Chapter Hundred Thirty-Nine — Like Our First Meow
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Chapter Hundred Thirty-Nine

Like Our First Meow

 

 

Nekohiko gaped at the city below.

By now, it was safer to call it a ravine splitting the city in half. The haze of lava and the steam of ice melting against it cast a blurry dome over the gash.

At first, Nekohiko couldn't even see how much of the city had survived the night or if the fights were still going on. All his attention was overtaken by the split in the earth that cut Nara in half. He saw that the crack aligned more or less with the main street of Nara as though done by someone who tried to spare as much damage as he could by doing this.

Okinaga must have wanted the city to survive and no casualties to happen. On both sides of the split earth, the rock rose like a high wall. Or more of a fence, prohibiting the people from falling into it on accident...

Yes, Okinaga had tried very hard to bring as little ruin as possible to Nara. Alas, he had not succeeded.

Nekohiko could imagine why this had been done. Okinaga had been fighting against Morokata and the Imperial bodyguards and potentially -- even the Spiritway to free Abihiko from prison. He had been outmatched, pure and simple.

The first and most loyal ally of a Great Lord had to be summoned. And since the strongest Hira ally dwelled under the ground and could only emerge if the ground was shattered by earthquakes, bringing destruction to everything that was above...

Hinohebira.

Thus, Okinaga had decided to make a controlled split in the earth rather than an earthquake that would no doubt ruin even more. This maneuver had let Hinohebira out and helped him battle the enemy.

But--

Holy Spirits.

Nekohiko dashed down the last steps of the Shrine and into the broken rubble of the streets. His eyes roved his surroundings, searching for the quickest and safest route to the Palace. It seemed nigh impossible to do. Especially with just how many violent freaks there were wherever one went.

The people of Nara hadn't given a damn why Okinaga had cracked the city in half. They'd been enraged by this overuse of Binding energy, and thus... the revolution had begun. The mayhem on the streets, among the Binders and non-Binders both. Even now, the clashes in the city were going on. The swarms of the Spiritway Priests who tried to keep it under control did not help.

Because all the hatred and rampages of yesterday had ended up angering the local Spirits. And boy, did the Spirits not enjoy the revolution in the slightest. Already, about two dozens of enormous Savage Spirits of the city life roamed the streets, bringing more destruction as the people desperately tried to flee or fight back. The Street Lantern Spirit gushed fire in the next district from Nekohiko, and further away, the disheveled and chaotic Spirit of the Marketplace swirled in the streets like a tornado of clutter from the market stalls. Produce and torn furnishings hailed on the panicked, injured people.

The Spiritway Priests could only do so little to pacify all these Spirits -- when they were attacked by the non-Binders at every turn, as well.

What was even happening?

How had his Empire come to this after only about a day since they had found out about his existence?

He didn't even have the chance to give the entire city a look. He dashed down the streets, trying his best to not be trampled by the running people or the falling debris. From the Spring Sunlight Shrine, there wasn't much to see beyond the monstrous gash that broke like a canyon in the middle, stretching toward the north where the Emerald Palace was. But without looking, Nekohiko knew the situation with the Great Lords wasn't as smooth as Morokata had told him.

Unlike the enraged people dashing to and fro on the background amidst the burning buildings, the Great Lords didn't need to show their aggression in such obvious ways.

But Nekohiko felt it.

The presence of at least two Bizarre Beasts. Somewhere very, very close. And both of them extremely pissed. Ready to fight for their respective Great Lord's goals. 

The dark and fiery pull from the mountainous side of the city from where the deep rumble of the shifting earth plates came. Hinohebira.

And up above, looming in the sky like a shadow threatening to swallow the entirety of the blue horizon. Suzumegara.

Were there other Bizarre Beasts?

Not right now, Nekohiko sensed. Then again, the Towa Bizarre Beast would have trouble coming here all the way from the ocean, while the Hisome Beast never showed its presence so out in the open.

But that meant that Hinohebira and Suzumegara had an unfair advantage. Nekohiko could already imagine the Trials and Tribunals called to solve this. And how quickly everyone seemed to have forgotten the dire consequences of such abuses of power that yesterday's Trial had addressed.

Not that they cared.

Last night, everyone's masks had finally come off. No more civility or pretenses.

