That which slips through the cracks

Keyon sighed he was behind in his work but it would have to become that much more late, he nodded. "I'll stay here." he said softly. It was the worst to be hurting and be alone Cecilia even in the beginning was there with him.

He looked over as she entered and bowed. "Endgame Checkmate." She said bowing and he nodded. Then straightened. "Dinner is still scheduled to be served at six oclock, currently in the dinning hall would you like that moved here?"

Keyon looked down at Shuen and then at her. "Yes."

"Very well young master, dinner will be moved here, the Estate has been cleaned and I will tend to current affairs." She said softly and turned to leave attempting to not disturb Shuen.

Shuen stirred only a little and mumbled lowly as he was drifting off into sleep, "Thanks...."

It was the best that he could manage. For him to hate her, that was the most that he could manage. Despite that, the small 'thanks' was a huge step for Shuen when it came to him and Cecilia.

Keyon looked down and smiled as Shuen said thank you to her, he without thinking leaned down and placed a 'thank you' of his own ontop of Shuen's head.

Cecilia smiled. "You're welcome." She said softly as she nodded and then turned to leave the room and let them be while she worked on perparing dinner.

Shuen let out a content huff, well...what was meant to be a huff. With his broken ribs, he had to be careful how hard he breathed and how much he moved, so it came out more of a sigh.

As he grew more comfortable, he finally drifted off into a deep sleep. One that would most likely last for a few days. He hadn't slept since the night before he left the estate.

Cecilia came in and brought dinner a while later waiting quietly to the side handing him paperwork to sign off on and he did, she left to file and send it off and turn down the estate for the night and returned later with a change of clothes for Keyon helping him change before covering him and sending him off to bed. It went like that for a few days.

When Shuen finally woke up, it was three days after he had been placed in the bed and his wounds tended to. He, without realizing it, had ran so much that he had given himself a small fever and had been too sick to get up or even desire to wake up. He had been completely, utterly exhausted.

At first, he didn't stir or open his eyes, he just rested there. But eventually, he got restless and had to move. He sat up, opening his eyes to look around the room. When he did a short sweep of the room, his eyes instantly came to fall on Keyon who was on the bed beside him sitting up at a rolling bed-side desk.

"Mmm...hi..." he said lowly, his voice garbled with sleep and he yawned and stretched. Finding that it was no longer painful for him to move around, he sat up fully to look at Keyon and felt his tail thump gently on the bed.

"How...long did I sleep?"

Keyon paused in the papers he was reading and looked back at Shuen. "Three days...." he said lightly. "You had a fever and for a bit I feared that even a demon could die from such injuries......." he sighed although he wasn't sure how Shuen would take it. "Cecilia tended to you, while you had the fever coming and giving you something she called Moondrop Tea. It seemed to help you." he said looking at him and then shifted a bit to fully take him in. "Your wounds closed up completely sometime yesterday afternoon, your fever broke last night and Cecilia changed out your bandages one last time on any that were still weeping a bit."

Keyon took a deep breath not sure if that would put him in a bad mood that Cecilia had been touching him while he slept but Keyon didn't have the strength no or even knowledge on how to treat such injuries or tend to anyone with a fever he had to leave it to Cecilia and she had been so painstakingly gentle with Shuen so as to not aggrivate any of his injuries while healed.

Keyon knew she was somewhere in the Estate tending to things at the moment. But he had stayed here until Shuen recovered keeping his word that he would be. Thankfully nothing the Queen needed done had arrived during this time or else he wasn't sure how he'd handle it....no he would he'd play the game from here and tell Cecilia simply find the culprit and place them in Checkmate report back to him when the endgame checkmate took place. It wasn't the way he usually handled things prefering to be there and find out the truth himself but Shuen had not wanted to be alone so other then getting up to go to the bathroom he had not left his side.

Shuen sighed and rested his head in Keyon's lap. "Mmm...my body is so stiff....I need to get up and go exercise a little..." he said lowly before he looked back up to Keyon, raising his head to look at him face to face.

"You should come with me," he suggested enthusiastically, his tail thumping the bed gently.

It wasn't often that he let anyone see him use his body's abilities, but Keyon was special. Besides...Keyon needed some exercise too.

