JUNJOU TERRORIST

IV

SAFE

"Dean!" called Miyagi looking at the man by the door, but hearing his boss calling he quickly turned around to see the kitten still by his side, "do you know him?" he asked without looking back.

"Know him?! I adopted him months ago!" exclaimed the Dean moving to get a closer look, Miyagi didn't heard nor see the movement behind him, he saw instead the kitten muscles tensing, his ears pinning flat against his skull, his fur standing on end from the top of his ears to the tip of his battered tail, a deep growl lurking menacingly from the bottom of his chest, a threat, that was more like a vain intent of hiding his shaking paws. Miyagi instantly turned to see his boss and threw his hands, palms high to stop his movement. The Dean, startled at the kitten's and Miyagi's reaction backed down, lowering his hands "They explained to me that he suffered from post-traumatic stress, I wanted to help him... but I was not able, he ran from my house and we were not able to find him, we searched for so long..." the Dean looked at the kitten sadly, who looked back at him and remembered the father at the vet's clinic, the look in his eyes could not lie, the kitten stopped growling, but his ears remained pinned and he hunched away behind Miyagi's back. The Dean, turning to Miyagi he asked "how did you find him?"

"I didn't" responded Miyagi scratching his head and furrowing his brows, he craved badly for a cigarette "he came here, probably running away from something or someone, he's in a terrible bad shape" Miyagi looked to the kitten for a second, behind him his golden brows were heavily scowling back, no longer trembling yet not moving away from the protection Miyagi's back gave off.

"We should take him to a hospital" said the Dean worriedly but Miyagi waved his hand in denial, "no good sir, he's not ready, he has suffered way too much, we can't, not right now"

"But what can we do?" asked the Dean looking at the kitten again, he was so worried about the kitten's fate "he doesn't want to go with me, right?" the dean tried to get closer to the kitten again but he tightened his hold on Miyagi's shirt, hissing in warning, lowly but firmly, still pinning his ears back startling the two man, the sound was more like a rattlesnake when it was freely leaving the kitten's pale lips "impossible… I…." mumbled the dean deflated, but then, he looked at his Oh so faithful worker, his eyes suddenly showing a light of hope "maybe you could..."

"Oh no, no no no no Sir, I can't" stated Miyagi before the Dean could finished

"Oh come on, it's not that hard and he already trusts you!" responded the Dean immediately moving one step closer, his hand together, like in a prayer.

"But my apartment it's too small, and I can barely take care of myself I..."

"But he's just a kitten! It would even do you a greater good to have some company!" the Dean still battled.

"No sir I can't!" responded Miyagi exasperated, but then he felt the kitten behind him trembling, he had screamed without noticing it, he bit his lip in remorse "I can't…" he mumbled this time, trying to soften his voice, noticing this the Dean hang his head but clenched his fist, he knew it would be low to do use it, yet he had to. "But if you don't, animal control will take him away in to the kennels, it is you... or them…" he said, and he saw the realization on Miyagi's eyes, a sequence of memories, painful claws ripping the wounds open. The one he loved, the sweet and bright one, dying in between bars. Miyagi felt his eyes burning, remembering the reason why he did not want to have another pet, ever again. Cause she, graceful and pure, fragile, had being taken by animal control for so long, she had ended up sick and had not being able to survive. The Dean knew it was low to use it, it may even create deeper wounds, knowing how much it meant to him, but he still tried. "If I can't... They'll..."

Miyagi looked back at Shinobu, his knuckles, white from clenching at his shirt in fright, sighing in anger, at his own weakness, he growled "Fine, but can I take the day off?, I'm not sure about leaving him alone in my apartment". The Dean sighed with great relief, "I'll inform your assistant myself, either way, I think you have stayed here for a month worth of hours" answered the Dean smiling sadly "I really wished I had taken a good care of him"

"I think you did," Miyagi responded looking at the kitten's stormy eyes, he petted his paw gently to calm him down, "you have made me accept him in my house" he continued on scratching his head again and turning to Dean, chuckling "and that's something"

"Thanks" said the Dean smiling again, yet this time, less sadly.

