The Cathouse

I'm sorry this took so long. ._. I'm on a huge writing tangent with another non-smut story and this one got lost in the mix...

Will see about more updates and finishing.


It had been just under an hour and Rory was stiff, exhausted and feeling somewhat ill. Not to mention, he had to go to the bathroom something awful.

Arb and Lorcen had searched the apartment, apparently finding nothing of interest to them or their boss. Now, they were taking amusement in eating some kind of seeds and throwing the shells at Rory.

The boss walked over and sat on the couch, stretching his legs so they were arched over Rory’s lap. Silence reigned over the apartment and Rory squirmed a little, his arms hurting. The way the appendages were held made Rory feel as though he was trying to keep them up instead of the rope allowing him to relax them.

“That’s it, I’m sick of waiting,” the boss growled.

“Want me to take care of him?” Lorcen asked, drawing his gun. The boss comtemplated. It couldn’t be too much longer till Seven got there.

“I suppose,” the boss sighed, “If nothing else, it’ll shake up the pussycat when he does get here. This kid is no fun as a hostage.”

For as much as the boy thought about suicide, he discovered that he very sincerely did not want to die. Not now. Not at age seventeen. Not when there was a glimmer of hope on the horizon for him.

“Good,” Lorcen grinned, walking over to Rory. He didn’t even say a word before the pistol smashed across Rory’s face. Blood was spit out onto the floor. Rory had been hit plenty of times by his dad, but there was something distinctly different about something made of pure metal hitting your face.

“I said kill him, I didn’t say torture him.”

“Sorry, boss,” Lorcen replied, cocking back the hammer. Rory closed his eyes, trying to hold back tears. Who wanted to die crying? Not him.

“Please don’t,” Seven’s voice said as he pushed in the broken door. “As you can see, I’m here.”

Rory didn’t know whether he should be overjoyed that he now had a chance of survival or if he should start screaming at Seven to run. However, Seven obviously knew the risks, and thankfully, none of the kittens were with him.

“Seven!” the boss said, as though an old friend had come into a public place. “We were wondering if you’d show at all.”

Rory glanced up at Seven, his tired eyes searching for some kind of sign that Seven could help him. Their eyes met and Seven immediately looked away, guilt obvious on his face. Well, fuck. That didn’t seem like a good thing.

“What are you doing in my home?” Seven asked, his eyes zeroing in on the leader with hostile anger.

“We wanna know and word is you do know,” the leader responded, “Where has Shimmer been making his home? Y’see, the Jags gang, we really liked Jesk as our leader. And from what we hear, Shimmer was the one indirectly responsible for his death.”

“His own second in command doesn’t know where he lives,” Seven frowned, “Why would I?”

“Because he’s gone soft since he got himself that pretty boyfriend,” the leader replied, “But we can’t touch him or his two kids. They’re protected more fiercely than the virginity of a rich man’s daughter. Next closest we could use against him happened to be closely associated with the Sisian-Anthem family. You kill one of them, expect anyone who’s left to go postal and kill your ass.”

“This doesn’t explain why I’m supposed to know,” Seven said, obviously infuriated, “Or why you had to attack someone close to me to find out.”

“Politics, baby, politics,” the leader said, sitting up enough to put his face next to Rory’s. “Human kids, huh? Is he one of your victims? I’m not into boys, but I know plenty of people who are. Maybe I should take him back with me.”

“Don’t fuck with me,” Seven suggested.

“Where’s Shimmer?” he asked, stroking Rory’s face. Green eyes shut tightly against the touch, trying to pretend it didn’t exist.

“Ask him yourself,” Seven said.

“And how am I—“

Suddenly, the flimsy false ceiling caved in in the center of the room and a figure dropped down. Rory recognized him as Shimmer, the man who had been harassing Seven to be let into the apartment before.

“What the—“

The men were stupid, Rory thought, so emotionally numbed that all he could do was think in logic. They had a perfectly good hostage and none of their guns were pointed at him.

