Chapter 2

THANK YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING! I was shocked to get so many on my first chapter and will try to update sooner.

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I turned the key in the lock and opened the door to my dark house.

"Well, I know it's not much, but . . . here it is." I waved my hand around the room after I flicked the light switch. I glanced down and saw the kitten looking around curiously. "Here. Don't cause trouble and I'll be back down in a second. I need to take a shower, and then I'll start dinner.

"Meow"

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I stared at myself in the mirror. The fact that I could have died tonight was finally sinking in. I wasn't that surprised to see a wild animal in the city. The woods were close and human garbage was a good source of food. What surprised me most was why that tiny cat had risked his life to save me. I assumed he was a stray because he didn't look like any house cat I'd seen. He was skinny, covered in dirt (as I found out when I looked at my shirt), he could fight, and he was scared of me at first.

I grabbed a towel and dried my hair as best as I could then opened the bathroom door and proceeded back downstairs. I wasn't prepared for the sight that met my eyes.

I had dropped my backpack on the floor before heading upstairs and somehow the kitten had pulled out my street clothes and was curled up on them. That was not what shocked me though. My once white T- shirt was now red where the little kitten lay. I suddenly remembered that he'd fought off a cobra and I'd never checked to make sure he was alright.

I kneeled down and placed my hand gently on his back, growing worried when I got no response other than a slight ear twitch. "Hey, little guy. Are you alright?" I wasn't sure what to do, so I just kept talking, wanting us both to be calm when I moved him. "Listen, I decided to keep you, so you're going to need a name. Let's see. I work with a lot of foreigners, so maybe something foreign?" I realized I was rambling, but I felt the kitten breathing alright and, to tell the truth, I was terrified. I could never handle blood well, and taking care of others was something I had no experience doing. "How about . . . um . . . well kittens love, um playing, so 'Heba'? No, that doesn't sound right. Maybe, uh, 'Yugi'?"

Ear twitch.

I tried again. "Yugi? Can you hear me? I'm going to move you now, alright? I need to see how bad youre bleeding."I slowly slipped my hand under him and lifted him up. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he stared at me in confusion. "Easy." I said, but he jumped down, landing on three paws, his right paw held in the air. Before he could run off, I grabbed him and held him close. "Easy, Yugi. Just let me see your paw. I wont hurt you." As if by magic, he stopped struggling and even held out his injured paw.

Examining it, I saw a neat slice directly through the paw pad and extending up one of the toes. It was just beginning to scab.

" How did this happen? I know that wasn't there earlier."I murmered.

Yugi managed to get out of my grip this time and walked over to the kitchen where a glass lay broken on the ground. He stopped by it, turnrd to look at me, then cringed and looked down, as if expecting to be nothing came, and I remained at my spot on the floor, he cracked one eye, then the other and stared at me.

Slowly, so as not to startle the obviously nervous kitten, I got up and walked towards him. When I was close enough, I knelt down, wary of any broken glass, and picked Yugi up.

"Sorry. I know I should have done the dishes, but I haven't really had the time lately. I don't want you getting hurt again, so I'm gonna, well, see what I can do for your paw, then put you in my room." He blinked up at me with an almost human intelligence and if I didn't know any better, I'd say he understood every word I said.

I took Yugi up to my room and put him on the bed. "stay here. I'll be right back."

"Mew."

I chuckled at the responseand headed for the bathroom. I always kept a fully stocked first aid kit under the sink. I had to search around for it before I found it at the way back.

'It has been a while since I've had to use this . . .'

*Thump*

My thiughts were interrupted by a sound from my bedroom whatever it was sounded way too big to be my cat. I opened my door just in time to see Yugi scrambling to get back to the place I'd left him.

"Easy, easy." I tried to calm him downbefore he injured himself further. Not seeing anything knocked over in the room, I sat down next to Yugi, picked him up, and set about cleaning his paw. The cut wasn't bad enough for him to have to go to a vet, so I just wrapped it with a little strip of gause.

"There." I held him eye level to me, letting myself be once again hypnotized by his amythiest eyes. "All better. Now 'm going to go clean up that mess and start on din . . ." I broke off as my blood ran cold, and I felt raw fear.

In the middle of my room, standing out like a beacon against the cream- colored carpeting, was a bloody human handprint.

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Review to claim your free air guitar! And speaking of claiming, I own everything, except for what other people own!