House Cat [temporarily complete]

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


Isiel didn\'t dare disturb the calm atmosphere that had descended over the ward and kept his footfalls as light and soundless as possible even as he entered Eiji\'s room, filled with trepidation and a sense of relief at least from the impatience which had threatened to make his calm facade slip even further before he arrived.

The man lay silently on his bed, eyes closed and body still. His lips were slightly parted, and with each exhale there was a slight misting of the oxygen mask over nose and mouth. The only sounds in the room were the soft whisper of his breathing, and the hum of the machines hooked up to Eiji to make sure he was alive and functioning properly.

Isiel hesitated by the door, taking in the painful sight and yet not wanting to believe that anyone could do this to Eiji. Cautiously he moved closer and drew up a chair in silence, sitting down and feeling worse than he had even moments after the meeting had gone bad.

The wind rustled the curtains in the open window, and the little light filtering through them flickered across the blanket pulled up to Eiji\'s chest, and his hands resting overtop of it. The edges of the blanket rustled as well, as did a few threads of black silken hair which was left untied and fanned on the bed behind him.

One of the monitors made a small chirrup to let whoever was in the room know that it had been a full minute and there had been no change in heart rate, either good or bad.

Isiel jumped just a fraction when the little sound broke the calm within Eiji\'s room and bowed his head, feeling instantly ashamed of his silly reaction. It made him feel more like a scared kitten than he had done in a long while despite his fancy clothes and the confidence he was feigning more convincingly with each passing day. Hesitantly he leant over, touching Eiji\'s hand as if he was doing something wrong and mumbled an apology for letting it come to this.

Black eyelashes flicked slightly before opening a few millimeters, and glassy eyes appeared behind the thick black fringe. Eiji didn\'t look anywhere in particular; there was a drugged haze about his expression, and his lower lip twitched slightly.

Other than that, there were no responses from the man. He remained perfectly still, and even his heart rate stayed steady as he lay in his bed.

Isiel was here... touching his hand? Apologizing? He hadn\'t expected the neko to gather the balls it took to leave the estate, never mind come up with the idea on his own to visit Eiji. Instantly he suspected Kiba for having a hand in it, and he noted groggily that he should... do something... about... that... sometime.

Isiel gripped Eiji\'s hand just a little tighter as he opened his eyes, but didn\'t have some overblown dramatic reaction incase he just made things worse and even though he felt tears welling up in his eyes he blinked them away and in a calm tone explained to Eiji that everything at the mansion was fine, all the nekos were safe and well and that he was sorry he hadn\'t visited earlier.

\"Isiel,\" Eiji said calmly. There was no emotion or tone that could be registered in the voice, and the way the man had said it was breathless and slow, as though it was a burden to him. But two of his fingers closed around the hand touching his a little tighter, and the man blinked ever so slowly.

There was slight commotion outside; Kiba stood in the doorway to Eiji\'s room as the nurse outside tried to get in.

\"Sir, excuse me, you\'ll have to move,\" she said impatiently, trying her best not to rattle the items on her tray lest they make noise.

\"No way,\" Kiba said flatly, shaking his head. \"You\'re going to drug him up even more; he can barely register that there\'s somebody in the room with him as it is. That can wait until we\'re gone, you get me?\"

Isiel felt his chest tighten painfully as Eiji said his name, a far reach from the commanding way it was usually spoken he sounded weak, as if even that was an immense effort and the little neko leant in closer to whisper, \"I\'m here...please...don\'t strain yourself...\" Vaguely he registered something happening beyond the door, but ignored it - Eiji consuming his attention completely.

He took a slow, deep breath-- his free hand lifted slowly, and wavered back and forth a little before actually landing on the mask at his mouth after the second try. With clumsy fingers he pulled it away and let it fall onto the bed, followed by his hand falling uselessly across his chest. \"Isiel,\" he said once more, and this time his eyes did turn just a little, almost but not quite looking at the boy... rather, he looked at the space just above Isiel\'s head as his lips moved once more but no sound came out.