Shimmer acted fast. He whipped out a gold-plated pipe, his infamous weapon of choice. Metal smashed into metal as the pipe collided with the first gun that was raised at him, sending it skidding across the room. Then there was a sickening crack as it proceeded to put a dent in the skull of Lorcen.

Shimmer then turned to Arb, who dropped his gun fearfully. Shimmer killed without second thought or remorse. He didn’t even flinch as he pulled the pipe from the remains of Lorcen’s head.

Arb took off running without another word.

“Shimmer,” the leader said, aiming his gun at the gang leader. Shimmer’s head turned to look at him over his shoulder, looking both beautiful and dangerous in that moment, his eyes shrouded in coldness.

“Stray Jags, huh?” Shimmer asked, “What a job, picking on an innocent like him.” He nodded at Rory. “I somewhat wonder if you guys were picked by how heartless you are.”

“We don’t want much, Shim,” the leader said, knowing he should fire. But something about that cold look in Shimmer’s eyes made him pause. “We just want you and that rat-bastard Desert Fighter dead.”

“Desert Fighter killed your leader because of something completely unrelated to me,” Shimmer said, “And because Jesk had kidnapped two people very close to him. I’m not sure why you’re angry.”

“Why?!” growled the boss. Forget cold looks, he was pissed now. “He was our leader! He took care of us.”

“And in doing so he pissed people off,” Shimmer smiled. His face dripped with deadliness. “So they took care of him.”

The boss growled and prepared to fire, a loud shot registering.

I’m not sure how many movies you’ve seen where there was gunfire, but probably you’ve seen at least one. The way the movies make it sound, guns aren’t more than handclaps. A real gun is not a handclap. A real gun shakes the floors and walls, even if it’s just for a second. A real gun shot numbs down the eardrums and can sometimes even break them.

Rory heard two in a row. One on his right, and one from the gun that the boss held, which happened to be right next to his ear. His ears went numb and then, at the second shot, there was a painful pop on the left side of his head, then nothing.

If Rory’s mind was a person, that person would’ve been running circles, flailing his limbs and screaming at that moment. In fact, Rory thought he might’ve done just that if it wasn’t for being tied up.

Just then, something whistled through the air by Rory’s head and there was a sickening splat! Rory finally calmed down to see what had happened.

The best he figured, as he turned and saw Seven lowering a gun, is that Seven had grabbed the gun that Shimmer had dislodged from Lorcen’s hand and fired at the boss before he could fire at Shimmer. The result was the bullet hitting the boss’s arm and sending the shot a little too far left. The shot had saved Shimmer’s life but had not saved Rory’s eardrum.

Then, when the boss was distracted by the pain of the gun wound, Shimmer swooped in and slammed him with the pipe.

There was a long and somber paused, just before Shimmer jerked the pipe from its placing and wiped it off with a cloth especially for the occasion. When Shimmer moved, Seven was suddenly on top of Rory.

“Rory, I’m so sorry, I never thought anyone would… I’m just… Rory, tell me you’re okay, just tell me…”

Rory said nothing as apologies tumbled from Seven’s lips. It was partially because he was adapting from going from hearing in stereo to hearing in mono. A slight panic gripped him as he realized that his left ear was not working at all. The other part of him was listening to Seven and trying to decide if it could blame all the trauma on the anthro and make himself feel better.

However, once Seven released the final knot on his wrists, Rory broke down, shutting his eyes and burying himself in Seven’s chest. Seven returned the embrace, pulling him close, whispering “I’m sorry” over and over.

Shimmer sighed and knelt down, undoing the binds on Rory’s ankles. Once they were free, Rory gratefully curled them up next to himself.

“M-my… my left ear isn’t…” Rory stuttered out.

Shimmer gently pried Seven off. “Your left ear was right next to a pretty explosive gun when it went off. After it had already been made tender by the first shot,” he said, looking into the ear as best he could, “You may very well never hear out of that ear again.”

He leaned over and blew into the ear. It surprised Rory because whenever someone did that, you usually felt it and heard it. But Rory didn’t hear it. Shimmer blew a little harder and Rory swallowed, trying to hear…

“I th-think I can kinda still hear…” Rory said.

