�They�re just teasing you by treating you like a kid,� I tell her, �it�s nothing to worry about.� The worried expression doesn�t fade from her features, so I continue to explain as we walk along. �After your dear partner heals up a bit, he�s going to go Adel hunting. I�ll follow and intervene before they have a chance to kill each other, then I�ll be gone with Adel and his group awhile. Simple undercover work, is all.�
�It must be hard,� Luna says, nodding a bit, �switching all the time�betraying either side with every action. Don�t you ever get sick of it? If something goes wrong, you�ll be hated by both and have nowhere to go.�
�Nowhere to go?� I laugh, trying to keep Luna from getting too serious. She gets depressed when she�s in a serious mood for too long, because she over thinks things. �Luna, you seem to have forgotten your promise.�
�Oh,� she blushes and glances down, �I know I said I�d take care of you, but I�d still be with the company�you wouldn�t be safe with me.�
�Ah, well, that�s alright. You came up with the promise; I never said you had to hold to it.�
�But I want to!� Luna says, grabbing me by the arm, �I don�t want anything to happen to you. I don�t want you to leave us.�
�You mean leave you,� I tell her, seeing where this is going, �but I already told you it�d never work. Even if it did, it�d only give the company more to threaten both of us with and we�d never get out of there.� Luna�s had enough of this and smacks me across the face. But it�s not just a smack, and not even a punch. She has a really vicious backhand, believe me.
�Don�t tell me it�s for my own good, or that you�re not right for me, or whatever the hell pathetic excuses you have. I don�t care, and whenever you get over yourself and realize you�re breaking my heart instead of protecting me, then you come find me.� And with that, she stormed off back towards the building leaving me standing there shocked.
Anyone else probably would have gone after her, but not everyone knows what I do. When Luna�s mad she would rather be by herself, and when she can�t have solitude, the person she�s mad at is the last one on the face of the planet she wants to see. So, I�ll leave her to Himeko.
I went home after that; red, slightly swollen cheek acting as a banner that proclaimed �Hey, I�m a heart-breaking jackass.� I did get a few questioning glances, but it�s not the first time I�ve had to walk through town with proof that Luna was mad at me, so people tend to just shake their head and think, �He had it coming.�
A blast of warm air greets me as I unlock the apartment door and step in, followed by a mew. There�s a calico cat on my kitchen counter, patiently waiting for me to feed her.
�Ah, Callie, I�m glad you don�t slap me,� I say as I retrieve the bag of cat food from atop the fridge, �because you have claws.� She just glances back at me as if to say I�m insane for talking to my cat, though you�d think she�d be used to it by now; especially since she stopped pretending she didn�t understand me.
In any case, I set the bowl of cat food on the counter, and Callie makes sure to sympathetically nuzzle my still-stinging cheek by way of apology as I lean against the counter. �Why thank you,� I tell her with a smile and a pat on the head before leaving her to her meal while I take a shower. If only I knew what that cat and Luna were planning.
I thought I heard a knock as I was toweling my hair dry, but I decided to ignore it, figuring they could wait. But ignoring wasn�t the stupid thing I did. As I opened the door, letting steam escape into the hallway, I heard Luna�s voice and I still made the mistake of leaving the bathroom. And there she was, talking to Callie, who had moved to a spot by the front door. But that wasn�t half of it.
The best thing is I�m standing in the hallway, frozen, only a towel wrapped around my waist, and Himeko has noticed this.
�Callie said we could come in,� Luna says innocently, as aforementioned calico meows in agreement. Himeko looks like she�s about to scream and my face pales to a deathly white in point-five seconds.
Himeko succeeds in tackling me this time, as I suddenly find myself unable to move, and proceeds to attempt to drag me down the hallway to my bedroom while I attempt to escape her grip and put my pants on at the same time. Luna�s literally fallen to the ground laughing, and Callie just shoots me this Cheshire Cat grin that says �Well, at least Luna isn�t mad at you anymore.�
I just shoot her a glare that lets her know being manhandled by Himeko wasn�t what I had in mind.
