Orihime nearly forgot to breathe over those next ten minutes. She had a bumpy view of her ride, of the cat-man's legs and tail as he ran with her through the trees and up the rocky incline of the mountain.

She had to breathe after a while, gasping, too afraid to do anything except clutch the short, blue fur at his back, alternately squeezing her eyes shut and trying to focus on the vegetation rushing by them.

Maybe it was the blood sinking to her head as she was draped upside-down over his shoulder or maybe it was fear alone, but she didn't scream. She knew they were climbing higher into the mountain's rocky side, but it wasn't until he made a sudden veer to one side that she realized they'd reached a ledge. No sooner had they topped that and she saw gray stone beneath his feet than they entered a crevice in the slope.

She lifted up as far as she could to see where they'd fled from, but his arm was over her back and his hand pushed her neck lower.

Darkness and the cooler interior of a cave fell over them, and the man-cat's pace slowed. Orihime dared to try to catch her breath, watching the long tail switch as it trailed them as they wound their way through a narrower passage in the coolness of the cave.

She took a deep breath, hoping to summon the nerve to speak, but instead remained silent as he made a sudden leap to a higher ledge within the cave. Blackness engulfed her vision, and she wasn't sure she'd closed her eyes or if they'd entered a lightless area. Far away she heard water dripping. It was the only sound, that and the stealthy pad of his steps. And her own heart pounding in her chest.

She wondered if he could feel it at his shoulder. A misdirected spurt of curiosity made her extend one arm as far as her tethered hands would allow over his back, feeling for his heartbeat. After the run, she expected a deep thumping beneath her palm, but there was only a steady pound at his back. She sheepishly pulled her hand higher, blushing in her already pink-faced position.

They made a sharp turn and the cavernous chamber grew brighter. She had a stunted view of gray stone walls as he stopped and set her on her feet.

She hobbled back from fright before him, unsteady, and he grabbed her tied wrists before she could fall over backwards.

She looked far up at him in the indirect light of the cave and then glanced quickly around at her surroundings. It was a chamber within the mountain caves, gray and slate, with a mostly even floor. Patches of light splayed on the floor, and her gaze went past him up to the ceiling. From several spots she couldn't see in the sloping ceiling came trails of light, late afternoon sunlight that found its way through obscure slits in the cave's exterior, allowing the chamber to be lit.

He dropped her wrists and moved around her, walking a small circle in the chamber that was half as big as her home in the village. She turned to watch him, licking her dry lips that were parched from waiting at the sacrificial tether.

When he stopped before her, Orihime wasn't sure if she should introduce herself or not. Before she could decide, he put one large hand on her head and pushed her backward.

The calves of her legs met a raised surface and she sat down with a slight bounce, squeaking just a bit. He stepped back and she hastily looked to her seat. It was a bed, for all appearances, a raised part of the stone floor that was nearly shin-height and level, and was covered with thick animal hides. She looked back to him.

He stood a few feet away in one of the muted patches of light, evaluating her in the stray sunrays. His gaze fell over her hair, her face, the thin material at her shoulders and to the heaviness of her chest. "So they've decided to appeal to me as a man rather than a cat-beast, is that it?"

"Oh..." She blinked quickly, taken aback. "You, you...can...?"

"Speak?"

She nodded slowly. "...Yes."

He stepped to one side, watching her as she turned her head to follow him, seeing more of the light catch in her tumbled, auburn hair. "What are you?"

She opened her mouth, but only shook her head.

Annoyance lent his tone. "An offering like the others?" Some of the fangs showed when he spoke more harshly. "Or bait? Are you a trap?"

"Oh, no. No, I'm not a trap," she said hurriedly, her tied hands clutched to her thin nightgown. "It's not even time for offering."

"No. It's not. Every other full moon," he said, nodding. "But that's not tonight. This isn't a month for an offering, so I think that makes you a trap."

She shook her head more now, biting her lip as he stepped closer. "I don't think so. They didn't tell me –"

"What did you do to become the offering this time?" he asked, stopping at the bedside, watching her lean away to look up at him. "Are you a criminal? Is this your sentence?"

"No. I, I don't know why...me." Memories of the sack of money in her mother's hands answered her why, but Orihime tried not to think about that.

He flicked a quick look to the entry of the chamber. Out it was only darkness, and Orihime could see and hear nothing from it. In fact, the only sound she heard was the trickle of water from somewhere.

He looked back to her. "What do you do?"

"Do?" She saw his eyes go to her hands as she let them lower to her lap. "Oh, I, I weave and sew. Garments. Uh, to..." She decidedly did not look at his torso, blushing despite not seeing that he was clothed in nothing but the short, bluish fur. "Clothing to wear."

The modest averting of her gaze didn't reach him. He nodded to her gown. "Did you weave that?"

She shook her head, looking back to his face. "Oh, no."

His gaze moved slowly over the collar of thin material where it met her skin, watching it fold as she moved uncomfortably. He sat down beside her. "Did you sew that?"

She nodded more hesitantly, nearly holding her breath as he let one leg rest against her knee.