“Good,” Shimmer replied, “It won’t ever be restored to it’s former glory but it’d throw off your balance for a good chunk of time if you lost all your hearing. Let’s give it awhile before we make any decisions. Hell, my ears are still numb.”

The longer Rory waited, the more he could hear out of his right ear. Gradually, though things were dulled considerably on the left side, he could continue to hear from there, too.

“I’m really sorry,” Seven said.

“Seven, shut up,” Rory replied.

Seven just stared at his hands, looking deeply ashamed. With ears cocked back, tail curled up against him, and eyes worried with shame, he looked like one of his many kittens.

“He’s right,” Shimmer said, “What are you apologizing for? The person who should feel bad is probably me. But I don’t because I didn’t even know these guys were out there. But we should probably get you guys somewhere else. I might accept it if it were just you and the older kittens, but with the triplets and Rave…”

“Where are we supposed to go?” Seven asked, thoroughly depressed now.

“I suppose I’ll call in a favor with a certain spastic psychic kid,” Shimmer said to himself, “Who’s going on thirty.”

“Minx?” Seven asked timidly, “He doesn’t like me.”

“Why would he?” Shimmer asked, very amused, “You totally tried to jumped his son. And thoroughly freaked the poor kid out.”

“I apologized,” Seven muttered.

“Minx… Sisian?” Rory asked.

“The same,” nodded Shimmer.

“That’s the second time today I’ve heard his name,” Rory frowned, “I even met his cousin today. She goes to my prep school, along with his… well I guess he’s his son.”

“Oh, you mean Snow and Ricochet,” Shimmer seemed a little surprised, “I guess rich stuff like you would go to that school… Yeah, my little boy and girl go to that school, too.”

“What kind of favor are we talking here?” Seven interupted.

“I’ll have to talk with him. It’ll only take a phone call,” Shimmer said, heading to the hallways to place it, “Oh and kid?” He smiled at Rory. “Three significant mentions of a stranger in one day is fate. Especially in this case. Minx is my nephew by marriage.”

Rory blinked as Shimmer walked out the door.

Shimmer had to be right. There were too many things that were starting to link Rory to these people. First, his sister started working for the Anthem company. Then he’d met their relatives. Then he’d nearly been killed by a group of people because apparently one of them had killed their gang leader. And now, Shimmer was Minx’s uncle-in-law.

Of course it could be coincidence. The Anthem Company was notorious for having lots of job openings for people with clean criminal records, which included Camelia. It made sense that Rory would go to the same private school with Minx’s son and his cousin, because there was only one prep school in the city. The only really fantastic coincidence here was Seven knowing Shimmer, another branch of the ever expanding family.

Rory decided to stop thinking about it and looked at Seven. The anthro was still looking upset at himself, not saying anything to Rory. A sigh issued from the green-eyed boys lips and he crawled over to him, moving up to kiss him.

“I’m okay,” he said.

“Still, I should’ve been here,” Seven said, “Why is it I have never had problems protecting any of my kittens until you? I feel like I only get to watch you suffer.”

“Doesn’t it mean anything that I actually cared that I was going to die today because of you?” Rory asked softly.

Seven was silent, but Rory’s statement had worked. The worried look in the anthro’s multi-colored eyes seemed to go away a little.

“You haven’t been through a whole lot in your life, have you?” Rory asked, more curious than accusatory.

Seven snorted. “No. I grew up with a rich boy taking care of me until he moved away. Admittedly, I was something like a pet to him, but he never really talked down to me or treated me badly at all. But once he left, I was expected to be on my own.”

“So then…?”

“So then, I of course ran into trouble on the streets and was rescued by Shimmer. Seeing I was too well-groomed to be an average streetwalker, he tried to get me to go home, but I explained the situation to him. He had me live with him for a time before we fixed up this place. At that time, I had heard lots of horror stories and I met a few cat anthros who had suffered through some traumas. I decided to help them.”

“By having sex with them?” Rory asked with a small smile.

Seven returned it. “I am a tomcat and so are they,” he replied.

“You know, for a human, sex is usually a traumatic thing after being raped,” Rory told him, standing, finding his knees to be wobbly and unstable.

