----
Taking Kayden Break to the vet was, in Jiwoo's opinion, responsible.
Taking Kayden Break to the vet was, in Kayden's opinion, an unforgivable betrayal.
"I told you I am fine."
Jiwoo adjusted his grip on the carrier, looking down through the little door with worried amber eyes. "You were bleeding a lot yesterday."
"I healed."
"Asuka healed you."
"That means I healed."
"That is not how that works," Asuka said softly.
Kayden slowly turned his head toward her.
Asuka walked beside Jiwoo, pale cream hair tucked neatly behind one ear, her school bag resting against her shoulder. The morning light made her hair look almost white, and her sky-blue eyes were calm in that infuriating way Kayden had already begun associating with future headaches.
He narrowed his eyes.
"You betrayed me too."
"I did not."
"You let him put me in this prison."
"It has air holes."
"That is not the point."
Jiwoo smiled nervously. "The vet just needs to make sure you're okay."
"I am not a cat."
"We know."
"You are taking me to a cat doctor."
Jiwoo hesitated. "Technically, an animal doctor."
Kayden's tail lashed inside the carrier.
Asuka glanced at the carrier.
"You did say we needed to avoid suspicion," she said. "Ordinary people take injured cats to veterinarians."
Kayden opened his mouth.
Paused.
Closed it.
His ears flattened.
"That is irrelevant."
"It seems relevant."
"You are enjoying this."
"A little," Asuka admitted.
Jiwoo looked down, trying not to laugh.
Kayden glared through the carrier bars.
"If either of you tells anyone about this, I will erase every electronic device in this apartment."
Jiwoo gasped. "Not my phone."
Asuka looked thoughtful. "That seems excessive."
"It seems merciful."
Despite himself, Kayden had to admit there was one tolerable part of the trip.
Asuka carried him after the appointment.
Jiwoo had insisted he should carry the carrier, but once they left the clinic and Kayden complained loudly enough in their heads that the carrier was undignified, Asuka simply opened it, lifted him out, and settled him in her arms.
Kayden intended to protest.
He truly did.
But Asuka held him properly.
Not like a child squeezing a pet.
Not too tight. Not too loose. One arm beneath his body, the other steadying him against her chest, careful of where the lingering soreness remained under the fur. Her warmth was even. Her steps were smooth. Her presence was quiet enough that even his irritated nerves found nothing to snap at.
Comfortable.
Unfortunately.
Kayden tucked his paws beneath himself and looked away.
Jiwoo glanced over with a smile.
"You look cozy."
"I look imprisoned."
"You're purring."
Kayden froze.
Asuka looked down at him.
Kayden's eyes sharpened murderously.
"I am not."
Jiwoo's smile widened. "You are."
"I am vibrating with rage."
Asuka's mouth curved faintly.
"That is an unusual form of rage."
Kayden hissed under his breath.
"I hate both of you."
Jiwoo laughed.
Asuka's arms did not shift.
Kayden, against every shred of pride he possessed, did not ask to be put down.
They were halfway home when Asuka stopped walking.
Jiwoo noticed immediately.
"Asuka?"
Her gaze had shifted toward a side street.
Kayden, still in her arms, felt it a second later.
Awakened energy.
Unstable.
Animal-shaped.
His eyes narrowed.
"Wait."
Jiwoo followed Asuka's line of sight.
A grey cat with scars across its body stumbled into the alley mouth, its movements weak and strange. Its fur was dirty, one ear torn, body trembling like it had been running for too long. It swayed once, tried to take another step, then collapsed.
Jiwoo moved before Kayden could speak.
"Jiwoo," Kayden snapped.
Too late.
Jiwoo was already gone.
Not fully visible. Not to ordinary eyes.
One second he was beside Asuka.
The next, he had crossed the street in a blur.
Asuka did not panic.
She shifted Kayden slightly against her chest and followed—not with Jiwoo's raw burst of speed, but with something quieter. The space beneath her steps seemed to fold politely, shortening the distance without announcing itself.
Kayden noticed.
Of course he noticed.
His eyes narrowed.
That was not normal movement.
At the far end of the alley, a man in a white coat had already reached for the fallen grey cat.
Dr. Delein.
Kayden recognized the type instantly.
