Sin watched as Zack and the woman moved towards her and then seemed to move towards the sound of the footsteps, moving closely to where she was hiding. When Zack moved quickly and grabbed her wrist, she didn't have time to react as she was pulled through a door next to her, the other woman following. When they were in the sparsely furnished room of what seemed to be an abandoned storefront, she yanked her wrist free, her amber eyes glowing a low growl sounding in her throat...one Zack would recognize from the not so distant past as she shifted to the black she-wolf with the silver tipped fur, glaring at Zack from eyes that he would also recognize.

The she-wolf turned her head to Kaelan and growled again, but didn't move towards her. Instead she turned back to Zack and walked up to him, her cold, wet nose nudging the hand that didn't hold the claymore.

Zack had taken them into the room about to tell off Kade when he heard the growl he slowly turned his head towards the women they had dragged in with them seeing her change into a wolf he seemed to freeze up Kaelan at her angle probably could see the tendons sticking from the side of his neck as Zack just stared at the wolf as it nudged its nose into his hand.

Zack gave a shiver closing his grey eyes as he took a deep breath his legs seemed to finally give way falling to his knees next to Sin his hand falling from the claymore as tears slowly formed on the edges of his eyes. “Sin?” His voice almost unbelieving as he opened his eyes again looking to her his hand moving with her fur stopping at the neck…as he bowed his head down to the floor wondering if this was just a bad dream he was having at the tavern maybe he hadn’t even been visited by Kaelan, he was about to wake up was he not?

The she-wolf known as Sin, lowered her graceful head and licked a tear off of Zack's face, giving him a heartfelt whine before nudging his cheek with her nose and then a 'whuff!'. The wolf stepped back to look at Kaelan who was staring at her with bright blue eyes and looked a lot like a younger Sin, only with blue eyes. She sneezed her disdain at the girl before she shifted again. Within about 60 to 90 seconds Sin stood before Zack and Kaelan. Amazingly, she had most of clothes on when she changed albeit a little worse for wear from the shifting. She looked down at Zack, still kneeling with his head on the floor. She knelt down, her small hand resting on his hair.

"Don't cry, Zack. Shhhhh....don't cry. I've found you...I've finally found you."

With those words a tear slipped down her own cheek.



**********************

Kaelan stood there watching the wolf shift into the beautiful woman now standing before them. She'd heard Zack utter the name 'Sin' and her heart broke. This was the infamous Sin...the reason Zack wouldn't be with her. She didn't know whether to be angry, sad or happy....happy that the girl lived and Zack would be happy. But angry and sad that Zack would not be hers. Her blue eyes narrowed then and anger filled them as she took a step closer to the two kneeling on the floor.

"So...you are Sin. Zack has mourned you and you just show up?! How dare you do this to Zack!!! You should have stayed gone!!! Let Zack accept your death!!!"

Her eyes now blazed the greenish/gold of the tiger her canines elongating. Her words had been dripping with contempt.

Sin slowly stood up from Zack and glared at the young woman.

Zack was too busy staring at his hands to realize the conflict happening around him as he had pulled into himself those same dead eyes he was famous for coming in as he reeled away from reality to find a saner place….he found Kade.

“Yo, little brother.” Zack sat down next to him the demon had been playing another game of chess in his mind with himself it seemed but the pieces moved themselves across the board Zack sighed slightly as he slowly wiped the tears from under his eyes and sat. “Just what was that and don’t lie you have been laughing this whole time!” Kade looked up from his game smiling. “It was the truth is all I will say she is alive.”

The two sat what seemed hours but outside it was mere heartbeats as the two got angrier with each other Zack stopped a piece from moving on the board and placed it down somewhere else. “I don’t think I can handle this.” More tears were springing to his eyes as he sat with the demon that finally stood finally patting him on the shoulder. “Go then, I will make sure you don’t have to worry.”

Sin stood there standing over the prone body of Zack and smiled coldly at the girl.

