Private Finished Confused Little Cat

Tadashi had run away. His brother... sister? His sibling had revealed that they could change between male and female and rather than stay there and be supportive for his sibling he had just abandoned them.

He hadn't wanted to abandon him. Hell, he had been absolutely serious when he had told Shiro the day they met that he loved them even if they didn't want to love him or Tomo back. However his brain was having trouble comprehending the idea that his brother was effectively both male and female. He hadn't been mad or upset, just struggling to understand it. Standing there stunned and unable to think of what to say he had started to worry that the longer he stayed there without saying anything the worse he was making things for Shiro. He could see how nervous his sibling was about it. Then Tadashi had started getting a splitting headache and he panicked and just ran.

He followed his instinct to flee the situation. To run away from the stress and pain of being a person, as usual. To try to go be a cat even though he knew it wouldn't work. It hadn't been working the rest of the times he had tried it.

Tadashi ran and ran as far as he could in cat form before he collapsed into a lump hidden away in an alley.

What do I even do now? I can't face Shiro again now and Tomo is probably going to be pissed.

As Tadashi struggled to catch his breath he realized something even more terrible. Something that hurt him even more. How much had he just hurt Shiro by running away? Shiro hadn't told either Tadashi or Tomomi about the gender thing so it was probably something that was uncomfortable already and then there was whatever else that had happened to Shiro in their past. Tadashi had definitely made things significantly worse for his sibling by doing the exact opposite of the right thing. He was worried he might have ruined his chance of having a positive relationship with Shiro.

These thoughts weighed heavily on his mind as he let himself drift off to a fretful and thoroughly unsatisfying sleep. Tadashi hoped that after some rest he could figure out what to do. At the very least it would be a temporary escape from his problems.

After a few hours of sleep and a night spent hunting for mice and discarded food Tadashi had decided he needed to go find Shiro. He wasn't really sure how to deal with the situation but he knew he had to at least go apologize and try to explain that he really did love Shiro regardless.

Nervously Tadashi walked around the festival in cat form trying to see if Shiro was around again. He found no trace of Shiro but something he overheard floored him. Two girls sitting on a bench were quietly talking about how apparently some eighth grader had lost it, making a big scene and outright rejecting his sibling for being genderfluid the evening before. The sibling had run off upset afterwards.

Tadashi's heart sunk. He knew he didn't deserve any relief a chance to apologize would bring. As far as he knew any attempt to go talk to Shiro would just make things worse if that is really how they had seen what happened. Tadashi's entire body drooped and he dragged himself away from the festival. This time however he headed for the woods.

Now everyone is going to hate me. I'm so weak and yet still i'm hurting people. I can't help Tomo with what she has been going through- she said she would kill me if I tried. I'm definitely not helping Shiro at all.

The miserable thoughts continued until Tadashi found a nice hidden spot up in one of the trees fairly deep in the woods. He curled up into a ball and tried to make himself as small as possible. If he had been in human form he would have been sobbing uncontrollably.

He must have been making some noises in his sleep because not too much later he was woken by the sounds of growls from several wild wolves gathering below the tree branch and staring hungrily up towards him.

Peering down from his perch on the large branch he could see the wild, drooling creatures. He knew that look on their faces. They had found their prey and probably wouldn't leave him alone. Tadashi felt exhausted and really just wanted to go back to sleep but there was no way that was going to happen with the wolves around. They probably wouldn't be able to climb to reach him but he also couldn't easily leave either.

I'll just scare them off then. Make it clear i'm too much trouble and they'll just go find an easier meal.

Tadashi adjusted himself so he was sitting on the middle of the large branch and then shifted into human form to yell at them and appear bigger. It was a huge mistake. As soon as he took human form he felt like he was blinded and he was overwhelmed by noise. It was as if all of his senses were just giving him too much information at once and it hurt so badly. He squeezed his eyes shut and threw his hands over his ears but it didn't stop the pain. He involuntarily let out a scream and that made it even worse. In his pain and confusion he lost his balance and slipped off the branch.

The fall was over quickly and before he knew it he was crashing into the ground with a loud thud. The wind was knocked out of him and even more pain shot through his body. Apparently cats didn't always land on their feet. Or maybe Tadashi just wasn't enough of a cat.

With the boy's senses going haywire he laid there on the ground as the wolves stalked forward. The growling, hungry wolves surrounded him and started sniffing at him. He was alone and helpless and no match for them. Every second Tadashi waited for the first set of teeth to tear into him. His heart raced and his terror and confusion and helplessness boiled within him until he started to feel that familiar, horrible feeling rising within him. He was about to lose control.

