House Cat [temporarily complete]

c.h.a.p.t.e.r e.i.g.h.t


Kiba shrugged and put his knife away, licking his teeth idly and lifting his hands, resting them behind his head. \"Well. Learn to like it, or leave. Those have always been your options. Though I must say, you\'ll be throwing a lot away if you leave. Anyhow-- I\'m not here to lecture you. Just let me know when you\'re through mourning and we\'ll get down to business. Until then, I\'m here to answer questions and make sure you\'re safe.\"

Turning his head to regard Kiba with a little more interest Isiel threw himself whole-heartedly into the distraction of both his frustration and curiosity. His heart still ached with a pain which he knew would never quite leave him, but he felt as thought Kiba\'s estimation of his choice in the matter was somewhat of an overstatement and if he wished to see his friends again in any capacity he would be forced to adopt Eiji\'s wishes. \"....business?\"

\"Mhm,\" the wolf murmured sleepily. \"Teaching you. You\'ll still be learning from the tutors, but there won\'t be much free time like the other kittens have any more. When you\'re not learning book smarts, you\'ll be using most of your time with me, learning everything else. How to hunt, how to kill, self defense, what to eat, how to move, how to use different weapons, how this estate works, how to make business deals, propositions, the works... I\'ll probably even be teaching you sexual positions, if this whole setup is what I think it is. Because you can\'t always just land a deal or appease somebody with words.\"

Isiel wrinkled his nose at the idea of learning *those* sorts of things from Kiba, but still didn\'t break down or have a tantrum - even though he barely trusted Eiji\'s occupation and all it entailed Oriel had seemed convinced he was a good man and that was enough for him not to run for the hills even if he still wished things could be different. The idea of having Kiba as his mentor filled him with a complete lack of joy and he longed to return to those all together too short days when he could play freely with Dorian and his gang like a real kitten. \"Sounds.....great.\" He muttered listlessly.

\"You don\'t have to like it,\" Kiba murmured. \"Master will likely be dead soon enough anyhow. Losing a mate is the sort of thing that either gets a man killed or makes him stronger, and I\'m not sure which that\'s going to do to him. I\'ve never seen him this upset in my life. When he\'s dead and the estate is yours, you\'re free to do whatever you want. You want to cuddle the hired help? Go ahead. I\'ll just be counting down the days it takes for one of Master\'s enemies to walk through the front door and finish what was started.\"

Isiel barely felt the words leave him as he snapped back, \"Shut up,\" and blinked rapidly unsure that he hadn\'t slipped into some strange dream where he would be so rude. Tentatively he added, \"....I might not like him, but I won\'t abandon him....I didn\'t before.\"

\"There\'s the spirit,\" Kiba nodded. \"I knew you had some fire in you. Master wouldn\'t choose a limp-dicked coward as his successor.\" The wolf yawned idly. \"Has he fucked you yet?\"

Isiel sighed, wondering quite when it was he\'d lost a part of himself and become so bitter - it had happened so suddenly he wasn\'t even sure where or who he was right now, but even if it was a reaction to the traumatic events at least he could remain strong and not lose himself completely to grief, \"No...\" He answered sounding a little more disdainful than he\'d indented to.

\"Didn\'t think so,\" the wolf sighed. \"You\'d probably understand him more if he had. ... It\'s funny, that. How you can know a person so much better after you\'ve fucked with them is still a strange quirk I\'m fascinated by. But that\'s not something we need to worry about right now. I\'ve been told you\'ve been here for a few months now. If he hasn\'t fucked you yet there\'s a reason. Probably to keep the other cats off of you.\"

Shrugging slightly Isiel turned on his side, still facing Kiba and looking a little less perturbed about the whole situation as he came to consider it more deeply, \".....I always thought it was because I was Oriel\'s son...but...I just don\'t understand him at all.\"

Kiba resisted the urge to make a smart mouthed comment and instead said patiently, \"If you did profess to understand him, I\'d think you a fool. You\'ve only been here a few months, and I\'m sure he hasn\'t spoken to you twice until the last twenty four hours went by. I took care of him while he grew up and I barely find myself with the balls to say I understand him. Oriel is--\" He cleared his throat. \"Was the only creature I ever met that knew him through and through.\"

Isiel lay there in silent contemplation just long enough to make Kiba begin to suspect he was falling asleep before he whispered in the softest of tones, \"I will do this.....but not for his sake.\"

\"For whose, then?\" the wolf retorted, waiting.

\"My own I suppose....and Oriel\'s.\" He suspected the answer would earn him little more than contempt, but at least it was the truth.

