House Cat [temporarily complete]

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

A few minutes later Eiji sat back up, wiping the earth from his brow with the back of his hand and reaching out, picking the boy up under his legs like a child, the same way Oriel used to do it, then setting him down on his feet and resting a hand on the boy\'s shoulder. Eiji looked down at the boy and their eyes met for just a moment; both gazes were riddled with pain that words couldn\'t match, though Eiji\'s lower lip did not tremble, nor did tears fall.

He turned back towards the estate and guided the boy by the shoulder alongside him, figuring he\'d get the silent order to stay beside his Master and dropping his hand. They walked side by side up the stairs and through the back doors, where the wolf was waiting. \"This is your ward, Kiba,\" Eiji said darkly, his voice sounding perfectly normal as it had any other time Runt might have heard him spare the times he\'d been yelling. The large, muscular man leaned down and sniffed once at the Runt, then looked up and nodded at his Master firmly, his expression no-nonsense as well. \"I expect the same from you as I did when we first worked together.\"

The wolf nodded again, and bowed a silent goodnight as Eiji headed up the stairs with the Runt in tow. When they reached the top, Eiji headed to his own room, only limping slightly and hiding even that well.

Chibi lingered at the top of the stairs, unsure as to where he should go - while he might wish to comfort Eiji it seemed as if his efforts would be useless and unwanted yet the prospect of lying in his own room alone and letting the shadows consume him slowly as he longed for Oriel\'s gentle embraces and kind words frightened him beyond measure. The sensation of being passed off onto \'Kiba\' also nagged at the back of his mind and he wandered quite what use Eiji could have for him any more, but remained docile and silent, too burdened by his grief to question his Master\'s decision.


Eiji entered his room and closed the door behind him.

Kiba leapt up onto the balcony rail near the Runt and stayed perched there, his wild mane of black hair framing his face and hanging down either bare shoulder as golden eyes glinted in the moonlight and looked at the little one.

\"I\'d advise you go to your own room,\" he said quietly, his voice a low, husky rumble, and the sharp teeth behind barely-parted lips permanently audible in the slight slur to his words. \"It\'s improper to lie in a mourning man\'s bed the same night his wife died. Also, I\'m fairly sure you\'re expected to mature now-- rapidly and well, I\'d assume. I don\'t know exactly what happened, but I\'ve known your Master and Oriel for years, and I didn\'t think I\'d see the day Oriel passed before Eiji.\"

The wolf\'s left ear twitched slightly, and he looked to the side as he heard something the little one couldn\'t possibly dream of hearing, then turned his attentions back to the boy. \"I\'m sorry we\'re meeting under these conditions,\" the wolf added slowly, his rumbling voice near as deep as Master\'s. \"But I hope we can get along well. I protected Eiji when he was a child, and I\'ll protect you just as well.\"

\".....hai...\" Chibi mumbled softly, as if he heard Kiba but couldn\'t quite process everything he was saying through all the jumbled up emotions running through his mind and assaulting his body. He turned to the wolf and offered him a doll-like smile even as his eyes remained completed detached, far from the reality of standing upon the stairs and then without another word he meandered off down the balcony towards his own room and the darkness which lay beyond his door waiting to envelop him.

………..


Dorian was the first to Chibi\'s door in the morning. He knocked softly, then opened it, stepping in and closing the door behind him, seeing the little one on the bed and moving over to him. He wasn\'t surprised to find Chibi awake, and Dorian crawled onto the bed silently, simply slipping under the covers with the boy and wrapping his arms around him. \"I\'m sorry,\" Dorian whispered against the boy\'s temple, running his fingers through Chibi\'s hair gently.

Chibi\'s body grew tense at first, but slowly he relaxed in Dorian\'s arms and raised his head, drawing away just enough for the other kitten to see how pale and shaken he looked even though there were no signs of tears, impending or otherwise, \"....I didn\'t mean to scratch you...\" He whispered so softly it was barely audible, but each word was laden with belated apology.

The dark neko shook his head. \"It\'s ok. I know you were upset; you still look upset. Do you want me to leave?\"

Even before Dorian could take another breath Chibi had latched onto him, clutching at his shoulders as if he were the only thing he still had to cling to, his eyes widening in a sudden burst of emotion that surpassed anything he\'d been able to feel since he defied Eiji, \"....please....p-please don\'t....\"

Dorian nodded and wrapped his arms around the boy once more, holding him tight and licking at his ear and down his throat and cheek soothingly. He couldn\'t bring himself to purr-- he was still too upset himself. The nekos that had died had been close friends of his, and he\'d loved Oriel as well. Plus on top of that he knew Master was hurting as well, and so was Chibi; it hurt too much to purr.

\"I\'ll stay here as long as you need,\" the elder neko whispered, running his fingers up and down the boy\'s spine gently.

Chibi found a welcome distraction from his misery in Dorian and nuzzled at him in what would have seemed a playful manner had it not been for the tragic circumstances. It was clear from the way he pressed himself up close, molding his little frame to Dorian\'s own that he sought affection and attention as well as wishing to offer some meek form of comfort to the other neko - to help them make it through the night as sleep eluded him.

\"Aww. You know Chibi, I--\" Dorian began.

\"Off him! Out of that bed, Dorian!\" a deep voice demanded suddenly, bringing attention to Kiba, who was sitting in Chibi\'s open window and had been most of the night without being noticed. He sighed internally; he hated being the bad guy with mourning kittens, but it had to be done. He\'d at least given the boy a few moments of comfort with his friend.

