If Only We Could Be Us

I cradle Munro in my arms and start heading back to the school. As I walk he is protesting, squirming, and insisting that I put him down. Needless to say I am just ignoring him. Well I'm ignoring him and trying not to think about the way his small body is so warm and huggable.

As we head back towards the school I try to think of a place that would be safe to bring Munro. Finally I settle on my room, knowing full well that Tommy is pissed at me, so he definitely won't be in there. When we reach the room I open the door, taking a look around at the state of my room. Oops, I'd kind of forgotten that I had torn it to shreds.

"Don't mind the mess." I say quietly, afraid to talk too loud as I break the silence. 

I place Munro gently on the bed, so that he's sitting up with his back leaning against the headboard, and take a seat Indian style in front of him. We sit on silence for a few moments before I can't take it anymore, I hate the silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask, in reference to his little confession earlier about being unable to shift at will. 

"No." Munro states, a blank look taking over his face, but I can still see the hurt in his eyes.

"Alright then, we won't talk about it." I say cautiously, trying to find the right words as not to upset him anymore.

We sit once again engulfed in silence, but this time I let it be knowing that Munro just needs a few minutes to calm down after everything that's happened. So to distract myself from the silence, I decide to look around the room. I avoid it for as long as I can, but eventually my eyes settle on Munro. 

I look at his innocent face, his wide blue kitten eyes, his pouting lips. I feel my eyes tracing down his body, but immediately stop on his leg when I notice blood. 

"Shit kitty you're bleeding!" I all but shout. Before he has a chance to respond though, I'm off the bed and digging through my dresser. 

I walk back towards him when I found what I was looking for.

"Here put these on I say, tossing him a pair of basketball shorts. 

Munro gives me a sheepish grin before stuttering out, "Uhm could you maybe like turn around?"

I smirk to myself, and turn around so I'm not facing the kitten, and wait until he tells me it's safe to turn back around.

I settle him back on my bed and inspect the damage to his leg. It's really not too bad, so I grab a cloth and wipe off the remaining blood as gently as I can. Then I take the antiseptic wipes and wipe them over the cuts quickly. Munro whimpers in pain as the solution stings his wounds. I think my heart breaks a little bit at the sound.

Once the cuts and bites are clean, I bandage them up gently. As soon as I've finished with that I crawl back up the bed, so that now both Munro and I are leaning on the headboard, side by side.

I have a twin bed, so we are rather close together- not that I'm complaining. Munro wiggles around a little bit trying to get comfortable, shifting down on the bed until he's lying down.

I shift down too, and find myself wrapping my arm around his shoulder, his face nuzzling itself into the crook of my neck. And I have to say, cuddling up to Munro was every bit as wonderful as I imagined it would be the first time I laid my eyes on him. 

"I can help you if you want? You know with shifting." I offer, and even as the words tumble out of my mouth, I'm wondering where they're coming from.

"Why would you want to help me? I'm just a kitty as you say." he whispered, his warm breath hitting the side of my neck.

"Because you need help, and I'm the best person to help you." I whisper back. "And because you're the cutest damn thing I've ever seen." I tack on at the end. I know he didn't hear me though, because his breathing had evened out- he was sound asleep.

I must have dozed off as well, but I woke suddenly to the sound of whimpering. I cracked my eyes open just enough to peer down at Munro. His eyes were still closed, but there were tears trailing down his cheeks, and he continued to whimper.

What could my poor kitten be dreaming about that made him hurt so badly? And why did it tear at my heart so painfully?