Keyon looked at the pile of paperwork he was still going through and wanted to say no but sighed he'd simply have to catch it up in a bit and nodded. "Alright." he said a bit surprised that Shuen wasn't in a bad mood because Cecilia had been touching him while slept, but also glad he was in such high spirits and nodded. "I'll come." he said lightly as he got up gently pushing the great big wolf head off of his lap.

Shuen stood up on the bed and shook off his fur and stretched his legs, taking careful notice of how his hind leg that had been shot moved before he jumped down off the bed and padded along in front of Keyon, his claws clicking gently against the floors as he walked.

When they reached the large open front yard of the estate, he smirked and looked back at Keyon. "It isn't often that humans get to watch me...none of the ones who have actually saw me use my body's powers have survived...of course...they were all men and women who tried to kill me first..." he said lowly before he turned back to look at a large statue of a weeping woman and smirked before he crouched and jumped, landing perfectly on the top of the woman's head.

He looked down at Keyon from where he stood before he turned back to let out a long howl.

Keyon shook his head smiling, While Shuen slept the clothes had been made for the ball tomorrow, He smiled as he said that. "Yes well I'm not trying to kill you." he mused shaking his head and then watched him let out a long baying howl to the sky.

Cecilia paused before a window linens in her arms and smiled shaking her head. Seemed like Shuen was back up on his feet and would be back to being pissed at her on a normal basis. She turned and walked through the halls to put the fresh clean linens away before she'd go through and clean each room.

When he had finished, he looked back down at Keyon and jumped down. "That depends on which context you use....you're not actually trying to kill me...but you are killing me in a different sense..." he said lowly and shifted back into his human form. His clothes weren't dirty anymore, but they were still torn from the attacks. Despite that, Shuen didn't care. He was comfortable in goth garb, so the more rips and tears the better.

"After all...you did put me in the same house with Cecilia and I haven't had sex in nearly two months...you're not killing me physically...but you damn sure are killing me mentally," he said lowly. It was a joke, but it had come out a bit harsh sounding. Shuen quickly regretted his words and fell silent, letting his gaze fall to the ground.

"Ah...sorry...I'm not very good with words...."

Keyon closed his eyes at those words. "I'm....sorry." he said lowly for what he wasn't sure. Although Shuen hated her Cecilia had been nothing but kind to him was that why he hated her? Then there was the no sex thing......he didn't....know if he could even venture that way and not half have a heart attack.

He looked up and smiled a bit warily at the comment about not being good with words. "It's alright.....I believe we came out here so you could get some excercise?"

Shuen nodded but didn't look back up at Keyon. He had managed to say something hurtful again. "Yeah..." he said lowly, his voice sounding as if he were distant from everything once again.

Since this is what he had came out here for, he would do it. But now he was doing it for more than just the fun of it. Now he needed to think, to empty out his heart and take out his frustration on whatever he could find.

And with that in mind, he sighed and went into his coat pockets and pulled out gloves, but not just any gloves. These gloves were his signature weapon and had blades on the ends of each finger, including the thumb. He put them on, keeping his eyes focused on what he was doing and not on Keyon. He wasn't going to look at him until he was done. He was too afraid that he would take his frustrations out on Keyon.

Once he had put them both on, he took a deep breath and in the same motion, he just seemed to vanish. When he reappeared, he was standing in the same exact spot. It was as if he had never moved at all. But when he opened his eyes again and exhaled, a giant stone pillar was falling, having been sliced in half by Shuen's 'claws'.

Keyon watched him quietly as he said that and then put on the bladed gloves, he didn't say anything just watched queitly. Not sure of what to make of it, and then blinked when he seemed to vanish and reappear before one of the large stone pillars in the garden fell apart. He tipped his head watching it falling in half cut cleanly and shook his head. "I never did like that one there." he said calmly as if it was no big deal and it wasn't it was an item it could be replaced.