Pure, raw hatred. On everyone's side.

"Where is the Emperor!? Why isn't he doing anything?"

"He came and promised to save us all -- so why isn't he!"

"The end is coming! Believe in the true Emperor, so he will come back to us again and punish all those impure for their crimes--!"

Nekohiko flinched from the cries splitting the air amidst whelps of pain and agony. Sometimes, people also yelled out his name.

Yes, his name. Not Kataji's.

When they were looking for the 'Emperor to save them', Kataji's name seldom fell from their lips. Nekohiko's did.

But with it -- frustration. Disbelief. Disappointment at the abandonment. And ultimately --

-- betrayal.

"Where is the true Emperor?! He came to us yesterday, but where is he now?!"

"It is his fault! All of this -- his doing! For refusing to show himself to his people!"

"The Spirits punished him for his pride! Do we not deserve him saving us? Who the hell does he think he is!"

...

I... am a cat, Nekohiko wanted to cry back at them, anguished. I am right here, doing my best to save you all.

But-- as a mere cat, there isn't much I can do but take care of my human body first!

Gods.

They wouldn't listen anyway. The city was on fire, and people wanted someone to blame for it. The Lords, Abihiko, now Nekohiko, too. At least they only blamed Nekohiko for refusing to come to their rescue -- and not for causing this mess, in the first place.

Because, for the revolution and the carnage -- they blamed the Great Lords.

Exactly as Abihiko had predicted. The people's opinion had shifted.

They hated the Great Lords now, and begged for Nekohiko to come. But this didn't lift Nekohiko's moods one bit. What had it cost to put all the Great Lords and the Tribunal and even Abihiko on the losing side?

It had cost this city's peace and countless lives. Was this what Abihiko considered successful...?

"Estuary Gate and Peaceful are in fire! The whole Empire is revolting!"

Nekohiko swung around, picking up the strands of voices clamoring somewhere down the alleys. He hadn't been able to find a single working Towa Memory Exchange place to take a peek at the news from outside Nara. Nothing worked, obviously. Many of the buildings in question were destroyed, too.

But some people still carried news from the other places and Kingdoms. As rushing as Nekohiko felt, he still wanted to know. To hear.

What other miseries had touched his Empire?

He slowed down once he came close to the rambling gossipers who were busy stacking bags of clothes and household items in the Bound cart in the middle of the street. Probably to abandon Nara. Not far off, some Binders were trying to suppress the fire burning down a house, and the overall situation in this alley was heavy with panic.

"All the Kings and Queens are leaving Nara to take care of their own cities and towns," someone kept explaining amidst the clangor and noise on the street.

"Then what the hell is Okinaga's fire snake doing, ravaging the city further?!"

Well, technically, Nekohiko thought. Nara is part of the Hira Kingdom, so...

It made sense why Okinaga would remain in the city. The presence of Kasuga's Moth Spirit in the skies was harder to justify.

But probably not the business of these poor commoners fleeing the burning capital.

Nekohiko lingered only for a few more moments before he took everything he could from the disjointed conversations. He pelted from the alley when something else exploded in the vicinity from the oncoming Savage Spirit. Helplessly, he cast a glance back, torn between the desire to pacify the poor Spirit and save the humans -- but there were already Priests and Binders rushing to do that for him.

"Thank you, Kotone," he whispered to himself.

Without you managing all these Priests, I don't even know what would have happened to Nara come morning.

The rest of his run through the ruined city was one frustration over another. Small cat feet couldn't muster the giant gashes open in the earth crust -- couldn't climb up the molten rock. Couldn't outrun some of the Savage Spirits that threatened to wreck the streets before him.

Only the grim desire to get to the Palace kept him on track. All the destruction around him notwithstanding.

It took him much longer than he had expected, though. He was heaving and trembling with muscle fatigue from running so hard when he covered the last stretches toward the Palace entrance gates.

Usually, he would go through the Palace park and garden, but... there was no park. And no garden, by now. The night had laid waste to most of the buildings and empty spaces of the Palatial complex. Only the roiled earth and rock were left in their wake.

The smoke and the swerving columns of Spiritual energy rising from those spots were a testimony to how severe the damage had been.

And the haggard and half-demolished walls of Emerald -- an even greater one.