"Get back you disgusting worthless scavengers," he yelled, "I'm not fucking weak! I'm dangerous. I'm hurt, the people I care about are hurt, and you know what? Maybe you should join us in this pain." He started laughing even though it hurt and it sounded decidedly demonic. He gave in and let himself lose control. He didn't care anymore.

Tadashi hissed and snarled as white fur sprouted all across his body, though beneath his gloves and socks the fur was actually pitch black in color. His yellow eyes narrowed and shifted to those of a cat and he grew cat ears and a tail. By the time his claws tore their way out and shredded his gloves Tadashi was essentially gone. He was all anger and emotion and claws.

In his half-cat form Tadashi's senses felt... normal. They were very sensitive but it felt like that was how they were supposed to be. Maybe this was his natural form. They allowed him to experience every detail of each slash and cut as he tore through the wolves. The terrified wolves bit and scratched him, causing plenty of injuries but Tadashi didn't seem to care at all. His only drive was to lash out and make the fear and pain go away.

The scene would have been quite disturbing for anyone who stumbled by. Tadashi wasn't finished though. The wolves were gone and he had no one else left to fight but still he needed to slash and break and hurt. He turned to the trees and plants and even slashed at the ground or rocks when they were all that was nearby. There was no thinking or logic, only rage. Tadashi wandered without direction slashing and breaking whatever was in his way as he moved deeper and deeper into the woods.

Alexis had been passing through on a little trip to stretch his wings. It had been a little while since his fight with Destra in the woods and he was starting to hunt again. It was calming to him. The fight had given him a lot of things to think about, but hunting was something he could distract himself with. As he flew over part of the woods the scent of a fresh kill caught his attention. It was strong- like something very large or maybe several animals slain.

As quietly as he could he circled around until he found the spot. On the ground there were the scattered remains of what looked like what once were wolves. The scent of blood was heavy on the air and the whole area looked like it had been caught in a fight with a rogue blender. He looked around to see if the killer was still around but they had apparently just left the food without eating.

Such a waste. At least I got here before it spoiled.

Scavenging wasn't as good as making the kill himself but meat was meat and Alexis was hungry. He kept alert as he ate some of the larger pieces of meat. When he had eaten enough to satisfy his hunger for then he decided to see if he could find out what sort of creature caused the mess.

There was no reason to risk fighting the creature but he wanted to know what it looked like. The scent he had gotten from the area seemed to be like that of a cat but a little different. It was confusing. Plus whatever it was hadn't stopped with the animals and seemed to be just tearing apart things in general. Not a terribly unfamiliar urge, he had to admit.

Carefully he tracked the trail of destruction through the woods until he could hear up ahead the sound of something growling and breaking things. He flew up into the air and drew close enough to see... some sort of were-cat maybe? It looked like some demonic angry version of a catboy.

Well maybe he's just a student getting his anger out. I can't blame him for that.

Alexis probably would have left the cat thing to his rage but he realized that they were getting pretty close to the part of the woods that was supposed to be forbidden. He had heard a lot of dangerous creatures were living there. Alexis pretended to be tough pretty much all the time but deep down he was worried that if the cat-creature was actually a student they might get really hurt. He personally knew what getting yourself into a unwinnable fight was like.

Alexis swooped down and landed on the ground near the were-cat thing and called out to him in his snarling, hissing wyvern voice, "Hey, you're gonna get hurt if you keep going that way." Coming closer revealed to Alexis that the cat boy was actually wearing the rather beat-up remains of clothing. This had to be someone from the city or the school and from his height he was guessing it was a kid.

Tadashi wasn't able to think clearly, let alone try to stop himself in that form. He wasn't a cat or a boy. He was a demon. A raging uncontrollable monster.

He had smelled and heard the dragon as it approached. His senses were very strong in that form and he had been looking for things to attack anyway. He turned his gleaming eyes and claws towards the dragon as it landed and gave a hissing snarl of his own.

Get hurt? Already hurt. Too much hurt. Now everything else hurt too!

Without the ability to reason or make good decisions Tadashi's actions seemed to boil down to one thing. He had claws and the overwhelming desire to use them on whatever or whomever he could find and right then there was only one target in his mind. Even though he had been rampaging for hours and the sun was setting, he didn't care at all. Fatigue was for people and animals and he was just a pair of claws on a monster.

Tadashi lunged at Alexis.. There was no plan or strategy to it. He simply flung himself towards the dragon like a deranged version of a cat pouncing at a bird. Of course he wasn't soft and cuddly and the 'bird' was tough and deadly.

