Neko Neko Prologue
4*24*00
The kitten crept out from beneath the car upon hearing the familiar sounds of a bicycle approaching. She gave her paw another half hearted lick before padding out into the open. She was just in time to see the human fly over a particularly prominent crack in the sidewalk; he landed, sprawled in a heap, at her feet.
She approved of this one; already he knew his place. The boy would do.
The dark haired human got back on his bike, after tumbling head over feet from it in a fantastic display of un coordination. The only reason he had bothered to open his eyes, slitted glittering feline eyes she noted approvingly, was the light swipe with half sheathed claws she'd aimed at his nose to wake him. He had grunted, shaking his head, and pulled out a band aid from his jacket pocket, placing it over the shallow scratch. The boy continued to stare at her, his intense blue stare a match for her own blue/gold mismatched eyes.
"Mewr?" She put on her best helpless kitten look. Hug me, pet me, love me, shelter me, worship me, and most importantly FEED ME, all the while flicking her tail as if it meant nothing if he ignored her. He gathered her up and placed her within the shelter of his jacket. She purred approvingly at the warmth and comfort of her current situation and decided to forego the nominal scratch and bite protest she would normally put up.
It had been a long week - even for a cat. Having dumped her first owner at the tender age of three months, living off the street for 3 weeks after that, picked up as a stray by a kindly owner only to be passed on to a bratty kid for 4 months of pure hell and then spending this entire week hungry and cold, well . . .
It had been a long week.
She snuggled deeper into the jacket, though if asked by anyone smart enough to ask a cat questions but dumb enough to expect answers - she would have vehemently denied doing something so . . so . . canine as snuggling.
It was a peaceful moment, boy, kitten, and bike.
It lasted all of five seconds.
2 seconds for him to get on the bike, 2 seconds to fall asleep riding said bike, and one second for her to realize he was sleeping. She spent the next 10 minutes in wide eyed, fur bristling, tail raising terror as he maneuvered through on coming traffic, over steep hills, and dizzily skimming the edge of disaster. He would only waken when a particularly loud and irate curse, ear piercing screech, and/or noisy crash, etc. would reach his selective hearing. She, however, refused to yowl or shriek. It was beneath her dignity as a cat. She did intend to fully voice her displeasure once they reached their destination, if they reached their destination - at this point, she wasn't too optimistic over their surviving the next few traffic lights.
Though she did have to admire his almost feline sensory perception in dodging and swerving obstacles.
That didn't mean she had to like it
Miraculously, the two of them arrived at the human boy's destination with only one spill.
A pothole approximately the size of two small children lying head to heel had appeared in front of them; he swerved at the last moment, only to run into a line of drying laundry. The irate housewife chased the oblivious twosome for some blocks before giving up all hope on retrieving the cotton shirt hanging from the back of the boy's bike. It caught on the bumper of a passing truck; unfortunately, the cloth had grown exceedingly fond of his bike and refused to let go. So, boy, bike, and cat went spinning along with the truck.
He woke up for that, the cat observed rather spitefully, only because it was heading in the opposite direction of where he had been going, had being the operative word.
The dark haired boy applied the brakes quite abruptly, spilling into a convenient arrangement of bushes. Surprisingly quick, he grabbed her gently and rolled both of them to the side at the last moment, avoiding toppling head over heels straight into the concrete wall behind the bushes. Silently, he pulled both of them out of the shrubbery, ignoring her indignant hisses and spats. He solemnly eyed the kitten after retrieving her from the cradle of his arms. She let him know what she thought of his driving skills with a quick swipe of her claws.
He pulled out one of the numerous bandages reserved for just such an occasion it seemed and applied it parallel to bandage from her previous marking of his nose. The boy carelessly rubbed away the slight trickle of blood from both cat and various bush scratches with his jacket sleeve. Apparently satisfied with this spirited showing that she was fine, the black haired boy propped his bike back up and continued on his way, snoozing contentedly a few moments later.
Thoroughly disgusted, she decided *never* to have contact with that sleeve again.
And after all that, they were still alive, the bicycle was still intact, and a steady stream of human boys and girls were heading towards a set of buildings. Interestingly enough, the closer the boy cycled towards what seemed to be his goal, the more humans appeared on the sidewalk. She eyed them rather loftily from the inside of his jacket, golden eyes narrowed and ears turned back everytime a particularly loud human voice encroached on her hearing. One particularly loud, piercing male voice caught her kitty attention.