Not by name, not yet, but by presence.
An awakener.
Cold gaze. Controlled movements. No hesitation. The kind of person who did not see an injured creature.
Only a specimen.
Jiwoo reached the cat first.
His hands were gentle even in speed.
He scooped the grey cat into his arms just before Delein's fingers could close around it.
For one sharp second, Delein's eyes widened.
Jiwoo vanished.
Not perfectly.
Not with professional stealth.
But fast enough.
Fast enough that by the time Delein fully reacted, there was only empty air where the boy had been.
Asuka stepped into the edge of the alley a heartbeat later, Kayden still tucked securely in her arms.
She did not look at Delein directly.
Not long enough to be remembered.
Just a glance.
Blue eyes taking in his posture, energy, intent, threat level.
Then she turned and followed Jiwoo.
Kayden's fur bristled.
"What the hell is wrong with your brother?"
Asuka moved faster.
There was laughter in her breath, very soft.
"He saved the cat."
"He grabbed an awakened animal in front of another awakener."
"Yes."
"That is not a good thing."
"It is better than letting that man take it."
Kayden hated that she had a point.
He hated even more that she had said it like the matter was simple.
They caught up with Jiwoo two blocks away, where he ducked behind a building, clutching the unconscious grey cat against his chest.
His breathing was quick but controlled.
Better than Kayden expected.
The force control Asuka had taught him was doing its work. His core was warm from the sudden burst of speed, but not scorched. His legs trembled faintly, yet his circulation was stable.
Kayden felt a flicker of reluctant approval.
Then irritation crushed it.
"You idiot!"
Jiwoo flinched.
Asuka stopped beside him, still calm.
Kayden, from her arms, glared with every ounce of dignity a fat orange cat could possess.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?"
Jiwoo looked down at the grey cat.
"He was going to take him."
"That man was an awakener."
Jiwoo's eyes widened slightly.
Kayden continued, voice sharp. "And not a harmless one. You stepped into something you don't understand, grabbed something valuable from another awakener, and ran. If he had reacted faster, you could have been hurt."
Jiwoo's grip on the cat tightened carefully.
"But he needed help."
Kayden stared at him.
There it was again.
That impossible, reckless, stupid kindness.
No calculation.
No self-preservation.
No thought of reward.
Just a boy seeing something injured and deciding that was enough reason to move.
Kayden opened his mouth to scold him again.
Then stopped.
Because Asuka was looking at Jiwoo too.
Not surprised.
Not disappointed.
Fond.
Proud, even, in her quiet way.
"You moved well," she said.
Jiwoo blinked. "I did?"
"Yes. Your core did not destabilize."
His face brightened immediately. "Really?"
Kayden snapped, "That is not the point."
Asuka looked at him.
"But it is worth noting."
"No, what is worth noting is that he could have died."
Jiwoo's smile faded slightly.
Asuka's expression softened, but her voice remained steady.
"Oppa knows."
Jiwoo looked at Kayden and bowed his head a little.
"I'm sorry for worrying you."
Kayden went rigid.
Worrying you.
As if that was the problem.
As if Kayden had not been furious because of tactical stupidity.
As if he had not been concerned for—
Kayden's tail stiffened.
"I am not worried."
Jiwoo smiled gently.
"Okay."
"You don't believe me."
"Not really."
Kayden's eye twitched.
Asuka chuckled softly.
Kayden twisted in her arms to glare up at her.
"You too?"
"You sound worried."
"I sound annoyed."
"They are similar for you."
Jiwoo looked between them and wisely said nothing.
Kayden muttered under his breath about reckless brats and soft-hearted fools.
But he did not tell Jiwoo to put the grey cat down.
And Asuka noticed that too.
Dr. Delein did not chase them.
Not immediately.
He stood in the alley, staring at the place where the boy had vanished, eyes narrowed behind his glasses.
Fast.
Very fast.
Not ordinary.
And the girl—
He had barely seen her, but he had felt enough.
Not clearly.
That was the strange part.
Her presence had been faint, almost deliberately blurred, as if his senses had slid off her before they could find purchase.
Trackers?
The thought came coldly.
He looked toward the street, but there was nothing.
No lingering trail he could follow. No obvious awakened energy signature. No clear scent of force control.
