Breathe Me (Closed)

Arint landed on the ground and pulled his hat over his ears, he quickly walked away from the sound of siren's, he wouldn't be able to return to the apartment today until they had finished searching for him, most likely it would take a day, the police would have no description to really go on, and eventually, he hoped they would give up, until then, he would try to find somewhere to stay the night.
 
The fight was fast paced but short lived, ending with Jamal pressing the other neko's weakened body into the corner of the room, ramming his weight against his chest until the sound of bones crunching under the pressure told him that several ribs had been successfully broken. A wet gasp soon followed after a sharp elbowing to where the ribs should have been, piercing several shares of bone through a lung. The young man collapsed onto his hands and knees, then in a single swift movement raked out his claws at Jamal's legs, ripping through the cloth and leaving four red gashes from his thigh down to the center of his calf. He hissed lowly under his breath, whipped his legs over the man's back, straddling him to the ground, and snapped his neck in two quick movements.
He waited until the body stopped convulsing, detached himself from it and grabbed the money out of his opponent's pocket before throwing it at the feet of his onlookers. They parted silently for him to pass and waited until Jamal was through the door before erupting into frenzied shouting about bets that had been placed earlier in the evening.
 
Terra began to read aloud, only stopping at the terribly long words. Even if she didn't understand what was going in since she was starting in the middle of the novel, she was confident that Kiki understood what was going on at last. The story was kind of entertaining to Terra even if she didn't understand motives and characters, but she was glad to see Kiki was finally putting her suspense to rest thanks to her ability. Eventually, Terra began to read without really paying attention to what she was saying. In the back of her mind, she was wondering why the heck Kiki would think Jamal liked her. Nobody likes her. Especially not romantically. Terra only had a will to live because she had no idea what waited on the other side of death's door. She was only just starting to care for the small clowder around her, so before that, she didn't really have anyone to live for.
 
Kiki was listening raptly while Terra read, practically bouncing from excitement. When they were nearing the end, Kiki couldn't stay quiet any longer. "Wait, they're going to burn her?! They can't burn her, she hasn't finished the shirts yet!" She shook her head. "Red will come save her, right?!" She looked over at Terra with wide eyes.
 
Terra jerked a little at Kiki's loud interruption. She really hadn't been paying attention enough to predict what was going to happen happen next, but she smiled a little at Kiki's obvious excitement. So, she answered the same way her parents did when Terra got this excited over a storybook. "Well we'll just have to find out, now won't we?"
Terra looked back at the page and continued reading, trying not to get distracted by Kiki's bouncing.
 
Kiki listened raptly, her excitement rising as the story went on. "I knew he'd save her!" She cheered as the story reached it's climax. "I knew it!" She laughed. "But poor Finbar, stuck with swan wings." She frowned. "That's not right."
 
"Of course. The main character never dies before the story is over. That would be a terrible and abrupt ending for a book." Terra chuckled for a moment, so much calmer than Kiki, who seemed to want to bounce off the walls. But then she sobered, frowning over Finbar's bad luck.
"Kind of how it's not right that we're stuck with cat tails and ears, fangs and claws?" Terra asked.
 
She shook her head instantly, looking surprised that Terra compared the two. "Not at all!" She objected. "We were born this way. Finbar...he had no choice. He was forced into something he's not." She shook her head. "That was the result of a curse."
 
Terra's brow furrowed at Kiki's response. It only made her point stronger. "Who says this isn't a curse? Sure we were born this way, but we didn't have a choice either."
Did Kiki have some sort of pride for their kind? And if she did, why?
 
She considered that for a moment. "Well...look at it this way. Sure, we're different. We're looked down on. We're treated badly. But, at one point, so were black humans. They were treated just this way, and I'm sure they thought the way you mean. and now they're not. So whose to say if we don't just wait, we wont be treated better too?"
 
Terra frowned. Kiki had a point, but still...
She sighed. "That could take a really long time, Kiki. And maybe humans are different now. Maybe they don't wanna go through that again. Plus, black humans only had one difference: skin color. We have cat instincts embedded in our DNA. It's different this time around."
This talk of the past had her thoughts floating back to the time before the streets. Of bedtime stories of a man who would save all the nekoes and give them equal rights. There was something else Terra had to live for. She had a task. To find Marley. Someone who could be the savior of their race...Terra wouldn't admit it to herself, but not unlike Kiki, she had hope. Hope that things might just change for the better one day. It was slipping away though. Eventually, Terra would give it up. She's been keeping that belief in her head for too long. She's been telling herself that she'd find Marley, though she had no idea where or who he really was. Telling herself that there was still hope.
 
