Important author's note at the end

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Prologue

"How does it feel, princess?" the man asked, with a malicious, wicked smiled playing on his lips as he spat the last word in a taunting tone filled with hatred.

His pure red hair somehow matched his twisted, malicious face; his phantasmagorical, yellow eye going back and forth between the two young women, as he kept on swirling around the silver chain in his hand.

She sobbed, uncontrolled. Curled up against a wall, hands tied at her back, she kept on jerking from the chain attached to the wall, trying to release herself. But it was in vain, and she knew it; the handcuffs were starting to hurt her wrists, with the cold hard metal piercing through the flesh. The pain traveled up her arms, making her whimper; the sound mixing with her scared, desperate cries as her tearful, deep blue eyes landed on the long, slender figure of her friend, laying there.

She couldn't free herself, and all she could do was watch as the young blonde woman laying on the dirty floor in the middle of the poorly lighted room kept on twisting and turning around, hissing in pain. Her hands were tied at her back, wrists hurt and bleeding, and the black tank top she had been wearing was now torn in several places, with thick, crimson liquid pouring out of opened wounds.

She didn't know who this man was or why he had taken them. She didn't know why they were there at all, or what had he done to her friend. She was severely hurt, and she prayed, against all odds, for them to make it out of that place alive, as she mentally begged for the blonde to at least look at her; to find some reassurance, as little as it may be, in those green eyes.

Please, get up, she pleaded. Look at me, please...

"Tell me how it feels," the man said again, looking at her friend, "to know it's your fault!" he exclaimed, kicking the blonde in the stomach. The smile on his face widening at the chocked scream of pain upon the impact, as the smell of burnt flesh reached her nostrils.

"Stop it!" she screamed, begging, with desperate tears cascading down her cheeks. "You're hurting her!"

He turned around to look at her; his wicked smile never fading. "Let me tell you something about your precious friend, here," he hissed. "See, there are different... breeds... let's say," he said, as he started to pace around the blonde. "Modern culture and those stupid movies would call her and her kind werewolves. But see, they got it all wrong!" he exclaimed, raising his hands up in the air and laughing as if he had just heard the funniest thing in the world. "They don't turn into wolves with the full moon! They're not even wolves!" he exclaimed again. "Sure, there are some of those," he then said, waving his hand around, "but then there are condors, bears, horses..." he stopped on his tracks then, turning to look straight into her scared blue eyes. "Or, like your friend here, panthers."

She frowned at his words, confused out of her mind. This man sounded too serious, too malicious and filled with hatred to be making this stuff up. Yet he was making no sense at all; he sounded delusional, and by the look in his eye, she knew, he probably was. Whatever reasons he had to take them prisoners and hold them in there, he was not about to let them get out of there.

"The trick with the Shapeshifters is that they can turn at will," he continued. "And sometimes, the strong ones, the powerful ones, can turn into other animals," he said, as he bent down next to the blonde, pulling from her handcuffs and forcing her to lay on her back now. His narrowing, yellow eye never leaving her blue ones. "Like, let's say, a cat, for instance."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, both scared and completely lost. Her eyes following his every move, afraid, knowing he was just staling, waiting to hurt her friend again.

"I'm talking about your friend here," he answered her, pointing at the blonde with his head, "and that little kittie of yours," he added, laughing when blue eyes went wide opened, finally catching along with his words. "Now, I wonder..." he trailed off, bending down and looking at the blonde now, "did it hurt to stay on a form that isn't truly yours for so long?" he asked, grabbing her by her short hair and forcing her head up; twisting her neck up in a hurtful way as he did so.

"Go to hell," the blonde hissed through her teeth.

"Ladies first," he retorted. His wicked smile widening as he let go of her hair, her head meeting the floor with a thud, and he straightened himself up, throwing the silver chain he had been playing with over the blonde's chest.

A deep scream of pain filled the room. A scream that soon turned into a loud, deep roar, echoing through the walls, much like that of a wild animal; of a large, wild... feline...

Her blue eyes went wide opened upon the unnatural, raw scream of pure pain, surprised, and more confused and lost than before, as the man's wicked laughter filled the room once again, half muffling the blonde's roaring scream. The smell of burnt flesh reaching her nostrils again, much stronger this time, and she saw, horrified, how the silver chain burned the blonde's skin. Blood pouring out of the open wound it caused, as the long body twisted and turned.

"What are you doing to her?" she demanded, crying more desperately now at the sight of her friend in such pain. "Stop it! Please!"

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" he asked, completely ignoring her pleading. "Shapeshifters are allergic to silver," he said, smiling wickedly at her, as he tapped his foot against the cold, marble floor; the tip of his leather boot, covered in silver, clicking against it. "Much like we, vampires, are allergic to sunlight."

She whimpered at his words. She felt as if she had been sucked into some sort of surreal, parallel universe, where the creatures this man kept talking about existed. She felt lost and confused, and the only thing she knew for sure was that he was injuring her friend, badly.

And she cried harder, trying to do something, anything. Sobbing, she closed her eyes and prayed, desperately, for that chain to move off her friend's chest. Desperate, painful roars and chocked gasps and screams kept escaping the blonde, and she jerked from her own handcuffs again, now trying to free herself and get to her.

