by Lara Yokoshima

Chapter 8. Because I like you

Evania gave a small sip to the onion soup that had been set before him. Its delicate sweet flavor began to awake his appetite; he gave a bite to the piece of bread at the side of the bowl. In the extensive personal table in which he always ate, there was veal stew and some assorted cooked vegetables. A glass of milk rested to his left side; every dish was displayed in a harmonious way over the crystal surface of the table.

The Pure Bastit never could eat his meals with the other servants. He was too much refined for eating with other low category Bastit, but not enough as to have company to talk with. Evania was truly bored; the only company that he had was a flowerpot placed on the center of the elegant table.

The young Bastit sighed, stirring the soup with the silver spoon in his hand, striking suddenly the edge of the bowl with it, producing a light metallic sound. Suddenly he was no longer hungry. His body began to feel again the loneliness he always fought down each day. His mind then thought of that intrepid Sekmit, the first and only one that had trespassed successfully through Evania's window to steal in the luxurious mansion. A small smile formed over the pink lips of Evania, recalling the last conversation the Sekmit and the Bastit had some weeks ago. Seemed his interest for Isha began to become obvious, but the white feline shook that line of thoughts away, trying not to accept what he felt in that moment. Even so, his blushing cheeks expressed what his subconscious could not hide.

He decided to forget this, and continue eating the nutritious food. In spite of the fact that Evania was a sexual slave, it was a requirement that every Bastit owner had to feed to their mascots properly, following one of the few laws on which the Quimaera with registration enjoyed. Ironically, the Quimaera did not know most of their rights.

Strange world we live in , the thought crossed his mind like a lightning, while he kept eating. He had raised the spoon for a new bite, when suddenly Evania heard a small pock on the window. He looks up, observing it meticulously. Nothing.

With lots of curiosity, the pure feline stood up to have a better look when another knocking sound was heard again, produced by a small stone hurled at the window. Evania approached quickly, peeking timidly by the window. He could recognize a face, smiling and greeting at him from the branches of the tree in front of his room.

Isha?!, he immediately remembered the name upon recognizing the smiling Sekmit sitting outside his window. Suddenly excited, Evania opened the window, and leaned on the edge with both hands.

"Hi!" Isha said from his spot on the branch, he sounded like a happy, anxious kitten ready to start playing.

"I-Isha! What are you doing here?", Evania answered whispering just loud enough so Isha could hear him.

"Oh... not happy to see me?".

"N-no! I mean, yes! I mean…", The Bastit stammered, looking around nervously trying to answer coherently, while the Sekmit approached to the window. Actually, Evania was happy to see him again, but his pride did not allow him to admit it.

"May I come in?", the dark-haired cat asked quietly.

Evania blinked, for a moment he was found thinking about his impolite attitude. "Um... sure", he said after a while, stepping to the side to allow the Sekmit to enter his room. Isha jumped with ease the short distance, and immediately he was on the fine gray marble floor. The young Bastit closed the window, turning to see Isha again.

"Hmm! What smells so good?", the Sekmit of dark, long hair said while raising his nose to ventilate the room and smell the delicious fragrance of a good meal. Sniffing a little and approaching the table, he looked at all the food delicacies, beginning to drool and lick his lips with hungry eyes.

"Isha..."

The Sekmit turned to see Evania, with an almost lustful look. Evania stood petrified, waiting for an answer. "You mind if I try?", Isha said smiling while pointing the plates with his finger.

"Er... do as you want, the truth is I am not hungry", Evania replied, feeling his heart appeasing little by little after the commotion. Isha immediately sat down in the chair, and I took the bowl with both hands closing it to his mouth, making a noisy slurp. The fine Bastit was shocked, he opened his eyes full of surprise, and then he approached the other man and stopped him. Isha licked his lips, producing a disapproving sound to Evania's action.

"What?"

"No! Not that way!", Evania took a clean spoon, giving it to the Sekmit. Isha stared at it seriously, deliberately inspecting the spoon. The young Bastit did not expect Isha to place the spoon inside one of his pockets and continued slurping the soup from the bowl.

"Pretty silverware that you have here, my dear Evania", he said with a sarcastic tone, obviously paying omitted attention to his pretended lack of table manners. Isha perfectly knew the proper way of eating, thanks to his mother, but he preferred to irritate the fussy cat before him. Evania in return, growled a little unable to hide his annoyance, and sat down on the bed near the table where the Sekmit was. Although that comment had not caused Evania any amusement, it was good to have someone with whom to talk to for a change. Since when this Sekmit had this much confidence?

While Isha continued eating, now with some more proper manners, the young Bastit could not stop watching him. Isha was making sounds of delight each time he swallowed a bite, smiling to Evania at times before gulping down more food. It was truly... adorable the way that Sekmit enjoyed the food, almost with a hint of sensuality. The cheeks of the Bastit began to blush, feeling an inexplicable heat by watching how the other cat licked his fingers clean from the delicious food juices. Isha realized this, and looked at Evania a bit concerned.

"You feel well? You are all red", Isha said with a little smile.

Evania shook his head a little denying the question.

