House Cat [temporarily complete]

{c.h.a.p.t.e.r t.h.i.r.t.y}

A loud snarl and a bang echoed in the room as the shot went off. But, Isiel was still alive... The shot grazed the boy\'s ear, ripping two new holes through it as the gun clattered to the ground noisily and so did Dorian, slumping down onto his knees and then facedown on the ground, his neck ripped open from behind and his spine broken.

Kiba snarled again and bared his teeth, throwing the hunk of flesh and bone he\'d torn out of Dorian\'s neck onto the floor and flicking the blood off his hands before crouching down beside Isiel quickly. \"You\'re ok,\" he said rapidly, checking the ear and the boy\'s body for any injuries in need of immediate attendance. \"Stay with me, Isiel. You\'re ok.\" He got up immediately and moved to Eiji, grabbing the chain holding the man up and looking it over before looking around. Seeing Ido, he moved to the man on all fours and ripped at his clothes till a key fell out. Grabbing it, he moved back to Eiji and unlocked the cuffs, catching the man before he hit the ground as Eiji groaned weakly.

\"It\'s ok,\" the wolf whispered into Eiji\'s ear. \"He\'s alive. Just stay with me, Eiji.\"


Isiel had been so prepared for the swift release of death that when it didn\'t come the small measure of searing pain he was granted was almost enough to steal conscious from him entirely. A familiar voice, hands he knew, but couldn\'t quite remember and then nothing followed and slowly he sat up to be greeted by a sight which stopped him dead and at the same time reminded him how completely wretched and vile he was.

Like a lifeless puppet he got to his feet, wavered and padded towards where Dorian lay. Kiba would take care of Eiji so much better than he ever could have hoped to. It was alright to let go, do the right thing as Dorian had tried to. Kneeling down once more he reached for the gun, intending to turn it upon himself now rescue had finally arrived and Eiji was safe.


\"Isiel,\" Eiji croaked weakly, eyes swollen shut and blood dripping from his mouth. He shuddered and clung to the body holding him, but knew it wasn\'t Isiel. Feeling around in the air blindly, trembling fingers wavered, looking for his boy. \"Isiel...\" he groaned again.

\"Shut up,\" Kiba hissed. \"Save your strength.\" He grabbed one of the pieces of shredded clothes from Ido and pressed it to Eiji\'s back, trying to clot and cover the wounds.


Isiel faltered, finding himself torn between answering Eiji\'s call and ending it all; leaving him to continue a better life alone as he should have done so long ago. His own desire selfishly won out and he lowered the gun, setting it down beside Dorian once more before crawling over to Kiba and Eiji. Taking Eiji\'s flailing hand he held it close to his chest and whispered, \"....I\'m h-here....\"


The man shuddered visibly, his fingers curling against Isiel\'s chest and a small groan escaping him as he kept his face turned towards the boy. \"Isiel,\" he rasped, eyes closing all the way and panting.

Kiba nodded. \"Yes, he\'s here. Now shut it young man,\" he growled. \"Isiel, if you can move, I need you to go up the stairs and find a phone. Get an ambulance here right now. No... two ambulances. Just scream a lot and tell them you\'re at Ido\'s house. If you want to save Eiji\'s life, go, do it now! RUN!\"


Isiel was supremely reluctant to leave Eiji\'s side, but he knew it was for the best and after giving Eiji\'s hand one final squeeze he scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as he could. All the minor injuries he\'d incurred during their brutal captivity felt like nothing, minute discomforts that could be easily ignored as he burst into the light and searched diligently until finally he found a phone to summon the ambulances. Despite how he shook, like a leaf trapped in a strong gale somehow he managed to speak calmly and stay on his feet long enough to get help.


Kiba brought Eiji up the stairs as quickly as he could manage without jarring the man too badly, laying him on the ground at the front entrance. \"Stay with him. Keep him awake,\" the wolf ordered immediately. \"Don\'t mention that I was here, don\'t mention Ido or the others. Just scream that you don\'t know what happened and your father needs help. Just say he\'s your father over and over; that way they won\'t separate you. Stay with him, Isiel.\"

Kiba ran back to the basement on all fours, needing to do a fast clean-up job. He slammed the door shut behind him and locked it, moving to the first body immediately.


