Tears of the Neko (11 page)

Then the dark haired man scooped some of the
cream from the bowl with the brush and smeared it over his chin.
Kayden frowned again, shocked by the fact the huge man would spread
cream on his face, and Kayden wondered briefly what it would be
like to lick it off.

But then his master picked up a familiar
item, and Kayden almost hissed out loud as he scooted back. The
blade. Ehern and Theo, and several of the other hunters had used
something similar. And Kayden remembered the sting of the blade on
his skin when they'd wanted a laugh at his whimpering cries, but
then they would scrape their faces with it. It didn't make sense to
Kayden why they'd drag a sharp blade over their skin like that. He
secretly laughed when one would bleed himself with the blade.
Served him right.

But when his master leaned in closer to the
mirror and scraped the blade across his cheek, it slid smoothly,
taking the cream with it. It didn't look painful and reddened like
it had when the hunters had done it. He realized he'd clenched his
fists in fear at the sight of the blade, and he slowly released
them as his master continued to draw the blade over his chin.

Soon, the man's strong jaw was smooth and
free of the tiny bristles that some men wore all the time, and
Kayden realized that he'd never thought about his master having to
remove them. Kayden rubbed his own jaw but felt nothing as his
master grabbed up the towel and wiped away a few stray streaks of
cream. When he turned to grab his shirt to put it on, Kayden
scurried back to his room, afraid to be caught spying on his
master.

He fidgeted with the long sleeves of his
shirt while he waited for his master to be done, worrying he might
get in trouble.

"Kayden," the deep baritone voice called, and
Kayden instantly calmed at the tone.

He jumped and appeared at the doorway joining
the two rooms.

"I've got an early meeting this morning, so
I'm heading down to the study," Damien explained, and Kayden
watched the large hands tucking the tails of the shirt under the
waistband of the dark pants. Kayden kept his eyes carefully lowered
and his shoulders appropriately hunched as he nodded. His master
barely paid him any attention as he sat to pull on his boots. "John
will bring you breakfast here shortly, then he'll bring you down
later," the man said, then seemed to be grumbling under his breath
to himself. "Harrison and Roman can just deal with it if you aren't
with me every freaking second."

Kayden flinched and flattened his ears when
Damien's boot thudded on the hard floor, and he could feel the
disapproval radiating off his master. Kayden sighed as the man
huffed and disappeared out the door.

Kayden made his way to the washroom and
relieved himself quickly. He breathed in the fragrance of
sandalwood, the scent of his master, as it enveloped him.

His master had left the little bowl of cream
sitting next to the wash bowl. He cast a quick glance out the open
door of the washing room to be sure he was really alone in the
room. Then he crept over to the washstand. His tail flicked
curiously as he picked up the brush resting in the cream. His
master must have been in a hurry to have left it there.

He sniffed. It wasn't real cream, he
realized. It smelled like his master--of sandalwood. He stuck his
finger in it. It was smooth and creamy, like soap but smoother,
fluffier. He looked up to the mirror he'd seen his master peering
in and realized it was set at a height for his master. He'd never
paid attention to it before, not caring about his appearance, so
he'd never realized how high it was.

With a quick glance at the door again, he
slid the large washing bowl to the side and climbed up on to the
table in front of the mirror. Crouching on the edge, he peered at
himself in the mirror.

His long ebony hair nearly obscured his face,
and he brushed the bangs back. He noticed his eyes were green, and
not the beautiful sky blue like his master's. He huffed at his
plain face, he was nothing like the chiseled man he now shared a
room with. While his master's jaw was hard and strong, his was thin
and boring.

Maybe the cream would make it better, like it
did for his master. Kayden lifted the bowl and brush and swirled it
like he'd seen his master doing earlier. Then he scooped some
lather up on the short bristles and rubbed them over his cheeks and
chin. He gazed at himself in the mirror. He frowned. He looked like
the rabid dog that had chased him into a tree once.

He growled at himself in the mirror, tipping
his ears forward and trying to look menacing like the dog had. It
didn't work. He sighed, reaching for the scraping blade to take off
the cream.

