Mable: This update took WAY too long to get posted, but I'll have a note at the end of the chapter explaining why this is.
Recap: In the last chapter Cat decided to head out and hunt a Beast to prove to Seven, who he heard speaking to the twins about them being incompatible, that he can be a good mate.
Anyway, I don't own 9, Enjoy!

Fabric Runs Shallow

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Reckless Proof

Something was freeing about the tall trees surrounding Cat as he crept through the woods. He was close to the ground, keeping himself quiet and careful as he listened for any movement. All he needed was to find a Beast and take it down. Then he would bring back the remains to present to Seven; it seemed simple and fool proof. Cat could see no reason why she wouldn't be happy with such and offering that she would reconsider him as a mate. The wind rustles the leaves above and Cat pressed against the dirt as he waited for it to grow quiet again.

It didn't take long before it did, and when this came he began to hurry along. It didn't take too long, but eventually he made progress as he slipped out of the forest and onto a paved road. He went the opposite of the way back to Luxembourg and continued along. It didn't take too long before he found a small group of buildings like a rundown town. There was only building that looked fully intact and Cat could feel that there was something in it. He made it over to an opening in the side and peered inside.

It wasn't too long until he found that there were, in fact, Beasts inside. It wasn't necessarily a nest, but there were a few inside. They were spaced together along the floor with red optics and cloth covered bodies. While Cat didn't recognize them they were Beasts that had been encountered before. These were Mosquito Beasts and they apparently heard Cat entering. Their optics all turned and locked onto the Beast turned Stitchpunk. They didn't turn aggressive and merely watched him in a passive fashion.

Beasts tended to register Cat as one of their own even though he was no longer one of them. As such, they barely reacted to him, and he knew he would need to provoke them. This didn't seem too hard and he approached the biggest towards the back. Nearly the size of a Chancellor, which made sense as from what Cat knew these Mosquito Beasts were a relative of the elusive Chancellor. The biggest stared at him silently and as he approached he simulated a growl to show he was preparing to be aggressive.

It didn't even seem concerned and Cat lowered onto all fours, his right optic flickering to a red color as he growled louder. Still the Mosquito Beast didn't react much and the being crept in. Then, suddenly, all at once the Mosquito Beasts' wings all alit. The group took into the air and Cat was prepared for a fight. To his disturbance they ignored him and started to raise towards a hole in the roof to flee and move on. He would have been even more upset, but before he could a loud crackle of a roar echoed through the night.

It came from the street and Cat headed back to the opening and stared out into the night. The Mosquito Beasts must have heard the Canine Beast and left. As much as Cat knew a Canine Beast would be a bit difficult to fight, he could only find it ironic that they were the two creatures remaining, and he knew that if he took something like this down that Seven would have to be impressed. Though he noticed something odd about the Beast. Its optics were black and dead while it stumbled around aggressively. "It's blind." He noted to himself, "and clearly not happy about it."

He knew better than to get cocky, though. Canine Beasts had a notorious surge of aggression and were not exactly intelligent, so they would continue to attack without concerning over their health. It was both the most risky and the best target, and Cat was prepared to take full advantage of the situation. He glanced around quickly before focusing on a tipped over truck as his main target. He braced himself before letting out a low growl. The Canine Beast heard him and tensed, smelling the air as it attempted to focus in on him. He took this time to turn and begin sprinting towards the car.

Unfortunately the Canine now heard him as plainly as day and was taking after him, letting out a noise that partially resembled a roar and partially a metallic groan. Then it took off after him and he only barely managed to skid under the car where it couldn't reach. The Canine Beast was furious at losing its target and began to dig under the car with rapid paws, releasing rabid growls and snorts. Cat made his way to the other side of the car before climbing between the car and the wall. Once atop the car he sprinted over to the opposite side again.

Now he stared down at the Beast down below and felt of rush of thrill as a purr filled his chest. He adjusted his helmet, flared both sets of claws out, and jumped down to land on the Canine Beast's back. It jumped at his attack and started to thrash. Cat hung on and went for the back of its neck. He attempted to tear inside, trying to pull the Beast apart at the neck to affect its motor skills and hopefully take it down. The second that he got his claws into what felt like a cord the Canine Beast suddenly introduced a new skill.

