I woke up to the sun filtering into the master bedroom of Darien's house, and it took me a while to remember where I was. I sat up, the bed rocking and knocking over something black and fuzzy beside me.

"Darien!" I yelled, picking him up. Darien sighed – which was pretty funny for a cat. "I'm sorry, I kinda forgot you were there," I said, placing him back on the pillow.

"It's alright," he huffed in cat tongue, stretching out and yawning. "Now I won't be late for school." School.

"I need to use the bathroom," I said distractedly.

"First door on the left down the hallway," he meowed, still yawning. I got up off of the bed. This time Darien was ready for the swaying and jumped off as well. He was still Changing back into his human form when I walked out the door. I touched my forehead gingerly, feeling a dull throb of pain. I flipped the light on in the bathroom and looked into the mirror, stifling a gasp. There was a decent-sized bruise over my left eye, and no matter how often I rearranged my bangs they couldn't cover it. No wonder Darien had looked at my forehead. I couldn't go to school like this! When I left the bathroom I found Darien, in new clothes and thankfully a shirt, sitting on the armchair in the master bedroom.

"I don't think I can go to school today," I commented, brushing my bangs as best I could over the bruise.

"Are you going to go home?" he asked as I sat on the edge of the bed. I stopped and looked at my lap. Would my mother be okay? If she was, she'd probably have a pretty nasty hangover. And I'd have to pretend to be sick in order to avoid school. The worried thoughts buzzed around in my mind, blurring all other thought processes. In the end I came up with no conclusion.

"I don't know," I answered, folding my arms on my lap. "I'm really afraid."

After a short pause Darien spoke. "You could stay here with me."

I looked at him, arching one eyebrow. "Aren't you going to school?"

He turned his gaze to the bed's headboard, blushing slightly. "Well, I figured that you wouldn't want to be alone."

"Oh," was all I could say before I forgot how to breath. He was willing to stay here just because I was afraid to go home? That meant a whole day alone with him. I took a breath. "Alright, but I'll go back home after school's over, so my mom thinks I was at school." I hoped I could intercept the phone call the school sent notifying parents their child had been absent without an excuse. Maybe my mom would be drunk again and wouldn't care. Of course, if that was the case I wouldn't be able to stay home.

"Right." He smiled a quick crooked smile again and stood up. "Are you hungry? I could make you some breakfast."

I didn't want to impose, but if he insisted… "Could you make a fried egg?"

He smiled. "Sure! Wait here." Oh Lord, breakfast in bed. I nearly started giggling when he left the room. This was going to be a very good day.

I picked my backpack up off the floor, pulling out Twilight, the vampire romance novel Miki had forced on me. She had literally put it in my hands and ran off. Feeling compelled to read it after all the fuss I'd made about not being interested in vampires, I started to read and was hooked. Edward was so hot. In a way, his personality was a lot like Darien's. Except, Edward was a vampire.

I bit my lip to keep from squealing. Edward was so romantic. Although, he and Bella were rushing into a relationship pretty quick. They never really made it clear when they were going out, it was just like one chapter they weren't, the next they were. And now Edward was staying the night at Bella's without her dad knowing. Oh, wait… I had left my house and stayed at Darien's, so…. I shook the thought from my head and kept reading. The delicious smell of eggs started to waft into the room through the open door, soon followed by Darien.

"Thanks so much!" I gushed, taking the plate and fork and eating quickly. I never realized how much being scared to death took out of you. Darien sat in the armchair, watching me eat with a mixture of confusion and amusement. I had to stop myself from licking the salt off of the plate when I had finished. "That was seriously good," I said as he took the plate back. "You're an awesome chef."

"Well, I've had some practice," he laughed modestly. "I'll just go wash this off for you." He was so kind, and he hardly even knew me. I clutched Twilight to my chest tightly. Oh yes, it was going to be a very good day.

After Darien had eaten his breakfast he volunteered to take me out to the lake. I was ecstatic. From what I'd heard the gigantic lake was beautiful, and it couldn't have been a better day to be outside. The sky was a crystal blue and not a single cloud was in sight. The air was warm and cool breezes were dancing about. The world itself seemed to be having a great day. Even still, Darien brought his jacket. We stood by the edge of the water, skipping stones and stepping into the water as far as we could.

"Next time I come here, I'll bring Miki and Jessie and we could all go swimming," I suggested.

