Looking back, Death the Kidd was still not entirely sure why he did it. Patty certainly had a hand in it; she'd been persistently badgering him about it for ages, but in the end it had still been him who'd made the decision. Maybe it had been entirely Patty, or maybe it had been his own secret liking of the idea, and the feeling that Liz deserved something special for her birthday this year. Whatever the reason, it had been entirely worth it, just to see that look on her face. It still made him smile, even to this day. But that wasn't to say that what happened held entirely happy memories for Kidd, and he still looked on the events that followed her birthday as a rather odd, if not uncomfortable, experience to say the least.

Liz bounced down the stairs, her long sandy flying behind her as she came to an excited halt at the bottom, where she danced from one foot to the other, shrieking rather like Patty did when promised candy. "Ooh! Present! What is it? Gimme, gimme, gimme!"

Standing in front of her, arms folded, Kidd rolled his eyes and allowed himself a small smile. "Okay Liz, calm down! Stop jiggling me!"

"Eyaaahh!" she squealed, releasing him and pressing her fingers to her mouth in excitement. "I can't help it! Patty said it was something really good! What is it? Oh, tell me! Tell me!"

Kidd laughed and gestured. "Okay, okay! It's in the living room." He pulled Liz to the closed door, grinning in a rather superior manner. "Ready?"

Frowning, Liz shrugged him off and pressed herself against the door, listening intently. "What's the weird sound I can hear?"

"That's your present, Liz," replied Kidd, yanking her back and placing a hand on the door handle. "I'll show you."

Stifling a laugh, Kidd shoved Liz into the living room and slipped in after her, closing the door carefully. Liz stood limply where she was, staring in amazement at what she was seeing.

After a moment Kidd realised that Liz wasn't about to do anything in the next few minutes, and he pushed past her to the middle of the room, where the carpet was covered in a large spread of newspaper. Rolling happily in the middle, waving its tiny white paws in the air, was a small black and white kitten. With a sharp smile in Liz's direction, Kidd bent down and scooped the fluffy animal off the floor.

As he carried it carefully over to Liz, the kitten squirmed in his grip, twisting its paws in the dark sleeves of his suit. Watching Liz with a broad grin, Kidd leaned over and tipped the kitten into her arms. She cradled it carefully, staring down at it with her mouth hanging open in wonder.

"Well?" asked Kidd, tucking his hands behind his back. "Are you pleased?"

"Oh, Kidd. It's so cute…" Liz raised a hand and began playfully tickling the kitten. It blinked up at her with enormous yellow eyes, and batted her finger with one paw. The pads were soft, pink and warm, fringed with downy white fur. Beyond that the kitten's legs turned to a glossy jet back that shone healthily under the house lights. There was a thick strip of white fur underneath its delicate little chin that extended down its chest and under its belly. The tip of its tail was also pure white, and it was waving it gently as it considered its new mother.

"Kyahh!" Liz suddenly exploded with glee and cuddled the kitten close, causing it to mew with surprise. "I love it, Kidd! Oh my god, I can't believe you did this for me! Oh, thank you so much!"

"Well," said Kidd, coughing awkwardly, rubbing his neck and grinning again, this time in embarrassment. "It wasn't just me, Liz. Patty suggested it in the first place, she was the one that really persuaded me. Sorry it's a week late, but I wanted to get you the right kitten from the right breeder, and this was the only one with a symmetrical coat. We had to wait for him to be old enough."

He stuck his hands in his pockets and watch fondly as Liz cooed delightedly over the kitten, rubbing its ears and tickling its tiny pink nose.

"So, what are you going to call him?" asked Kidd curiously.

"Huh?" Liz looked up at him, and then back down at her new pet. Carefully she knelt down and set the kitten back on the floor, where it sat stupidly for a moment, wrinkling its nose and mewing bemusedly to itself. Liz squatted next to it, her hands resting on her knees, and considered. "Well, he's gonna be a Shinigami's cat, isn't he? I think I'll call him…Chi."

Kidd raised on eyebrow. "Chi?"

"Yeah," insisted Liz, glancing up at him defensively. "Like the word for Death." Gently she put her hands underneath Chi's fragile little tummy and picked him up, cradling him close to her chest. "Little Chi."

Chi wriggled for a moment in Liz's grip, and then relaxed, stretching his mouth open in a huge yawn, revealing shockingly pink gums and needle sharp teeth. His tongue flicked out to clean the tender pink triangle of his nose, and with a little squeak of contentment Chi buried his face in Liz's breast, curling up tight and tucking his paws neatly away to become a small heaving ball of black and white fur.

