Waif and Stray - 3. Disasters

The catboy woke up slowly, initial confusion at his surroundings quickly melting away. It was still dark, and he was under something soft and warm, curled in a ball with the even warmer presence of Jinx spooning him, her gentle snores sending hot breath down his back. Utter satisfaction spread through his little mind, and for the first time in as long as he could remember, a smile spead across his face. He stayed in that half awake, dreamlike bliss for as long as he could, before a familiar roiling sensation in his middle pulled him sharply out of his happy reverie with a painful cramp.

With a newfound sense of urgency, he gently extricated himself from Jinxs' warm arms, and lowered his awkward frame to the floor. Balancing on two legs was at least a year away - the curved spine of kittens made even the attempt painful at his age - so he padded on all fours over to the litter tray and sniffed at it nervously. The theory had been obvious once his divine new friend had deposited her waste in it the previous evening, but between theory and practice stood a gaping chasm. It didn't help that, still unknown to Char and Jinx, the young kit was terribly short sighted, a relatively common issue among neko with mismatched eyes. As such, the exact stance used by Jinx to perform the deed was a mystery to him.

The catboy arranged himself above the tray as best he could, needing all four limbs for stability. The moment an arc of urine struck the far rim of the tray, he realised he was too far forward and had no free hand to point his little hose downward. He shuffled backwards, then noticed with a start that his pee was turning the litter bright yellow. This was fascinating, and his recent repositioning slipped his mind as he watched the colour spread. It wasn't until his first poop landed squarely outside the tray behind him that he realised his error. Fear gripped him, followed by a severe cramp in his guts. He shuffled back forwards just in time, then mewled in pain as his body ejected the digested remains of the kitten farm's dry kibble. It hurt - the kibble was cheap in bulk because it wasn't designed for neko, never mind a kit's intestinal system. The catboy's torturous guts and fear of the coming punishment for fouling the floor proved just too much, and he burst out in tears, mourning the loss of the warm safety of just a few minutes ago.

So lost he was in his despair, the boy barely noticed the warm hands alight on his shoulders, nor the encouraging words that tried to help him through the worst of it. Once the urge to use the tray had passed, the defeated catboy allowed himself to be led to his deserved discipline. His eyes still shut, he obliged after a few crawled steps when his shoulders and face were pressed gently into the sheepskin rug and knelt, bottom pushed up high in the air, waiting for the first blow.

~☆~

Jinx had been endlessly irritated when her living hot water bottle decided to wander off. Hugging her new packmate all night had started to fill an aching need for the presence of another neko; not that Char wasn't wonderfully kind and very definitely essential for a continued supply of fish, both solid points in her favour, but she did tend to be busy studying a lot (interfering in which was a spankable offence) and was often gone for untold aeons at something called work. The catboy would be there always now.

This happy little thought led to a smile and doze, interrupted by a panicked mewling. Crystal eyes flashed immediately, far more efficient in the pre-dawn gloom of the lounge than they had been in the bathroom glare. Black ears snapped to attention, and as the smell of fear pheromones flooded her (along with myriad other details of the younger neko's pitiful physical state) she scanned the room for the threat. Adrenaline coursed through her, making her heart race and heightening her senses to a razor sharp focus. Small claws extended unbidden, ready to tear holes in whatever dared threaten her catboy - quite possibly a ghost, she suspected. Carefully, she surveyed the scene. At first, she was vaguely irritated that the kit had just missed the litter tray. It wasn't something that ever, ever happened to Jinx herself of course, since that would be hugely Undignified, but it was easy enough to deal with and hardly worthy of an alarm call. This quickly shifted to concern - the tiny male was clearly in pain.