Eh? No, I am fine", he said avoiding Isha's eyes, looking down at the veined marble floor. Seems this boy is feeling attracted to me, Isha thought maliciously, he chuckled inwardly and continued eating in silence. Bingo.

"So... did you find Irvin Mason?"

Isha finished the last bite of food when the youth pronounced this question. Isha was completely surprised, since he thought that the Bastit didn’t have the slightest interest about the Mason issue at that time. He stared at Evania closely, the other feline also fixing his golden eyes into the emerald ones of Isha. The Sekmit rose from the table, taking a napkin and cleaning his hands and mouth while sitting down at Evania's side, like they did the first time. But this time, a little bit closer.

"Well... we haven’t had much success, but I believe that we are getting closer…", replied Isha staring down at the empty space before him with worrisome eyes. "We have several contacts in the city, and the most reliable information says that Mason is now a retired Physician. We do not know his age, neither his location, ugh, it's so exasperating!" Isha turned his eyes to Evania trying to forget for a moment what he said; he just smiled with those lips that made him look so attractive. The young feline smiled too, but immediately cleared his throat and rose from the bed, walking a bit nervously toward the window but without losing his demeanor. Why am I acting in this way? It was something that even Evania could not understand. He wanted to ask the striped feline why he continued visiting him, knowing that Evania could not provide any help. He looked at Isha, who was sitting on the fluffy bed.

"Why...?", Evania began the question. "Why do you keep coming if you know I am not of any help?"

Isha rose from the bed, and approached Evania, this time their bodies just barely inches apart, while the Sekmit stared down at the confused youth. "Because, I like you...", Isha replied with a smooth voice, smiling slightly.

Evania seemed to stop breathing; his cheeks began to burn upon feeling the heat from Isha's body, his warm breath caressing his skin, their lips almost touching. It was like a dream, of which Evania did not want to awake. But he should do it now. Evania quickly separated from the other cat, breathing heavily as if someone had given him a good scare. He was really frightened after Isha’s unexpected move.

"Evania?", Isha began closing the distance, but stopped almost immediately. It was not a good idea to hasten it with the young feline, especially if this was barely his third visit. Better take things slow, even if I have must come see him every night a thousand times, the Sekmit thought positively, who had already started to feel sympathy for the Pure Bastit. "Sorry... I shouldn't have..."

"No, don't worry", Evania said softly, smiling shyly. His angelic expression was everything that Isha needed to see to be convinced that all was ok. He smiled too, turning his body towards the window.

"Well... I have to go, otherwise, my comrades will get suspicious, ha ha", Isha joked. He stepped aside while Evania withdrew from the window. "Oh! Almost forgot!"

Isha rummaged inside the pocket of his jacket, bringing out a very simple yo-yo, made of white wood and a dark cord. He threw it to Evania, who caught it with both hands, looking surprised at the Sekmit.

"I know it doesn't look very fancy or anything, but at least it will help you not to get bored for a while…" Isha said, hiding his hands inside the pockets of its black pants to see the reaction of the Bastit. "I made it myself", he said smiling.

Evania was very surprised; a mixture of confusion, happiness and shock began to invade his heart. He looked at Isha, wanting to say so many things, but he remained silent and replied with only one word. "Thanks."

The long-haired Sekmit smiled notoriously pleased, and climbed to the window frame that he had opened previously. Isha said good-bye in a militar fashion way and immediately leapt outside, disappearing among the branches of the tree to proceed with the same path and jump the high protective wall that surrounded the mansion.

The Pure Bastit remained static, his eyes looking at the window, almost overwhelmed. He looked at the yo-yo in his hands. It was very simple, as the other man said, but that did not matter. A smile formed in his lips without Evania even noticing, and caressed the yo-yo between his hands, feeling its smooth texture and slight roughed bumps. Although Evania did not know what a yo-yo was, neither how to use it, he felt really grateful that there was a person in this world besides Fiore, that was really interested in him, and not only in his value and perfection as if he were an object.

Evania was so absorbed thinking about it, when suddenly the door of his room was knocked and the Bastit jumped startled. Evania sighed, later responding to whoever had knocked the door that they may enter. The door opened; a pair of dark green eyes stared shyly at him. "It's me, Evania-chan."

"Fiore?", the youth turned to watch the Bastit girl, that was already inside and closing the door behind her.

"I came to pick up your tray... oh, good! You ate it all!", said the girl with wide eyes full of excitement. "Very good, Evania! The master was worrying that you were not eating enough."

"As if he cared." Evania said shrugging, returning his attention to his new toy. Fiore saw the little yo-yo in the hands of Evania; like a curious kitten she approached him, closely admiring the wooden object.

"What’s that? Where did you take it from?", the Bastit girl asked while still watching the small object.

"Is a gift", Evania answered smiling.

"A gift..?"

"Yes", the youth affirmed.

"But... I don't believe the master had given that to you, is not typical of him", insinuated Fiore, who was now very interested. "Who gave it you?"

Evania smiled again, half-closing his beautiful golden eyes. A warm silence surrounded him gently, while he recalled how Isha had handed him that simple 'yo-yo', and how his look and smile of satisfaction had made Evania feel so much better in a very long time. Fiore still waited for an answer of the Pure Bastit, to which the magnificent feline simply answered with a soft smile:

"A friend."