"Aww!" Liz cuddled him affectionately to her, squashing her chest underneath the sleeping kitten. "He's sleepy!"

"I set up some stuff for him in the kitchen," called Kidd as she turned to leave the room.

"Oh, thank you Kidd," she said over her shoulder, giggling as Chi suddenly struggled in her grip, attempting to climb up her shirt. As Kidd watched Liz's retreating back, the kitten's white paws appeared on the dark blue material of Liz's t-shirt shoulder, followed by his ebony face. Chi blinked his deep yellow eyes and watched Kidd curiously as he was ferried away.

***

Kidd lowered his fork yet again and lifted the tablecloth irritably. "Liz!"

On the other side of the table, she looked up innocently, her mouth full of pasta. "What?"

Sighing, he gestured towards the floor. "Chi's doing it again, can't you just get him out of here?" He bent down and glowered down at his feet, where his shoes were being insistently patted by a small ball of black and white fuzz.

"Kidd, I can't turn him out of the kitchen," whined Liz, clasping her hands together. "It's warm in here, and its where his bed is, he likes it in here!"

"I don't care," he said rather snappishly, throwing his fork down and shoving his chair away from the kitchen table. To his intense frustration, the movement only excited the kitten, and he bounded eagerly after his shoe with outstretched claws. Angrily Kidd flicked his shoe but Chi clung stoically on, flicking his tail enthusiastically.

"Don't, Kidd!" shrieked Liz, leaping up from her seat and dashing around to Kidd. She lunged at Chi, shoving Kidd's feet away and scooping the kitten into her arms, cradling him close and cooing gently. "You'll hurt him!"

"Of course I won't," he snapped in reply, pulling himself back to the tale and snatching his fork back up. "But he was making my feet asymmetric! And he'd been chewing my trousers all evening! Please, just get him out of here."

"He hates to be away from his Mamma," pouted Liz, smothering his petite head with affectionate kisses. "I'll give him some dinner."

As Liz stalked away from the table to rifle through the higher of the kitchen cupboards, Kidd returned to his dinner with a barrage of insidious muttering. He stabbed at a piece of pasta with particular vehemence, and glared at the tomato sauce that dripped sadly from his fork.

Across the table, Patty suddenly exploded with laughter, red sauce splattered around her wide, beaming mouth. She dragged an arm across her stained face and grinned at Kidd. "Liz sure loves her little kitty, huh Kidd?"

"Yeah, I know."

She tilted her head to one side and blinked her large blue eyes at him. "Isn't that good?"

He heaved a huge sigh. "I know it's good Patty…of course it's good…it's just that…I wish she would spoil the damn thing so much."

"I don't spoil him," muttered Liz, returning to sit at the table. She threw an affectionate look to an area of the floor by the fridge that was spread with a small blue mat. Laid out were two plastic bowls, one filled with clear water and the other with a dark meat sludge. Chi was crouched there, face deep in cat food, slurping contentedly.

"Huh," grunted Kidd, returning to toying with the remains of his pasta.

***

Maybe it was Kidd's imagination, but he felt that in the following week Chi appeared determined to get under his feet. Every time Kidd tried to vacuum the front room, the kitten was there, batting playfully at the cable and even trying to pull it out of the plug. When he sat down to study at his desk, Chi would be there, chewing his shoelaces, and his socks if he took his shoes off.

Worse still, Liz didn't appear to think anything of it. She absolutely doted on the kitten, and if Kidd ever tried to complain to her, she'd insist he was making things up.

"He's just a little kitten, Kidd!" Liz said indignantly, rubbing Chi between the ears. "He doesn't know any better!"

"Look at my curtains!" he cried, gesturing to the window with his pencil. The bottoms were terribly shredded and frayed, covered with the remains of yet another session of Chi's frantic clawing. "He didn't even do it symmetrically!"

"Aw, he didn't mean it, did you? Did you, you naughty little fluffy baby? No, you didn't, of course you didn't. Kidd's a nasty ol' Shinigami, isn't he? Isn't he?" As she spoke, Liz tickled Chi lovingly, and he mewed happily. Liz stalked over to Kidd's side and thrust the kitten into his face. "Now apologise to him!"

"Hey!" Kidd leaned back, glaring at Chi's soft, innocent face. "Get him away from me!"

"You've upset him, see?" insisted Liz, tickling under Chi's velvety chin.

Biting his lip, Kidd lowered his gaze to Chi once more and narrowed his eyes. As the kitten blinked at him and tilted its head innocuously to one side, Kidd was suddenly struck by how perfectly symmetrical his coat pattern really was. The white of its front paws were each the exact same size, look as though Chi had stepped very carefully in flour. His underbelly was the same pure white and if split exactly down the middle, each side mirrored the other exactly.