The little monster hadn't even responded to Alexis' concern for his safety before he tried to attack. He was starting to think he might have to so something drastic to stop this kid from hurting himself or others. Disengaging and going to call the police was technically an option but Alexis wasn't really the kind of person that called the police. In fact his upbringing had taught him that you never get involved with the police. You handled things yourself or with family. Except Alexis didn't have his clan to back him up here on the island. Once again he was on his own and whether it was smart or not he decided to handle it himself.

Alexis really didn't like running from a fight and no one ever mistook him for being smart. Besides, he was seeing a little bit of himself in this kid. Both of them seemed to have something going on that made them feel the need to lash out and want to fight someone- anyone. They also both seemed to have the inability to realize when they should give up. This was what had lead to the fight with Destra not long ago and it seemed like now he was the one who was going to have to knock some sense into someone for their own sake. It wasn't the healthiest of fixes but he wasn't going to lie, it did help him a little bit to be humbled by Destra before he pissed off someone more unforgiving. Maybe he could return the favor by helping this person.

As the cat creature lunged for Alexis he quickly threw himself backwards and flared his wings to start taking off. His hide could withstand a lot of damage but he wasn't really built for maneuvering well on land in his wyvern form. The claws raked across the lower portion of his legs as he lifted off out of reach of the little monster. Most of the claws were turned away without any damage but two of them managed to cause a few minor cuts on his left leg.

Alexis roared more in annoyance and anger than in actual pain and he belched out a cloud of thick misty air towards where the raging cat demon was still trying to jump and swipe at him. The 20' area round them was quickly filled with the thick mist and concealed everything from his opponent. Once he was sure he couldn't be seen any more Alexis rose a little higher into the air and began circling the area. This fight was going to be ended quickly. He would just wait for his opponent to get disoriented and poke his head out of the mist and then Alexis would strike hard and fast and end this with the least amount of risk to the kid possible.

Tadashi was furious when his claws had trouble getting through the dragon's tough hide. His claws were strong and sharp, they cut through things without trouble. Why should this ugly, annoying creature be any different? He did manage to leave a few scratches on him as the dragon lifted off but that wasn't nearly satisfying enough. He wanted blood and he wanted them to hurt.

He snarled and jumped but he just couldn't reach his prey. And then suddenly everything around him was cool and wet and terrible. Tadashi hated that he couldn't see or hear as well in the heavy mist. The wet clung to his fur and blocked his ability to track the dragon's flight, making him even more upset.

Hiding? You weak. Water no stop me! Wings no stop me! Hunt you like big ugly bird.

Tadashi snarled and growled and generally just made nasty, horrible noises as he ran blindly through the mist trying to find the edge. As he ran he tried jumping too but couldn't get high enough to escape the infuriating cloud.

Just as he got to the edge of the cloud of mist he heard a screeching, hissing roar from above and behind him but quite close. Tadashi whirled and began to bring his claws up to defend himself from the attack but because he had been disoriented he was just a little too slow. The dragon was diving right for him with his own claws out.

Alexis had no true way of tracking the creature through the mist either but he was more experienced in dealing with it and he knew where his opponent was when the mist closed in. Most creatures tended to flee in a straight line out of the mist so he guessed that they would run towards the direction they had been facing. Alexis looped and circled in the air waiting for just the right moment to swoop in.

The cat creature would be disoriented and distracted by the mist and most likely wouldn't be able to see Alexis coming. That would make it easier for him to quickly dive in and restrain the kid without too much damage being done. He really didn't want to kill him or even seriously hurt him but if it came to that.... well there weren't any witnesses out there. Alexis was trying to do a good thing but he was a criminal from a ruthless criminal clan of wyverns so there were limits to his virtues.

Finally the snarling form of the cat creature could be seen stumbling out of the edge of the mist, not terribly far from where Alexis predicted he would be. The wyvern dove towards him without a moment of hesitation and extended his powerful rear legs with their sharp claws towards the cat.

The collision was loud and rough as Alexis slammed into the kid, pinning him to the ground and holding him as tightly as possible. If he had wanted to kill him he would have carried him into the air and dropped him or just tore into him with teeth and claws but instead he used his size and strength and weight to subdue him. "Give up, kid. I don't want to hurt you and you can't win this fight."

No surprise to anyone, the words weren't going to work. As the cat creature struggled and began to actually inflict some wounds on Alexis he roared and used his heavy weapon. With a quick shift of his body he swung one of the barbed ends of his tail into the side of his foe and injected his paralytic toxin. It wouldn't last long but it should get the point across that there was no question who would win this fight.

Tadashi couldn't stop the dragon from grabbing him and taking him to the ground. Even in half-cat form the dragon's size and strength was just too much and he had been ambushed. As his body hit the soft, wet ground and they both sunk in from the impact he tried lashing out.