Not even the rows upon rows of soldiers and Binders could do anything to fix this ugly picture. The Palace was Split, shattered... enormous hulking masses of emerald stone and gilded arches lay amidst rubble and dirt, swarming by the busy servants who were trying to clean the mayhem up.

Nobody noticed a small, dust-covered cat that swooped past their feet and halted on top of rubble piles to cast a despairing look over the desolation.

His heart ached and throbbed in his chest.

...

His family home, utterly broken. Trashed. Defaced.

There were barely any walls or hallways left! Indeed, as Morokata had told him -- the Marital seclusion array had protected the inner rooms of the Emperor quarters from harm. But almost nothing else had been spared. A few other sections of the private wing of the Palace, and a couple of council rooms and halls. Part of the kitchen, several rooms where the servants lived.

Compared to the grandeur of the entire Palace -- these tiny remnants were depressing.

A hard, heavy column crashed near Nekohiko when he tried to make his cautious way toward the remaining wing of the Palace. His breath rushed out of his mouth as he crouched, waiting out the sound wave of the collapsing stone and the grit that pattered all over him. A few workers and soldiers yelled in pain from being smashed underneath it and Nekohiko half-wanted to run to them.

But... ugh! He could not!

Endangering his plan against Hibiki before he had even the slightest chance with it? No way.

With this guilt and darker, heart-wrenching thoughts, he crept onward. Under the clutter and over the broken parts of dummies and Bound mechanisms. And right toward the Imperial chambers, guarded as they were by dozens of Imperial bodyguards.

...

Yes, now that Morokata had both Nekohiko and Abihiko inside, he no longer needed to pretend like this wasn't an important place. Like he wouldn't want to guard it with his life.

Once again, Nekohiko shook with rage at the idea of how obviously open Morokata's trap with the nonexistent Marital seclusion array had been. But the good thing about it?

Nekohiko was one of the few people allowed to come inside that array at any moment.

Not just his human body. Any body he had.

Smooth and quiet, Nekohiko's cat form made its run down the hall where he knew the breach of the Imperial quarters was simplest for him to access.

 

 


***

 

"...yes, but why is he mucking around in the blood-filled bath?"

Morokata's voice was like a whip that snapped Nekohiko back to his human body to check his surroundings. And good that he did.

If his cat form came through while Morokata was here... the entire plan would have been moot.

From within the seashell, Nekohiko took a glance around. His dummy body was still in the bathing room, but out of the water. And not alone.

Not anymore.

Morokata seemed well-rested compared to Hibiki. When? Unclear. Perhaps he had managed to get a quick nap while away? He wasn't dressed differently, although he did have a paper fan in one of his hands, breezing himself idly all the while.

His freshness wasn't the main issue.

It was his usual sharp attention to details that was nasty. Because of course it couldn't elude Morokata that Nekohiko's mind was not currently inside his human doll body.

Morokata had pulled Nekohiko out of the bath and was now gently Binding the moisture out of Nekohiko's long hair. Morokata's motions were so silky and soft, Nekohiko could sense the menace within each gesture when Morokata slowed down to peer into Nekohiko's eyes.

"Something wrong, dollie? Did Hibiki abuse you?"

His attention deepened when Nekohiko's doll body didn't respond. Painfully, Morokata tugged at Nekohiko's hair, demanding a response.

Nekohiko's mind thrashed inside the seashell.

He did not want to go back inside the doll body with how hard it was to get out of it due to all the Master Orders prohibiting it from thinking clearly! One Order was explicitly erasing his memory of having other bodies!

But -- damn it! he had to. If Morokata suspected Nekohiko was shifting between his bodies easily, he would pose so much more trouble for Nekohiko's little scheme. Nothing Nekohiko could allow.

"Of course no," Nekohiko said the moment his consciousness emerged inside the doll body.

...

In a flash, the gravity of the Master Orders crushed him, and he felt faint just from the harsh contrast between his existence in the seashell and the doll.

The doll form was... suffocating.

The good thing was that he did not have to pretend and lie to Morokata. He forgot about his plan, about Abihiko, about the possibility of shifting into another body. All his answers were genuine.

"Dear Hibiki fixed my body and now it is more pleasing to his eyes. That makes me happy." Nekohiko shied from Morokata's touch only a little.

