Chapter 70: Treeside

Parc's eyes drifted shut as he breathed in the rich aroma of smoke blended with spices from whatever it was Bols was prepping not to far away from where he and Esdeath were sitting. The latter of which was still out like a light beneath the blanket he'd thrown over her to keep her warm, even if that likely meant little to the woman.

Upon his lap laid the little orange kitten, happily curled into a ball in the crevice his crossed legs formed. Happily purring as his hand stroked down from the top of its head down to its lower back.

Not far away sat Kurome, glaring enviously at the cat that was giving her a look she could only see as a smug 'I win' grin on its fluffy face. If it kept that expression, Kurome would not be blamed if it suddenly found itself somewhere far, far away inside a random beasts belly. No one would have to know, maybe it just ran off in the middle of the day and never returned?

Parc lifted his head to Kurome, eyes flickering open with a small smirk that sent her heart beating a little faster. He could see the jealous look in her eyes. How she wanted him to pamper her and not some measly cat child.

Kurome did her best to keep herself staring into Parc's orbs but found herself barely lasting a few seconds before lowering her head to him, drawing out a small chuckle from him.

'Don't worry, I'll play with you a lot once Esdeath's done.' He seemed to convey to her with a wink. 'Now that I think about it…' Parc tilted his head in Esdeath's direction to see her still knocked out from her orgasmic horse ride, 'come closer, lets talk for a bit.' He may have gotten up himself but that would have drawn too much attention from the other Jaegers.

Kurome didn't even think before she bolted to her feet and walked up to him, stopping just before him while wanting to drop to her knees so she wasn't so much taller than he was. And that is just what she did, dropping to her knees while staring him in the face, keeping her back as straight as possible even though inside she was hunched forward and wagging her butt for him.

Parc glance to Run, Bols and Wave, seeing them all chatting while Bols worked on dinner with Wave's help. "I've been wondering Kurome. Do you still hate your sister?"

Kurome's head tilted, shaking it side to side a second later. "No. My sister is one of masters pets. I won't hate her so long as she isn't masters favourite."

Parc rose a brow, still unused to being called master by Kurome. A snort soon came from him as he shook his head, "Akame not my pet. Currently, she's just a friend."

"Then she should become masters pet." Now that little comment left Parc blank.

"What?" he muttered with parted lips.

"Master is kind. Master should have more pets."

His lips twitched, his cheeks scrunching as he smiled brightly. Head throwing back to let out a hearty laugh. Quickly catching himself when he heard a soft grunt from besides him as Esdeath stirred in her sleep and began to wriggle until she leaned towards the closest form of radiant warmth, that being Parc besides her. Her head soon coming to lay on his shoulder.

Parc's lips swiftly zipped themselves, staring down at Esdeath. If she had woken up and heard Kurome call him master, that would have been very dangerous. 'I'm pushing my luck,' he thought raising a hand to Esdeath's cheek, "sleep deeply." He whispered hoping that the order may get through to her in her current state.

After a few moment of silence where Esdeath didn't move, only letting out soft breaths as she slept he deemed it safe enough to keep talking with Kurome, in whispers of course.

"That's quite generous of you." Had Kurome had a tail, it would have sent her skywards with how much it was wagging from his compliment. "But your own sister? You want her to join you as my dog? You'd have to share then."

Kurome's lips scrunched, Parc was her master so naturally he should be pampering her and her alone. But Parc had a lot of love. More than enough for another girl. "Mnn," Kurome bobbed her head. "Akame would be a nice dog…"

Parc chuckled and shook his head, gently stroking Esdeath's hair that fell onto his lap where the kitten was also messing with it with claws out cutting off strand after strand of the tips of Esdeath's hair. "I either went very wrong with how I treated you to turn you into this, or did something very right," he said. Locking eyes with Kurome, "and how do you suppose we do that then?"

Kurome squinted in thought, eventually saying, "I will make her a puppy."

"Oh, you will, will you? Not going to suggest I chain her up as well?"

"Nnn," she shook her head rapidly, "masters Teigu can only control three people. Using it on Akame would be a waste."

"And using it on you isn't?"