"Ha-Haruka-san! Ohayo!"
"Ohayo, Sakuragi-kun."
As she caught sight of the flaring red head towering above the mill of students, her tail and whiskers began to twitch, even as she strained forward. What an interesting patch of fur . . .
Even more unexpected was her human's reaction to the voice. He had actually woken up, though continuing to cycle towards the school, or rather the bright red head with the fascinating fur and a smaller, less brilliant female. She could fell the tension in him, from the tightly clenched fingers holding the handlebars to the rapid beating of his heart next to her ear.
Unable to look away, she watched the inevitable happen, mainly the front wheel of the bicycle embedding itself into the tall, loud human's backside, making his dark jacket ride up and leaving wheel marks on his back.
"Ahou." As an afterthought, her human added, "You're in the way." The cat paused to contemplate the boy's voice for the first time. It was . . . pleasant. The intense voice, all the more surprising considering he spent most of his time napping, resonated its way from chest to mouth. She could feel the vibrations to the tips of her fur, especially when he was upset as he was now.
She approved.
"Nanda?! K'so, kitsune, how dare y-, " then the belligerent red head seemed to shrink in on himself, avoiding looking at her human directly in the eyes even as the female gently chided at him to behave. The kitten rather thought she wasn't the reason the tall one had ceased to speak. The girl then turned to the boy still on the bike and smiled shyly, cheeks flushing pink. "Ohayo, Ruka-."
The dark haired girl let out a small, defeated sigh.
He was asleep again and already headed through the school gates. The kitten scrambled up his shoulder and peered back at the two humans still staring after the dozing boy.
Interesting.
The two could be mirror images of frustration and longing. The red head then did something even more interesting; he grabbed the nearest human next to him, a short chubby human boy in glasses, one of four who had shown up to greet him, and slammed his head into the other one's. Twice. Systematically, he head butted the other three as well. Then he screamed, seeming to gain courage from the random acts of violence, "How dare you insult Haruko san like that! Kora, are you listening to the Tensai?!"
Her human, almost automatically, started out of his light doze at the sound and muttered half heartedly, "Do'aho." The kitten delicately groomed a paw, having hidden once more within the safe confines of the boy's jacket, tail still twitching in curiosity.
The mating habits of humans were so complex.
She deliberately, meticulously groomed a small black paw. If both the boy and the girl wanted her human, they should just send out the proper signals instead of confusing the poor thing with all this blustering and talk.
And if that didn't work, corner him in a dark alleyway one moon lit night and jump him.
Though she would prefer if the red head won. She *had* to get her paws in that marvelously, colorful pelt. But right now, she needed a nap.
All the girls were giggling as they stared at their sleeping classmate. Their sensei was determinedly forging ahead with lesson plans. he would not let his class be disrupted.
One boy whispered to another, "This is the first time Rukawa actually purred while sleeping." His friend snickered back, "Wonder what he's dreaming of."
Both were simultaneously struck with the erasers, raising a cloud of fine white powder which settled over everyone sitting next to the whispering twosome causing everyone to sneeze.
Ruakawa merely shifted slightly in his sleep and turned his head to the other side, obliviously sleeping on.
The kitten shifted as well, never ceasing her purring. She definitely approved of this human. He'd chosen the perfect seat where the sun would filter through the windows all morning, warming both boy and kitten. Not to mention the sheer cuddling value he had, soft skin, warm body, and a non snorer.
Perfect.
The next time she awoke it was to an irresistible, unyielding force, rumbling warningly of its power.
Her stomach.
She debated several options whilst licking herself clean one more. She could go out and get her own food, then immediately crossed the thought out. The floor did *not* look sanitary. Yowling in the human's ear and scratching was a no as well. Seeing her human's feline characteristics, she reasoned that he would react as a cat would, mainly to strike out at all objects, living or not. So, the kitten settled for the next best thing. She applied her tongue to the inside of his ears.
Note: A wet, slithering object stuck in one's ears was not a pleasant way to awaken. Having a rough, sandpaper like wet, slithering object stuck in one's ears . . . Well, just stick a piece of tuna in *your* ear near a cat and see what it gets you.
