"Get back here!" Kotetsu sprinted clumsily in his suit after his hundred power had run out. The perpetrator hopped onto a small building below and laughed, she appeared to be a girl in her teens with striped stalkings and a loli-getup. Her bright pink mini skirt made Kotetsu cringe hoping that in a few years Kaede wouldn't wear such a thing. Apparently the girl was a NEXT who, along with an accomplice Barnaby was chasing, had robbed several banks in the downtown area in the past week.

"Catch me if you can grandpa!"

"What...grand-WHAT? You little-!" He shot a wire at one of her ankles—it wrapped around it quickly and she tripped landing on her face with a thump. Kotetsu ran over and stopped in his tracks when he noticed her skirt had flipped over her bottom revealing her polka dotted underwear.

"EEEK. You pervert! Let me go!"

"No one told you to wear that!"

"Pervert! Pervert!"

"I AM NOT A PERVERT! NOW PULL YOUR SKIRT DOWN!"

She did as she was told and rolled over to sit on her bottom; she stared up at Kotetsu who approached her slowly and heaved a sigh when he flipped open his helmet.

"Shouldn't you be at school? What are you doing robbing banks at your age?"

"Are you going to arrest me or what?"

Kotetsu scratched his beard and looked around, "Tell me, you're working with someone right? Are they the same age as you? Older? Is someone forcing you to do this?"

"Of course not! We just wanted the money, now if you aren't going to arrest me let me go, please?" She smiled and brought her hands up to chin. Kotetsu shook his head and walked closer, the girl turned her hand around and a blue aura surrounded her. That's right, he wasn't sure what kind of power she had but it was too late to think abut it now because she had shot some kind of blue light right at his face; he jumped back startled. Kotetsu blinked a few times and patted himself down…he seemed fine. He frowned when he heard her giggling.

"What's so funny? What'd you do to me?" He looked at his hands and arms but it was hard to tell what happens to your body when it's covered in armor.

"Take off your helmet."

"What?"

"If you wanna know take off your helmet." She grinned from ear to ear. He raised an eyebrow but figured the girl was practically harmless with her foot still bound to his wire so he slowly lifted off the helmet.

"Um, I don't-" Something twitched on his head; he stood upright and reached for the top of his head and rubbed it. And he could feel his hand…on….an ear? Ears? His eyes widened when he caught sight of himself on the reflection of his gauntlet. On top of his head were cat-like ears, orange with black tips, like a tiger.

"WHAT, WHATS GOING ON?"

"Guess what you should have a tail too! Pwahaha!"

Kotetsu panicked and spun around, damning himself for not being able to see if it was true or not, and right now wasn't the time to strip himself of his entire suit.

"I have the ability to give people animal characteristics. Pretty cool huh? Now you really are a Tiger." She started going into hysterics and rolled onto the floor clutching her stomach.

"Yo-you…Turn me back right now!" Kotetsu screeched as he cupped his two fluffy ears. He just realized his human one's were missing.

"I will if you let me go."

"What? No I can't—"

"Then too bad mister Tiger, you're staying that way." She said sticking her tongue out.

"Kotetsu, he's coming your way!" Kotetsu turned around and looked toward a building about a block down, Barnaby was hopping toward them in pursuit of the other perpetrator, a boy who appeared to be in his late teens dressed in a dark hoodie and blue sunglasses. The boy landed next to Kotetsu and threw a dagger at the wire cutting it. The girl scrambled to her feet, Kotetsu immediately lunged at her.

"HEY, GET BACK HERE AND TURN ME BA—" And then the world flashed white for a split second and he fell on the ground. "Huh?" He got up halfway on his knees and looked up… the hooded man hand his hand out toward him and he and the girl were huge, building sized. They both towered over him giving off the most wicked of smirks. And now he could hear his partner yelling something as he approached. The two criminals quickly dashed off and the girl turned her head slightly to look down at the tiny Tiger and blew a condescending kiss. Oh no. Oh no….Kotetsu just stood there dumbfounded. He was not tiny…he was not staring up at his partner who was now twenty times taller than him. He wasn't.

"K-Kotet….su?" Barnaby knelt down and stared at his partner in his miniature suit, which now looked like a toy, except his partner, was in that toy and it was his armor.

"Bunny…I—" And then he heard a stifled laugh from the blonde. "THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B

"This. Is. Ridiculous." Kotetsu grumbled as he threw his helmet halfway across Barnaby's computer stand.

"You know Saito can't fix something like this. We're going to have to find those two criminals to change you back." Barnaby said sitting down in the chair. "It's a little upsetting that none of us could track down two kids."

