𝐼𝑁 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑁𝐸𝐼𝐺𝐻𝐵𝑂𝑅𝐻𝑂𝑂𝐷 ꨄ︎ 𝐊𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐎 𝐓.

6 ¤ House Pet

It's only been an hour and I'm bored beyond compare.  Tetsu's sister and mom haven't come back home yet.  I'm starting to question whether lending him my help or not was the right choice.  How am I supposed to help him if he's gone all the time?

While I'm thinking, I hear the sound of a door opening and slamming shut.  It can't be Tetsurou so I rush under his desk.  Somebody is rustling around out in the living room.  My curiosity is at its acme but I can't disobey Tetsurou.  I also can't reveal that I'm here to stay; that's Tetsu's job.

Why is being a cat so boring? I don't want to do this any more.  And I can't complain to Tetsu because he isn't here.  The door suddenly opens and reflexsively I curl up into a ball.  "Tetsu, are you home?" I hear the young voice of a girl say.  Crap, I want to go greet her but I can't.

She closes the door without saying anything else.  I guess I should go exploring around the neighborhood.  That will surely help me rid myself of this isolating boredom.  I go to the window, quickly transform into my human self to unlock the window and lift it; transforming back into a cat I jump out and begin my stroll.

Tetsurou's POV

Manager let me go an hour early so I'm already at the store, picking up cat necessities for Y/N.  I wonder if she'll eat cat food?  Probably not, so what should I get her?  I'm walking down the aisle thinking about this when I hear my phone go off.

Incoming call from: Mom

I swipe to answer, "Hey Mom," I say immediately.  "Hey Tetsurou, it turns out that I need to stay and work the night shift.  One of my coworkers got sick," she informs me in a sad tone.  "Okay.  It's alright Mom, I'll make dinner for Tetsuko and myself.  I'll leave you something in the fridge too," I put her at ease.

"Oh thank you so much Tetsurou!  I'll see you tomorrow then.  I love you," she says in a rush.  "I love you too Mom, bye," and with that I end the call.  Grabbing some ingredients for udon soup, I then make my way to the register.

At home~

"Tetsuko!  I'm home!" I shout into the house.  I hear thumping coming from her room.  I set the groceries down and go to knock on her door.  "Tetsuko?  Is everything okay?" I ask with concern laced into my voice.  "Come here!" she suddenly says so I open her door to find her room an absolute mess.

She's standing with her arms out and her back facing me.  "Tetsuko?" I say so that she'll actually hear me.  I walk further in to see what she's trying to catch and recognize Y/N.  Shoot, how am I going to explain all of this to Tetsuko? 

"This cat was in your room Tetsu!  Can we keep it?" she suddenly asks, surprising me.  I look at both her and Y/N in shock.  "I-I mean, probably.  But you look like you're scaring her Suko," I try to say as normal as I possibly can.  "Yay!" she shouts and Y/N runs out of the room with nowhere to escape.  "We can get her later.  Did Mom call you?" I ask Suko.

"Yeah, what are we eating for dinner?" she questions me.  "We're eating dog crap on a stick for dinner," I tease.  "Ew!  That's gross," she says while slapping my arm.  "Ouch!  Hey!  You're stronger than you think, now you have to kiss it better," I tease again leaning my arm towards her.

"Okay, I'm microwaving a chicken bake," she retorts in annoyance.  I act shocked and insulted, "Humph!  Fine, I'll eat all the udon noodles for myself then," I declare, sauntering off to the kitchen.

"How can I help!?" she practically shouts, sliding into the kitchen in her socks.  I give her a knowing look of victory.  "Fine, you win!" she pouts, crossing her arms.  I pump my fist into the air.  "Victory is mine!" I celebrate.

Tetsuko starts helping me prepare dinner.  I need to find a way to gently deliver my knowledge about Y/N to Suko.  "Is the cat a girl or a boy?" I ask nonchalantly.  "A girl," Suko immediately replies.  I take a moment to act like I'm pondering.  "How about we name her Y/N then?" I suggest, hoping that Suko will agree.

She looks as if she's thinking about whether she likes the name or not.  "Yeah, I like that!" she grins.  We continue preparing dinner.  As I'm standing at the counter I feel something brush up against my leg.  I look down to see Y/N.  "She's really sweet with you," Suko observes.  I nod, "She'll make a good house cat," I comment.  Tetsuko nods in return.  "Yeah she will," she says, taking her bowl of soup to the table.

Later in the evening~

Suko has gone to bed already and I'm sitting on the couch watching t.v.  Y/N is curled up against my side, sleeping.  We sure did have an eventful day today.  Our future's going to be a good one I think.  I wonder just how Y/N plans on helping me?