Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Neko no Yume - Cat of Dreams ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Crossover of `Fruits Basket' with `Petshop of Horrors'... A feral `pet' shows up and adopts Kyo.

I've spent a little time adding descriptive bits that hint at the `Fruits Basket' background, for the sake of any curious `Petshop of Horrors' fans who might not know the series. The best way to get to know either series, of course, being to grab a copy of either the manga or the anime! =]

Disclaimer: I own rights to neither Natsuki Takaya's `Fruits Basket' nor Matsuri Akino's `Petshop of Horrors'.

Enjoy!

 

Neko no Yume - “Cat of Dreams”

By CrazyDragon

 

Chapter 1

 

Kyo Sohma--the unfortunate soul to be cursed with the Cat's spirit, a part of the curse of the Chinese Zodiac that has been on his family for generations uncounted--didn't know where she came from, or who she was. He wasn't even entirely certain what she looked like--she always kept to the shadows, giving him just the barest glimpse of movement to show she was there. Kyo didn't know how he even knew it was female, this--this maybe not-human thing that was stalking him so stealthily. He just...did, somehow.

 

When his most-hated cousin Yuki Sohma and his closest friend Tohru Honda finally dragged out of him what had him so jumpy, the Rat-cursed Yuki joked that maybe Kyo was developing his very own fan club. The already irritated cat saw that the insufferable “Prince” of their high school was smirking with delighted malice at the thought, even as Tohru's innocent face showed her concern for Kyo's distress.

 

Predictably, this started another fight between the two boys, ending in a normal way with Kyo slamming face-first into a wall in the school hallway, without even landing one good blow to his hated cousin. Dust puffed off the wall blocks from the force of the impact as the cat-cursed boy slid slowly to the ground, dazed; a half-panicked Tohru wringing her hands and babbling almost incoherently as she fluttered worriedly about him. It didn't matter how many fights happened between the two boys, with always the same end result of Kyo being much the worse for wear; Tohru never simply took it for granted that the cat was magically all right afterwards. This salved the sharpest edge off Kyo's angry frustration with never, ever seeming to be able to beat the oh-so-perfect Yuki.

 

She wouldn't show herself at all to anyone else, Kyo's stalking shadow; the others all thought he was just jumping at nothing, imagining things. --Except for the psychic goth-girl, one of Tohru's two closest friends. Saki Hanajima actually looked surprised, for a brief instant, the first time Kyo's shadow flickered across her psychic awareness. A thoughtful look was followed by a quietly raised eyebrow; then a gentle touch to the blond Yankee's arm, distracting Arisa Uo from teasing Kyo about his too-obvious jumpiness. Hana's intense study of the black shadows that she'd sensed held--something--brought a faint hint of worry to the others, silencing their not-so-gentle teasing.

 

Especially after Hanajima then directly gave Kyo one of her rare, gentle smiles, dark eyes all too full of strange knowledge. That look raised the neck hairs of all who saw it.

 

Kyo bristled and all but hissed at her, eyes widening as his body tensed in a way that quite clearly reminded everyone of a bush-haired, angry cat. Then he grit his teeth and forced himself into a semblance of calm before spinning on his heel and stalking off, hands shoved roughly into the trouser pockets of his school uniform--not speaking a word. Hana, Arisa, Tohru, and Yuki all sweat-dropped as they stared after him, wondering at this unusual silence.

 

Where was all his normal yelling and screaming? Where was that untamable, quick-flaming temper that got him in so much trouble all the time? A quiet Kyo just was not natural; it was like seeing the sun at midnight!

 

Yuki had been the first to shake off the bemusement and get everyone moving again, towards home or work or whatever other after-school destinations they might have planned. They could just ask Kyo about it the next day, after all. Yuki and Tohru's best friends sweat-dropped, then sighed in resignation as Tohru immediately proceeded to rattle on about all of the things that could possibly be wrong with Kyo-kun, and how she hoped it wasn't her fault--it would be just terrible if she were to blame, if she'd done something to offend Kyo-kun; and how ever would she make it up to him if she'd gotten him ill!--

 

The rat-cursed boy did his best to reassure Tohru that Kyo was not likely sick; probably he was only feeling under the weather--there was a storm heading their way on the morrow, after all. This might have worked, if Tohru hadn't then realized that Kyo didn't have an umbrella with him; what if the rain was coming in early, and he got soaked before he got home?! And so she was off again, worrying that Yuki's so-irritating feline of a cousin was going to catch his death of a cold; thankfully not mentioning in front of the other two girls how it was the Cat's second curse that made him especially sensitive to rainy weather, sapping his strength until he was sometimes barely able to raise his head, let alone stand. Not that they'd likely even notice the content of her words, at the unbelievably fast pace the girl was speaking; let alone understand what she was talking about. They had no knowledge of the curse of the Chinese Zodiac that lay upon twelve-and-one members of the Sohma clan, plus their Clan Head.

 

Well. That was Tohru for you. She even worried about Akito, the Sohma Clan Head and `God' of the Zodiac-cursed, for heaven's sake! Akito was malice incarnate, as far as Yuki was concerned. He had the scars to prove it...both physical, and not.

