Kovu pulled back a bit, the words stinging slightly. "...I didn't mean to. I just...didn't know what to say." That really was it. Well...that and where his mother had scratched him. "I didn't know it would hurt you so much."

Not for the first time, Kovu cursed his mother for the way she'd raised him. He didn't know anything about this kind of stuff. And last night he hadn't even thought about how she'd feel about his silence until they'd gotten into the apartment.