"I know this is a shock to him....don't doubt that for a second, little girl.....but I am here, I am alive and I will not share him. Only if he does not want me can you have him."

Sin had already figured out that Kaelan was upset because she had feelings for Zack and didn't blame the girl for that....Zack was.....well, Zack. But, she was damned if she'd spent this time tracking him after almost dying to just give him up.


Kaelan rocked on the balls of her feet, ready to pounce her tiger's strength coming to the surface as her muscles became toner..more defined. She hissed at Sin in a cat like fashion.

"I carry a part of Kade within me.....my guess is you do not. Why is that, I wonder? Did Zack mark you at any time you were with him?", she turned slightly, showing Sin the mark in the back of her shoulder, "See, I carry his mark. So, who do you think he prefers, wolf-girl."

Sin saw red at her words and looked down at Zack, "Is this true?", but she got no response from him. She knelt down, lifting him to a kneeling position so that she could look at his face, his eyes emotionless. "Is this true, Zack?", she asked again but got no response. "Kade!!! Please....give him to me so that I may have answers!!"

Instead of Zack surfacing hell what can I say it was Kade the eyes bleeding to a dark red the arrogant smirk coming across his face. “Hmm someone call the masters name.” A horrid grin across his face as he pried her hands from him standing by himself he rolled his neck clicking it as he looked to Kaelan exposing the mark all over the place. Kade looked back to Sin shrugging slightly as he gave his answer. “Yeah we did kind of mark her?” Thinking about it with a typical pose of hand on chin as he continued...to plot.

Sin's amber eyes narrowed on Kade, anger shining in them. A part of her wanted to know why...but the other part of her was too afraid to ask...afraid of what the answer would be. She turned slowly to Kaelan, who was smiling at her as she covered her shoulder, then turned back to Kade. She knew that Kade liked to play with Zack....at least her head did, but her heart was slowly breaking at the thought of Zack marking Kaelan.

"It was Zack, not Kade who marked me, Sin. He marked me so that a little part of Kade could come into my mind and help me. Never did that with you, did he?"

That was almost Sin's undoing....almost. "Maybe he didn't have to mark me, little girl. Maybe I'm strong enough that I didn't need Kade to help me. Did YOU ever think about that? What's that say about you, little girl? Who needed Kade's help and who didn't?"

Kaelan saw red at Sin's indication that she was weak...having need of Kade's help when Sin never did. She gave a deep growl before she leapt at Sin, knocking the still recovering woman into the far wall, cracking the plaster.

Kade smiled at the argument nodding slowly as finally the two collided his smirk widening but he felt a slight tug at the read of his mind his eyes narrowing slightly but he ignored it for the time being as he watched the two fight. He lifted his head much like Zack but he knew where the strange new comers were and they were still some distance away. Turning back to the fight wondering if Sin had improved since last time she had known how to handle herself but she hadn’t had the guts to push forwards... maybe this little situation would aid her in her ability to fight his smirk coming to its peak but he felt that tug at his mind again shaking it off this time.

Sin hit the wall with a sickening 'thud' and tumbled to the floor. She rose slowly, clearly in pain as she stood up, her eyes all but glowing amber. Kaelan was standing there, where Sin had been before she'd thrown her into the wall and smirked at her. "Who needs Kade's help now?"

Before Kaelan could blink, Sin lunged at her, her fist connecting with the girls chin, knocking her on her butt. A cat like scream came from her mouth as she gracefully leapt to her feet. Claws had extended at the tips of her fingers as she lunged at Sin, her talons swiping at the woman, leaving shallow furrows in her abdomen. Sin's breath hissed in at the stinging before shifting into her wolf form. Kaelan was expecting this though and in mid shift she kicked at Sin in the side, again throwing her into the already cracked wall. Again she slid to the floor, only in full wolf form this time.