Isiel regretted that he hadn\'t a chance to thank Kiba, but he took to the wolf\'s orders with renewed energy and in the brief wait before the ambulances came screeching round the corner in a burst of bright flashing lights and noise he took Eiji\'s hand once more and whispered to him gently, \"...I\'m so sorry....so sorry....*please*....don\'t sleep...\"


Eiji\'s hand closed weakly around Isiel\'s. Even when he was picked up and placed on a stretcher, he didn\'t let go of the boy.

When Eiji had been strapped down and they\'d picked the stretcher up, one of the paramedics took hold of Isiel\'s hand. \"You have to let go kid,\" he said quickly. \"You have to go onto your own stretcher in a different ambulance.\"

Eiji\'s hand squeezed a little tighter as he groaned into the oxygen mask they put over his mouth and nose.


Isiel shook his head fervently and clung to Eiji\'s hand so tightly he feared he might break something. Turning his tearstained gaze upon the paramedic he uttered with determination, \"I\'m not hurt badly.....and I\'m *not* leaving my Father.\" Snatching his own hand back he went to board Eiji\'s ambulance without another word.


The paramedic paused, then sighed and nodded. \"Fine, the kid can ride with his father. Let\'s go!\"

They got into the ambulance and sped to the hospital, where Eiji\'s doctors met up with them and rushed him into the OR, separating Isiel from him then out of necessity and assuring him that he would be fine. Isiel was taken to the nurse\'s station where the nurses tended to him and dressed him in a hospital gown, then stitched up his wounds and checked for broken bones. All of his ribs were wrapped up and his cuts bandaged, and then he was taken to his own private hospital room, identical to the one he\'d visited Eiji in once before.

For three hours there was no word in the silent room, and then finally the doors were opened and a large bed was wheeled in with Eiji upon it, passed out and hooked up to several tubes and needles and drips. The bed was pushed up against Isiel\'s, and the doctor advised the boy to try to be quiet and let his father rest before leaving.


Isiel had been on the cusp of finding some fleeting rest when Eiji was brought to join him and it was all he could do to contain himself and do as the doctor had told him to. When finally they were alone once more he lay down, just beyond Eiji\'s reach and watched him sleeping as intently as if he were still a kitten studying an oblivious sparrow. Silently tears fell anew, for Dorian, the monster he\'d created and for Eiji whose life he\'d nearly ended due to his selfishness. There were no means to dispose of his wretched self in the room so for now he just lay and lamented, lost in thought.


Eiji woke an hour later, eyes opening slowly and darting around immediately. The tension in his body relaxed as he saw Isiel, and he reached out with a trembling hand, trying to touch the boy. \"Isiel,\" he whispered weakly, pulling the mask away from his mouth and pushing it aside, straining to reach his boy.

\"Isiel... I\'ve been a complete fool,\" he whispered hoarsely. \"I\'ve wasted my life. Please... please forgive me. I am a stubborn old man who is set in his ways. Please... accept my apologies. When I thought I\'d lost you I was willing to give everything up. I gave up my house and my dreams, my money... everything. I only want you and your happiness and safety. I want you to live and be free, to do as you please. I\'m... so.. sorry.\"


Isiel\'s lashes fluttered and he hurtled back to complete consciousness almost before the first word had left Eiji\'s lips. Awkwardly he sat, leaning forward to bridge the gap between them and caught Eiji\'s hand between his own, a deep and now ever present trembling passing between them. By now he was all cried out, but nothing could conceal the anguish upon his pale face, \".....it\'s me...I\'ve been stupid...\" He whispered, sounding utterly broken, \"...don\'t blame yourself...I\'m so ungrateful....I squandered the life you offered me....*I* k-killed Dorian with my selfishness....I don\'t deserve to live....but I had to see you were safe...\"



Dorian was dead? Eiji took pause at that for just a moment before shaking his head. Sitting up with a suppressed groan, he reached out and grabbed the boy, pulling him onto the same bed and holding him tightly, nuzzling his throat. \"Don\'t say that,\" he whispered, kissing the boy\'s cheek. To hell with his promises and oaths not to touch Isiel. \"You lived your life as you saw fit, not squandered-- you enjoyed yourself as much as possible, yes?\"

He kissed Isiel\'s cheeks and forehead over and over, unable to stop touching the boy, thankful he was alive and safe and in his arms. \"I\'m sorry that you lost Dorian. I know you loved him like you love nobody else. I know I can\'t replace him... but... I\'m sorry.\" He held the boy tightly in his arms, closing his eyes and simply reveling in this moment-- the boy was warm and soft against him, a familiar presence and a comfort.


