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Once upon a time, the pond had been clear and quiet under dark foliage. Once upon a time, a peaceful, gentle tiger had been relaxing in the water, cooling off after a long baking in bright, hot sunlight. Then a vicious predator had leaped out of hiding, attacking ferociously.

Now nothing was the same. The pond was opaque with stirred up mud, and waves rushed back and forth across its surface. The tiger glared at his attacker. His repose had been seriously disturbed.

Luke looked at the not-so-white tiger with dismay. He really hadn't meant for this to happen. All he'd wanted was to wrestle in the cool water after the heat of the sun, and Ben had been such a tempting target. He hadn't even noticed the large lily pads that had covered much of the pond. Now, only green shreds were left.

The plush tiger was plastered in muck. Thick, rich, smelly, black mud. It was dripping down his face and chest. His fur was stuck together in long ridges. Some of them formed outlines where his attacker had managed to cling briefly. His formerly white legs were black and sticky, and his twitching tail was, well, unmentionable.

Luke wasn't much better off. He could feel clumps in his hair and something heavy and gooey was running down his back. Large paw prints covered his front. Sitting in the shallow water, he could feel cool muck oozing up between his toes and into more private places.

Shaking his head as if at the foolishness of people, Ben turned and padded down the small stream trickling out of the pond. He shook his head again. Maybe he was just trying to get some of the glop out of his ears. With each step, another dark stream of mud lead the way downstream.

"Where are you going, Ben?" Luke asked. Ben didn't answer, but Luke suspected he should follow anyhow. He had yet to hear Ben actually say anything. His actions usually made his intent clear enough.

The small stream led under overhanging trees through denser woods. The water gradually got shallower as it was absorbed into the ground, and soon the two were trudging along a dry waterbed. Luke half expected to see a locked grate, blocking passage to a colossal cave.

Ahead, there was daylight and he could hear a rush of splashing water. A waterfall? How could that be? The tundra around the woods had been quite flat.

As they came out from under the trees, there it was. A wide waterfall slightly taller than himself fell from an overhanging cliff into a large but shallow pool. Unlike the pond in the woods, this one had a bottom of sand and flat rocks, with a border of flowering vines. Ben jumped in while Luke stared in amazement.

There was enough room behind the falls that the plush tiger could get right under the falling water. When he saw Ben seat himself there, Luke got a little worried. Would the water soak into the plush cat? What would it do to the stuffing? Maybe he was waterproof? Ben had been lying in the other pond, after all.

The white tiger was having trouble getting rid of the dirt. The waterfall was rinsing off most of the bigger clumps of mud, but it was leaving behind many dark stains. They were *not* something he wanted to taste. He glared at Luke.

Luke got the hint. He'd gotten Ben dirty, now he'd better help him get clean. "Hold on, Ben, I'm coming." Maybe he could rub some of the stains out. Hugging the tiger might help both of them feel better, too.

As he pushed his way through the vines to the pool, he stubbed his toe on something hidden under the large, fuzzy leaves. There was a crunch, and thick goo ran over Luke's foot. "Oh, great," he thought. "Another stinking mess." When he bent down, though, the smell was unexpectedly pleasant, and the dirt was almost gone from that foot. Maybe he could use the goop for soap!

"Ben! I think this'll help!"

Luke quickly found an unbroken gourd and pulled it off its vine, then splashed through the shallow pool to the falls. The falling water was just cool enough to be refreshing in the hot sunlight.

He broke the neck off the gourd and scooped out a handful of the fragrant goo. When he started massaging it into the wet fur on top of Ben's head, it foamed madly and the stains quickly disappeared. He gently rubbed it into the fur of the tiger's ears, carefully digging out the mud caked inside. Then he started rubbing down the broad forehead toward eyes and nose. Ben closed his eyes as the soapy fluid bubbled vigorously.

The plant slime was doing the job, all right. The mud stains were flowing away and Ben's fur was regaining its shiny white luster.

When Luke finished his face, the tiger raised his chin so he could do his throat and ruff. Luke could feel the faint vibrations of a purr.

As Luke rubbed the foaming soap into the fur below Ben's throat, he started to worry again. Normally the skin was tight against Ben's innards. Now it was starting to slip back and forth a little. Could it be stretching? Maybe the stuffing was shrinking as it got wet? Ben didn't seem to care, though. His purr was audible now, despite the sound of the waterfall.

The tiger raised one foreleg and Luke rubbed down its length. More muck streamed away into the foot-deep water. The leg seemed to be getting stiff under the wet fur. Normally Ben's limbs were quite floppy except when he walked. The paw felt strange, too. The pad seemed to be in several different pieces. Was it cracking where it bent a lot? Ben couldn't be wearing out already, could he?

With one front leg clean, Ben raised the other for Luke to work on. Parts of it seemed even stiffer than the other had been.

"Ben, what's happening? Are you OK?"

With a snort, Ben turned so Luke could wash his back.

As he massaged the foaming soap into the deep, luxurious fur, Luke could feel Ben's rumbling purr, although he could barely hear it over the noise of falling water. As he rubbed, the cat's back seemed to be flattening. Was it wider than before? When he reached around to do the tiger's sides, they didn't seem so deep as they used to be. There were ridges and lumps in the stuffing, too.

Oh. Luke's eyes opened wide in surmise. The ridges weren't very hard, but they were almost like ribs! The lumps felt a lot like soft muscles, too.

"Sit up, Ben," he murmured into the cat's ear. The white tiger sat back on his hocks, bracing himself with one forepaw against the ridged rockface behind the waterfall.

Luke reached from behind to rub soap into the front of the cat's chest. Hugging the now anthropomorphic plush animal closely, his hands explored what surely were pectorals and a flat abdomen. The purr vibrated through cool, wet fur into Luke's chest and stomach, making his own own breathing stutter.

