House Cat [temporarily complete]

c.h.a.p.t.e.r s.e.v.e.n.t.e.e.n


There was a soft knock at the door. Eiji opened his eyes, sighing and putting first his left hand back on the floor, then letting his feet fall forward so that he was on hands and feet before bringing himself back to an upright position in the middle of his room. He rolled his shoulders twice as he approached the door, and opened it slowly, looking down into the face of Dorian.

\"I hurt Isiel,\" the full-grown said softly, staring up at his Master with dark-rimmed eyes and a fearful determination to him, hoping he wouldn\'t be punished for going to Master\'s room without true reason. Feeling the need to explain more, he murmured, \"We had a misunderstanding, and I told him everybody hates him and that I hate him too. And I hurt his feelings really badly, and I know I shouldn\'t be bothering you for this Master, but... he hasn\'t come out of his room in a day, and I think he\'s seriously hurt, and...\"

And what? He hadn\'t thought this through. Pursing his lips, he lost most of his nerve and looked down at his feet, shame in his body language as his ears flattened all the way on his head and his tail tucked between his legs. \"And I want to apologize to him but I know he won\'t want to see me right now, but I have to also apologize to you, Master, for any inconvenience this might cause you.\"

Eiji waited, and when the full-grown seemed to be finished bleeding his heart all over the floor, he said \"Come,\" flatly, and walked down the hall, towards Isiel\'s room. When they reached the door, he opened it slowly, and held it open for Dorian, who looked at Master with a brief horrified glance before stepping into the room and hearing the door close behind him, without Master entering the room.

Isiel had found other distractions to procrastinate from his eventual, inevitable re-emergence into the house in his studies and had spent most of the day he\'d been cooped up in his room leant over his desk, devouring knowledge from his textbooks - even those which he\'d finished using long ago and that served only to take his mind off the cold, aching emptiness in his chest. When his door swung open he was lying on his tummy upon his bed facing the door, nose buried in a book on table manners and glanced up instantly, his eyes widening when he saw who had come to visit. \"..........\"

Dorian cleared his throat and glanced back at the door, but he knew that he couldn\'t go back. Not only was there the off chance that Master was standing outside that door still, but it had also been an indirect order-- fix it yourself.

The black neko crossed his arms and looked to the side, shadowing his eyes under the thick mass of ebon hair as he hunched his shoulders a little and his tail curled tighter around his left thigh. He said nothing just as loudly as Isiel did, and remained standing there, unable to think of any single way to break the silence that wouldn\'t result in him looking like a jackass or getting upset once more.

When it became apparent to Isiel that Dorian was just going to stand there he sat up on the bed, scooting off it to go and place the book back upon his desk which was just shy of where Dorian had chosen to linger. As he turned away from the desk he uttered softly, \"Did you want something?\" without even a shade of malice or indeed any other emotion beyond benign politeness.

\"No,\" Dorian muttered, unmoving and without looking up. \"I said everything I have to say to you, including the apology. The next move is yours. I went to Master to inform him that I was what had upset you and apologize to him for any inconvenience it might be causing, and he sent me here.\"

He let it hang at that, wishing this moment would end.

But, after a few more moments of silence, he changed his mind and decided he did have something to say. \"I don\'t regret what I did. I\'ve wanted to do that with you for far too long; I\'d do it again, probably exactly the same. I still think it isn\'t right how you treat him and how he treats you. But I don\'t want the rest of our time spent in this house with you stuck in your room. …Or with me feeling like shit any time I\'m near you and you giving me polite smiles with absolutely no feeling in them whatsoever.\"

Isiel returned to perch upon the edge of his bed, his eyes straying away from Dorian and down to the floor - he didn\'t even seem to realize he was fidgeting, digging his claws into his thighs were the loincloth didn\'t cover them as he spoke in a pallid, but honest voice, \"I don\'t know if I can smile at someone who says they hate me. Knowing how you feel about Master....I wish I.....\" Isiel\'s chin trembled and he lapsed into silence for a long, awkward moment before speaking up once more, \".....you said it doesn\'t matter....but it does to me...more than you know...and....\" Trailing off he realized how useless and pathetic his words sounded - no wonder Dorian hated him - he was hardly worthy of Eiji.