Somewhere between Eiji\'s frantic kisses and forceful embrace Isiel realized he was sobbing quietly. A great weight, constricting his chest made each breath feel like a struggle and yet gradually as he lay in Eiji\'s arms, sensing his strength despite their shared vulnerability his strangled cries waned and finally died away until he found the will to gaze up at Eiji and whisper, \"....I loved him, but....just as he was....I...I was torn recently.....\" The words rang true and he looked away, overwhelmed by a deep sense of shame and worthlessness, \"I r-realized....I\'ve treated you so badly....and I...\"


Eiji fell quiet, listening to Isiel, watching him speak. When the boy started to berate himself, Eiji shook his head.

\"We\'re both sorry for things we\'ve done,\" he said quietly. \"I don\'t hold anything against you-- not a single thing you have ever done.\" He kissed the corner of Isiel\'s mouth softly. \"I\'m not a man of wasted words,\" he whispered. \"Isiel, you mean the world to me. I don\'t mind if you don\'t love me, but I... I do love you. More than you can ever know.\"

The dark-haired man held his breath silently; his chest tightened. To say these words were also much harder than he\'d ever imagined, but they were said, and he wasn’t taking them back.


The little neko shook his head slowly and as careful as if Eiji were made of porcelain he pressed himself closer, his trembling fingers clutching at Eiji\'s shoulders almost desperately, \".....y-you don\'t have to mind anything....\" He murmured, his voice wavering with emotion than ran deeper than he could know, \"...I...I love you too...I love you and I\'m sorry....I\'ll never run again...if you still want me...\"

Kissing the neko’s hair once, Eiji kept his eyes closed tight and shuddered. “I\'ve wanted to hear you say that in earnest for so long,” he whispered weakly. “So, so long… Aishiteru, my Isiel…” The black-haired man’s eyes opened once more, just a little, and moved across the room to look at the figure standing by the window, arms crossed and head bowed—he couldn’t recall hearing the wolf enter the room, and it always bothered him when Kiba did that… it meant Eiji had not been on alert and had it been an enemy, he could have been dead already.

The wolf said nothing for a while, but after a few minutes he sighed and lifted his head, looking at the mushy scene before him as his guts twisted a little. He said nothing, keeping his personal issues to himself; in this set of relationships, when one let their emotions come to fruition, it seemed to ruin the person if not the one they cared for as well. “Everything has been taken care of,” he said quietly, before pausing to burp into his hand, looking mildly sick for a moment. “Ugh,” he added under his breath.

Human meat always made him feel a little weird after eating it—and his stomach was swollen painfully, making his pants tight and his chest hurt a little. All that had been left in that basement by the time he was finished were white, picked-clean bones… and even most of those were smashed to such small pieces that no single human could be identified. He even had their teeth in his pocket so that no dental records could be looked into. “I keep trying to leave this family,” he sighed as he tilted his head to the side and swallowed down the bile rising in his throat. “It keeps sucking me back in. Maybe with a little luck, this time, things will work out.”

Eiji nodded slowly, bringing Isiel closer and holding him in broad arms, making sure that no matter what happened, he would never have the little neko taken from him; not even the end of the world would separate him from his little love. “I have no home,” he breathed. “No money. Nothing… but the both of you. And that is all I could ever want. I used to aspire for things that would never be completed in my lifetime… I followed in my father’s footsteps and was trying to curb you into doing the same after me, just as I tried to do with Oriel… No more. No more concentration on something that I cannot possibly complete and that will only drain on me, distracting me from the things in my life that should have mattered more in the first place. If you both will have me… I will do my best for you both.” Eiji relaxed into the bed, kissing Isiel once more, never wanting to let him go.


Shaking his head with a sigh and a smile, Kiba laughed a little. “You know your answer to that,” he uttered quietly. “If you haven’t realized by now the level of dedication those around you have when it comes to everything that has to do with you, then you never will… But we are here in spite of your stubbornness, Eiji.”

Nodding his head respectfully, the wolf closed his eyes and bowed a little. “Welcome to your new life. My name is Kiba and the one beside you is Isiel. We will do our best to serve and take care of you; please go easy on us.”

Kiba nodded respectfully and took his leave… allowing the new lovers time alone to get to know each other for the first time since they’d met.

~e.n.d~
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A/N: It took a while… life has been busy for myself and for Lily. But, here it is… the final chapter. I hope you guys like it! Please, leave comments and let us know what you thought… we would love to hear from you. If you would rather not leave a public comment, then please feel free to email me at uitenshi @ gmail.com. Thanks for reading!

-Wing