"You did what you had to, you survived." He shouldn't have left. Maybe if he'd stayed ... Slan shook his head and knelt to pet his friend's head gently, rubbing the ears, and then let his hand trail down to the neko's shoulders. The short man began trying to ease the muscles there with his strong fingers.

The thought of Rai being feral made him want to laugh, though in truth it made him more sad then anything else. "Rai ... Don't you think that I understand why you acted the way you did? You remember how I acted when we met." Such a short time they'd spent together, and yet it had marked them both so thoroughly.

Rai shuddered at the man's touch and soon he was purring loudly and leaning against those warm hands. It had been years since he had talked to someone, years since he had someone to touch him... A strange passion grew in his chest and he longed to kiss Slan. He blinked at how sudden it appeared and soon, the feeling was gone entirely. "I know... I... Thought of you when I did those things..." he replied, falling backwards slightly so he was leaning on Slan entirely.

"But... Now we are safe here. We can live together... And you don't need to ever, ever leave me..." He knew that it sounded needy and childish, but he really didn't want his friend to leave his side.

Slan sighed as he wrapped his arms around the neko. He leaned his head against the other man's as he spoke in a tired voice. "The werewolves, those kids, they're sure to lead people nearby. We need to leave, but we'll leave together." The human let his mind wander, closing his eyes firmly in the darkness so he could think of someplace safe. It took him a few silent moments, but finally he remembered a place.

"If you'll follow me, I can take you to an old abandoned house. Well it seems abandoned. I did my best to fix it up last time I stayed there, in a way that no one would notice." It was hidden down a long path, a few days away. He'd first hidden there on his first departure, and had returned on his way back. There were stores of food hidden in a large pantry, cans and jars of things that were still quite edible. No one knew the place was there for some reason.

It did have a rather eerie feel, as if spirits still lingered there, but if there were any they had almost seemed welcoming to Slan. His mind had probably been playing tricks on him, lonely as he'd been.

Rai hesitated, glancing over to the abandoned farmhouse. "I... I'm not sure..." he closed his eyes and remembered his childhood. It felt like millions of years ago when he used to chase chickens and eat any eggs he found. Those carefree days of helping his Uncle in the rice fields and chasing mice in the barn... They were gone and replaced by the sounds of his caregivers screaming and visions of violence. He had to protect himself, to run and hide from the werewolves. Sometimes... Sometimes he had had to kill...

"I don't know if I can trust you..." he said at last, his doubts and cautious nature surfacing. "You've disappeared on me before... What's stopping you from abandoning me again?"

"Well ... What can I do to help you trust me?" He could understand where the neko was coming from. Slan sighed, and contemplated releasing his hold on the other man. If Rai didn't trust him, then holding him as he was ... Slan didn't think that was right. Reluctantly, the young man shimmied away from the neko with an uncertain expression.

There was nothing he could think of that might help rectify what he had done. The dark haired man had betrayed Rai's trust after all, and that was something that couldn't be repaired so easily.

"I... I don't know..." Rai frowned and laid back in the warm grass, rolling about and rubbing his nose in it. It smelt brisk and fresh and helped him clear his mind. "I just..." He went quiet as he sat up, sneezing slightly and watching the man carefully with his glowing green eyes. He moved closer and smelt his scent, picking up on all sorts of troubles and worries the human was feeling.

"Maybe if you promise me..."

Slan forced himself to stay still when the neko moved to sniff at him. He let out a gust of air he didn't know he'd been holding when he heard Rai's hesitant demand. "I ..." A promise like that was a hard one to give. The human's first instinct was to run, and had always been so, but after the years spent alone, he wanted company so badly. "I'll try not to leave you again, I promise."

Promising with certainty was beyond him. Hesitantly, Slan reached out to brush his fingers against the neko's ear. "Please, Rai, they will come back." He was paranoid, he knew that. Brown eyes pleaded silently with the neko. There had to be a way to convince Rai to follow him to the abandoned home.

