(Nightshade)

It was a dark and stormy night in the Cape Suzette, as a scream was heard and figure in the shadows moved swiftly in the allies, while else where Rebecca Cunningham found her self in a dead end only venturing out for a quick moment for some medicine for her sick daughter, only to find her self being chassed by a few thungs. To get away she had kicked the leader of the group between the legs and ran but now she found her self trapped, it would only be a matter of time before the thugs came around the corner and who knew what would happen to her when they got a hold of her. As the first Jackel spotted her he smiled, as he called the others over. Once they had all came into view, she gulped as she could see the hunger in there eyes. As fear started overcome her, she closed her eyes as the last image they came to her was her little girl sick in bed waiting for the medicine, and as this image came to her, she knew that she wasn’t about to let these thugs keep her from making her little girl feel better. As tears started to run down her cheek she grabbed the only thing she could, a trash can lid. “Get away from me!” Rebecca demanded only to have the thugs laugh at her.

“Oh no lady, before we just wanted you money, now we want your hide.” the leader said, as he looked at Rebecca and pulled out a switchblade. “And lady when they find you tomorrow, there isn’t going to be much left.” The leader said, as he tossed the blade between hands and smiled at Rebecca. As he took a step closer Rebecca threw the lid, only to watch the weasel dodge it, only to have his arms tied to his side as a manrikigusari chain wrapped around him. “WHAT!? WHO DID THIS!” Jackel looked around as he struggled to get free, but to both the groups reaction as well as Rebecca, a figure dressed dark grey cloths jumped down infront of Rebecca. With a mask over it’s face Rebecca couldn‘t tell much more then the fact that the person standing before her had sky blue eyes, she could tell by the size of the body her savior was small. “I don‘t know who you are, but when I get out of this I‘m going to show you a hole new meaning of pain.” the leader stated as a few of his thugs started to undo the chain around him.

“Well I’m called many things, but I like Shade.” By the sound of the figures voice Rebecca blinked several times, it was a child a male child standing before her staring down this group of thugs, as if it was nothing to him. “Can you run?” Shade asked, as he turned and looked at Rebecca. For Rebecca things where happening to fast as she was letting the scene sink in, barely hearing the question Rebecca nodded, as she looked at the masked child before her. “Good.” with that Shade spun around and held up his right hand and a shot a stream of fire at the thugs, as they took cover he grabbed Rebecca’s wrist. “RUN!” As the two ran past the Jackels, who where rubbing their eyes, Shade lead the way until they reached the main street and looked at Rebecca. “Get out of here.” Rebecca looked at Shade and was about to say something until she heard one of the thugs yell that he had found them. “GET OUT OF HERE!” Shade yelled, as he reached into a pocket and threw several small orbs that filled the ally with smoke.

“I can’t leave you to fight them alone.”

“You won’t have to.” Shade said, as he reached for a stone and hit an alarm box causing a fail safe system to go off. “let’s go.” with that Shade followed Rebecca as she lead the way and ran down the street. She looked back several times, making sure that Shade was right behind her, as she reached the main door of her apartment complex, she turned to say something to him, but he wasn’t there. She looked around for a few moments, calling to him, but with no response she went inside. She made it back to her apartment she locked the door, and headed for Molly’s room where she reached into her bag to try and find the bottol of medicine she had went out for, but she then remembered she never made it to the store. As she looked at Molly she felt terrible, and was torn about going back out.