Out of nowhere it abruptly rolled itself over in a surprisingly intelligent move. Suddenly he was crushed under the being's weight for a brief second. It straightened itself and Cat got to his face quickly. At this time the Canine Beast leapt forward at Cat who rolled to the side and out of the way just in time. Its claws struck the ground right beside him and he leapt for one, digging his claws into the crevices and climbing upwards towards the neck area. He only managed to grab into this for a second before the Canine Beast began to fling its head around rapidly where it knocked Cat off and onto the ground.

It dove again, this time bringing its sharp teeth down onto Cat's and onto a rock beside him. Because the rock was slightly larger the mouth didn't have the ability to close fully and so it only left simple puncture wounds instead of gaping holes. He also heard a loud crack, but he knew it wasn't from himself so he guessed it was from the rock. Yet once he was dropped and laid there simply, needing to catch his breath, he realized that the Canine Beast had broken a tooth off.

It was one of the smaller bottom ones, but the Beast seemed disturbed by it and was moving its head strangely as though still trying to shake something off. Cat began trying to creep away on all fours and was quiet enough to almost do so, but once he had crawled a distance about the length of the car the Canine caught on and began to listen in. This time Cat decided to be quiet. The Canine Beast's smell may have been its best sense, but it needed a moment to focus and follow it, so if he stayed quiet he would get a bit more time before it found him.

Just as expected it worked and while Canine started to follow Cat's trail, quickening its pace, Cat was given extra time to get before the opening into the building where the Mosquito Beasts had been located. Then he got to his feet and dashed inside the opening, the Canine Beast following behind as it broke into a run. He dashed through the large room, ducking behind a fallen plank of wood that the Canine Beast simply ran straight into. It made a cracking noise and broke, triggering a chain reaction that dropped some rubble from the roof above to crash atop the Canine Beast.

Cat shielded himself before looking upwards and suddenly realizing that there was a second floor to the building. It was probably barely remaining, but there was a chance that there was something up there. Quickly he searched around before finding a set of stairs peeking out from behind a wall on the other side of the room. He sprinted over, listening as the Canine Beast tore its way out of the rubble behind him. The stairs were taken as though they were just another road to run down and as he scrambled up them the Canine Beast followed.

Its teeth nearly grazed Cat's leg more than once and he only escaped by getting to the second floor. His optics rushed around before focusing on the fallen wall on the other side of the building. Wood jutted out of the side of it, pointing towards the next building over, and while it was a risky move he suddenly wondered if he could jump to the other building. As a Cat Beast he had been able to leap bounds easily, but now he was somewhat challenged. Still he was certain this was his only chance and hurried over. The Canine Beast hurried behind him.

Cat headed across the fallen wood and stared at the other side. Thankfully there was a window ledge that was close in. He dove off and barely managed to get to the other side. His claws dug in as he began to slide down off of the windowsill. As he started to slip down he could hear the Canine Beast running out. Unfortunately or it the wooden plank didn't hold as well and broke in. Its paw gave one last swing, nearly an inch from Cat's body and grating down the wood before the metal and bone creature fell down into the space between the buildings.

Cat took a second to pull himself up onto the window before looking down to see if he could see the machine's body. He couldn't, but he couldn't hear it either, so he assumed that he had lost it for the moment. This was a relief. "I'm counting this as a victory." He murmured as he leaned against the edge of the window to rest. It wasn't until after he slid into the building through a broken window, found more stairs and rubble to climb down, and got outside that he remembered the broken tooth.

"This'll have to work." He murmured, looking it over, "Not really a head, but it'll work well enough." With that he started back towards the camp. His body was aching, but he was confident enough and prepared to return to Seven.

It was nearly sunrise when Cat appeared. Seven had fallen asleep beside the fire waiting for him to return and awoke with a start as the male limped in to camp. "Cat?" She asked in questioning, keeping quiet as not to awaken the others. The male crossed over to her before dropping what he was carrying. There was one of the sharp fangs of the Canine Beast that he presented to her and she just stared at it in surprise. "A Canine Beast," Cat explained, nearly bragging, "I brought this back for you."

"You were attacked?!" Seven asked in alarm and the male shrugged a little. "Not exactly…" Though as he began to sit down his clearly open seams bothered him. Seven noticed them and was quite disturbed by them. She immediately stood and went to retrieve Five's bag so that she could patch Cat back to his normal state. She soon was stringing a needle beside him and looking to him in confusion, "Why didn't you try to flee?" He gave another look of pride, "It was a Canine Beast, there was nothing worth fleeing from, all it did was chew me a little."