\"Bzzt,\" the wolf said, \"Wrong. You\'re to do this for only one person. Yourself and no one else, Isiel; you understand me? If you\'re doing it for anyone else, it will be tainted and you will fail.\"

\"Is that another decision you and him are going to make for me?\" He replied coldly, feeling something more of himself slipping away no matter how he tried to cling to it, \"My motivations are my own.\"

\"No,\" the wolf mused, \"It was a warning. If your motivations aren\'t pure, I do guarantee you\'ll fail. Maybe not immediately, but you will. You don\'t have to worry about your motivations right now, though; you\'re a looooooong ways off from being ready to take over the estate. If Master dies before you\'re ready, this place is going to crumble. I don\'t think he\'ll allow himself to die until you\'re ready though.\" Kiba hummed thoughtfully. \"Actually, that\'s probably exactly what\'s going to happen. It\'s what happened to Master\'s father as well-- his wife was killed when Master was a little boy, and Master\'s father held onto life, waiting, watching as Master grew. Then when Master was seventeen, the estate was handed to him and Master\'s father killed himself out of grief, finally relieved of the life he was only living for his son.\"

Kiba\'s insight into Master\'s past silenced Isiel and he nodded slowly, adding the information to the scant details he already possessed about Eiji which were slowly building up a better picture perhaps of why he\'d become the man he was now. Torn between frustration and grim acceptance as he found himself now Isiel felt restless and knew he would not sleep even though that was probably what Kiba wished of him right now. Rolling onto his back he murmured, \"I\'m sorry for being awkward....I\'m just confused...knowing such things about Master\'s past make it easier to understand the present, but still...\"

The wolf waved his hand in dismissal. \"I don\'t care if you\'re cranky. If you think you\'re bad, try raising Master. He was a little hellion. Do what you want. Like I said, I\'m only here to make sure you\'re safe and the rules are followed, until you\'re ready to take on your new responsibilities.\"

Isiel managed the faintest of smiles at the idea of Kiba struggling with Master, \".....and I can still talk to Dorian at least?\"

\"What did I say before?\" Kiba asked dryly, tapping the side of his head. \"I said, you\'re not allowed to cuddle with the hired help. I didn\'t say you couldn\'t talk to them. I compared you to Oriel, remember? He still did everything with the others, he just didn\'t treat them like lovers. If you want to know what you can and can\'t do, use Oriel as example; it\'s a pretty good one. If you step out of line, I\'ll let you know, like I did with Dorian.\"

Isiel\'s cheeks flushed with color, but rather than sounding embarrassed he appeared a little indignant and flustered by the idea, \"Dorian was not my lover.\"

\"Didn\'t say he was,\" the wolf muttered, mildly annoyed. \"I said you were treating him like one. Open those fluffy kitten ears of yours.\"

Isiel somehow managed to stifle a pouting expression and muttered thoughtfully, \"I don\'t suppose I\'m really a kitten any more anyway.\" before lapsing back into silence and just looking over at Kiba, studying his imposing self properly for the first time.

\"Exactly right,\" the wolf said calmly. \"In that case, come here please.\" He tilted his head slightly to the side and leaned against the window frame, his tail flicking in the air patiently as he listened to the birds outside, the bodyguards talking, the cars driving by on the street, and all the nekos talking softly amongst themselves in other rooms of the estate that happened to have their windows open.

Isiel got to his feet, pausing for a moment to stamp the numbness from his slender limbs before joining Kiba by the window - he felt every bit as alert as he had when the first shots rang out, but a lot calmer.

Lifting his hands slowly, Kiba took hold of the collar around the boy\'s throat that he\'d surely been wearing from the first twenty four hours of entering this house. \"You\'re not a kitten any more,\" the wolf said with a nod, \"You\'re to become a man. And naturally, being the heir of this estate, there\'s no need for you to wear a collar to enforce your loyalty; you are the estate.\" He unbuckled the collar carefully and looked it over calmly before tossing it on the floor. \"There you are. Congratulations.\"

Rubbing his throat absently Isiel leant his arms upon the window ledge and let the cool night air wash over him, ruffling his pale fur and soothing some small measure of his restrained anguish and the heat which lingered beneath his skin which was only now slowly regaining its usual healthy hue. \"Are you going to stay here all night?\" He asked quietly, his tone having lost all but the faintest tinge of his former shyness.

\"Kid,\" Kiba said matter-of-factly, \"Get used to me. I\'m going to be there when you sleep, when you masturbate, when you play, when you eat, when you shit and when you sleep again. When you decide you\'re ready to start training that will take up most of your time, but until then I\'m just a shadow and a shield.\"

With a faint sigh Isiel tilted his head to regard Kiba once more and offered him a sweet, if slightly strained smile - whether the man wanted it or not he held out his friendship if only to sate his loneliness without Dorian near and make for a less contrived atmosphere which would only add to Master\'s problems. \"I\'ll deal with it.\"

The wolf smirked. The kid said it as if he had a choice in the matter. \"Right. Well then. You do that.\" He cracked his neck idly and continued to swish his tail, looking around the room casually, one ear always pointed back to listen out the window and one trained on Isiel to listen to him at the same time. Until the kid asked him to train, or asked him anything, there really wasn\'t much else to do but wait.

Equally absently Isiel leant a little against Kiba as he continued to study the world beyond the mansion and listen with half an ear to the vague murmurings coming from the other rooms which were no doubt a lot more distinct to Kiba, \".....when can I begin training?\" He asked quite out of the blue, having decided to throw himself into the only thing he had left to live for aside from the promise of continued friendship with Dorian and the others and some kind of eventual freedom.

One of the wolf\'s eyes narrowed as the kitten leaned against him; he wouldn\'t be quite so fond of his trainer once they began real work, not this emotional bullshit.

When the loaded question finally came, Kiba arched his eyebrows, making the scars that ran through his right eye wrinkle a little. \"Now works just fine,\" Kiba mused. \"Get on your knees and suck my cock.\"

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e.n.d c.h.a.p.t.e.r e.i.g.h.t