44 Familial Bonds (5)

To Iris' disappointment, the man did not deign to answer her. He peacefully finished his meal, then spent some ten minutes looking through the news on his phone, and got ready for work. In no time, he was about to leave again.

Not wishing to be locked up again, Iris stayed in the living room, but a certain distance away from Kyro. For all she knew, he might just decide to pick her up and throw her into the bedroom where he would cage her for the day.

Seeing her hiding from him, Kyro went to Lucifer instead. "Can I trust you to act nice today?" His expression was very serious, as if he was really expecting a reply from his cat. It was quite funny.

Lucifer ignored him for the most part. Only when Kyro stroked his back did the cat rise up slightly, making sure the man's hands went down all of his body.

"If a hair is out of place on that little fox, I'll keep you responsible, understood? And no excuses. The apartment is yours while I'm gone." Kyro then patted Lucifer's head and turned around to leave.

Iris had been hiding behind the flower pots, but something within her told her it wasn't right. Carefully, she walked out and tip-toed to the door where Kyro was putting on his shoes. He looked at her, then caressed her head.

"Came to say goodbye? Thanks. You too have a nice day, all right?"

The action of coming over was simple, but Iris felt better after having done that. It was somehow right to do this, to say goodbye to someone leaving, even if she couldn't speak.

Once Kyro left, Iris looked over the living room with excitement. She was no longer locked up! In just a day, she had managed to change his mind and gain her freedom! This was totally awesome.

Her muscles still hurt, but after some moving about, they calmed down a bit. As her first course of action, she went to find Lucifer. It was time to thank him for being so nice yesterday and cooperating with her plan in the evening.

When she approached him, he lifted one eye open, then closed it. 'Lazy bum.' As marvelous as this cat could be, he sure did nothing more than sleep all day long. The only extra movement he did was to walk from one good spot for lying about to another.

Mischievousness lit up in Iris' eyes. If he was so lazy, maybe she should move him a bit in thanks? Have him exercise those old bones of his?

Bravery was never Iris' strong suit, but she no longer feared Lucifer. He was grumpy, certainly, but not easily angered or territorial. Now that she thought about it, the times he had swiped at her were because she had surprised him. If a small sandy ball suddenly came barreling over, anyone would defend themselves.

Still, he was much larger than her and his off-hand strike could knock the living daylights out of her, so she had to be careful. Her movements were slow and steady as she sneaked closer, giving him plenty of time to react. When he didn't, she attacked!

Or well, did something that was akin to an attack. She pounced on his tail, trying to catch it. When Lucifer moved it aside, she went after, ready to bite it. Her teeth weren't too strong now, so she didn't fear injuring him and digging her grave in that way.

Lucifer meowed at her, the sound clearly betraying his annoyance, and pushed her away. Iris took a step back, then rushed up the cat's back, using him as a stepping stone.

It was actually quite fun. Her ground was unstable, being a living, breathing cat, and she could sense silent anger radiating from behind her. Before she could look around, though, the ground beneath her moved. Lucifer stood up, and she rolled off with a surprised yelp.

Without a glance at her, he strolled off the bed. Iris found it quite insulting and chased after him. He wasn't going to get rid of her so easily!

However, she had underestimated him. The cat went straight for the sofa. He ran up the backside and lay down at the top. It was hard to see, but Iris was certain he was smirking at her.

'Evil creature!' she screamed at him, jumping at the backrest without much effect. As if to mock her even further, Lucifer had his tail fall to her side in an obvious taunt. A few choice curses left her lips, but she couldn't do much about the evil cat. The moment she ran up high enough to grab the tail, Lucifer raised it up, then let it fall back once she was on the ground.

If this wasn't mockery, then what was?

With indignation coursing through her veins, Iris looked around. She was human. It couldn't be that there was no way for her to outsmart this evil cat. 'Aha!' Why in the world was she wasting her energy trying to climb from this side when she could simply do it from the other? If she jumped on the seat part first, there would be little distance left to the top of the backrest.

'I'm an idiot…'