XVII. Cat Eater

Ever since Kamui's first feeding, the atmosphere about the house had been much less hostile. While Subaru certainly wouldn't call their relationship friendly, not yet, it was certainly an upgrade from having to pry kitchenware from the walls.

They spent the first few months of their co-habitation trying to acclimate to a world so foreign to them both. To Subaru, everything moved too fast. The transportation could rival his foot speed, and (if Sorata was to be believed) there were carriages that flew. While he had yet to see one, he had picked out little white lines in the sky that he chose to attribute to the sky-carriages.

To Kamui, everything moved much too slow. Everything here was manual, manual, manually controlled…they even used their hands to mark letters on paper! (The day Subaru realized Kamui didn't actually know how to write was a very stressful day.)

And it seemed that, despite earlier fears of boredom, there was plenty to do. Besides instructing a begrudging Kamui in the art of handwriting, Subaru also accompanied Sorata to a local library. He was amazed that the library was called 'local', because it was rather huge.

He took out many books, some that he entertained as being useful, but mostly ones that caught his eye. Sorata smiled, but said nothing, as he checked the two of them out for 37 books.

Thankfully, Kamui did know how to read. Together, the two of them began to understand their current world through Subaru's library acquisitions and a dictionary (a most prudent gift from Arashi).

This first world was peaceful, blissful even. Weeks turned into months and the boys found a quiet, content routine in a full and sleepy world.

Around four months in, Kamui looked up at Subaru (both were around the kitchen table, nursing tea and novels) and said, "Do you think we should go make money?"

"Hmm?" Subaru said, a little surprised.

"They use money for exchanges here, right?"

"…yes." Subaru responds. "Do they not do that in your world?" He asks a little hesitantly. Their personal worlds were sore spots for both of them, and it could quickly incite a Kamui-tantrum.

"No." Kamui responded, perhaps a little quietly but not angry as Subaru was suspecting. "Well, I don't know. I never had a chance to live like this."

"Like what?" Subaru asks, and he knows he's pushing his luck.

"Like…" Kamui searches for a word he's never used, "free? Like able to go…places…and do things…whenever. And stuff."

Eloquent as ever, Subaru muses. But the information itself – it doesn't surprise him. In fact, it seems to make sense in light of Kamui's behavior. Subaru had begun to formulate that much of Kamui's life was spent in some form of captivity. The boy didn't know what to do with himself, with free time, with choices and with autonomy.

Subaru decides that this conversation can continue on another day. He's grateful for what he's received and wants to back down before feelings turn sour.

"Perhaps we should be making money. What prompted this, Kamui-kun?"

"This book mentions house payments. Meaning paying for a house, I think. So that means someone pays for this house, right?"

"I would assume so."

"I think Sorata-san or Arashi-san must pay for this house. I think."

"I think you may be right."

"But we live in it. Should we pay the house payments?"

"I see your logic, Kamui-kun. Perhaps we should research this further."

…

Sorata was entirely amused the first time Subaru brought up money to him.

"Sorata-san?"

"Hmm?"

"I think Kamui-kun and I should get…is it…jobs?"

Sorata burst into laughter. Ever stoic Arashi rewarded him with a sharp elbow to the gut.

"Oh…ha…sorry! I just (huff) wasn't expecting that!"

"And why were you not expecting that?" Subaru said with a sharpness that Sorata probably didn't pick up on.

"Well, Yuuko-."

"Yuuko-san." Arashi corrected.

"Yes, that's what I mean, Yuuko-san mentioned something about you being a prince? And I can't imagine your princess over there is gonna be too happy with working."

Subaru was incredibly grateful that Arashi had the forethought to engage Kamui in a distracting mental conversation. That last comment would have gotten Sorata eviscerated otherwise.

"Watch your tongue." Arashi said harshly. Subaru was always amazed by her ability to be completely engaged in two conversations at once.

"I'll tell you what. I'll ask around for you, see if I can set the two of you up with something! Can't promise it's gonna be glamorous, though."

"I'm sure it will be fine, Sorata-san. Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Can I get a thanks from sweet cheeks over there too?"

"Sweet Cheeks?!" Kamui shrieked. Sorata looked scared for his life. Arashi looked rather pleased.

