Author's Note: Short chapter this time. Please read, review and most of all, enjoy...
The days seemed to drag by for Him as he resided with the Professor and the young women who had once been such thorns in his side. He learned more about them with each day; what they enjoyed, their hopes for the future, their friends and their hobbies.
His memory was a stubborn thing, always just out of reach, a thing impossible to grasp. Days passed without any hint of his past, yet as he slept he could still hear the echo of confusion from his realm. The sense of his own uselessness was clawing at him, but he had resigned himself to allow Time to do its work; he had to believe that his memory would return, and that his life would make sense to him once again.
The girls and the Professor had warmed to him, though none so much as Bubbles. Perhaps she had been too quick to trust, but Him never failed to bring a smile to her face. They had grown close, or, as close as their circumstances would allow. With Him's puzzled memories as to how they had known each other in the past and the family's reluctance to enlighten him, the two had managed to build a friendship that faced the future rather than set its roots in their past.
Pleasant routines had been established between the unlikely two. Buttercup's teasing that Him was akin to a pet for Bubbles had taken on a shade of truth, for the demon was rarely away from Bubbles's side. Simply, they liked each other. She would fly to her morning art classes, leaving Him to roam the house and the backyard while the Professor kept himself busy with his accidental experiments in the basement laboratory.
Him, for his part, was content to keep to himself and use the time alone to attempt at rebuilding his memories. The fresh air, the sunshine and the solitude were pleasant; he knew that he made the Professor nervous, and there was no way that he could leave the house yet. Perhaps when he had recalled how to change his form he could venture out, but until then, Him was stuck - not only in the realm, but in the very house shared by the famiy that had taken him in like a stray dog.
It was true that Him had made strides, but how to control the grander aspects of his power still eluded him. What powers of his that he could control were far less useful than, say, being able to return to his native dimension, raise the dead or even recall how he had wound up in this predicament in the first place.
But, there were highlights to being without a past and being taken under the collective wing of the PowerPuffs. Namely, Bubbles was happy to draw his picture and indulge his occasional urge to sing along to the radio while they spent their idle time together in her bedroom. Him's personal favorite, though he would never admit it, was when Bubbles chose to curl against him during the family's movie night.
He had no memories to back his assertion, but Him was sure that he had never held a human in such a way.
He twitched his tail in slight anticipation as he ascended the stairs, intent toward her room.
Ignoring the pain of using his injured claw to knock on her door, Him called to her. "Bubbles, are you in there?"
"Him, come on in, I need your opinion." She called back from the other side.
Curious, Him stepped into her room and stopped short at the sight of her.
There was Bubbles before her desk mirror, wearing a short dress of violet cotton, exposing a great length of leg supported on delicate silver heels. Thin straps showed the curves of her shoulders, while a low sweetheart neckline revealed the top slopes of her breasts. Sultry makeup adorned her face, while her hair was let down to course over her shoulders and down her back in a river of pale gold.
Him absorbed the sight of her looking so alluring, so mature and so damn different, and compressed his response to the change in her - a heady mix of intense jealousy and exquisite arousal - to less than a second. Emotional as he tended to be, Him was more calculating than even he knew, and he was sure that Bubbles would not appreciate his sudden impulse to throw her onto her bed and have his happy way with her.
Rather, he took the change in her for what it truly was: preparation for an occasion, the occasion clearly being that she would be going out and so would not be available for Him to enjoy that night. Damn.
"Well, Him." Bubbles did a slow turn before him, giving him the opportunity to take in the whole effect of her adornment. "How do I look?"
He affected a lazy indifference to her charms, casually leaning against the wall. "You look all right. What's the occasion?"
Bubbles smiled and turned to her vanity table, grabbing a perfume and spritzing the scent along her collarbones, across her chest. "Some friends from class asked if I wanted to go out with them tonight." She explained, inspecting her reflection. The young woman would find nothing less than perfection in the glass.
The doorbell rang downstairs and Bubbles looked up. "That'll be them. Don't wait up, Him. I'll see you lwhen I get back."
She was gone a second later, a flash of blue and she was out the door.
Scowling now, Him moved to her window and twitched his tail; he watched as Bubbles took off with a gaggle of friends for a night on the town. A quick count showed an even ratio of men and women, which meant...
Ignoring the pain, Him tightened his claws, feeling the old urge to attack something. His skin grew heated, the reflection in Bubbles's mirror showed his eyes glowing bright with outrage at the change in all things that had just occured. Yes, he wanted to attack something. Bubbles, perhaps. The young man who would without doubt favor her tonight, most definitely he would feel Him's wrath. But more than anything, Him wanted to attack whatever it was that had robbed him of his mind, his power and his past.
Under Him's heated glare, Bubbles's mirror was beginning to ripple.
Calming himself, Him took a deep breath. There will be time for all of that later. Tonight I have...other issues to sort out.
He had new feelings to examine and old memories to recover.