A good story, Gary.  I see one serious problem with it, however:

	The Cat pounced. Its claws dug into the wings of a songbird,
trapping it in an iron grasp. The bird struggled desperately to escape
but could not, as the Cat slowly and methodically tore its wings off.

No offense, but this is about as dry as a Texas summer.  She's losing her
bloody humanity, for crying out loud!  In this, you chose literary
symbolism over stark, terrifyingly descriptive fear.  Try to do both if you
can, but always choose the more effective of the two (description) when
writing.  

Suggestion: Describe how it feels to Akane as each feather is pulled off,
one by one, her fear trying to hold onto what little remained of herself
while it tugged at her humanity at the same time.  Another idea might be
for her to fall into an imaginary pit of cats, and have them slowly tear
away at her humanity.  

-- Nick