…

The job that Sorata finds for them is hardly enough to make the house payments, but is (Subaru thinks) helpful nonetheless. Even better, the job was at the Public Library! Besides being quiet, and relatively straight-forward, there were little opportunities for suspicion about the twin's origins due to the librarian being a friend of Sorata-san's.

"Um, Karen-san?"

"What is it, dear?" Karen turned to look at him, cocking her head so that her strawberry red hair spilled onto her shoulder. Karen had been unbelievably kind to him and Kamui-kun. She reminded Subaru of, well, not his Mother per se, but a Mother. She was all smiles and softness and wisdom, even to the many people that came to the library and scowled when they talked to her.

Subaru had asked her about it once, mentioning it to Sorata- san.

"Ah, Karen-san? She's had it rough for a long time. She had to make ends meet somehow, not too long ago, and people still kinda hold it against her."

"I don't understand."

"She was a prostitute. You know, they -."

"I know!" A rather embarrassed Subaru hissed. "I know what that is!" And it makes him sad because in his home world, no one scowled at the prostitutes like they were doing something lesser. Or maybe they did – the only prostitutes he knew were high ranking courtesans that did their business in and around the castle.

"Subaru-kun?" She repeats, giving him a glancing smile.

"Oh! Uh, the, computer is doing something bizarre. I think I might have done something wrong?"

Subaru and Kamui's introduction to computers had been rather eventful. Sorata had shown them the machine in their house, left unplugged and untouched for the first half of their stay.

"You guys are gonna love this!" Sorata-san had promised. He plugged the machine in, "Just like a toaster!" (Subaru and Kamui shared a confused glance). But then Kamui saw the keyboard.

"A keypad." He said. "I know how to use that."

"Do you?" Sorata-san had asked bemusedly. He made the computer make some sounds and colors, and then got up from his seat. He held out a hand for Kamui. "Show me!"

Kamui sat, ignoring Sorata-san's snarky "my lady~!" as he pushed in the chair for him.

He let his fingers hover over the keyboard.

"What do I type?" he asked, a little stricken, "what does this computer need me to tell it?"

"Oh, it's just a blank document." Kamui showed no signs of recognition. "How about you type…all the words you know that begin with b?"

And Kamui did. Subaru and Sorata sat transfixed as the page filled with words in under thirty seconds, and then a second page, and a third. Kamui typed inhumanely fast, enhanced by his vampiric powers assuredly, but also executed with practiced ease.

Kamui stopped and looked up when Sorata and Subaru remained silent. "What?" He said self-consciously.

"You type very fast, princess…"

"It's Kamui. And I'm not all that fast, this was just how we wrote in my…well…yeah."

So Kamui got to do the computer work when they were at the library together. Besides the typing though, he was just as lost as Subaru – it seemed the rest of the interface was as foreign to him as handwriting was.

"Oh, that! It's nothing to worry about, sweetheart!" Karen cooed next to him. Unfortunately, today was Kamui's day off, so he was stuck with the computer. She pointed to the little grey box on the computer, "You just have to click this, and this…"

Karen was patient in her explanations, and kind in a way that made him feel centuries younger.

It the midst of her explanation, just as she put a gentle hand on his shoulder, a searing jolt of pain tore into Subaru's mind. His rather substantial mental defenses were washed away in a wave of burning panic, and it took a moment of grimaced collection before Subaru could identify Kamui's trace.

Subaru was rawly exposed to waves of Kamui's emotions and memories, all jumbled into one and projected to him from miles away. Most distinctly was the low and heavy blanket of fear, souring the taste in his mouth and pounding, pounding beneath his eyes.

A hulking structure looms, vaguely humanoid, but too solid and skeletal

Subaru grasps his head and grimaces. Karen backs away and asks quietly, "Are you alright?" but Subaru does not hear her, too lost in sorting through memory, vision and reality.

silhouetted by the rusty afternoon sun, a hazy glow outlining a mass of metal and wires

Beneath the iron blanket of fear, Subaru detects a wild hopelessness from Kamui, as if the appearance of the monster has broken a fragile hope.

Two glowing eyes, the same color as the distressed blood-orange of the sky

So warm but so cold. No thought. Only mindless action.

"I'm sorry, Karen." Subaru manages to grit out. "I have to leave immediately. Kamui-kun is in trouble."

Subaru dashes out into the sweltering freeze of the red gold afternoon. Kamui most certainly is in trouble.

The cat-eater has arrived.