A/N: Okay, I'm beginning to fall back on this story. I enjoy writing it, but I don't know how many people are actually enjoying it. Anyways, I best just let y'all read.

Chapter Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Chapter Rating: M

Rating Content: Coarse Language, Mild Blood, Mild Mentions of Rape, Mentioms of Abuse

Consciousness was slow in coming to her, but it was better than coming fast and delivering a headache.

She was beginning to feel something wet against her nose and she shrunk back. "Go away, Pup."

As soon as Tahki spoke, the young wolf cub barked and continued to nuzzle at her face and neck, licking her awake. She swiped at him and sat up, "Okay, I'm up..."

"KiKi!"

She was suddenly brought into a fierce hug and she groaned loudly. "Jesse, you're crushing me!"

"You could've died!"

"From what?"

Jesse pushed back to look at her, brows furrowed in confusion. "You don't remember? You were attacked, Tahki."

Her eyes widened as soon as the words slipped past his mouth; the stranger, whomever that was , had attacked her. Well, Pup had attacked them first... Oh, Pup! She scooped the young wolf up with her arm and kissed his head. "Pup, you brave little shit..."

He licked at her face and barked happily.

Jesse patted Pup's head. "If it wasn't for Pup's barking and growling and howling, Ronin wouldn't have found you in time. The guy was dragging you off and Ronin just caught him in time."

Tahki looked around to see she was back in her room. It was beginning to get dark out, so she must have been out for hours. Just exactly how hard had she been hit over the head?

They both heard someone shouting in the hallway and they already knew who it was before the words even became distinguishable.

"-and I swear, I am going to kill whoever managed to let the bastard in!"

Her door slammed open to reveal a very distressed (and blood-splattered) Pagan Min. Pup gave a short howl and jumped off of the bed and towards Pagan, running alongside him as he made his way over to Tahki. She quickly held her hand up. "You're covered in blood, don't come near me."

Jesse was quick to make his way out of the room. "I'm not about to get in the middle of whatever shitstorm you two are gonna stir up. I'm out."

As he closed the door behind him, Pup jumped up onto her bed and gave another short howl, looking back over his shoulder with his tongue lolled off to the side. Tahki pursed her lips. "I don't know what you're trying to communicate, Pup. What even is with that face?"

Pagan sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I am gone, for not even a few hours, and you manage to nearly have yourself killed and captured?"

"It's not my fault, honestly. I was only taking a walk and then I got ambushed." She stroked Pup between his ears. "If it wasn't for Pup, I definitely would've been captured. He knew the intruder was there and attacked him outright. Even when he got thrown into the wall, he got right back up and attacked again. Pup protected me."

Pagan looked down at the wolf cub, who looked back up at him with a smile on his snout (or what looked to be like a smile). He knew she was trying to give him a reason not to hate the young wolf, and although he wouldn't admit it, it was somewhat working. He sighed again and he gently pet the creature. "Good boy..."

Tahki watched as Pagan stroked the little pup. There was a small tenderness, she noticed, rather than tenseness. Either he had a soft spot for puppies, or for once (in the times that she had seen him) he actually seemed a bit relaxed. "Okay, you wouldn't just barge in here for nothing. And, knowing you, you probably want to talk about something. So, either go and get washed and changed, or we're not having any discussion."

The tenderness was immediately gone. "Only if you drop that fucking bitchy teenager act." He hissed.

She quickly bit her tongue to avoid snapping at him. "Already dropped."

Pagan rolled his eyes but he quickly left the room, closing the door behind him. She looked down at Pup, who stared at the door. "I don't get how you like him so much."

Pup looked back at her over his shoulder.

Tahki eyed the wolf up and down and then quickly pulled out her phone. "Let's see..."

/ / /

"'Wolves sometimes appear when you face challenges for which you feel less than prepared for.'" She read aloud. "'Sometimes, the Wolf calls on you to become the Lone Wolf to break away from the pack to discover the sacred self. During times of aloneness you rediscover your dreams and passions. You also start uncovering the true self and voice that howls at the moon with abandon.'"

As if to accentuate what she had read, Pup lifted his head and howled briefly before looking back at her with his piercing blue gaze. She quirked an eyebrow at him. "What, you really think that I believe you're some spirit animal?"

"Do those even exist?"

Tahki looked up to see Pagan finally cleaned. "It's been half an hour." She stated. "I thought it was women who took a long time getting ready?"

