GS Note: Wow. Last chapter. Cool huh? Kind of depressing too, this was one of my funnier stories to write. One of the most loved to. It gained me a lot of attention by people I practically worshiped before. Hell, it even gone recommended at GWYaoi.org! How cool is that? I don't really want it to end. Oh well, I just hope this doesn't make me fall on my ass and make me look like a total boob.
Also, this didn't end at all the way I wanted it to! The wrong person even died! How sucky is that? Holy, this story has a mind of it's own…
Whether it bombs or flys, this is, sadly, the last installment of Neko.
(PS: How many people are seriously interested in a sequel? ^_~)
Neko
Title
On the last chapter of Neko:
Heero crouched in the darkest corner he could as Dekim heaved the heavy ramp back up with his claws and teeth. There was no way Heero could have done that, not even with help. An involuntary shiver ran over his back. Meiran had better come soon, or he was in way over his head.
A whisper of a shadow made his eye dart to the far end of the alley. He squinted as Dekim grunted. It didn't look like Alex or Relena…
*
"Maybe we should have planned more," Rashid commented quietly. Dorothy shook her head.
"No, it has to be tonight and it has to be now. We can't wait any longer."
There was a few moments of silence before the last traces of orange and pink left the cloudy sky. Dorothy nodded. "Let's go."
And now, the thrilling conclusion.
Heero squeezed himself as far back in the shadows as he could. Dekim dragged the last of the board up and onto the alley ground. Heavy narrowed golden eyes turned slowly and fixed on the crouched, chocolate-coloured cat. They glowed with an insane light as the darkness failed to hide the gruesome smirk on the tabby's face.
Panic filled Heero as Dekim got closer and closer, terror growing with each step. He tried to scrunch his light frame smaller.
"Now," Dekim's voice was low and vibrated Heero's core. "Let's talk about that compensation."
It was now or never. Heero's ears went flat against his head. With Dekim only steps away, he flatten on his belly and lashed out with his claws, hissing and spitting. Dekim leapt back a bit as the razor-sharp weapons only just missed his nose. He glared at Heero with hatred for a moment.
"You'll pay for that, bitch!"
Heero growled low in his throat as Dekim crouched to pounce. Adrenaline made him slightly giddy and he smirked. The heavy tabby leapt for him.
Heero twisted his shoulders to defend himself better. He refusing to expose his venerable belly as Dekim wrapped his heavy paws around his neck and dug his teeth in on the fleshy scruff. Heero hissed in pain as he lashed out and, by chance, sunk into Dekim's flank.
Heero heard him gasp through the gurgle of blood welling in Dekim's mouth as the heavier cat wrenched their intertwined bodies out from the corner and into the open. Heero dragged his claws through the grey coat, making Dekim howl and release his hold. Heero wasted no time in scrambling away, panting and bleeding. He turned and crouched, growling as he waited for Dekim to attack again.
Dekim knew there was something wrong with this fight. He knew that Duo wasn't as big as this cat was. His calculating brain responded quickly. Of course! How could he have been to stupid! This was no battle-wise queen. He hissed angrily as he watched the panting cat across from him. This was a full-grown tom, a house pet. A feral grin spread over his bloodied face.
Heero expected Dekim to attack from the front again so he readied his back legs to propel him from his spot when Dekim did dive for an attack. He saw Dekim move and hurriedly flitted to the right. So did Dekim.
Heero was knocked off his feet as the bigger tom sunk one claw into his unprotected shoulder. Heero struggled to change direction and shake off the tabby but Dekim effortlessly levered him over and dove for Heero's venerable throat.
Heero braced his paws on Dekim's chest and pulled himself farther out of the hold by a few precious centimeters. Dekim's yellow teeth sunk in on the shoulder blade. Heero howled in pain and wrapped his paws around Dekim's head. In his pain frenzy, he wildly began to scratch and bit at Dekim's head while he drew his back legs under him and started to pound the duller claws into the older cat's soft underside.
Dekim was forced to release his hold and retreat. Heero dragged himself back a few feet and regarded the tabby with more caution. Blood ran freely from his shoulder and neck making him feel dizzy. Dekim was better off with one ear in shreds and superficial scratches. Heero couldn't last.
