Wild For You

6. An Interview With A Tiger

Taehyung had remained hidden behind the curtain the rest of the time the bookshop was open. He had only managed to turn human one more time, but he still couldn't explain how as the change only lasted for a minute or two before he was back to his tiger form again. By the time Namjoon had closed up the shop, Dal still hadn't returned. Namjoon figured that would happen, and was okay with it as well. It would give him time to follow up on that odd note.

Namjoon knew he must be insane, but he knew he needed to figure out a way to communicate with this tiger. He had to figure out what the note meant. If the tiger proceeded to stare at him in confusion during this exercise, he would know that he would just need to get more sleep. Namjoon grabbed up sheets of printer paper, writing a big 'yes' on one and a 'no' on another. He then proceeded to place them on the ground outside the counter a fair distance away from one another before pulling the curtain back to reveal the tiger there. Namjoon moved to sit cross-legged on the ground with the note that had been given to him earlier in one hand in front of the papers and the tiger.

"I can't believe I'm doing this..." whispered Namjoon to himself as he looked at the tiger. He took a deep breath, releasing it in a sigh as he held up the note in one hand. "Are you really Kim Taehyung?"

A paw went out to slap the 'yes' paper immediately. The sudden reaction actually caused Namjoon to jump a bit. Taehyung reclaimed his paw as quickly as he had shot it out.

"No one trained you to say that?"

'What kind of question is that?' thought Taehyung as he slapped the 'no' with another paw.

Namjoon looked down at the note he held again. His eyes focused in on the name that was written there. That name sounded awfully familiar, and he had a hard time with figuring out exactly why that was. Namjoon took out his cell phone, turning on the browser to type the name in. Taehyung had no idea what the other was doing so he was left to wait for the other to finish. After Namjoon had finished typing the name 'Kim Taehyung' into the search engine, he clicked the first link that popped up. It directed him to an article from 1982 in which a young man had been suspected murdered by a tiger when his apartment mate had returned home to find a tiger instead of his friend. The case had eventually gone cold over the years though as no trace of Kim Taehyung's body had been found, and the tiger had seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Namjoon's eyes widened in shock as he looked up from the cell phone to the tiger.

This tiger...had it really murdered a young man? If that was the case, why hadn't it killed Dal over the last forty years? And why hadn't it killed him? Namjoon kept half a wary eye on the tiger anyway as he let himself scroll a bit further down the web page to see an attached picture of the supposed deceased. He felt as if his heart had stopped. The blonde haired man that smiled at him from the picture was the same face that had stared at him petrified from underneath the counter just a little while ago.

"Kim Taehyung was the name of the man thought murdered by a tiger..." said Namjoon out loud as he looked up at the tiger again. "Did you kill him?"

Taehyung slapped his paw over the 'no'.

"So you're saying you're really Kim Taehyung?"

Taehyung felt that this was a circular conversation, but this was really the only sort of responsive conversation he had been able to have with anyone in decades. He slapped his paw repeatedly on the 'yes' to drive the point home.

"How though?"

With the next question not being a 'yes' or 'no' question, Taehyung swept his paw back and forth between the two papers, stirring them up a bit.

"Right...right. Sorry. I have to remember we need to do 'yes' or 'no' questions...I can't believe I'm talking to a tiger."

'I can't believe I'm finally communicating with someone,' thought Taehyung.

Though he found himself growing a bit impatient, he also appreciated Namjoon's efforts to help him. Seeing the other run a hand through his hair, Taehyung moved away from the papers for a moment. Taehyung walked over to him and laid a paw in comfort on the other's knee. Namjoon looked over at Taehyung, locking his eyes on his for a moment before a small smile came onto his face. He reached out a hand to scratch Taehyung's head, watching as the other leaned into his touch.

"This sounds crazy, but I'm not crazy, right?"

Taehyung pulled away from Namjoon's touch to grab the 'no' paper in his mouth, dropping it on the other's lap which caused him to laugh.

"Alright. I get the message. I just...I don't know where to go from here."

Namjoon didn't know what was happening or how it had happened, but he was going to get to the bottom of it no matter what it took.

"We should tell Dal..." started Namjoon before Taehyung cut him off by putting his paw down on the paper that read 'no' that was still on Namjoon's lap.

"You don't want to tell Dal?"

Taehyung - as much as he had been wanting to communicate the truth to Dal over the years - didn't want him to find out the truth now. Not like this. He could tell - like Namjoon - that Dal had other problems going on as of late. Taehyung's transformation into a tiger shouldn't be added to Dal's list of concerns. Taehyung didn't want to make Dal's health problems any worse.

"Alright. We'll keep it a secret for now between us," said Namjoon. "Though I'm not sure where to start."

Namjoon looked down at the newspaper article that was still on his phone. Kim Taehyung's face was still smiling up at it from there. He looked from the photo to the tiger before him, and he swore that the eyes were the same. Instead of staring at the cameraman in joy though, these eyes were staring at Namjoon with a plea for help.