Someone had concealed it.
Delein's mouth thinned.
If they were trackers, chasing recklessly would be foolish.
He had already lost too many chances by underestimating others.
For now, he withdrew.
But his interest remained.
By the time they returned home, Jiwoo had checked the grey cat at least five times.
"He's breathing."
Kayden groaned from Asuka's arms. "You said that three minutes ago."
"I'm making sure."
"He is still breathing."
"He looks hurt."
"He is hurt."
Jiwoo turned to Asuka. "Can you heal him?"
Asuka knelt beside the table as Jiwoo gently laid the grey cat down.
Her eyes narrowed faintly.
"I can try."
Kayden watched her carefully.
The moment Asuka looked at the grey cat fully, her Six Eyes unfolded the truth.
Energy.
Not just residue.
Not power placed inside from outside.
Energy born within the animal's own body, swirling strangely through a core that should not have existed.
Asuka's expression shifted.
Only slightly.
Kayden caught it.
"What?"
She lifted her gaze from the grey cat.
"Animals should not have awakened power."
Kayden's eyes sharpened.
"So you noticed."
Jiwoo froze. "What do you mean?"
Kayden jumped down from Asuka's arms onto the table, ignoring the fact that he immediately missed the warmth.
He moved closer to the grey cat, sensing its energy.
His gaze darkened.
"She's right. This thing has awakened energy. Its own."
Jiwoo looked horrified. "Is that bad?"
"It's abnormal."
Asuka placed two fingers lightly near the grey cat's side without touching yet.
"The flow is unstable," she murmured. "Not natural. Something interfered with it."
Kayden looked at her.
Again, that precision.
She did not know the awakened world's terminology, but she could read energy like a master dissecting a map.
Jiwoo knelt beside them, worried.
"Can we help him?"
Kayden was about to answer when the grey cat's eyes snapped open.
The room exploded into motion.
A burst of awakened energy flared from the animal's body, wild and frightened.
The grey cat launched at Jiwoo's face.
"Jiwoo!" Kayden snapped.
But Jiwoo moved.
Not perfectly.
Not calmly.
But fast.
His body blurred backward, the attack cutting through the air where his cheek had been a split second earlier. He twisted, stumbled, caught himself against the floor, eyes wide.
The grey cat landed on the table, hissed violently, and bolted.
Straight out the open window.
Jiwoo did not hesitate.
"I'll get him!"
Kayden bristled. "You will not!"
Jiwoo was already halfway to the window.
Asuka rose smoothly, scooping Kayden back into her arms before he could protest.
Kayden twisted. "Why am I being carried again?"
"Because you are injured."
"I am not—"
"You were at the vet this morning."
"That was against my will!"
Jiwoo leapt through the window.
Kayden stared.
Then slowly turned his head toward Asuka.
"Your brother just jumped out of a window."
Asuka walked after him calmly.
"It is the first floor."
"That is not the point!"
They followed.
Jiwoo was already in the narrow alley behind the building, tracking the grey cat's frantic movements as it darted across the wall, awakened energy spiraling around it like a storm too large for its small body.
Asuka's eyes sharpened.
The energy was wrong.
Too turbulent.
Too painful.
The animal was not attacking out of malice.
It was terrified.
"It cannot control it," she said softly.
Kayden felt it too.
Wild awakened energy, spilling outward in jagged pulses. Enough to hurt Jiwoo if he approached carelessly. Enough to injure the cat further if left alone.
Jiwoo stepped forward.
Kayden snapped, "Stop."
Jiwoo froze.
For once, he listened immediately.
Kayden looked up at him from Asuka's arms, expression serious.
"You can't just grab it. That energy will tear into you if you get too close."
Jiwoo's hands curled. "Then what do I do?"
Kayden studied him.
Speed, but no attack power.
That had been obvious from the beginning.
Jiwoo could move fast. Faster than he should. Faster than his current level deserved, thanks to Asuka's strange force control and the trace of time woven into his core.
But speed alone was not enough.
Not in the awakened world.
If Jiwoo wanted to keep saving things, he needed a way to stop them without breaking himself.
Kayden clicked his tongue.
"Come here."
Jiwoo blinked. "What?"
"Do you want to help it or not?"