The chocolate cat blinked to get the blood out from his eyes. Dekim lunged!
Heero turned his head and gaped in horror as the cat dove for him but he was too exhausted to move out of the way. He braced himself.
When the stabbing pain didn't hit, Heero cautiously opened his eyes. He heard spitting and hissing as Dekim and another cat moved into view. The midnight black cat leapt out of Dekim's reach as he clumsily struggled to his feet, cursing the cat for all he was worth.
Dazed, Heero looked around. While he had been distracted, more then a dozen cats had slunk into the alley, three were moving the blockage on the hole. He stared as they moved the garbage and Duo popped out of the hole, followed by Solo. The fight continued only inches from his position. He panted and looked around stupidly. A cat braved the battle and crouched beside him and started to urge him to his feet.
"Now Mr. Heero, if Master Quatre saw you in this state he would be livid, let's get you back where it's safe."
Heero's mind supplied the name. It was one of Quatre's followers, Rashid. Still bleeding, Heero accepted the big cat's help and staggered to his feet. He leaned on the sturdy shoulder and he limped to where Solo and Duo were hiding next to the open hole.
"Come on, come on!" Solo muttered under his breath as Heero settled beside them with a gasp of pain. "Duck, no! Not that way!"
"What the bloody hell is going on?" Heero mumbled through clenched teeth. His brain slowly started to catch up with the world around him. "Who the hell is that? What the hell is Rashid doing here? Who the fuck are those people?"
"Master Quatre was worried about Mr. Yuy," Rashid had turned his head, his eyes unblinking as he watched the fight. He spoke quietly out of the side of his mouth. "He sent me and a few others to find you."
"These people are the Dragons," Duo whispered. She took a deep breath of fresh air but never turned from the battle. "The re-enforcements Meiran, Solo's sister, was getting."
"And that's Meiran out there," Solo's voice was tense with worry. He winced as she fell from an open clawed blow from the heavy tabby. "No! Don't—Good, not stay up sis, that's the way!"
"Aren't you going to help her now?" Duo whispered urgently, her eyes following the fight. "I mean, Heero's out of the way."
"I can't," Solo whispered back, then hissed in sympathy as Dekim slapped her to the ground. She rolled out of the way from his next attack and faced him, spitting and snarling.
"What?"
"It's more then just a fight," Solo started to explain quickly. The crowd loosely circled around the two fighting cats began to shift angrily, hissing and growling at the dirty tactics Dekim had turned too. Meiran yowled as she was blinded with grit and gravel that Dekim threw in her eyes. One took a swipe at him but missed. "When Dekim killed our family the Dragons took us in and raised us. We were told to avenge our family's death. If we interfere now, Meiran loses anyway. She will never be allowed the aid of the Dragons again and we can't survive on our own out here."
"So you are just going to let her die!" Duo turned from the fight to glare angrily at her mate. Distracted, Solo sighed and grumbled as he half turned to return the look.
"I didn't make up the rules! And Mei's good, she won't die." That firmly said, Solo turned back to the fight, whispering encouragement under his breath.
"What if she does?"
"Huh?" Solo was angry and annoyed now.
"What if she does die?"
"I'll kill him."
***
"I have a bad feeling about this."
Quatre gave a slight shudder as if he was cold. Trowa looked up from where she was attending to Dorothy's kittens. The white kitten protested as she stopped his bath.
"What's wrong?" she asked gently before tenderly going back to her ministrations.
"I don't know," Quatre shifted slightly and his eyes scanned the room nonstop. Trowa could practically feel tension peeling off of him. "I just have this horrible gut feeling that something's happening."
Trowa stopped completely to the disgust of the baby. "Everything will turn out right."
"How do you know?" the tone was accusing but Trowa just chuckled. Quatre glared at her and shifted again.
"Everything has to work out okay." Trowa stated simply. "Life flows on, Quatre, and no matter how many bad things happen there will always be something that doesn't care so why should you?"
Quatre still looked around, edgy.
***
Meiran dodged another pounce doggedly. The pace was beginning to tell on her. Months of surveillance work for the Dragons had slowed down her endurance. Dekim, on the other hand, trained daily for such an attack on his power. He chuckled as he circled her slowly.
