Kats

7th Night

Wait!"

The single cry, the one small voice from the crowd, silenced everything. Kai opened her eyes, irritated, to see who had stalled her death. Automatically, she hated him even before seeing him for prolonging her humiliation as the wound in her leg bled out into the koi pond.

A young man, maybe around her age, burst out of the crowd and stood in front of Kai in a protective manner. She gasped; he looked exactly like Scott, but this man wasn't a kat... did Scott have a twin brother, and simply not tell her?

"You can't kill her," he said firmly, "she's my pet."

She sputtered in shock. The nerve! Her first response was the urge to up and throw him a good one for the bold and completely false statement... but, seeing as she couldn't even move her right ankle, she decided to just glare. Words were clearly dangerous weapons at the moment, and any word from her would come back around and stab her in the back the way words always did.

"Your kat?" one guard demanded gruffly. The Scott-lookalike nodded. "Where's the identification?"

"I was getting it a collar today," the lookalike stated, lying through his teeth. "That's the only reason we came."

"That thing destroyed my window display!" the pet shop owner wailed, pointing a tubby finger into the pond where Kai was crouched.

"It must've liked the one in your display," the lookalike said smoothly. Kai choked back a gagging sound in the back of her throat. The things had been garish and glittery, enough to scar her poor innocent eyes for weeks after. 

The lookalike cast a warning glance at her before crossing his arms and demanding to take her home.

"Since all you idiots are good for is putting down lost animals, why don't you work at the damn pound?" he snapped. "Give it some medicine and get out of here."

Kai, unwillingly, felt a tiny spark of admiration and respect for this stranger, who stood fast against twelve men twice his size. She'd only known Scott to be like that.

The security guards muttered assent and handed him a first aid kit to clean and bandage Kai's leg. He sat on the ledge of the pond and, seeing nothing exciting, the crowd that had gathered dispersed in random clumps, all chattering to themselves about what could have happened.

Even after they were all gone, however, Kai refused to let the stranger touch her. She did not trust him, no matter how rude society labeled such behavior as, or how much he looked like Scott. The lookalike sighed and crossed his arms.

"Fine, Kai," he snapped. "Fine. Be that way."

She nodded resolutely, even though she was getting faint. The water, she guessed, was helping her blood along out her body and poisoning the fish. Why didn't someone get her out already?

She frowned, slow on the uptake. 'Did he just-? How does he know my name?'

He grinned at the confusion on her face. "Can you walk?"

She raised an eyebrow. How would that be possible?

"Okay, okay," the lookalike chuckled, holding out a hand. "C'mon, let's get you back to the Tunnels."

She gaped at him. Completely floored. The- "HowdoyouknowabouttheTunnels?!" she hissed in one breath. The lookalike blinked, apparently surprised, then smiled.

"Am I that good at disguises?" he said, pleased, and ran his finger along a part of his cheek. Rows of small, thin scars were suddenly visible. The mark of whiskers.

Scott! She teared up and bit her lip in an attempt to stop them. Her shaky hand reached for his steady grasp and he pulled her up. 

"Look at you," he murmured teasingly, hugging her. "You're a wreck."

"Am not," she said defiantly, leaning back on her good leg to frown at him some more. "Now tell me why you look like one of them." She gestured with a twitch of the finger to all the humans around them. Scott grinned.

"Kathryn has excellent makeup skills," he replied. "And we can't forget Caleb, can we?"

Surprised, she reached out and felt along his hairline. Powdery makeup slipped off onto her fingers and she felt a thin layer of silicon... 

"I swear," Kai shook her head, amazed. "That boy can do anything with the right stuff."

"Even make the best wig in existence," he winked. "The only thing wrong with it that I think is simply inevitable, really, is that my ears are being crushed. Not only is it uncomfortable, I'm having issues hearing clearly. Everything's muffled," he grimaced, "like the bounty hunters' marches over the top of the Tunnel."

Kai shivered and immediately regretted it. "Bad comparison."

"Yeah," he sighed, "I know. So you'll let me fix you up now?"

"Fine," she grumbled, still against needing assistance from anyone remotely doctor-like, even in this situation.

~#~

"Hey, where are the groceries?" Scott asks later, carrying Kai piggyback down the street. Kai groaned. 

"Back at the store," she said. "I completely forgot about them."

"Well, we need them," he decided, turning around and heading back up the street. 

"Sorry," Kai mumbled, face buried in the back of his jacket. "I was stupid today."

"I'm not even going to ask why you were in there," Scott said slowly. "The only thing that matters is that you're coming back."

Tears stung her eyes and she bit her lip, holding them back as they approached the store. She directed him to the alley and they stood there, debating on what to do next. 

"Hang on," he said quickly, setting her on a box. "I'll be right back."

He returned a moment later with a massive cart. "Ready to go?"

Kai watched as Scott piled all the groceries in, leaving a space big enough for her to sit in a semi-comfortable  position. When she was settled, he ruffled her already messy pixie-style hair.

“Grow your hair out,” he said cheerfully.

“No,” she said immediately. “It’s bad enough short. Any longer and I’d never be able to control it.”

“Wild one,” he laughed. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Whatever.”