Chibi shook his head furiously and clung to Dorian as if his life depended on it. Kiba\'s sudden appearance had sent little waves of panic and shock rushing through him and he blinked back tears - terrified by the idea of being left alone with his bitter memories so soon after such a horrifying event.

Sighing aloud this time, Kiba stood and stepped into the room, walking over to the bed. He looked down at the nekos, with Runt clinging to the black-and-white and Dorian clinging to the little one as well, though both their little tails were bristled like dusting mops at being frightened.

Dorian got even more frightened as the wolf approached-- he was terrified witless of dogs and all their associates. Had he not already been clinging to Chibi, he would have run screeching out of the room like black lightning. He dug his pointed little nails into Chibi\'s skin as the wolf put a foot on the bed and reached out for them.

Carefully Kiba reached between the two of them, peeling one neko from another though they were rather annoyingly clinging to each other. Finally he managed to get them reasonably apart, and he picked Dorian up by the scruff of the neck, carrying the boy outside, still quivering with his tail tightly between his legs. He opened the Runt\'s door, placed Dorian on the floor outside the room, and closed it once more, heading back to the bed and taking a seat on the edge.

\"Master\'s rules,\" Kiba said in an apologetic sigh. \"You\'re to grow up and become a man. No nuzzling nekos for comfort. Though, if you\'d like, he didn\'t say I couldn\'t hug you.\"

Slowly Chibi sat up, cushioned by the many pillows at the head of his bed as he rubbed his shoulder where Dorian\'s claws had all but pierced his sun-kissed skin, leaving angry red half-moons across the unblemished surface. He gazed longingly at the door as if Kiba\'s grudging offer had gone completely unnoticed and sighed shakily. At the tender age of fifteen Master expected him to grow up and divest with the trappings of his all too short youth, but did that really mean he couldn\'t even take solace with his friend after something so harrowing. Maybe Master hated him after all. \".....did he say why?\"

\"Because you\'re to train to become the next head of this estate,\" Kiba mused, placing his chin in his hand and smirking a little. He was glad the boy had declined the offer to hug-- he wasn\'t a kiss n cuddle kind of guy, and that besides, the boy was a horribly immature version of fifteen.

\"You\'re also to be addressed by a new name from now on; you\'re to be called Isiel, as Master has so designated. So. Isiel. You\'re welcome to stay here and mourn; to tell you the truth that\'s exactly what Master is doing in his own room. But I\'m afraid you\'re not allowed to nuzzle with the hired help for comfort any more. You can have your way with them, but they aren\'t to treat you like a common house cat any more.\"

Chibi stared back at Kiba as if the bottom had just dropped out of his world and left him flailing with nothing to find purchase upon. The clinical way Kiba had referred to Dorian and the others made his skin crawl and he shook his head, all traces of tears disappearing as he recoiled in every way to the fate handed to him without alternative. \"He truly does hate me....doesn\'t he?\" He murmured, his gaze once more trailing over to the door which he knew Dorian no longer sat behind.

Kiba snorted. \"Are you daft, child?\" he declared. \"Are you really that blind? Do you know how much he is going to shame his own name to instate a cat as head of his estate when he\'s dead or retires? Do you know how unusual and wrong it seems in the eyes of the public that he\'s going to name his successor as you, rather than breeding his own real son? Do you realize how much it means that he\'s taking you as apprentice?!\"

Staring at the neko in disbelief, Kiba grunted and then looked away, shaking his head. \"You don\'t get it,\" he muttered. \"You really don\'t. I see. You must not have been living here for long. Any other time in any other circumstance, if Master had no affection for you, you\'d have simply been reduced to the status of servant like all the others here, and you\'d be sitting at the very end of the table whenever he ate with you. Now I\'m not saying that he\'s in love with you, but... I can tell you it’s safe to say you\'ve got a place at the head of the table with him for the rest of your life unless you reject him.\"

Isiel drew his knees up to his chest and rested his chin upon them. Although Kiba was probably right he still couldn\'t feel happy or grateful for this strange change in status. Maybe it was natural despite the outside worlds\' opinions for Oriel\'s adopted son to be trained as the heir to his \'father\'s\' estate, but the idea of detaching himself from his friends, taking a name which was not the one he\'d grown to accept and living a life set out for him by Eiji seemed like somewhat of a lonely existence. \"I can\'t reject him...Oriel would not have wanted it....but....\" With another saddened sigh he lay back, slipping into that blank facade which had saved his sanity before.

Getting off the bed and heading back to the window once more, Kiba took a seat on the sill and closed his eyes, picking at his teeth with one of his knives. \"You\'ll come around, I think,\" Kiba mused. \"When you realize how much it means, what Master is doing. This doesn\'t mean you have to abandon your friends-- was Oriel completely cut off from everyone? No, he wasn\'t. And he didn\'t have the slave title, either. You\'re acting as though he asked you to castrate yourself and wear dresses for the rest of your life.\"

Chibi bit back a surprisingly sharp retort - one which shocked even himself - in the months since he\'d restored his health his confidence had also crept up a few levels, but he didn\'t know he was capable of resenting Master quite so much until now. However, he remained silent for a long while before almost grudgingly admitting, \"....I don\'t understand, you\'re right.\"

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