(Tigrillo)
Tigira fit right in the institute, it was like she was always there. All of us felt like we knew her since we first got there. It really felt as if we were missing a puzzle piece, and she was it. As me and the guys spent time with her, I noticed a pattern on how each of us treated her.
Ever since Tigira beat Panthero in that fight, I noticed that he treated her with respect. Sometimes I would walk into the gym, intending to do some workouts, and I would find Panthero and Tigira in the fighting rink. She would often be teaching him new moves or how to use his strength to a greater advantage. Sometimes I would watch them, other times I would join them. Tigira was a patient teacher, and she made Panthero a better fighter, if that was possible.
With Lionio, I think it was she was somehow a competitor for him. Often me, Panthero, and Leopardo, would watch as Lionio and Tigira would sometimes fight, race or go over an obstacle course. Sometimes Tigira would win, most of the time Lionio would win. One day I asked her if she was purposely letting Lionio win, all she did was give me a secret smile and ask: "Now why would I do that?"
I wasn't sure how it developed, but I noticed Leopardo regarded Tigira as a younger sister. Leopardo would often feel left out because Panthero, Lionio, and I were all taller, and stronger than him. Leopardo was the fastest, and most flexible, but it seemed to me that it wasn't the same. With Tigira, who was just as fast as him, and just as flexible, he was happy again. I would sometimes come outside to the yard, to find the two of them doing some sort of odd acrobatic feat that would make my stomach turn at the thought of even trying to do it.
A month or two passed since Tigira arrived, and I noticed that one, by one, the other animalia who weren't institute made were gone, either scrapped or given back to the people who bought them in the first place. It was the night after the last animalia, the one before Tigira, left that I realized something.
What if Tigira left?
Then a sharp pain in my chest, so sharp that it made me gasp. I realized I didn't want her to leave. The thought of her leaving hurt, no more than that, it felt like a part of me would die if she left. It was that night, that I realized something more important.
I love her.
