House Cat [temporarily complete]

c.h.a.p.t.e.r t.w.e.n.t.y


Isiel sighed as he forced his eyes open once more to watch Dorian go and wondered if somehow he\'d managed to offend him by showing so much concern for Eiji. After all Dorian held such strong emotions for his Master that he couldn\'t really blame him, even now for resenting his favored position. Turning his attention to Kiba he smiled weakly, \"I should go back to my room and let them finish cleaning up in here...\"

\"Now you\'re thinking like a Master,\" Kiba commended happily, \"Though you\'re missing out on one thing.\"

Isiel sat up little, willing his body into action even though it seemed reluctant to aid him in getting up, \"That is?\"

\"Weeeellllll... if I was the cute and coy little Master Isiel, bundle of joy that I am, after I\'d made sure I was still pretty in the nearest mirror, I\'d take that book and put it somewhere very safe. And then I\'d do the rounds across the house and let myself be seen a little bit just in case there are those around who have a problem or a question that needs to be brought up and they\'re too shy or unsure if they should bother me about their concerns.\"

Kiba hummed thoughtfully. \"And then, after finding an attractive youngling to satisfy my carnal needs, I\'d make sure I was pretty again, and settle down for dinner at the head of the table.\"

The little blonde smiled once more, finding himself warming to Kiba’s helpful reply even though he might not agree with all of it. After a couple of seconds spent wriggling his limbs out of numbness he got to his feet and brushed out the creases from his clothing, tucking his hair once more back into a neat arrangement. Thankfully the blood from his wound had not spread onto his clothes and he even felt more comfortable in something so formal. After straying to a mirror hung upon the far wall he returned to pick up the book looking less like he wanted to fall straight into the nearest bed and glanced at Kiba, \"I think my carnal needs are the least of our worries, but you\'re right. I\'ll go and check up on everyone, make sure they\'re alright.....do I look presentable?\"


\"You look fabulous. Ravishing. If I wasn\'t a top I\'d ask you to take me, O Master. I do have a question though; do you want me to look away and close my eyes and ears when you hide that book away?\" Kiba offered cheerfully.

He couldn\'t help his good mood. If Isiel knew why Kiba was so playful suddenly, he\'d be upset-- but he didn\'t. All he knew was that the wolf was grinning ear to ear.

Things were going to get mighty fun around the house between Dorian, Isiel and Eiji.

Isiel gave Kiba a rather suspicious look, finding his strangely good-humored mood slightly worrying as well as bemusing and decided he actually preferred him when he was being surly. \"I\'m going back to my room to find a place for it....\" He murmured with a faint smile and turned on his heel, retreating from Kiba’s weirdness as quickly as possible. It took him quite some time to choose a suitable hiding place for the present, but eventually he emerged with the intention of going to check upon the other nekos.

Even though the boy had made it clear he didn\'t mind whether Kiba really knew where the book was or not, the wolf made sure to pay a little less attention to Isiel\'s movements about his room than normal, though he always kept on alert just in case something went wrong or there was a sudden emergency. Because, one never knew what could happen.

He hummed thoughtfully when he heard Dorian on the floor below, heading to the training room. So, the boy was taking up Isiel\'s habits and going to work out his muscles when he couldn\'t work out his feelings, was he?

Isiel didn\'t really know where to start or indeed what to say to the nekos now under his protection. He was used to receiving reassurance from others rather than providing it himself and surely the fullgrowns would hardly respect the fumbling tokens of a boy barely out of his kitten years. Nonetheless he braced himself and set about finding them with renewed enthusiasm. Dorian\'s strange behavior still played upon his mind, but for now he filed it away, promising himself he\'d go talk to him later.

\"Master,\" one of the fullgrowns called from the kitchen as he saw Isiel pass through. He hurried out, covered in flour and dots of pastry, and smiled warmly at the boy. \"Master, before you go-- some of us were curious as to what you\'d like for dinner tonight? We wanted to prepare a special meal in celebration of the announcement of your succession into the Futamaka line.\"

Isiel smiled up at the full-grown, surprised and somewhat delighted by his request as well as more than little amused by the flour dusting the other neko, \"That\'s so sweet....um...I mean...I don\'t mind. I\'m sure whatever you prepare will be delicious....maybe something with chicken....\" He mused thoughtfully, forgetting all semblance of Eiji\'s cold style of rule.