"No one to protect you now, little princess," his eyes narrowed as he watched her hungrily. "You're going to die."
"It doesn't matter," she replied back, calm. Her chest heaved as she followed his every move, skittering at the slightest suspicion step he made. "My family will be avenged. You won't be leaving here alive."
"No," he agreed, a mad smile on his face. "But you are leading the way."
Meiran ducked to the left as he dove for her throat again. He wildly lashed out with his right paw and it sunk into her torn shoulder. Instinctively, he closed his claws, trapping her as he used his hold to swing around and transferred his momentum. Meiran growled as he pulled her off her feet and they rolled a few times. He started to attack wildly with his free claws, getting blow after blow in on her face and neck. Meiran pounded her hind legs on his belly as best she could but she was at an odd angle.
They rolled to a stop. Dekim's mouth dug into the side of her neck as he pinned her to the pavement. She thrashed her hind legs wildly but was hitting open air. She freed one paw and grabbed the base of Dekim's skull in her claws. They both froze as their enemy held a weak spot.
"You can't hold this up forever," Meiran choked out, focussing on her grip as she felt her strength begin to fail. Dekim squeezed her neck, ignoring her gasp of pain.
Solo was panting, aggravated at the turn of the fight. His tail whipped back and forth violently as he began to tear at the ground under his feet. Duo moved away from him as his eyes took on a slightly insane gleam.
Dekim wanted to end the stalemate quickly. The more blood his lost, the sooner he would fall to the next fighter. He all ready started to feel Meiran's grip weaken but it wasn't fast enough. He braced himself and began to tug and shred at the grip in his mouth. Meiran doubled her effort to hold him off but the combined blood loss and fatigue made her grip slacken.
The blood flowed freely as Dekim yanked one final time then let his hold go. Meiran's head fell weakly to the ground. Blood continued to overflow as Dekim lifted his head to fearlessly dare the crowd to attack.
Heero almost took a step back in fright. Dekim's coat was no longer grey and stripped but ripped and bloody. His ear still poured as the rest of his face was stained with Heero's own and Meiran's blood. He looked like a mad man.
There was a wild cry near him as Solo blindly ran from his hiding spot and leapt for Dekim. The bony black cat landed, paws outstretched, on Dekim, the speed making the two flip. Dekim turned in mid-roll and latched on to Solo's ear with his teeth, holding the thin skin tightly. Solo squealed and plunged for the torn skin on the tattered shoulder beneath him. Dekim screamed around his hold on the tom and wildly began to look for another place to pin him down.
Solo attacked on rage, hissing and spitting as he refused to let Dekim have a moment to breathe. Dekim released Solo's ear and tried to back up a few steps but Solo followed him, his paws and teeth thrashing savagely for anything to hurt.
Dekim's eyes rolled as foam, sweat and blood flecked from his body and splattered on the ground around him. He backed up until he was corned against the wall of the alley. Solo was on him instantly. Dekim whirled, trying to escape to the left. Solo lunged and fell on Dekim's haunches. His claws didn't stay stationary as he began to rip the soft flesh under Dekim's belly.
Blood began to pour and gush out as Dekim yowled and squealed. Solo took a final extra surge and grabbed Dekim's shoulders with both his claws. He twisted and pulled Dekim down and on his back. The tabby didn't stand a chance as Solo zeroed in on the white throat.
The only sound in the black alley was the gurgling cry as Dekim struggled vainly to free himself. Eventually, even that stopped. The cat lay limp under Solo as the black tom continued to rip and tear at the dead body.
Every cat heard and smelled the scent of death in the dark space. Very quietly a few of them left. Duo and Heero stayed in the warmth of Rashid as they waited for Solo to release the killer of his family.
A cool wind whipped through the small passageway as Solo very carefully and slowly let go of the corpse. He hovered over Dekim for a moment or two before moving off and stumbling to the body of his sister.
He settled down beside the still cat and nuzzled her gently. Duo slowed detached herself from Rashid's side and moved to her mourning mate. He didn't acknowledge her as she curled up next to him and began to clean his ear.
"Rashid," Heero's voice was small and shaky in the aftermath of the horrible combat. "I think I'd like to go back home."