He looked over at Shuen as he seemed to need to vent some frustraintions and didn't know what to say he had already said it. To be stuck in the same house with the woman he hated, probably the idea that she had been the one tending to his wounds irritated him and then there was as he said his sudden celibacy it could not be a good time for him but Keyon didn't know what to do for him to force himself to give in to the most primal of wants, he'd be miserable and in tears the entire time while he wasn't sure if Shuen would enjoy it. Even after all of this time with him he still didn't feel ready prehaps because they kept doing this. Kept aggrivating each other to the point Keyon felt like he was wrong on soo many levels and Shuen felt the need to break something.

((Occ; Sorry site wasn't wanting to post for me and I wasn't feeling good the past couple of days. Hope to catch you on. ))

He heard what Keyon had said, but quickly brushed off any emotion that he had felt. This was why he hadn't wanted to stay. Shuen got frustrated way too easy when it came to things like sex and being put in the same place with people he didn't like. Shuen had too bad of a temper to last for very much longer in this house. It was only a matter of time before he lost control of himself.

Sighing, he lengthened the blades until they touched the ground with a metallic clinking. He glanced down at them only for a moment before he began to walk, his step quickly changing from that of a walk to a quick paced jog, to a sprint, and then a full on run. The entire time he ran, he never once took the blades off the ground. Instead, he let them drag the ground, sparks flying as he moved at inhuman speed.

When he reached the speed that he wanted, he drug the claws outward, in front of him and stopped, watching as a shock wave formed and spread out in front of him, taking up the cobble stones as it went along, and forcing the earth up into claw marks along it's path.

When the wave stopped, he stood up completely and let the claws retract. He wasn't ready to stop just yet, but he felt calm enough to finally turn to face Keyon. Once he had gathered himself enough, he turned and looked back at Keyon and began the long walk back to him, his stride slow and steady. "You....should go back now...it's going to get too cold out here for you soon..." he said lowly as he walked back and came to a stop a few feet away from Keyon.

Keyon looked at him and drew in a deep breath, shaking his head as he watched Shuen before turning and nodding at his words. He should go in now, Shoving one hand in his pocket he turned walking towards the mansion he just got over being sick not that long ago and was in no hurry for a repeat. And Shuen looked to be in some sort of foul mood. It would seem things would not work out the way that he had hoped they would. In the end he could not keep both of them close as selfish as he wanted to be. Shuen would never handle it so prehaps it was best to stand back and let him be, let him do what he needed to do.

Keyon walked into the mansion and towards his study passing Cecilia along the way who was quiet although she was looking at her watch no doubt to keep on schedule and then paused looking back at him.

"Young master this arrived for you this not long ago." she said although he had been resting at the time so she didn't disturb him she never did.

Keyon nodded and took the letter the envelope opened so that he could pull it out not that it would matter if she read it he didn't care. He read the letter and sighed. "It would seem my going to the ball tomorrow will serve a duel purpose.....I'm going to need to work with the Earl of Phantomhive on this one....and Cecilia if Shuen leaves this time.....remind me to let him go. It's his choice." he said as he walked off and she bowed.

"Yes My Lord." Cecilia said hand over her chest she had preperations to make for tomorrow as well now, and turned her heels clicking against the marble floor as she walked to take care of the matters at hand.

He sighed as he watched Keyon walk away. He felt so much like the bad guy in all of this, but the fact still remained that he just wasn't a very social being. He couldn't force himself to be around Cecilia more than was possible so him forming a relationship with her was nearly impossible. Even so....

He felt himself let out a keening whine before he turned back around and took his gloves off and putting them safely back into his gloves. "Guess I am a bad guy after all..." he said lowly to himself as he walked over to the stone pillar that he had cut in two and picked the two halves up and took them to the ocean and tossed them into it, making sure that they didn't land in any shallow water.

When he returned back to the estate, he placed a new pillar, and cleaned up the yard. Once he was done, and he looked up, it was dark and it had started snowing. He had unintentionally let it start snowing as his pain and sadness got the best of him.

Cecilia walked out and into the garden moving past Shuen without saying a word as she knelt down and tended to the winter roses making sure no weeds were around them to strangle the roots she had done everything else she needed to do and at the moment, that was fine with her. Although she half glanced back at Shuen as he replaced the pillar before standing having finished the task quickly and intending on returning to the indoors to finish dinner.