- 0 -

Now, to say Miyagi was a responsible man, would be an understatement, in his job. For he treated his classes and research with the utmost respect and passion. Literature was the love of his life now, and so, he dedicated every regular and mostly all irregular breathing time on to it. But sadly, thought his undying strength and perseverance could be seeing in every aspect of his carrier it was epically missing in his social life. And Miyagi knew this, not that he would openly care about it. Of course he tried to move on, got some girlfriends, went on dates, had sex partners, found a fiance and even married her. But even thought he SAID he tried, his heart always eluded the relationships, no bounds were created, no pieces of his heart given, no memories bounded and gilded like dear treasures in his mind and soul. Only one memory, only one love always remained there, unblinking, unforgettable and tortuously beautiful.

When the door was closed again, Miyagi felt the hard tag in his shirt loosen, looking behind at the kitten Miyagi sighed. "What have I done...?" He stood up slowly, helping later the kitten to stand up as well. "You'll come with me" he said pointing at the kitten and then to himself, the kitten looked at him for a second and bent his head slightly to the right, blinking. "..." Miyagi sighted heavily, "Come" he said putting on top of the kitten's shoulders his own coat, it was no longer full winter but the wind was still cold in the mornings, chilling early commuters. The kitten looked at him in response, his eyes glistening for an instance, before his perfect brows dived in an angry scowl, cheeks turning lightly pink. "THUMP!" Loud he heard his heart beat, Miyagi swallowed hard and closed the window, "Let's leave already, before anyone comes" he said and before he could register what he was doing, he had extended his hand at the kitten, who not doubting this time took the offer greedily, holding not only from Miyagi's hand but entwining his fingers and hugging his arm with his kitten's thin arm. "It's the unusual situation," Miyagi thought to himself, trying to come up with a reason why he felt so happy with the current events, but the thought gave no reassurance to his mind, "It's like doing to him what I couldn't for her" he tried again, but the thought was not enough, the real reason was far deeper than that, "Fate..." a voice called and his brows twitched, his lips curving in a lopsided smile "I'm just sleep deprived and my heart is weak against cruel situations" he stated and ignored as best as he could the hard burning in his heart. "I just have to separate myself from this, it shouldn't be hard... really, this kit doesn't trust humans, he wouldn't trust an old guy like me..."

But, oh how wrong Miyagi was, for he was not able to separate the kitten from himself, the poor soul trembled fiercely went he walked just three feet away from him, his eyes red and black with tears and fatigue. So he ended up walking all around the halls with him, clenching at his side, avoiding human contact, avoiding noise and any type of sudden movements until he finally reached his car and was able to get him in to his cars passengers seat, putting the seat-belt more like a separation line than a safety method. Still, the kitten hold a corner of his shirt between his small paws, as to make sure he was not going to be left behind, or to disappear any time soon without him.

Miyagi licked his lips for Nth time that morning, he moved his hand absentmindedly to pull a cigarette and found the pocket empty. "..." he sighed deeply again, "Let's just end this already..." He tried to drive fast to lower the amount of time inside the car but the kitten freaked out the moment he heard the engine roaring, clawing Miyagi hard at his arm, causing him to scream and hit the brakes, which caused the kitten to scream/cry back and claw him even deeper. Miyagi had to take 10 long minutes to ease the kitten back to his seat and check his wounds, they were not deep enough to go to a hospital, but they still burned, "Oh well, I'll have to disinfect them later" he sighed, but turning to the kitten he slowly moved his hand on top of his golden fur, and petted the kitten, knowing by the way he was breathing, and the dead worried expression in his eyes, that he knew he had hurt him, it would be no good if the kitten got depressed about it, or freaked out again.