After the bath, he was still undressed and Morokata was studying him too closely for it not to be odd.

Morokata found the answer satisfactory. He smirked and trailed his fingers over Nekohiko's tender new skin as though to rub the water droplets off. "To be honest," Morokata said, "I could never see the difference between what he considers pleasing in a doll and what he does not. But oh well..."

"No! Nononono! Don't touch him, are you insane?!"

Like a hurricane of fury, Hibiki barged into the bathing room and stomped toward Nekohiko, waving at Morokata in frenzy. "You will ruin something!"

"I am only helping him dry himself--"

"Can you-- can you please not? Do not touch him. Will you?" Hibiki gritted out of his teeth, trying to sound as un-aggressive as possible.

He failed.

He jittered head to toe, unable to take his eyes off Nekohiko. He didn't even pay attention to Morokata, so absorbed he was in admiring the work of art before him. One could see just how proud and giddy he was. Even the tiredness seeped out of Hibiki's bloodshot eyes when his gaze caressed Nekohiko's new form.

Though his smile still could scare a person out of their mind with its depravity.

"I said don't touch him!" he snapped again when Morokata took too long a time to pull his hand away from Nekohiko.

"Tsk." Morokata pouted, rising to his feet as though to walk away. "Sometimes you are such a sweet boy, and other times -- like a rabid dog. Not sure what to do with you if you keep clanging your teeth at me."

...

The reminder who was the Master and who was the servant didn't pass Hibiki by. The young man tensed up, flicking at last a glance at Morokata. An attempt of a mollifying smile twitched at the corners of his mouth, never quite managing to get out.

"Well, Dear Moro... you promised to give him to me, but he was so broken and ugly -- I had to waste my entire day on fixing him! So now, I wanted to finally--"

And he extended his hand to Nekohiko as though to touch his shoulder.

Morokata's paper fan slapped Hibiki on the wrist like a tiny, nonthreatening whip. He raised it back to fan at his face, tilting his chin quizzically.

"So you spent the entire day on making our cute Neko a better skin?" Displeasure wafted in his tone -- just enough to let Hibiki pick it up.

Hibiki stiffened. Like a pet caught by its Master while misbehaving.

"I want Abihiko's spell array prepared by midnight. Actually, I want it prepared by today's morning, but I see that is no longer an option."

"I am not a Bound mechanism," Hibiki grumbled, barely withholding himself from a scoff. "I haven't slept in two days--"

"Well then." Morokata leaned forward like a father talking to a little child. With how hunched Hibiki always was, their height difference fit this description perfectly. "We will find you a person we can Bind your fatigue onto. Any random servant in the halls. And we can take their energy and health from them in return. I don't mind. As long as you do what you're told."

Miserably, Hibiki gazed at Nekohiko. Wanting nothing more than to reach to him, to touch him, to draw into the greediest hug. But Morokata stood like a wall between them, and even Nekohiko's extended hand to touch Hibiki back -- meant nothing.

"We have a lot to do. Your stupid toys can wait." Morokata ushered Hibiki out of the room, fanning them both with a dismissive gesture. "Show me what Abihiko looks like now. How much of the array is done on him already? Can we get the rest of it on him just fine?"

"..."

Hibiki still couldn't take his eyes off Nekohiko. He kept looking over his shoulder even while being pushed out of the room, and Nekohiko felt all the pain in Hibiki's reluctance. At last, Morokata realized Hibiki would not be agreeable until he did something about it.

"Baby doll, I Order you to dress up and to go sleep in some clean and proper concubine room while we work. Make yourself as warm and cozy in there as you can. Once Dear Hibiki is done with his work," Morokata paused to pat Hibiki on his shoulder in a suggestive promise, "he will come back to you."

"Yes, Master."

But Morokata already turned away, not bothering to see how Nekohiko followed his command. His and Hibiki's footsteps receded into the general hum of work going on in the distant rooms of the quarters where the helper dummies shuffled their feet, busy.

Barely the echo of Morokata's words reached here. "Wouldn't that make a great incentive for you to do your job well and quickly now, mmm?"

"Only if you promiiiise! That doll is true perfection. I want to play! I want to play so much! You know how long I have waited to see it again after that idiot Doll Fucker had taken him away?! Even the scent of the Emerald Fir is dizzying, so good it is..."