"I can see right through it."

She felt the trembling in her nerves renew. "I, I usually don't sew things like this...so thin. I don't, I don't wear them..." She swallowed as his hand – not a paw, she noted – moved to her hair and swept a few strands from where it lay over her shoulder.

"They told you to?"

Even in the poor light she could see the blue of his eyes. "Yes."

His attention shot from her hair to her face. "For me?"

She didn't want to answer, but was too afraid not to. "...Yes."

He leaned closer, moving her hair from her face to study her closely. One finger's claw pricked into her scalp near her ear, but as soon as it did, he withdrew it. She stifled the wince, returning his stare. He pushed her hair to her shoulder, gently this time, taking a long moment to let the soft tresses fall through his fingers, seeming to be almost mesmerized by the touch.

She tried to hold as still as she could, even as he leaned closer and dropped her hair, putting both arms around hers, pinning her to him. She caught most of the outcry as one arm braced her to his chest as he let the other hand slide down her back, moving from side to side, curving over her hips, almost searchingly. She kept her flinching to a minimum, focusing on his shoulder eyelevel to her, feeling the soft short fur at her forehead as his hand explored her back. She held her breath as the hand roamed up her spine.

"You're shaking," he said.

She didn't nod, concentrating on his hand moving inch by inch down her spine now.

"Why? You think I'm going to devour you?"

She exhaled a trembling breath. "I don't know. You...you ate the others."

"Lamb and swine," he said, his hand pausing as it finished her spine and rested at the doeskin throw behind her. "Whatever they bring and tie up."

She could feel the deep base of his voice in her forehead against his shoulder.

"They've never brought a girl before." His hand moved under her gown and slid up to her bare back.

Orihime caught her breath and tried to push against him with her bound hands. "Wait...wait –"

"You think I'd eat a girl?" His embrace on her tightened as she squirmed, his hand on her back rubbing curiously down her spine, across the small of her back, and then lower. "You said yourself I'm not a cat."

She whimpered, straining to push against him, still conscious that the broad hand at her back wasn't scratching or actually hurting her. "You're not..."

His hand found the drawstring of her pantalets that served as her only underclothing. She shook her head as his hand slid beneath and paused there, feeling the end of her spine and then to either side of her derrière.

"Please don't –"

"You have no tail?" He let her ease away, still cradling her with the arm as his other hand moved higher on her back. There was a glint in his eyes now evident even in the scattered light of the chamber.

She shook her head, watching the flash in his eyes.

A few seconds passed as he estimated her honesty.

"Isn't that what you are?" His hand moved to her arm, sliding up it slowly as his other arm remained beneath her gown, around her waist. "What did they do?" He searched her arm as his hand slid up it and then went to her shoulder and neck. He turned her face at her chin, leaning closely to see her throat. "Did they shave the coat from you? Make you nearly hairless to look like a girl? A woman? Is that what they brought me?"

Orihime's head was tilted up, but she watched him study her throat, her hands on his chest no longer pushing him away. She shook her head as much as she could. "I don't understand."

This time his gaze hardened on her despite the appeal in the violet depths of her eyes as he let her chin lower. Part of that suspicion was what had developed of his nature, but part now too because of the softening affect her fear had on him. "You're not a cat. Ever?"

She could only blink in confusion. "A cat? Have I...?"

"Have you ever been a cat, girl?" His arm tightened around her until she stiffened more in his embrace. "Did they manipulate you into this appearance of a girl for me?"

She shook her head and let herself sigh because she couldn't continue to hold her breath. The faint blue hair on his face was short, barely perceptible, but the long mane of darker blue was more like a horse's than panther's, she decided. He spoke well, even with the longer fangs she had glimpsed when he did speak, and she never would have guessed they were the words from a man-cat. She tried to relax her hands, still bound, at his chest, ignoring his proximity and lack of clothing. "I've never been a cat. I'm just a girl. No one explained anything to me about this, this offering."

He slowly released her, watching her sigh and withdraw slightly as his hand left her bare back. His gaze went to the transparent material covering her chest, then dropped to her waist and her knees that she'd drawn up onto the bed during her agitation.

He stood up and watched her recoil further away on the hides. "Then you must be bait. I figured that's what you were when I saw them tie you to the rock."

She shook her head, pulling her gown skirt over her knees as he appraised her. "They told me nothing of –"

"Stay here." He turned and crossed the chamber. "If you leave, you'll get lost in the tunnels. Stay here and sleep until I get back."

Orihime opened her mouth to protest, but he was already through the doorway and away in the dark of the cave, leaving only the sound of trickling water for company. For a moment she didn't move, listening, hearing only the water, watching the splotches of light move slowly through the stone chamber as the day headed into early evening.

She scooted back to the wall behind her and pulled her knees to her chest, eyes on the dark entryway, ears trying to detect any footfalls of his return. Her spine still imagined his hand on her, the slow crawl of fingers as he searched for a cat tail and found none.

And, she knew, leaving him with the impression that she was not a girl-cat made into a girl, but bait in a trap.