“Hey, Tasuki,” Tamahome held up his hand in a wave position. “Welcome back from the dead.”
“Hmm…?” Miaka blinked her eyes open. “Is Tasuki awake already?”
“Yes, Miaka, he’s up.”
Nakago tapped Yui to wake her and soon, after notifying the nurse to get the doctor, they all gathered around Tasuki. The doctor soon came in and checked Tasuki out. He had a few broken ribs, numerous cuts and bruises on every corner of his body, a broken arm and an almost broken ankle with a couple of slightly traumatized internal organs and a concussion on the head, but all in all, his body condition was stable and all wounds were treated. He had to continue staying in the hospital for at least a couple of months for observation and rehabilitation of his broken parts. They waited until the doctor left, telling them not to stay too long before fussing over Tasuki like he was some poor lost puppy.
“Where the heck am I?” Tasuki groaned as he tried to sit up. Nakago and Tamahome helped him.
“You’re in the Kanagawa Hospital,” Yui replied. “Nakago and I were on our way to invite you to our engagement party next week but you weren’t home when we came knocking at your doorstep. We found you a few blocks away from your home all covered in blood and we thought you were dead. Nakago immediately made a call for the ambulance and we followed them when they took you away all the way here.”
“Yui called me to tell me about your predicament and I told Tamahome,” Miaka said while he helped Tasuki pour a glass of water. “And we’ve been visiting you ever since.”
“How…How long was I out?” Tasuki asked, trying to bear the throbbing in his head.
“About a week,” Tamahome replied with a grin.
“Nani! A week!” Tasuki exclaimed. “Teme! That was way too long! What am I…What…”
“Calm down, Tasuki, calm down,” Miaka said as she offered the glass of water to him. “Here, drink this. Tell us, what exactly happened here?”
“Well…” Tasuki took a sip, then continued, “I remember walking back home from gym…then these two guys—twins actually—came up to me dressed in some sort of Chinese martial arts outfit. I think they’re some kind of martial arts students or something. They said they were giving me some sort of regard from their cousin and then they pulverized me like some punching bag, then…”
Tasuki widened his eyes as he began to remember something the twins were trying to say to him. His visitors noticed the change of expression on his face.
“Nande?” Tamahome asked.
“Where’s Chichiri? Where is my man-cat?”
Everyone looked at each other uneasily, not sure what to tell Tasuki.
“Nandayo? Where’s my man-cat? Where’s Chichiri!”
“Err…You see, um,” Miaka tried to arrange her words so as not to alarm Tasuki. “We went to your house to bring some of your clothes here and, well, we saw your home sorta ransacked.”
“We tried to look for Chichiri but he was nowhere to be seen,” Tamahome shrugged his shoulders apologetically. “Nothing was stolen, thank goodness, but Chichiri seemed to have disappeared in thin air. We couldn’t find him anywhere. His clothes were there and his cat food was there, but no Chichiri. We reported a possible kidnapping to the police, but so far they couldn’t find any fingerprints or trace that could lead them to a possible suspect.”
“It’s him! It has to be him! He sent his lackies to take Chichiri away from me!”
“Who? Who would want to take Chichiri?” Nakago asked.
“Chiriko, of course! You know, that obsessive rich tycoon stalker I’ve been telling you about! The one I issued a restraining order to! He must’ve been behind all this.”
“I remember you telling us about him,” Tamahome rubbed his chin, recalling the day they came to Tasuki’s home for a friendly visit. “But are you sure it’s him? He may be rich and all, but isn’t this a little…”
“It had to be him! I know it’s him! Only people like him could hired someone so skilled like those two and remove every trace of evidence pointed to him. You know how rich people work! They look nice and sweet on the outside but deep down, they’re dirty and cruel and have a tendency to misuse their wealth! It had to be him!”
“Before we jump to conclusions here, you better make sure…” Nakago tried to calm Tasuki down but Tasuki cut him short.
“Ie! There’s no mistake about it! It had to be Chiriko! I’m going to his place right now and…”
“Ah! Cho…Chotto matte yo!”