Else where Shade was in one of his hiding spots, as he took off the wet cloths he sat down near a fire to try and warm up, as his cloths started to dry off. “I’ve seen her before.” Shade said, as he reached for an old scrap book and started to flip through it, until he came across a picture of Higher For Hire that Rebecca was standing in with Baloo, and Kit. “Business woman, so she’s smart… Why would a smart woman go out on a night like this? The streets them selves are void of citizens, well more so then normal… come on Shade think *ACHOO!* yeah great get a cold.” with that Shade put the book down and walked over to an old desk and opened a draw. As Shade picked up the bottle of cold medicine he stopped for a moment and then turned back to the scrap book, walking over he opened the book and found the image once more looking he saw Kit. “Her son must be sick, she went out to get medicine for him, but did she get it? and if she didn’t, that means she might risk going out again.” with that Shade grabbed his cloths and went back out. First place he went was where he left her, back to her apartment complex, once outside he ran his finger across the names until he found her room and headed up. While back inside the apartment Rebecca had resolved to try once more, time was running out to try again because the store would be closing soon enough. Once she reached the door there came a knock. She froze in fear wondering if her attackers had followed her home. she reached for the phone and was about to start calling the cops.

“Mrs. Cunningham.” Shade called from the other side of the door, he was in pain now his head throbbing, his heart pounding, his lungs felt like they had been crushed, his nose would stop running, and in a flash Rebecca ran over and opened the door. “Tonight, you went out for medicine didn’t you?” Shade asked, and Rebecca was slightly shocked.

“Y-yes, but how did you know?”

“Logical deduction ma-am did you get the medicine you went for?”

“No I was about to head out again to get it.”

“Don’t bother.” with that Shade held out an unopened bottle of medicine to Rebecca. “Take this ma-am, take care of your child.” with that Shade started to turn to leave but as he did he stumbled slightly, getting Rebecca’s attention, in enough time to catch him as he started to fall. Rebecca looked around for a few moments before pulling Shade into her apartment and taking off his mask.

“Oh my gosh your burning up.” Rebecca said, as she touched Shade’s forehead. Rebecca looked at Shade for a moment and then started to remove his wet cloths, she couldn’t let someone that helped her die, and she wasn’t about to. The next morning Shade awoke to find him self in a queen size bed.

“MOMMY HE’S AWAKE!!” Molly cried out causing Shade to hold his head, only to notice that his mask had been removed.

“Molly honey, I told you to stay in bed.” Rebecca said, as she looked at her daughter who only smiled up at her.

“Yeah, but you didn’t say which bed.” with that Rebecca rolled her eyes as she walked over to Shade, and looked at him.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I slept under the train tracks on 64th street.” Rebecca smiled, as she looked at Shade he was a wolf with light grey fur, sky blue eyes. “Mind if I asked, what happened?”

“You passed out, running through the streets in a down poor with a cold, kind of does that to people.” Rebecca sat down on the bed and looked at Shade as he slowly sat up. “Now I haven’t heard anything on the radio yet, but I think it would be best if we call you parents, and tell them that your alright.” Shade opened his mouth to say something, but Rebecca covered his mouth before he could say anything. “And before you try mister, yes I’m going to tell your parents what you did last night, although you helped me, you could have gotten really hurt, and being a mother my self I know that I would be just devastated if anything happened to my little Molly.” with that Rebecca removed her hand and looked at Shade who only smiled at her, then turned to Molly.

“You have a very kind and loving mother Molly, she risked a lot last night to try and make you feel better, so take it from me, love her, and listen to her, even when you think she’s being mean, she’s really just looking out for you, and trying to keep you safe.” with that Shade turned to Rebecca. “I know all of these things, because once my parent were gone I learned about everything they did to make me happy, to make me safe and protect me.” Shade then turned back to Molly. “And I really hope that you never find out what it means to loose some one so special.” with that Shade sat up and looked down at his bare chest. “I would like my cloths back ma-am, I need to go.” to Shade, he had already over stayed his welcome. As he looked up at Rebecca he gave he a stern look, because he could already see a look in her eyes that he didn‘t like. “My things, may I please have them back?” Rebecca was partly shocked by this turn of events while at the same time guided Shade to lay back down and covered him up.

“You need rest, will talk about your things later, for today your staying inside, just like Molly, and getting plenty of rest.” shade opened his mouth in