"Don't talk to me about upsetting. DO YOU SEE ME? DO YOU SEE THIS?" Kotetsu said flailing his arms and pointing to his ears. Then the brunette remembered something and quickly stripped himself of the rest of his armor, struggling a bit with the weight of it. Barnaby watched in amusement as the tiny tiger piled the metal parts on his stand, a rope like bulge was stuffed on the backside of his under suit.

"NO! NOO! IS THIS A TAIL? TELL ME THIS ISN'T…DAMMIT! WHY?" Kotetsu screamed in horror as he pulled an orange tail out of his pants, he fell to his knees and made a series of frustrated grunts and groans. Barnaby had to turn away, he brought a hand up to cover his mouth but clearly he wasn't doing a very good job of concealing his laughter. "Bunny, this isn't funny."

"But-it is-you have…" Barnaby had to stop to gasp for air. "You're like a pocket sized tiger! Honestly you have the worst luck!"

Kotetsu sat up and looked at Barnaby, he wasn't quite sure if he'd ever seen the blonde laugh like this before and it was well, a little nice to see. He couldn't help but smile to himself too; okay maybe this whole situation was a little funny-if it was temporary that is. He sighed and took the top part of his under suit off.

"You don't happen to have any clothes my size do you?" Kotetsu asked trying to pull down his pants a little to let his tail out. "This is really uncomfortable…" His tail swayed a bit, it was weird getting used to a new body part.

"I can go down to a toy store and get you a doll set—"

"No…I think I'll just walk around naked, thank you."

"You'll get cold that way." Barnaby said getting up.

"It's better than me staying in this thing, it's tight, I'm sweaty, and I wanna be comfortable!" Kotetsu said slipping out of his pants, he threw it in a heap with his other clothing. "I feel free!"

Barnaby sighed and rubbed between his eyes. "Kotetsu, you can't walk around naked in my apartment."

"Why not? He said with his hands on his hips twirling his tail around behind him. "We shower together at work, does it matter?"

"I…guess not. I'll just get you a shoe box or something to sleep in, I think I have one in the closet."

"Can I take a bath first?"

"Fine, let me fill up the bathtub first…wait. I guess I have to carry you there huh?" He leaned over and offered his hand to Kotetsu who hopped up and sat down on Barnaby's palm. The old man was pretty cute like this, he was about as tall as a water bottle when standing and fit perfectly well in the blonde's hand. Barnaby's bathroom was quite large, it had a circular tub large enough for two full sized people, a mirror for a wall, and stone tiled walls. He set Kotetsu down next to the shampoo as he filled up the tub with warm water. Kotetsu walked around looking at what kinds of things Barnaby kept in the bathroom. There was a curler several feet away by the sink with enough hair products to last over a year on the shelf.

"Do you want a bubble bath?" Barnaby asked reaching over to grab a pink bottle.

"Bubble bath? You still take those?"

"Simple luxuries, Kotetsu." Barnaby said squirting its contents into the running water anyway.

"I used to give Kaede bubble baths when she was a toddler." He laughed hopping into the tub.

"H-Hey! It's not done filling yet!"

Kotetsu floated on his back and swam around a mound of bubbles forming. "Oooh this is like a giant flower pool, haha!" He sunk under it and popped back up, with suds in his hair and giggled. Barnaby sighed and stripped himself of his clothes idly. When he had everything off but his briefs he stepped in the tub making sure not to crush Kotetsu in the process, but a small wave pushed Kotetsu under when Barnaby had settled in making the blonde panic momentarily before Kotetsu rose up between his legs.

"Okay, I'm kinda tired." Kotetsu said treading in place. Barnaby brought his right knee up from the water letting his partner paddled over to rest on it. "Thanks, Bunny."

"Mmhmm." He leaned over to grab a bottle of rose scented shampoo and lathered it over his blonde locks. Kotetsu watched with extreme interest in the way the Barnaby's curls stuck to his face and in spiraled in different directions. His ears pricked up and down as he stared and his tail whipped from side to side, Barnaby's hands slowed when he noticed his partner watching him.

"Yes?"

"Huh? Oh sorry…I was just looking at your hair. It's kinda funny to see it when it's not all perfect you know?" He lay on his stomach and splashed around some water with his hands. Barnaby found it a little odd that his partner didn't mind having his butt in the air with his tail swinging around like it did. When they had gotten out of the bath Barnaby set Kotetsu down by the sink and began blow-drying his hair, he'd given his partner a small face towel to wipe himself down with…which Kotetsu was using to roll around in instead. The blonde grabbed his partner by the tail and aimed the dryer at him blowing his hair and body at full force.

"B-Bunny stoooop!" The wind made his lips flap and he waved back and forth under Barnaby's grasp.

"We can't have you getting sick when you're like this. There's no doctor for miniature NEXTs."

