Author's Note: Please read, review, and most of all, enjoy...

Buttercup drifted behind her sisters, her eyes always on Him as they gave a quick tour of the house. He'd seen the Professor's laboratory down in the house basement, the living room, their backyard, the garage and kitchen, and now he was being given peeks into their most personal of spaces, their bedrooms.

Feeling the adolescent need to express themselves, the sisters had given up sharing a room in favor of carving out their own private space. Blossom's room was at the top of the stairs and so was the first room to see; a space of strict order and uncompromising tidiness, the room had been painted a reserved cream color, broken by black wainscotting along the walls and long curtains of soft pink.

"...and this was for my volunteer work at the U.N. office in Townsville...and this 1st place medal was for my essay regarding the benefit of law enforcement in the urban areas as the Middle East rebuilds its infrastructure... and this one..."

While Blossom gloated about the wall of her room dedicated to her medals, certificates and early diplomas, Buttercup kept her eyes on Him's feet.

They had never seen him barefoot before, and it was strange to realize that his legs tapered into sharp cloven claws, with another hooked claw emerging from his ankles. His legs themselves were very long and muscular which had afforded him a confident stride in the past - due to his injuries and confusion, Him's body language was betraying his new timidity.

No one had said anything, but all three of them were a little unnerved by his behavior. His voice lacked any trace of it's usual gleeful malice, his movements were small and shy. They did not wish to engage him as an enemy again, but Him was so diminished from the flamboyant creature they had once known.

Buttercup wasn't sure if she believed that he'd been attacked and lost his memory. Putting on an act like this was exactly the sort of thing that Him would come up with to trick them into lowering their guard; she had long ago learned to curb her recklessness when it came to confronting their enemies, but Buttercup wasn't going to embrace Him as a friend as her sisters had.

No.

She preferred to keep her distance from the demon, at least until she could be sure that he really and truly had forgotten the enemy he'd been to them in the past. She didn't feel that she was wrong to be aloof; she felt that her sisters were wrong to welcome him into their homes and lives so easily.

Buttercup looked up, startled, as Him turned around to face her. "Where are your diplomas?" He asked. The demon had been genuinely interested in learning about Blossom's accomplishments over the years, and it seemed he wished to learn of hers as well.

Still leaning against the doorframe, Buttercup crossed her arms. "I don't have a bunch of fancy diplomas, but I do have a closet full of martial arts trophies." She said proudly, "You don't get to be the toughest fighter by dropping your guard."

The veiled warning wasn't lost on anyone.

Bubbles quickly cleared her throat, "Let me show you my art studio."

Thankful to be away from the green glare of Buttercup, Him followed the petite blonde into another room. Bypassing Buttercup's room since it was very clear that she didn't want him in her space, Bubbles lead the way to her room. On Bubbles opening the door, Him was hit with bright light and a whiff of vanilla-scented air. He hissed and turned away, allowing his eyes to adjust.

The blonde crossed the threshold and gestured for Him to follow her inside.

It was a bedroom of ample artwork. It was everywhere; sketches, paintings and photographs were pinned to the pale peach walls. As Him had at first discovered, there were several windows to let in natural light and in the center of the room there stood a stool facing a large easel with a desk set against the wall that held all of Bubbles's oil pastels, map pencils, paints and brushes, her charcoal and her ink pots. There were several vanilla candles on an end table beside her bed.

Absorbing his new surroundings, Him stepped close to the nearest wall to look at the drawing pinned there. He stood, tall and silent for several long moments. Bubbles watched as he turned back and gave to her the first smile he'd made all day. From what she could tell, there was no cruelty, no calculating scheme and no malice behind that grin.

Him simply looked…happy.

"Bubbles, these are all so beautiful. You have a real talent." He said as he began to move from one picture to the next.

A compliment from Him. Could the day have been any stranger?

As the day wore on, Him began to draw a few conclusions about the young women who had brought him into their home, and a few conclusions about himself as well. His first conclusion related to Buttercup, she of the dark hair and perpetual scowl whenever she looked in his direction; he was beginning to understand that she did not trust him, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to know why.

He decided early in the afternoon that it might be best for all involved if he limited his contact with Buttercup. She obviously didn't like him, and he wasn't sure that he liked her, either. Such a pretty girl she could be, if only she'd smile. Best for all if they avoided each other, he'd decided.

