Two chappies in one day :)

Hope you like it.

CHAPTER 7

It was finally morning and Shan had just woken up. Moving to roll over to the edge of the bed he stopped when he heard a soft growl. Looking over the side he saw Ryoma curled up at the side. Give a small smile to the cat boy and getting out the other end he got on with his morning routine. He was now dressed and down stairs making breakfast.

Not long after Seiichi came down rubbing his neck.

"Sei, your neck still hurting?"

"Yeah, just a bit. How's Ryoma? I seem to remember scratching him as well."

"Oh, he'll be fine. Just stay out of his way for awhile before attempting to make he open up to you again." With a nod Yukimura sat down at the table.

"So what's for breakfast?"

"Ah, we are having full English while Ryoma will be just having as much bacon and sausages that he can stuff in that black hole he calls a stomach." Sei looked down at the plate that Shan had just put in front of him.

"Do you think Ryo-Chan hates me?" Looking towards his nephew he could help but let a hugh grin form.

"Ryo-Chan?" He asked in a teasing tone. Huffing, Sei turned to look his uncle in the eye.

"Well... I'm meant to get along with him and people say bonds get closer if you give each other nicknames."

"You have no right to give me a bloody nickname. I don't like you. Leave Shan alone his mine!" Came the yelling from upstairs. Shan knowing about the boys strange nature chuckled. While by the looks of it Sei was still slightly fearful of the boy. He had gone slightly pale.

"Sei, don't show Ryoma that your afraid. He will just use that against you. Carry on calling him what you will. He will get use to it. Give it time and he might just open up to you. Just know when to back off before you get hurt."

"Like Shan said back off." The cat boy decided to finally make his appearance. He was wearing what he went to bed in last night. Shans shirt went down to the boys knees. You could see his tail keeping low and looking up you could see the look in his eye saying he was completely serious.

"Well, Ryoma your very confident today." Said Shan as he got a plate filled to the brim with the tigers breakfast.

"He already knows. Which is your fault. So I don't feel scared about hiding my appearance in the house. Also I'm not cleaning up after him. He's your pet."

"Ryoma, Sei's family. Not a pet."

"Whatever!" You could hear it in the tone that Ryoma didn't believe the man. Shan couldn't and didn't want to believe how immature the boy was acting about the situation. He knew this was only the beginning and if Sei didn't do anything to get on his good side soon there could be more damage.

Getting Ryoma out of the house to Shan surprise was rather easy. Especially when he found that Sei was going to be there all day. Today Ryoma decided to wear a baggy pair of trousers after complaining yesterday that his tail was soar. A short sleeved dark blue hoodie with a jumper going over it. It seemed that the boy was sure as hell going to play a game today and seeing as today was rather warm it was the right choice.

There was no complaint on the way in the car. No... The real trouble started when Shan stopped in the parking lot.

"Okay Ryoma. I'll come find you at the end of the day. Please behave and please don't start anything. If you need me go find Sumire and I'm sure she'll let you use her phone to phone me. I'll be at home with Sei." As the last sentence left his lips Ryoma looked towards the driver.

"Why?" He spoke softly. "Why does that guy get to stay with you and not me? Is it because I'm not related to you by blood?" Ryoma was getting louder and louder. "Why is he getting all you attention? What did I do wrong?" Grabbing the boy arms he pulled him close.

"Shhh..." He started rubbing the boys back. "Remember I told you Sei's not well."

"Neither am I. I'm messed up more than him." He mumbled into the mans shoulder.

"Your not messed up. Your you and no one can change it. I wouldn't, even when you have a temper tantrum." He was speaking softly to the child. The fact that the boy was sitting on his lap made it just that much easier to calm him down.

"I don't have a temper." He looked directly into Shan eyes with total seriousness.

"Oh, but you have tantrums." Ryoma realizing he left that out gave Shan a smile and quickly whipping his nose on the mans shirt. "Ryoma you know there is a thing called a tissue." With that he hugged him before getting out the car and watching the man drive off.

'Another day, another struggle.' Ryoma thought as he made his way to his classroom before everything got too crowded.

(Flashback - Ryoma POV)

I was laying on my stomach. Arms and legs chained down. The men in white suits all gathered round. They gave me so many injections. They kept saying it was to keep me calm. I still felt it. The knife digging into me. I screamed begging them to stop. It hurt so much. I could barely hear them talking.

"You have the spine."

"Yes, sir."

"Alright. Everyone we had a few practices with the test subjects. We have to get it right. We need to detach the human spine from the rest of the body and we need to move fast."

"What about the growth. We need to be able to have it heal. We need the skin to grow back along with the fur."

"Don't worry about that. We had DNA from the cat put into him and have been feeding it into his system for about a year now. As you can tell some of the changes are noticeable."

"You mean the ears. I thought they where another test you did."

"No it seems they changed over time. Making sounds easier to hear seeing as his other ears couldn't handle such frequences. Right everyone enough talk we need to do this now."

I spent days after that not being able to move. My spine was not my own. It was so painful. They said something about the spine being longer thus giving me a tail. That was there goal in this test. To give me a damn tail. To make me look even less human. I hated it.

Throughout the next month I was cared for and injections came daily. While they helped me get use to this thing I was hating myself more and more. It almost felt natural to have it there. That was what I felt most disgusted about. When I was finally able to move properly they let me wonder the lab. Yes I had like 10 of those crazy bastards watching me but it felt nice to move again. It was my first real scar. One reaching from the back of my neck down to where my coccyx use to be. Where my spine use to end.

I am Ryoma... I think. I don't know anymore. I am 5 years old that's what I was told anyway. And at this point in time I wish I had died on that table.

(End Flashback)

I woke up panting. Feeling hyper aware. Looking around I saw I was in the office on the sofa. Remembering I went here to sleep I slowly got up and felt slightly light headed. I couldn't believe it. It had already been over 10 years since I've had my tail and my ears. It felt weird knowing I wasn't born with them. It felt so right that I could no longer imagine myself any other way. I knew I needed to calm down. Taking deep breaths I felt my body relax.

Putting my hand behind my back and up my shirt I felt up and down my spine. I could feel it. It was really sensitive. My spine, or what is my spine now. Despite all the scars on my back, the scar from the spine replacement surgery (If you can call it that) was still the easiest one to make out.

Looking over to the clock on the wall which read 2, I decided to just make my way to the tennis courts now and avoid the rush. Right now I'm just hoping that monkey faced Horio will leave me alone.