Seven stood with him and placed a hand on the small of his back. “I think a cat anthro’s mind works differently,” Seven said, “What about you? You don’t seem to mind.”

“I guess because Camelia sleeps with so many people,” Rory said, starting to feel tired, “I just seperated what she did from what my father did until they weren’t even the same thing anymore.”

“They’re not the same thing,” Seven replied.

Shimmer walked back in, tossing a cellphone up and down in the air. “Minx says bring em on over,” Shimmer said with a smirk, “But he was pretty unhappy about it. I think he’s going to start contacting contractors to have this place outfitted with better security so that you guys aren’t in his hair.”

“We’re staying with him?” Seven sighed.

“Yep,” Shimmer smirked, “Like I said, not happy. With as many kids as he has, though, you’ll have to bunk rooms, even with as big as his place is.”

“Not a problem, really,” Seven replied.

“All right then,” Shimmer sighed, “I hate driving cars… And my Trinxie-pie is going to be done with work soon… Geez, you guys know how to cut into a bunny’s life.”

“Bunny?” Rory asked suddenly.

Shimmer grinned and one rabbit ear lifted to reveal himself as an anthro. “They rest against my skull naturally,” he said, “So most people can’t tell with all this hair. Come on.”

“This is all insane,” Rory sighed, following Shimmer. “I could drive, if you wa…”

“Rory!” Seven said, catching the boy as his knees buckled underneath him. Rory was slightly confused as to what happened.

Shimmer shook his head. “I’ll drive, kid,” he said, “You’re in no condition. Come on, we’ll have Rist look over him.”

“I can’t… walk…” Rory said softly.

Seven picked him up with a frown. “I think you’re just strung out and weak from what happened,” he said softly, “Come on.”

Rory started to reply, but blackness crept up on his vision, causing him to fall into a deep sleep.

~:~

“It’s not really common, but he should be fine.”

“I guess that makes sense somehow…”

Rory opened his eyes and sat up suddenly, just as he clapped a hand over his left ear. Sharp pains rode through the ear canal right into his skull.

“Slow down, tex,” a dry, quick-talking voice said. Rory glanced over at the source.

A woman with long black hair, narrowed dark blue eyes and glasses stared back. She looked like pure ice, with pale skin and a white doctor’s coat spread over her tensed shoulders.

“Wh-what happened?” Rory asked, looking around. He was on a bed, but it was in the center of the room and not on a proper bedframe. The rest of the room was bare, minus a cabinet, one of the doors open to reveal various medical supplies.

“Your left ear drum almost burst,” the woman said briskly, “It ruptured slighty and began to bleed into your skull. Mild pressure to your skull combined with energy loss due to high adrenaline caused you to become weak and black out. I inserted a very small needle into your ear and drained out the blood that was causing the pressure to your brain. The bleeding had stopped by then, so it shouldn’t be a problem, but your ear will be sore for awhile. Anything else?”

“You’re a bitch, Rist.”

“I make my living on it,” she replied, walking over and closing the cabinet.

Rory glanced over and stared, surprised. Next to him stood one of the most powerful men in the world. In history even.

Minx Sisian was nearly thirty, but he looked like he couldn’t be older than twenty-five. He was tall with hair that reached his jawline. One half of his hair was green, the other half a blue-green, and it looked to be natural, a rare gene. Guarded gray eyes watched Rory with mild interest and his form fitting long-sleeved shirt and baggy pants spoke of anything but the competitive business man he was.

“Rorden Thompson,” Minx said, “A worm in a bird’s nest, I suppose. I know your father pretty well.”

“He knows you, too,” Rory said, sounding braver than he felt. Was he going to be judged so quickly on being related to the man that he hated most?

Minx sighed. “You’re no fun to scare,” he said, suddenly seeming almost friendly, “But you are putting my Rock through agony being in this house. Apparently you’re a loud thinker. I didn’t notice because I’m not as sensitive as he is.”

“Ah!” Rory pointed, “You’re a telepath, aren’t you?! I almost forgot.”

