Diamond Tooth was sleeping soundly in one of the palettes on the floor of the bunk house when one of his Guard Dogs shook him awake, "Sir! Sir, wake up!"

Tooth opened his maw, tongue stretched out and curling at the tip. He blinked groggily up at his subordinate, "You have something to report?"

The Guard Dog shuffled his feet, eyes locked on the floor and distinctly not at his superior, "There... there's a problem with one of the creatures..." the nervous guard whined under his breath, "It... seems..." he trailed off.

Tooth growled and sleepily rubbed his eyes with his paw pads, "Speak already!"

The Guard Dog screwed up his courage and it all came tumbling out in one long, run-on word, "Whenwecametorelievethepreviouswatchwenoticedthatoneofthecreatureswasbleedingfromherpuppypassageanditlookslikesomebodytookindecentlibertieswithher."

Diamond Tooth blinked rapidly, trying to decipher what his Guard Dog had just told him. His blinking slowed down as he registered the words. His eyes slowly widened then narrowed dangerously, his voice was deathly soft but deep, "What?"

* * *

An explosion of metallic clanging and pained yelping startled Veera and Ryia out of their slumber. Veera was on her feet in an instant while Ryia shook her head trying to clear the metaphorical cobwebs. Veera dashed over to the cell bars and peered as far down the hallway as she could. She could hear raucous barking and snarling heading their way, "Stay back everybody! They're coming this way!"

Hard on the heel of Veera's warning, the burly body of one of the Rakshasa waddled into view. His hand paws and foot paws were chained together and his head was down as if in shame. Behind him came another in the same restraints, then came another, and another after him. The parade continued until twenty of the Rakshasa were lined up, facing the inside of the cell, with twice their number directly behind them, holding them in place. Veera backed away from the door holding her long knife subtly in a reverse grip as she stepped toward Ryia.

The Rakshasa all whined in a chorus, but the feminine screams echoing down the hallway overrode all other sounds. Veera and Ryia shared a confused glance as the biggest Rakshasa carried a woman from another cell over his shoulder. Behind him was Drool Face. Drool Face was trying to pantomime something to the terrified woman, but her continued shrieking and flailing against the back of the big one made any communication beyond impossible. Under any other circumstances the scene might have been hilarious.

The big Rakshasa opened the cell door and heaved the woman off his shoulder, setting her on the ground gently. Drool Face entered the cell and closed the door behind them. The woman scrambled away from the big one and Drool Face. Veera and Ryia had a new member of their 'interactions club'. The woman crawled to them and curled up behind Veera.

Veera kept an eye on the two Rakshasa. She was not so concerned with Drool Face, but the big one had her attention. Meanwhile Ryia began trying to calm the new woman down. She knelt down on the floor and stroked the woman's head and back, speaking soothing words to her.

* * *

Slobber Chops sighed as he watched Ryia trying to calm down the female who had been savaged. The idea of rape was not a new one, but the crime was remarkably rare. Trying to force yourself upon a member of a species that was born with razor sharp claws and teeth was not a wise course of action and was likewise the only reason to use one's claws or teeth against another sapient being. The accusation from Diamond Tooth that one of the Guard Dogs had done so and with a helpless captive no less, made Chop more than a bit uncertain. The olden legends and tales of Darkclaw The Corrupt Guard Dog were known far and wide, but Chop had never heard of a Guard Dog actually being caught so obviously, nor doing something so detestable.

Beside Slobber Chops, Diamond Tooth grumbled unhappily, "How long until they calm the victim down?"

Chop could easily hear the irate growl behind the Commander's words, "I can't say with surety. It may take a long time, or it may be fairly quick." He turned his head and regarded the Commander curiously, "How would you react if strange creatures hauled you out of bed in the middle of your sleep?"

Diamond Tooth snorted, "Depending on whether or not they were beautiful bitches, I might think it was having a nice dream."

Chop huffed a quick laugh and returned to his serious demeanor, "What is to be done once the victim identifies her attacker?"

Diamond Tooth growled again under his breath, "I'll bring him in here, kneel him down, and give the victim a weapon. Beyond that will be her decision."

Chop swallowed hard. He had never seen an execution in person. They were rare, but did occasionally occur. He almost felt bad for the perpetrator... almost. He perked his ears forward and decided to get to work. He stepped away from the cell bars that Diamond Tooth was leaning against, and crouched low to the ground so as to seem as unimposing as possible.

The tall female with the knife noticed him. She looked down at the smaller female who was busy tending to the victim, then looked back at him. She took two steps forward and spoke some of her strange language at him. The only words he was able to make out was his name.

* * *

Veera was not the happiest woman in the cell, but Ryia was busy so Veera had to deal with Drool Face herself. She stepped toward his crouched form, "If you're trying to look cute Drool Face, you're missing it by quite a margin."

Drool Face cocked his head to the side, his ears sliding up his head. Veera had to force herself not to chuckle, "Now THAT'S closer." She coughed into her left fist, "Alright, what do you want?"

Drool Face slurped up some of the saliva that had accumulated in his mouth and twitched his nose and tail, thinking. After a moment he turned and growled something to the big one standing against the bars. The big one shook his head as if sad, and handed Drool Face a small knife. Drool Face cringed as he made a small cut in his left arm and passed the knife back to the big one.