As good as it felt, Luke pulled back. He had to finish getting Ben clean. Oops. He'd forgotten that he still wasn't all that clean himself. A few streaks had reappeared on Ben's back, but they quickly rubbed away.

The tail seemed to be the next candidate for a good cleaning. Most of the filth had rinsed off, but it was still dark in many places, and not just with its usual stripes. He only managed a few strokes near the tip, though, before it twitched away. When he grabbed for it again, it quickly flipped in the other direction. Water splashed in his face.

"Hey!"

Ben looked back innocently. He couldn't be held responsible if a tailless creature didn't understand that tails had a mind of their own. They especially didn't like being held in one position for long. He sat down in the cool water. Being up on his heels was very tiring.

Luke could tell that Ben wasn't going to make this easy. He tried sneaking up on it. Move very, very slowly, then *grab*! He was rewarded with another faceful of water.

"Nice tail. Pretty tail. I just want to make you look better," he tried crooning to it.

*Splash.*

Hmmm. Clearly this would take some thought.

One of its ends couldn't jump around much right now, but it was down under the water where he really couldn't see it very well. Luke gently tried to get his fingers around the base of Ben's tail. Nope. It was pressed hard against the shelf of rock where the cat was seated. Further away the water made it too slippery. It quickly slid out of his hand.

This was getting to be a bit much. Time to cheat.

Luke gently dug his fingers into the fur of Ben's lower back at the base of his tail.

Ohh, that felt good, didn't it? Ben's purr hiccuped. Luke scratched harder. Ben squirmed a little. Oh, yes. That's it.

Luke scratched a little more gently. Slowly Ben's rump came up out of the water, following those tantalizing fingers.

"Gotcha!"

A few quick rubs from its base toward the tip, and the tail was as clean as new. Ben was a little disappointed. No more scratchings?

The plush cat's rear and hind legs had certainly changed shape while under water. His buttocks were fuller and the thighs had lengthened, but his lower legs hadn't changed quite so much. The calf might be a little longer, but the foot was still distinctly digitigrade. The paws seemed larger, too. Maybe that was just because Luke was seeing them through water.

Now that Ben was up, though, Luke could finish cleaning him off. He gently rubbed soap in between the tiger's nether cheeks where mud had left stains, and then down the inner thighs. There was no sign of anus or genitals. Ben was still quite neuter.

Seating himself in the water, Luke's vigorous scrubbing got the tiger's lower legs clean and white. He enjoyed working the soap in between Ben's new toes and around the pads, which still had been dark with ground-in dirt. No more.

"Well, Ben, I think that does it!" Luke grinned up at the wet but now shining white and black anthropomorphic tiger standing over him.

Ben looked down at the young man sitting in the water. Those skillful hands had made him look and feel like a new cat. It was time to return the favor. Although Luke had been under the falls much of the time, there was still mud in his hair and stains elsewhere on his body.

Picking up the gourd from the ledge where Luke had put it, Ben decided it was a good thing Luke's pelt was short. The soap was almost gone.

Ben knelt behind him and started lathering soap into Luke's hair. The stubby new foretoes felt almost like human fingers as they rubbed his scalp firmly.

Luke closed his eyes and relaxed. "Mmmm. That feels good," he mumbled. The cool, falling water quickly rinsed the dirty suds away.

Ben carefully kept his claws retracted as he worked more soap in behind the ears, then massaged it into the back of Luke's neck and shoulders. The young man swayed under the pressure.

Scrubbing under Luke's arms, Ben restrained himself. A tickle fight would be fun, but it could wait.

Back and arms done, Ben moved out from under the falls and knelt again, close to Luke's side. Steadying him from behind with one paw, the plush feline gently wiped his boy's face clean, not that it was particularly dirty. Then he rubbed soap onto his chest and abdomen.

Yup. That bellybutton was full of crud. Luke twitched a little as Ben sudsed it out. The cool water falling from above quickly carried the lint and mud away.

Still seated in the water, Luke couldn't help going limp under the ministrations. He leaned sideways against his friend's soft chest. The loving caresses and flowing water were so relaxing.

That wouldn't do! Ben still had to do his lower body. He knew what the guy had been sitting in. Too bad tailless folk didn't have the base-of-tail skritch reflex. The striped plush slowly slid one paw under Luke's rump and pressed upward a couple of times, not actually lifting him.

"Oh, Ben, do I hafta?" Luke would almost rather doze off. Still, there were a few itchy patches left, and maybe...

One hand on Ben's shoulder, he struggled to his feet and spread his legs slightly. Now the cat could clean Luke's more sensitive regions.

Ben gently rubbed one soapy finger up and down between Luke's buttocks, working out the grains of dirt lodged there. Then the cat carefully worked foaming soap into the fur around Luke's genitals. Luke breathed deeply. He wasn't quite so sleepy any more.

"Ohh. Ben, that really feels good." Responding to the plush cat's gentle pressure, he turned to face him, sure of what must be coming next.

To Luke's disappointment, Ben gently rubbed down his thighs. The strong muscles there quivered a bit. More grime was found in the knees. The squeezes he gave to Luke's calves weren't quite necessary, though. Luke had to grab at a furry shoulder to keep steady.

Soaking in the water hadn't gotten all the grime off the boy's feet. Some was still well seated in the soles and between the toes. Probing fingers gently massaged between each of them. Luke's toes squeezed back.

Letting the second foot fall into the water, Ben slowly stood up, trailing a claw up the back of one leg, tickling just a little.

A sudden slap to the buttocks brought Luke bolt upright in bed, wide awake.

"Hey!"

He looked around the brightening room, slightly dazed. An innocent plush tiger was lying motionless across the foot of the bed.