While Kidd was analysing Chi in meticulous detail, the kitten was scrutinising him back just as intently. He raised a paw and, stretching out, began batting Kidd's fringe interestedly.

"Huh?" Kidd blinked at the kitten. Mewing eagerly it patted his forehead, splaying its paws against the three white stripes of his hair. Irritated, Kidd batted Chi off. "I know, I know I'm asymmetric! You don't have to rub it in!"

Chi wrinkled his nose and merely went, "miu?"

Liz laughed and swung him away from Kidd. "Aw, that's cute, Kidd! Are you jealous of my kitty? Just 'cuz he's symmetrical?"

"Shut up, Liz," scowled Kidd, turning back to his desk and stabbing his pencil back into his paper. "Just get him out of my room."

He threw a sour glare at Chi, who was now nestled comfortably between Liz's breasts, kneading his head affectionately into her collarbone. With a laugh of delight, Liz swung the kitten up to her face and swathed its tiny nose with kisses, while crooning, "Mamma loves you! Yes she does! Yes she does!"

"Ugh…" Kidd returned to sitting hunched over his work, muttering dubiously under his breath. "She lets him get away with anything."

Hugging Chi to her chest once more, Liz turned back to face Kidd, head one on side. "I'm gonna go and take a bath, if that's okay Kidd. I'm wiped out."

"Yeah, go ahead," he muttered. "Just remember to hang the towels up again afterwards."

"Sure," she sang, strolling lazily out the door. "Hey, Chi, you can keep me company in the bathroom! You'd like that, right? You want to help Mamma take her bath?"

"What?" demanded Kidd suddenly, turning violently in his seat. He was too late; Liz had already disappeared down the corridor, purring happily to her kitten. She had, however, been replaced by her overexcited younger sister. Patty hovered in the doorway, giggling madly at nothing at all.

Or perhaps not. Kidd narrowed his eyes at her and lowered his pencil once more. "What do you want, Patty?"

"Lizzy loves her kitty sooo much!"

"I am aware of that, thank you very much."

"I'm so hap-hap-happy!" she squealed, dancing on the spot. "It was my idea!"

"And partly mine," he reminded her sourly. "Now, why don't you go gorge yourself on candy or something? I'm trying to work here."

As Patty obediently skipped away, singing a nursery rhyme at the top of her lungs, Kidd pushed his pencil against his desk so hard the tip broke. He did not feel threatened by a stupid little cat.

***

"Hey," grunted Kidd, gesturing with his newspaper.

Liz glanced up briefly, raising one eyebrow. "Yes?" she said, returning to filing her nails.

"The cat," said Kidd, pointing at the little comma of black and white fur that was occupying his seat on the sofa.

"What about him?"

"I want to sit down, and he's in the way."

"He's tired, Kidd," sighed Liz, leaning over and toying with Chi's ears. He raised a sleepy head and blinked blearily up at her before yawning hugely and curling up a bit tighter.

"But he's in my seat," insisted Kidd. "I was sitting next to you, and I only got up to get my paper."

"You can sit in the chair over there," shrugged Liz, nodding across the living room to one of two armchairs that squatted beside a large curtained window.

"But I was sitting there."

"Don't be so childish, Kidd," she grinned, sitting back and resuming her nail work. "Chi's still just a baby, he doesn't - "

" - know any better, yeah, thanks," he snapped. "Liz, you're way too lenient with him."

"I am not!" she said.

"Yes you are," he argued. "You feed him off the table, you let him tear up my rose bushes, you don't hear a word against him, you let him sleep in your bed."

"If the sofa means that much to you, fine," blustered Liz, getting up and leaning over Chi. "C'mon baby, Kidd's being a jerk. Come on, Chi," she added, redoubling her grip on the dozing kitten. His yellow eyes flicked open and he stared up at his 'mother' in some shock as she attempted to shift him from his comfortable position. Kidd watched as Chi began mewing in protest, and dug his claws into the cushion material.

"Oh Chi, don't be so silly." Liz pulled a little harder, and Chi only clung on more doggedly. After a moment Liz gave up and let him flop back down. "Sorry Kidd, he's staying." She sat back down next to Chi and picked up her nail file as he rolled blissfully on his back across the sofa, mewing.

Kidd glared at the kitten as he got back to his feet and padded over to Liz, batting her thigh with one soft paw. She smiled down at him with soft, loving eyes as he scrambled into her lap, curling up in the middle of the expensive denim while purring contentedly.

