My friend convinced me to watch Beastars and I hate to admit that I loved it, then proceeded to read the whole manga in less than two days right after binging season one. A few warnings before we begin: this story will contain manga spoilers, human trafficking, drugs, sexual content, past child abuse, mentioned/implied non-con and racism/specism. This story is also published on Wattpad, Quotev and Archive of Our Own.

CHAPTER ONE

UNDER THE MOONLIGHT

Her teeth clamped down on the leathery texture, the taste of salt blooming over her tongue as she fiddled with the multicolored cube on her lap. Poised in the lotus position, her back was pressed against the wall and she faced the only door in the room. She carefully chewed on her snack and flicked the faces of the cube until nearly all of them were uniform. Noise from just outside her room made her pause, looking up at the steel door when the locks started turning.

It slid open with a loud noise that would undoubtedly awaken everyone in the other cells. She set the cube to the side, watching warily as her handler came into view with a disgruntled expression on his striped face. There was a leash and a collar in his hands. "Get up, 02." The white tiger grunted, "You're getting out of here."

She pushed the rest of the dried meat into her mouth before it could be taken from her.

In a world where beasts ruled, being human was a curse. Viewed as pets, humans were mere accessories shown off by those in high society. Seeing one outside the big cities and the Black Market was extremely rare. One attending school by themselves? Even more so.

She thumbed at the metal plate on the black collar wrapped around her neck, ignoring all the stares and whispers around her.

All humans were obligated to wear a collar with an identification code. That way, if anything were to happen, their owner could be located. Uncollared humans were taken into custody and placed in adoption clinics until someone with the right qualifications could take them home. Those bred and sold illegally in the Black Market weren't documented, which meant they didn't have an identification code. However, when the right strings were pulled, papers could be forged— even for humans from fighting rings, like her.

Having connections in high places made living under disguised independence much easier.

She was mildly surprised, yet pleased, that most herbivores and carnivores went out of their way to leave her alone. The rumors and anecdotes of humans eating both herbivores and carnivores made them stay away. She'd gotten a table in a comfortable corner all to herself during dinner, wrinkling her nose at the sad looking soy meat on her tray and choosing to eat the bread and fruits instead. A quick, unamused glance up made all the other students scramble to turn back to their meal and pretend they hadn't been staring.

Clicking her tongue, the human rose from her seat and dumped her tray in hopes of catching the last rays of sunlight outside. The vast expansion of the sky was painted in beautiful shades of pinks, purples and oranges as the sun slowly sunk over the horizon. It was a soothing warmth that chased away the cold on her skin. She stretched her limbs and carded her fingers through her short black hair, lightly scratching at her scalp.

A condescending, nasally voice made her lips tug into a frown. She turned her head to see three girls — the leader a harlequin rabbit, while the others were a cat and a tanuki — cornering a white dwarf rabbit. She was a small little thing, with a pure white coat and big, dark eyes, just oozing a sort of confidence that didn't belong in such a tiny herbivore.

She's going to get her ass kicked, she thought to herself in amusement, taking note of the bucket of water the trio had brought with themselves. She found herself walking closer.

"Who do you think you are? Whose fault—" The harlequin rabbit had begun to say, indignantly, before being interrupted by the smaller girl.

"He's the one that suddenly kissed me." The white rabbit said easily, struggling her thin shoulders. A smile curled at her mouth, "Besides, I'm not interested in a guy who gets excited over a little peck." She continued, straightening her spine and lifting her head up. "Out of my way."

Having arrived, she cleared her throat before the harlequin rabbit could shove the little thing over the edge. The three girls stiffened and slowly turned, their eyes growing wide at the sight of the human looming over them. "What is it?" She queried, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes at the trio. "Do you have hearing problems? She told you to move."

The harlequin rabbit cleared her throat nervously and jutted her chin up, failing to disguise the shaking of her limbs and the shrinking of her pupils for something other than fear as she and her friends made a speedy escape. Rolling her eyes, she let out a small scoff and tugged at her collar once more before turning to face the white rabbit, who was staring up at her in awe.

"You're the human—"

"Deux." She interjected, long since having grown tired of being called the human around the academy.

"I'm Haru." She introduced herself, blinking her large eyes at her. One of her ears twitched, "Did... someone tell you to help me?" Haru asked, her head turning to look around them in search of the carnivore that should be with Deux.