\"Chicken it is,\" the full-grown smiled, bowing slightly and winking before heading back into the kitchen to cook.

Kiba sighed softly and scratched the back of his head from his seat on the balcony. \"Oh man. I\'m so going to be the bad guy here.\" He jumped down onto the first floor and walked calmly to catch up with Isiel, waiting till the boy was alone before speaking up. \"Isiel-- you have to be decisive with your speech. No hesitation, no stammering. You have to be Master, do you understand?\"

Isiel sighed, although he respected the way Eiji ran the house he didn\'t think he could bring himself to be so cold with everyone - he had little enough normal contact in his life anyway what with Kiba and Eiji added to the strange atmosphere that had developed between him and Dorian since his outburst, \"I understand....but that doesn\'t mean I\'m happy about it. They\'re not going to respect me if I act like Eiji....he\'s so and I\'m so not...”

\"I didn\'t say you had to speak coldly and ignore them. You don\'t have to be the mirror of Master, not at all-- but you do have to learn to make decisions instantly, state them with conviction, and stick to them. Nobody will respect you for long and you won\'t be able to keep their control in an emergency if they don\'t have complete respect for your decisions.\"

Isiel gave him a sour little glance, but stowed away any comments about how the dinner menu could possibly have any bearing on the state of the house and carried on walking, \"Fine, I get it.\"

\"Alright then,\" the wolf continued, annoyed that his advice was being taken grudgingly, \"I want decisions, now. Should the wine tonight be red or white? Are you going to go visit Master in the hospital? If you do, who is going to be in charge while you\'re gone?\" He fired off questions left and right, then put his hands on his hips and waited for the answers. If they were anything less than immediate and sure, he\'d call the boy on it.

Isiel turned round without hesitation, knowing Kiba\'s game and feeling ready to play it, even if he did sound a touch sullen, \"White, it goes better with chicken of course, yes, unless he\'d rather I didn\'t and you as I\'m perfectly capable of getting there on my own.\"

\"Good conviction, but only one mistake,\" Kiba said with a nod, glad that the boy had put thought into most of his decisions. \"I go with you everywhere. You know that. Name someone else to take over, and tell me why they should be put in charge. And, as for Master wanting you to visit or not; I\'m not going to say I know what he wants on that subject.\"

Isiel had to hesitate this time - after all he felt he barely knew anyone here anymore let alone who would make the best candidate to take charge while both he and Kiba were absent. However, he quickly came to a conclusion, \"I would rather you remained here, but I understand your duties. If I had time to evaluate the potential people then...well we\'re be here all week. If Eiji does wish to see me then Dorian can run the house while I\'m gone I think at least his loyalty to Eiji if not me would keep him from doing a bad job of it.\"

Kiba considered. \"Points for judgment, but I\'m afraid I\'m going to have to disagree. Dorian has ulterior motives for almost everything he does. I wouldn\'t put him in charge of the kittens alone, much less the entire estate and all of its authorities. But it\'s your call. Are you going to go visit Master?\"

\"I don\'t suppose I can....I\'ve barely spoken to anyone else in the house aside from the other kittens and I hardly trust a stranger with taking care of this place.\" Isiel visibly deflated, frustrated by his lack of social mobility within the house and that unless Kiba suggested something otherwise he\'d have to let Eiji down.

\"Welllll...\" the wolf mused, \"If I were in charge, I\'d put three fullgrowns into place as my substitute while I was gone, preventing any one from doing as he pleased. Dorian could certainly be one of them that way, so there\'d be no hard feelings between him and I over not choosing him, and yet there\'d be the other two to keep him in check.\" Kiba wanted to see Eiji\'s reaction to the boy visiting him; he wasn\'t too sure what the man was up to with Isiel any more.

Isiel conveniently forgot about his earlier grumpiness and smiled at Kiba gratefully. Although he put a lot more thought into his decisions these days getting used to the idea of being in a position that was anything other than submissive or running the house correctly was still proving as difficult as he\'d expected, \"That sounds acceptable.\"

\"Not that I\'m in charge, but I\'m glad you like it,\" the wolf murmured, crossing his arms. \"One last question; when are you going to go?\" He walked past Isiel to the nearest window, looking into the courtyard and making sure that the nekos roughhousing outside didn\'t get too rough. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled a little as a car driving past the estate slowed down a little, but he relaxed once more as he heard the vehicle speed up once more and drive off.