The huge tom looked down sympathetically at the shaking tom and nodded in agreement. The night was no place for a housecat.
A small body sheltered on Rashid's other side. Auda trembled slightly from the cold.
"We've found that other tomcat that was hanging around Dekim," he whispered. For some reason, it seemed wrong to speak out loud. "Dorothy said we should leave now. It's a Dragon affair." He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the phrase.
"I should not want to be a Dragon tonight," Rashid sighed quietly as Duo urged Solo to his feet and they staggered together towards a group of Dragon cats coming out of the shadows. "Round up the others and go get Dorothy. I should think everyone is ready for home. Master Quatre will be waiting."
Auda nodded and the next minute was gone. Heero watched from around Rashid as Duo finished delivering Solo to his friends. They were talking about something. Heero looked at the ground, depressed. He wanted to go home. And he knew that Duo wasn't going to be coming with them.
***
Solo collapsed on the ground by the feet of the three Dragon leaders. Duo curled up near him as he shivered in the cold.
"Solo," the speaker was an old grey cat with sharp blue eyes. Duo glanced away as her eyes seemed to look straight through her. "Though you have wandered from the Dragon path, you still live like one. Will you join us again?"
Solo looked up, stricken with grief. Duo bit her tongue from yelling at the old grey. Who did she think she was! Solo had just finished a fight and now she wanted him to make a decision like that on the spot?
But to Duo's surprise, Solo took a deep breath and blinked. His eyes became sure and steady.
"Yes," his voice didn't waver though blood was still pulsing out through deep cuts on his body. "I want to come back. I have no where else to go. I will accept the Dragon ways."
The grey nodded the crouched down to be eye level with Solo. Her blue eyes were filled with sympathy and sadness.
"Your sister's sacrifice will never be forgotten. Her memory will always be honored to us."
Solo closed his eyes as he trembled. The grey straightened up and nodded to the two large cats beside her. They started to help Solo to his feet. Duo moved out of their way. When he was standing and leaning on them, he turned back to Duo.
"Listen," his voice was quiet and heavy with sorrow. "Don't stay out here. You are going to get hurt."
Duo glared and went to protest.
"No, listen to me," he shook his head and looked at her pleadingly. She stopped trying to talk. "Even with Dekim gone, you aren't safe. This is no place for any lone cat. Go find a home and live. You aren't going to accept the Dragon ways, I know." He smiled for a moment. He glanced over at Rashid and Heero. "You see that guy over there? He can take care of you much better then I ever could. Go with him, he'll watch you." Then he winked playfully. "And you can save his ass when he gets in another scrap. Your boy can't fight worth shit."
Duo chuckled then moved to nuzzle her long-time mate. "Fine, you win big guy. I'm only doing this for you though. If you met the nutcase that runs the place you'd be hightailing it out of there too."
The moment was calm and quiet. They touched noses briefly before Solo limped away with his lumbering supporting friends. Duo sat and watched him leave, doubt and regret clouding her vision. She stood to follow him anyway, when she looked back. Heero had stepped away from Rashid and was limping towards Dorothy.
She smiled slightly. Maybe with Heero things wouldn't be so bad. Wufei had begun to grow on her and Trieze wasn't as bad as people thought. Maybe it would be fine. Then she wrinkled her nose. But if She thought Duo was going to mate with a total stranger, that lady was going to get hurt. Badly.
Heero looked up as Auda returned with several other members of Quatre's men. He was surprised to see Duo trotting over to them. She sat confidently beside him.
"Are we ready to go yet?"
"You-" he froze slightly, his heart beating a bit faster. "You're coming with us?"
"Sure," she shrugged playfully. "This place is a real dump, why would I turn down free food?"
"Why indeed," Rashid sighed. "Wasn't this dump the reason we are all standing here right now?"
"Changed my mind."
Dorothy couldn't help but smack the cheeky queen over the head.
GS Note: Well? Was it good? Was it everything you hoped for? If it wasn't, then… please lie in your review? I did work hard for this chapter… And Meiran-lovers, I'm sorry! She wasn't supposed to die, I swear! I meant someone else! And if people still don't like Solo, then there is nothing else I can do. Read the Tale Arc, you'll like him there.
There's still the epilogue peeps, don't worry! I won't leave you there!