Deux pursed her lips, "No." She replied and tapped the tip of her shoe against the bucket, watching the ripples distort the sunlight reflected on its surface. "I just thought that walking around campus in a drenched uniform would be uncomfortable."

Haru uttered a small oh, trying not to make it obvious that she was staring. Normally, Deux would get irritated with her gawking, but she assumed this was the first time the bunny had seen a human. She would let it go for now.

"Thank you," Haru finally said, a sweet smile curling at her lips. Deux spotted her little nose twitch, "But you didn't have to." She added.

Shrugging a shoulder, Deux turned on her heels, "I wanted to." She stated, and began making her way back to her dorm.

"S-See you tomorrow!" Haru called out from behind her, a hopeful lilt to her voice. Deux gave a short hum of acknowledgement, but did not turn. Instead, she frowned at the goosebumps travelling up her arms.

Damn.

Sneaking out was fairly easy when you had a dorm room all to yourself. Her hands were buried inside the pockets of her hoodie and her fingers were curled into her palms in a failed attempt to stop their shaking. Deux sighed through her nose, her black hair brushing against her cheeks as she ventured outside the school grounds. It was cold and dark, only just visible, with a thin film of fog pooling at her shins. Still, she found him in the shadows.

Silver hair peeked out from under his hood, his dark eyes locking on her figure while his lips pressed together in a stern line. He reached out when she was close enough, tugging her own hood over her head without an ounce of tenderness. "Keep your hood up when you go out." Isamu muttered and Deux nodded in acknowledgement, pretending not to notice the exasperated look on his face when he spotted her bare neck. "You're late," He added instead of mentioning her lack of collar.

Deux levelled him with an unamused stare, "It's not like I can walk out of there on my own while the others are awake."

Isamu sighed deeply, like speaking to her was something tiresome, and slid a hand into his coat to fish out a small bottle of round pills. Deux took her hand out of her pocket to take it, but Isamu caught her wrist in a gloved hand to inspect her trembling fingers. He hummed lowly to himself, and pushed the bottle into her hand. "Drink one when you wake up and another before going to sleep, no more than that. Those guys kept you pumped full of PEDs and GHB, it's normal to have these episodes every now and then while you get back on your own feet." He explained, a softer tone in his voice. "You can drink a third one if it gets really bad, but try not to. Don't hesitate to call me if anything happens."

Deux stared down at the unlabeled bottle, listening to the clinking of the pills against the plastic as she turned the container. She looked up and met his expectant gaze with muted blue eyes. "Two per day, three when necessary." She repeated vaguely, pocketing the bottle and rolling her shoulders. Deux clicked her tongue when his stare didn't waver, "And I'll call you if anything happens."

Pleased for the time being, Isamu nodded his head and patted her shoulder. "Take care of yourself, kid. And, for fuck's sake," He pointed a finger at her neck, "wear your collar whenever you go out. I know it bothers you, but you have to wear one unless you want them to put you in foster."

She rubbed at the light scarring on the side of her throat, peeved, but nodded. Isamu looked her over one last time, as if to make sure she was doing alright, before turning on his heels and walking away into the night.

Once back on school grounds, she made her way into the nearest bathroom. Making sure it was completely empty, Deux took out the bottle and let a single tablet fall into her palm. It was white and oval shaped, about the size of a human fingernail. She popped it into her mouth and lifted the tap to gather water into her hand. Ducking her head, she drank a mouthful of the cold liquid and downed the pill. There was a subtle sour aftertaste, but it was nothing a handful of dried cranberries back at the dorm couldn't take care of.

Deux dried the water dripping from her chin with her sleeve and lifted her gaze to look at her reflection. Her attention was drawn to the scar on her neck again. It was still a light pink, irritated from the collar rubbing against it all day. Isamu had given her a bottle of aloe vera gel for it, but it was uncomfortable nonetheless. She sighed to herself again and adjusted the hood over her head before making her way outside.

The fog had thickened ever so slightly and it was a tad colder than it was before. The only sounds reaching her ears were the chirping of crickets, the trickling of the water in the fountain and her own, quiet footsteps. She looked around, but there was only so much the human eye could see. Shaking her head, she started for her dorm.

A low growl made her freeze in place, alert. The hair on the back of her neck prickled, and her trembling ceased at once. Her heart started beating faster and her feet moved into a more stable stance out of instinct. Another growl, this one deeper and louder, made her jaw clench. That was the sort of noise she'd hear at the ring, surrounded by countless carnivores paying big money to see two humans tear each other apart… or when they requested a private meeting with the victor.