Moving far faster on all fours (and far more comfortably if she was being honest), the catgirl was at his side in moments. She helped prop him up and whispered that everything was OK, hating not knowing how to stop the pain immediately. Once the shuddering passed and the last rock hard, bone dry dropping left the poor creature's system, she led the gasping, sweaty neko away a little and, grabbing the box of tissues, pushed down softly on the shuddering catboy's neck. He presented his little bottom with a whimper, and taking a tissue in one hand, the tip of her pointed little tongue stuck out in concentration, she deftly wiped him clean, trying as carefully as she could to avoid any bruises. Depositing the tissue in the tray, Jinx turned her attention to the poop on the floor, daintily scooping it up with another tissue and dropping it by the rest. Drawing herself up to two feet, she dipped one foot gracefully into the litter in a clean corner of the tray and flicked it over, burying the messes.

The catboy's eyes had bulged open in surprise as Jinx cleaned him. Shaking and barely believing the turn of events, he slowly rose and followed as she effortlessly undid his disaster by the tray, then led him back to the sofa. His saviour slinked into her old warm spot and looked at him expectantly with one eyebrow raised, an arm holding the blanket up for him to enter. She was rewarded with an astonished smile and more sobbing as the kit leapt into her arms, curling back up against her bare skin and gulping in her soothing scent. Jinx looked down at him, vaguely confused as to just what had the catboy so upset now everything was fixed. Males were definitely decidedly odd. Surmising his tummy must be sore from eating bad food, she resolved to bring this up with Char later. For now though, a little neck nuzzling and some licking at the cute neko's face seemed to go a long way toward cheering him up, and they both drifted back to sleep.

~☆~

The neko were vaguely aware of Charlotte moving around near them long before they woke properly. Jinx seemed unphased, and her young companion trusted the older kit wouldn't ignore anything important. It was simply too comfortably warm to leave the sofa and blanket. Char smiled at them, happy they had bonded so quickly. Now to see about feeding that kitten up a bit.

A favourite food, rather than just a preference, was the thing a neko needed most of for a healthy diet; this usually came down to fish, chicken or beef. Ideally Char would try a bit of each and see what the little guy liked best, but she wasn't convinced he was in a position to wait and hadn't bought anything specifically for him yet. The kit needed calories though, and fast, so after emptying the litter tray of decidedly dry looking droppings she prepared one of Jinx's old sipee cups with a generous amount of cream, and filled a beaker for the older feline too. Just how much solid food the kit could handle was still very much up in the air, but luckily she'd bought some duck liver pâté as a treat for Jinx. It would do for lunch later on and should be easy to digest - she intended to pop to the shops this afternoon anyway.

As Charlotte re-entered the room, the catgirl predictably perked her nose up. Cream was usually a treat, not breakfast; Char kept saying it makes you fat if you have too much. Given how skinny the new kit was though, that was probably the point. The tufty haired catboy himself was intrigued by the smell, and both neko slowly roused themselves into sitting positions, still pressed together, as Char rearranged the blanket to keep them bed-warm and handed out their breakfast. She had to gently show the catboy how to get at the cream by holding the mouthpiece of the cup to his face, but he caught on pretty quickly. His reaction was absolutely priceless - mismatched eyes shot open wide for a long moment, then very slowly closed as he sank against the back of the sofa in absolute bliss. Neko didn't purr, exactly, but the sounds he produced were nearer to it than Charlotte had ever heard.

"So, does our new little friend have a name yet?"

Jinx wiped a milk-moustache from her upper lip with the back of one slender hand, licked it, and nodded. "Ghost."

"Why Ghost? I mean, the hair makes sense I suppose..." Char inquired, not for the first time regretting assuming the catgirl was asleep and putting on horror films. The neko shrugged, blushing slightly and not willing to go into what she had thought was threatening him in the night. Big girls like her didn't get scared.

"I like it. Ghost it is." She was going to ask the catboy how he felt about it, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Leaving the kits to their breakfast, she was surprised to find two of her foster sisters waiting outside. Sara and Lucy were obviously exhausted; red rimmed eyes squinted at her in the gathering winter morning sunshine from both her best friends, though neither looked overly impressed or friendly at the moment. Lucy, still wearing her police uniform, scowled as their eyes met, and shook her head in anger.