\"I don\'t hate you,\" Dorian returned. \"I told you I didn\'t mean it when you were leaving, but you wouldn\'t listen. How could I spend every free hour of my days either with you or looking for you, if I hated you? Why would I play with you, and seek you out, and make jokes with you and tell you my secrets if I hated you? I\'m sure you\'ve asked yourself those same questions, and I\'d hope you\'d realize that the answer is, because I don\'t hate you. I was upset when I said those things. Yes, at that very instant, I meant them, but-- that was just an instant, compared to all the rest of the time when I love you. Is our friendship so fragile, so easily broken that our first misunderstanding is all it takes to ruin it?\"

Isiel thought about countering him with the fact that he\'d lied before, but in truth he just wanted it all to be over and if the price for peace within the house and no more concerns heaped upon Eiji or the others was that he remained always wondering how much of what Dorian had said he really, honestly meant then all he could do was look up at the full-grown with tearstained eyes and mumble, \"I guess not....I mean no...It’s just....I overreacted...\" He sounded lost and miserable, bound to hold his true feelings inside.

\"No, you didn\'t,\" the full-grown replied quietly, approaching Isiel and cupping the backs of the boy\'s ears, then running his hands down the sides of Isiel\'s face until his hands were under the smooth jaw and he tilted the boy\'s head upwards. \"You reacted as anybody would in your situation. I don\'t want you to remain sad, Isiel. Deep down I\'m happy for you, and I\'m glad that you\'re the one Master has chosen, I really am. And I know you have no reason to trust me; all I can say in my defense is that I\'ve only lied to you that one time, and I want to earn back your trust again.\"

Leaning down, Dorian closed his eyes and kissed Isiel softly.

Isiel raised his hands, resting them lightly upon Dorian\'s shoulders as he responded to the kiss every bit as shyly as if these past months building his confidence had never existed. He broke away from it suddenly however as a little sob welled up inside his throat and he swallowed it, staring back down at the floor again, \".....I...\"

\"You?\" Dorian asked softly, letting go of Isiel and allowing him to move away if he pleased. He had a dreading feeling as to what was to come next. \'I can\'t do this yet. I don\'t want to see you right now. I\'m not ready to forgive you.\' The full-grown waited on pins and needles, the muscles in his stomach tensing and his tail squeezing hard around his thigh.

He didn\'t know what he\'d do with himself if Isiel wanted to end their friendship. Certainly there were the other boys, but he\'d really become attached to this one, and it would be like a physical blow if he lost his little neko over one quick fuck.

Isiel smiled weakly and shook his head, resting it upon Dorian\'s shoulder for a moment as the weight of his pain mixed with a dose of relief that maybe Dorian really didn\'t loathe him after all overwhelmed all his training and restraint quite easily, \"....never mind.....\"

He wrapped his arm around the boy\'s head, his other hand stroking up and down Isiel\'s shoulder gently. \"You can tell me anything,\" Dorian murmured, kissing the top of the neko\'s head. \"After all, now you know my biggest secret.\"

\"I know...\" Isiel replied quietly, but chose not to elaborate further lest he alienate Dorian completely. Instead he tugged gently upon Dorian\'s arm, asking him without words if he would sit down and maybe stay a while - just until it didn\'t hurt so acutely that he felt like bursting into tears.

The full-grown moved as directed, until he was sitting with Isiel on the edge of the bed. He leaned in and kissed the boy on the lips once more, then across his cheek and down his throat. \"Next time I hurt you,\" he murmured against the boy\'s soft skin, \"you don\'t run away. You pick up the nearest blunt object and you hit me with it until I come to my senses, ok? I made a mistake in lying to you. I won\'t do it again.\"

His arm wrapped gently about Isiel\'s waist as he drew the boy back so that they were lying on the bed together, and Dorian\'s kisses became longer as he pressed his lips across Isiel\'s collar bone, until he got to the dip between the bones and slid his tongue into it. Dorian then traced the tendon back up to Isiel\'s jaw with his tongue and little, soft nips to the skin as a silent testament to his words-- like grooming an elder as a display of submission.