He hated it when these big events went down-- usually everybody knew about them the moment they\'d happened or often before, and that meant the vultures constantly circling Eiji swooped down a little closer or even, in Oriel\'s case, attacked when they thought they might win their prize.

Isiel wanted to see Eiji and yet he couldn\'t help but feel that his impending visit might annoy the man or worse still make him believe he was neglecting the mansion and the nekos because he was too wrapped up in himself. However, to just leave him there seemed plain rude, \"Tomorrow, I don\'t think it would be fair to have the others go to such trouble and just leave.\"

Kiba nodded. \"Good call,\" he mused, turning to look at the boy once more. \"Especially since Master made an appointment for you to be attended to by the tailor this evening after the meal; can I ask what color you prefer your suits to be?\"

Isiel tucked a stray bang behind his ear absently took a few steps away from Kiba, \"I like black, but I might ask the tailor if he has any suggestions regarding my colouring.\" He answered, careful to maintain the self-assurance that Kiba kept going on about without overstating it.

Nodding again, he walked back down the hall towards the dining room where the food was being laid out already. \"Can I ask you a personal question, Isiel?\" he murmured quietly without turning to look at the boy. \"Master told you clearly that it doesn\'t matter to him who you sleep with, and you\'ve given your first time here with another to Dorian. Are you going to continue your relationship with him, then? Take him properly instead of just with your tail, as he so obviously wants?\"

Isiel stopped just beyond the dining room, keeping his tone so low that he could barely hear himself and yet knowing Kiba\'s hypersensitive hearing would pick up every syllable including the frosty undertone to his reply, \"What Dorian wants is Eiji, not me. He made that perfectly clear and regardless of how I might feel I won\'t force him to accept me. I would rather be alone that with someone who would always be wishing for another.\"

\"I think he wants both of you,\" Kiba retorted just as quietly, turning around to look at Isiel once more. \"And I think now he wants you both just as equally, which confuses him because it changes his entire world.\"

The blonde neko looked rather skeptical about Kiba\'s reply and carried on walking, pausing only to murmur, \"That doesn\'t change the fact that he lied to me. I might treat him more fondly than I do the other nekos, but anything else is out of the question anymore.\"

\"I see.\" Interesting. The wolf kept the rest of his thoughts to himself and stepped aside to allow several hurrying nekos into the dining hall, and he smirked when he heard their rumbling stomachs. \"Well then. It was interesting having this chat with you; I\'m going to head off to hunt down my own dinner. Enjoy yours!\"

Kiba turned and waved, heading hurriedly on all fours down the hall to the backyard, towards the chicken coop. He\'d release a few into the maze, then hunt them down one by one happily, enjoying his own dinner to the fullest.

Isiel watched Kiba go and took a deep, calming breath while he still had the chance. Fixing a facade of complete confidence in place he entered the dining room, largely ignoring the others and yet not making himself unapproachable as he sat down at the head of the table in silence, his own stomach giving the tiniest of growls in the presence of such delicious food.

The youngest nekos looked at Isiel with wide eyes, a little bewildered and very awed at seeing him in pretty business clothes and seated at the head of the table like that.

Dorian was not at the table.

Food was placed on Isiel\'s plate first by one of the full-growns sitting closest to the boy, and then everyone else dug into their meal-- there were several chicken dishes, including chicken a la king, chicken cordon bleu, teriyaki chicken and chicken stir fry.

Isiel ate with all the decorum and table manners of a highly educated neko even though he was famished, having not realized how long it had been since he\'d taken his last decent meal what with all the chaotic events unfolding around him almost constantly. Glancing down the table he noted Dorian was absent and frowned slightly, pausing with his fork poised just beyond his parted lips, \"........\"

Nobody noticed that he wasn\'t eating, and the meal went on normally until everyone was done.

All eyes turned to Isiel, waiting to see what he\'d do or say.


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e.n.d c.h.a.p.t.e.r t.w.e.n.t.y