“And my boy, Rock,” Minx replied, “He’s very sensitive to thoughts. My powers are more of a physical thing.”

“Rock,” Rory said softly, “The Lost Boy.”

Minx’s eyes hardened. “That’s a name he left behind a long time ago,” he said coldly. “And he’s not what we’re discussing.”

Rory shut his mouth, looking at his hands. Rory had heard of the oldest Sisian boy. He was a talented telepath who had grown up on the streets. He was a famous prostitute in Nami City with customers lining up by the handful to have a crack at him. Rumor had said he was no longer a virgin sometime before age five.

Rock was known as “The Lost Boy” because his telepathic powers were so strong, they had stunted his growth and he stayed young looking. He never grew up.

Minx had adopted him at some point, though few knew the circumstances. All that was known was that the man was very protective of his son and all those who wished to know of his past.

“S-sorry,” Rory said softly, realizing what it must mean to have something so traumatic thrown in your face.

Minx softened. “I always knew I didn’t trust Thompson,” he said softly, “But I never suspected him of something like this.”

Rory jumped, realizing just what it was they had gotten from his mind with their powers. “Th-that… That’s none of your business!” Rory said suddenly, “You have no right to know such things unless I tell you…”

“Your father didn’t really believe in that right,” Minx commented, “Not when it came to my Rock. He was the one who got the word around who Rock used to be, when all he wants to do is live a normal life with his family.”

“I’m not responsible for him!” Rory shouted. He couldn’t stand this. He hated how everyone, even total strangers who seemed to dislike him, knew about his father. He almost perferred no one knowing.

“No, you’re not,” Minx replied, “Him or what he does. Even to you. You are responsible, however, for saving yourself. Seven says you won’t leave.”

“No one needs to know or care!” Rory shouted.

Minx paused and walked over, leaning over and staring at him. “You look so much like Riverus did,” he said softly, “And you remind me of him, too. The weight of the world on your shoulders. Slowly drowning. And yet, you refuse to get help, unless it’s given by force.”

“Riverus Anthem?” Rory asked quietly.

Minx nodded and sat on the bed. “He’s from the streets,” Minx said, “He was more alone than even you. I hear you have a sister who cares about you. He didn’t have that. But then, he didn’t go through what you had, so I wouldn’t say he had it worse. But you two are the same to me.”

“Why does everyone presume to know me and what I want?” Rory asked softly, “Why is everyone telling me what to do? Did it ever occur to you that I’m a horrible person and I like fucking my dad?!”

Rory didn’t know why he said it, but it made his stomach turn.

“I’m a telepath,” Minx replied, “I know what the truth is. More than Seven can know. I can see what he’s done. It’s not something I really wanted to see, but it’s right there. And that’s why Rock is on the other side of the house trying to stay away from you, so that he doesn’t have to see it.”

“It’s no one’s business but my own.”

Minx paused and sighed. “Maybe, maybe not,” he said, “If I learned one thing in my life, its that you always need people more than you think you do.”

“I don’t!” Rory shouted.

Minx just shook his head. “You don’t want my help?” he asked, “Then I won’t help.” With that, he stood up and walked out.

“And he says I’m a bitch,” Rist commented. Rory had forgotten she was there.

Rory didn’t reply. He was at the edge now. At the moment, he fought to keep from falling off.

Why didn’t anyone understand what this was like? What he felt, going from no one knowing and caring about what his dad did, to everyone caring and trying to force him to accept it? They looked at him and told him to leave, as though it would be easy for Rory.

Except, none of this was easy. None of this was pleasant. He had found people he cared about, only to worry what would happen to them if his parents found out. He’d found comfort, only to remember the fear that had been instilled deep into his heart nine years ago.

Sure, he could leave, but part of him didn’t want to leave. He was too scared and, somehow, despite it all, he didn’t want to go against his father. He didn’t want his father to be his enemy.

“Oh God,” Rory whispered, “There’s something wrong with me. God help me, I love him, even if he is a bastard… He’s my dad, how can I just…?!”

Rist raised an eyebrow.

“Pardon?”

