23 Her Name (8)

Being pretty is one thing, but Iris had a feeling that something was wrong here. Kyro was standing in the middle of the room, just staring at her for a good minute now. And he didn't seem to plan to move any time soon.

She stood up, letting go of the mouse, and walked to the edge of the bed. The distance between them was still too great for her to reach him, so she just sat down and cooed at him. That should break him out of his stupor, right?

It worked like a charm. He broke into movement, sweeping her up into his arms and pulling her close to his heart. She yipped at him, puzzled at the sudden show of emotion, but he didn't let go nor said anything.

What was wrong with him? She began screeching and fighting. It was awkward being held like this, and even a little uncomfortable, him using more force than was necessary. Besides, she couldn't see his expression which might tell what was all of this about.

Kyro noticed that the fox wasn't happy with his hug and reluctantly put it back on the bed. The little creature probably had no clue what scare it had given him. But how had it appeared here anyway? He was certain that it hadn't been in the bedroom when he had looked through it.

Whatever, he was just happy that it wasn't missing. That was all that really mattered. He must have missed some place while looking for it.

With the fox's possible death lifted off his shoulders, Kyro suddenly felt much lighter. He sat down on the bed and picked up the toy mouse. Holding it by the tail, he dangled it before the fennec.

The fox looked at him, then the mouse, then back at him as if asking if he was for real. He waved the mouse before the fox's eyes, even bumping it into its nose. There was no reaction at first, then, after some time, the fox raised its left arm to swat at it once.

The right corner of Kyro's lips lifted in amusement. He wasn't certain who was playing with whom at the moment, but he didn't care much for the specifics. He just wanted to see the fennec playing about, alive and happy, to assuage his frayed nerves.

Not a day ago he had called out the previous owner, finding their lack of care for the fennec extremely damning, yet now he had made the same mistake. It was his luck that the fox didn't take the chance to escape, but what if it had? He didn't notice it before it was too late.

A loud meow came from the doorway, and Lucy strolled in. He easily jumped on the bed. Kyro was about to grab for the fox to protect it, but Lucy seemed uninterested in the palm-sized creature playing with his toys. He instead came to Kyro and curled up on his knees.

"Lucy…" Kyro didn't know what to say. What was this cat of his thinking? It wasn't too out of habit for him to just come in and lie down on the knees, but he had been avoiding Kyro while he was with the fox.

Wait, did Lucy feel annoyed for being overlooked? But he was the king of the house, the one who always got what he wanted.

And since it was attention that he was demanding, Kyro obliged. He let go of the mouse, allowing the fennec to snatch it away and run to the other side of the bed, and started to brush the silky tresses of Lucy's coat.

The cat purred in satisfaction, eyes closed, and Kyro's lips twitched into a smile. "Aren't you too old to be acting like a cat a third of your age? Where's your pride?" His fingers didn't stop the caress, and Lucy just flicked his tail once, not even bothering to reply.

On the other side of the bed, Iris lay with the mouse in her mouth. She was chewing it with great determination, wishing to snap it in half. Kyro had been acting strange—first staring at her like he'd seen a ghost, then crushing her in a hug, and at last expecting her to chase after a mouse, but all of it was nothing.

All of those actions paled in comparison to the very last one: He chose the damn cat over her! They were having something of a moment there—she saw him about to smile, her actions lifting his mood up—but then the accursed monster strutted in and stole the spotlight. How was this fair?

She bit down on the mouse, hard. In her mind, she held the black furball's tail.