Drool Face used the pads on his left hand paw and wiped away the tiny amount of blood that had seeped out of the cut on his arm. He then smeared the blood between his thumb and index claw and held it out to Veera, letting her see it. Veera saw the blood but was puzzled at what Drool Face was trying to communicate. The Rakshasa then pulled its bloody paw pads toward its crotch and gestured to the woman who had been brought in.

Veera's eyebrows rose as her mind put the pieces together. She turned toward Ryia and the other woman "Hey," she addressed loudly, "Are you on the rag?"

The other woman looked up and nodded numbly, "Y-y-yes."

Veera twitched her left thumb over her shoulder, "Any idea why they have a score of their own in chains over there?" She asked, "Drool Face here is trying to tell us something and it has to do with you menstruating."

The woman looked to Drool Face then back to Veera, "Why would they care?"

Ryia spoke up quickly, "Well, female animals go into heat when they're ready to mate... maybe they think there is something like that going on with you?"

Veera threw her head back and laughed, "Bwahahahahahahaha! And they think one of their guys can 'do the deed'?"

A sharp, loud bark brought Veera's attention back to Drool Face. The Rakshasa proceeded to perform another pantomime. He pointed to the woman, then grabbed his left wrist with his right hand paw and held it to the ground in a restraining fashion. He then pointed to the chained up Rakshasa, then to the woman again. Finally he used his bloody paw to make a slashing motion across his neck and made an angry face toward the chained Rakshasa.

Veera was lost, but Ryia had been paying attention, "The way he held his wrist was imitating being held restrained. Is he saying that one of them held you down?" She asked the woman.

The woman shook her head, "No, they only came into the cell to bring us food and water."

Ryia was puzzled, "Then why did he make those motions?"

Veera shrugged, "No idea." She turned back to Drool Face and raised her hands, "What are you trying to tell us?"

The Rakshasa obviously did not understand the words, but the interrogative tone was obvious enough. He huffed out an exasperated breath and thought some more. His ears suddenly perked up and he sat down on the floor. He pointed to the ones that were in chains, then he held his wrist to the ground again. After that he formed a circle by touching his bloody thumb claw to his bloody index claw and thrust his whole arm through the hole spreading the two finger claws apart. He pulled his arm back and out and gestured to the space his arm had forced open between his bloody claws then gestured to his crotch and finally to the woman again.

Ryia finally caught on, "It's a rape investigation." Veera and the woman both looked at her strangely. Ryia began to explain, "The motions he made with his hand and arm pantomimed sex. The separation between his thumb and forefinger is meant to indicate that your vagina was ripped in the process, that's also why he used his bloody fingers as the example. When he gestured to the chained up ones earlier, he meant to say that if you identify the one who did it, that one would be executed."

The woman's eyes bulged, "But none of them did! They haven't touched any of us. Why would they think I was raped?"

"They must have smelled or saw the blood." Veera explained, "Maybe their females don't menstruate or go into heat. If that's the case, I can understand the concern."

The woman had another concern, "But how do you go about explaining a woman's menstrual cycle using hand motions?"

Ryia shook her head, "Without a common language, I don't think we can. How would we explain the twenty-six day fertility cycle to a species that seems to live underground with no reference point for the sun rising or setting? Even if we managed to do that, how do we explain that it's the body's way of cleaning itself to a species who may have absolutely no comprehension of it?" Ryia sighed, "I think the best thing we can do is try to tell them that a rape didn't happen."

Veera nodded, "Makes sense. Have fun, I'm no good at this non-verbal communication thing."

Ryia rolled her eyes as she and Veera switched places, "He's already given us the hand motions we need to get the point across. Wish me luck, this might take a few tries."

* * *

Slobber Chops watched Ryia's pantomime very carefully, trying to understand what she meant. He had her repeat it several times before he was satisfied with his understanding. He turned his head toward where Commander Diamond Tooth was half dozing as he leaned against the cell bars, "I think they're trying to say that the female was not ravaged by one of your Guard Dogs."

Diamond Tooth instantly became alert. He pushed off the bars and knelt down next to the Ambassador, "Then why is that female bleeding? Is she 'in season' like an animal?"

Slobber Chops shook his head, "I don't know, perhaps they do go into heat. I cannot think of any other reasons for it, but we cannot make assumptions in either direction. We just don't know enough about them yet."

Diamond Tooth dragged his paws down his face, "Well we need to know as soon as possible. Are you REALLY sure there was no crime? I love my Guard Dogs but I hold them to a high standard. If any of them has committed a crime, especially one of THAT nature against one of these creatures, I would not let it go unpunished."

Slobber Chops nodded, "I am as certain as I can be sir."

Diamond Tooth sighed again and yelled over his shoulder, "Take the manacles off them." He turned back to Chop and whispered, "Looks like I have some apologies to make." He paused briefly and turned his head back to Slobber Chops, "She isn't going to want one of the males from the other cells is she? I have no regulations regarding such things."

Chop shrugged, "I'll ask... tomorrow. I need to get back to sleep."

Author's Note

Let me know if you spot any typos.