Isiel bit his lip hard, stifling a frightened sniffle - this was more terrifying than any of the times he\'d found himself intimidated by Eiji and his cold demeanor and maybe even that the times before he was brought to the mansion. Seeing his rescuer so weak and drugged into a helpless, confused state made him lose confidence in everything and yet he still managed to speak, reaching out to touch Eiji\'s cheek very lightly before resting his hand upon the mask in case he needed it again quickly, \"...I\'m so sorry...I shouldn\'t have come with you...I made trouble and...and....\"

The free hand lifted once more, this time reaching for Isiel. Slender fingers bumped lightly against the boy\'s lips before feeling their way to his cheek, along his jaw and finally to the back of his head. Again his lips moved but nothing came out, and Eiji pulled weakly at the boy\'s neck, trying to draw him closer to murmur something that might actually be heard.

Isiel understood what he wanted finally and leant in closer, remaining silent so Eiji could tell him whatever it was he was so determinedly trying to communicate. He felt himself shaking beneath Eiji\'s weakened touch, but managed somehow not to cry.

\"Don\'t,\" he said hoarsely, taking several breaths before trying to finish the sentence. \"Weep.\" He turned his head just slightly to the side and managed a kiss that was just barely a kiss to the corner of Isiel\'s mouth, his hand squeezing faintly once more at the boy\'s. \"...Isiel,\" he murmured, his eyes closing once more as the hand at the back of the boy\'s neck relaxed and released once more, coming to rest oddly on the boy\'s shoulder, unable to gather the strength to either put it back in the soft blonde locks or draw it away.

Isiel covered the hand upon his shoulder with his own and carefully drew it away, placing it down upon the sheets once more and yet he found himself unable to let go for a few minutes as he gathered his strength and nodded, unable to say a word as each time he tried they caught in his throat and amounted to nothing. There was so much he wanted to tell Eiji, but he couldn\'t and eventually he let go, moving to get out of his chair and retreat outside before he caused any more trouble.

Eiji\'s fingers tightened around the hand that had first touched him, and he tried to grasp onto it to keep the boy there, but his strength was not enough and his hand fell uselessly over the edge of the bed when Isiel ran away. The man released a long, slow breath and let his eyes slide shut once more, all effort in him gone.

Isiel knew the tight semblance of control he\'d been clinging to was slipping away fast as he fled from the room and stopped just beyond it, turning back as if torn between returning to Eiji\'s side and maybe reducing his faith in him to nothing or hiding back at mansion with only his anxieties for company. Right now he didn\'t care about whether Kiba or the others saw his momentary lapse; nothing mattered but Eiji even if being by his side was too painful to bear.

\"Stupid fucking drugs,\" Kiba grumbled, \"Isiel, stand in the doorway. Keep Miss Injection Happy here out of the room.\"

The wolf entered the room and got up onto Isiel\'s bed, straddling the man\'s body on hands and knees. \"Hey. Hello in there. I know you can hear me, Eiji. I know you hate being drugged up. I know you\'re trying to say things that aren\'t coming out, so I know you\'ll forgive me for doing this.\"

Kiba leaned down and bit hard at Eiji\'s throat, then his shoulder and arm, nipping viciously over and over, leaving temporary little fang marks across his skin as the man arched his back in the bed and made soft, angry noises in the back of his throat.

Isiel glanced back at the woman who was still complaining very, very quietly, but soon silenced when she saw a tiny flicker of potential anger in his eyes just before he turned back to see what Kiba was doing and watched in silence, hoping he knew what he was doing. The strange actions of the wolf served as a temporary distraction from his impending tears and even though Isiel still looked shaken and anxious he didn\'t need to cry quite so badly.

Kiba continued to bite, and his fangs began to pierce flesh as he gripped Eiji\'s shoulders hard and held him down. \"You awake yet? I\'m not moving till you can push me off,\" he growled with a grin, before biting hard at the man\'s chest.

