InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 3: Forever ❯ Cats and Dogs ( Chapter 24 )

~~Chapter 24~~

~Cats and Dogs~

 

Ryomaru shot a withering glare at the tiny white kitten that chased a tiny ball around the floor.

 

`How the fuck did this happen?'

 

He sighed. Guilt was a horrible thing, he decided with an inward snort. Just look at the trouble it had gotten him into this time.

 

Unable to forget his talk with Kichiro, Ryomaru had come to the only logical conclusion: he'd get Nezumi a kitten for Christmas---one to replace the kitten she hadn't been able to save years ago. He'd tried to figure out something else that might make a suitable replacement. He'd racked his brain for hours. Nothing else seemed right, though, so to that end, he'd called an ad he found for kittens, and after talking his sister into going with him, he'd headed over to pick out the furry beast. The last thing he wanted was for that little monster to tear up the leather seats in his car. Gin had said he was being ridiculous. Ryomaru had ignored her.

 

“You know, if you hate them that bad, get her something else,” Gin remarked reasonably as she followed Ryomaru up the driveway toward the clean porch of the small house.

 

Ryomaru shot his sister a fulminating glare. “Oh? And you like them, do you?”

 

Gin grinned. “They're not that bad,” she said. “Grandma loves to tell us about Papa playing with Mama's cat whenever he came to visit, remember?”

 

In his opinion, that observation didn't really deserve a reply.

 

“Anyway, if someone as stubborn as Papa can tolerate one, then I guess you can, too.”

 

“That's totally different.”

 

Gin sighed. “How do you figure that?”

 

Ryomaru snorted. “Feh! Buyo didn't live with the old man.”

 

`That is the stupidest kitten, ever,' he thought with a snort as the kitten batted the ball under the sofa for probably the hundredth time before she sat down and stared at him expectantly. “Too damn bad,” he grumbled as he looked away. “You pushed it under there. You can just suffer.”

 

“Mew.”

 

“Feh!”

 

It was true, though. She was definitely the dumbest of the litter. The other five kittens as well as the mother cat had the common sense to hiss at him. She was the only one who hadn't. All the noise had been enough to set Ryomaru's nerves on edge, and by the time the woman excused herself to answer the phone, he'd barely been able to wait until she was out of the room before growling menacingly at the assembled felines while Gin slowly shook her head and sighed. They'd all run for cover . . . at least, all but the stupidest one---this one who obviously still thought he was going to retrieve the kami-forsaken ball again.

 

“Mew?”

 

“Oh, no . . . you go get it,” he snarled.

 

“Mew!”

 

“Uh-uh.”

 

The kitten changed tactics as she stood up and rubbed her head against his ankle, breaking into a low rumbling purr. “M-mew.”

 

Ryomaru stared at her for a moment before he gritted his teeth and heaved a sigh, squatting down to reach under the sofa for the ball. “Damn it.” Brushing his hands off as he stood up again, he glowered at the kitten as she chased the ball around the floor. “Don't do it again, because I ain't rescuing it the next time,” he grumbled, flicking his ears in irritation. “All Gin's fault, anyway . . . `Get her a toy, Ryo . . . Cats love toys.' Feh!”

 

He sighed. There was another reason he'd bought the kitten, and as loathe as he was to admitting that he needed the insurance the cat provided, there it was. He really wasn't convinced that Nezumi would really move into the house with him. With the added enticement of the kitten, he was pretty sure she'd give in.

 

`Nice, Ryo . . . resorting to buying a cat to get your mate to live with you? Damn, that's pathetic. I mean, really . . .'

 

`Who the hell asked you?'

 

`That's just sad . . . you do realize I'm a part of you, right?'

 

Ryomaru rolled his eyes. `Of course I realize that . . . What do you think I am?'

 

`I dunno . . . you're the one who bought a damn cat . . .'

 

`. . . Shuddup.'

 

“Mew?”

 

Blinking a few times to clear his mind, Ryomaru glanced down at the kitten, which was smashed against the floor staring under the sofa again. “Oh, hell, you didn't!”

 

The cat spared him a cursory glance. “Mew?”

He shook his head and squatted down to retrieve the ball. “Nez better get home soon,” he grumbled as he tossed the tiny bit of plastic across the room as far away from the sofa as he could. The kitten bounded after it as Ryomaru sat on the floor and leaned back. “Nothing but a fucking ball of fur . . .”

 

`She's kinda cute . . .'

 

Ryomaru snorted. `I thought I told you to shut up?'

 

The voice in his head laughed.

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

Nezumi closed the door and dropped her keys onto the table before glancing up with a suspicious scowl. Ryomaru was hunkered down with his cheek on the floor, his rear in the air, and his arm shoved under the sofa. With a few muttered curses accompanied by a rather uncharacteristic grunt, he pulled his arm out and sat up. “Now will you fucking stop doing that?”

 

Crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at Ryomaru's back, Nezumi hesitantly wandered toward him. “Sure, if you'll tell me what I need to stop doing.”

 

“Mew!”

 

The scowl dissipated as her eyebrows shot up. Ryomaru growled as a tiny, fuzzy white head poked up over his shoulder. “A kitten?”

 

“Take her, will you? She's nothing but a pain in my ass . . . oh yeah . . . Merry fucking Christmas.”

 

Nezumi shook her head in confusion as she reached out to pull the kitten off Ryomaru's shoulder. The cat's claws were dug in, and Nezumi winced when the shirt made a tiny ripping noise as the claws pulled free.