Nekohiko did not listen. He knew Hibiki admired him greatly. Was it even news?

Instead, he followed the Master Orders given to him, his hands methodical as he pulled on the beautiful, Hisome-colored robes Morokata had brought him. But these were merely dummy-like motions.

He could not refuse following his Orders. His body carried them out without his will or focus.

His mind was elsewhere.

Thinking.

He was as happy and complacent as he had been before, yet something had changed since this morning. Before and during the bath time in the water, he had felt... lost. Lonely. Empty.

Now, he didn't. Now, he was brimming with the sense of hope and direction, even if he could not put his mind to where it came from.

It was not his mind that found the source of these powerful, necessary emotions. It was--

He lifted his hand to his chest, touching as though some invisible force that blossomed inside his heart. From it, he could sense a pull. A tug that felt less like a call coming from deep within him, and more of a string. A Bond that he could touch and follow all through the darkness.

He knew that Bond. Even if he couldn't say where it came from...

Through it, Nekohiko's soul could sense heartache. Any lovesick misery Abihiko felt, like a connector between them even when Nekohiko could not know about his existence. And with this unexplainable heartache, came the desire to understand what was causing him such misery and loneliness.

It was a guiding thread that would take him out of his daze and toward clarity.

...

Which it was.

Clarity like the first gulp of the fresh cool air in the mountains after being suffocated in a dank, fetid swamp. It washed over him, tide-like, as he went to where this Bond led him.

And back toward his other bodies.

Toward himself.

 

 


***

 

The human doll moved as it should, driven solely by the Master Orders. It kept wrapping the flower-petal robes around his torso, lacing the ties, gathering the hair to pin back. Nekohiko didn't need to monitor its actions. Thus, he didn't linger inside the seashell either.

The cat was where he chose to go back to.

The coziest and safest body he had. It was stuck somewhere under the clutter of crushed marble at the junction of two destroyed hallways. Dust covered his sensitive nose and he sneezed to get it clean. Then he crept out, giving his body a shake to clear the rest of the grit out of his fur.

His footsteps were a soft patter over the demolished columns he scaled. He hopped off them and sprang up again to walk the thin rafter beams to the next rooms. Beneath him, servants and guards swooped here and there, but none of them saw the cream-colored cat shifting so smoothly overhead.

Gods, this body was amazing, he had to admit. He had once been so tired of it, wanting the human's power and access to magic. Thus, he had abandoned the cat behind, never looking back. He regretted that now.

It was so slim and small and easy to squeeze into the tiniest of holes. Yet so fast when he needed to run across the expanse of the partly-burned-down garden! Perfect body. Would be a pity to lose it.

One last hop, and he landed in the main garden of the inner courtyard. The one that was freely open for everyone to look at -- even though only a week ago and for the previous five years, it had been closed to anyone's eyes. Guarded by Abihiko's magic and his desire to shield the truth in its center.

The Emerald Fir Spirit Tree. Or the ugly stump of what it had once been.

Nekohiko had seen it before, of course. The sight could not shock him any longer.

But still, it did. Must have been horrifying for all the rest of the ministers, and nobles, and Spiritway Priests who had discovered its current state once Abihiko's glamor spells had stopped working.

Nekohiko suppressed a shudder and gave the Tree a large berth as he ran across the small garden to the other side. Yet his eyes couldn't help but return to the haggard, sinister Tree monstrosity in the center of the half-demolished garden. An almost animalistic terror coursed through him as though the Tree could reach out to him with its Corrupted, black roots and catch him.

The taint and the evil energies in the Tree were Nekohiko's own. Ones that had come from him and Corrupted the poor innocent Tree, rotting it throughout. The same thing had happened to Abihiko's body.

All this darkness...

Why?

There were people directly responsible for doing that -- to Nekohiko, to this Tree, to Abihiko.

Their marks on Nekohiko's entire existence were so deep and so destructive, Nekohiko wanted to wail. Why???

Why do something so horrible to people you barely know? Why revel in someone's misery? Why do everything to keep this misery permanent? With Puppeteering, with doll magic, with curses, with treachery?

What had he ever done to all these people to earn this?