"A little chewing can give you a lot of stitches." Seven reminded and Cat added in, "I wanted to bring you back something. Now you can use that…" He stared at the tooth silently before shrugging, "For something, you'll find some sort of use." The pale female was quick and soon got his meaning, "You fought a Beast just to bring me back something? Cat, that's insane." She then gently poked the needle into his shoulder and began to stitch it closed again. He paused during this time as he took the slight pain of the stitches.

"Yeah, maybe, but you're worth it." He excused as she clipped the excess thread and moved to another gaping wound. "Just want to show you that I could handle it. That I could be a great mate." He hadn't intended to emphasize 'great' that much, it made him sound sarcastic when he was trying to be sincere, and Seven abruptly froze. She was questioning so Cat added in, "I heard you speaking to the twins earlier." Now the Warrior gasped lightly and the Beast turned Stitchpunk forced a chuckle, "I guess I haven't done much to prove myself as a good mate, so I wanted to prove to you that I can take care of you."

The Warrior felt guilty as she looked down at the claw, "Cat, I didn't… I didn't mean that you would be a bad mate, Kitten, I just don't know…" She lowered the needle and moved to sit beside him, "I'll be honest with you, Cat, ever since our…. Our kiss I have been going back and forth. I thought that it was simple enough, that us being mates would cause multiple problems, but I'm not sure anymore." His brows raise, "Wait, the claw worked?" The female stared at him silently for a few seconds before answering.

"No, Cat. The claw was a nice gesture, but I've been… These thoughts have been going through my head as I waited for you to come back." She rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm herself in the cool night. He slipped his arms around her, ignoring the pain in his wounds and new stitches. She sighed a bit and reached upwards to slip her helmet off so that they would fit more comfortably together. Then she allowed herself to rest against his chest, listening as the dull purring began to start again. She had become so used to it and surprisingly fond of the affectionate signal.

"Nothing's written in stone, Dove." He insisted, "Why could try it and if it turns out it's not working then we can split. Simple as that." Though he didn't really mean it; he was sure he would be more than a bit crushed if Seven suddenly decided that it wasn't going to work out and abruptly ended it. The choice made Seven ease quite a bit, though. She finally made her decision. "Alright, Cat. We can… We can try this. We can try us being together like this." Seven turned her head to look upwards at him and he smiled before pulling his own helmet off.

He let it drop behind him forgotten as he leaned in and claimed her lips desperately. Once again she was stolen by the strangely overwhelming pleasure that piqued her interest further. Perhaps these wonderful kisses were a sign that she had made the right decision, she hoped so. When they eventually pulled apart to pause and catch their breath she murmured, "I love you." She was sure of it, she did love him, but she wasn't sure in what way yet. It made Cat purr louder and he nuzzled against her cheek with every bit of affection he could muster.

"Alright," she suddenly spoke, pushing him off playfully, "enough of that. You're not stalling me from my job any longer." She lifted the needle once again and he visibly winced seeing it. It amused her; how someone who recklessly injured himself could find the small prick of a needle to be that annoying. She continued to make small stitches as his wounds started to close. Soon they were all sealed and her hand ran over his back to make sure that they wouldn't catch. "Be easy on them for a few days." She insisted before putting the supplies to the side.

To his surprise she moved back to return to the cuddling and put her arms around him, nuzzling into him. He felt a small bit of surprise that she was being so suddenly affectionate. He had assumed that she was going to be more loving if they were mates, but he didn't really expect that she would be so willing so soon. It made his night completely worth it and he held her back, slipping his arms under her knees and behind her back. Before she could protest he pulled her into his lap.

For a second Seven didn't seem to know how to react, but then simply rested against the male's chest. That was, until he again decided to move, this time standing and holding her in his arms. The Warrior gasped a bit, "Cat, your back!" He gave a confident smile, "I'll live. Come on, let's get some sleep." She could only smile a bit. This was the Cat she loved; prone to injury, unnaturally risk taking, and devoted to only her.

Mable: Alright, so why this has taken so long. As you may know Halloween is coming and I was split between one of two Fanfiction to post a write. There was a series of shorts and a chapter fic. However, I recently pondered it over and realized that the chapter fic would probably make a better Christmas story. So that means that I have to get about five short stories done by then, so my work has been all over the place.
Now I know this chapter took way too long to post, but I am going to take the normal week off so that I can get some chapters done. If I don't I'm afraid that I'll get stuck in another rut like this, but I'll be back next Monday with normal uploads once again! Thank you for being patient and I hope you enjoyed!