Angel Grace and Lilin Heart

Taming a Tomcat

Shinji pressed his pillow to his face with a weak, muffled groan. He was so comfortable in bed, and he'd had such a long day... After all of the stress from exam taking - not to mention the stress of anticipating exams the next day - Shinji just wanted to forget it all for a little moment and sink into sleep.

But it'd started up almost right when he was about to drift off: a concert of loud, wailing meows issuing from beyond his bedroom door.

Curling up in indignation, Shinji squeezed his eyes shut. "Oh, please, just pipe down... shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up..." he whispered hopefully, but to no avail. The meowing - which was much more like screaming now - hadn't ceased. In fact, it was only closer.

Resignedly, but with a ridiculously grumpy expression on his face, Shinji sat up in bed and watched as his bedroom door was nudged open by a fluffy, little creature which had rudely entered without permission. Even still, it was meowing.

His head falling back in pleading, Shinji mumbled. "Please, just hush!"

He pushed himself out of bed, prompting the grey cat to mew quieter, then follow him excitedly as Shinji dragged his feet out to the kitchen. He almost felt like his cat was the one owning him. He had tried to teach him not to yowl in the middle of the night only a few hours after he was given dinner, he really had, but no matter what he tried, the determined little fluffball always found a way to disrupt him.

His last resort had been closing his bedroom door, but that had been an utter mistake; the cat just clawed at it, making an awful screeching noise that was made more frightening by the thought of what his landlord would do if he found cat scratches on his already shoddy paint job. Luckily, there had been no noticeable damage, but still, Shinji didn't need a deduction scare when he could barely afford rent as it was. He knew he needed to be cautious.

It didn't help that he technically wasn't supposed to have a pet in the complex at all, but really... it wasn't like that was enforced. He swore at least one other neighbor walked their dog in the mornings. And anyway, it wasn't like he could help himself from his dear cat.

Shinji had found him nearly a month ago, sleeping around the complex trash bins. If he was honest, Shinji had always wanted a pet, and had a particular soft spot for cats. It was just a shame that his parents had never said yes to his pleas for one, so he had gone petless for all of his life.

And something about that cat he saw laying there... Shinji was just so drawn to it. He supposed it might've been because of how lonely he'd been recently. It wasn't that he didn't have friends... well, he didn't have a great number of them or anything, but still, he just hadn't spent much time around them as of late. Sure, he had gone out for drinks with Toji and Kensuke a few weeks ago, and his sister Rei still paid him visits rather often, but that was about it. Finals week had been getting to everyone. He was craving company; he couldn't deny it.

So, it didn't take much to convince himself to kneel down and coax the cat out of its sleep. He'd been surprised to realize that the cat, upon stretching and looking up at him with a chirp, had red eyes. He couldn't help but wonder if that was normal. It didn't look quite like an infection... maybe he just had albinism?

Whatever it was though, Shinji didn't really mind. He didn't know anything about cat breeds, but whatever this one was was absolutely stunning. He was grey with soft, long fur. It was impressive how he could look so fluffy yet sleek at the same time. His chest was soft and wild with little tufts of white fur patterned throughout. Perfect for petting.

He had hoped that maybe after a few more visits, Shinji would be able to gain his trust and bring him back to his apartment. Much to his surprise though, the cat had happily walked beside him when Shinji tried to leave. Purring and twisting himself around Shinji's legs, he looked exceptionally happy. His cuddleability was quite enough to melt Shinji's heart, and maybe it wasn't the best choice right then, but Shinji had brought him back to his place anyway. It must've been a better place to sleep than the trash, he reasoned.