He slashed with his claws on his hands and feet and even tried to bite at the underside and legs of the dragon. None of it seemed to be working but he was in a frenzy. He did manage to cause some injuries by using all his strength to drive his claws into the more flexible portions of the Wyvern's underside but it was of little use.

Tadashi either didn't hear or, more likely, didn't care about the words coming from the dragon. He resisted and raged against his captor until suddenly the dragon roared and Tadashi felt a burning pain in his left thigh. The burning sensation radiated outward and rippled through his whole body and then he went completely limp, with surprisingly little pain. The boy couldn't move anything at all. It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling for his body to be unable to respond at all.

The dragon had been saying something but it sounded distorted or underwater-like. It didn't matter though, the sudden paralysis had given Tadashi the interruption he needed, the break to make him try to regain control over himself. As the minute passed and the paralysis wore off Tadashi's form began shifting back to normal.

The boy began sobbing as his fur, ears and tail retracted and his eyes changed back to human eyes. His senses were still overwhelming but he was too tired to care anymore. The last trace of his half-cat form, his claws, finally retracted and the dragon was left holding an exhausted, crying boy with shredded clothing and various injuries. The half-cat form had protected him from most of the damage but some of it was enough to persist into his human form. Including the area where the toxic barb had stabbed his thigh muscle.

"Please," he cried out, "I don't want to hurt or be hurt any more." With that the boy fell asleep from his exhaustion. Tadashi preferred to sleep in his cat form but he was unfortunately in no position to make that choice.

While his foe was paralyzed Alexis had been trying to talk him down from the fight. The words weren't pretty or well put-together but they had been honest. Appeals to the kid to listen to him. Explaining how he had some idea what they were feeling and how they felt they couldn't do anything but fight.

It might have been touching or cinematic, but then Alexis realized something. The paralysis was messing with the cat boy's nervous system and probably none of his words were getting through.

What a waste.

It had worked though.

Alexis almost couldn't believe his stupid plan had gotten the creature to calm down but sure enough the creature was limp even after the paralysis wore off. He had been prepared to do more damage or even use his other toxic strike for the day but it wasn't needed. Alexis loosened his grip and rolled off of his foe as it became clear that they were no longer going to be fighting.

The poor boy, for it was clear as he was changing back that he was a kid not too much younger than Alexis, was crying. As the kid returned to human form he still had some minor injuries and his clothing had been damaged significantly, but he looked like he was going to be ok. Alexis would have risked whatever trouble he might have gotten into for the fight and taken the kid to the hospital if he had looked like he needed it.

Instead he just held the kid as he cried for help and then drifted off to sleep. Alexis was left with a sleeping, injured kid in the growing darkness of nightfall in the woods. "Shh dude, i've got you. Don't tell anyone, but i'll keep you safe until you wake up." Alexis made a makeshift nest of soft leaves and grasses underneath a decent sized tree and gently placed Tadashi on it. He had no blankets so instead he laid a section of his wing over the boy to keep him warm and safe from the elements. Alexis curled the rest of his wyvern body around the sleeping boy and lay there trying to figure out what he was going to do.

Protecting the kid overnight was the first step but what was he going to do or say when he woke up? Alexis wasn't a counselor and he didn't even know the kid. heck, for all he knew the kid was going to attack him again when he woke up. Eventually he slipped into sleep himself as he resolved to just see what happened in the morning. If the kid insisted on fighting maybe he would just call this off and let him wander into the forbidden portion of the forest.

Tadashi woke from his slumber and he was sore, his head was spinning and he still felt exhausted. It was confusing too. With one eye he could see blinding daylight and with the other he saw darkness. There was a faint groaning noise and a slight movement and Tadashi realized that part of his face and most of his body was covered by some sort of large, leathery sheet or something like that.

He tried pushing the leather off him and found it was warm and living. In fact, after he moved it enough he realized it was in fact the wing of a dragon. He scooted his way out from under it and just as he was about to ask why he had found himself that way he recalled what had happened during the last couple days. The upsetting way he handled Shiro, the night in the alley, and the overhearing of the rumor and realization of how badly he had hurt his sibling. His heart began to race as he remembered losing control. Then a strange realization hit him. Everything around him was in shades of grey or white and black. He blinked and nothing changed. His sense of smell and hearing seemed stronger and his vision seemed to be sharper but he couldn't see color any more.

Tadashi groaned and reached down to feel the spot where the dragon's barb had punctured-

The dragon!

He was curled up with the same dragon that had attacked him the night before. Panicked, Tadashi yelped and started scrambling away. "Leave me alone! I promise i'm not good to eat. I think I might be sick anyway." The boy moved much faster than he expected and practically flung himself into a nearby tree trunk. Utterly confused Tadashi sat there for a moment to catch his breath and try to get his bearings.