"It burns the skin, leaving these nasty wounds," he continued, mockingly. "It itches like hell. And the pain... the pain!" he exclaimed, wickedly amused. Laughing hard as he placed his booted foot over the blonde's stomach, earning yet another deep, loud scream in return for his actions.

"Stop it!" she pleaded again, yelling.

"It makes me wonder," he trailed off, completely ignoring her as he waved his hand, removing his booted foot and going to pace around the blonde's shaking, trembling form once more. "What does it take to make a Shapeshifter, a black panther at that... they are high ranked, you know?" he pointed out, turning to look into her tearful, terrified blue eyes, slowly making his way towards her. "What does it take to make someone like her want to protect... you?" he finished, squatting down right in front of her.

She backed away against the wall, terrified. His breath, rotten, reached her face, and she shut her eyes closed, revolted at the strong, disgusting smell.

"See this?" he asked, pointing at the patch over his eye before lifting it up, revealing a hollowed wound in the place his left eye should have been. "I've been trying to get even with her for this, for years!" he hissed. "And lucky me! By hunting her down, I've found you," he taunted. "The girl from the prophecies. Daichi's daughter..."

Blue eyes opened up at the mention of her father, and a deep, confused frown came to her soft features. A sinking, drowning feeling taking over her as realization sank in.

Her dreams, those horrible, terrible dreams that haunted her almost every night now... were they more than just nightmares? Could it be? Her father's sudden disappearance, her mother's brutal murder, those weird visions. Everything seemed to be connected, somehow. To this man, to what he was saying, and to her blonde friend.

"Don't touch her," her friend growled, lowly and weakly, through her almost delusional state, though deadly serious.

He laughed then, standing up and making his way back to the blonde, staring down at her. "And what exactly made you think you're in any position to demand anything from me?" he asked, laughing harder at the deep, threatening, low roar erupting from the blonde's throat. "So tell me, princess, is she really the girl from the prophecies?" he asked, bending down over the blonde and rearranging the chain over her chest in a slow, almost tenderly like manner, betrayed only by that dark look in his eye and the satisfied smile dancing in his lips as the blonde grunted out, trying not to scream out in pain.

He laughed again, standing up and going back to her and squatting down. Resting his elbow over his knee, his hand supporting his chin as he studied her. "Or is she just Daichi's stupid mistake?" he asked, reaching out his other hand and grabbing one long curly lock of aquamarine hair.

"Let me go," she pleaded, in between sobs, as she backed away against the wall, turning her face to a side to avid looking at him.

"Don't touch her!" her friend growled again, twisting around in more desperate movements, whether if it was to get the chains off her and free herself, or just in pure, delusional pain, she couldn't tell.

He smiled. "I just want a little taste," he said, in a sultry tone, though not any less wicked.

He pulled from her hair, slowly bringing her closer. And she trembled, terrified, as she noticed his fangs slowly growing in length.

"If she turns, then I'll have my answer," he taunted. "If she doesn't... well, then, bye bye, I guess," he whispered. "Either way, I'm sure you make a nice, sweet meal."

He got closer to her, his fangs now fully grown, and she sobbed again, shutting her eyes closed, knowing there was nothing she could do to stop him and save herself. But as his sharp fangs were mere inches away from her tender flesh, the sudden sound of glass shattering filled the room.

And then he was gone.

She heard him cursing profusely, and she opened her eyes again at the sound of a deep, threatening growl, just in time to see a large black wolf, growling and blood tainted teeth showing. And the redhead man cursed again, keeping a hand against his now bleeding shoulder.

But it was only when she saw the tall brunette woman bending over her blonde friend when her blue eyes went wide open in pure surprise, as she saw her hissing and cursing through her teeth, trying to work with the chains that were keeping the blonde captive.

"Makoto?" she called out to the brunette, confused out of her mind, and scared like never before in her life. "What... how..."

The brunette looked up at her for a moment, before looking at the blonde again. "Damn it!" she cursed, shaking her now bleeding hand as she tried to remove the chains around the blonde's wrists with the other. Her fingers barely touching the silver, and wincing, growling and cursing every time the silver came in contact with her own skin.

She finally managed to free her friend, as the chains were not really tied up, but simply encircled around the blonde's wrists. The blood and pus coming from the opened wounds causing them to stick to the burnt skin. Throwing the chains to a corner, Makoto helped the blonde into a sitting position; a worried expression written all over her face.

"Don't move," she said, in a gentle tone. "You're too weak."

"What is going on?" she asked, looking them.

"Close your eyes," the blonde instructed, moving up to a stand position while tearing off the remains of her shattered tank top off.

"What? Why?" she asked, frowning confused. "Answer me!"

"Michiru!" the blonde exclaimed, looking straight into her blue eyes. Green ones glowing in an unnatural way. "Close your eyes," she ordered, in a slow, commanding voice.

Not knowing what else to do, she obeyed, shutting her eyes closed, unable to suppress her sobs at the sounds of a wild, savage fight all around her. She curled up to the wall, crying, desperately trying to block the sounds of skin being ripped apart, and all the screams of pain and agony, the growls, the roars...

