18 - Feeding the Tiger (1)

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*Old Note*

Jun 03, 2005

Did I mess up this whole magic signature exchange? Are you unable to open the safe? But we exchanged blood and all that! It should've worked!

Your Panicking Friend

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*Present Day*

"I…need to travel for an assignment," Kir said quietly. "I'm sorry, I…"

Ilari looked up at the guilty-looking fiancé of his. "Why are you apologising?" he asked.

"It's only been a week since we opened the office, and we haven't even had our first client yet, but I need to go…" Kir mumbled.

Ilari laughed and patted the taller man's shoulder. "Kir, it's perfectly fine. I promised not to hinder your work, didn't I?" he said casually, thinking that this fiancé of his was getting more and more adorable by the day. Ilari could feel his palm itching and his fingers twitching already – he really wanted to reach out and rub Kir's head exactly like he did to his family's cats, regardless of size – a bunch, which, now included his fiancé's tiger Kai.

Kir, naturally, had no idea what Ilari was thinking. His pale and handsome face was filled with worry. "But, what if…?" he started anxiously.

Ilari shook his head. "Don't worry so much, Kir," he said gently, interrupting the worried man and wondering if overprotectiveness was contagious and whether there was a chance that Kir had been infected by Ilari's family! He pushed down the thought forcible and asked Kir instead, "How long will you be travelling for?"

"Three days at the very least," Kir said. "It is something I committed to much earlier, so I can't cancel it now…but…I can leave Kai with you, if you'd like?" The offer was sincere, and Kir's golden eyes were full of worry.

Ilari was so shocked by the offer that he almost fell of his chair.

Hearing Kir's words, Alair, who had been nicely curled up on Ilari's laptop, raised his head and glared at Kir. "Don't be stupid, human," he said angrily. "Don't you know how much energy drainage would you suffer from if you and Kai were separated for three days?!" The silver cat's voice was full of anger and fear as he shouted loudly.

"We'll recover within a week," Kai said softly. "It is unpleasant, but Kir and I have been separated before. We can manage a few days." He blinked innocently at Alair, as if asking him why he was overreacting like this.

As if it was a small matter for a human and his magical familiar to be separated!

As if the pain and magical damage the human as well as the magical familiar would suffer from such forced separation was something trivial and commonplace!

Alair leaped up and drew himself to his full height on Ilari's desk. His upright tail indicated his anger and his beautiful silver fur bristled with magic. It was rare for the silver cat to be so angry that his magic would leak out spontaneously.

"Not on my watch," Alair hissed at Kir. Then he turned to his own human and ordered in an imperial tone, "Tell this stupid pair, Ilari!"

The horrified look on Ilari's face was clear enough. He imagined being separated from Alair for three days and shuddered. Information about magical separation and its terrible, terrible consequences flooded his brain and he was unable to speak.

Alair immediately jumped on to Ilari's lap and reached up with his paw to slap Ilari's dazed face. "Wake up! This is not a time for you to phase out!" the cat snapped.

Ilari's blue eyes were frightfully dim.

Kir and Kai were immediately anxious. They had never seen Ilari like this.

Kir hurried to Ilari's side and knelt by the chair, taking Ilari's cold hand in his own.

Kai move close to Ilari and Alair on the other side of the chair.

"What happened to him?" Kai asked, his tiger eyes full of concern and worry.

Kir looked to be on the verge of tears. "Ilari? What's wrong?" he asked softly.

"Congratulations, you two have given my human a new nightmare now," Alair scolded the man and tiger duo.

"Sorry," the two of them said together.

They looked so pathetic and tearful that it somehow managed to snap Ilari out of his daze.

"Kir…? Kai…?" Ilari whispered in a barely audible voice.

"Yes, I'm here, Ilari," Kir said, patting Ilari's arm and sending a strand of his own healing magic into the man.

"I'm here, too," Kai said quickly.

Ilari immediately felt better with Kir's magic.

But that didn't mean that the horror and fear of the situation had left his mind.

"Were you – were you really separated before?" Ilari asked in a low voice.

Kir and Kai exchanged a glance and then nodded.

"More than once?" Ilari asked, his voice growing more horrified.

The man and the tiger nodded again.

"For several days, even?" Ilari continued asking.

Kir sighed heavily and looked at Kai again. "Yes," he said softly.

Ilari fell silent for a long time, his mind in a whirl.

"You must never do that again," Ilari said finally. He grabbed Kir's arm. "You, of all people, know how severe the reaction could be for prolonged separation! Don't…don't ever do it again!"

"There's a safe limit set at 3 hours and 3 miles for a good reason," Alair chipped in. He was as solemn as his human, touching the tiger's face with his paw. "You must promise us not to breach the safe limits."

Kir and Kai couldn't refuse the matching, sincere blue eyes of the younger man and the cat. They nodded.

"We will try our best," Kai promised.

"We will," Kai echoed his human.

Two pairs of blue eyes and two pairs of golden eyes stared at each other for quite some time.

Ultimately, Ilari and Alair nodded. Neither were fully satisfied, because what Kir and Kai promised was simply that they would try to – not that they wouldn't – but an instinct told both Ilari and Alair that this was the maximum they would be able to get from the other pair.