Kitten drifted awake slowly, her eyes were strangely hard to open as she wondered at the cozy feeling she had. She found she was bundled on the futon- that was pulled out- in a thick blanket. She looked up to find Teffy reading a book in a chair nearby, half circle reading glasses on.

She just lay there quietly watching him until he glanced at her to see how she was doing and saw that she was awake. He smiled warmly and took off his glasses, padding over to sit on the futon next to her.

He softly asked her how she was feeling.

She blushed a bit. “Ugly… I must looks terrible with my eyes swollen like this.”

He chuckled a bit. “You never look ugly to me.” He stroked her cheek before standing and padding over to the bathroom. He spoke as he walked in, the sound of rummaging coming form the bathroom. “I think I have something that will help though.”

He padded back out with a small circular container in one paw. “It’s a cream for swelling. Got it when I got into an accident a few years ago- it works wonders, feels good too.”

Kitten obediently closed her eyes and let him smooth on the cream and she sighed. It did indeed feel wonderful on her sore eyes. She lay there and quietly asked him how long she’d been sleeping.

“All day. It’s eight or so now. I was just about to start dinner.” With that she heard his almost silent steps away from her and some sounds from the kitchen.

She wasn’t much for being helpless so she frowned and asked how long she’d have to keep her eyes closed.

Teffy laughed and replied. “Only a few minutes, it should sink in fairly quickly. Do you like chicken soup?”

Kitten grinned. “Sounds yummy.” She realized in surprise that it was the truth; she was hungry for once. Teffy must have that affect one her. She finally allowed herself to gently probe the hurt inside her. She found it wasn’t as enormous as before, but it was still quite a bit. She winced as remembered her outburst earlier and she quietly commented to Teffy what was on her mind, as she listened to the sounds of him cooking.

“I can’t believe you didn’t panic… I’d think you figured I’m nuts after what I did…” She wished she could bury her head as she blushed- she was sure it was a vivid shade of red.

She started as she felt his paw on her cheek again. She hadn’t heard him walking this time. “No.” He murmured in a warm voice, she was almost sure he was smiling softly at her. “I’m just biding my time until you feel up to telling me what happened.”

Her ears perked and she frowned a bit in surprise at that. He wasn’t scared by her outburst, he was actually patiently curious. She wasn’t ready to tell him yet though, the pain was still too much. Instead of replying, she simply nodded and she sensed him padding over to the kitchen, and soon she heard him stirring something.

“Mmmm. That smells good.” She heard him chuckle in response.

“Can’t claim it’s my cooking.” He chuckled in self-depreciation. “Its canned soup.”

She giggled for the first time in a long while. “Oh good. That means I know it really is good.” She giggled again when she heard his snort.

As she heard some more dishes clanking, he told her she should be able to open her eyes by now. She opened them and found that it was a much easier task than before. She put a paw up to feel them and the swelling was down tremendously. She smiled at Teffy.

“Thank you.”

He glanced over in surprise and replied. “Your welcome.” She tilted her head curiously. He acted as though it was something that he didn’t need to be thanked for, as if it was a given that he’d do all this for her.

For now she decided to let things be simple and not analyze it, so she stood up and immediately regretted it as the world spun tremendously and she reached out in alarm for something to grab. Nothing met her seeking paws and she fell back down onto the futon. Teffy looked over in alarm and padded over quickly.

“Are you alright?” He looked down at her in concern.

Kitten just sat there, embarrassed quite badly. She knew why she was lightheaded. She hadn’t been eating correctly for a month now, and hadn’t done much of anything either. Her neglected body was objecting to its treatment finally.

She just sat there with her head bowed in shame, quiet. Finally Teffy sat down next to her in concern and repeated his question.

Finally she answered in a very quiet voice. “No.” She couldn’t bring herself to look at him or let him see her face clearly. She couldn’t remember being so embarrassed and feeling so exposed. “I haven’t done anything these past few weeks, but sit and stare…I hardly ate anything…I guess my body’s finally objecting.”

Teffy stared at her in shock. What had happened to her three weeks ago? He wouldn’t have been able to imagine Kitten acting like this if he hadn’t witnessed it himself. So…beaten…

He frowned deeply, looking at her. Kitten? Beaten? Not while he was here for her. He grabbed her paw and dragged a startled kitten over to the kitchen where the soup was done.

“Well, sitting there some more does you no good does it?” He sat her down in the stool. “Now, for some food.”

He turned around and got two bowls of soup ready and gave one to Kitten. He caught a small, warm smile on her muzzle before he turned away to grab his own. They simply sat side by side and ate their soups in companionable silence.