"I'm sorry, there's no reason to worry about it, we'll get home soon" he said and started driving again a lot slower, taking only the road sides and long silent streets. On the other side the kitten felt his heart throb, his cheeks warming softly. Being petted again was wonderful, Miyagi's large hand moved back and forth roughly, like combing his golden main, but his fingers caressed his round perky ears so delicately, it made his chest fill with an strange emotion, a low purr brewing. The kitten smiled back and sat still, his back straight against the seat, ears quickly turning at the sight from the window. The rarely passing cars, the people, streets and large buildings amazed the kitten, who had all that time avoided looking around in fear. What had changed? He couldn't tell, but he felt safe and could finally lift his face in curious wander. "Such a brat" Miyagi thought looking at the kitten purring against the window.

-0-

After the amazing scene at the car, the arriving home worried Miyagi, but he was lucky there was no one around in the lobby, in the elevator or even in the corridors. Probably because of the hour, too early for employees to come back and too late for children and mothers to be out to school. Pulling the kitten towards himself Miyagi unlocked his door and entered his apartment. But seconds after he heard the click and thud of the door closing, Miyagi stopped walking, feeling a gentle pull at his arm. The kitten was trying to look farther away without breaking the hold on Miyagi's hand. Miyagi tried to let him go shaking his hands strongly, so he could see more, but the kitten instantly grabbed his hand tighter and moved closer to him. Again Miyagi smiled. "Brat" the thought was rapidly becoming a habit.

Walking to his living room he placed the kitten in the sofa and after many attempts he was finally able to separate the kitten, it was unbelievable the tight grip the kitten had, being so small and skinny, also being pretty much wounded. "Stay" he ordered and the kitten scowled back, yet he stayed put, following Miyagi only with his eyes. Quickly Miyagi moved in to the kitchen, first thing first, he had to feed the starving feline, but walking around the kitchen he couldn't find what to cook or how to do it. When was the last time he had done ANYTHING in the kitchen? Apart from taking the energy drinks and microwave dinners to heat them up. "Juice! That's always healthy!" he thought, rapidly taking a lonely can of chopped papaya and bananas, but the moment he tried to use the blender the kitten jumped in fright, 5 feet in the air landing on his paws behind the sofa, his tail all puffed up and his ears pinned, again the snake like hissing rumbling out, Miyagi could not decide whether to laugh at the cuteness of the kitten or to be angry at his own stupidity. Again, like with the cigarettes, he showed the kitten the evil artifact and throw it far away inside one high shelf.

But this was just another proof of how unprepared he was for the unexpected visit, Miyagi scratched his head, not able to cook anymore, he worried about the kitten. "Just wait a minute" he said pointing one finger upward and started a tour around the house. The kitten looked curiously at him, walking down the hall to the right in to his bedroom and working himself forward, collecting every hard, sharp, possibly dangerous or to noisy equipment he had. Scissors, knifes, alarm clocks, radios, nibs pens, screwdrivers, everything found a place in his bedroom closet, the bathroom lower cabinet, the laundry cabinet or the kitchens high shelves. And every place was secured and locked. Miyagi also closed the balcony, he was about to lock the main door but something stopped him, looking back at the kitten he saw again the fear, his tail swishing in quick whips behind the sofa, "I think I'm done" he stated at loud, returning instantly to the kitchen and to his inevitable cooking.

After three hours of battling Miyagi called it finished, at the end he was not very good at that, but he could at least do something edible for the kitten, burned sticky rice, chopped cabbage and tomatoes, grilled pieces of fish, pork and chicken, he found still good in his freezer and a glass of really thick and lumpy juice. Miyagi scratched his head still doubting the results, he looked back at the kitten, he was sitting in the sofa again, chest resting against the sofa's back support, intently glaring at what Miyagi was doing, his nose sniffing from time to time. "Ah..." he was about to say something when a loud growl was heard from inside the kitten's stomach and Miyagi chuckled. "Fine" Without ceremony he served it in two plates and placed them in the table in-front of the kitten "Eat, it's not much but, after what you have being through it might not be good to eat too much yet so in the ends is good enough... I guess?" he mumble, again doubting the results. "Either way..." he sighed and sat down in front of the kitten, placing his own plate at the table. "Itadakimasu" he mumble and started eating, trying not to look at the smiling kitten, why was he smiling in such a lovely way? Miyagi felt tenderness in stormy eyes, it made his heart flutter and break. Miyagi concentrated in his plate, keeping a hard grip of his chopsticks to avoid following his desire to embrace the kitten tight in his arms.

