Sunny's brow remained deeply furrowed.
He sat on the floor with his back against the frame of his bed, one knee drawn up while the other leg stretched lazily across the ground. His fingers rested against his temple, pressing into the skin as though he could physically force the headache away.
He couldn't decide what irritated him more.
Tingyun's actions...
Or the fact that he understood exactly why she was doing them.
He sent a narrowed glance upward.
Tingyun stood a few steps away, dressed in her ornate hanfu, five pink tails carefully gathered behind her. Her posture was immaculate. Her expression was not.
There was an awkward, embarrassed smile on her face.
It was the sort of smile one wore when caught doing something they knew they shouldn't.
"You're a mind reader, aren't you?"
It was something that Sunny had been questioning from the moment he had turned Tingyun into a Shadow. She always seemed to know what he was going to say, what he wasn't going to say, and how to act accordingly. It felt like he was a toddler being carefully monitored by a parent.
At the same time, Sunny was, somehow, more unpredictable than even toddlers at times... so, with how Tingyun had been dancing around his mental state — and failing — it was safe to assume that she was at least somewhat in tune with his emotions.
Perhaps that was a trait all his Shadows shared.
Or, something that he believed far more, it likely all came down to Tingyun's [Black Temptress] Attribute.
Which he had been lied to about. Because he did ask if she had been reading his mind back then. But she was like 'noooooo' so he ended up being played constantly because it was for his own good or whatever.
Tingyun opened her mouth to reply.
"Actually, I don't care."
Her ears flattened, mouth shutting instantly. His gaze lingered on her... then he continued.
"I don't care. I don't care if you can read minds. I don't care what powers you have. I don't care if you think you're my therapist. I don't care if you're good at giving handjobs or not, I don't give a fuck."
With how harshly Sunny accentuated the last word, Tingyun flinched, clearly taken aback. She stuttered out:
"B-Benefa—"
"Shut up. It's not your turn yet, you stupid, self-sacrificing, helpless idiot."
She was just... flabbergasted. He had never talked to her like this. Had anyone ever spoken to her in such a way?
"Listen, just—"
She was interrupted again when Sunny angrily hissed out the following words, a flavor of sarcasm mixed in:
"Oh, look at you! Able to get by just fine without listening to an order. It's almost like my Aspect doesn't make slaves for me. I've gotta ask, Tingyun..."
He leaned forward, lowering his voice to dangerous levels.
"...Do you think I need you?"
Sunny smiled, a complete one-eighty from his previous, deathly expression.
"Don't answer that. You'd just say no, anyways. And you'd be right."
Then, he scowled.
"Because I don't. I didn't turn you into my Shadow because I was lacking firepower or anything. Not even because I needed... emotional support or whatever crap you've been trying this whole time. Guess what? I've gotten by for fifteen years without any of that. I was fine then. I'll be fine later."
Tingyun's smile remained in place.
For a moment, at least.
Then it began to tremble.
His words had struck far deeper than she had expected. Not because they were cruel, although they were. Not because he had raised his voice, although every syllable still seemed to echo inside her.
It was the casual certainty behind them that hurt the most.
He did not need her. He had never needed her. All of the little things and big things she had done, all the moments she had quietly convinced herself were meaningful, had been nothing more than unnecessary burdens he had endured because he was too kind to complain.
Her ears slowly lowered.
The five tails behind her drooped with them, their usual graceful movements coming to an almost complete stop.
Tingyun wanted to say something. Anything. A joke, perhaps. A teasing remark. Something that would make him smile and prove that she was still useful in some small way.
Nothing came.
Instead, she simply stood there, staring at him with a faint, bewildered smile that no longer reached her eyes.
A strange emptiness spread through her chest.
It shouldn't have hurt.
After all, wasn't this what she had wanted? To live a life of normalcy, or perhaps the semblance of one? One that wasn't faced with the chronic adversity of Fate?
Yet hearing him say that he had been fine without her made something inside Tingyun ache terribly.
She lowered her gaze.
"...I see."
The words were barely audible.
And despite everything, she still couldn't bring herself to resent him for saying them.
Because she was still a slave. Even if it wasn't the same as Shadow Bond, where a command would force her to act... her mind had been brutally tilted to put him above all.
Even if he didn't want it.
"...So?"
Tingyun blinked the flames in her eyes away, looking back at Sunny. He sent her an expectant look, arms crossed as he impatiently tapped his finger on his bicep.
