Epilogue
I sat in the bathroom, on the hard floor, with a frown. Hiiro was watching me silently from his perch on the toilet, head tilted. His ears – one now complete with a tear to the side - were perked. His tail hung to the side, twitching every now and then.
Sitting in front of me with his back to me was Duo, the Stray Hiiro befriended over our vacation. I had just finished giving him a bath and was now staring at the sopping wet strands of matted hair.
"Are you sure you won't let me cut it?" I asked once again, smiling when Duo turned to give me a pout. "All right. Hiiro, hand me the brush?" Hiiro tossed me a brush. I took to brushing through the tangled mess of hair in front of me.
Nearly two hours later, we were finished. I twisted Duo's hair into a thick braid and patted him on the shoulder. "All finished." I said. Duo leapt up onto his fours, turned around, and gave me a big lick on the cheek. I made a show of wiping it off and laughed as he yipped at Hiiro. The two flew out the door and I cleaned up the bathroom.
As I made my way across the hall to my bedroom I caught sight of a thin black nylon collar hanging in a case of the wall - Roland's collar. Duo had taken it upon himself to explain to Hiiro what happened to Roland, for which I was grateful. I don't think I would have been able to tell him that his friend was dead.
The doorbell rang and shook me out of my musing. I could hear Hiiro yap in greeting at whoever was at our door and seconds later Catherine's voice rang out in greeting. "Hello Catherine, Trowa. I'll be right there." I dumped the laundry down the chute to the basement.
When I arrived in the living room I saw Quatre play wrestling with Hiiro and Duo. Trowa and Catherine were sitting on the couch watching them. They looked up at me as I plopped myself in the other chair.
"How are you?" Catherine asked.
"Doing better."
"And Hiiro?"
"He's taking it a lot easier than I thought he would. I think it's because he has Duo." She nodded.
"He's registered?"
"Yes." I said. I pulled a black leather collar out of my pocket with a smile. "He took it off before I gave him a bath." I put the collar on the end table. "Something tells me I'll have trouble keeping it on him."
"You're probably right." We watched our Pets romp around the living room, and I hoped that Duo wouldn't be as bad of an influence on Hiiro as feared.
Owari
Yes, finished. I did leave it open for a sequel though, should I decide to continue it after I finish book 2 of The Perfect Soldier Arc.