Maybe not such a good Idea.

[Anonymous]

His cat butt was out of the bag, now.  Maybe if he kept going, it would confuse her that he didn't react to the poorly remembered version of his name.  At the top of the stairs, he heard her trip and cry in pain.  Stopping to look back, he contemplated what to do.  He could just leave and lock the door so he could go to sleep outside the door, or he could go down and see what she'd done to herself this time, risking completely blowing his identity.  Of course, what guarantee did he have that she wasn't already absolutlely sure of who he was?  Could he risk that there was a chance and go down there?  He really needed some sleep, or he'd be in big trouble at work.  But he didn't want her to get hurt...  He punched the railing on the stairs.

Sighing heavily as he trudged back down, he eventually sat on the step directly above where Itsumi was clutching her knee.  "Let me see it," he said, barely hiding the sound of exasperation in his voice, not at how clumsy she was, but at how soft he was.

[Anonymous]

Her eyes were closed tight as he held her scraped knee.  "Owieowieowie....!" she whispered.  She was then pulled from the pain suddenly when the boy hit the railing.  Her eyes shot open and she looked immediately at him.  He scared her again...She gasped at the sudden pound and looked up at him submissively, her eyes saying 'please don’t hurt me' as he came back down to her.  She whimpered softly, more at him than the pain.  He sat and she winced, closing her eyes again and lowering her head in fear.  

Huh??  Curious eyes shot up to him again.  See what??  Oh!  Yeah, that...  Sitting awkwardly on the steps, she righted herself and stood, wobbling slightly.  She was noticeably nervous.  She stood in front of him and a few steps below him and lifted her leg, placing it between his legs on the step below where he sat so he could see it up close.  Her knee was bent at a ninety degree being on a higher step from her other leg.    It was only a scrape, but it was bleeding.  She stared down at it, her arms at her sides.  She was being obedient again.  Being quiet for a period of time while he examined her knee, she finally decided to speak again.  "I-it is you, isn’t it...?" she asked warily in a soft tone.  Her eyes peeked up at his hood-hidden face.  She wanted to see his face.  Heck, she'd even pull his hood down if he let her, but she was too scared.  So she just looked into the darkness of his face, hoping he'd maybe show her if she was right.

[Anonymous]

Kinich had already pulled out the disinfectant and bandages, again.  He decided to keep his mouth shut and ignored her question, wordlessly patching up her knee.  If she had been able to see his face, however, she would have seen a very deep blush.  She was still in a dress, and when she'd offered her leg to him, he being a step higher, her skirt had risen all the way to her hips.  It provided a very uninhibited view of her underwear that he was trying his absolute best to not stare at.

He stood when he was done and high tailed it to the door above.  He had to get sleep, now that dawn was fast approaching, albeit, just outside said door.  She would be left with all her suspicions, and she'd probably be pondering them whenever she wasn't sleeping, herself.  He didn't look forward to the next night, after work at her parents' estate, when he would return to a girl filled with all the questions he didn't want to answer.

[Anonymous]

With her only good eye, Itsumi watched his face carefully as he tended her knee, oblivious to her showing pink lingerie panties.  It when he was near done that she decided to reach a hand forward to grab at his hood.  It was then that the front of her dress folded over.  She may have only been fourteen, but she still had a bosom, even if it wasn’t that large.  Well, with the straps torn, her dress fell down, revealing a matching bra.  It was skimpy and strapless, designed to be able to hide under the dress.  She had a little cleavage; more when she noticed and immediately brought her arms to cross her chest and hide it, cause her bosom to push together.  This was probably making the boy feel worse, and Itsumi had no idea.  She meeped and blushed.  And this was about when the boy decided to abruptly take his leave.  

Huh?? Wha?? "W-wait!" she squeaked, reaching her arms out to him, and then covering herself again just as quickly.  Damn...  She stumbled up the steps, but he closed the door before she could even get close enough.  But she continued her way up and scratched one hand softly against the door, like a cat, while her other arm held her dress up.  "K-kina...??  K-kina please..." she begged in her whimpering voice.  "P-please...I-itsumi cant sleep here..." The scratch was heard down the door as Itsumi slid too her knees on the upper landing, big enough to sit on before it reached the actual steps downward.  She turned and looked down at the lantern and frowned, tears welling up in her eyes.  But she kept quiet now, her hand just resting on the door now.

[Anonymous]

Standing on the other side of the door, Kinich continued to blush.  He heard her on the other side.  Did that count as taking advantage of her?  He hadn't wanted to do anything like that.  The door was locked and blocked off, so he managed to wander away from it to get his stuff for sleeping.  He'd kept thinking about sleep, but he doubted he'd be getting much with all that was on his mind.  When all was said and done, he only got a few hours in the seven or so that passed before he had to leave the house altogether.