The she-wolf rose from the floor, snarling, her long canines showing. There was a red light glowing in her pupils and for the first time fear showed in Kaelan's eyes. The look Sin was giving was one that promised death.

Kade’s eyes narrowed at the sudden events in the fight. “A miscalculation?” As he suddenly saw Sin turn to the wolf even when introduced to pain she had kept it going…she had defiantly gotten better Kade looked to Kaelan smiling at the look of fright on her face… “Time to stop the idiocy.” That’s when he moved forward Sin practically had time to turn her head before Kade suddenly leapt across the distance slamming into her mid-rift as they tumble for a while Kade holding his arm under her neck his legs pulled her rear legs from under her….his other arm was free at the moment but I won’t give away the next part.

Sin was shocked as Kade tackled her, making it so that she couldn't move, trapped beneath him in a very embarassing state. Even in wolf form she was female enough to know how this looked and snarled and snapped at him. Kaelan on the other hand, her tiger riding her hard, took this as her opportunity and began stalking the she-wolf lying beneath Zack/Kade. She snarled, "Give her to me, Kade....I will stop the idiocy....I mean idiot."

Hearing herself being called an idiot, Sin struggled, her teeth nipping sharply at Kade.

Kade gave a slight growl a rare thing coming from their body as he didn’t even look down to Sin from the nip she gave him his free hand came up Kaelan had just enough time to react with her tiger DNA as the knife whizzed past her arm cutting it and flying on to slam into the wall quivering... “She ain’t no idiot considering she figured why the mark was carved onto your back.” His eyes not even leaving Kaelan’s it was strange to see the demon protective but she probably noticed the speckles of silver floating in the red gaze Zack was finally acting his part as well.

Kaelan yelped when the knife left a bloody graze in her arm and she turned to see it's handle sticking out of the wall. She glared at Kade then her eyes widened and filled with hurt as she saw that Zack was there as well. She snarled at him, advancing again.

Sin had stopped struggling, laying passively beneath him.....only Kade would feel that her muscles were bunched...ready to fight him again should Kaelan try to attack.

Kade slipped his arm from around her neck it planted just in front of him she saw the tendons in his wrist slowly bunching up Sin watched as with some quite aggressive velocity he removed his legs kicking off the ground flipped off her using his hand as a pivot. Zack landed firmly in front of Kaelan his other arm pulled back she knew well enough from observation he was about to punch her straight for the stomach.

Zack at the front of the mind now instead tried to insist on it not being too hard the fist winding back he bit his lower lip...it was to sort out this mess that Kade had constructed though, the bastard. Zack had guessed once Kade had tried to escort him away that something was going to happen and here it was the demon had practically struck a love conflict but...he knew full well which one he loved to protect without his interruption Kade would have killed them both and implanted they had killed each other to him his eyes narrowed at this fact.

Kaelan didn't have time to do anything but brace for the impact of Zack's fist in her midsection, which thanks to Zack, was toned down so that when it impacted, it knocked her off of her feet, making her feel as she could vomit, but didn't break any bones or injure any vital organs. She landed about 10 feet back, hitting hard, knocking the wind from her and stunning the tigress. Kaelan shook her head, getting to her knees, catching her breath before standing up. She drew the black blade, pulled back to throw when the blur of black fur hit her.

Sin had seen what Kaelan was going to do and leapt to protect Zack's body, her old black blade slicing a groove into her shoulder as she knocked Kaelan off of her feet before shifting back to her human form, holding Kaelan down, blood from her shoulder dripping on the girl. "Give it up, girl......he isn't yours unless he says so and he hasn't said so, but I will kill you if you persist, especially if you try to hurt him in any way."

Kaelan peered into the amber eyes of Sin and knew that she was telling the truth. That was when she realized that even though she cared deeply for Zack, she didn't truly love him. Well, she did, but more as a close friend or brother. She went limp, nodding her head to Sin, admitting her surrender.

Sin rose from the girl, blood streaming down her arm as she held out a hand to help Kaelan up.