Miaka, Tamahome, Yui and Nakago tried to stop him but the pain did the job for them. Tasuki tried to get off the bed but pain from his almost broken ankle and broken ribs shot up immediately like a speeding bullet, making him fall straight to the ground without hesitation. The men quickly helped him up and put him back to bed, but Tasuki wasn’t going to be subdued without a fight. Miaka and Yui ran out of the room to get the doctor.
“Hanase! Hanase yo!” Tasuki shouted, struggling to get away from Tamahome and Nakago who were trying their best to hold him down without making his wounds worse. “Hanase! Chichiri needs me! I need to save him from Chiriko! Who knows what he’ll do to him!”
“Calm down, Tasuki! You can’t be sure it’s him,” Tamahome begged, earning a kick from the patient.
“It is him! I know it’s him! Hanase yo!”
“Just stay still, Tasuki!” Nakago urged. “You’re going to break another bone if you struggle like that again. Why don’t you stay here and we try to confirm it for you?”
“You don’t know him like I do! You can’t convict him! I’m the only one who can talk things through to him! Now let me go! Hanase!”
The girls soon came back with nurses and a doctor, the medics bringing in sedatives as expected. It was as if they were used to patients who suddenly go haywire. They injected the sedatives into him and held him down until it took effect on him. They excused the visitors and told them to go home for now and that Tasuki needed his rest. They reluctantly left after they took one last look at him.
“Poor guy,” Miaka said sympathetically. “Shouldn’t we do something about this?”
“Maybe,” Tamahome said. “But without any leads and any evidence, we cannot just go barging into people’s houses accusing them of a crime we’re not sure they committed. I wish we could help, but our hands are tied right now.”
“Tamahome’s right,” Nakago agreed. “We need to investigate this thing further before jumping into any conclusions. The last thing we want in our hands is a bunch lawyers sent by one of the most richest and respectable man in town and being sued for something we can’t afford to pay.”
“I hope Tasuki’s alright,” Yui said worriedly before the four of them went out of the hospital.
As Tasuki unwillingly succumbed to the effects of the sedatives, he breathed out one name:
“Chi…Chichiri…”
--:--
Chichiri opened his eyes and stared out at the window of his room. He felt as if someone was calling his name. He walked towards the window and looked down. No one at the gate, no one in the garden and no one below near the window calling for him. Chichiri shrugged. Maybe he was just hearing things.It’s been almost a week since he was been taken by the weirdly dressed twin brothers Amiboshi and Suboshi. He was playing with his favourite red and yellow yarn of balls when he heard a knock on the door. He thought it was Tasuki and assumed that he had forgotten his keys again—he always had a habit of forgetting his keys whenever he moved into a new home—and went over to open the door for him. As soon as he used both his hands to turn the doorknob, the twins barged in and threw him off balance. Suboshi started playing his flute and Amiboshi’s weapons immediately came to life. One side of the roped ball wound around Chichiri, binding him tight and picking him up high above Amiboshi’s head. The other side of the roped ball started crashing onto everything there is in the house. Chichiri mewed and hissed and struggled, trying to get out of his binds and stop whatever Amiboshi was doing but to no avail. After the twins did their damages, Suboshi went over towards Chichiri and played a song so soothing to the ear that he couldn’t keep his eyes open. He immediately fell into a slumber and the next thing he knew, he woke up in a room fit for a prince to live in with Chiriko staring at him with a cute smiley face.
Chiriko was a nice person actually. He met his every whim and fancy even if he didn’t ask for it and throughout his whole week stay in Chiriko’s mansion while Tasuki was in the hospital, he had been taken to places he had never been before, like riding the bullet train, go to the famous shopping districts like Ginza, Harajyuku, Roppongi Hills, Shibuya and Shinjyuku and even took him to places where cosplay was the highlight of the city. They were all fabulous, and Chiriko really treated him like anyone would to a koibito, but Chichiri knew their relationship was not meant to be. He’s a half-neko and Chiriko was a human. Neko-s and humans just don’t mix.
