Pride to Shame, All to Blame

Five days later...

The Guardian Exams began today.

That was my first thought when the ungodly loud alarm went off at five thirty in the morning. With an irritated swat, I ended the endlessly mind-melting buzz of the curst machine and leapt out of bed, landing on silent feet with barely any noise.

When I padded into the living room, there of course was a usual gathering of folks who were considered the closest of my companions (I never called anyone friend; I was afraid that once I did, they would become too close to me, and would either betray me or become injured to any degree of fatality).

Falcon, along with five other Fire Breds, sat watching the television, eating whatever scraps of food they had found in my kitchen.

"Hey,Sleeping Siren's awake." That voice belonged to Eagle, Falcon's friend since cubhood. His voice was sort of like Falcon's, sandpapery and with a slight accent. But Falcon's voice was always playful; Eagle's actually changed moods, and was a little deeper. Plus, he had fish crammed into his mouth, so he sounded more like a newsman on the radio.

"Sleeping Beauty, Eagle," I said, "Sleeping Siren is-"

"Brian's nickname for you when you're curled up in a little ball." And that obnoxious voice was Nidakara, better known as Elder Sister, Lust. She had the generic "high-school-popular-girl" voice, smooth and snobby. She wasn't really someone I liked, but she was a reliable clanswoman and warrior, and she and I saved each other in numerous battles, so I guess she was alright.

"Be nice, will you?" That was Victoria, Nidakara's friend and complete opposite personality. She had a gentle voice, but it held many underlying emotions, too. She might have always sounded calm, but if she was mad, you knew it. If she was happy, you knew it. And her eyes tended to glitter a lot, too.

The only still-silent one in the group was Sharon, Eagle's younger sister. She was in my Ninth Year class, but unlike everyone else, she stayed silent about how the others treated me by my own request. Outsiders could get hurt or save themselves all they wanted; Sharon was a clanmate. I didn't want her hurt on my behalf. I didn't deserve that.

The reason for her silence was the food stuffed in her mouth. I guessed she'd started with six waffles on her plate; now she had five crammed into her mouth at once, some poking out from between her lips.

You see, Fire Breds aren't really well liked among the sophisticated crowd, and while that's partly because of our general sense of humor, it's mostly because of our horrible manners. Not only do we eat like pigs, we also tend to swear and make crude and lewd comments on a very frequent basis. Like the saying goes, "Fire is 50% adrenalin and 100% hormones."

The fifth unknown Fire Bred was the clan Father, the chieftain Torro. He was the oldest Fire Bred alive, at 95,370 years old. He was also my current trainer, though there were times when I wondered if he was trying to toughen me up or off me.

I knew why he was here; if I became a Guardian, no matter the rank, it would be the signal he'd need to step up my training, something I was currently worrying about. Was that necessarily a good thing for my health?

He smiled the same smile that won me over as a cub, but I could see so many memories playing in his cold blue eyes. I knew he was remembering my mother's life as a Guardian; she had spent every day after her rise to the Leader's position fighting her own brother on the frontlines, all the way till her extremely premature death at the young age of twenty-three.

I knew he was worried that I would face an eerily similar fate, but Fire Breds aren't big on mushy crap, so I merely returned his smile, raising my head and pulling my shoulders back in a primal gesture of raw strength.

I'll show you that your training was not wasted.

~♥~♥~♥~

About an hour later, we were lined up at the arena, waiting for our instructor to come and oversee the first part of the Exams.

The Humans were all here, but I couldn't sense Shadow anywhere. Had he disappeared? Been injured? Been... been killed?

But the time to worry was over. Here came our instructor, Lisa Windspeaker. I resisted the urge to groan as my classmates to my left and right did; she was tough, in more ways than one. She could take on an adult Cerberus on her own, was practically immune to dragon poison, and had the attitude of an irritated badger fused with an army drill sargent.

As if to mock her, I held my arms behind my back and stood at attention, just as a soldier in a Human army would. I may have been stone-faced, but inside I was ready to die laughing. The voice thought I was pretty hilarious, too. Her laughter filled my mind as Lisa glared at me, her eyes searing into mine. I permitted myself a little more fun as I gave her the Flamesoul Clan salute: I grinned and touched my middle finger to my forehead.

I'm sure she was pretty close to killing me, but thankfully she had other more important and useful things to do. Like oversee the first exam.

Our challenged was simple: from the list of names she held, she would call out each match. The loser was the first person to give up or pass out. Ties would result in both contestants moving on to the next exam.

"First match: Rena versus Haylee."

Those who hadn't been called went up to the bleachers to watch. I of course sat as far away as possible from my classmates, which sat me right next to Naruto, the only Human I'd gotten along with so far. I tried to avoid the girls (and Kankuro, Gaara's older brother) completely, and the guys... well, they either pissed me off or freaked me out on a daily basis.

I wasn't about to go within five feet of Lee or Gai. Those two had serious mental problems, and hearing "youth" "love" or "springtime" one more time would get one of them killed.

Right away I knew Rena was in trouble. She had never been outside of the popular circle, but she had never quite been up to snuff with the rest, either. She was easily led and timid, a bit of a wallflower at times. She was the only crowd follower I had shown compassion to; I understood her fearful nature better than she thought.

So when Haylee paid no heed to Rena's attempts to stick with kid gloves, I wasn't entirely surprised.

"Wow, Rena's pathe- OW!"

I turned to see Kyla tearing Kankuro's head to ribbons while he vainly tried to throw her off. Laughing, I reached to grab her, but just as my hand touched her fur, someone from a few rows down yelled, "Rena, you coward! Fight!"

I flinched and whirled back around to see Haylee charging at a clearly exhausted Rena, claws extended and aimed for the finishing blow. There was no rule against killing, and there was little time for Lisa or Rena to act.

My vision was clouded with dark red mist, which cleared seconds later as pain shot through my torso.

"Again, Mutt?You're too noble for your own good!"

"Caroline-chan!"