Amalgamation

CHAPTER ONE

It is sometime before dawn when I awaken, a rather drawn out yawn slipping lazily past my lips as I stretch. "Ouch!" I wince as a crick in my neck makes itself known. Sleeping in the armchair beside my bed through the night hadn't been the greatest of ideas I suppose. Still, I'd needed to remain close to check on my guest.

"Shit!" I holler, only just now remembering last nights events. My hands come to cover my mouth of their own accord. I am quite suddenly wide awake with the remembrance of the injured cat hybrid currently passed out on my bed.

"Please tell me I didn't wake him up!" I think to myself frantically.

Luckily it seems that I had not. The slow rise and fall of his chest is peaceful, and his eyes remain shut. The soft and barely audible sound of snoring permeates my bedroom and, perhaps it is because I am so used to silence, I find the sound soothing. That must be what had caused me to pass out in the armchair well, that, and exhaustion.

After helping Jin to carry the poor guy up the three flights of stairs to my apartment last night I had already been winded. But of course, it didn't end there. My stubborn self had quickly decided that he would be taking the bed. He was injured after all. And of course, we'd needed to remove his clothes before putting him on the bed, which had been an ordeal of its own. I can't control the blush that erupts in my cheeks at the memory.

"Note to self: never try to remove someone's clothes with your eyes off." Honestly, it would have been better if I'd seen everything, as opposed to what had actually occurred. A shiver runs down my spine, causing me physical distress. "Why can't I stop thinking about it?"

Once the hybrid had been stripped Jin began his examination and I, of course, had been sent running up and down the stairs to my apartment repeatedly to fetch this or grab that. By the time it was over I felt like I could sleep for weeks. Maybe even years. I briefly contemplated whether Van Winkle's predicament was really that awful because it sounded awfully good to me.

In a stroke of good fortune on the hybrid's behalf, Jin informed me that he was just fine. Aside from the bruising and slight malnutrition, it seemed as if the pale-haired and cat-eared man in my bed had nothing more than a severe case of the flu. He'd left me with a promise to bring medicine for my guest in the morning and instructions to keep him wrapped up and to check on his fever at regular intervals.

Reaching out I brush the hair off of his forehead so that I can place the back of my hand upon it. That one brief moment in which my fingers gingerly make contact with his fluffy hair leaves me somehow longing for more but now is not the time. His fever seems to have receded quite a bit, but I really need a thermometer to be certain. I pick it up off of the nightstand beside me and swipe it gently down the slope of his forehead. It beeps an affirmative after reaching its destination beside his ear. A hundred degrees Fahrenheit. This is good. His fever really has gone down. A cat hybrids' natural temperature should be anywhere from ninety-nine degrees to one hundred and two according to the instructions left to me by Jin. My worries slightly abated, I breathe a sigh of relief. He's going to be just fine.

Due to last nights chaos, I hadn't really managed to get a good look at him, but I can clearly determine now that he is rather handsome. His face is soft, and sweet, downy tufts of pearly white hair only adding further to his angelic countenance. His soft and pink doll-like lips scream innocence. The black and blue swelling above his brow did nothing to detract from his beauty, I mused. As I gazed at his slumbering face I recalled the ointment Jin had left for the aforementioned bruise and decided that it was probably time to apply it again.

The sound of shuffling can be heard as I rummage through the bag my boss had left on my nightstand. I huff in triumph as I locate the little tube, and then set to work, squeezing a small portion onto my forefinger and propping myself up on the elbow attached to my other arm. As my face hovers over his I apply the medication, gently, not wishing to disturb his slumber. He needs all the rest he can get.