~ >^.^< ~ =^.^= ~

Edgy silence filled the air as the two friends stood across the living room from each other, glaring and ready to do battle, Kain with a frightening hollow anger, Kyle with righteous frustration.

“I told you to leave it be! I don’t want to hear her name come out of your mouth again!” Kain growled it viciously, his paws clenched into fists. He was a hurt tiger, but for the past month he wouldn’t take any help, any pity, or any concern. Every time they tried to force him to talk about it, he only acted like a cornered animal.

Kyle knew Kain needed to get it out of his system, and if he had to kill him to make him see that, he might just have to do it. He’d reached the end of his patience, he’d taken too much of Kain’s growling and anger since Kitten had left the hospital. Especially since Caitlin refused to see the problem, and Kain had long ago decided burying everything was the better solution.

So they’d finally come to a head, when Kyle had mentioned Kitten one too many times and now Kain was hurt and as angry as Kyle had ever seen him, but he’d pushed the cheetah past his own limit, so he’d be more than happy to beat on him for awhile.

Kain cracked his knuckles and asked if he wanted to take this outside. Kyle only nodded, keeping his eyes on Kain. Kain led the way out back to the back yard and thankfully Kyle’s reflexes saved him from the hit that was intended for his jaw, once he had stepped away from the door. Kain was quick, and Kyle knew it- that hit hadn’t missed as badly as he would’ve liked.

Kyle grinned with evil intend. “Kitten.”

Kain growled and swung a fast and hard punch at Kyle who quite easily took his momentum and let Kain fly past him in a defensive move, with a kick on his butt to help him along.

Kain wasn’t without his own technique and slammed his fist into the back of Kyle’s knee on his way down. Kyle collapsed as expected, and both of them swiftly made their way to their feet, Kyle limping a bit.

A half hour later Caitlin walked out back to find the two still glaring at each other, Kain favoring his left paw, and Kyle with a huge black eye, both of them had split lips and were panting. She stayed by the back door, trying to figure what was going on, and then she heard what Kyle was saying.

“If have to kill you to do it Barlow, I will. You ARE going to go talk to her whether you like it or not! If you don’t, then you’ll just have to live with the fact that you are never seeing me again. I refuse to sit back and watch you destroy yourself over something like this.” Kain tried another, rather tired swing and Kyle avoided it easily, walking away and leaving Kain to stand there looking dangerous.

Caitlin stepped forward only to find Kain’s eyes on her with a half crazed light in them. Caitlin started in shock. She’d never seen him like that…It kinda scared her because she didn’t know what he was capable of anymore. He let out a short growl and she frowned at this and turned, leaving. She wasn’t about to let him beat on her also.

Kain stood there for a few moments, then finally collapsed onto the ground. A single tear traced its way down his unreadable face. The tiger sat there for some time before he finally got up and limped inside, his head hanging.

~ >^.^< ~ =^.^= ~

As she sat in front of her empty bowl, Kitten mentioned that she should probably be getting home, but Teffy heard it for what it was, half-hearted. She didn’t really mean it and he looked around, absently figuring out where she’d sleep if she stayed. While sleeping on the futon with her sounded like heaven, she wasn’t his, and she didn’t need him trying to be anything more right now. He remembered he had a cot stored in the back of the closet and smiled.

“You’re welcome to stay here if you don’t want to be alone. I have a cot I can sleep on, and you can have the futon if you like.”

Kitten blushed a bit. She hadn’t thought she was that obvious about it. “No, you’re right, I don’t want to be alone.” She sighed softly, and then continued. “I’ll go back to my apartment tomorrow. Don’t think I’m strong enough to walk back anyway.”

Teffy put their dishes in the sink and turned to her curiously. “Did you want to turn in now?”

Kitten shook her head. “No, I’m not quite tired enough for that yet.” She glanced at a cabinet under his TV. “Do you have any comedies in there?”

Teffy grinned. “You should know better than to ask that. Of course I do- plenty of ‘em. Want anything specific?” He padded over to the cabinet, Kitten following behind and sitting down on the futon. She shook her head quietly and he randomly picked out a movie and stuck it in the DVD player.

When Kitten finally fell asleep later on during the movie, it was with her head snuggled into Teffy’s lap and the blanket wrapped snuggly around her. Teffy simply watched her for a short while before he quietly shut off the movie and TV and slipped away to make his own bed. He loved her and she was so tempting lying in his bed, but he fell asleep a long while later on the uncomfortable cot, his ethics beating out his need to cuddle up next to her.

The thought that finally lulled him to sleep was just that, however, and that night he dreamed of her. His Kitten.