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"Why did your coat just make noise?"

Yazoo set down the bag in his hand. Loz eyed the coat in question warily but snagged the bag, more intent on the food than anything else Yazoo might have brought home.

Carefully, Yazoo unzipped his coat. A splash of bedraggled white was curled against his chest, and it turned to look at them all with wide blue eyes reflecting the weak light from between the thin curtains. "Mrow?"

Loz momentarily forgot the roll in his hand. "What's that?"

Yazoo hung his coat over a chair to dry, sitting in it and gesturing for the food bag. "It's a kitten. A young cat. Didn't they tell you about them?" He opened his sandwich and there was immediate kitten nose buried in it. Yazoo pulled out a bit of meat and offered it. The kitten bolted it down and meowed for more.

Loz peered at the ball of fur curiously. "Nuh uh. Wasn't somethin' to kill. What's it for?" He sniffed and sat back down on the bed, scarfing the rest of his first sandwich and starting on the second. He nudged Kadaj gently. "Oy. You should eat something."

"Mmmm?" Kadaj stretched under the blanket. "Morning already?"

"Noon," Yazoo said, feeding the kitten the last of the meat. It turned its nose up at the hard bread and wilted lettuce.

"Mm." Kadaj rubbed his eyes. He was still likely to mistake vision for reality when he woke, until the world came into focus. All three of them thought that he slept too much, and badly, but he was getting better. Loz handed him a sandwich, and he opened it, starting to eat mechanically, head down.

The kitten, having decided that Yazoo had no more meat to offer, leapt the small distance to the bed. Loz held up his sandwich defensively, wolfing it down. The kitten walked past him, nose in the air, twitching, to settle itself in front of Kadaj and meow piteously.

Kadaj stared at it, blinking a few times, as if trying to make sure that the thing was real. He extended one hand towards it, carefully, and ran a finger down its back. "It's eyes are like niisan's.... So soft...."

The kitten mewled again, rolling over on its back and extending one slightly dirty paw towards Kadaj's hand on the coverlet (and, incidentally, the sandwich it was holding).

Loz grumbled something about beggars and letting niisan eat in peace. Kadaj just extended the sandwich as he would to one of his brothers. The kitten nuzzled its way between the bread, snatching the meat and pulling it out. The slice was big enough that when it slid free it whapped the kitten in the face. The kitten "rowl!"ed, dropping the meat but then getting down to the business of eating it in retaliation.

Kadaj smiled, "Cloud-niisan...." He looked up at Yazoo, eyes soft, and picked up the kitten, cuddling it close and murmuring to it as it devoured the innards of his sandwich. For the first time that week, he smiled.

Yazoo looked over at Loz, a hint of a smile on his lips. "That's what it's for."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind." Yazoo shook his head and bit into his sandwich.