"Huh." Taking advantage of the opportunity, Kidd flung himself down in the now vacated seat and pulled his newspaper open, glancing sideways now and then to where Liz was absent-mindedly stroking Chi with one hand and flicking through various television channels with the other.

After a minute she lowered the remote. "D'you want to watch this, Kidd?"

"Not really."

"D'you mind if I do?"

"Go for it."

She looked at him in some surprise, and was confronted with a wall of black and white newsprint. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine," he said from somewhere behind the sports section. "Just keep the kitten away from me."

The strange trio sat in silence for a while, Chi gently snoozing, Liz happily caressing him and Kidd silently stewing with pent-up frustration. He finished the newspaper all too soon, and was eventually forced to cast it aside and pretend to be interested in Liz's programme.

Every time he thought she wouldn't notice, Kidd shot an ill-disguised glare of jealousy at the now supremely relaxed Chi, who was lying draped across Liz's lap, purring like a steam-engine as she rubbed his belly. After a moment he rolled carefully over, allowing Liz to resume scratching between his ears. The cat's purring doubled in volume.

"You sure you're all right, Kidd?" asked Liz suddenly, and he blinked to find her staring him, her blue eyes wide with concern. "You look a little…spaced out."

"It's nothing. Nothing," he insisted, waving his hands.

Liz suddenly let out a girlish giggle and flicked her hand up. "Eek, Chi! Don't lick me!" The kitten sat up, mewing and waving one paw at Liz. She lifted him and planted a kiss on his nose. By way of a reply Chi rasped his tiny rough little cat's tongue against her nose, making her flinch and giggle again.

To Kidd's horror, she pushed the cat at him as well. "Give him a kiss Kidd, go on."

"No. Way."

Impatiently, she shook Chi slightly. "What's the problem? He's all soft and nice! And he might kiss you back, his tongue feels really funny."

Kidd folded his arms. "I don't want to kiss the cat, Liz. Put him down."

Liz pouted at him, and got to her feet, cradling Chi in her arms. "Why are you so mean to him? He just wants to play with you!"

"You let him do everything with you! It's silly."

She shrugged and walked to the living room door, pulling it open with on hand and tucking Chi against her shoulder with the other. "I'm his Mamma. He loves me."

Kidd sat up as she left. "But I - "

The door swung shut behind her.

***

The corridor was extremely dark, even for someone with the extraordinary vision of a Shinigami. Kidd winced as his next footstep produced a treacherous creak from the landing floorboards but he didn't stop in making his nervous way across to Patty's room.

Her door opened smoothly without a noise, but the same could not be said for his progress across her bedroom floor. Every other step appeared to result in some sort of squeak or clatter as Kidd attempted to navigate the mess of discarded clothes and toys that carpeted her floor.

Patty lay tangled in her elephant-patterned duvet, snoring loudly. Her legs and one arm hung drunkenly off the bed, and her blonde hair was everywhere. Cautiously Kidd tugged at her duvet. "Patty!" he hissed urgently. "Patty, wake up!"

She stirred briefly, but made no noise beyond a vague sort of lip smacking that told him she was too deep asleep to be awoken. With a sigh of trepidation Kidd turned and made his clumsy way back across the room to the doorway. He cast a disappointed look across her once more before closing the door with a click.

Liz's door was standing slightly ajar, in case Chi wanted to get out at any point in the night. As he placed his hand on the smooth, painted wood, Kidd closed his eyes and prayed that stupid cat would for once not be there.

The floor was blessedly clean, and Kidd managed to make his way to her bedside without any mishaps, save for an awkward moment when he nearly slipped on what felt like one of her old magazines. He squinted through the dark to where Liz was lying on her back, blonde hair spread over her bare shoulders and neck. Her chest rose and fell gently under her pale blue tank top. His heart fell as he spotted the familiar ball of fluff curled up on the pillow next to her, rising and gently under her hand as Liz slept with her fingers running through the soft fur of Chi's back.

Taking a deep breath, Kidd scrambled onto her bed and knelt on her other side, poking her shoulder gently. "Liz! Liz, wake up! Please, Liz!"

"Mmh…" She raised her hand from Chi and rubbed her eyes. Then she yawned hugely and rolled onto her side, presenting him with her back.

"Dammit," he muttered under his breath. Leaning forward, he placed his mouth right beside her exposed ear, and began hissing more earnestly. "Liz, wake up!"

"Miu?"

"I didn't mean you," whispered Kidd furiously as Chi stretched and sat up, staring at him out of the dark with glowing yellow eyes.

"No, no, don't do that," he added angrily as Chi bounded over the bed towards him, stepping over Liz and nuzzling against Kidd happily, burying his furry face in the Shinigami's stomach and twisting the material of Kidd's pyjama top up.