A few guard dummies carried vigil around the Tree. They did not pay attention to Nekohiko snooping around, yet Nekohiko still was grateful for their presence. Without them here, he would want to lash at something. At anything -- the wretched Tree included.

And he needed to keep his head. To get back at the people who had harmed him so, he had to remain calm no matter what.

He snuck past the last bushes of the garden and threaded his tiny body through the filigree stone wall that separated this garden from Abihiko's Imperial quarters. The subtle sensation of pushing through a spell barrier enfolded him, and he knew:

The Marital Seclusion array welcomed him in.

And into Abihiko's rooms, on the garden side.

He cast a longing look at the red maple trees and the abandoned small table. There were still baskets and cups left from the last time he and Abihiko had eaten breakfast here, during their brief honeymoon. A few of the ornamental maple leaves, red like sunset, curled atop the table and the cups. The swaying branches cast palling shadows beneath, evoking such a beautiful image of peace that Nekohiko ached.

He sniffed the air, trying to gauge how far or how close Hibiki and Morokata were. Not here, it seemed. But then again, he knew where they would be.

Hadn't they talked about it every single time he had eavesdropped on them?

They would be in Abihiko's bedroom now. Working on Abihiko.

Preparing some nasty spell array on him. What kind of spell? Nekohiko didn't know. But he knew he could not let them cast it.

 

 


***

 

The human body doll slept soundly in one of the clean concubine rooms deeper in the chambers. Nekohiko left his cat body in the garden under an azalea shrub and settled in the seashell just to check what was going on. He could not attempt to save Abihiko when both Morokata and Hibiki were here. The only thing he had to do was wait.

Morokata had so many things to deal with; he wouldn't stay here for too long. Especially when he trusted Hibiki to do all the work in his stead.

Right?

Yet as minutes and then hours went by, Nekohiko could not see either of the two coming out. The noises of the Imperial quarters were those of dummies, working on tidying up and waiting for their Masters to come. But no human presence.

Hibiki and Morokata were way too busy in Abihiko's bedroom with whatever they were doing, and Nekohiko's patience frayed thin at the jittery, fraught silence he was waiting in.

The human body lay serene and peaceful against the seashell's surface, but Nekohiko's soul felt as though he would toss and turn and squirm around, unable to bear this prolonged torment.

What were Morokata and Hibiki doing there?

Why so long?

The evening was already rolling toward night in the windows! The last of the orange glow gave way to the blue and purple, and Nekohiko almost couldn't take it anymore. But luckily...

...

Tap tap tap.

A fast patter of a dummy messenger's feet drummed through the hallway, nearing Abihiko's bedroom. A few knocks on the door and a torturous minute later -- the door gave in with a creak.

Morokata's irritated voice followed it. "What now?!"

Hushed, Nekohiko perked up his ears.

The dummy was mumbling, fast and monotone. "His Supreme Divine Majesty Kataji requests your permission to accept a visitor in Lord Hira's mansion."

...

Morokata's silence had a tinge of menace in it.

"Emperor Kataji understands that you told him to not let anyone have any more audiences with him today, but he asks you to give him this one. It's his sister, Lady Abi Aomi, and His Majesty wants so much to interact with her--"

"Abi Aomi?" Morokata sounded intrigued now. "She is not on Kataji's side, though. Is he aware?"

Then, after a moment of thought, he added, as though talking mainly to himself. "He must be really lonely to no longer care about who's beneficial to him and who isn't. Tsk. I should have spent more time with him today. Poor soul."

Nekohiko felt heavy deep inside, too. Not because of how lonely or sad Kataji must be. Kataji had done it to himself. Nekohiko had no more pity for his pain.

But Aomi...

Nekohiko had glimpsed her yesterday night only briefly -- alongside Kotone. And he had dismissed her entirely. He had been busy with other problems at the time and thus focused on Kotone. He couldn't even remember what he had told Aomi back then!

Had he at least been kind and not too rude to her? He didn't know. He only remembered how meekly she had tried to ask him about Kataji or Abihiko's wellbeing. And how he had never given her any response to that.

Oh no.

Of course she went out to seek the answers to her questions by herself. She was worried, after all.