Rai glanced away, staring into the darkness beyond the trees. It was still night time and the full moon was still high in the sky. Werewolves got very strong on full moon nights and Rai knew most would be at war with the neighbouring nation, the vampires, who were weakened by the silver light of the full moon. He guessed years of running had made his friend become paranoid and unable to stay in the same place for long.

"There's no worry, Slan. You have been on the run, so you wouldn't know... But the War has started up again. Most of the trained and strong werewolves will be fighting the vampires." He glanced back at Slan and continued, "Young ones and old ones are no match for me. I've... killed a few..." He quickly hid his face in shame, unsure how his friend would take this news. "During the winter, when food was scarce I... Ate them..." He found that he could not look Slan in the eye as he admitted this, his ears and tail drooping in shame.

The war had begun again? In a way that was a relief, but also frightening. Dangerous people tended to come out of the wood works when the strongest had long departed. A look of shocked disbelief swept across Slan's features when he heard Rai's unexpected confession. The neko, the sweet friend he'd know, had been pushed that far? Things must have been truly desperate then. Slan knew how to fend for himself in winter, trapping and finding roots where others might overlook things, but that was because his parents had taught him. Rai hadn't know any of that.

His throat felt like something was holding it tight, making it impossible for Slan to speak. Instead, he reached out to pull the neko close. The young man followed through with his impulse, and began petting and scratching lightly at the neko's ears as he had done those few years past.

Rai let himself be petted and started to purr, closing his eyes and listening to the strange noises Slan made as he hugged him. He was glad that his friend wasn't afraid or disgusted in his confession. It made him trust the human a little more, though he still didn't expect Slan to stick around. As he pondered this, he reached into his shirt and pulled out the necklace that Slan had left for him all those years ago. He stared at the polished blue stone and slowly nodded.

"I will go with you..." he said quietly, smiling nervously up at Slan.

The constricting feeling left his throat at last, though it did nothing to help Slan find what words to say. Glancing down, he noticed that his friend still had the necklace he'd given him. The sight made him feel happy, and guilty, all at the same time. "You kept it ..." murmured Slan softly. Something wet dripped down his face. Lifting a hand to wipe it away, he was surprised to see tears streaked across his fingers.

"We should stay here tonight, and leave tomorrow. I'm sure you have things to pick up before we go." He hoped the neko hadn't noticed his tears. Slan didn't even know why he'd started crying at the sight of his old pendant, kept by his friend.

Smiling still and ignoring the tears running from his friends eyes, Rai nodded again, getting up and crawling into the shack that he had called home for many years. Inside was a pile of rags he had used as a bed and a shelf full with possessions he had saved from the house. A photo of him as a baby being held by his mother and father, a family portrait of his Aunt and Uncle, cousin and him and the family tree which was written in a small blue book.

He glanced at the photo of his parents again. He had noticed something awhile ago about his mother and he wondered if Slan would notice. It was just a month after Slan had left when Rai found this photo of him and his parents. His mother had been a human, something that Rai never knew and probably wouldn't have known if he hadn't met Slan. His father was a handsome werecat, in the photo he was laughing and stroking his baby with a finger. Within the bundle of cloth, the baby Rai's large black ears could be seen. Rai smiled at the photo before curling up on the rags.

After taking a few moments to collect himself, the young man stood and walked quietly to the shed. He recognized somewhat the kind of thing he had done, gathering objects and placing them away like treasures. And in fact, they certainly seemed like that, these pictures he noticed in the moonlight. Filled with curiosity, Slan moved closer to the one of a couple holding a black eared baby. The sight of such a young Rai made Slan smile, then he froze. Lifting his hand, he grasped the picture carefully and twisted it this way and that to get a better look. The woman, Rai's mother ... She was human!

Shaking his head, Slan put the photo back into place carefully, then moved uncertainly to curl up against Rai. He still had a hard time believing how tall the neko had grown, while he had remained so short.

Rai wrapped his arms around Slan tightly before the human could complain. Purring deeply to soothe his friend, he nuzzled the warm body and breathed in the strange scent of Slan's body, enjoying the earthly sweaty smell. "I'm not letting go... You'll just run away again," he whispered, still purring and now with his eyes closed. He slowly drifted off into a comfortable sleep, dreaming of nonsense until the morning.

