Aizawa's Cat (Old)

Chapter 2

Six year old Izuku slowly slid his window open, ears straining to hear any noise from the dark apartment at his back as he cautiously climbed out and settled on the fire escape.
He had been practicing whenever he could and tonight he felt ready enough to explore a little more.

Over the years Izuku had perfected changing into a cat, well, kitten, and relearning how to walk was hard, it made him tired quickly but now he could finally move around and he didn't want to waste any time he had. He closed his green eyes and braced himself, whenever he changed it always pulled on his injuries, hurting them more, but he didn't want to stay at home, not since his mummy had drank that strong smelly stuff and come in his room angry while he had been sleeping.

All he could remember was being woken up by a hard slap to the face, he had blinked and then he was laying in bed again, his lip bleeding, eye throbbing and his chest hurting.
Shaking his head hard enough to send his hair flying around his head, the boy focused; gritting his teeth as his body shifted, bones grinding and muscles stretching in ways they shouldn't.

It took him a moment to push away the fading pain, soft paws pressing against the cold metal as he leapt up onto the railing, wiggling his butt as he focused on where he would land, muscles bunching and releasing in a leap, sending him flying forwards until he silently landed on the lower wall.
He loved being a cat, his favourite part being how he was rarely cold, his fur keeping the bitter night wind from his skin.
'I wonder if he will be there tonight?'

He made no noise as he moved across the wall, jumping down to the floor and running as fast as his little legs could go. There was a nice man who Izuku had met on a rooftop one night when he was exploring, he had scared the small boy at first because he looked scary but the man had picked him up and helped clean blood from his fur, sharing his sandwich and patting the boys head in a way that drew his first purr.

He wasn't always there, in fact on the nights he wasn't Izuku jumped down to the convenience store dumpster and scavenged what he could, a small kitten needed less food than a child and his mummy forgot to feed him sometimes, but that was ok, she was super busy with work and the smelly drink made her super forgetful.
When he reached the roof he let out a small meow, barely loud enough to be heard, and perked up when he heard a quiet 'tskk' sound, his clumsy paws hitting the uncomfortable gravel rapidly and twining his body around a pair of ankles.
"There you are Yomogi," a low voice crooned, a large hand carefully wrapping around Izuku's stomach to pick him up. "You haven't been here the last few nights, you worried me."

Wriggling a little in the soft grip, Izuku lifted a paw and pressed it against the man's nose.
If he was human he would have a huge smile on his face. He felt the man's dark eyes scanning his body, dark eyebrows furrowing angrily when he noticed blood around his mouth.
"I wish you would let me take you home, you're obviously not being taken care of."

Ears flattening, Izuku felt really bad for the man, he had tried to take Izuku home before but the boy had panicked and scratched him. He was scared, he was a boy, not a cat and if he stayed with the man then he would find out and be really angry. Plus he couldn't leave his mummy, she would be really sad if Izuku disappeared and she didn't know where he was.
The tall man sat on the roof and put Izuku in his lap, taking out the wipes that stung from his pocket; Izuku didn't like them but the man had told him if they weren't clean then they could make him sick so he begrudgingly let him gently grab his chin.

"I know you don't like it," the man sighed, voice low and soothing, "It has to be done though."
It didn't take long and when he was done Izuku climbed up the man's front, ignoring the hissing as his claws dug in a little, and wiggling into the warm scarf, batting playfully at the long black hair as it shifted in the wind.
It was nice, just staying with the kind man and doing nothing, it relaxed him like nothing else did.