I have one question. Were you rooting around in my head earlier? When I was in the shower this morning I was thinking of what to write and came up with 'IK, held in a cage by a female captor, uses his cute puppy-dog look and soulful blue eyes to get himself out'. LOL

Your story is excellent. Illya knows exactly how to use that pitifully sad expression of his, and I enjoyed his revenge on Bruno :-)