Pup suddenly jumped off of the bed and ran over to Pagan, sitting directly in front of him and looking up at him. "Why do you keep doing that?" She asked.

Pagan merely stepped over the young wolf and shook his head in annoyance. "Blasted mutt..." He muttered.

She quickly shut off her phone and placed it on her pillow. "Alright. So, 'bitchy teenager' act aside. What is it you want to talk about?"

"Well, it's not too much, really." He stood in front of her, keeping a short distance in case she lashed out at him. He also carefully ignored the little creature that pawed at his leg. "Seeing as my men are starting to become incompetent, I have decided that, since I actually know how to do things properly, I am staying here at the palace until this whole... terrorist business is sorted out."

Tahki stared at him, blankly, at first, not a single muscle twitching and her eyes unmoving. The calm before the storm, he thought.

"You can't be serious."

"I rarely am one to joke."

"You can't be fucking serious!"

She was now furious! She valued her time alone, when Pagan wasn't around, because she was free to do as she pleased without disapproving eyes or snarky comments. She didn't want him constantly watching her! Dammit, why were things going so wrong for her?!

"Bitchy teenager..." He muttered.

He noticed her fingers clawing at the sheets (and it was most likely that she was pretending it was his throat she was scratching at) before she suddenly let out a deep breath. "Get out."

Pagan was quick to comply, turning on his heel and heading straight for the door. Before he could even open it, however, he felt something blocking his legs and he looked down to see Pup sitting in front of him. "Get out of the way." He snapped.

He moved off to the side, and Pup scooched himself along so he still blocked his path. Pagan then quickly stepped over him.

Pup was a lot quicker (and stronger) than what Pagan gave him credit for, and as soon as he had stepped over the wolf, he had grabbed at his pant leg with his jaw, gently pulling back and letting out a low growl. It wasn't a playful one, but more of a threatening one.

Tahki, who had been watching the whole situation as it happened, furrowed her brows as Pup refused to let go of Pagan. What was the little creature trying to tell her? An afterthought suddenly struck her. "Actually, hold on."

Pagan immediately stopped in his attempts to get out of the room and Pup released his grip on his pants. "I do have some questions I want to ask you."

He raised an eyebrow. "What questions could you possibly have?"

She pushed herself back onto the bed and sat Native Style. "Why are you so hellbent on trying to keep me from getting hurt? What is it that's driving you so much to keep me protected?"

Once again stepping over Pup (who immediately followed behind him) he made his way over to the nightstand and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest. "You have to promise not to get angry over this."

She waved her hand dismissively. "As long as you answer my question."

"It's your father." He saw her tense up, but she held herself back. "He worked for me, he was my best soldier. I dare say we were even friends. He had saved my life more than once. I should be dead, but he managed to keep me alive. I owed him. A lot. However, with his passing, I cannot seem to repay him."

Her father never really mentioned his work to her, only telling her bits and pieces of what he did and who he worked for. But he never went into great detail. So, instead of making her angry, this was making her more curious.

"However, he had sent me a letter about seven years ago." Pagan continued. "He knew you moved here, but he somehow knew I didn't. He requested one thing from me, and that was to make sure no harm was to come to you. He didn't want you to suffer for the things he had done."

Tahki scoffed.

He decided that he would get some answers himself. "Alright, my turn." He leaned forward, slightly, in an inquisitive manner. "Why do you hate your father so much? What did he ever do to you?"

Her eyes narrowed and her lips could be seen curling into a snarl. "That's my business to know, not yours."

"And it wasn't your business to know why I am protecting you." He countered. "I answered your question. Now you answer mine."

Pup suddenly hopped onto her lap, curling up into a ball. He was trying to comfort her, she thought. Animals were smarter than humans gave them credit for; they knew when they were in distress, or were feeling lonely or angry or sad. Tahki gently stroked Pup along his ears and back. "Sit down, a minute, would you?"

"Where?"

"Just sit."

Pagan was unsure as to if this was just some sort of ruse so he could get close enough for her to slap him, but he complied (albeit hesitantly) and placed himself beside her on the bed, elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together.

She didn't even flinch, she didn't even look at him. She was just staring at Pup, who looked at him with sad eyes. Why did he get the feeling that, whatever she was going to tell him, wasn't going to be good?