Besides, there was no one he’d rather have than his master Tasuki…
Chichiri gasped as he realized what he was thinking. No one he’d rather have than his master Tasuki? What in the world was going through his head? He just claimed that cats and humans don’t mix, yet he’d rather have Tasuki as a koibito than Chiriko! He had just become a walking contradiction! This wasn’t supposed to be what he should have in mind! Humans and cats being together is a doomed relationship. Why would he wish his relationship with Tasuki to be so?
He stared long and hard at the night sky above him. The moon shone like the sun, only slightly dimmer and not enough to illuminate the entire area. He began to wonder why he wanted a relationship further than just master-pet. Was it because of his job? Was it because seeing other people successfully becoming koibito-s while he and Tasuki were nowhere close triggered his subconscious and inner desire to want Tasuki to become his lover instead of his master? Could it be that because of his loneliness he had suppressed all these years when Tasuki’s point of view towards him was no more than just a pet made him feel that he deserved more than this? Or could it be way back, way far back during the first day he started his relationship with Tasuki, back when he was a kitten?
He did remember meeting Chiriko before Tasuki. He did remember Chiriko staring at him longingly from the other side of the display counter. He did remember watching Chiriko as he tried to convince Mitsukake, his first master, to accept credit card in vain, and then watching him leave again to get cash. But something was not right on the day he first met Chiriko. He may have stared at him for quite a while when both their eyes met but there was something that didn’t really click between him and the young rich tycoon. There was something in Chiriko that didn’t really sit too well with his instincts. Every pet has this innate sense of knowing who the right person to be your master is, and Chichiri could definitely smell out that Chiriko was not the master for him. Which is why he wasn’t too disappointed when Chiriko didn’t buy him.
Now Tasuki was different. There was something about him that attracted him. Something more than just being the right person as his master. No, it was much deeper than that. Something that he just couldn’t explain. Something that he just knew by instinct. He knew that his life would soon revolve around this wild-looking college dropout and that his future lies in the hands of this fiery-red haired man, therefore he hung onto dear on Tasuki the moment Mitsukake put him out on the counter for him to see. And it wasn’t just the presence of Tasuki bathing with him that calmed him down every time it was bath time. It was the sight of his muscular naked body due to long years of heavyweight lifting in construction sites and the feel of his touches in bath that truly turned him on. Even during his first bath with Tasuki had already set him into the ‘mood’ within seconds and left him completely hung over. Not to mention staring at his manhood nonetheless. No spa-like bath or Jacuzzi dunking with Chiriko was able to turn him on like Tasuki did.
Chichiri sighed and walked back to the bed. It was true. It was obvious. And there was no way he could deny it anymore than he could ignore it.
He was in love with his own master Tasuki.
--:--
“Chiriko! Chiriko! You get out here right this instant!”Chichiri woke up with a start at that voice. He recognized that voice anywhere. He blushed as he went towards the window and saw Tasuki standing outside the gate hollering like a madman while the security guards tried to shoo him away. He was shocked to see Tasuki covered in bandages and had a pair of crutches under his armpits and a cast on his ankle. What happened to Tasuki? Did he get into an accident? Was that why he hadn’t seen him for so long? What exactly happened to him? He pawed and mewed at the window but he was too far from eyeshot to catch Tasuki’s attention.
“Looks like our main guest has arrived.”
Chichiri spun round to see Chiriko standing just right behind him looking down from the window at the manic Tasuki, a smile on his face that meant anything but sincere. He laid his hand on the man-cat’s shoulder and said, “Come, Chichiri. Let’s meet up and give him a well-deserved welcome.”
Chiriko picked Chichiri up and brought him out to the corridor. One of his maids ran up to inform him about Tasuki raving like a lunatic outside the gate. Chiriko nodded in acknowledgement and said that he would personally handle this. He walked all the way to the gate with Chichiri in his arms and dismissed the guards. Now the only thing that separated between him and a possible Tasuki fist was the high 10-foot steel-black gate.
Tasuki glared at the 12-year-old boy with a vengeance. It wasn’t easy for him to get out of the hospital and come all the way to Chiriko’s mansion. He had to fight off whatever remaining sedative effects that remained in his body and sneak out of the hospital, avoiding every nurse, hospital attendant and doctor possible. He looked rather weird with all the bandages and the cast around his ankle and moving with crutches for support, and passers-by and the taxi driver sure gave a couple of strange looks seeing Tasuki in his form, but he managed to get to the mansion nonetheless without any further stress on his injuries.
