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The Tiger of Animus (The House of Animus Chpt.4)

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A/N: Preemptive Strike! It's a week (or so) early, but I figured two weeks is a long time to wait, so here it is. Just another day in the life of Dr. Animus, nothing special really, except for the appearance of a new (and quite open) girl on the grounds. Enjoy!

~~~Roar~~~

“You're late, you know that?” Tienge asks me impatiently.

“Yes, I'm aware of it. Even still, there is plenty of time for our session today. I hope you've improved since last time?”

“Damn right! This time I'll put you through hell and back, so there's no way you can beat me.”

“We'll see. Shall we begin?” I taunt her gently as I step into the spacious training room.

At 12:30 PM everyday, I come here to train with Tienge to improve my fitness. Most of the time she has to think of increasingly difficult workouts that would even put Olympians to shame, but I complete them with ease nonetheless. In return for her workouts, I teach Tienge various fighting styles upon request.

“Alright, today we're starting out with 200 push-ups, 300 crunches, and a two-mile jog for warm-ups. Ready to lose, Master?” Tienge smiles, hoping that she will finally beat me in the workout today.

“How about a wager then? Whoever loses must do one favor for the winner, no matter what that may be.”

“Fine by me, but are you sure you'll win this time? I've got just the favor I need from you when I you lose...” A dark look comes across Tienge's face. I remain unfazed as I just blink away all the doubt in my mind and focus on winning our wager.

We start right away, Tienge and I easily tied with each other in speed. The push-ups are finished in 5 minutes, the crunches in another 5, with the jog only taking 10 minutes. The main part of the workout is strength training, which Tienge obviously stacked against me, knowing my weakness in physical strength. Even so, lifting 200 pounds in sets of 30 is no challenge for me and even simpler for Tienge. After 10 sets, we run through the grounds for two miles, which make for 10 laps. On one of the laps, I spot May coming through the gates and walking to the house, no doubt looking to hang out with Tienge. A few laps later, I catch the sight of black fur followed by ears, a tail, and a purple streak on my room's balcony. On the next pass I focus my attention to the black mass; it's another cat-girl. I did not make this one, so it must be something else.

However, I cannot get too distracted or else Tienge will overtake me, so I dash ahead of her as she is just beginning to overtake me. Upon a closer inspection, the girl is wearing a traditional Japanese robe, a yukata it seems, purple in color with a scattered-flower design. Just as she comes into full view, her eyes slowly open and she tracks me with her crimson orbs like a predator.

~~~CuteGirlSpotted~~~

“Hey, you're falling behind back there! Ready to be my slave for the day?” Tienge taunts as she passes me.

“Not going to happen, especially since you'll be my pet like you want to be.” I catch up to her and slowly overtake her lead.

“...Grr, you're going to get it, you asshole!” Tienge sprints faster and faster, building on the strain her body must be enduring, all to finally beat me today in our workout.

“Who are you talking to?” A soft voice comes in between us.

“Obviously the guy who owns this whole place.”

“Oh, I see. He's quite handsome, do you like him-nya?” The voice mews.

“W-W-What are you s-s-saying!? T-There's no way I l-l-like that jerk! Wait a minute...'nya'?” Tienge stops in her tracks and looks to her left at the owner of the voice. I do the same as soon as I'm about to pass them.

The cat-girl is tilting her head to the side in a questioning motion, her tail wagging playfully from side to side. Tienge is standing wide-eyed at this new kind of visitor to the Animus Mansion as she looks to me, but I am just as confused as she is. I have never heard of another cat-girl in Europe aside from Tienge and I'm the one that created her. This new cat-girl must be from another scientist, most likely one of my rivals.

“Um...who might you be, miss?” I hesitantly ask.

“Watashi wa Nimura-nyan desu.” She introduces herself in Japanese.

Luckily, I have dealt with wealthy Japanese in the past and picked up a decent understanding of the language.

“Where are you from, Nimura-san?” I ask her at an easy pace to follow.

“Nihon, goshuujinsama.”

“Ah, that explains why you are speaking Japanese.” I look to Tienge, who seems to be glaring at me, “Tienge, could we hold off on this little competition until tomorrow? You can have the win if you don't wish to wait, but I need you to bring Dante, Shion, May, and Lucia into the my study. See if you can find out where Dana is also and-”

“Hell no.”