He suddenly heard a sound, almost like a
laugh from the other room. His eyes darted around and widened in
shock at his master standing near the bed with his hands on his
hips.

Oh, shit!
He'd been so wrapped up in
playing with the cream that he hadn't heard the man come back into
the room. Kayden jerked and felt himself falling toward the
floor.

****

Damien had stopped in shock when he'd walked
back into his room. He'd forgotten his dress coat and had returned
to find the little neko perched on the washroom's washstand,
smearing shaving cream over his face. The sight was nearly
ridiculous. Kayden had been so timid and cowered at everything that
Damien nearly expected to see the little kit sitting on the floor
by the table waiting for John. The fact that he'd actually been
playing in the shaving cream nearly had Damien laughing out loud.
He'd stayed quiet, however, not wanting to disturb the boy,
enjoying the sight of the boy being so uninhibited.

But when the little kit growled at his
reflection, Damien couldn't help but feel a chuckle bubble out of
his chest.
Oh, god, that felt good
, grinning as he realized
that he hadn't really laughed in such a long time.

An instant later though, he regretted his
laughter. The young neko looked terrified as he'd realized Damien
was in the room and half fell, half jumped from washing table.
Bowls clattered, one crashing to the floor and shattering into
pieces as the boy darted out of sight.

"Kayden!" Damien shouted in concern, racing
toward the washroom. A quick glance and he couldn't even find the
boy, which didn't make any sense. Where could he go?

Damien walked further in the bathing room,
his foot accidently kicking at his shaving razor that had also hit
the floor, and he finally spotted the little neko cowering behind
the washing tub. He chuckled again at the sight of the boy smeared
with the shaving cream.

The boy's green eyes darted to his, and
Damien realized just how frightened the boy was. He probably
thought he was in trouble.

Damien smiled and grabbed a bathing towel off
the nearby rack.

"Come here," Damien gestured gently.

Kayden ducked his head submissively, or maybe
he was worried Damien would hit him, Damien wasn't sure.

"I-I'm s-sorry, s-sir," came a soft voice
whisper, then a sneeze.

The Duke laughed out loud now. "It's okay,
kitten," he assured, taking the boy's chin in his hand. "I'm not
mad at all."

The boy's eyes shot to his in surprise, and
Damien smiled widely. He wiped at the shaving cream.

"Kayden," came a call from the other room. It
was John. He must be here with the boy's breakfast.

"In here," Damien called back.

"Sir?" John queried as he hesitantly looked
around the doorway of the washroom, surveying the mess on the
floor.

John saw the Duke wiping white cream from the
little neko's face and hair. The man was smiling and laughing, and
John was shocked to see the lord acting so gentle and--was the man
actually laughing?

Damien finished wiping the boy's face, and
slowly he could feel the boy's trembling subside.

"He had a little accident," Damien explained
to John without looking away from the bright green eyes.

"I see," John said.

Damien rose, gently pulling Kayden to his
feet as well. He was still grinning down at the young neko. "I
don't think you need to shave yet, kitten," Damien chuckled,
running the back of his fingers over the smooth cheek of the boy.
"You're just fine like you are."

He was surprised when soft fingers ghosted
over his own cheek, testing the smoothness. Then the hand jerked
back as if the boy realized his forwardness was grossly
inappropriate.

Damien grinned, taking the neko's hand and
placing back on his cheek, letting the boy know that it was okay,
that he wasn't mad. "I, on the other hand, have to work at it."

He straightened, his hand wrapping around the
boy's neck gently to guide him from the washroom. Kayden suddenly
dropped to the floor to help John clean up the mess, picking up a
couple broken pieces of the pottery, anxious to help with the mess
he'd made.

"Kayden, you don't--" Damien started, but
both John and Damien froze when they saw Kayden swipe up the
straight razor from the floor. The boy moved so fast and silently,
that neither man knew what to expect.

John darted in front of the Duke,
instinctively moving to protect his master.

