There are many kinds of abusers, and many a different kind of predator. Marina's parents were, perhaps, the single most common type of abuser known to the world.

  They were neglectful and useless. They didn't care for her or about her, and their reaction to getting their lives saved by their child was not to come to the sudden realization that they had neglected a gem of a girl whose reaction to gaining great power was to immediately use it to help others. No, their reaction, instead, had been to make an attempt at monetizing their daughter.

  After everything we'd been through, I yet again, once more, find myself comforting Marina as she sits on her bed, hugging her knees to herself. I sat just beside her, curled up into a ball and simply doing what I could do for her, which was what her parents didn't do. Be there, present.

  Marina's parents had, in their infinite greed, decided to start pushing their daughter as an idol and hero. Many people remembered the huge monster and the two girls that had defeated it. While few remembered me, that was for the best, since being recognized would make my work harder.

  Even if everything had been undone at the end, the Corruptor popping out in the middle of the city was extremely hard to hide. Apparently, that wasn't supposed to be normally the case, but the Hearts, both Pure and Dark, had abandoned the entire area and in their hubris had allowed something to gestate that never should've been.

  One of Marina's hands left her self hug and she reached for my back, her fingers digging into my fur a little, letting me feel that her nails needed a trim, and sighing.

  "This wasn't what I got my powers for, you know?" she said.

  Speaking of which, I didn't even know where she'd gotten her power from. I've never really paid attention. My tail reached for her arm, but it wasn't prehensile enough to wrap around it, instead I just sort of pressed it against her wrist. I can't shake my tail from side to side very well but I can at least touch her a little.

  "You're curious, Kuro?" she asked, smiling a little as I turned my head towards her, putting my paws under my body and scooting a little. "I guess I never told you what I wanted to do when I got my powers, huh?" she said, letting go of her knees entirely and letting her legs stretch over her bed. She grabbed me and put me over her lap, and played with my fur, giving me satisfying scratches behind the ears.

  I couldn't help purring, it's my physiology, I don't get to choose when and when not to do it, most of the time.

  "I wanted to be a hero, like the woman who gave this to me," she said, reaching towards her chest, her hand suddenly seeming to sink into the flannel button up she used for her pyjamas, sinking into her chest, glowing a bright pink, and then pulling out a heart shaped pink gem. "Hehe, it still feels funny when I touch it... can't believe this is really my heart..."

  Marina hummed thoughtfully.

  "They want me to go on TV shows... they said I couldn't go on patrol because it would look bad..." she grabbed my front paws and raised them, it was a little annoying but I found that it'd take too much effort to do anything about it. "But- Even if the Corrupted Hearts aren't as common as before..."

  She sighed.

  "What should I do, Kuro?" she asked, idly. "I don't know... I don't know what to do, I just- I just," she was turning red, closing her eyes hard, her lips quivering, "I thought, I wanted them to see me you know? I wanted them to look at me, to be proud of me, I wanted them to tell me that I was good, that I did good... I wanted to impress them but, but- but the only thing they seem to care about is money!"

  She let go of my paws and brought her hands up to her face, rubbing at her eyes, sobbing a little.

  "Where'd I go wrong?" she asked, looking at her hands, her eyes filling with tears. "I just wanted mom and dad to, to-" she was interrupted by breaking into sobs, "how come they won't even look at me!?" she hissed, bitterly and angrily, "no matter what I do, even if I work hard, if I do all my chores and, and my homework and everything..!"

  She crossed her arms in front of her face and turned around, falling on her front on her pillows and shaking a little, grabbing one of her pillows and hugging it to her body, going a lot quieter than just a few seconds ago, clearly struggling not to cry, not to make noise.

  I have a couple ideas as to why she might be doing that.

  But none of them are good enough that I even want to think about them.

  Marina was tired, exhausted physically and emotionally, from a day dealing with her parents non-stop, and they hadn't made it easy, I had watched from the sidelines as they fought each other and then teamed up on her to browbeat their daughter into agreeing with whatever they said.

  Honestly, my opinion of Marina's parents has been eroding and becoming worse with every unfortunate interaction I've had with them, but it plummets every time I see them interact with Marina.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Perhaps it was better when they were completely absent, and isn't that terrible?

  Slowly but surely, she started to drift off to sleep. Putting the covers on her was a bit of a chore, but I took it upon me with aplomb, using my teeth to gently pull the covers, bit by bit, until I could get them over her legs and then her tors, even as Marina's breathing became slightly more erratic and she moved a little more violently than she should.

  I rested my paw on her face, and she slowly but surely calmed, her breathing never becoming truly even, but she did start very lightly snoring. She was asleep, peacefully, and not fitfully as before.

  And then it was time for me to get a move on. I left Marina in her room.

  I had to jump to catch the knob to her room door, but the good thing about that was, even when I jumped and landed, my paws made me land silently, and though the door made a lot of noise, Marina was so tired she was practically non-responsive to the outside world.