Jiwoo rushed over.
Asuka lowered Kayden enough for him to reach Jiwoo.
Kayden lifted one paw and pressed it against Jiwoo's wrist.
Jiwoo looked confused for half a second.
Then his eyes widened.
Electricity entered his core.
Not violently.
Not the full force of Kayden Break's power, because even weakened, that would have been enough to ruin him.
Just a thread.
A spark.
Force control carrying electricity through Jiwoo's pathways, showing him how to wrap it around movement, how to let it gather in his fist, how to strike without killing.
Jiwoo inhaled sharply.
Asuka's gaze fixed on the transfer.
Her Six Eyes tracked every shift, every flicker, every branching line of energy as Kayden's electricity entered Jiwoo's system.
Her own power stirred subtly, ready to intervene if anything went wrong.
Kayden noticed.
Of course he did.
"Don't interfere," he muttered.
"I will if you hurt him."
"I won't."
There was a beat.
Then Asuka nodded.
Trust, but not blind.
Kayden approved despite himself.
Jiwoo's energy responded.
Quickly.
Too quickly.
Kayden's eyes widened slightly.
The boy did not just accept the spark. He understood it. His core adjusted, his force control catching the rhythm almost immediately. Electricity curled around his hand in faint blue-white threads.
Jiwoo stared at it in awe.
"Wow."
Kayden stared at him.
"Don't just stand there admiring it."
"Right!"
"You only need one clean hit. Not too much power. You're stopping it, not frying it."
Jiwoo nodded, expression serious now.
"Okay."
Then he looked at Kayden.
"Thank you."
Kayden growled. "Go."
Jiwoo moved.
Fast.
Faster than before.
Asuka watched him cross the distance, and for a moment, something old and familiar stirred in her chest.
A boy moving toward danger because he could not bear to leave someone suffering.
A brother who cared too much.
A future shifting beneath his feet.
The grey cat hissed, awakened energy lashing outward.
Jiwoo slid under the first burst, twisted around the second, and appeared at its side.
His fist pulled back.
Gentle.
Controlled.
Electricity wrapped around his knuckles.
"I'm sorry," Jiwoo said softly.
Then he struck.
Not hard.
Not cruel.
A clean hit touched with Kayden's electricity landed against the grey cat's side.
The wild energy flickered.
The cat's body stiffened once, then went limp.
Jiwoo caught it before it hit the ground.
Of course he did.
He cradled it carefully against his chest, checking its breathing with immediate worry.
"He's okay," Jiwoo said, relieved. "He's just unconscious."
Kayden stared.
Asuka's eyes softened.
Jiwoo looked back at them, smiling.
"I did it."
Kayden's expression twisted between irritation and reluctant approval.
"You almost messed up the output at the end."
Jiwoo deflated slightly. "Oh."
"But you adjusted fast."
Jiwoo looked up again.
Kayden looked away.
"For a beginner."
Jiwoo smiled anyway.
Asuka approached and gently touched Jiwoo's wrist.
The leftover electricity still hummed there, bright and foreign in his pathways. She guided the excess back toward his core, smoothing the strain before it could ache.
"You did well, oppa."
Jiwoo's smile turned warm.
"Thanks, Asuka."
Kayden watched them both.
The way Jiwoo accepted correction without pride.
The way Asuka stabilized him without needing to be asked.
The way their energies, despite being different, moved around one another with the ease of years of trust.
Unusual.
No.
That was not enough.
Everything about them was unusual.
Jiwoo was a natural speed awakener with ridiculous reaction speed, terrifying adaptability, and the sort of reckless kindness that made him impossible to ignore.
Asuka was a fifteen-year-old girl with force control that should not exist, eyes that saw too much, healing that reversed injury, a barrier that was not a barrier, attraction and repulsion that Kayden was increasingly sure were far more dangerous than she admitted, and time manipulation, which should have been impossible.
And somehow, they were standing in an alley worrying over a stray cat.
Kayden closed his eyes.
He was getting a headache.
"You are both idiots," he said.
Jiwoo blinked. "Both of us?"
"Yes. Both of you."
Asuka looked down at him. "I did not jump through the window."
"You enabled him."
"I followed him."
"That is enabling."