Kayden froze when he realized that they
thought he was going to attack with the blade. He ducked his head
and cautiously, slowly, moved to the washing table, placing the
blade down. He dropped to his knees in the middle of the mess,
slowly gathering pieces of the broken bowl.

Both Damien and John Drystan looked guilty
for even suspecting that the young neko might have wished him harm.
Damien cleared his throat.

"Kayden, come here," he ordered gently, glad
that the young boy obeyed without flinching. "Go eat. John will get
someone to clean the rest of this."

John nodded with a slightly guilty smile.
"I've left your food on the table."

Kayden let his master lead him out of the
washroom, and Damien allowed himself the comfort of stroking over
the boy's soft hair. John brushed past both of them toward the
door, intent on getting someone to clean up the mess. He heard John
calling down the hallway for someone. When they were alone for a
moment, Kayden looked up at him, eyes questioning.

"You take all the time you need to eat,"
Damien said softly. "I have an important meeting downstairs. John
will bring you down later."

Kayden nodded quickly, and Damien noticed
that while the boy was still hunched in on himself, he wasn't
shaking in terror either at the moment.

He turned quickly and grabbed his waistcoat
from the wardrobe. "Can't keep the king waiting too long, can
we?"

Damien smirked and winked at his little gift,
surprising both of them. Crap, Damien thought, this wasn't him. He
wasn't one to make light of his duties like that. What the hell was
this boy doing to him?

****

Kayden watched his master leave, settling
next to the table and hesitantly reaching for a piece of the
chicken that was resting on the plate. He savored the taste of the
juicy meat, wondering briefly why he was constantly being offered
such a treat at each meal. No master had wasted such tasty morsels
on him before. His ears pricked at the sound of the door opening,
and he flicked his eyes from his spot under the table to see the
large brown and white-haired neko striding into the room.

Kayden ducked closer to the floor, quickly
chowing down on the piece of chicken he had in his hand in case the
older neko was coming to take his food.

He easily recognized this older neko. It was
the only other neko he'd seen inside the manor house, but Kayden
couldn't remember his name, just his smell, like freshly chopped
wood. He vaguely remembered seeing him carrying logs through the
kitchen. He glanced at the fireplace, seeing a stack of logs, and
suddenly realized how they got there.

Kayden watched warily as the huge neko
carried a broom, scoop, and bucket into the room. The older neko,
who had seemed very formal, even nervous, around his master, seemed
very relaxed right now. When the older neko strode by the table
without noticing him into the washroom, Kayden breathed a sigh of
relief. He reached blindly above him to the table for another piece
of food, not caring what it was.

When the loud clank of the metal bucket
dropped to the floor, Kayden jumped, banging his head on the bottom
of the table, causing the dishes to clatter.

"What the--!" the brown-haired neko shot out
of the washroom, his tail standing out and his ears arched
forward.

Kayden scooted back against the wall near the
table as quickly as he could, worried what the other neko would do
to him. Just because he'd been nice once didn't mean he would be
again.

"Oh, jeez," the neko breathed. And Kayden
stared at the older neko who was holding his hand over his heart as
if
he
were the scared one.

****

"You scared me," Ellis said, and Kayden
frowned at him from under the cascade of his ebony bangs. "I didn't
realize you were still in here."

Kayden pressed back further into the wall
when he approached. Ellis froze, apparently suddenly realizing that
he was scaring the young one.

"Hey, there. I'm Ellis. Do you remember me?"
he said softly, and Kayden watched him squat down to eye level.
"It's okay. No one is going to hurt you."

Ellis could have sworn he heard a small choke
from the boy, and briefly wondered back to the time he'd stood
guard outside the boy's bath. He knew he smelled blood on the boy,
but he hadn't seen any obvious cuts on him, just the scrapes. And
of course the boy wouldn't say anything, or couldn't...

"It's okay," he soothed again, creeping
closer and holding out his hand. He hadn't seen anyone so
ridiculously skittish before, even really young kits usually
outgrew their timid side within a few seasons.