Isiel murmured a faint agreement and let Dorian tend to him, relishing every gentle touch, kisses he knew would never imbued with the same powerful sentiment as his own were and yet felt good enough to lull him into the illusion that Dorian could love him as anything more than a close friend. Closing his eyes he bared his neck to Dorian, letting his hands trail lightly down his arms, coming to rest just above his hands before lying upon the duvet, defenseless against his tenderness.

When he saw he was being allowed to do as he pleased, Dorian\'s interest grew from sentiment to arousal as he shifted a little on the bed until he was straddling Isiel\'s hips and resting his belly atop the boy\'s. With a soft purr sounding in his chest he ran his fingers through the boy\'s hair and slipped his tongue between Isiel\'s lips, murmuring soft sounds of pleasure as his ears finally turned back round and his tail uncurled from his leg.

Isiel mirrored Dorian\'s contented purring and leant into his touch, absently lifting his arms once more to link them loosely round the full-grown neko\'s neck as he parted his lips a fraction more and let himself get caught up in a kiss which pained and soothed his broken spirit simultaneously.

Dorian was just getting ready to slide a hand down between Isiel\'s legs when he heard Kiba clear his throat, and the full-grown sat up slightly, giving the open window an annoyed look.

\"Master has just requested Isiel\'s presence in the library,\" Kiba said nonchalantly, unmoving from his seat. \"Isiel must arrive in full business wear, showered and groomed.\"

With a slight growl of disappointment and annoyance, Dorian got off the boy and rolled onto the bed, flopping on it comfortably as he used to before his admission of hate towards the boy.

Isiel gave Dorian an apologetic smile and leant over, kissing his cheek lightly before setting about getting ready immediately with the quiet efficiency he was capable of when he put his mind to it. Dorian had been free to laze around in his room before their altercation and so he just left the other neko to sleep or do whatever he wanted as he picked out his clothes and then padded off to wash up and make himself presentable for Eiji.

Eventually he reappeared, looking refreshed and with none of the traces of grime that had marred his body before. Dorian knew him intimately and so it didn\'t bother him to get changed before his friend, treating the clothes carefully as he knew how much they cost. When he was fully changed he brushed his pale blonde hair back and stood before Dorian for a moment, \"...do I look acceptable?\" He asked hopefully.

Eiji stood in the library silently, his glasses resting on his nose as he read through a book silently in one hand, and the other remained behind him in a gentleman\'s pose. He was dressed once more in business attire, this time in pure black jacket and pants, with a dark grey shirt and a black tie. His hair was combed back and braided neatly, and when he heard the library door open, he removed his glasses from the bridge of his nose and tucked them into his jacket breast pocket, turning to face Isiel.

He waited until the boy was sitting in one of the large green leather chairs before turning fully to the boy and slipping a hand into his pants pocket while looking Isiel over, inspecting. Blonde hair was brushed back and tied at the base of his neck, his face was clean and his clothes were straight and pressed. With a slight nod he reached up a little higher from his pants pocket, towards his belt on the left side, behind the fold of his jacket. Drawing his hand out once more, he held a Black Widow out for the boy. \"I was told you were trained. Wear it. We have our first business meeting in an hour.\"


Isiel nodded and accepted the gun without question, secreting it upon his person in a way that it was completely undetectable and wouldn\'t compromise the confidence with which he held himself in front of whomever it was Eiji was meeting. It was almost as if someone had possessed Isiel and stripped him of his childish behaviours - proving that if he devoted himself to acting out his training he could maintain a level of control to aid Eiji rather than providing him with more things to worry about.

\"Yes Master.\"

Even though his personal feelings longed to get in the way whenever he was with Eiji he refused to let them.

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e.n.d c.h.a.p.t.e.r s.e.v.e.n.t.e.e.n