Still don't own the animorphs. Just own the little bits here and there which is actually mine :P ahaha

As a side note, I'm upping the rating to a T because I'm not sure how much I can get away with on a K+...These few chapters are kind of showing you how crummy Tobias' life is, and how he might actually want to be an animal forever.

Chapter 7

I ran through my front door, slammed it behind me and started to make my way up the stairs. Home free. Finally. I'd never been so glad to see the place. I was nearly at the top step when I heard him.

"Tobias? Get down here!"

My uncle. Great. And I could tell by the slur in his voice that his drinking had not subsided since eight o'clock that morning when I'd left for school. There was banging coming from the living room, the sounds of my cat, Dude, yowling. I wasn't there so he was bullying my cat instead.

I had to go down. I didn't want to. Tears were streaming down my face still, my breath still coming out in pathetic ragged gasps that I couldn't control, but if I didn't go down he would only come upstairs, and then I'd have had no time to sit and cry.

I stepped into the living room. It wasn't particularly big, room for two chairs and a television. The television was on now, but it wasn't on anything I should be watching, that's for sure. The walls were once white, but now a stained yellow from the cigarette smoke, the carpet stained from the times my uncle fell asleep and dropped his beer over it. It was a pretty dismal place.

Beer cans were strewn all over the ruddy brown carpet. A couple of bottles of Southern Comfort were lying by the side of my uncle's chair. Subconsciously, I picked the closest rubbish up and threw it in the bin. I'd only have to tidy this mess tomorrow anyway.

"Where you been, boy?" my uncle mumbled from the chair. The chair, like almost everything else, was brown, holey. My Uncle's life had fallen apart when my Aunt left him.

"Out," I told him, "the mall with some friends."

"Ha," he laughed from the chair, but his voice didn't really change. It was the same monotone we both spoke in day after day, "you aint got no friends."

I couldn't really argue with that, "the mall," I repeated.

He didn't say anything for the longest time. I stood in the doorway. I couldn't leave until he let me, I'd never hear the end of that, but I didn't want to say anything to remind him I was there either. I waited there, trying not to shake with the horror of the night, waiting for him to say something.

Finally, he staggered up from the chair, cast his bloodshot eyes upon me. Onceover, he was meant to have been good looking, a real ladies man. Now, he was a mess. More of a mess than me, even. He looked me squarely in the face, and as he spoke, spittle flew in all directions, mostly at my face.

"You...You're worthless," he told me, still in that mumble, but louder now, "why'd you come here?" expletives, "I don't want you. Shit, even your own parents didn't want you," his breath smelt of stale alcohol, the foul stench clinging even when he drew in a clean breath, "you use this house...think you can come and go as you please, do you? Well you can't...you stay or you go. Your choice."

He pushed me, back towards the doorway, that was my cue to leave, but something in my head triggered. Maybe it was the frustration of letting that Andalite Prince die, not being able to do anything about it. I don't know. But I didn't even think about it, as soon as I was pushed back, I was up again, pushing him. I pushed him, and he sprawled back against the fireplace. I realised what I'd done seconds too late, stepped forward and held my hand out. I had this crazy thought that if I helped him up everything would be okay.

Of course, it wasn't.

He took my hand in his left, and I helped him up, but as he stood, he had a poker in his right hand. One of those old fashioned ones, for a coal fire. It was heavy, iron. With my hand still in his, I couldn't move as he slammed it down on my wrist.

I cried out in pain, but really, it was nothing compared to the pain I'd shared with the Andalite; it was enough to bring fresh tears to my eyes though, and I tugged my wrist out of his grasp.

Grabbing Dude on the way out with my good hand, I ran up the stairs to the sound of my uncle's laughter. It wasn't as bad as the laughter at Elfangor's pain, but it wasn't much better either. I clenched my eyes and tried to block it out.

Laughter. It was a sick world when people could laugh at others pain.