In a panic Kidd cast wildly about for something to distract the cat with, but found nothing beyond an unused alarm clock beside Liz's bed that didn't work. Meanwhile Chi stretched, yawned, and then decided that he'd like nothing more than to spend the rest of the night in a Shinigami's lap.

He scrambled onto Kidd's knees and curled up, purring contentedly.

"Don't," he hissed irritably. "I'm not a seat."

"Huh?" Liz stirred and slowly sat up, massaging one eye. "What the - " Reaching over, she flicked a bedside light on, bathing the bed in a gentle warm glow. "Kidd? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I - I had a nightmare. About asymmetry," he admitted, pushing at Chi with his fingertips as he spoke. "I wanted to talk to you and Patty, but she's asleep. So I came in here to wake you up and…"

Liz snorted with amused laughter behind her hand. "Aw Kidd! I think he likes you!"

"Get him off me," whined Kidd. "I don't like him."

As Liz leaned over and gently lifted the sleeping Chi off him, she met Kidd's serious golden eyes with her own bright blue ones. "Why not?"

"Huh?" Kidd watched her as she deposited the cat back on her pillow and sat up straight to look directly at him. "What do you mean?" he demanded.

"Why don't you like Chi?" pressed Liz. "You bought him for me, didn't you?"

"I know, I know," he snapped. "You just spoil him, that's all."

Liz tilted her head to her side. "That's not a good enough reason."

Kidd opened his mouth, and hesitated. He couldn't say he was jealous of the kitten, it would sound stupid. No, he couldn't tell Liz that he'd spent the last month wishing he were in the cat's place, wishing he were the one receiving all of that love and attention Liz showered on Chi daily. Before the kitten came along Liz would tousle his hair playfully, and dance up and down the stairs with him just to aggravate him. She would make him coffee in the morning when he was too busy, and she would remember to lay the table for him just how he liked it, and they used to spend every evening together on the sofa, him reading and her watching television.

And now that Liz had Chi, none of that happened any more. Kidd felt that Liz no longer had time for him, and there were times when he even slightly regretted buying her the cat in the first place.

But he couldn't say any of this to Liz, so he simply said, "He's symmetrical, and I'm not."

"But you love symmetrical stuff," giggled Liz. "You really are jealous of him!"

Kidd folded his arms and glared at her sulkily. "So what?"

Tutting, Liz twisted around and gently lifted the sleeping Chi off the pillow. He didn't react beyond a disgruntled flick of the tail. Carefully Liz held the cat out to Kidd, who recoiled.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm showing you something, dummy. Look." He scrutinized where her perfectly painted nail was indicating. Just behind Chi's left ear was a small blemish, a blur of white that he had not previously noticed. Automatically Kidd's gaze moved to Chi's other ear, but it was as black and solid as ever. His mouth fell open.

Liz lowered Chi back to the bed once more. "You see? I spotted it when you first gave me him, but I didn't mention it because I thought it would bug you."

"He's…asymmetric?"

"Yeah." Liz folded her hands in her laps and considered Kidd once more, a small smile on her lips. "I'm sorry if I've been ignoring you recently. I know I'm too lovey-dovey with the cat, but I can't help it." She reached to her side and began toying affectionately with Chi's ears. "He reminds me of you."

"I - what?" This brought Kidd up short, and he sat back, staring at her.

"All perfect and tidy and black-and-white, except for this one little thing that's off," she explained, her smile widening as she shuffled over to him, reaching out. Gently she cupped his face in one hand and brushed his maddeningly black-and-white bangs from his eyes.

Kidd blinked and stared up at her.

She smiled at him. "Chi could be just like any other black and white cat. If I lost him, I might not be able to identify him properly. But that one little white smudge makes him mine, it makes him him." She stroked the white stripes of Kidd's hair flat once more. "Do you understand, Kidd?"

He closed his eyes as she held his face in her soft, warm hands. "I guess so."

"You see?" Suddenly Liz leaned forwards and planted a kiss on his forehead, her lips touching him through his dark hair. "No more nightmares, okay? Go get some sleep."

Slightly dazed, Kidd nodded as she released him from her arms and gently pushed him away.

He staggered to her door. "'Night, Liz."

She watched him go fondly. "'Night, Kidd."

As he closed the door, she carefully picked Chi up and laid him back on the pillow. Leaning over to turn the light off once more, she gave Chi a swift kiss as well, smiling at him through the fur.

He mewed and curled up against her, pressing his face into her side. Cradling him against her, Liz whispered to him gently. He didn't like waking up in the dark, and simply wanted some comforting. Just like Kidd.