As for Blossom, he thought she was nice enough, but just by watching her interact with her sisters, he began to see how bossy and self-important she was. Very intelligent, she was a natural leader, but she had asked him several questions to which he had no answer - where he came from, if he could recall having parents and how "his kind" bred their young. He had no answers for the pretty redhead, though, his mind was empty of all thoughts of his past.

Flashes of memory would come to him, bits and pieces were returning, but he still lacked any notion of the big picture.

His uselessness was making him restless, but what could he do? He could recall nothing before the blonde one had tapped him in Townsville Park.

Which brought him to Bubbles.

Petite, blonde-haired, bright-eyed Bubbles.

Him sat on the end of her bed and watched as she laughed at something Buttercup had just said. He'd decided that he liked Bubbles the most of the three sisters. While Buttercup scowled and Blossom interrogated, Bubbles had made an effort to befriend him. She'd shown her drawings to him, even going so far as to do a quick sketch of him.

He studied the picture resting on his lap, wondering why it was that he looked so different from them, why he was what he was and not a man like the Professor. And what was he? Where had he come from? He was more eager than Blossom to know these things about himself, and even more eager to learn what had happened to banish his past.

"...ok, fine! I'll ask him."

He turned back to the sisters, smiling as Bubbles approached and sat down beside him on the edge of her bed. He blinked, thinking that each of the sisters were very pretty, but that there was something about Bubbles that he favored. "Him? There's something we've been wanting to ask you for years, ever since we first met you."

He nodded. "I'll answer it if I can."

She smiled back to him, glancing for a moment to her sisters before meeting his eyes once again. "All right. Just out of curiosity, why do you usually wear a dress and tall boots?"

Him glanced over to see Blossom and Buttercup leaning in, curious. He thought for a moment and cleared his throat. "Well, a dress is easier to move in than pants and when you have legs like mine, why not show them off?" He asked, teasing.

The young women surrounding him began to laugh at the quip, flashing his sense of humor for the first time that day. Him realized that it felt good to tease, to make them laugh with his joke.

"Why do you have a tail?"

The question came from Blossom this time, her eyes lit with that same pushy determination he'd seen earlier in the day.

Him blinked, "I didn't have one before?"

Together, the triplets shook their head.

Him glanced down to said tail, a long coil of muscle ending in a sharp point, and he twitched it. "Hmm...I don't...do I look the same as the last time you saw me?" He asked them.

Buttercup narrowed her eyes, sizing him up. "Not exactly. It was years ago. You're taller now, and you've filled out since we last fought- er, saw you."

Him raised a brow. Did she just say I'd fought with them?

"Yeah, you're as tall as the Professor," Blossom jumped in quickly, covering her sister's slip. "And, your claws are bigger too."

He glanced down to his bandaged claws, useless as they were now, bound and broken. His ears twitched, picturing how he must have looked when they had last seen him. "Oh. Well, you three have grown up. So have I."

Immediately, Blossom latched on to his comment and began to ask what sort of biological changes his could recall going through as he aged.

Bubbles and Buttercup merely rolled their eyes.

A few hours later, after having had Him listen to their favorite music and watch a bit of their favorite television programs - Law & Order for Blossom, WWE Smackdown for Buttercup and several Animal Planet documentaries for Bubbles - they heard the doorbell and the Professor's exchange with their usual delivery boy. A few moments later and he called them all to the kitchen for dinner.

"Girls, the Chinese just came and I got a few extras for our guest."

Almost as one, the three sisters flew to the kitchen, leaving a colorful energy trail in their wake. Him, separated from the memory of his powers, opted for the stairs. He crossed into the kitchen and spied the extra chair brought in from the living room. The very chair that the Professor had been ready to throw at him for the crime of standing too close to his daughters.

Him slowly moved to sit down at the table, feeling terribly out of place in the face of this family as they prepared their plates for the meal. He thought it might be better if he was not present during their dinner, but just as he rose to leave, the one called Bubbles set a plate before him.

"Here you go. Eat up, it'll help you heal faster." She smiled at Him before turning to answer a question the Professor had asked of her.