A startled grunt left Slan. He rolled his eyes at Rai's words, and shifted to tuck his head under the neko's chin. His arms wrapped around the other man, just as Rai's had slipped around him. The purring in his ears helped the brown eyed boy relax. Slowly he drifted off with the neko's musky scent filling his nose. It felt so good, falling into what dreams he had with someone else so near.

When morning came around, Slan tightened his hold around the neko. The young man shifted a little, inadvertently brushing his lips against Rai's smooth neck. The sensation made him freeze, eyes wide and with an unexpected blush sweeping across his cheeks.

Rai's eyes flickered open and he was greeted with the sight of his friend still lying next to him. He grinned widely, showing off his sharpened teeth and bit the human's nose playfully, not biting too hard to draw blood. "You are still here!" he exclaimed happily, squeezing Slan tightly. He sat up and stretched like a cat, arching his back and letting his long tail lift up. He stood up and immediately went outside to relieve himself, after which he crawled into the long grass and searched for breakfast.

The grass was wet with dew and soon he was dripping with water. He sneezed slightly and went back to the shack with the mice he had managed to find. He offered one to Slan, forgetting that humans never really ate raw meat, and gulped down his own.

Slan tensed when Rai bit his nose, instinctively fearing a much harsher feeling then the playful nip. He relaxed and fell back upon the rags after the neko had left. He lay there for a while, staring up at the ceiling and trying to make sense of the reaction. He knew there was nothing for him to fear from Rai, and yet he had acted in such a way. Probably because he feared all people connected with the were, and so many years had passed that this Rai .. Well he didn't quite know what to make of all the changed the neko had undergone.

The mouse dropped onto his stomach had Slan sending the neko a perplexed look. With a shake of his head, the human slipped outside of the hut and prepared a fire just bit enough to roast the mouse, after he'd skinned it of course and carefully removed the bones. "Thanks for the mouse," said Slan once the rodent was safely stuck on a stick and roasting in the fire. Meanwhile, he cleaned the knife he'd stolen not long ago with meticulous care.

Rai came closer and watched him cook the mouse with interest. He had remembered his Aunt making food over a fire, but he had never learnt how to make one. He didn't mind his food raw, but if it was cooked it had such an interesting flavour. He wished that he hadn't eaten his mouse right away, but didn't say anything about it.

He watched the flames and became lost in thought, thinking about how Slan had acted when he had playfully bitten the human's nose. He hadn't mentioned it, but he did notice the flinch and brief look of fear in Slan's eyes. Perhaps he shouldn't have told his friend about how he had killed and eaten stray werewolf children. "You trust me... Right?" he questioned suddenly.

Turning the meat, he glanced at the neko. So Rai had noticed his reaction after all. "It's not that ... I ..." He'd never been so prone to hesitation before. Slan took a deep breath, taking in the spicy scent of the mouse. "I've grown up always fearing the were. When we first met you were so non-threatening. It was easy to see past that, the fact that you are what you are. Now, yes I am a little afraid, which makes it a little harder to trust you. But, aren't you the one who wasn't sure about trusting me yesterday?" How could the neko have forgotten so easily?

Slan wanted nothing more then to put all his thoughts of fear and distrust aside, but he'd lived so long using them to survive that it seemed like a near impossible task. To prove to himself that he could, and to Rai, he shifted and crawled closer to the other man. Gently, he pressed a kiss to the neko's cheek, then pulled away to take care of the meat again.

Blushing slightly at his friend's kiss, Rai stared back into the fire and became lost in thought once again. Of course, he had distrusted the human yesterday, and he still did slightly. As for him having changed... Rai supposed it would make anyone nervous. "But I am not a were. I am a neko... We... are different," he muttered, sniffing at the roasted mouse over the small fire and almost burning his face. He wasn't even sure if what he said was true. What was the difference between him and a werecat? The fact that he couldn't shape shift? "My mother was a human," he said, more to himself than to his friend.