At Itsumi's parents' mansion, Kinich stewed practically all day.  It was torture just waiting for someone to notice Itsumi's absence.  By the end of his day, no had really made any mention of it.  In a chance off period, he'd written a clever ransom note on scratch paper that he kept on him until he was about to leave.  On his way out the door, he stopped when no one was looking, then went back inside.  He approached one of the servants and told them he'd found a sealed note on his way out, then handed it to them.  The outside was addressed to the head of the house.  Thanking the servant, he left once more and headed back to the house he was keeping his master's daughter.

[Anonymous]

The lantern sat there with the fuel all used up.  It had never been moved from where he put it last.  And Itsumi sat with her back against the door, tired eyes open, looking past her arm-wrapped knees, focusing on nothing.  She didn't sleep at all last night, and it looked like she sat in the same spot all night and all day too.  She just sat there, her mind in a daze.  She couldn’t sleep.  She wouldn’t sleep.  So she was awake...all night...and all day...just sitting there...  She wouldn’t even know when he hot back until he was in the room on the other side of the door.  She may have been a cat, but her hearing wasn’t all that great since the accident...  But there was ONE good thing.  She remembered who he was.  There was no hiding it left for him when he got back.  She was positive it was him.

[Anonymous]

Returning finally in the early evening, Kinich unlocked the basement door and pulled it toward him, revealing the girl who'd heard him messing with the lock.  She was attempting to scramble to her feet as he stood there with his bag of stuff in hand, the doorknob in the other.  If he hadn't remembered quickly to replace his hood beforehand, she would have seen his surprised look before dropping the bag and lunging at her.  He grabbed her, making sure she couldn't escape at this inopportune moment, then stooped to pick up the bag again.   With girl and bag in hand, now, he began down the stairs.  It was very dark.  He'd left her a lantern.  What had happened to it?  Speaking of which, he kicked it as he reached the bottom of the stairs, cursing softly more from surprise than pain.  He placed Itsumi on the floor gently, then reached in his bag for the other lantern.  He wasn't about to go looking for the one he'd kicked off the stairs while the door was still hanging wide open above them.  He lit the new one, and the wan light illuminated the black room, revealing the girl and knocked over lantern.  He left the new one on a step and quickly climbed back up to close the door.

The boy returned, keeping a close eye on Itsumi as he retrieved the other lantern.  As he inspected it, sitting on the steps, he found that it had run out of fuel.  That didn't seem likely to him.  There had been plenty left when he'd left if she had blown it out to sleep and lit it again when she woke up.  He'd made sure to leave what she'd need to do so.  Sighing, he pushed it out of his mind.  Reaching into his trusty bag once more, he pulled out some food wrapped in paper.  "You've got to be hungry," he said, his disguised voice persisting, "so eat up."  He didn't even want to think about what she was going to be doing next, so he just dug in the bag and threw her a shirt.  It wasn't much, but all he could find on short notice and still better than the torn dress.  It was one of his clean shirts, so it would be extra big on the small girl.

[Anonymous]

Itsumi meeped as she was scooped up by him and brought back down the stairs of the dark room.  She stayed still in his arms, not wanting to upset him further.  She was set down and the other lantern lit.  She winced at the sudden light and covered her face.  She squinted at him going up the stairs and coming back down, her eyes finally adjusting.  He was being cautious with her.  As soon as he mentioned food, her tummy growled and she blushed, lowering her head.  He still insisted on disguising his voice...  She looked away and then meeped again as a shirt was thrown at her.  She flinched and scrambled to catch the shirt before it hit the ground.  In order to do so, Itsumi had bent over, her dress falling down in the front again, showing off her bra.  She blinked and looked at him, straightening after she got a hold of the shirt.  Obediently, she immediately dropped her dress from her body.  It wasn’t hard, it being ripped and all.  It just kind of fell off, to be more precise.  Standing in her underwear, she looked for the shirt's opening, pulling it over her head once she found it.  Its not like she wanted to be in her underwear in front of him, but she thought she'd better obey so he didn’t get mad.  Itsumi looked at him again once in her new clothes, the neck hole big enough to make it hang off one shoulder.  She stared at him silently, ignoring the food and just looking at him.  

"Kinich..." she said softly.

[Anonymous]

He'd thrown her the shirt, but wasn't totally expecting her to change right in front of him.  She dropped the shredded garment and, while fighting to get into his shirt, stood there close to naked in the lantern light.  She sure was attractive... I mean!  He pulled his hood down quickly over his eyes, so he couldn't see her.  He didn't know if she was done or not, but when she said his name, he felt like shrinking out of sight.  Lifting his hood a bit, he saw her standing there, looking at him while barely fitting in his shirt.  It was a completely different kind of attractive from before with her shoulder peeking out of the neck.  He tried his hardest to keep up the guise, "I don't kn-know what you're talking about," but his voice cracked during the sentence.  Heavens, he sucked at this.  There was a reason he wasn't in an acting troupe.