Him looked at the plate before him, the generous helpings of fried brown rice, peppered steak and steamed vegetables. His stomach clenched in hunger. He watched the others eat for a moment, and then attempted to do so himself.

As the Professor chatted with Buttercup and Bubbles, Blossom discreetly watched as Him struggled several times simply to pick up a pair of chopsticks off the table. With his claws first so injured and now bandaged shut, there was no way that he would be able to feed himself.

Despite everything, pity bloomed in Blossom's heart as she watched his frustration grow. It was true, she wanted Him to forget his evil ways, but she had no desire to see him get hurt or go hungry – not now when his amnesia and injuries had rendered him nearly helpless.

Sitting at his side, Bubbles couldn't miss the trouble that Him was having. Out of all the sisters, Bubbles was the most sympathetic. Him was ready to give up and go hungry for the night when he looked up to see a juicy piece of orange chicken clamped at the end of Bubbles's chopsticks. She held the morsel out to him, her expression coaxing.

Him growled slightly, detesting his own helplessness. It galled his pride to have to be fed, he wasn't a damn child! He was…he was…

"Aw, Bubbles, we should get your new pet a pretty collar!"

Him scowled at Buttercup's joke and quickly left the table.

"That was mean, Buttercup, you didn't have to tease him." Blossom huffed at her sister.

Buttercup rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. After everything he's done, I think Him, the cruelest of cruel, can handle a little teasing."

"But he doesn't remember being the cruelest of cruel," Bubbles spoke up. "You've seen how he's been acting. He's confused and…I think he's scared."

"Yeah, I've seen how he's been acting and that's all I think it is – just a big act to get under our skins!" Buttercup said plainly. "I'm sure any minute now he'll get bored with pretending to be this sweet amnesiac and he'll reveal some scheme to take over Townsville again, just you wait and see!"

Blossom shook her head. "I'm inclined to agree with you, Buttercup, but if Him wanted to attack us or bait us into another game, he would have done it already. I think he really did lose his memory, though I hope he never remembers what he was."

The Professor raised a brow. "I'd just be happy to know you girls didn't have to fight him again. Him is – er, was – your most powerful enemy, no one you've ever faced before was a match for what he could do. If he really has forgotten all he was, then I can only imagine how frustrated he must be. For the time being, let's just agree to be a little more sensitive, all right?"

Buttercup scowled, but finally nodded.

While her sisters and the Professor went on with dinner and began to discuss the movie they would watch that night, Bubbles went off to look for Him.

She found him outside, perched on the low brick wall of the backyard deck, staring into the darkness.

"Him? I'm sorry that Buttercup teased you at dinner." She said quietly as she began to step closer to him.

He glanced over to see her coming closer, and to his surprise, she sat on the wall beside him. He shook his head, "I don't care about what she said. I just feel…unbalanced, like my world has been turned inside out, only I can't even remember what it was like before this happened to me."

Bubbles frowned. "You really can't remember, can you?"

He shook his head. "I know my name, now. My real name, not the one you call me. I remember my home, and how I could see the world from there…then the shadow came to take my mind. There was nothing until you girls found me."

"I'm sorry. I know you're probably scared right now."

"Scared? Me? Never that, Bubbles!" He flicked his tail, accidentally knocking over a potted fern.

Bubbles rolled her eyes at his bravado. "I know you're scared right now, but you don't have to worry. We won't abandon you unless you go back to your old ways. For your sake, I hope you don't." She said quietly.

Him silently accepted her fair warning, and looked down to his ruined claws, folded in his lap. Something had attacked him, though he didn't know what it had been. Something powerful enough to wipe his memories, something powerful enough to send him from his home and leave him at the mercy of three – hmm, make that two – sweet young women.

Him's eyes burned bright, two points of flashing crimson in the dark night. Whatever that something had been, it would feel his claws around its throat very soon…

"Him? If you're still hungry," Bubbles said, splitting a new pair of chopsticks. He looked over to see that she'd brought out a fresh plate for him.

Him looked down at his claws, wishing that they would heal immediately to save him the humiliation of Bubbles's kind pity.

Her hand on his shoulder silenced any refusal he might have made.

The young hero fed the demon in the dark, forming a kinship once thought impossible.