting angry as he motioned another group of demons into her pen, this time armed with rods similar to cattle prods, but much more dangerous and higher voltage.

There was some low growling as Anko's red eye deepened its hue. There was a snarl and some screaming as another demon tore out of the pen, covered in black fire. A brief flash in the pen showed that the other demon had pressed the prod into Anko's side and let off a spark.

She roared for a second and tried to attack the demon with the prod, but before she could she was grabbed from behind by two other sets of hands.

Anko let out a frustrated growl as they dragged her out of the pen. She snapped at Kazu on her way out, only to be smacked in the back of the head.

"Save it for the fight!" The demon behind her said as she turned with a dangerous glare on her face. She hissed a warning at him but kept walking down the hall, past the numerous other pens with hybrids in them. They all watched in silence as she passed, not one saying a word.

The arena was underground also, but it was more modernized. It had flourescent lighting that lightened the place up considerably so that all of the spectators could easily see, whether they were human or demon.

The arena itself was a large pit in the center of the underground cavern. The top was actually a dome of transparent spirit energy, which acted like another barrier similar to the ones that kept the hybrids contained.

The demons led Anko to the drop box that would let her into the pit and kicked her into the temporary hole.

She looked up as they slid the lid to the hole in place and instead looked into the pit. Across from her, she could see Hideki staring at her, a look of saddness on his face. Anko's face was empty as she watched him.

Hideki grinned suddenly and nodded, understanding Anko's silent message.

One of us is free tonight.

The talking that had been a low roar in the background hushed as the spectators waited to hear the buzzer that would let Anko and Hideki into the pit.

The pit was a combination of hard-packed dirt and a layer of sand. The walls were stone and had many scars from where hybrids missed the other and clawed the walls instead. There were places where Anko knew that another had been slammed up against the wall, and where some made a futile attempt to escape.

The buzzer sounded, and Anko was released into the main area of the pit along with Hideki. The two walked cautiously out into the pit and watched one another.

"So you fought again?" Hideki murmured as the two of them stalked to the center of the sandy pit.

"Of course." Anko muttered. "I never wanted to meet you in the pit for any reason..."

"You say that to all the hybrids. I do too. All of the 'Angels' say that." Hideaki continued. He was right, all of the 'Angels' said that. This was because all of the 'Angels' always earned a kill in their fights, freeing the ones they fought by death.

The only way to earn the title of 'Angel' from the other hybrids was to either kill an 'Angel' during a fight and there-by freeing them, or to kill atleast thirty or more of the hybrids.

Recently, the fights were between 'Angels'. This was because the demons were trying to thin out the ranks of the 'Angels', and preserve only the strongest for the purposes of breeding them with the other hybrids.

This was why the 'Angels' fought the most harshly against eachother, in the off chance that they could free eachother by inflicting mortal wounds on one another.

None of them wanted to bring any of their children into a violent and awful lifestyle like theirs'.

"I'll free you tonight, Anko of the Twilight." Hideki growled as he started to circle Anko. His one good good eye changed into a deep, red color with a slit pupil.

"Or, maybe, I'll free you, Hideki of the Red Fangs." Anko replied in a low and dangerous voice. She started to circle aswell, as was common practice during fights.

"Do you want to warm-up first, or get straight to the point?" Hideki whispered, still circling.

The crowd was cheering for blood, eager for the two to start the fight. All that mattered to Anko and Hideki, however, was the hybrid that stood infront of them.

"What are the odds for the fight?" Anko asked as she slowly tightened the circle. Her red eye was burning with eagerness.

"400 to 1, in my favor." Hideki growled. His nails were starting to darken into a shiny black color, forming the talons his dragon body had as he started to shift to that form. His more dangerous form.

"I see." Anko whispered as she stopped, Hideki stopping with her. Anko wasn't bothering to shift yet. "They think that my height, weight, and gender will affect this match." Anko looked very thoughtful as she wondered what to do.

Here was the perfect oppertunity to throw the fight and become free.

"But what of Hideki?" She thought aloud. Anko decided to fight, and to try to free him instead of taking the easy way out.

Hideki snarled as his body started to completely shift into its dragon form.

His dragon body was large and muscular, with a very blunt and stocky head. His long neck and tail were coiled springs of strong, nearly perfect muscles. His front and hind legs were like steel pistons, while his claws and coal black teeth were sharper than any blade. His thick flesh scales were a deep, fire red color while his belly scales were a glossy black.

His head was a complicated mass of jutting head spikes, while his main set of horns were positioned behind his his eyes sweeping backwards. That pair of horns was larger than most drakes his age, extending more than a foot and a half away from his skull. They looked like polished obsidian, shining in the flourescent lighting of the arena.

Halfway through his transformation, Hideki fell forward, unable to stand upright but instead having to walk on all fours, like a true dargon.