Kiki shrugged. "If you nitpick the differences, you'll never be happy." She pointed out. "As long as there is a chance for hope, there's a reason to live." She tugged on her long sleeves, then jumped off of the bed. "I'm going to go looking for the boys." She said as she tugged on her hat. "It's been way too long." She glanced over at Terra. "Will you be alright here?" She asked worriedly. She wasn't sure leaving Terra was the right thing to do, but she really was worried about them.
 
Kiki was obviously a little more nonchalant about this argument than Terra was. "If you nitpick the differences, you'll never be happy. As long as there is a chance for hope, there's a reason to live."
Terra stared at her for a moment. It's like she'd read her mind... It wasn't that she didn't want to be happy, it's that she didn't think it was realistically possible...
Terra's intense train of thought crashed when Kiki stood and declared that she was going to search for the boys. Her violet eyes widened with distress and her ears flicked straight up. She ignored her last question, but protested against Kiki's departure.
"No! No you can't leave. You have no idea where they went! Look, I'm just as concerned as you are, but you can't just go. You..can't." Terra's heartbeat picked up and she winced, reaching up to grab Kiki's sleeve desperately.
If she left, Terra would be stuck here, because she could barely move without any help. She didn't mention it, but she needed them. Needed someone.
If Kiki left and no one came back, which was a distinct possibility, Terra would suffer and possibly die.
 
Kiki's eyes widened a bit at Terra's sudden panic. "Okay." She agreed, hoping she'd calm down a little bit. "Okay, I'll stay." She pulled her hat off again and sat down next to her again. "I'm just worried about them. It's been a long time."
 
In the far distance, a faint echo of a siren blew into his ears, traveling under his hat to reach them. He shivered slightly, trying hard not to relive the moment of when the life had drained from the other male. It was hard to ignore and would be even harder to forget. His hands thrust deeply into his pockets for warmth and came back out with a small stack of cash. It was the money he had planned on giving to the humans in order to pay the minimum requirements for their debt. They hadn't even realised that Jamal hadn't contributed any of his own money after the fight.
It wasn't much later when he reached the apartments. He climbed the stairs two at a time, suddenly very anxious to make sure that all was well with the girls. The vigorous movements reopened the scratches on his left leg that had scabbed up in the cold. At the door, he knocked three times in quick succession before inserting his key and opening the door.
 
Kiki looked up quickly, but the look of relief on her face quickly turned to worry. "Oh my god!" She jumped up quickly. "Are you alright? What happened?" She turned and headed for the bathroom to get the first aid kit. "Wait there, I'll be right back." She dug thorough the cabinet and looked for the first aid kit.
 
Terra's ears perked up at the knocks on the door and when Jamal entered she visibly straightened up, widening her eyes and ignoring another flare of pain. She wanted to get up to help him so badly, but she knew she couldn't do much. When Kiki dashed out of the room in search of the first aid kit, Terra's heartbeat picked up speed and she was slightly trembling. She studied him carefully, but from what she could see, he had only sustained the long scratches on his leg.
"What happened to you?" she whispered. There was something in Jamal's eyes that told her it was something horrible. But with nekoes, when would it be something good?
 
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Adint was still hiding from the police siren's, they were to close for comfort though, only 40 feet at the most, luckilly the dumpster was there to hide him from sight. He sighed as they finnally left, his back ached from the lead pipe, and the rest of their brutal attack's, but he realized it would be too cold at night for him, his jacket torn, he began to hobble back to the apartment, hopefully Jamal and the other's were there now.
 
Jamal shut the door silently behind himsel with a soft click as he turned the lock. Kiki ran off in search of the first aid kit, the use of which seemed to be becoming an hourly habit. "It's nothing. I'm fine," he tried to assure them in vain. It really was nothing, and he really was fine. Especially in comparison to the other guy, he thought bitterly, looking down at the minor hurt. There appeared to be more blood showing than there really was, most of which was not his own. He walked slowly, cautious not to reopen the cut again, and eased himself down beside Terra with a tight smile. She was shaking slightly, he noted, and placed one of his cool hands over hers. "A couple of humans forced another neko and myself to fight," he explained, just loud enough for his voice to carry to Kiki as well. "Has Adint not returned yet?"
 
Kiki came back in with the first aid kit. She knew that she had probably overreacted to the sight of the long cuts and the blood, but she could stop herself. She always hated the sight of blood. "Here." She said as she handed the first aid kit quickly to Terra. "I...I need to..." She turned quickly and hurried out of the room. Already the sight of the blood was making her queasy.
 
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