Under normal circumstances, she would be able to at least hold her ground against a carnivore, but that was back in the ring— with the PEDs Isamu had mentioned. Without thinking twice, Deux bolted in the direction of her dorm despite knowing they'd catch up to her in no time. She would rather die trying to escape than letting some carnivore slaughter her while she stood still like a frightened doe.

She bit back a shout of anger and frustration when a large body slammed into hers, sending them tumbling down to the floor in an ungraceful heap. The male, judging by the uniform and the depth of his voice, was quick to wrap his muscled arms around her and cage her against his chest, the tips of his claws making holes in the sleeve of her hoodie. Deux was sure she would have bruises in the shape of his fingers in the morning if she survived.

Deux squirmed futely in his arms, digging her own nails into the arm crossed over her chest. She only managed to ruffle the dark fur rather than cause any actual damage and found herself cursing Isamu for making her cut her nails. Biting was out of the question as well, since he was holding her so tightly that ducking her head to clamp down on his arm was impossible. A rush of hot air fanned over the bare skin of her throat and she realized her hood had fallen in the scuffle.

He pressed his nose against the back of her ear and took a lungful of her scent, causing her to shiver in his arms. She picked up on the nearly crazed and unintelligible mutters of the carnivore as the arm not crossed over her chest left her waist to tug at her hoodie to expose more of her neck and shoulder. Drops of warm drool dripped down onto her skin as razor sharp teeth brushed against the juncture between her neck and shoulder, as if he was deciding where to bite.

When he took yet another deep inhale of her scent, Deux started getting impatient.

While she didn't want to die, dying here — held against a carnivore on school grounds in the middle of the night — was still much better than spending a lifetime in the ring. But her soon to be killer was taking his sweet time and it was honestly pissing her off. She tightened her fingers around his arm and noticed that it was impossible for her fingertips to touch from the sheer muscle mass under that thick gray fur.

Feeling his chest expand with another inhale, Deux scowled. "If you're going to bite me," She began, "hurry up. I don't have all night." She felt the large body hunched over her shudder and heard his breath hitch. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. What kind of reaction was that? She sighed, brushing the thought away when the wet warmth of his mouth neared her shoulder again.

"Oi…! We've got a problem!"

The carnivore's hold on her loosened as he gave a ragged gasp. His claws got caught on her clothes and shredded through her sleeve, dragging across the skin of her arm. She grunted at the sting and shoved away from him, jumping to feet and sprinting to her dorm. Turning around would only slow her down, so Deux kept running until she made it into her room and locked the door behind herself.

Grumbling angrily to herself, Deux threw off her ruined hoodie — which left her in a white tank top — and walked up to the sink in the corner of the room. Blood dripped steadily from the scratch, thankfully a shallow wound that did not require stitches. She let the water from the tap wash away the crimson liquid smeared over her skin and reached over for the first aid kit. Plopping down on her bed to clean the scratches with rubbing alcohol and wrap them in clean bandages, Deux sighed irritably.

"This place sucks ass."

Legoshi, his heart all but slamming against his ribcage, stared up at the top of the bunk. His hands held his sheets in an iron grip, shivers racking his spine despite the warmth of the room.

"If you're gonna bite me, hurry up."

He flinched as if struck and swallowed thickly, biting back a whine. Less than an hour ago, he'd had the only human in school trapped in his arms, his mouth full of saliva as he stared down at the bare skin of her shoulder.

She smelled so good.

He'd been filled with the overwhelming need to drown in her scent, to dig his claws into her flesh and sink his teeth into her neck, maring her pale skin with bites and dark bruises. Legoshi had fought himself, trembling with the effort of keeping his head still and his mouth shut. She had been soft and smooth to the touch, void of fur besides the thick mane of shoulder length black hair on her head.

It had made him — or at least that dark, ugly side of him — all the more eager to leave his mark.

Despite his best interests, Legoshi lifted his hand from the sheets and raised his claws to his nose. He shuddered at the scent of her blood, soaked into his fingertips even after washing his hands countless times. He recalled the smooth, smoky sound of her voice, steady like the river even when trapped in the grasp of a carnivore that could end her life in a single bite.

The whole time, however, Legoshi had felt like he was the one about to be devoured, caged in the arms of a beast with claws and fangs sharper than his.

He whimpered in shame at the tightness of his pajama pants.

Here we go...

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed and keep yourselves safe out there!

—find me on tumblr (bakustark)!