Kitty Love

Chapter 3

Harry started struggling even more as he was carried upstairs. No, No, NO! I don't want a bath. You can't make me! Harry bit Tom's finger hard and Tom immediately let him go. Unfortunately, he was dropped from five feet in the air and it nearly scared him to death as he saw the ground coming closer and closer. Thankfully he landed on his feet. Cats do land on their feet! Harry thought excitedly and took off down the hall.

"Oh no. Not again. I swear it's like you can understand me," Tom muttered and followed the dirty paw prints down the hallway. Fortunately, Tom had closed all the doors this morning after Harry's earlier escapade. So he found Harry curled up in the corner of a dead-end hallway.

Harry found himself trapped with nowhere to go, with a wall in front of him and Tom advancing on him from behind. So he tried a different tactic: begging. He put his ears back and looked up at Tom with wide green eyes. Please, I don't want a bath. Find it in your heart and let me go. Please. Please!

"Don't give me that kitten. You need a bath," Tom said trying not to fall for the innocent look. He picked Harry up and carried him to his bedroom. Harry mewed pleadingly and nuzzled his head against Tom's hand.

"I don't want to do this any more than you do. But I need to get this stuff off of you." Harry started to lick his fur to show that he could clean himself. "No. Don't do that," Tom said stopping him, "Who knows what's on you."

Harry cried out in alarm as he saw the bathtub come into view and tried to crawl out of Tom's hands, latching onto Tom's shirt with his claws. No! Not there! Anywhere but there! Harry pleaded.

"Don't worry, little one. You're not going in there. I don't want you to drown."

You sure? Harry thought bitterly.

Tom chuckled softly and turned toward the sink. He turned on the sink, made sure it was warm, and plugged up the sink so it would fill up halfway. Then he went to work on getting Harry unlatched from his shirt. Harry shivered violently as he looked down at the water. It looked so...wet! He mewed again and clung tighter, but Tom pulled him off. "It's okay. The sooner you let me clean you the sooner you'll be done."

I still don't wanna, Harry thought stubbornly, but he was lowered to the water anyways. When his back legs hit the water, Harry cried out in alarm and jumped away from it, and sunk his claws into Tom's hand and arm. "Son of a...!" Tom exclaimed and bit his lip and tried to ignore the stinging pain. "No need to be frightened, kitten."

Easy for you to say. You're not about to be, dunked in water!

Tom took a deep breath and put Harry back into the water. Ignoring the mews of protest and the numerous new scratches that now adorned his arms and hands, Tom started to pour water over Harry's shivering form. After a while, Harry stopped fighting, but he didn't like it any less. Tom lathered soap onto Harry and soon he was a mass of fur and bubbles. Harry purred slightly as Tom stroked his fur and made sure all of the slime was gone with his long talented fingers.

"See. It's not that bad," Tom said softly.

I guess. But only a little bit. I still hate it, He thought as he purred. He couldn't help it. Tom's fingers felt good against his fur.

"There! Now all I have to do is rinse you off." Tom said and unplugged the sink to let out all the soapy water, then turned on the sink. Harry let out a small mew of protest before he was put under the water. Tom put his hand over Harry's eyes as he rinsed off the rest of his fur, then turned off the water. "Okay. All done. Let me just get a towel." Tom said and stepped away from the sink, but kept an eye on him.

Harry shivered violently. I hate being wet. He shook and sent water flying everywhere, and then tried to climb out of the sink, but it was too slippery. Tom came back with a towel and scooped Harry back up and started drying him off. He purred gratefully, glad to be out of the water.