Tears of the Neko (10 page)

"Good," he snapped. "Next time, it'll be
worse."

And it had.

Kayden flinched awake when he heard his
master drop something in the room next door, startling him from the
dream--well, nightmare--he'd always been plagued with. The
restlessness of his nighttime sleep being tormented by nightmares
that constantly interrupted his sleep made him especially jumpy and
tired each day. And his new master of two days seemed to get
angrier every time he flinched or cowered.

He sighed as he sat up, still trembling from
his nightmare--the nightmare he'd lived over and over for almost
five years before they'd sold him to the slave market. By then, he
had been grateful to be away from them, but he'd been so scared and
skittish that the market owner hadn't liked him either. Now it
seemed his new masters were the same way. He couldn't seem to
control himself enough to please anyone. The master, Damien, always
seemed upset when he jumped or flinched at sudden movements.

He slowly crawled from the bed and silently
made his way to the doorway, peeking inside before he made his way
toward the washroom. The washroom door was open, so he started for
the flushing thing. But froze at the doorway.

His master had just released a shower of
water over his gloriously nude body. Kayden gulped at the sight of
his master, slinking back before he was seen. His heart beat faster
as his mind focused on the thick, tight muscles that rippled across
the man's back and the round firm buttocks. He blushed as he made
his way back to his room, waiting to hear the man get dressed.

"Kayden," he heard his master's voice call.
"Time to get up."

And Kayden made a of show of pretending to
get up for the first time, making his way to the washroom to
relieve himself. He didn't dare look directly at his master, as he
came back out.

His master snatched his belt up from the bed,
and Kayden flinched so violently he hit the doorframe. His master
froze and stared at him for several long minutes.

Finally, he heard his master sigh loudly as
he finished lacing his belt in his pants and stomped over to the
small table. Kayden circled the edge of the room as he made his way
closer to his master, staying slightly out of hitting range until
he absolutely had to. Then he dropped to the floor beside the
table.

Even though he'd been told he could sit on
the chairs, at least in private, Kayden preferred the floor. He
felt safer there. Being on the ground usually put him out of
hitting range, or at least made them have to make more of an
effort-- if they wanted to beat him, they had to reach him first.
Plus, if he were already on the floor, he didn't have far to fall
when they did smack him down.

He felt his master's hand brush over his
head, and he looked up to see the offered piece of chicken.

"Apparently, Garin thinks you need lots of
protein," Damien mumbled. "He keeps sending meat with all of your
meals."

And Kayden was secretly grateful to the chef.
He hadn't had real meat since his parents were killed, only bones
like a dog. The thought made the juicy morsel stick in his throat
as his heart ached for the loss of his mother and father at the
hands of the hunters--at the hands of Ehern.

"You do like it, I assume," Damien asked.

And Kayden nodded quickly, receiving a grunt
from his master at his silent response.

"Good, finish up, and we'll head
downstairs."

****

They spent several days in the same dance of
tension. Damien frustrated by the stiff presence of the neko, and
Kayden flinching and wary at every move anyone made. Damien still
hadn't gotten the boy to sit anywhere but the floor, but he hadn't
ordered it either because he didn't want to force it. He had
noticed that the hybrid had actually been using the bed though.

A couple times he had caught himself idly
stroking the boy's head when he leaned against his chair in his
office. Damien would jerk suddenly and yank his hand back when he
realized he was doing it, startling them both. Even though Damien
found it soothing, he wasn't sure the boy liked it, and he hated
that he had taken such liberties without asking. He would then shoo
Kayden off to find another place to sit that wasn't so close, and
usually the boy settled by the window, safely out of the way.

Last night, he'd had John start a fire, since
there was a chill in the air. It was still early in the spring
season, and it had been warming lately. He usually liked it cool in
the room so John had stopped starting fires a couple weeks ago, but
yesterday the temperature had dipped again and last night had been
unusually colder.