"I suppose it's reassuring to know, that you can't teach a old dog new tricks." she said on her way inside. "That you will never become a threat to my place beside him." Cecilia looked at him. "You're free to go if you like, if you do I'll inform the Young Master that you've left, and make preprations for tomorrow of course.....not to mention clean the mansion of the smell of wet dog." she said cattily. Of course she was a cat demon and he was a wolf part of there problem she knew was simply gentics.

Shuen snorted at her words. "Just what the hell made you believe that I was going to leave?" he asked coolly as he looked at her and narrowed his eyes. "I made a fucking promise to him...I'm not someone who will just go against everything that I've said and done. I'm bad at speaking, but I'm not bad at showing how I feel," he said in anger.

"I've worked hard to become someone he will like, someone he will learn to trust. I'm not going back on my promise....not now...I've worked too hard....too hard to abandon this..." he said lowly, his thoughts quickly saying what he couldn't say out loud. 'I'm not going back to them...to that place of being an outcast who has no meaning in life.'

Cecilia smirked. "Then prove it." she said looking at him and pulling out her pocket watch. "This woo be me dour attitude is not sutiable here or anywhere else. You have been given a place but throw up your heels in refusal to fully accept it." she said turning and looking at him as she snapped the golden watch shut. "And your hatered of me is almost commical other then now and knowing of Each other, we have never actually met each other. So your hate of me is what perhaps nothing more then because I am a Cat and you a dog?"

She shook her head. As she looked at him and then turned to walk inside to make dinner. "But you give the impression that you wish to leave. At least that is the impression you've given the young master and while he doesn't say it it breaks his heart." She looked back at him. "You can't keep bouncing like this when someone or something makes you angry Shuen. It's the young master who suffers the most when you do."

Shuen growled, baring his fangs. "I don't hate you because you're feline and I'm canine. I hate you because you had everything," he said coolly.

"You had everything and everyone while I was the one that they kicked and beat. I was the one that everyone hated. I had no place there and grew from a small child beilving the shit that they fed me...what the hell do you know about my attitude? We've never met? You never even looked at me when I was standing right in front of you! How else would I know so much about you? Why else would I know all of this shit?!" he asked as he felt the tears starting to form and slowly fall.

"You think that I'm this person by choice, but I was made to believe all of my fucking life that I have no place to belong, that I'm this worthless being who can't even fit in with his own kind..."

Cecilia looked over at him as he said that and shook her head. "You don't know if you did, you may consinder yourself the lucky one....and If I never looked in your direction it was because you weren't someone trying to dominate and abuse me." She looked back over her shoulder. "You the great wolf, you the one who if he becomes angered can slice through anything. In comparrison I'm a house cat...."

Cecilia looked at him narrowing her eyes. "I have always been servant to a master. In this case my master is Keyon....have everything? That so called wonderful existance you speak of came with a price, or shall I tell you how many times for his amusement my skin was peeled from my bones and anything else....." She looked at him. "I find your hate interesting and when I say you don't know me that we've never met I say it for good reason. Because you only saw what was allowed to be seen not everything that was done." She turned on her heel and closed her eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me the hour grows late and dinner must be on the table no later then six oclock."

Shuen snorted. "You act like you're the one who's been dealt the shitty hand here. You're the one who answered his call...you're the one who allowed the contract to form....which is it, huh? Do you love him, or do you hate him? No matter what you do, you contradict yourself. You love him, you hate him...make up your damn mind...." he said in a cold tone before he moved, flipping to stand in front of her.

"I don't care about how you got this place, or even that you have it...all I want is for you to stop trying to judge me by my personality...I have a bad personality...it has nothing to do with how I feel about him...it's just how I grew up..." he said and turned, walking into the estate, into the warmth.

"You fool I wasn't talking about Keyon." she said lowly as she closed her eyes. Here now for the last sixteen years it was nothing more then an eye blink, no....she was referring to her life before that. Shaking her head she walked in and past him towards the kitchen. "And don't be so very stupid, If I didn't love him this game would have been over long ago....."

She walked off into the kitchen to leave Shuen alone, at this rate even if Shuen came to accept her she would hate and despise him. And here she was trying to figure out how to accept him for Keyon's sake.