He hissed aggressively at Anko, calling to that part that she fought to control most of the time. But now was not the time to try to keep it in check, so she just let it go and succumbed to the dark side of her concious.

Anko watched Hideki as she chuckled darkly. The pink scar that sealed his left eye looked strangely alien in the sea of dark red scales and the glossy black of his horns that made his face.

"Skipping the warm-up?" Anko said softly as she turned a hard glare his way. "If that's what you want, Hideki."

Anko's golden mark glowed suddenly with its own inner light as wings sprouted from her back.

The wing bones themselves were covered with dull black scales, while the membrane between the flight bones was a pale, light yellow.

Anko wrapped her two wings around herself and hid her transformation from the eyes of the ones who watched the fight.

Her wings opened to reveal a dull black dragoness, standing atleast six feet at her shoulder. Unlike Hideki, she had a long mane trailing down her serpentine neck. The mane was a blonde that could nearly be called white.

Her belly scales were a rich golden color that gleamed against the dark black of the other scales. Her face, although now dragonic in appearance, was long and slender, with the golden kanji for twilight under her red eye, opposite her golden-yellow one.

Anko's horns were slightly shorter than Hideki's, only about 10 or 11 inches long, but they were an ivory gold that seemed to glow with its own inner light. The dorsal spines that started inbetween her horns and trailed down to the tip of her tail were a similar shade of golden ivory. They got longer as they neared the center of her back, but shortened as they trailed down past the mid point.

The spines, just like her teeth and claws, were incredibly sharp.

She had one thing that Hideki lacked, and they were wings. As a result, she was very light and slender, allowing for easier flight. She excelled at speed, movement and endurance, but lacked the power most wingless dragons had. She was also a little fragile.

Hideki had the overall advantage, sacrificing speed for monstrous power and the ability to take damage. He was also much taller than Anko, standing at 10 feet at the shoulder compared to Anko's 6. His build was also much better than Anko's for this type of close-quarters fight.

Anko hissed at the larger drake, her mis-matched eyes reflecting fierce intensity and determination. Hideki roared in response, his one red eye glaring as he charged for Anko in a furious dash.

Anko glared and dodged to the side, kicking up sand as she moved out of the way of Hideki's charge. The sand prevented him from stopping completely and he instead charged into the wall.

Anko used her wings to turn her around, ready to take advantage of Hideki should he have been slowed by the impact of the wall. Instead, she saw that he had anticipated her dodge and compensated for it, throwing the side of his body into the wall for a quick recovery and already dashing at Anko.

Before Hideki could manage to get a claw in her, she used her wings to propel her farther away from the menacing drake that was attacking her. Hideki tried to keep up, but she was much quicker than he was and more easily manueverable.

Anko took her chance and darted into his blind spot, confusing him as he searched for the dragoness that had just been infront of him. She launched herself onto his back, digging all of her talons into his shoulders and back to anchor herself as she wrapped her head around his neck, trying to rip the front of his neck out with her sharp teeth.

Hideki snarled in anger and caught Anko on his back, digging a muscled claw into her shoulder before ripping her completely off of his back and throwing her against the stone wall of the pit.

Anko let out a pained shriek as she collided with the stone, the jolt of being slammed against hard stone vibrating throughout her body. Her head made a sickening crack sound as it collided with the wall before she dropped to the sandy floor of the pit.

Blood dripped in a steady flow from Anko's mane and from a cut on her head, caused from the impact of the wall. More blood poured down her shoulder, from the deep cuts Hideki had put there when he ripped her from his back. It leaked from her wounds and down into the sand, where it congealed because of the sand and grew black.

Hideki was in a healthier position than Anko, but he had also suffered some damage. Her talons had cut into the flesh of his back, but not as deeply as he had cut into her shoulder. His neck was also a little scratched from when she had tried to bite past his thick belly scales and into his neck, trying to rip the jugular vein free.

"Are you..." He panted slightly, glaring with his solid red eye. "Trying to steal my name-sake, Twilight?"

Anko smirked as much as she could in the dragon body she was in. "Maybe." She replied, shaking off the shock she had experienced. "Ready when you are."

Hideki didn't wait for another prompt as he suddenly charged at Anko. She looked from side to side quickly, but this close to a wall she would never be able to escape Hideki's charge. She instead braced as he charged headlong into her, their skulls and horns colliding.

Anko shuddered again as the shock of the impact made her body numb. However, she remained braced against Hideki, but he was straining against her and trying to crush her against the wall. Anko hissed as her red eye glowed with anger, her right claw swinging up on its own glowing with dark black fire.

She clawed Hideki with that claw, just missing his eye as she cut his face wide open on that side. It was Hideki's turn to shriek as he ripped his head away. It wasn't that the fire burned him, that would be impossible since he was a red drake and thus immune to fire and heat, but that he hadn't expected Anko to strike at him from that range.