On second thought. Never mind. Let's just leave the subject with a general feel of shudderings and shiverings.
Predictably, the dark haired boy awoke, not violently but with an uncontrollable shudder and a breakout of goose flesh all over his body. Those fascinating eyes narrowed down to small blue laser pinpoints as he faced the small kitten. She mewred and patted his nose gently, claws sheathed and cannily figuring that being cute would win her more brownie points.
His sigh almost knocked her over, pointy patchy head over colorful fluffy tail.
He slowly stood up, placing her within his jacket once more and plodded towards the door. He gained and extra bruise for the effort as he forgot to open the door.
If a cat could roll her eyes . . .
After picking up some milk and food for himself as well as the cat, he headed up for his favorite break spot - the roof of the school building. This was right after he had scared the lunch lady nearly right out of her hair net, looming over her like a large black shadow and stooping to shove his half asleep face in her way, uttering only one word in a zombie like manner. "Milk." In the interest of self preservation, and the fact that he had fallen asleep and the lunch line was piling up behind him, she shoved milk and other food stuff his way.
As they made their way up, the kitten mewed incessantly, interested only in getting her food, garnering not only double takes but also adding to the already considerable reputation of the Shouhoku basketball team.
"Wow. I guess basketball training really is hard."
"Yeah, that guy's stomach was whimpering."
Eventually the boy and his kitten made their way to the rooftop. Her human carefully arranged the milk carton so she could drink out of it without falling in and made his way to one of the many metal triangular shapes sticking out of the floor. He watched her eat, a half eaten curry bread clenched in one hand and the other fanned over his face to block the sun's rays.
The kitten delicately lapped up the milk, as if she had all the time in the world. The combined head of the sun beating on her fur and the sun warmed cement at her feet was making her a trifle sleepy. She purred lightly; there was only one thing left to do then - take a nap. She glanced over at the boy once more; he too was starting to nod off, long legs stretched out. Idly she wondered what fate had made him human instead of feline. With his sleek tumble of short black hair, and exotically tilted blue eyes, he would have made a striking cat. Add to that his almost liquid sliding grace, when he wasn't sleeping, and long slim limbs, he would almost be worth looking twice at.
Almost.
She did have her standards after all, and black cats had never overly appealed to her. She much preferred the swirls of yellow, orange, red, and brown, like her own fur for instance . . .
Having finished the milk midst musing, she drowsily made her way to the dozing boy, pausing halfway to investigate the discarded knapsack mid way for anything of interest. The feline fell into said bag with an indignant yowl as an unusually loud voice suddenly shouted out, "Rukawa-teme, I know you're here! What's the big idea of ignoring Haruko-san like that?!?"
The tall, *vocal* human boy stomped his way towards the now semi awake sitting boy, face red with anger and frustration. She poked an interested head out, body half way out of the bag as well, casually cleaning a paw. Her ears twitched in anticipation and her paws were itching to get a hold of that richly hued hair.
Her human's fascinating eyes slitted open, a startling burst of color framed with darkly fringed lashes within a pale, cleanly sculpted face. He raised a brow and spoke, low voice barely reaching both the kitten and the other boy's hearing. "Ahou. Is that what you really came here for?"
The two glared at one another for a few minutes.
Then, she blinked. The anticipation just killing her you see.
Though a cat's blink is a rare thing, and it was too bad she blinked just then. She missed the moment when both boys lunged for one another. What she did catch was the long standing custom of humans nuzzling each other and applying a firm suction to each other's mouths - a somewhat mystifying action from her point of view. Flicking her tail in disinterest, the cat flopped bonelessly to her side within the knapsack. She stretched; a nap was more important than those two. Besides, by the time they were done she should be done with her nap as well.
Or so a kitten could hope.
tbc . . .
Wahoo~!! My first completed SD fic! Granted its only part to what will be a longer hanaru fic v^^ but I think it can stand as a one shot on its own ^^ whadda ya think? *grins* Shall I stick to gw =p or forge on~ la~ i'll forge on anyways ~.^ Err.. the next parts will be from Sakuragi and rukawa's pov's so~~ dinna worry ^^ though there will be more of the calico (yas, that's her colour in case you couldn't guess -_-) kitty in future episodes ^_^v
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