Darien beamed. "That'd be fun."

I sat back down into the soft earth, picking up my water bottle and taking a long sip. I was starting to get tired, and it wasn't even noon. I kicked up a little water, and it accidentally splashed Darien, who cried in protest.

"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed.

To my surprise, Darien laughed. "Not as sorry as you're gonna be," he said, getting up and kicking more water at me. I laughed and cupped my hand, collecting some water and throwing it at him. We splashed each other and laughed until we were both soaking wet. Since I was already wet I took off in a run and jumped into the lake. I surfaced and spit out a mouthful of water, laughing at Darien who stood dumbfounded at the water's edge.

"Here kitty," I called jokingly. "Not afraid of the water, are you?" Darien laughed and jumped in after me, sending a large spray of water at me. I stayed close to the lake's edge, only going as far as I could with my feet touching the ground, but Darien, being the giant that he was, could go out farther. Then he just started swimming around, diving under and surfacing by me just to get the water in my face. I could hardly laugh without getting water In my mouth.

Darien was an excellent swimmer. It was funny how even though we were part cat, we still loved the water. As a cat I was a pretty good swimmer. I wondered how well Darien swam as a cat. Ignoring my thoughts about cats and for the moment becoming a normal person, I pushed off of the sand back and started swimming into the deep water where Darien was diving. The water was a bit colder farther out, but it was refreshing. Summer was coming up soon, and now that it was almost two it was extremely hot. Darien's black hair was plastered against his head and covering his eyes when he surfaced again.

The water's surface became calm again once Darien stopped diving. I let myself float on my back, and Darien followed my example. We floated closer to each other and he waved at me. "Hola, neighbor," he said. I giggled and lost my balance, starting to sink into the water. I went back to swimming then, and Darien and I had a few races. I won three out of, like, ten, but I'm sure he'd let me win those few times.

After a while I dived down under the water, opening my eyes slowly before realizing the water was incredibly clear. The bottom of the lake was smooth and covered in shells, plants swaying in the current farther off. I could even see the shadow of a school of fish farther on. The water bent the sunlight with each wave, creating a beautiful underwater lightshow. I paddled up to the surface for some air. After taking a quick gasp of air I went under again, propelling myself farther under towards the bottom. I brushed up some sand, which swirled around in the water like fog. I looked back to see Darien gracefully jetting towards the coast.

I rose up to the surface when my lungs could no longer stand it and found Darien standing on the sand bank smiling. "I think we should get inside and get dry," he called to me. I hadn't realized how far away I'd gotten.

"Alright," I yelled back, dunking back under and pushing myself along the bottom of the lake. I scanned the floor as I swam, and my eye caught something. It was a shell, one of those spiraling shells that you could "listen" into and hear the ocean. It was huge, smooth and in one piece. I grabbed it 

hurriedly before I ran out of air and kicked up to the surface. I walked along the bank until I was completely out, my clothes waterlogged and making it harder to walk. I held the shell up. "Isn't it neat?"

"It sure is," Darien said, smiling. He smiled a lot. In fact, he'd smiled more today than I'd ever seen him smile before. I mean, I'd seen him around school, always by himself, watching his feet while he walked along to class. He sat on the opposite side of the classroom in my homeroom, never talking to anyone. He seemed so alone al the time. And now he was smiling and laughing and having such a good time, I couldn't help but get caught up in his cheery attitude.

"Aw man, I'll completely waterlogged," I observed with a laugh. I shivered as a breeze flew by. It was nice while I was dry, but now it was freezing. Darien looked at me thoughtfully, then picked up his jacket, which had been forgotten on the shore.

"Here, wear this," he insisted.

"Are you sure?" I asked, taking it slowly. He nodded with an infectious smile, which I caught as I put it on. It was really warm and smelled like the forest. Just like Darien. "I guess I should go home and get something dry," I said.

"You can borrow something of mine until you get home," Darien offered.

"Stop that, please," I laughed.

Darien tilted his head. "Stop what?"

I laughed again. "Being so nice to me."

Darien smiled unsurely. "Oh, um, okay… sorry?"