The kitten sniffed the food and felt his mouth water, Miyagi's words were to low and mumbled that he could barely get any meaning from them but looking the way he was eating he decided to give it a try. Slowly he climbed down from the sofa and sat on the floor, he sniffed the food again and stock his tongue out, he felt a lightly bitter flavor at first but then he felt the salt and prickly taste of the pork meat, "Delicious" he thought taking one piece of pork in his mouth and munching it happily. After that one bite the kitten almost wolfed down the food. Miyagi smiled sadly at the desperation he saw in the kitten, "Brat eat slowly or you'll choke" he growled and continue on eating, the kitten smiled back. THUMP. "Is just the lack of sleep, I'm tired..."

"Yowwwll" With his stomach full and satisfied the kitten yawned and rubbed his eyes, the emissions of the day taking finally it's toll on the kitten's body. "Are you tired already?" Miyagi asked noticing the heavy eyelids, the kitten yawned back in response making Miyagi chuckle, "go to sleep then, I'll be here when you wake up" Miyagi said standing up with the plates in his hand and walking with them in to the kitchen. But when he came back the kitten was curled in the floor in a tight ball, his knees close to his chest and his thin tail on top of his legs to provide a useless protection against the cold. Miyagi sighted, "Hey brat..." he started saying moving his hand to pet the kitten's fur when something silvery caught his eyes, it was a name tag, attached to a large and heavy collar. The kitten's fur was so thick and long it had covered it completely. It was only when he moved the fur while petting than the thing was at sight. It had a name inscribed as expected, "Shinobu" it said and Miyagi remembered the name the Dean had used "Mmm... Shinobu?" he tried calling and Shinobu's ears perked even thought he was so sleepy, opening his eyes to look with hopeful eyes at Miyagi, making him chuckled "I see, you like me using your name?" he asked, the kitten's tail undulated in broad circles, that had to a be a yes.

"Then, do I let you sleep in my lap again Shinobu-chin?" he asked, sitting by his side at the floor and patting his lap. The kitten didn't need anymore encouragement this time, crawling slowly to place his head over Miyagi's lap and let it fall. Shinobu shivered and curled in to a tight ball again against Miyagi's warm body, cuddling and snuggling his face against the man's legs. Miyagi felt his cheeks warming but he ignored the feeling, placing his hand on Shinobu's head to pet him softly, massaging his ears and back, making the little kit purr contently.

It was late in to the night when Miyagi woke up, Shinobu was still asleep so he stood up slowly, trying as hard as he could not to wake him up. He cleaned his trouser patting them softly and straightening he looked at Shinobu at the floor, so curled up to maintain his warmth, he felt bad, a heavy feeling at the pit of his stomach. "..." Sighting Miyagi moved quickly in to his bedroom and laundry taking many old towels and bedsheets, clothes his ex-wife had left on among other things. When Shinobu woke up he was curled up in a large cushion and wrapped with many bed sheets and bedspreads, Shinobu had being so tired he didn't notice when Miyagi had carry him in to the cushion and wrapped him. He felt his cheeks redden. Checking his new made bed Shinobu clawed and scratched, pulling and pushing it to his heart's content, the fabric was so soft and sooo scratch-able. Shinobu purred falling asleep again.

-0-

Author's note: This might be me repeating myself, but, some of you might notice that the chapters have being changed and rearrange, the reason was basically that after not writing for so long I didn't fully understand how I was moving the story along and had to read it back, but when I did I actually realized that most of the time line had being really messed up. So I decided, since I had missed so many months of updates that I would re-do it and make it better. I hope those of you, who read the old versions, read this new ones and find them cuter and lovelier and etc -ier... hope you love it. Read and review please!