Breathe Me (Closed)

Jamal stood from his crouched position, stretching a little to work out the kinks. At full height he stood as being five foot eight, a modest size, even with Adint standing a whole head taller. His ears twitched slightly when Terra called his name, grabbing his attention. He listened to her request and smiled. "Of course," he answered, inspecting the couch a moment to figure out how the seating might be arranged. In the end, he was standing behind the girl and had to carefully lower himself down behind her, his legs on either side of hers. Any other position would have required her to move and cause pain. Now seated, he accepted the disinfectant and began to survey Terra's back. He bit the inside of his cheek. Hard.
From just below her neck, down to the waist line there were literally dozens of bruises, ranging from soft purple to blues so deep that they were almost black. There were plenty of scrapes and gashes as well. No doubt caused from their thick boots. Underneath the layers of recent mutilation where also the pale streaks of previous scars. "How did you get these?" His voice was dangerously low, the kind of silent anger that was more frightening than if someone were to yell aloud. That was workable. White hot rage that was buried under a hushed voice, not so much. He had only felt like this once before, shortly after meeting Adint. The press had found out about his shelter system, gathered together a mob and burnt down the building in the middle of the night as all of its neko only inhabitants slept. They had made sure that no humans had been inside the building before doing so. Many of those he tended to back then were bed-stuck, too injured to stand, let alone run when the flames started to cook them. Many had died that night. Including his sister.
The next day, he returned to the burn site. No one was spared who hadn't been able to escape. In a wild rage, Jamal had become a dark predator. A calm, patient, intelligent killer who stalked the night. The survivors of the fire were eventually able to track him down and put an end to it all, but those had been very dark days.
Inwardly, now, sitting on the couch with Terra on his lap, he was surprised by just how much he had been reminded of his past by only a few scars.
 
Terra noticed his hesitation since he didn't immediately use the disinfectant. She knew he would stare. She was disgusting. One tear from each eye traitorously slid down her cheeks, joining slowly at her chin. She had been holding them back all this time and now that he was behind her, she hoped Jamal wouldn't notice. She jerked her head a little when he asked how she'd become so scarred, covering her face with her hair so no one would see how weak she was.
"I'd rather not say." She mumbled, trying to keep her voice from giving away her tears. Her ebony tail wrapped around Jamal's leg tightly of its own accord.
 
Jamal completely snapped out of his own memories, eyes going wide and alert as he heard the pain in her voice as she replied. Her heart beat had quickened some, he could tell, but he didn't truly recognize the hurt it must cause her to have these markings, not just how, but to live with them, until he felt a small drop of wetness fall onto to the palm of his hand. He looked down at the tear and felt his heart clutch tightly in a sense of remorse. So much has happened to her, him, all of them, yet still he was stuck in his own past, blind to the ones of the people he cared for around him.
In a sudden flurry, he pressed his chest up against her back, careful not to be too close should it cause her more pain, and wrapped his arms protectively around her front. His head lay across her right shoulder, nuzzling her neck softly the way felines did when trying to comfort others of their own species. "I'm sorry..." he whispered. He was sorry that she ever had to get hurt, he was sorry that he couldn't save enough people from the fire, he was sorry that the world was so messed up and had to be this way, and he was sorry for making her cry.
 
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Kiki studied the new girl a moment longer before turning silently and retuning back to the cold room. It clearly made Tarra uncomfortable to have so many people there, and Kiki wasn't one for spending lots of time around new people anyway. She went back to the blankets and curled up underneath them. She wrapped her arms loosely around her knees and hummed quietly to herself. As soon as she wasn't hurt anymore she'd leave, but until then she was kind of stuck here. She wouldn't make it on the streets in this condition. She reached for her old bag and pulled out a battered book. It was the only book she had, but she loved it. She opened it to where she'd last stopped and began reading. She still wasn't very good at reading, so it was slow work.
 
Unfortunately, her tear landed on Jamal's hand and he held her from behind, trying to comfort her with his gentle embrace and sweet nuzzling. Terra wanted to give in, especially now that the blonde neko was out of sight. She wanted to cry into his arms and nuzzle him back and simply let go because she had been so alone for so long.
But she wouldn't let herself. First of all because it would be painful to sob with her midsection so sore and second because he had seen her so weak already and she wouldn't let him see her break down if she could help it.
Jamal apologized for things she knew went beyond this incident..things she would be willing to bet weren't his fault. So she tried to breathe through her tight throat and wiped away her tears like a big girl should. "It's not your fault." She said, this time loud enough for him to hear her individual voice clearly for the first time. Despite how much she was silently suffering, she used her words to help him because they were all she had to give. Terra nudged her nose against his cheek sweetly, simply because she knew he needed something. She knew he'd been through just as much as she had, if not more. She couldn't fix it, but she could see how all the nekoes here had suffered in one way or another, and she could offer comfort and understanding at least.
"...If it doesn't disgust you too much, there's another opportunity to save my life up for grabs. I'd owe you for two lifetimes if you cleaned up my back." She gave him a fake smile, as her misty eyes finally dried as they should and she uncoiled her tail from his leg.
 