[Anonymous]

Yes, her shoulder was bare, along with the remains of scars on her left side.  The scars that blinded her and scraped her ear also trailed down onto her shoulder.  She was cute though.  He looked at her and then denied what she just said.  Her tail lowered and she frowned, her eyes still locked onto his hood.  Her head was sort of lowered in disappointment, and added to her pose she currently stood in.  She knew it was him though.  There was no way it wasn’t.  And he couldn’t tell her otherwise.  

The little Itsumi then walked closer to him and looked into his hood a little more.  He'd probably still try and hide his face.  She was slow and cautious in her movements, not wanting to give away anything yet.  Once close enough, she squinted, her one good eye trying to see.  Hopefully this got his attention and he wouldn't be prepared for what she was about to do.  When she got closer, the size difference between the m was more noticeable.  She was a lot shorter than him.  His also made him more able to see down that big shirt he gave her as she looked up at him, a little bit of cleavage flashing.  

Now!  Itsumi lunged upward with her hand aimed or his hood.  She had to see him for herself, because he would just keep denying it.  She leapt at him, gripping the side of his hood.  She was determined, ad he could probably tell.  There was a lot of energy put into her action, too much actually.  She knocked right into him just to get to his face.  The force was great enough, that with surprise, it knocked him backward.  But Itsumi still hadn’t seen his face yet and she wasn’t about to let go.  She pushed him over and they both fell onto the ground, Itsumi straddled on top of him.  There was a very triumphant smirk of her suspicious face as she stared at him, his hood fallen back and her hand pinning it to the ground.  

"Itsumi was right! Kinich, Kinich, Kinich!" She told him.  Her happy grin still in place and her tail upright.  She let go of his hood and just sat there, her hands pressed against his tummy as she saddled him.

[Anonymous]

Just to keep from staring, he decided to lower his hood back over his eyes.  She was silent for a while, and by the time she was close enough for him to be able to see her feet right in front of him, it was too late to jump away from her lunge.  Still attempting it, he only succeeded in cracking his head on a stair above him.  His body was uncomfortably laid out at a 45 degree angle on the wooden stairs.  Lifting his bare and shaggy-haired head, he shook it to regain his wits.  Realizing he was exposed, he began to flood with anger at himself, her, the whole idea, really, and pushed her off of him roughly.  Shooting to his feet, he grabbed his bag and stomped up the stairs.  He left the basement and slammed the door, sliding to the floor with his back against it on the other side.  

DAMMIT!!  He felt like punching something.  What was he supposed to do?  Could he still get the ransom money?  If he did, there was no way he could let her go.  Would he have to kill her?  He shuddered at the thought.  Given the chance to think about it, he knew it was inevitable she would have found out, especially after naming him.  He would probably just have shown her himself if she'd pressed him once more, but that wasn't what happened.  He didn't know why he felt so angry that she'd been so forward about it.

[Anonymous]

Itsumi then saw the look on his face.  She had never seen him mad before...  Her tail dropped.  She shrank back after looking at him, going completely quiet.  She yipped when she was pushed off of him and rolled on the ground.  By the time she looked up, he had already slammed the door.  She slid to a sitting position on her knees and began to cry. She cried silent as usual, holding back her sounds.  She sniffled, tears running down her face.  He was angry with her.  She cupped her face, and then wiped the non-stopping tears uselessly.  Her body trembled.  After a little bit of calming down, she could see enough through her tear soaked eye to grab the good lantern.  She turned it off and threw it across the room and it cracked on the concrete wall, landing on its side. The light was finally gone again and she sat in darkness, holding herself.

[Anonymous]

Not truly getting as much time as he'd have liked to sulk on the other side of the door, Kinich heard the clatter and hurriedly flung the door open.  He stood in the doorway, backlit by the light in the abandoned house.  It was dark again, and he stared down the stairs.  Sharper night vision or not, there wasn't any light down there.  He called down, "Are you okay?" not realizing how much concern was actually laced into his voice.  He couldn't go down there without a light source.  The other lantern he'd returned to his bag was out of fuel.  Was she trying to catch him off guard?

[Anonymous]

One sharp eye could see him once the door swung open.  She sat there silently, a shiver running up her spine when he spoke.  He kept confusing her.  She frowned, staring up at his form in the doorway.  She wiped away more tears, trembling almost violently.  She needed security...  She was scared and cold and alone...  "G-g-go aw-way..." She stuttered softly, trying not to cry.  "L-leave I-itsumi alone..."  She sniffled.  Was he going to come down??  Or was he going to leave and slam the door again?? In reality, she wanted him to stay, but she was too scared to say anything.  It was dark down here...  She didn’t like the dark...  Why DID she break the lantern??  She was frustrated and confused.  She just wanted to leave...