We both started laughing again. I pulled the jacket around me tighter as we neared the house. He directed me to his closet, where I picked out some clothes which were too small for him, but still a few sizes too big for me. "Ta da," I giggled as I came out of the bathroom, wearing his over-sized clothing. He laughed incredibly loud then, and he couldn't seem to stop. "Is it really that funny?" I tried to say in a pouty voice, but I was starting to laugh too. I had a baggy black t-shirt tucked – more like piled – into shorts that could've been pants for me. At least it wasn't too loose, but the collar of the shirt sunk and bit too low for my taste. I readjusted the shirt again to try pulling it up, but sank back down and I gave up.

I toweled off my hair in the bathroom while he waited outside for his turn. When I was sure my golden hair wouldn't be completely flat when it dried off, I left the bathroom open for Darien. He went in and almost immediately opened the door again, pushing out my pile of clothes. I laughed when I saw that my bra was on top of it all. I picked up my clothes and bundled them up in the towel, tucking the shell inside as well and stuffing the whole thing into my backpack. I glanced at my watch. It was almost five-thirty. I'd missed the time I had to go home, but right then I didn't care. Today had been one of the best days I'd ever had. I didn't want it to end, so I took off my watch and stuffed in unmercifully into my pack with my clothes.

When Darien had changed into dry clothes and dried off his hair we sat down at the dinner table and ate whatever snacks we could find in the pantry. Now that we were relaxed and sitting I decided we had some time to talk. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your parents?" I asked softly, looking absently at my granola bar.

I looked up into his silvery-blue eyes, and he nodded vaguely. I took a breath. "So, what was happening when they… disappeared?"

He took a bite out of his granola bar before answering. "My parents were both 'cat-people'," he started, "and they tried their best to fit in. They had regular jobs. We had a regular house in a nice neighborhood. But when I was seven, I'm guessing someone had found out about their… powers… and they sent FBI to our house." He closed his eyes. When he continued his voice was a bit shaky. "There were a couple police cars and some unmarked cars pulling up in our driveway. My mother told me to Change into a cat, go hide in my room and not move until they came back to get me."

I held my breath, knowing what was coming next. Poor little Darien. "They never came back," he muttered. "I waited until it was morning again, and I came out of my hiding spot. Then I heard noises outside my bedroom." I started. "I hid under my dresser, still as a cat, keeping as quiet as I could. The FBI agents were looking for me. They were all over the house for days, until they finally left. And so did I."

"How did you live my yourself all this time?" I asked in amazement. "I mean, doesn't the school need you to have some kind of legal guardian?"

Darien laughed without any humor. "Yeah, I gave them my parent's information, and try my best to stay away from any unnecessary parent-teacher stuff. The phone at my old house still works, there's just no one to answer it."

We both fell into an awkward silence. "What about you?" Darien asked unexpectedly, looking up at me. "What's up with your family? Have any siblings?"

"It's just me and my mom," I said quietly. "My dad was the cat-person. He taught me all about how to Change, and a little bit about why, but a few years ago my mom found out about his powers and left him. I've hidden who I was from my mom the whole time."

Darien nodded and we were silent again. I tried to start up some friendly conversation by talking about the latest episode of American Idol, and soon we were talking just like any friends would. I felt completely fine and relaxed. I checked my wrist to find the time, then remembered I'd taken my watch off. I looked out the window and gasped. "It's almost night! I'll need to get home!"

I started to get up, but Darien stopped me. "I want to show you something first."

We walked back to the lake, my backpack and all its contents on my back again. We reached the lake and I lost my breath. The lake had erupted into reds and yellows as the sun sank behind the black line of trees in the background. The sky behind me was a midnight blue, but rimming the large orange sun was a pink light of sky with black and orange streaked clouds. The waves of the lake washing against the shore, the birds cheeping and the crickets beginning their song blended together to make a beautiful, almost unreal evening.

"What do you think?" Darien asked, and I slowly came back to reality.

"It's beautiful," I murmured, still staring out at the lake. Then I felt Darien's hand grab mine gently and my mind went fuzzy altogether. I turned to look into his eyes, and he smiled. I smiled back as best I could as my heart went off in some crazy beat. The air around me started to feel a bit muggier, heavier, pushing me closer to Darien. I closed my eyes and leaned forward as he leaned down.

Then hostile yowling broke the peaceful moment, and three or four cats rushed out of the reeds, claws unsheathed and hissing as they sprang at us. Damn those stupid cats.


Drawing Cat is fun :3 I swear next drawing will be of Darien. Then all four of mah kitty-peeps.

ht tp : / / niah - miyoki . deviant art . com /art/ Morning - Musing - 84095625