"Couldn't wait a few days, huh? You know we've just gotten finished, don'cha girl? There were over three hundred other kittens and puppies in that shit hole."

Sara, who just looked utterly worn out, shivered in only green scrubs and an obvious ID badge proclaiming her a trainee vet.

"Let's not, Lucy, not now. Look, can we come in Char? We need to talk and it's like the South Pole out here."

Vaguely concerned, Char stepped aside and closed the door after her sisters. "To be honest, I expected our foster father ready to scalp me, not you two."

"Oh, he is. You're just not first in the queue any more" Lucy glowered.

Sara gave her sister a nudge, and the short platinum blond took over the explanation from Lucy. "He's been furious all night. You really shouldn't have shouted at Mikey in front of all the other cops, he was just trying to do his job. Dad was the officer in charge or he'd have come over and given you perdition last night."

Lucy opened her mouth to give Charlotte another tongue lashing, but Sara stopped her with a raised palm. "That's not the problem though. When we got home this morning ago all four of us were tired and pretty pissed off. The last thing we needed was to walk in on Finn... erm... enjoying the company of Nick from up the street."

It took Charlotte a little while for that to click into place. Their foster brother Finn was sixteen, a quiet, bookish kid and her closest male sibling in all honesty, despite Michael actually being her biological brother. She'd missed him a lot since she had to move out. Nick was an eighteen year old hooligan and a bully. Her eyes went wide. "You don't mean..."

"That Finn was nuddy as the day he was born and if we hadn't walked in that rancid shit Nick would have done gods know what? That's exactly what she means." Lucy snapped.

Charlotte grabbed her coat, sudden urgency plain on her face. "We've got to get Finn out of there! That monster will..."

"Relax, he's in the car," Sara raised her hands to calm her sister, "but this will quite literally be the first place dad looks. He was..."

"Apocalyptic." Lucy finished. "Worse that he was with you when... Finn can't stay in the home, Char, dad will make his life miserable."

Charlotte nodded. "I'm gonna have to go talk to him, aren't I?" She still refused to call her foster father 'dad', and the ensuing silence was a clear confirmation of her sisters' intent. She pulled a sneering scowl briefly. "OK - well, you may as well get Finn. He'd best wait here."

Lucy nodded and went outside, returning a moment later with a forlorn looking tawny-haired boy seemingly wearing only one of Lucy's coats and, of all things, a headband with two auburn neko ears attached. With a start, Charlotte realised it was hers, and started to get an uneasy feeling that her little brother had been very much taken advantage of. That would have to wait - the important thing at the minute was to prevent his impending beating at the hands of a homophobic bigot. Though that may be possible, her own rear was likely damned; despite having moved out, under the Discipline Laws her foster father was her legal guardian until she was twenty five and could still punish her any time he saw fit. She sighed internally. It couldn't be avoided now, and had probably been inevitable anyway given the fuss she'd kicked up to take Ghost home.

"I'll be out in a sec." she told her sisters. They both went out to the car, Lucy muttering about getting her coat back.

"Finn."

The boy looked up from the floor, revealing tearstained cheeks beneath hazel eyes that brimmed with shame, hesitating to meet his sister's.

"It's not as bad as you think. Honestly. Look, my bath robe is on the back of the bathroom door. Change into that so I can give Luce her coat back, and try not to worry too much. Jinx'll keep you company til I get back. Hopefully won't be long. And try to get your feet warm, your toes look blue."

Finn silently did as he was bidden. Char gave him a sympathetic smile. "Believe it or not, I know exactly how you feel. I'll explain later."

As the door closed behind his sister, Finn ran back into the bathroom, locking it behind him. He sat down on the lowered toilet seat, put his face in his hands and wept.