Tahki took a deep breath to calm herself down before speaking. "When my father adopted me," she started, "he loved me almost instantly. He treated me like I was his own child. For just over a year, he loved me, cared for me, he would take me out for things like movies, or just to eat out somewhere. But, after that one year was over, he suddenly started to change. Something in him... it just snapped."

"He would smile less. Whenever he came home, he never greeted me with his usual hug. He started being almost reclusive. It wasn't long until... until he started coming home angry. At first, he would snap at me, sometimes even yell at me. Of course, me being adopted and just being a teenager, I didn't really understand why he was suddenly acting the way he was."

Without even hearing the full story, Pagan could already tell where it was headed. He didn't know if he should have stopped her, let her know that he understood, or if he should just let her talk. It didn't really matter, of course, as she just kept on talking.

"Then, it started getting worse. If he was angry enough, he would sometimes hit me. A smack on the face or something. I never knew why he did it, but I just stayed quiet about it. And then... then he started coming home drunk. Drunk and angry."

"Tahki-"

"He would come home drunk, and he would just beat me!" She hissed. "There were so many times where I couldn't go to school because of the bruises! For months, he had abused me, beaten me almost into submission, he never cared if I cried, or if I begged him to stop. One day, I decided that I had had enough and I tried to stand up to him, but... it didn't end too well. I had to go to school the next day because of exams, and Jesse didn't fail to notice how sore I looked. When he asked... I answered honestly."

Tahki bit back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes, sniffling quietly. "Jesse made it so that I would stay away from home as much as possible and he took me to someone who taught me self defense and mixed martial arts; that's where I get most of my fighting skills from, if that's what you were wondering."

Pup suddenly whined and nuzzled into Tahki, giving her hand an almost reassuring lick. "One night, I had to go home because Jesse was going away for a family trip. I was scared, and he knew it, but couldn't do anything about it. When my dad came home, I was expecting him to immediately yell, or to start trying to hit me. But he surprised me and just sat on the couch with me." She scoffed. "Stupid me, I thought I was safe, despite the smell of alcohol hanging around him. I didn't know it then, but I know it now; he was thinking over what he wanted to do."

Tahki hugged Pup close to her body, her eyes filling with tears. "He tried to..." Her voice cracked and she huffed. "He tried to rape me..."

Pagan was shocked at her words. He had known her father for years, and he never thought him to be that way. Although he was one of his soldiers, he was still a kind man. The only reason he left was to try and turn his life around after Kyrat was taken. Sure, he could do some questionable things whilst drunk, but never had Pagan thought he'd lean towards something so terrible!

He wanted to reach out, then, to try and comfort her, but then he remembered how much he valued his hand and decided against it. They were nowhere near being friends, or even good companions, so comfort was pushing things.

"I was eighteen at the time and I had been going to the MMA classes for a while." Tahki continued. "So... I was able to fight him off. I called Jesse and he convinced his family that he was sick enough that he needed to head home. Gave me an excuse to leave the house."

Pagan hesitated slightly before asking, "Did he leave you alone after that?"

She shook her head. "No. Only after I gave him a beating did he leave me alone. Until the next time. And, by the time I was twenty, I couldn't find much of a job and couldn't move out, so I decided to move here to Kyrat, by my sister's suggestion."

"You had a sister?"

"No. She was one of my friends, but I considered her a sister. She was able to look into my father's family history and there was a house here that had yet to be claimed by one of the Gagné's. So, I decided to leave. Jesse was seventeen at the time, but he claimed that his family hated him anyways, so I managed to get him to come along with me." Tahki shrugged.. "The rest is history."

It all made sense to him, now! This explained a lot about her; her attitude, her behaviour, her hatred and her sharp temper. She had suffered a lot in her childhood, constantly going through the system, and then being abused by her adoptive father. It almost made him angry.

She sniffled and wiped at her eyes. "I'm sorry, you weren't looking for a life story."

"No, it's... fine." He reassured her. "I'm actually glad you decided to be honest. It's refreshing."

She pointed a finger at him. "Don't you go thinking that this changes anything between us. You're still a dick, and we're nowhere near being friends."

Pagan immediately bit his tongue, trying desperately to hold back the snarky comment that burned at the back of his mind. Instead, he quirked his eyebrows. "God forbid."

Pup looked between the two humans, a small grin on his snout as he panted happily. That was one more big barrier down, and it was more than enough to tear down the rest. As long as they didn't end up strangling each other (which he would definitely try to prevent), of course.