 

“Christmas isn't until next week,” she pointed out.

 

Ryomaru snorted and flopped down on the sofa. “You want I should hide her for a week?”

 

Nezumi rolled her eyes at his sarcastic tone but grinned as she held up the kitten for inspection. “She's so cute! Is she a Persian?”

 

“Feh! She's a cat!”

 

“Did you name her?”

 

“Name her?”

 

“Sure . . . I can't just call her `cat'.”

 

“I can think of lots of names I'd love to use for her,” Ryomaru grumbled. “Stupid . . . baka . . . Stupid baka . . .”

 

“No . . .” Nezumi crooned as she cuddled the kitten against her chest only to be rewarded by the low rumble of her purrs. “She's so white, like snow . . . I know! Yukitora---snow tiger. That's perfect! Yukitora . . .”

 

She was so absorbed in playing with the kitten that she didn't see Ryomaru's mouth drop open in indignant irritation. “Tiger?” he sputtered. “Tiger?”

 

“Isn't that the perfect name for her?”

 

“No! She's damn hairball! Name her something else, like . . . `useless'.”

 

She shot him a calculating stare and shrugged. “I could always name her Ryomaru.”

 

It was a struggle not to laugh at the absolute horror and frustration that passed over his features. “Oi! I'm not a fucking girl!” he bellowed.

 

“But you said I can't name her Yukitora,” Nezumi pointed out sweetly.

 

“Well, you can't name her after me, either!”

 

“Fine, Ryo . . . Yukitora or Ryomaru . . . you choose.”

 

“. . . Damn it.”

 

She giggled as she headed to the kitchen. Ryomaru had picked up kitten food, too, which actually surprised her. She didn't realize he would think that far ahead. Yukitora rubbed against Nezumi's ankles and purred as she waited for her meal. Nezumi grinned as she set the small plastic dish on the floor. Yukitora wasted no time diving into the food, and Nezumi giggled as she rubbed the kitten's head with the back of her knuckle.

 

Ryomaru got her a kitten? She shook her head. He hated cats. That wasn't surprising anymore, given that she knew he was inu-hanyou, but she used to wonder why.

 

She frowned as she slowly stood up. “Ryo . . . I can't have pets here. You know that, right?”

 

He dropped the television remote on the table and looked at her. “She can stay with me. The house is done.”

 

“You hate cats,” she reminded him.

 

“Yeah . . . be a shame if I got pissed off at her and, oh, I don't know . . . chased her up a tree or something.”

 

Nezumi's mouth dropped open. “Oh, you're really low . . .”

 

He flicked his ears and made a face but she could see the amused glint in his eyes. “I didn't do anything,” he protested. “I thought you'd like her.”

 

“You bought her so I'd move in with you!”

 

“Think of it this way, Nez. You're not losing a home, you're gaining a kitten.”

 

She heaved a sigh and gazed back at the kitten again. `Of all the miserable, terrible . . . Oh, Ryo!'

 

Yukitora sat down and raised her paw to wash her face.

 

“You wouldn't hurt her,” Nezumi remarked.

 

“Not on purpose,” he agreed.

 

“. . . Damn it,” she muttered as she let her arms drop and stomped off toward the bathroom to shower. “Fine, Ryo, you win.”

 

`For now,' she amended to herself. `Just you wait, dog breath . . . I'll get you . . .'

 

 

-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-

 

 

Ryomaru waited until the bathroom door closed before the self-satisfied smile he'd been trying to hide finally surfaced.

 

`Congratulations, Ryomaru. You've sank to new lows.'

 

`Whatever works, right? Besides, Nez knows I wouldn't really hurt the little monster.'

 

`Oh? Then you didn't see the horrified look on her face when you made the accident comment?'

 

He ignored the guilt that pricked at him. `Well, she should have known.'

 

`Still, that was pretty rotten of you.'

 

`Feh! Concentrate on the bigger picture here, will you? Nez is my mate, whether she likes it or not. She has to move in with me. I was just making sure she had incentive. All on the up-and-up, I swear.'

 

The voice didn't answer, but it did snort.

 

“Ow!”

 

Wincing as he glanced down only to see the hell-spawn cat climbing up his leg, Ryomaru reached down and plucked the kitten loose and held her up to stare into her eyes.

 

“Listen, you . . . if you're going to live with us, we need to come to an agreement, got it? Nez is mine, and you are expendable. Understand?”

 

The kitten blinked and started purring. “Pr-row?”

 

He frowned. “Stop purring when I'm talking to you.”

 

The damn beast purred louder.

 

“I mean it,” he grumbled, narrowing his gaze on the feline. “Collateral damage . . . Are you listening?”

 

The kitten closed her eyes.

 

With a defeated sigh, Ryomaru dropped the animal on his lap. Damned if she didn't curl up into a content little ball of fluff and fall asleep.

 

 

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A/N:

Yukitora --- snow tiger.

Yay! Everyone appears to be healthy in my home (at last!) Sorry for the delays … now back to the story …

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Reviewers

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Lady-Sttar (FFnet):

Maybe its just me... but I always give my friends gifts on x-mas, and only special people get gifts on their B-Days (mostly because I have to actually remember when those are- special date to just that *one* person). So is this a tradition that is specific to you the author or just specific to the characters in the story?

 

In Japan, Christmas is treated much like Valentine's Day is here. That's what the assumption is based on for this story.

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MMorg

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Final Thought fromRyomaru:

Fucking cat …

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Forever): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~