As he'd settled onto his couch in front of
the fire with his book, he'd caught movement out of the corner of
his eye and saw the boy crouching in the doorway between their
rooms, staring at the flames. Damien hadn't been sure at first if
the boy was afraid of the fire or mesmerized by it, but as the boy
seemed to lean idly against the doorframe, he figured it was the
latter.

"Kayden," Damien abruptly shifted, breaking
the quiet that had reigned over the room.

The boy jumped, nearly falling over at the
sound of his voice and the sudden movement.

Damien cursed under his breath, gritting his
teeth as once again the little neko reacted irrationally to
Damien's movements. He bit back the urge to snap at the boy to
just freaking relax
. Instead, he turned back to his book,
plopping his feet on the small table in front of the couch.

"You can come closer to the fire, if you
want," Damien bit out, trying to make his voice not sound so
frustrated.

And while the boy hadn't really moved closer,
he hadn't retreated either. From the corner of his eye, Damien had
seen the boy lean against the wall just inside the door. Damien
snorted as he flipped a page in his book--well, at least he didn't
run and hide under the bed.

****

Within a few days, however, Damien had
reached a breaking point and desperately needed to get out of the
house. He was tense and on edge, worse than usual. He needed fresh
air and a vigorous ride--by himself.

With the king set to visit on his way to the
port tomorrow, Damien needed to clear his head. The boy's
nervousness was driving him crazy, and he had to get himself
settled before the visit.

And there was no way he needed the nervous
neko tagging along. He had work to do and his brothers would just
have to understand that there would be times when he couldn't have
the boy along.

Kayden followed his master into the kitchen
which was busy with staff rushing around to prepare the manor for
the king's visit. Kayden hovered back at the doorway, knowing the
gruff chef didn't like nekos in his kitchen. The kitchen staff
seemed surprised to see their master enter.

"My lord," several of them greeted, bowing
reverently.

"I have to ride over to the Northern
Plantation," he announced, and Kayden froze, worried about getting
on a horse with his master. "I'm not going to take Kayden here out
on Jester, and I'm pretty sure the kit can't ride on his own. So, I
need someone to feed him, then take him up to his room."

Ysmenia wiped her hands on her apron, which
Kayden noticed she seemed to do a lot, even in the short couple of
days she had cared for him. "Yes, sir. I'll take care of him."

"Good," Damien said as he turned quickly and
strode toward the door, leaving Kayden hovering in the entry.

He caught the eye of the chef who glanced at
him. Ysmenia called him over, and he slunk around the edges of the
wall to the table.

"Sit down, sweetie," Ysmenia urged, waving at
the bench along the table. And Kayden slowly perched on the far end
of the bench, warily watching the chef, waiting for the man to yell
at him to get out.

Ysmenia retrieved some fresh milk from the
cold storage room and placed a cup in front of him. Garin suddenly
appeared in front of him, dropping a wooden bowl with some bread,
fruit and chicken next to the cup of milk.

Kayden cowered back, peering cautiously up at
the gruff man through his curtain of midnight bangs. He tucked back
his ears and made sure his tail was curled in tightly.

"Eat," the older chef ordered, and Kayden
noticed a slight twist of his lips before the man turned to Ysmenia
who was grinning at him. "What? The boy needs to eat."

"Yes, of course, Garin," Ysmenia smiled, and
both of them went back to prepping vegetables for the evening
dinner.

When Kayden was sure he wasn't bothering
anyone, he slowly began to eat his food. They offered so much that
he was sure he wouldn't be able to finish it; his stomach just
wasn't used to so much food.

He was mesmerized as he watched all the
comings and goings of the kitchen staff. There was constant
activity. Young maids bringing in fresh water to wash pots and
pans. A couple of other nekos brought in freshly plucked chickens,
which Kayden couldn't stand to see. He vaguely recognized the brown
and white neko called Ellis that he'd run into on his first day and
who had guarded his bath. He had an armful of chopped wood as he
made his way through to the hallway the servants and slaves seemed
to favor. And Damien's manservant, John Drystan, seemed to be
bustling in and out overseeing everything that was going on in the
household.