Her eyes opened up on their own will, and a gasp escaped her when she saw the black wolf biting down the yellow eyed man, right on his left arm, both hurting him and forcing his arm back, keeping him from being able to try and defend himself, as a black large panther jumped up to him as well. White, large teeth clutching to the man's chest, tearing skin and flesh off, causing a river of blood.

A second panther, with its black fur coat covered in blood, seemed more than ready to jump at the man as well, when it heard her gasp and turned to look at her instead.

*Close your eyes, damn it!* the blonde's voice reached her mind then, loud and clear, as the panther roared again, looking into her terrified blue eyes.

Before she had the time to do as she was told, the panther turned back around, jumping up to its victim. Large, white, strong teeth piercing through the man's jugular; a stream of blood pouring out from the deadly wound. And she watched, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene, until another sound reached her numbed, confused senses, and she turned to look at the shattered window.

Her jaw practically dropping to the floor and her blue eyes going wide opened, this time in amazement at the black, beautiful condor coming in by the window, gracefully landing on the floor. It was carrying a backpack on its talon, which landed right in front of the large bird with a soft thud.

Feeling her gaze, it turned to look at her for a moment, as she admired the bird's opened wings. But the condor soon decided it didn't care much about her, reaching its wing out towards the bag. Black feathers disappearing, the tip of the large, magnificent wing turning into long, soft looking fingers. Human fingers, as the condor itself turned into a beautiful, raven haired young woman, and taking some sort of robe out the backpack, she covered her naked body with it, straightening up.

"We better get out of here," the woman said; dark purple, studying eyes gazing out the window. "Dawn is breaking," she murmured, frowning slightly, as she bent down, reaching for the backpack again.

Taking more robes out of it, she threw one to the naked, white haired man standing next to the lifeless form of the red haired man. Tall and strong, his ice blue eyes and long, straight hair contrasted with his dark skin. A second robe was given to the equally naked brunette woman, as Makoto stood there, wiping the blood off her mouth with the back of her hand.

One black panther remained. Panting heavily, it walked slowly and tiredly towards her. Wide blue eyes watched, amazed, yet still scared out of her mind, as green eyes locked with hers for a moment, before rolling backwards.

And with a low, heavy grunt, the black, large feline collapsed.

"Haruka!"

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A.N.: Hello everyone!

So! As stated in my profile, I've made it a personal goal to finish this story I've been neglecting for ages. As for my other stories… still undecided. Haven't written anything, and I'm still not sure if I'll update anything new…

But you're not here to read about my other stories, you're here to read about this one. Since I kind of changed my style a little since I started this (either if it's for better or for worst, who knows!), I decided to do a little re-write of all the work I have so far, so that I can finally finish this one up!

Call me sentimental, but I don't want to delete it... So to all of you who had read this, you may wanna re-read it. Or don't... since I didn't change the main story. Just added a more details here and there (which made chaps a pee wee longer), changing the tale to a single character's point of view (though I did use a more "omnipresent" view here and there… when I felt it right to use), but the story is still the same! Promise! But then again, since I started this over 2 years ago, some of you may have to read it again in order to remember the little details here and there I left all over the story...

To those of you who first timers with this story of mine, here's the old A.N., and a few things you may wanna know (or don't, and just jump to the next chap!):

I always thought werewolves and vampires are cool, and downright sexy. So, why not make a story about those? I know, such a cliché, right? And that's where the whole 'Shapeshifter' thing shows up...

Now, black panthers are actually melanistic jaguars. Why a jaguar, you may ask? Well, I like them. That's reason number one (such a cute, beautiful, not-so-little kitty!). We have some in my country, at north, and there's a lot of folklore stories around them. So that's a little personal addition to the story (along with the whole condor thing, 'cause I *will* be using the Andean Condor description. No offense to anyone, but I've actually seen those a whole lot more often than the Californian Condor... in the zoo, of course).

Reason number two, (and this one has actually something to do with the story), jaguars are not only very fast, but also very, very strong and agile. A hit from one of its limbs can break a bone easily, and its bite is actually stronger than a lion's or a tiger's (cool, huh?). So they're big, kick-ass kitties!

Now, why a melanistic jaguar, instead of just a regular one? Well, melanistic jaguars are also known as black panthers, and the name itself sounds cool. And having Haruka moving around with a feline's grace... well, in my mind, it just suits her perfectly! So, yeah, that's my almighty reason number three...

And last, but not least! As you already guessed, this is a Haruka-Michiru story. So, yeah, there's some sexual tension between the two, and some hot encounters too (you know me...). So if you don't like girl-on-girl sex scenes, go and read something else.

Oh! And if you don't like violence, and/or the mention of blood gives you the creeps, then, really, don't read this! I really don't want to be the one to blame for any of you passing out...

As usual, I'm broke, and SM characters don't belong to me, but to Naoko Takeuchi. So please don't sue me! I don't even own anything worth it, trust me! But I do own this story the main plot, and all and any original characters, so please don't steal it!

Ok, I'm done with the babbling now. You know the deal! Let me know whatcha think!