I sat on my bed, crying silently. I was nursing a wrist that was almost definitely broken, or at least fractured, every time I moved it, it was agony. Dude wasn't looking too good either. He'd definitely been kicked around a little. I hated that my uncle did that, but I wasn't willing to give Dude up either. He was my only friend.

Selfish, I know. Hell, I never claimed to be perfect. Anything but, really.

As though he could read my thoughts, Dude jumped on the bed. One perfect spring, straight up, and he was beside me.

It must be great, I thought, to have all that freedom. To come and go when you please. To not even have to come back if you didn't want to.

I was stroking him, and I didn't even realise that I was concentrating on becoming a cat until he went still underneath me. At first, for a horrible few seconds, I thought he was dead too.

I'd dealt with too much death that night. I couldn't have my cat die on me too. As stupid as it sounds, that cat meant more to me than anything. I looked down.

No, he was still breathing...in moments he was back to himself again, lolling under my touch, rolling to let me stroke his furry tummy.

I stared at my hands. Was it possible? Had I actually just...no. I couldn't have. It couldn't be that easy, could it?

I lifted my hand from Dude's stomach, stared at it. Think about being a cat, think about becoming Dude. Freedom. Cat naps. A springy jump.

I was about to give up when the changed started, I looked down at my hands, they were changing, fur was sprouting on the back of them.

"Arrrghhh!" I yelled.

"Yowww!" Dude yelled back at me.

I tried to calm myself. Okay, I expected this to happen. It was nothing to worry about.

Still, it was so cool; I mean, you have no idea how cool it was. I was actually becoming my pet cat.

Dude wasn't impressed though. He was standing straight up, his belly rub all but forgotten about, fur standing on end as he yowled. I reached for him, and he swiped out, clawing the back of my hand.

"Crap!" I yelled, moving away from him, "Dude, it's just me!"

I tried to reverse the morph. Human, Tobias, Human! It wasn't going quick enough. Dude was backing up, preparing to either run or attack, and he'd probably figured out that there was nowhere to run in the little box room.

"Crap," I muttered, quietly this time, reaching for Dude. The pain on my wrist was horrible as Dude thrashed and tried to twist from my grasp, but I managed to scoop him up, open the door and place him outside. He gave one last long look at me before racing for the windowsill in our hallway.

I closed the door, went back to my bed. Tried to focus on becoming Dude. It wasn't fast, but slowly I felt myself begin to shrink. I went from six foot to a foot high, toppled onto my front legs and almost landed face first on the carpet, clothes strewn over me. But...I was a cat. I was Dude.

Something moved! Chase it! Chase it! Subconsciously I knew it was only the curtain flapping in the breeze, but I didn't care. I bounded to it, sat on my haunches and pounced. Attacked the moving object with teeth and claws until it stopped moving. When it stopped moving, it became boring. I looked around, started jumping on the bed, on the desk... Movement!

The door was moving, opening. I jumped towards the movement, saw a big human walk through the door, and had to resist the temptation to pounce on his shoe laces.

"Dumb kid, where's he gone to now?" the human muttered. The words made no sense to me for the longest time, and I turned my head to the side. Kid? What kid? I jumped at the door as it swung closed, and the human kicked me in the face to stop me going through it before it slammed shut.

"Yowww!" I cried, flattening my ears down on my head, running under the bed as fast as I could. Tobias' bed. My bed.

My bed! Me! Tobias! I wasn't a cat. I was the boy. I was the dumb kid that wasn't in his room, where the big human expected him to be. Underneath my bed, I slowly demorphed back to human, wishing I could keep the freedom forever, then, exhausted, I fell asleep, naked but no longer in pain.

I dreamed of Elfangor and had to watch again and again as he was ripped apart before my eyes.

Rachel will be in the next chapter (:
I get all giddy and excited about stuff like that, because I love R+T pairings.

Anyway, reviews and flames are certainly appreciated :D