~☆~

Jinx had listened to the entire exchange at the front door with only passing interest; there was cream to enjoy after all. Ghost seemed to be in paradise and paid no attention at all, which was for the best as far as the catgirl was concerned. Lucy was using language which was, from bitter personal experience, worthy of the soundest of spankings. She was wondering what shade her auntie Lucy's umber skin would turn if she were whacked when the familiar smell of an old partner in crime wafted into the room. She hadn't seen Finn in almost forever, but memories of mischief and tidbits slipped to her under dinner tables made his scent most welcome. She was getting ready to muster the willpower to leave her makeshift bed when Charlotte popped around the door, waved, said she wouldn't be long and left. Moments later, the bathroom door slammed.

Ghost was startled out of his reverie, looking around for the source of the loud bang. Jinx soothed him by stroking his hair for a moment until his attention was back on his glorious breakfast, then quietly slinked her way to the bathroom.

A gentle knock on the door, and a feminine voice calling his name stirred Finn out of his self-loathing. He hadn't seen Jinx (and had barely seen Charlotte, for that matter) in around a year, but the knock seemed quite high up the door for the neko he remembered. He sniffed, wiped his eyes and replied "I - I'll be out in a minute."

The boy's voice cracked in obvious sobs. Jinx frowned; the scents were confusing. She could smell another male on Finn, even through a closed door. Sweat, arousal, disgust, unwashed flesh, fear, shame, joy; which belonged to Finn and which were the other male would be easy to discern if either were neko, but were ephemeral, hollow sensations where humans were concerned. Even more puzzling was that the arousal scent was so strong both had to have been feeling it, so where did fear and disgust fit in?

Bad men. Had to be.

"Come." Jinx knocked again, more urgently. "Come!"

The door unlocked and a teary eyed Finn, who for some reason seemed far smaller than she remembered, slowly appeared. From his point of view, the door was barely opening when a blur of onyx hair and pale skin wrapped him in a tight embrace. Stunned, he returned the hug. Jinx hadn't been able to stand the last time he saw her; now she was running about fully upright, only six inches or so shorter than he was. Even more surprising was her face when she stepped back, hands on his shoulders, and peered at him. Had she been human, had softer features, smaller eyes and been a lot taller, he'd have sworn she was around eighteen years old.

"You OK?" The concern on her face was clear as she regarded him.

"I will be, I think. Char is helping."

Jinx gave a firm nod; Charlotte could sort anything out. She grinned at Finn, flashing adult teeth complete with sharp little canines. He needed a distraction, she decided.

"Come! See Ghost."

Finn frowned in bafflement, images of house cats staring into corners at things no human could perceive flashing through his head. He didn't really have time to ponder this before his hand was grasped and the catgirl dragged him into the lounge, where he was confronted by a wide eyed catboy. Ghost had finished his cream and was currently curious as to the barrage of scents emanating from the hallway as the pair entered. Jinx knelt in front of the sofa, and pulled the human's hand closer. "Finn. Friend."

Ghost took the opportunity to sniff at Finn's hand as Jinx presented it to him. He smiled at the boy happily, safe in the knowledge that his wonderful packmate wouldn't be steering him wrong. In all honesty, very few of the words being said bore any meaning for him, but the catgirl's tone got the point across.

"Oh wow - hey there little guy!" Finn sat next to the blanket wrapped neko and tried to stroke his fluffy white hair, but Ghost fixed his eyes on the boy's hand, tilting his head back as it rose. Finn couldn't help but laugh despite himself, and as the catboy looked toward the sound he finally managed to get his hand atop Ghost's head. The neko grinned, then widened his eyes as the edge of Char's fluffy bathrobe sleeve brushed his face. It felt amazing! He clambered out of the blankets and slid his naked form onto Finn's knee, rubbing his face against the velvety material covering his new friend's chest and giving the horrified human boy his first glimpse at the bruises covering his back and bottom.

"Jinx, what the..."

The catgirl pursed her lips angrily and nodded, eyes wide. Finn wasn't sure he could survive a whipping like that, never mind this angelic looking but obviously fragile little being on his lap. Jinx curled up next to them, pulling the blanket over to cover all three together. Between Finn's emotional exhaustion and a young neko's ability to sleep most of the day away, it wasn't long before they all slipped into a doze, comforted by each other's warm presences.