When he finally turned the blow dryer off Kotetsu was a puffy haired mess, he fell down onto the counter face first and groaned. The blonde slipped into his PJS, a long sleeved black top and red pants. He slipped a hand under Kotetsu and hoisted him up and proceeded into the kitchen where he laid Kotetsu on the table. The older hero sat and dangled his feet off the counter as he watched Barnaby rummage through the fridge, he took out a six-pack of beer and laid it next Kotetsu who immediately hopped up and hugged one of the cans.

"OH! Bunny, you're a genius! If I'm this small a can like this can last forever!"

"You're not drinking that whole thing by yourself, I'm sharing one with you, and you're only getting a little bit of it. " He said reaching for an empty water bottle next to the sink, he unscrewed the lid and rinsed it.

"Hey, hey, can I bathe in this? I've always wanted to be in a pool of beer."

"Who on earth thinks of such a thing?" Barnaby said pulling Kotetsu off the can with some resistance.

"Me~"

"Honestly…You just took a bath." He placed Kotetsu on his shoulder where the brunette rolled onto his stomach and firmly grasped his shirt. "See this?" He said holding the cap in front of Kotetsu's nose. "You only get three of these, no more."

"Whaaat?"

"You heard me." Barnaby opened one of the cans and let a few drops fall onto Kotetsu's new dish. "At your size even this is a lot."

"Bunny, why do you have to be such a hardass?" He said snatching the cap away from Barnaby, he sat up lifted the bowl to his lips and immediately downed the whole thing.

"Because you never take care of yourself."

"That's not true!"

"Hmm." The two entered the living room again where Barnaby sat on his chair; Kotetsu got up and crawled down the blonde's arm, his tail swishing around as he did so. Barnaby's thighs were pretty warm so he settled there, the two watched reruns of Hero TV for an hour before Kotetsu started getting antsy. He got up and waltzed around the room for awhile. The carpet was awfully springy when you were less than a foot tall, the steps proved formidable when hopping over them. He even pondered the idea of how much hundred power would do him at this size. After exploring what little there was in the blonde's living room Kotetsu returned to the stand beside Barnaby who ignored him for the most part after he had turned on his laptop; he was rather focused on his stocks at the moment, which were starting to drop. The blonde pondered the idea of selling them, just when he was about to make a decision he heard the sound of an aluminum can hitting the floor and jumped up to peer behind his laptop. Kotetsu was lying on his back with drool leaking from his mouth. Barnaby cursed and picked up the can from the floor, it was empty.

"KOTETSU!"

"Whuuuuuaaaaaaaat~"

"I told you not to drink anymore!"

"But-you didnnn finishhh." Kotetsu hiccupped. He sat up and blurrily looked at his partner and gave a guilty chuckle. "Hehe."

"If you start throwing up on my furniture I swear—"

"Dun worry lil'Bunny I can hold my drinks verrrrry well~" Kotetsu slurred, he slumped over and wagged his tail slowly, his ears drooped a little as he tried to focus his vision.

"I'm throwing you in a cage tomorrow."

"Thas not very nice." Kotetsu said getting up, he zigzagged his way to the end of the table, stumbling a few times before reaching the ledge where he leapt onto Barnaby's lap and toppled over onto his crotch.

"H-hey!" Barnaby yelped grabbing Kotetsu by the tail; he placed him on his palm where Kotetsu curled himself against the base of Barnaby's thumb. His tail wrapped around his partners middle finger and he began to nod off. "…Kotetsu?" Barnaby brought his partner closer to his face, the older heroes eyelids were slowly closing and he felt warm against Barnaby's hand. He mumbled something and stuffed his cheek into the crease of Barnaby's hand. "I guess it's time for bed then." Barnaby always had two pillows on his bed and figured today he could let his partner sleep on one of them. Kotetsu sank into the feathered filled cushion and curled into the fetal position, like this he looked a lot like a tiny kitten and Barnaby couldn't help sticking his hand out to stroke his partners head. He managed to rub one of Kotetsu's ears the right way causing the man to moan a bit. Barnaby did it again and this time Kotetsu turned his ear harder against the pad of Barnaby's finger.

"Nnghh—feels good." He twirled his tail against Barnaby's wrist.

"Here?" Barnaby asked rubbing two fingers harder against the latter's scalp.

"Uh-huh….o-ohhh…no wonder animals love being scratched there..feels so good." Kotetsu craned his neck a little and whimpered. His tail curled around Barnaby's index finger and he shivered. "Bunny~~ do it harder…nnghh…" All of the sudden Barnaby felt his face flush; he threw his hand back. Kotetsu looked up at him confused and pricked his ears up. "Bunny?"

"G-Go to sleep now." He took off his glasses and laid them on the nightstand and slipped into the bed turning away from Kotetsu.