  So I could get out of her room and then, in an admittedly more damaging move than I intended, I stabbed my claws into the grain of her door and pulled it closed.

  And then, I moved towards the kitchen, where I caught Marina's parents talking hushedly to one another.

  "-telling you! It's all the rage!"

  Her mother was talking about something, I wasn't sure what. I sat just outside the room and tilted my ears towards it, to listen in on their conversation.

  "And I'm telling you that's not it! Idols can never be seen with a man, not even their family, you fool!"

  What?

  What the fuck are they talking about?

  I stepped into the room, slowly, stealthily, not that I needed to, because it was evident they were too enthused arguing with one another to pay any attention to their surroundings. They once again had refused Marina's food, stating they'd eaten outside, and my human's mother had even thrown the plate served to her in the trash bin.

  The father planted a hand on the table, shaking it slightly. "Do you think I don't want to benefit from this too?" he hissed. "Her fame's fleeting and we need to squeeze it for all it's worth! We've been housing and feeding her for ten years, the least she can do is at least earn her keep!"

  "Fine," the woman finally relented. "I'll need some money to go get my hair and makeup done professionally, luckily Marina's outfit comes with makeup on its own," she snorted. "Bit of a shame about her face."

  I couldn't fathom what she might possibly be talking about.

  "Blame yourself, it's your face," the man countered.

  "Bullshit, if she had my nose and cheeks then maybe she could've-"

  I'd heard enough. Honestly, there's only so much disrespect of my human I was willing to take.

  My claws sliced through the air and through her hurtful words and more importantly, through the surface of the table, with the same ease, as I leaped onto the table, knocking a glass down.

  "Shit!" the father cried, getting up and stepping off, before the contents of the glass could spill on him, causing the alcoholic drink to spill on the floor instead. "I knew we should've kicked this fuzzball out when-"

  "Quiet."

  "Eek! It spoke! I told you it was real, I told you-"

  "QUIET!"

  My voice thundered.

  I wasn't speaking. Not really. I was projecting my voice, a close enough facsimile of speech. I am a Cat, we do what we want, I don't question how or why I can, I just do.

  "I've had... enough!"

  Doing it, however, wasn't easy or simple. I was struggling to do it, to say the least. I don't know how to use the power I have, and I don't even know for sure if it's mine originally or if it's just borrowed, but what I do know is that I need to put a stop to this.

  "You do not deserve Marina..!"

  The two were terrified, each one of them scooting backwards towards the walls of the small kitchen. "W-What, who, what are you..!?" the mother asked, her voice trembling.

  "Evil spirit! It's an evil spirit!"

  He wasn't wrong, I noted. Some would call me evil, be it for my methods or my goals. And I suppose, having died before, I would be something like a spirit.

  My claws almost cut through the entire table, as I made a round trip of the table, glaring at each of them in turn.

  "You... are... SCUM!"

  The father recoiled, the mother started to reach for her phone. I moved swiftly, my claws cutting through the air as I moved fast, slashing through her phone's screen and batting it out of her hand, it was both broken beyond use and away from her hand.

  I brought my face closer to hers.

  "Worthless..! Worthless worthless worthless!" I hissed right in front of her face while shouting with the voice projection.

  "No no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't-"

  My paw cut through the air, my claws leaving a slash on the wall right next to her neck. She pissed herself, realizing that my claws, if they could do that to the wall, would probably go right through her skin and flesh.

  While she was doing that, I turned to the Father, who was reaching towards the kitchen counters, likely to grab something, thinking perhaps he might be able to defend himself, but the moment he noted I could see him, he pulled back and dove to his hands and knees, putting his head on the floor.

  A salaryman through to the end.

  "That girl deserves better than you..." I spoke, letting a meow out from my mouth as I walked, slowly, stalking by circling the position of the table.

  "M-Marina..!?"

  I growled as best as I could, I don't have the throat of a big cat to make those sounds that could cause humans to shit themselves in fear.

  So instead I had to improvise.

  "You have... one chance..!"

  "W-What?"

  I turned to the mother. "Be better... or be gone!"

  My head was splitting from all this projection. Honestly, I wanted to simply end them where they were. Abusers of any form were the worst.

  But...

  "You owe her your lives."

  Not just from saving them from the monster's attack... but also because the only reason why I hadn't slain them already was that Marina would be sad if they died. And the entire point of slaying the beasts that prey on children is to avoid sorrow and pain, what good would it be to cause it myself?

  "Don't waste this one chance..."

  I hissed at them once more, leaping onto the table again.

  "Be the parents she deserves, or remove yourselves from her life!"

  With my last piece said, I turned around, and left the room, heading up to Marina's room again. I hadn't closed the door fully, so I could close it much more easily.

  I slept with one eye open that night.

  I've frightened them for now. But this isn't enough.

  I'll have to request help from the old man to get Marina out of their hands and into a family that actually loves her. Her and Reiko have become something like battle sisters, perhaps they might appreciate being real sisters, if these two pieces of trash can't clean up their act.