"All right, I'll check on Kata and be right there. He doesn't have to worry one bit," Morokata suddenly told the dummy. "Hibiki, I swear to Heavens, if you don't finish this array by the time I come back--"

"I WILL!" came the enraged, brutal scream.

Morokata might have bothered Hibiki so much during their time alone in Abihiko's bedroom. By now, he had somehow turned Hibiki into a raging beast.

Morokata had this quality, for sure.

Enraging people.

Before leaving the Imperial quarters, Morokata came over to Nekohiko. He slipped into the concubine's bedroom, wincing at the dusky shadows obscuring his sight. After the whole day spent working, Morokata seemed worn out and displeased with everything.

That didn't stop him from taking a good look at Nekohiko's doll body sleeping on the splendid bed in the middle of the room.

Careful, like a lover, Morokata caressed Nekohiko's cheek with his fingers, peering unreadably into his closed eyes. If only this wasn't his tormentor and his nemesis -- Nekohiko would have thought this was a sweet, endearing moment.

Morokata truly drew an image of himself as a fatherly, kind figure. Toward Nekohiko, toward Hibiki, even toward Kataji. He was almost like Suminoe -- a teacher wanting to raise others as well as he could and make them useful. To himself, if not to the overall society.

Yet unlike Suminoe, and unlike Abihiko, two people whom Nekohiko would trust with his life, Morokata's touch made his skin crawl and his heart stop in visceral disgust.

He was happy he was inside the seashell, and not the human doll. Because he could control his emotions toward Morokata exactly as he should. Receiving this tender caress for what it was:

A threat.

"Behave, baby doll," Morokata murmured sweetly. "We have such a beautiful future before us. I Order you to want it too, for all of our sakes."

"Yes, Master," the human doll body mumbled in response, without waking.

That made Morokata smile.

The last time he would at hearing this phrase, Nekohiko promised himself, listening to the fading footsteps. The farther Morokata was, the brighter and more fiery Nekohiko's resolve grew.

Then at last, he heard the clangor of the ante-chamber doors, letting Morokata out.

...

Like a flame suddenly sparking to life, Nekohiko opened his eyes within the cat. He waited long enough to imagine Morokata walking out of the destroyed Palace hallways, down the Emerald stairs leading to the city. Enough for Morokata to not be in the direct vicinity.

That bastard had to be closer to his new destination of Okinaga's mansion and Kataji -- than to here. And recalling that it took roughly half an hour to get from the Palace to there and with the destroyed terrain of the war-torn city... It should not be a breezy ride for Morokata, and not at all easy for him to return.

Even when summoned for an "emergency."

Once his patience eroded and Nekohiko could wait no more, he crept from out the shrubs. He made his steady way to the walls of Abihiko's bedroom and the half-broken sections perfect for a tiny cat to slither through.

He landed quietly in the room stale with shadows. He didn't waste a single moment locating the Imperial bed on which...

Ahhh...

Abihiko lay on the sheets -- half-naked and so emaciated with the Binder's Corruption and the torture Hibiki must have been subjecting him to. Nekohiko didn't even take it all in at first, so relieved he was to see that Abihiko's chest was still rising and falling and that Hibiki was not near him!

The haggard shadow of that monster was in the corner of the room, clanging some metallic tools on his craftsman workbench and cursing at every little thing during his rant.

"Hibiki do this, Hibiki do that. I will flay them if those stupid meat bags ever dare suggest... And Moro can stuff it, too, 'cause I am not gonna do dozens of the same doll again, and I don't care what he thinks about that! I am not an incantation specialist anyway, and ARGH! I am so hungry--"

Complete inane gibberish.

Nekohiko skittered to the bed and jumped on the pillow. He took one glance at Abihiko's pale, drained face before him, at the eyelashes quivering from the pain he must be feeling.

He needed Abihiko awake and aware.

His plan wouldn't work otherwise, with how protective and self-destructive Abihiko tended to be if he ever suspected Nekohiko might come to danger.

Thus, to wake him up as gently as he could -- and without calling Hibiki's attention to them, Nekohiko leaned closer to Abihiko. So close, his whiskers brushed against Abihiko's nose as if Nekohiko wanted to nuzzle him.

He did want that. Albeit, perhaps, not right now.

Softly, Nekohiko whispered,

"Meow."

 

Cat Justice is here!!

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