Kitten ➵ ℎ. 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑜

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

"These two are the ones you're looking for" the man pointed over at a cage, the two identical, long fur, black cats sitting inside it.
The felines instantly started meowing, making Shinso turn in that general direction again, watching Y/n slide both of her hands inside of the cage, gently taking the two cats in her arms and resting them against her chest.

One of the two cats sat there quite content, its soft purrs rumbling against her chest, making a warm fuzzy feeling cross her.
The other clawed at her t-shirt, pulling itself up as if to escape her grasp, making its way on to her shoulder.
It stopped there, its nose resting on Y/n's hair and twitching as it sniffed, the wide pupils in its eyes narrowing to a slit.
Shinso watched as Y/n gently tried to pry it away from her shoulder and head as the owner of the shelter was too distracted by the other meowing creatures.

"Ah! You little devil" Y/n hissed under her breath as the black cat dug its nails in her shoulder to hold on to her unstable frame.

"Let me" Shinso muttered, moving over to the girl, standing behind her back as he gently tugged the creature's paw away from Y/n's shoulder, its claws unhooking from her skin.
Y/n watched with the side of her eye as Shinso lifted the cat and held it towards him, one of his big hands petting the top of its head gently, trying to calm down the feisty, small beast.

Y/n thanked him under her breath, the volume of her voice going barely over a whisper as she felt the awkwardness between them heighten. Shinso didn't reply, probably not hearing her words, or if he did he didn't give any sign of acknowledgement towards it.
Y/n looked away from his pale face, framed from the wild tufts of purple hair she found very unique.

"I wonder if he dyes it" Y/n spoke towards the cat she was holding, letting a small smile stretch across her features before slyly looking over at the boy. Sure enough his attention was on her, his hand tangled in the cat's soft fur, his eyebrow raised with a weary look.

"What?" he asked, his voice kept as monotone as he could. Shinso was certain she was talking about him, however he wasn't able to make out if it was meant to be an underlying insult or if it was general curiousity. Whichever it was, he wasn't going to let himself answer unprepared, his walls of distrust building fast and sturdy.

"I wondered if you dyed your hair or if it's your natural colour. It's rather unique, don't you think?" Y/n asked, now facing him directly. She could easily sense the uneasiness coming from him, her will to analyse his behaviour rising within her.
She found it curious how he would retract away from conversation if he felt uneasy, putting on a face of discontent and intimidation, almost like a cat arching its body and pulling its ears back to show it was on guard.

"Whether it's unique or not, I don't really care and I don't think you do either" he replied, his purple irises scanning her face for any sign of annoyance, but he was just met with a light shrug of her shoulders, her face turning back to the cat now asleep in her arms.

"Fine, don't tell me"

She turned towards the doors to go collect a cage to put the cats in, not wanting to continue a conversation with someone that couldn't seem less interested in speaking to her. Shinso watched her disappear behind the doors, his brows furrowed towards the centre. He wondered why she didn't insist, or at least tried to guess which one it was so she could express her real opinion on his hair. He was, to say the least, confused and was now starting to doubt himself rather than her. Was it possible he was making all of this up in his head? Was he possibly being a little paranoid? Had he been so used to people searching for even the smallest things to mock him by, that it was now clouding his judgement of someone that seemed genuinly interested in him? Was it possible for someone to be actually curious about him?