"Aren't you going to ask why I keep you around? Because, uh... it'll be really awkward if you didn't."
She stared at him in disbelief for a few moments, before sighing in resignation. As if she knew what she was thinking — really, it was just what he was feeling — she smiled.
"You may as well just say it."
He frowned for a moment, as if calculating how embarrassed he was going to be. Because he was, and it wasn't looking too good.
"...I don't like slaves. The willing kinds, mainly. For the unwilling, I just feel disgusted. It's disgusting, you know? To have all choice taken away from you, to become nothing but a tool. Lower than an animal."
The only thing worse than living as a slave... is dying as one.
"So, when I killed you, just to find out that you were only being possessed, I was... really pissed. I mean, I didn't know you, and I didn't expect anything from you, but..."
Sunny averted his gaze.
"It's not like anyone else could help you. So I did. It was my problem in the first place. And as you are..."
A hint of disdain leaked into his voice, something that made Tingyun's heart skip a beat.
"If you weren't killed on sight, they'd study you, experiment on you, kill you, then use whatever's left to make superweapons. But you probably already knew that."
He huffed, closing his eyes.
"You're the same as me, in the end. So I wanted to give you a place to stay, whether it's my soul or my room. And to figure out your... uh, situation? Yeah, so..."
Sunny grunted as something landed in his lap, a fluffy sensation pressing up against his torso and even his face. Teasing giggles assaulted his ears.
"You really talk too much, Benefactor~ As cute as that was, I don't think I could stand anymore of your speech."
He blinked several times, trying to understand what had just happened.
Then, he realized.
Tingyun had jumped onto his lap.
She was sitting with her back toward him, her body nestled comfortably against his chest while her five enormous tails had curled around them both. One of them had somehow ended up directly over his face.
Sunny made a muffled complaint.
"Tingyun..."
She responded with an exasperated sigh.
"Do not worry so much about it, Sunny."
A pause.
"And be gentle."
Sunny fell silent.
He really, really hoped she was telling the truth this time.
Carefully, he reached up and brushed the offending tail away from his face. His fingers sank into the soft pink fur, slowly combing through it as he lowered the tail until it rested beside the others.
Tingyun shivered.
It was a surprisingly delightful reaction.
Sunny paused.
Then continued, albeit much more carefully.
The sensation was almost absurd. Her fur was impossibly soft, and the slightest movement of his fingers seemed to make her body tremble.
Before Sunny could think too much about it, Tingyun reached down and caught both of his hands.
He blinked.
She pulled them around her waist. Tingyun leaned backward, pressing herself firmly against his chest as though she had always belonged there.
Sunny's mind promptly stopped functioning.
'Silver Wolf... please don't interrupt me this time.'
He felt like he jinxed it, but he didn't care. Because suddenly, he was having the time of his life.
Silver Wolf and her girlfriend could be as lesbian as they wanted. He supported it, even. But he wouldn't hesitate to annihilate them both if they got in the way of his fluffy heaven!
The warmth of her body.
The softness beneath his arms.
The faint scent of her hair.
The unmistakably feminine shape of her figure.
His face gradually turned red.
At least this time, he wasn't being magically seduced. No... this was completely in character.
"You know..."
Sunny locked in when he heard Tingyun speak, looking towards her face and not over her shoulder to peek down her cleavage.
She seemed indignant, with furrowed brows and her lips curling downwards.
"I've never done that before."
Sunny blinked.
"Done what?"
She harrumphed, glared at him, then turned forward again.
Now he was just confused...
Then, suddenly, her voice grew cheerful.
"Oh, you're in my debt now, Benefactor. Just thought you should know."
Sunny was pretty sure it was a joke. Right? It had to be. It would be really weird if it wasn't a joke. He forced a grin.
"Why is that?
Tingyun hummed thoughtfully.
"Well, with a fair maiden such as myself in your lap, and having touched my tails numerous times, it would be naive to assume you aren't in my debt."
His grin twitched.
"And how, exactly, would I pay that?"
Tingyun turned her head around to face him, eying him with a scandalous look as she slowly licked her lips.
"Since you've been so concerned about me, why not take care of me forever and ever~?"
Then, she winked.
"Oh, but at that point, you might as well be my husband, hm?"
Sunny slowly blinked, resisting all amounts of pure fluster energy coursing through his veins.
...Mostly. In the end, he just chuckled nervously.
"I might consider it if you become human again."
Because what were the odds of that?
"Deal!"
'What the fu—!'