He took a few steps back, and even reared on his hanuches, his nose just brushing the top of the dome as he roared his pain. Anko took this chance as she dashed forward, driving her claws and tallons into his chest, using the chink of the belly scales to tear more easily into the chest cavity beneath his belly scales. Within seconds, she had gotten past his ribs and had found his heart, clawing it beyond repair. She started pulling back when he started to fall back after loosing his balance.

Anko changed back into her human state moments before he hit the ground, shaking the pit with his immense bulk as he laid on his side.

Her shoulder was bleeding harshly, aswell as the cut on her head. Her body was also sore. Anko's arms were coated with Hideki's blood, and her face was splattered with it as she slowly walked over to her old friend. He was stuck in his dragon shape, unable to muster up the energy to shift back to his human form.

"Hideki." Anko said softly as she approached.

Hideki's red eye rolled to look up at her, blood starting to ooze out of his mouth and onto the ground beneath him.

"An.. Anko." Hideki replied. He tried to sit up, but he couldn't.

"I'm sorry, Hideki." She slowly sat down next to him, slowly stroking his head. His scales felt cold against her skin.

"Don't be." He murmured. His voice was deeper in dragon form. "You freed me. I am grateful for that."

"I'm glad, then. No regrets?"

He smiled as his eyes glazed over. "None. Will you be alright here?"

"I'll be fine. Don't wait for me where ever the hell we 'Angels' go." Anko said quietly, stroking his head again.

"Alight, I won't. Just don't go yet, ok?" He said softly. Anko knew his torn heart was bound to give out soon.

"Okay, Hideki. I'm staying." She moved his head into her lap, gently lulling him into sleep despite the pain in his chest.

After a few seconds his eyes slid shut and his breathing slowing down. "Goodbye, Hideki." A few seconds later, and his breathing completely stopped.

There was some cheering from the crowd that had watched, but it was mostly groans from the people that had lost their bets and bet on Hideki.

There was an explosion shortly after that, causing Anko to look up through the dome. There was some incoherent shouting about an attack as the dome suddenly gave out and some patrons fell into the arena with her.

They stared at Anko, panic stricken as she gently rocked Hideki's head. She glared at them with such burning hatred that it literally set her blood on fire, which they had landed in when they fell into the pit. They screamed in pain as they also fell victim to her burning hate for them, consumed by the flames of darkness.

"Stop trying to piss me off!" She heard a teenager shout as the underground room shook with an unknown impact. "Damn it! This is the most boring mission Koenma's sent us out on yet!"

"I know whatcha mean, Urameshi. Breaking up a fight ring isn't exactly what I had in mind on a saturday night." A dumber voice replied.

"Will you bakas just shut up and finish? I want to be done with this as soon as possible." A colder voice said. His voice seemed ro be more familiar to Anko than the other two.

"They were cheering before we managed to get in." A more intelligent voice said as it walked closer to the pit. "I think we arrived too late to stop some of the fights."

Anko glanced up and stared emotionlessly at a long red haired boy as he peered into the pit. He let out a low, startled gasp as he caught sight of her, cradling Hideki's head in her lap.

"What's wrong, Kurama?" The teenage voice asked as he neared the edge of the pit, only to shout suddenly in surprise.

The majority of the pit was sprayed with blood, with Anko sitting in the middle of it next to a dead dragon male of considerable size.

"I think..." Kurama began as he stared into Anko's dead eyes. "I think this is much worse than Koenma thought."

"What the hell happened down there?!" The teenager with slicked-back hair shouted as he stared down at Anko with surprise. "Shit, man!"

"Man, thats a lot of blood." The dumber one said as he stepped up next to the teenager. He had orange hair and a weird face. He shivered when Anko looked at him. "She feels dangerous." Her murmured as he rubbed his arms, trying to get rid of the goose bumps that had sprouted up on his skin.

"Hn." The colder voice was the last one to join them by the side of the pit, staring down at Anko. His red eyes matched her left eye, and instantly she could smell the flames of darkness on him.

Her nose flared and her eyes widened as she stared at him in confusion. She could feel his power better than any of the others, and the darkness part of her was roaring, wanting to challenge this one because he scented of power that surpassed her own.

At the same time, she knew that if he asked anything of her, she would do it if he offered alittle bit of that power to her. But, what was to stop her from taking it all if he offered it to her?

On the same token, the light was also roaring, trying to convince her that this dark thing was not to be trusted in the least, and that she should get away as soon as she could.

"What the hell went on in here, Kurama?!" The teenager repeated.

"Dragon fighting, using hybrids. They're easier to manage than an actual dragon and are often better for fights anyways." He said softly as he watched her. There was pity in his gaze. "That girl down there is probably a hybrid dragon, and the winner of the fight we were too late to stop."

Anko looked down again, at Hideki's peaceful face.

......End of Chapter 1......