Cat Scratch Fever

Chapter 2

Kuroka sighed in relief; she could move again.

She'd just woken up, and to her relief and surprise, she felt almost no pain save for her right leg.

Kuroka pulled the blanket off herself, and in the process accidentally hit Issei in the face. She hissed in recognition; she'd forgotten he was there and had just nailed him in the bridge of the nose with her index knuckle.

Issei groaned, sitting up and blinking his eyes.

"Whoops~," Kuroka said unapologetically, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Was that you? I dreamed I got hit with a baseball." Issei said, rubbing his nose.

Kuroka, much to Issei's surprise and worry, began to get out of bed.

"Hey, your leg-"

"-Is fine. I heal fast." She explained, starting to strip off her various bandages once she stood up. The wounds under each were perfectly closed. After a moment, the only evidence that she'd been hurt at all was the remains of the stitches that had been holding her leg together. Even that was completely healed, and all that was left was to take the stitching out.

"How did you manage to not heal for a whole day and then one nap later everything is fine?" Issei asked, standing up. "I expected you to be out of commission for at least a week."

"You were ready to take care of me for that long? How thoughtful, nya. It's probably because of your transfer last night if I had to guess. The extra power jump-started my own natural healing, and my natural proficiency in senjutsu did the rest. I'll be as good as new by tonight, probably."

"That's...great," Issei said, putting on a happy face. He expected to have at least a few more days of company before he went back to being alone.

"Why the long face, nya? Didn't you swear to protect me? We have some things to take care of."

"I don't seem to remember doing anything like that."

"Oh yes, you did. 'Kuroka-sama, I swear on my status as the Red Dragon Emperor that I'll protect you for the rest of your life, and I'll give you ten kittens!' Or something like that, nya~." Kuroka waved her arms this way and that, mimicking Issei's voice and acting like some kind of white knight.

"I think you might've dreamed that."

"I suppose it's possible. Does that mean you don't want to give me any kittens, nya?"

"Let's...worry about kittens later. What do we have to 'take care of'?"

"Well, I'm still being tailed by devils. Even if they said they'd leave, you can bet your ass that they're coming back. Now that the Red One is involved, they're probably coming back with an army, nya."

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Issei glanced out of the window blinds, looking at his porch.

"It's just one guy. Red hair, really weird outfit. Huge shoulder...thingies. No, wait, not one guy. There's a...maid, behind him? Weird."

Issei turned back towards Kuroka, who was shaking like a leaf with a horrified look on her face.

"Is something wrong...?" He asked, wondering what about his description had made the girl go into a trance.

"You...should answer that. They won't knock twice." Kuroka said, swallowing hard.

"Who is it? You're kind of scaring me."

"This will all go way better if I don't tell you...just...be careful. Go answer. I'll stay in here and hide." Kuroka said, coming back to reality. Her run of bad luck had just gotten worse, it seemed.