[Anonymous]

Well, she wanted him to go, but he had to make sure she was okay.  Opting for the only solution that made sure he stayed in control of the situation, he stepped back out of the doorway and closed the door.  Locking the door, he left the house with his bag.  He was gone for about an hour while he was refilling the other lantern's oil.  When he returned, he opened the basement door again to see if it was still dark.  If such was the case, he would light the lantern so he could finally see what was going on down there.

[Anonymous]

Kinich finally left.  She heard the door lock and then the sound of his feet as they walked away until it was quiet again.  Itsumi waited until Kinich had fully left and she let out her cries.  She muffled them with her hands and just cried it all out.  Itsumi fell onto her side and layed there, curling up into a ball and shivering.  She would have stayed awake, but she could smell his scent on the shirt.  Her angry eyes saddened and then relaxed and she breathed it in soothingly.  Before she knew it, her eyes drifted shut and she was purring until she passed out from no sleep earlier.  Tears still shed as she slept in the cold, dark basement.

A little after an hour had passed, the lit lantern cast light into the once pitch black room.  There, Kinich would find that she was still asleep, curled up by the stairs where he had left her.  She was cold and trembled slightly in her sleep.

[Anonymous]

Kinich descended the stairs, lantern in hand, and reached the bottom to find a shivering and asleep Itsumi.  Leaving her be for a moment, he went to search for the lantern, finding it against the opposite wall.  She must have thrown it.  The metal parts weren't all that bad, and the fuel hadn't leaked out much, but the glass was shattered.  He couldn't puzzle out why she would have done it, but maybe she just liked the dark.  Regardless, he couldn't leave all this broken glass around in this darkness.  She could hurt herself.

First, he set down the working lantern, and then he took off his sweatshirt, leaving him in a loose tanktop.  He draped the sweatshirt over Itsumi, hoping his lingering body heat would be enough to warm her up to a suitable temperature while she slept.  Next, he started gathering the glass shards, slowly transferring them onto a piece of paper that he could empty into a trashcan somewhere.  The broken lantern went into his bag.

[Anonymous]

Itsumi's one good ear twitched at the light sounds of the glass and her eyes drifted open.  She hated that sound...but why...??  She curled up a little tighter as the sound continued, and then she realized two things. First, there was something very warm on top of her now, and second, there was a dim light in the distance.  It was near the broken glass. She blinked, lifting an arm with the fabric over it.  She stared at it for a moment until her one eye focused. It was a really big sweatshirt.  Then quietly, she sat up a little to look over at the light source, squinting her eyes at first.  She saw Kinich's hunched form picking up those irritating glass pieces. He tired eyes watched him silently and then she glanced back at the shirt.  He put this on her?  Still quiet as a mouse, she sat up fully and crawled into it.  The sweatshirt fit about the same as the shirt she had already been given. To make it fit right, she lined up the shirts and now both hung off the same shoulder.  Man, he was big.  Mmm, it was all nice and warm.  She couldn’t help but smile and cuddle herself in it before her eyes shifted back to Kinich.  Itsumi sat there innocently and watched him. She put a hand over her good ear until he was finished with the glass, but she didn’t dare move.  What would he do if she went over there?? He would probably get angry...

[Anonymous]

Now, to find a trashcan.  Kinich decided to leave the working lantern here while he went back upstairs to dispose of the jagged glass shards.  Turning around, his eyes circled the room on their way to looking back at the stairs, but they caught on the sitting up figure of Itsumi who'd somehow wriggled her way inside of his sweatshirt while he'd been distracted.  It had just been a temporary fix; he wanted it back.  He decided not to say anything about it initially.  Instead, he walked toward the stairs and her and hesitated at the bottom.  With the paper laden with tinkling glass in his hand and the bag in the other, he asked, "You won't break my other lantern will you?  If you like the dark so much, could you just please turn it off?"

[Anonymous]

He looked at her.  She lowered her head and stared away from him, lowering her hand from her ear and curling a little more inside his sweatshirt.  It got quiet again.  The sound of the tinkling glass was at a minimum and Itsumi's ear could relax.  Kinich then stood and made his way back, passing her to get to the stairs, but he stopped...  She froze with fear until he spoke. That was random...  Her innocent eyes followed up from his feet, meeting his face, where she blushed at his question.  She immediately lowered her head and her pointed ears tipped back.  She shook her head at his fist question, and then nodded at his second.  There was another awkward moment of silence before little Itsumi spoke.  "K-kinich...??" she asked submissively.  "P-please don’t leave Itsumi alone down here..." she begged, her voice practically a whisper.  "Itsumi promise never to leave Kinich's side...!  Itsumi will even wear a collar and leash...!" she pleaded, trying not to cry again.