Rory suddenly jumped off the bed and ran for the door. He felt like if he stayed there a moment longer, his brain would explode. All of the conflict in his mind was suddenly at the forefront, confusing him and making him feel unstable. So instead of face it – face the people who caused the conflict however good the intentions – he decided to run. As far and fast as he could.

“Rory!” Seven’s voice cried as he burst through the door and ran down the hall. He had no clue where he was going, but he managed to locate the exit fairly easily. It was made obvious by the entryway it resided in.

He turned sharply and ran out the door and continued, one foot in front of the other, chest heaving, going straight in front of himself. This wasn’t the time to be picky about where he ran.

His surroundings blurred around him. Where was he? Why was he here?

What did it matter?

Rory was in a densely wooded area, weaving between the tall trees that surrounded Minx Sisian’s house, pressing deeper and deeper into the forest. He didn’t stop – couldn’t, almost – until he exhausted himself, tripping and landing face first in the debris of the forest floor.

Suddenly, he let out a sob, then a scream, beating his fist into the ground over and over again. Tears ran down his face and he cried for a long time, loudly, babyishly even.

Somehow, he was relieved. He had been beginning to think he couldn’t cry anymore.

~:~

Rory didn’t know how long he sat there, staring up at the shrouded sky, crying until he had nothing left.

“You’re not the first or the last person to feel this way, you know…?”

Green eyes slid over to the speaker. BJ stood nearby, not meeting Rory’s eyes. Instead they wandered off into the forest, as if something interesting was there.

“Leave me alone,” Rory said.

BJ scowled, his ears cocking back as he faced him. “Well someone’s gotta take care of you! Ester’s crying because he’s afraid for you, the triplets aren’t acting like themselves, Rave is being clingy and won’t eat and Seven can’t seem to get it together. So that leaves me.”

“No one’s asking you to.”

“I didn’t ask if you asked, you asshole!” BJ growled, “If I wanna fucking care about you than I’ll fucking care about you!”

“Shut up, BJ.”

“Why exactly won’t you let anyone help you?” BJ asked, “What’s so bad about people caring about the bad shit that happens to you…? Even if you’re scared?”

“Should I be honest, or should I just make all the same excuses?” Rory asked, sounding devoid of emotion.

“Honest.”

Rory was silent for a moment. “I deserve what my father does to me. It’s the only thing I can really do for anyone. I’m ugly and stupid and I won’t ever do anything amazing with my life. Everyone pretends my life is worth something, but it’s not, so what’s it matter if it gets ruined? I deserve to be hurt and abused and unloved. It wouldn’t be that way if it wasn’t supposed to be. So why would anyone care about me?”

BJ was silent for a very long time before he stared at the ground, suddenly, all the defensiveness that he carried in his stance and the guarded look in his eyes let go of. “Then is that all I was ever good for? Fucking other people who didn’t even know my name?” BJ shook his head. “And if this had never happened, you wouldn’t feel that way about it! It’s just hard because… Because you really do hate yourself… I think. Some people think they do, but you… you really do, don’t you?”

“Camelia once told me that everyone has at least one thing they like about themselves, even if they won’t admit it to others,” Rory said, his face blank. “One thing that they think they’re better at than everyone else. I didn’t like that she said that, because I couldn’t think of a single thing that I could be proud of. I’m weak, I’m cowardly, I’m quick to run, I can’t handle things that happen to me at all, and I’m stupid. Sometimes, I think I should’ve just died at birth.”

“I’m glad you were born, Rory.”

Rory glanced at BJ slowly, a little surprised. The black cat anthro was staring at the ground, his shoulders sagging.

“I’m glad you were born. So is Ester and everyone else,” BJ said, “You’re… You… You’re the only other person I look at like that besides Seven.”

Rory slowly sat up and looked at him.

“Like what?”

“Like someone I could be in love with,” BJ said softly, “You’re so handsome and mature. You’re nice but you’re cool and collected and you’re really smart. You’re so much more than I can compete with.”

“I’m… none of those things…” Rory said, but didn’t sound completely against the compliments.

“Come back with me, okay Rory?”

Rory sighed and forced himself to stand. “Okay.”