"You're still part were..." Though Slan hated the argument he was using, he still said it. He didn't understand, why didn't the neko sprawl against his lap anymore when he pet his ears? Slan missed that, even though it had only happened the once. Shaking his head, the human snatched the mouse and gobbled it up, sticky juice dribbling slightly down his face. He licked it up greedily from his face, then turned inquisitive eyes Rai's way.

All he had to do was reach out again, and try to pet the neko once more. Maybe he'd been doing it wrong, or maybe that part of Rai was gone forever. The thought was a rather saddening one. "Come here," said Slan as he reached out to pull the neko close. Really all he wanted to do was rub his fingers against the neko's ears, scratching their base and play lightly with the hair there. He did so with a half hopeful expression. It was silly of him to concentrate on something so brief, but the moment had brought him such comfort and a sense of such peace in the past ...

Rai let the human come closer, still feeling apprehensive and pulling away slightly. He knew that Slan was a friend, but something in his mind was forcing him not to trust the man. He shook his head and relaxed, letting Slan pet and scratch him. It did feel nice to be touched by someone else, and the human really knew where to scratch to melt him into a purring kitten. Soon he was lying on Slan's lap and purring loudly, rubbing his face against the human's hand.

As the sun rose slightly higher in the sky, Rai tensed, his ears rammed forward towards something in the distance. He stood from Slan's lap and stared intensly towards the house, watching for movement. "We should get going soon..." he spoke at last, resting slightly, but not sitting back down. "Let me get my things."

The feel of soft hair beneath his fingers, of a warm body lying comfortably on his own, and the sound of purring in his ears ... All of the sensations had Slan smiling happily, as he hadn't done in years. Rai's presence calmed him, and he'd missed that terribly. He was disappointed when the neko shifted away, but knew the other man was right in wanting to get their journey underway.

All business now, the human shifted to his feet and brushed off the dirt from his pants with more care then he usually took. "Alright, let's get going quickly after that." Unbeknownst to the dark haired man, something lurked in the shadows cast by the surrounding trees nearby. Someone had followed his trail, and lay in way. The youth didn't believe rumors about a wild monster cat lying in wait for any unsuspecting were-child. The only cat she had seen was that one with the black ears, and he seemed as tame as a kitten.

Rai went into the small shack and quickly found a small knapsack, throwing the photos and a few other possessions into it. He didn't worry about clothes or food, if worse came to worse they could just steal some. Shouldering the bag, he left the shack and looked back at the run-down farm. He sighed, feeling a strange pain in his heart. He held his breath and turned his back, motioning that he was ready to leave.

The fire was put out and hidden and they started off to their destination, winding their way in silence into the trees. Rai's ears kept flicking around, searching for sounds of pursuit. He knew that a were was around somewhere, he could smell its scent. It was only young, not a real threat to them just yet.

As they came to a small clearing, Rai stopped and turned around, staring into a nearby bush. The were child was following them. It would keep following until it saw where they went. Then it would run for back-up, coming in the night to kill both of them. Rai couldn't let this happen. He had to protect his friend as well as himself. Without really thinking it through, Rai suddenly lunged at the bush, pinning the girl under him and growling loudly at her.

"You made a mistake following me," he hissed. His eyes seemed to be tinted blood red as his blood lust took hold of him. He had retreated back into his mind and had no control of what he was about to do. He raised one of his hands, and with the razor sharp claws, he dug into the girl's neck, spilling her blood and killing her instantly. He stayed like that for awhile, panting hard and growling, as if ready for another attack.

The day was a good one for traveling. Slan was thankful for that as he led Rai into the woods. As they neared a small clearing, he glanced back and noticed his friend beginning to act oddly. Suddenly the neko had lunged into the underbrush, a sharp cut off yell resounded through the air. It hadn't come from Rai, Slan could still see his friend's tail lashing the air violently.

Uncertainly, he crept forward to see what had made that horrifyingly humanesque sound. The sight of blood slowly seeping into the ground, of wide frightened empty eyes staring into nothingness, and Rai ... His hands were stained with blood, and his wild eyes inspired fear. Slan stumbled back with a muffled cry. He turned about, or tried to, and did his best to try and scramble away unnoticed. The years really had changed Rai.