Kurome frowned, reaching a hand to her ankle where the chain mark lingered on her skin, "master can speak to me though his mark. If master wants to remove it, I won't resist. I have masters collar after all." She pulled her hand from her ankle and raised it to her neck, stroking her collar before fiddling with the prong of the buckle earning her a few small trembles from the pleasure it sent coursing through her body. She cared little for the feeling now, just stroking the red leather strap was enough to make her giddy with delight.

"For now, I'm not going to take it off. Being able to give you orders in silence is too useful. Especially while I'm still with the Jaegers" he shut his eyes. "I never asked this. But Stylish, what happened to his body?" he had heard that the Jaegers never found it, and as Kurome had been the one to kill him, that naturally left a single conclusion.

"I've added him to Yatsufusa's collection. I thought he may be useful to master. If master wishes I can release him and feed his body to a danger beast."

"Keep him," he said, "Don't know what I can use him for just yet, but having a guy like that on our side will be useful somewhere." A certain black haired girl appeared in his mind, "Sayo… no, actually… Kurome, Stylish still has all his experiences right," he turned his head to the forest where Seryu had left nearly an hour earlier. "He can make prosthetics then. Could he make one for Sayo…" then his mind fell to Najenda and her bulky and cumbersome arm, "...and Najenda?"

Kurome shrugged, "I don't know. I can try ordering him to make them."

"That'd be great," Parc pinched his chin and thought of what Stylish's dead body would need to make the leg and arm for both Sayo and Najenda respectively. 'He'd probably need to see them and get their measurements first… so I can't have him make them just yet.'

Parc's head tilted down, catching a glimpse of the kitten messing with Esdeath's light blue hair. His eyes falling to squints. It obviously remembered him with how it acted around him. But it was also strange how it hadn't even changed after a month even though it should have grown considerably. Not to mention he'd left it to Leone to take back to the base. But here it was, atop his lap after having seen it on their way out the Capital.

Parc brought both his hands down and lifted the kitten beneath its fore arms and held it in front of him. The kitten not even struggling as its beady black eyes stared into his red ones. "Do you understand what me and Kurome have been saying?" it was an unprompted question, but something told him to ask it either way.

The kitten didn't respond for what felt like an eternity, just staring into Parc's eyes with its own.

"If you can. Do you know where the others are? Leone, Mine, Sheele, Lubbock and Najenda?" It still remained unresponsive, until its head slowly bobbed up and down. "You can? Great." Parc lowered the kitten back onto his lap.

"Kurome, do your puppets have to be close to you, and do you have to be actively controlling them or can you give control to someone else?"

"They can be far away but they are much weaker. And they can follow simple orders from other people." Parc nodded along.

"Then would you be able to give stylish an order to follow this kitten to Night Raid and have him produce some prosthetics for them?"

"Mnn, I can. If master pats me good." Kurome lowered her head, showing off the top of her head to him, ready for a pat.

"Kurome. I'll pat you good, real good later, in private." Parc dropped his gaze back onto the kitten as it stared up inquisitively at him while Kurome cutely puffed her cheeks up that he'd ignore her small request.

"You heard that right?" it nodded again. "Great, Kurome. Take the kitten into the forest, summon Stylish, and send them off… Wait, before you send them off, I want you to write something down for me. I'll send you the order say, ten minutes after I lose sight of you."

Kurome hummed in affirmation of her orders, reaching out to take the kitten off of Parc's lap and into her arms. Rising to her feet not a moment later to begin her short trek into the forest behind the tree Parc was sat against.

On his shoulder, Esdeath was none the wiser to anything they had spoken about.

"Where's Kurome?" by the fire, Wave lifted his head to check on Parc and Kurome only to find Kurome missing.

"Bathroom!" Parc called to him.

Minutes passed by until finally ten had passed where he sent his order to Kurome to have her write down a little letter for Najenda. His thoughts only halted for a second when leaves rustled in the forest not far away from the fire.

There in the shadow of the forest were two silhouettes that were soon brightened by the fires glow. One, the rightmost was the familiar Seryu, her eyes travelling over the group before locking on to Parc who just gave her a cocky grin.

While the left most shadow was one he hadn't been expecting to see.

"Seryu, welcome back." Wave looked up from the pot, "who's that?"

Before his words had even finished the second, male figure had kicked off the ground, rushing towards where Parc and the sleeping Esdeath were situated.

In just seconds, Parc felt a fist impact his cheek, forcing his head to twist to the side.

"That's for captain Ogre."