Red Strings ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Forty-Fourth String

A/N: Thank you @someonealilbitcrazy for suggesting this chapter! They mentioned that they liked the fact that Kurenai and Chishiya never fight. That's because I thought about it, and I just couldn't think of something they would fight about. They are both so understanding and accommodating of each other, it's just not possible.

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Walking through the front door, Chishiya barely had time to take his shoes off when he noticed something was a little off.

Resting against the island counter on the floor were at least ten bags of what looked like cat litter. On the countertop were bags and bags of dry cat food stacked, with what looked like a million bags of treats. Ayako was working in the kitchen but she was not cooking a meal. She was clearing out a cupboard for the mountain of cat canned food.

"What is going on here?" Chishiya asked, picking up one of the treats.

"Welcome home, Mr. Chishiya," Ayako smiled. "Miss Kurenai brought a new member home."

New member? This was the first he heard of it.

"Baby?"

There was no answer from Kurenai, and Chishiya was about to look for her when he was stunned by the cat trees by the window. Trees. Plural. One of them looked like a mini house too.

He heard footsteps coming down the stairs and when Chishiya looked over, he saw Kurenai. With a kitten in her arms. She did not even notice him, her eyes glued onto the cat as she scratched its head and was using baby talk with it.

"Do you like your new home?" she asked. "Of course you do. You're my baby now. Mummy's going to make sure you live the best life. You will be the most pampered cat in the world. Yes you will, you already are. You are my precious baby."

This was definitely a new side to Kurenai that Chishiya had never seen before.

She had always been an animal lover, that he knew. They attended charity events before where he had seen her playing with puppies and rabbits, but she was never like this with them. She had a big smile that indicated she had a lot of fun, but she never baby-talked any of those animals.

"Kurenai, what is going on?" Chishiya asked.

Finally, she was seeing him.

"Oh, you're home! Look, we've got a baby!" she grinned, holding the cat up to his face.

Chishiya frowned, leaning back a little. He did not hate animals, but he did not particularly love them either. To him, they just...existed. They occupied the same Earth, but he would not go out of his way to eradicate them or accommodate them. He never thought of having a pet either, like most kids. While everyone was asking for a puppy for their birthdays, he never bat an eyelash at an abandoned puppy in the park once.

"Why did you get a cat?"

"I saw a poster on the bulletin board at work. Apparently someone's cat had kittens but they couldn't take care of so many cats so they were giving them away. I wanted to adopt all of them but that might be a little much so I got him! Meet Cheshire!"

"Cheshire?"

"Yes, Cheshire. Like the Cheshire Cat in Alice In Wonderland. He's a tabby British shorthair too, the same breed as the Cheshire Cat. And he's adorable. Look at him!"

He was not adorable.

The kitten was tiny and frail, that was all Chishiya could see. He could not stop thinking about the ammonia smell they would experience too. Most importantly, he did not like the fact that Kurenai was solely focused on the cat now.

--

Chishiya was not jealous.

That was what he kept telling himself.

He was not the type to get jealous, or so he thought.

Kurenai was constantly surrounded by other people, whether it was for work or privately. If he were to get jealous of every single person she interacted with, Chishiya would not have time to feel any other emotion. Not that it was healthy for him or the relationship to be constantly jealous of someone who so much as glance her way. He was confident in himself too, to know that Kurenai only had eyes for him, and she only loved him.

But there was just something about Cheshire the goddamn cat.

Whoever said cats were not affectionate obviously never spent time with one.

Cheshire was not affectionate with Chishiya. Nor was he affectionate with Ayako. He simply tolerated being around them (with some hostility against Chishiya, or so he claimed). He was, however, absolutely stuck to Kurenai.

When she came home from work, no matter where he was in the apartment or what he was doing, he would be running to her and meowing the entire time. He would be rubbing against her leg until she picked him up, and he would refuse to be put down until he was asleep for the night.

And Kurenai was just as stuck to Cheshire as he was to her.

The first thing she would do when she got home would be to call out for the cat. She carried him around in her arms all around the apartment. She would even have him in the bathroom when she was using it. Ayako did every chore in the apartment, but anything related to Cheshire, Kurenai would do herself. She fed him, she bathed him, and she even cleaned his litter.

Where Chishiya drew the line, however, was when he came home extremely stressed from work one day and all he had been looking forward to was holding his girlfriend to melt it all off.

But he was hug-blocked by a cat.

Chishiya did not consider himself to be the jealous and possessive type, though if there was anything he would claim in regards to Kurenai, it would be that he was the only one who could lay on her lap. The only living being to do so.

Even when they went to bed, Cheshire would be there, sleeping on Chishiya's pillow. It was as if the cat knew that they were rivals fighting for affection from the same person. Chishiya was being challenged by a cat, and he was losing.

So he waited until Kurenai was fast asleep before he scooped Cheshire from his pillow, carrying him out of the bedroom. He simply put the cat down in the hallway outside the bedroom and went back to bed. After he made sure the door was locked. He then climbed back into bed and pulled Kurenai into his arms, sleeping with a smile on his face.

Except Cheshire would not let him sleep.

Sat right outside the bedroom door, Cheshire was meowing loudly and kept pawing at the door. It did not take long for Kurenai to wake to the sound, like a mother would wake to her baby crying.

"Cheshire?"

"He's fine."

"Where is he?" Shimmering out of Chishiya's arms, Kurenai got out of bed to look for the cat. She then discovered the locked door and the cat that was locked outside the room. "Hey baby, why are you outside?" she asked, picking the cat up. "Who locked you out, hm?"

She was staring straight at Chishiya with an accusing look. Not that he was going to deny.

"He was in the way."

"Of what?" Kurenai asked. "Are you jealous?"

"Jealous? Of a cat? Why would I be jealous?"

Chishiya was not jealous. Definitely not. He was...irked. Yes, that was the word, irked.

Kurenai got back into bed, putting Cheshire down in her lap before taking Chishiya's hand in hers. She knew she had neglected him lately, because of Cheshire. She was too caught up with a new member of the family, and had forgotten him.

She leaned in, kissing Chishiya on the lips over and over again.

"You know I love you, right?" she whispered. "There's no one I love more than you."

"I know."

"So don't be jealous of Cheshire." Holding the cat right next to Chishiya's face, Kurenai smiled. "Besides, the reason why I got him is because he reminds me of you. Look! You guys look the same."

"We really don't."