Cat Scratch Fever

Chapter 12

"I don't want to wait for her to show up here."

"You are nyot picking a fight with Tiamat!"

"It's not picking a fight, I just want to make sure we're not on any kind of bad terms. If she came here and ate everybody while I was gone or something, it would be a bit of an issue!"

"Then take me with you!"

"No way, not happening. Not if she could be a threat."

"IF SHE COULD BE A THREAT, THEN DON'T GO!"

Kuroka was about to explode. Issei insisted on being stubborn, despite her frustration.

He wanted to go into the Familiar Forest and find the Dragon King Tiamat. He'd been on edge about her ever since Tannin's warning a few days ago, and he'd finally had enough of waiting for her to show up.

"I have to," Issei said quietly. In his eyes, there was no choice to be made. He couldn't sit around and wait for a dragon king to show up unannounced and make a meal out of everyone, and he damn sure wasn't going to take Kuroka with him into the dragon's den.

"No, you don't. Issei, please." Kuroka lost her fire in an instant, closing the gap between herself and her King. Issei was standing beside their large bedroom window, modified by Yulier herself into something of a hatch he could jump/fly out of.

Kuroka, a whole twenty-five centimeters shorter than him, looked almost straight up at Issei with nothing but pleading in her eyes. The thought of him going out and getting killed by some dragon king, especially today, was abhorrent.

"Don't go. Not today." Kuroka spoke too softly for anyone without enhancing hearing to pick up, but Issei heard her loud and clear.

"I-" Her eyes were near impossible to resist, and he might've called it off and stayed home if it weren't for the sound they both heard.

A massive roar, originating from somewhere towards the Familiar Forest. It called out in challenge, daring anyone nearby to answer. Issei perked up, turning towards the sound with instinctual predation in his eyes. She knew what that meant, but it didn't stop her from trying.

"Issei no! At least not today, it's my-"

Issei had already leaped out the window, leaving Kuroka standing by herself. Ears flat, tails drooping, and eyes bleak, she looked as broken-hearted as you can imagine.

"-birthday."

Kuroka sighed and flopped ungracefully down onto their bed, face-first.

Would he ever listen?

Maybe he just didn't get it.

Issei was all she had.

Koneko hated her, her mother was as absent as she'd ever been, and she wasn't close to anyone else.

Issei Hyoudou was her everything, figuratively and literally. She'd follow him anywhere, do anything for him. She'd gladly die with him if the situation ever called for it. She just wanted to be with him, whatever form that took. It's why she was in the Underworld in the first place. She hadn't come for the land or the mansion or the stupid title, she was there for Issei.

But even then, he insisted on disregarding her feelings, time and time again. She wasn't sure if he was even aware of what he was doing, but it didn't really matter- he was still doing it.

Several times now, Kuroka's opinion or feelings had been completely disregarded by Issei.

When she was first teaching him senjutsu, and he tore open her mind. She had been fine with the aftermath, but that was essentially mental assault. He hadn't had a right to, she'd warned him not to, and he did it anyway.