With a gasp Eiji\'s hands shot upwards and slammed against Kiba\'s ribcage, sending the wolf back onto his knees. \"Good enough,\" he smirked, getting off the bed and waiting, watching.

Eiji sat up slowly, breathing hard, his heart rate monitor\'s line graph spiking viciously from his pounding blood pressure. Shuddering, he pulled out the IV in his arm and began to rip little sensors off his body, the blanket falling to his lap and the machines beeping and alerting loudly that there was suddenly no information coming in.

Kiba snorted and flicked all of them off as Eiji sat still, panting and staring at his lap.

Isiel heaved a tiny sigh of relief and turned back to the woman, giving her a cold warning of a look that stated in no uncertain terms that she was to either remain outside the door or leave altogether if she wanted to keep her job. However, even when he returned his attention to Eiji and Kiba Isiel still remained close to the door himself, unsure whether Eiji would want him any closer after he\'d practically run away from him only moments before, too scared by his vulnerable state to keep his own fragile control in order. Feeling a wave of intense shame regarding his behavior presently and at the meeting he stared down at the floor.

Eiji continued to pant for several moments before looking up at Kiba from between locks of black hair. The wolf grinned at the bloody gaze and winked, heading out of the room and accidentally pushing Isiel hard into the room as he left, so that the boy was near the bed once more.

\"I\'ll be outside,\" the wolf said cheerfully before closing the door behind him, leaving the only illumination in the room to be the flickering pools of light over Eiji, coming from the window.

Isiel stumbled slightly from the unexpected push, but righted himself almost immediately and realized how much closer he was to Eiji now as well as being completely alone with him. With as little meekness as he could he glanced up, waiting to be greeted with annoyance or worse disgust for his pathetic reaction to seeing Eiji lying there and inability to do anything about it.

Hearing the door slam brought him back to reality again; Eiji blinked and turned to look and see who was still in the room, and was surprised to see Isiel right there. He narrowed his eyes a little, as thoughts rolled sluggishly around in his head. Hadn\'t the boy rejected him yet again and run out of the room? ...Had that been a hallucination?

Reaching out slowly, he took hold of the boy\'s arm and drew him closer to the bed, then guided him up onto it. Hallucination or not, he wasn\'t going to mess up a second time, even if this was the hallucination. Tilting the boy\'s head back just slightly, Eiji covered the small mouth with his own, and filled his fingers with the soft pale hair he\'d grown accustomed to seeing but never touching.

As shocked as he was by Eiji\'s affectionate reaction to his presence Isiel was so shaken by the whole visit, Kiba\'s unconventional choice of a cure and his own inadequacies that when he felt Eiji\'s lips against his own rather than resist he began to purr softly and reached out, resting his hands lightly upon Eiji\'s shoulders, seeking the comfort and reassurance only his presence seemed able to bring anymore and trying to make up for the times he\'d either accidentally or purposefully rejected the man.

He wondered how long it would take for Isiel to shy away or push Eiji; but until that moment he stayed as he was, wrapping his arms comfortably around the boy and relaxing into the position. However, soon after he\'d begun, Eiji lost the energy he\'d been running on, the rage fueling his movements fading as he ran his tongue slowly across the soft, pink lower lip against his.

Eiji leaned back and came to rest on the bed once more with Isiel in his arms, and he drew away from the kiss for a moment to catch his breath once more, letting his eyes slide shut though still refusing to open his arms and let the little neko run off yet.

Isiel actually seemed to have no intention of going anywhere and although he shied away from openly clinging to Eiji - assuming he might see it as a sign of inherent weakness he did press himself close to Eiji\'s larger frame and gradually will his body to stop trembling quite so noticeably, \"....I\'m glad you\'re alright...\" He mumbled softly after a few blissful minutes of silence.