“Pardon?”

“I said no! I'm not going to accept this at all! I was supposed to beat you fair and square today, new girl or not, I wanted to finally prove myself to you...I wanted to prove that I can stand by your side.” Tienge's hair falls over her face as she looks at the ground. Nimura bounds away as Tienge starts trembling and I can only watch as my dear friend tears herself apart over me.

~~~OhNo~~~

“Tienge, if you want to prove yourself that badly, let's finish this run. I won't hold back at all, so you had better push yourself harder than ever if you want your wish to come true.” I say to her, carefully trying to rekindle her fierce competitive spirit.

I place my hand on her head, gently brushing her ears with my fingers as they fold and swivel in response to my touch. Tienge smiles up at me, no doubt happy that I am willing to forget about everything else and focus my attention on her. With a low growl, she hops away from me and lowers herself on all-fours as my eyes grow wide at the extreme speed she resumes the race at. I rush into my usual pace before quickly sprinting to catch up to Tienge. Never had I expected such a development before in my experiment notes: in only a year, Tienge is able to perfectly mimic a tiger's pouncing stride with an unbelievable gain in speed. Normal humans would find the movements awkward, but Tienge seems to perfectly modify it to work for her and the results are staggering.

Time to bring out my best motions. Tienge, you impress me, but I've been preparing for this and anything else you might throw at me.

Digging deep into my mind, I begin thinking thoughts of pure power and raw anger just enough to draw out the reserve of magical energy I had sealed away for special occasions. In seconds, a ghostly voice comes into my ears.

“Ahh, the Master calls upon me once again. To what end do you desire my power?”

“I need to win the remainder of a footrace with Tienge.”

“Her? Has she surprised you yet again? Very well, as the Master asks. Another day goes unspent as another life is saved.” Silence fills the air now as I feel a slight scratching in my head, and my legs feel crushed.

“Not too much, demon, only about 1% is all I need.”

With the new strength flowing into my legs, I bound ahead and reach Tienge on the other end of the mansion grounds in a few minutes. She is not surprised, knowing all about the unknown burst of speed I can call on whenever I fall behind her pace. Even so, this prompts her to move even faster, so fast that I can barely see the motion of her arms and legs working together. She really is the more unpredictable of the two...and the more interesting.

~~~QuiteInteresting~~~

As much as I enjoy this game of watching Tienge push herself far beyond the speed of normal humans, I rush ahead with all of the power I gathered and finish the race one one lap ahead of Tienge. I take a victory lap at three-quarter speed and receive a predatory glare from Tienge as she passes me. Within the next three minutes, I complete the extra lap and reunite with Tienge, who is sitting on the grass in the backyard in an agitated state.

“Y-You bastard...you went easy on me, didn't you?” She hisses as I sit down next to her.

“Mm...no, I did my best as always. You simply got better over-”

“Bullshit! You were holding back that burst of speed you have like you always do! Why don't you ever face me with everything you've got!? I ask for a challenge, but all you give me is a warm-up! It's not just working out, it's everything with you! The way you talk to me, how you just jump at the chance to see Shion, the way you never seem to look my way...”, Tienge's ears droop as she tilts her head to the ground, “Tell me, Master, why can't you ever be serious with me? I want to know what I have to aim for, but you never show your true self to me. Am I really not worth your time, after everything we've done together?”

A single tear falls as she continues to stare indignantly at the ground.

“...That not it at all, Tienge. You are worth more to me than anyone else in the world. However, if I showed you what I am really like, then you would see why I have to keep you in the dark like this.” I tell her nothing but the truth except for the reason why she and Shion are the way they are.

I gently wrap my arms around her, resting my head on her shoulder. She does not resist my embrace, rather she does the same as I do and pulls me closer to her. Her tail sweeps back and forth in a slow, rhythmic movement that is the only hint of her feelings at this moment. I smile slightly after realizing Tienge's plight once again, suppressing the growing sadness in me after knowing these girls for only a year.

~~~ADarkSecret~~~

A/N: Oh boy...Tienge is going to be suuuuuch a good character in this story! If some of you did not understand the conversation between Starr and Nimura, it basically gave some background info on her. Her name is Nimura and she's a cat-girl from Japan, that's all. Please review, fav, follow, all that good stuff and be ready for the next chapter to be released...soon. (Nice save! Go me!)
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