“Ohayo, Tasuki-kun,” Chiriko greeted with his award-winning smile. “How nice of you to come and visit us.”
“Chiriko! Teme!” Tasuki tried to reach over to grab him but the gaps between the gate railings were too small for him to force even a finger through. Chiriko stood there with Chichiri cradled in his arms, his smile never leaving his face.
“As you can see now, Chichiri is having a really good time here with me. I am so sorry to hear about your mugging. I heard the perpetrator kinda made a mess at your home. Chichiri was so frightened when he came running to find me. I mean, I think those muggers were targeting him. He is, after all, a very rare pet species and people pay high prices in the black market for him. I must be the only person he could think of at that time…”
“Damare! Damare! Stop your fucking lies!” Tasuki yelled. “Chichiri would never come here looking for you! He has plenty of friends to search for help, and you’re the not only saint around here! You planned all this! You sent your cousins to give me a wallop so bad that I won’t be able to put up a fight when they take Chichiri away from me! You planned this from the beginning! You took Chichiri away from me and I want him back right now!”
“And what is your proof that I planned this heist? All you have is a whole body of sores and broken bones with a sedative-induced mind and a book full of records suggesting a mugging from an unknown suspect. Who in their right mind would believe that Chiriko, boy genius and son of one of the richest people in society with all the money in the world to buy twice as much man-cats anyone can own, would fight with a commoner over one man-cat, and with a flaw nonetheless? You’ve got nothing on me, Tasuki-kun, so just give it up.”
“Baka! I’m not gonna give up that easily, you weasel! Chichiri belongs to me! I bought him first and he should go with me, not you! I don’t care what plan you’re pulling and I’m willing to forget everything that you have done to me. Just give Chichiri back to me and we’ll call it even. Kaise!”
“You think I would give Chichiri to you after you’ve abandoned him for so long? You were mugged and he was almost kidnapped. He was so traumatized by your absence and yet you didn’t even bother to at least ask someone to send word to me or him that you were in the hospital. Seems like you care more about your pain than Chichiri’s safety and whereabouts, don’t you agree?”
“Urusai! You’re just as manipulative as any freaking tycoon who misuses their wealth for their own benefits! Chichiri’s my pet and he’s like aneki to me! He should be with me, not some sick obsessive otaku like you! Kaise yo!”
“Why don’t we let Chichiri decide who he should go with?” Chiriko said as he put Chichiri down on the floor, but not before whispering into Chichiri’s ear, “I cannot guarantee his future safety though.”
Chichiri was torn between two sides as he was set on the ground between Chiriko and Tasuki outside the gate. He wanted to go back to Tasuki. He had waited him for so long. He had longed to be back with him. Chiriko had treated him very nicely, but he knew he didn’t belong here. Yet Chiriko’s last words struck him like lightning. He knew what that warning meant. If he were to choose Tasuki over him, bandages and casts would not be the only thing that would hang around Tasuki’s body. It could probably mean even worse wounds, maybe even coma…or death. No! He cared too much for Tasuki to let him die because of him. Hard as it may seem, he had to make this choice. Ignoring Tasuki’s calls, he backed away and nuzzled against Chiriko’s leg. Chiriko smiled and picked him up in his arms. His heart ached to see Tasuki’s face of disbelief but he had to do this.
He had to save his master’s life.
“See? The pet has spoken. He’s choosing me. I’m afraid you have to leave now. We’re going out on an outing later and I must prepare.” So saying, Chiriko turned his back on Tasuki and began walking towards the mansion.
“Nandateyunda! Doushite, Chichiri! Doushite!” Tasuki shouted at the gate as he watched them disappear out of sight. “What has he done to you! What has he brainwashed you with! Chichiri, I know you don’t mean this! I know you don’t want this! Come back! Come back!”
He noticed Chichiri looking back at him sadly and could tell what his true intentions were.
“Don’t worry! You hang in there, Chichiri! I will save you from him! I will! I promise!”
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