Jiwoo hugged the unconscious grey cat closer. "But we saved him."
Kayden opened his eyes and glared.
"You keep saying that like it cancels out the stupidity."
Jiwoo smiled sheepishly. "Doesn't it?"
"No."
Asuka said quietly, "A little."
Kayden's head snapped toward her.
She looked innocent.
Too innocent.
He pointed a paw at her. "You are worse than him."
Jiwoo gasped softly. "Asuka?"
Kayden scowled. "At least he looks reckless. You act calm while doing reckless things. That is worse."
Asuka considered this.
Then nodded.
"That is fair."
"Don't agree with me like that!"
Jiwoo laughed.
The sound filled the alley, light and relieved.
Kayden stared at him.
Then at the unconscious cat in his arms.
Then at Asuka, who stood beside Jiwoo with Kayden still held comfortably against her, her gaze already scanning the street for threats while her expression remained peaceful.
Ridiculous.
Reckless.
Kind.
Dangerous.
Kayden sighed heavily.
"Take the cat home before someone sees us."
Jiwoo brightened. "So we can keep him?"
"I did not say that."
"But he needs help."
"I said take him home. Temporarily."
Jiwoo nodded eagerly. "Temporarily."
Asuka looked down at Kayden.
"You are going to lose this argument."
Kayden glared.
"I know."
Jiwoo started walking back toward the apartment with the grey cat carefully tucked against him.
Asuka followed, Kayden in her arms.
Kayden, despite himself, settled more comfortably against her.
Not because he liked being carried.
Not because her arms were steady and warm.
Not because the gentle rhythm of her steps was soothing after the chaos.
Absolutely not.
He was simply conserving energy.
That was all.
As they climbed back through the apartment window because Jiwoo, in his panic, had forgotten the door existed, Kayden began lecturing again.
"At least use the door next time. And don't run blindly after awakened animals. And don't grab things from suspicious awakeners. And don't accept strange power transfers without asking questions. And don't thank people in the middle of a fight."
Jiwoo set the grey cat carefully on the table. "Okay."
Kayden stared. "You're not listening."
"I am."
"You're going to do it again."
Jiwoo hesitated.
Asuka sat beside the table and gently loosened her hold on Kayden.
Jiwoo smiled apologetically.
"If someone needs help, probably."
Kayden groaned.
Asuka reached toward the grey cat, her eyes softening faintly as she studied its unstable energy.
"Then we will become strong enough to help."
Kayden froze.
Jiwoo looked at her.
The words were quiet.
Simple.
But there was something beneath them.
Not arrogance.
Not naivety.
A promise.
Kayden looked between the siblings.
For a moment, he remembered what he had told Jiwoo.
Get strong enough that helping people doesn't kill you.
The boy had taken it to heart.
The girl already had.
Kayden clicked his tongue and turned away, ears angled back.
"Fine," he muttered. "Then we start proper training tomorrow."
Jiwoo's face lit up.
"Really?"
"Don't make me repeat myself."
"Thank you, Mr. Kayden!"
"I said stop thanking me!"
Asuka's mouth curved softly.
Kayden glared at her too.
"And you. We're testing your abilities properly. No vague answers."
Asuka blinked.
Then, after a thoughtful pause, said, "Within reason."
Kayden's eyes narrowed.
"That already sounds suspicious."
"It is honest."
"Worse."
Jiwoo laughed again.
The unconscious grey cat breathed quietly on the table.
The fat orange cat grumbled from Asuka's lap.
The siblings moved around their little apartment with practiced warmth, gathering towels, water, and blankets as if saving strange cats with awakened energy was a normal afternoon.
Kayden watched them in silence.
He had meant to recover and leave.
That was still the plan.
Probably.
But as Jiwoo carefully covered the grey cat with a towel, and Asuka quietly placed one hand over its side to stabilize its energy, Kayden felt that same annoying concern settle heavier in his chest.
These children were going to get themselves killed without guidance.
Worse, they were going to keep saving things.
People.
Animals.
Maybe even enemies.
Because that was simply who they were.
Kayden Break, famous, feared, and very much not a cat, looked at the Seo siblings and realized with deep irritation that his life had become more complicated than any battle he had ever fought.
And somehow, he could not bring himself to leave.
----