Mount Apikuni 'cause loving and hating are one and the same

Stop it, she snapped. Taikon stopped in his tracks. Everything in his blood told him to go to her, to groom the wound on her chest, to feed her, to warm her, to make sure she was okay. It screamed in him. But he stopped, because she told him to. Zephyr claimed that he was pretending to care. She implied he didn't care. Taikon looked down, focusing his eyes on the dirt at her paws while she yelled at him.
Zephyr collapsed, and Taikon couldn't contain himself. He flew to her and practically threw himself down onto the ground with her, folding his legs under him, too. Briefly, he looked to Taki, just to make sure she hadn't disappeared. I'm not pretending, he said in a soft, tender, affectionate voice. Zephyr had mentioned her mother, and Taikon knew that now was unlikely to be the time to address whatever that was, but he went on. He was exhausted emotionally, but he went on anyway. And, I'm not your mum, he said, smiling lightly, partly joking. He wanted to touch her, to nuzzle her neck and get her to let him deal with her opened wound, but he knew better than to push it.