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Adint stood in the kitchen, cooking the mac n' cheese, and making the air steamy, the ham was in the stove, roasting, he heard whispering in the room behind him, partly from his large ears, though he couldn't make out what they were saying, he shrugged it off, certainly Jamal was comforting the girl, he reached for the pot and stirred the macaroni, why did they live in such a sad existence?
 
Kiki glanced up when she smelled what seemed to be ham and macaroni. She set her book aside for now, and padded into the kitchen. She was sure her hair was a mess, but she didn't bother with it. "Something smells good." She said to Adint. "Do you need any help?" She felt obliged to help since they were taking care of her. She glanced around the kitchen awkwardly. She wasn't sure what to do now.
 
Adint shook his head then pursed his lip's, "Well actually ... you can make sure the ham doesn't burn, and I'll watch the mac n' cheese." He smiled a little, and continued stirring the macaroni.
 
She nodded. "Alright." She agreed. She checked on the ham then leaned back against the counter with a sigh. Her ears twitched a little and she twisted the hem of her shirt absently in her hands. She wanted to ask something, but wasn't sure how to go about it. "Um..." She started. "Adint? Couldn't...couldn't you and Jamal get in...trouble? for this?" She asked hesitantly. "I mean...nekos aren't supposed to live in this building..."
 
Arint shook a little at the question she had asked, "I ... " he nodded, "Yes ... we could all get in trouble." He turned around and looked softly into her eye's, "But wer'e making a diffrence, saving other neko's, we all have to work together ..."
 
She nodded and turned back to the ham. This conversation couldn't get any more awkward. She wasn't good at talking to people. "I think the ham is done." She said finally. She carefully pulled the ham out of the oven. "How's the macaroni?" She stretched lazily, then winced. She was still a little sore.
 
He smiled and strained the noodles, "Just gotta put the cheese in and stir it and it'll be good." He smiled softly, "Anyways."
 
She nodded. "Alright." She said. She fidgeted a little more, then turned. "Well, I'm going to go back to the bedroom." She said. She was getting uncomfortable.
 
He looked at her, a bit saddend she was leaving, "You sure? The food's almost ready I mean ... might as well just stay here ..." he stared deeply into her eyes.
 
She hesitated, then came back into the room. "Sure." She said. "I guess I could help make the plates or something." She fidgeted a little bit.
 
He smiled and stirred the cheese in a bowl with the macaroni, he was glad to have her as company, she soothed him a little.
He was finished stirring within a few minutes, he looked over at her, the spoon in hand, "Here hold the plate's while I put some macaroni on." He knew she was still a little weak, he didn't want her to anything to strenuous.
 
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She nodded and picked up the paper plates. "Alright." She said, indicating that she was ready. She knew that he thought she was weak still, and it irked her a little bit that she couldn't correct him. She hated looking weak.
 
Jamal sighed softly and pulled away a bit from Terra's body so that he would be able to apply the medicine. She was probably right about most of the things not being his fault but he still found it hard to accept, no matter how many times he heard others insist it to him. Seeing her smile though, no matter how forced it was, made his heart feel a little lighter. "I think I'll have to take you up on that offer," he answered, a smile of his own threatening to brake loose.
He leaned back a little further so there would be room for his hands to move around, then carefully tipped a small quantity of the disinfectant onto his fingers and gently spread the stuff onto her cuts. "You're not disgusting," he assured her under his breath. With a small click of completion he closed the cap to the medicine and returned it to its kit. "You're beautiful." With that he pushed himself out from behind her and left the room, returning a few minutes later wearing a trench coat that was more patchwork than original material, and a folded outfit that he sat on Terra's lap. He then went over to the archway that separated the kitchen from living room, leaning authoritatively against it. "After we eat, I plan on going out again to make a payment." Payment was his way of saying that he was going out to meet the human loan sharks who's money they had been paying back for years, never able to get the full amount before the interest caught up with them. Each encounter was usually ended in some kind of struggle and 'threat'.
 
Adint perked his ear's up, which wasn't much, they were almost constantly upright, he scooped the macaroni out of the bowl's and onto the plate's, he looked over at the ham and sliced it carefully, after the first two plate's were done he said, "Please carry these over to Jamal and the new girl," hd hadn't learned Terra's name yet, he would attempt to at a later time. He began to prepare the last two plate's.
 
Jamal almost smiled at her when he pulled away, responding to her request. "I think I'll have to take you up on that offer."
She felt him move away and for a moment, she missed the contact between them. Her tail reacted and occasionally touched his hands as he applied the medicine to her back gently. Terra winced when it burned her, but by now she knew it wasn't that bad. The worst pain was when he pressed too hard on her most sensitive bruises and she tried not to flinch.
When he finished, he refuted her self image by saying she wasn't disgusting. Her brow furrowed for a moment as he got up from behind her. She stared up at him in confusion.
"You're beautiful." Jamal stated. Then he left the room as if it were the plainest truth in the world--when it was anything but--and came back in wearing a patched up trench coat. He laid a black outfit on her lap and she glanced at him gratefully. Then he leant up against the archway to the kitchen and announced to them that he'd be leaving the semi-safety of the apartment again to 'make a payment'.
"Make a payment? For what? This place?" Terra asked, setting the new clothing aside to change into after she got food in her system. She wrapped the rough blanket tighter around her body as she looked up at Jamal.