Kayden felt his eyes drooping the longer he
watched. They seemed to have forgotten him in all their
activity--something about some important person arriving-- and he
didn't want to disturb anyone. He had gently pushed the bowl and
cup aside and laid his head on his arms as he continued to watch
quietly. He found the bustle of the kitchen oddly soothing, and he
eventually fell asleep.

"Oh, look," Ysmenia said in awe to the chef,
looking at the young sleeping neko. "He's fallen asleep. He must
have been tired."

"I'll wake him up and take him upstairs,"
John said.

"No," Garin gruffed, waving his wooden spoon.
"Just get a blanket and let him sleep there by the hearth."

Ysmenia gaped at the chef in shock.

"What?" Garin grumbled, "It'll be warmer
there."

Ysmenia smiled as John hid a smirk at the
usually dour chef allowing the young neko to stay in his
kitchen--he barely tolerated Ellis coming and going. She quickly
retrieved a blanket, and John moved to lift Kayden onto it. The boy
awoke with a start at being touched, fear flooding the emerald
eyes.

"Shhh, it's okay," John soothed. "Just moving
you to let you sleep by the warm fire."

Kayden stared wide-eyed at him as he was
settled onto the blanket. He quickly cut his eyes at the chef,
though, knowing he'd be the one to throw him out. But the chef
merely threw a dismissing wave at him, nodding his head. Surprised,
Kayden obediently settled on the blanket against the warm wall next
to the kitchen hearth.

Ysmenia grinned as the tiny thing curled up
into a tight ball to rest, catching the quick smile that Garin cast
at the boy before the residual frown fell back into place. She
leaned in and kissed the old chef's cheek, and he huffed at
her.

"I always knew you were an old softie," she
whispered.

Kayden slunk into the master bedroom from his
tiny room the next morning. Having heard his master wake, he
crawled out from his bed and moved into the large, elegant room to
await his master's orders. He'd been with the man for a week now
and the huge man still made Kayden nervous. His deep, demanding
tone could cause Kayden to cower in seconds, but he was not nearly
as scary as that tobacco-scented one. This one, Damien, was very
intense. Kayden noticed that he held himself stiff and rigid most
of the time, especially when strange people came into the study. He
didn't know what they were talking about most of the time, but he
didn't care. His main concern was trying to stay out of his
master's way.

Strangely, while his master's temper was easy
to ignite, Kayden rarely found it directed at him. Occasionally,
the man would huff in annoyance at him, but he'd never raised a
hand to him. And even though Kayden felt safer in this man's
presence than any of the others, he couldn't help flinching still
if the man moved quickly or a loud noise startled him.

So Kayden tried to keep himself as small as
possible, to avoid the attention of his master, or anyone else for
that matter. He knew his place, even if he wasn't very good at
controlling his fears.

So he peeked into the master bedroom,
expecting to see his master waiting for him to go down to
breakfast. While they had eaten in the room the first day, the last
two days his master had stiffly led the way to the dining room,
where his brothers would meet him for breakfast. At first, Kayden
didn't like being in the presence of the other two men, but he
quickly found that he could choose where to sit, and he made sure
to place himself between his master and the one who'd bought him,
staying as far away from the one who hated him as possible.

Kayden was surprised when he didn't see his
master in the room. He would have sworn he'd heard the man get
dressed. A humming noise came from the washing room, and Kayden
peeked around, finding that the door was still open.

He stilled at the sight of his master
standing over the washing bowl. He sucked in a breath at the golden
planes of the strong, muscular back and tight biceps. His master
was only half-dressed in his form-fitting black pants, his maroon
shirt laying on the washing table next to the bowl and towel.

He realized his master was holding something
in his hand and strained to see what he was doing. His master was
swirling a short bristly brush in a bowl. Kayden watched in
fascination as a thick foamy cream appeared from the swishing of
the brush. He frowned. It didn't make sense that the man would be
cooking in the washroom. He sniffed, trying to get a sense of what
was in the bowl making that fluffy cream, but all he could scent
was the overwhelming smell of his master.