\"I\'m pleased you went with me,\" Eiji said quietly, opening his eyes once more and looking at the ceiling. \"You\'re Futamaka Isiel now, and you\'re my future heir. There will always be hard times, but they\'ll pass; what matters more to me is that you\'re getting stronger and growing.\"

He muttered something else but it didn\'t really come out, then realized his eyes had closed all the way and he was drifting off again. Gathering his energy, he growled, \"Fucking drugs...\"

Isiel felt a warm, comforting sensation spread through his body at Eiji\'s praise and leant up, nipping his neck almost gently, as a kitten would to get another\'s attention yet this time it was meant not only to focus Eiji\'s wandering mind and break the influence of the drugs still in his system, but also as some strange, fumbling attempt at endearment.

A choked, gasping noise escaped Eiji at the nip, and his eyes opened all the way as he sat up once more. \"Rrgh... that\'s it,\" he muttered, burying his face in Isiel\'s hair for just a moment before placing the boy on the end of the bed and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress, bracing a hand on the night stand and trying to get up. \"I\'m leaving this fucking place,\" he hissed through his teeth, clutching his stomach with his other hand as he wavered.

Isiel hopped off the end of the bed, offering Eiji support whether he liked it or not and peered up at him, concern plastered all over his pretty face, \"Are you sure that\'s wise? You need to rest.\" He exclaimed, understanding Eiji\'s frustration, but knowing that above all else his health came first and that if needs be he\'d see the nurse off himself.

Eiji didn\'t reply; instead, he reached for his overnight bag and rummaged through it, pulling out a pair of pants and a clean white silk shirt. He sat down heavily on the bed and slipped the shirt on first after a few tries with his arms, leaving it unbuttoned for now and foregoing the embarrassment of having Isiel watch him fumble like a toddler. Instead he moved to the pants, which he had to put on slowly, one foot at a time while ignoring the shooting pain up and down his spine, the point of origin being the several stitched-up surgery wounds across his abdomen.

When he looked half-decent, he was also already set to panting, and finally Eiji looked over at Isiel, frustration on his face. He never asked for help; he wouldn\'t do it now. With renewed determination he looked down at the buttons on his shirt and took the tails of his shirt in hand, trying to line up button with hole.

Isiel didn\'t try to help Eiji, even though he wanted nothing more than to make this escape he was insisting on as easy and painless as possible he thought maybe Eiji wouldn\'t appreciate what could be seen as a pitying gesture right now. Instead he approached the door to get Kiba\'s attention without arousing the suspicions of the nurse who would no doubt attempt to have some kind of very quiet fit when she found out her patient was intending to leave so early on in his recovery.

Kiba noted Isiel\'s attempts at communicating his helplessness to the wolf, and he sent the nurse on a wild goose hunt for a relative of Eiji\'s that should be in the lobby soon, before he headed into the room himself. Upon seeing Eiji struggling with the buttons, he glanced at the boy curiously as to why Isiel hadn\'t taken up that task and spared Eiji the shame-- Kiba stood before Eiji and took the shirt in his own hands, buttoning it up quickly as Eiji looked away.

When he was done, Kiba backed off and gave Eiji room to stand or breathe or whatever he wanted. The man stood up and cracked the knuckles in his hands before rummaging in his bag and finding shoes. He slipped them on and ran a hand through his hair in a feeble attempt at combing it before heading to the door. Kiba glanced at Isiel once more and picked up the overnight bag himself, following Eiji-- who was leaning against the wall to walk and moving rather slowly.

Isiel kept quiet, knowing he\'d interpreted the situation wrongly *again* despite his training he still couldn\'t get anything right and the shame of it reduced him to walking a few steps behind Eiji and Kiba, giving anyone who dared to stare at the group curiously foul little glances that warned them away. Eiji\'s choice worried him still, but he knew it wasn\'t his place to disagree more than he already had and that the fullgrowns were capable of nursing the man with a greater degree of skill than the nurse could.


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