He'd never, ever, say it out loud, but Plagg really liked Sabrina. She was a good kid, if not annoying-easy for others to push around, and she did eventually get over that ridiculous fear of flying. And sure, she didn't live in the biggest abode, and she certainly wasn't as wealthy as some of his previous Chosens, so she couldn't get him any good cheese, but she did her best, and they were warm, and secure, and really, this wasn't so bad.

Nah, he liked Sabrina.

It was Chloé he was really starting to have a problem with.

Like now, as he sat in an empty basket that once contained cheese-frites, staring at Sabrina as she sniffled into a pillow. Earlier that day, he'd heard (from his hiding place in her bag), the blonde girl scolding her for embarrassing her - again. He wasn't sure what it was, he wasn't paying that much attention, and in all honesty, Chloé said things like this so often and to so many people that they all sorta bled together. But from what he could understand (he'd started tuning in once he heard Sabrina begin mumbling apologies as she held her bag closer to her face), Sabrina had apparently come rushing out of the classroom with something Chloé had left behind.

Something that apparently was embarrassing for her, and he was now regretting he didn't see what it was.

And Chloé happened to be speaking to Adrien at the time.

In any case, Chloé had gotten upset, which made Sabrina upset; Chloé was threatening to revoke their friendship, Sabrina had gotten even worse; and then Chloé had the gall to still demand another night's homework.

That was easy for Sabrina, of course, and there wasn't a lot to be done this time, but the entire "argument" had left her in a fit of tears that she was only now coming down from.

Plagg hummed a bit to himself and cleaned his whiskers. Well. This would not do.

Clearing his throat didn't gain her attention.

Calling out "hey, kid" didn't get her attention.

Calling her name didn't get her attention.

Zipping over and pulling her hair did get her attention.

"Ow! Hey!" Sabrina cried, sitting upright with one hand rubbing her head. "What was that for? You can't be hungry again already," she added, casting a glance at the frite basket. That had supposed to be for both of them, by the way.

"Look," he said, as 'calm parental figure'-y as he could. Which was not very at all. "How often has Chloe made you upset this week alone?"

Sabrina blinked. "Uh…" she began, awkwardly counting on her fingers.

Progress, Plagg noted. When they'd first met she'd insisted there were no problems at all.

"How many times have you just cried about it?"

"Uh…"

"If you ask me-"

"I stopped asking you things after you advised me to knock her purse off the desk…" Sabrina muttered.

"If you ask me, I say you need to find a better outlet for your negative feelings."

Sabrina stared. "Who are you and what have you done with Plagg?" she said.

"I'm serious! There's a better way to deal with all this!"

"Like...writing in a diary?" Sabrina shifted so she was sitting more comfortably on the bedspread.

"Noooo…" Plagg's smile looked absolutely wicked. "Way better." When Sabrina just stared in confusion, he went on: "You're the cat of destruction aren't'cha?"

Sabrina stared for a second. Two. And then her eyes went wide and horrified.

Bingo.

"I can't do that!" she shouted, leaping to her feet. "That's - that's dangerous, irresponsible, you said I can't misuse the ring-"

"Who said anything about that?!" he laughed. "You can still destroy something without transforming!" And before Sabrina could stop him, he zipped over to the desk where Chloé's copy of the day's Literature homework still sat. He grinned again, tapping the paper and briefly enjoying the crisp sound it made.

Maybe Sabrina knew he had a point. Maybe she'd moved on from sadness and had gone to anger. Maybe she was just sick to death of Chloe and wanted to teach her a lesson. In any case, Sabrina slowly approached her desk, staring down at the kwami and paper.

It'd be easy to rewrite it, she told herself. They only needed a single page. And she'd already written hers, it'd be an easy task to just change a few turns of phrase…

It was just paper...right?

Sabrina's hand inched towards the piece of homework, lifting it up to her face.

"Go on," she heard him hiss, an undertone of laughter.

She stared a little longer...brought her other hand to join the first, and….

rrrRRRIP!

"Yeah!" Plagg cheered as Sabrina held two halves of paper in her hands. "Now do it again!"

Sabrina's chest heaved slightly as she put the two halves together and- VRRRRIP! VRRP! RRP!

"There you go!"

Sabrina couldn't help laughing as she threw the pieces into the air, high over her head. As the paper fluttered down around them, Plagg dove towards another part of the desk. "And what's this- one of her composition notebooks?"

"She doesn't use it - she says it's too cheap so-"

"Who cares? Destroy it!"

Sabrina grabbed the notebook, flipped it open to one of the many blank pages. RIP! RIP RIP!

"What else is here, what else?!"

After about five minutes, Sabrina sat on her floor surrounded by shredded pieces of various papers, snapped pencils, an empty notebook, and one container of paper-clips that she simply upended onto the floor. A few bits of paper clung to her hair, and she was breathing a bit heavily.

Despite that, though, she had a huge grin on her face, her cheeks slightly pink from exertion.

Plagg's head appeared from a small pile of paper clippings, a textbook example of 'shit-eating grin' on his face. "So, my little teenage witch," he prompted. "How'd that feel?"

Sabrina just laughed.

"Felt pretty good, didn't it?"

"Yeah!" Sabrina fell backwards so she sprawled out on her back. A few pencil ends poked her, and there were even more papers stuck in her hair now, but she didn't particularly care. A tiny weight on her chest told her that her kwami had settled himself there, and she idly stroked his head with a fingertip. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"Any time, kiddo."

Sabrina exhaled, closing her eyes, a tiny smile on her face…

..and then suddenly she bolted upright with a horrified gasp. "My room!" she shrieked. "It's a disaster-area now!"

Plagg sighed irritably as Sabrina ran around the small room, a tiny wastebasket in hand, throwing everything away.

Well, he thought, they'd had fun for a little bit at least.

As Sabrina hurried to clean up, however, he noted that she was deliberately stepping on the pieces of Chloé's homework-copy, dirtying them up and crumpling them.

Well, he thought with another huge grin. Progress is progress.