 

Yuki spared a brief, rather snide wish that the idiot cat would end up with at least a mild cold, both for his carelessness and for his inconsiderate worrying of Tohru. The two boys had been practicing the hereditary enmity of the Cat and the Rat of the Zodiac curse for as long as they'd known of each other's existence; but even so, the thought was more form force of habit, than any real sense of spite. Living with Tohru for the past year had mellowed them both towards each other, at least somewhat.

 

A `miraculously' not-sick Kyo got up extra early the next day, at least partially in hopes of avoiding a grilling from his too-nosy house-mates. The Dog-cursed Shigure Sohma was too much the perverted idiot of a romance writer for any sane teenaged boy to even consider asking advice from him. Yuki would be no help at all, and he didn't want to worry Tohru. So Kyo left for school before Tohru had even begun making breakfast, the idea lurking in his mind to confront this shadow-girl of his for once and all. Maybe, if he was completely alone, she'd actually come out and let him at least see her clearly.

 

He had no such luck, that first day; or for the rest of that too-long week. His shadow-girl seemed to know very well what he was up to, and was having none of it. His house-mates were giving him strange looks and insistently trying to pin him down to find out what was wrong--when they could get themselves into the same room he was in, anyway. But Kyo himself was hard as a shadow to corner, when he truly put his mind to it.

 

The irony wasn't lost on him, though he completely failed to appreciate it.

 

Saturday, determinedly staying out in the forest for the entire afternoon after the half-day of school, Kyo didn't even catch a glimpse of movement anywhere around him that wasn't easily seen as normal wildlife. His temper had risen well beyond the boiling point by then; he was snapping at every little thing anyone did around him, and his fights with Yuki had become so frequent they barely said a word to each other before the fists and feet and then Kyo started flying. Poor Shigure was nearly beside himself with bemoaning the damage to his `poor, defenseless house!'

 

Then, on Sunday--things changed. Kyo forewent his one day of the week for sleeping in and rose well before the sun. He slipped on his favorite black t-shirt and beige cargo pants, pulled on a dark blue hoodie against the early morning chill, and stalked determinedly out the front door and into the forest surrounding the house. Fierce crimson eyes bored into the nearly invisible path in front of his feet as his tennis shoes crunched with purpose through dead leaves and branches. His wild, yet Sohma-handsome features were grim; he kept his fisted hands in his pockets, hunching slightly as he tried to keep a rein on his so-volatile temper. A slight breeze ruffled his short orange hair, sending chill fingers down his neck whenever it could.

 

He was sick and tired of this game. It was going to end, that very day!

 

Kyo's feet brought him to the shore of the small lake that had witnessed the worst, yet conversely best day of his life. He paused in that spot, memory of Tohru clinging to his monstrously misshapen arm while he tried almost frantically to shake her off stabbing at his heart. She'd been very lucky he hadn't seriously hurt her, only given her some bruises where she'd hit the ground as he swung his horrendously strong and deformed arm about. He remembered how his claws had raked Yuki's shoulder when the rat also refused to just let him go, let him draw away from them possibly forever; instead grabbing Kyo's hideously transformed legs and holding on for dear life while Tohru so desperately tried to reach the cat's tortured mind.

 

She had accepted him, in spite of that form. Both of them had accepted him, had come after him...even the damned rat. They had not rejected him; nor pretended it did not bother them, when any sane human was terrified of the Cat-cursed's monstrous `true form'--including the one cursed to wear it. None of them had spoken of it, since; or even changed their behaviors each towards the others all that much...but it had caused a profound change in Kyo, nonetheless.

 

He and the damned rat had actually started behaving like something other than deadly enemies. Neither was sure just what exactly they were, now; but they couldn't truly call themselves enemies any more, in spite of their occasional flare-ups of temper. Until Kyo's mysterious shadow-girl showed up, that is, and started fraying the cat's temper back to the sad state it was in before Tohru came into his life... Kyo's shadow was undoing all of the good that Tohru had done him, by spooking him so much he reverted to his old self!

 

Kyo's lips pulled back as a snarl grew on his face, anger flaming hotter than ever in those crimson eyes. Damnit, was he so pitiful that something this--simple, could undo all the improvements he'd made?! He cursed loudly as he knelt by the largest rock on the shore, his hand absently reaching to rest on it.

 

A shudder wracked his wiry body as his fingers found the deep gouges his claws had left, that day. He clearly remembered that shape that his body took on during the rain, after his Master--his karate teacher, grandson of the previous cat-cursed; and the closest thing he'd ever had to a real father, since his own wanted nothing more than for him to be locked away from all human contact forever--or better yet, killed... When Master took away his beads, his body had transformed as the hated rain drenched him, the pain of his bones and muscles shifting and altering dragging a cry from him. He had changed into that hideous, monstrous `true form' that the cat-cursed was forced to endure, in addition to the Zodiac curse of an animal's body when hugged by a girl.

 

Kyo's right hand crept on its own from that rock to protectively cover the black and white beads; reassuring himself that the bracelet was still safely about his left wrist, sealing away that awful form. His eyes glanced quickly, habitually upwards, reaffirming that it was not raining and wasn't about to start any time soon. Not that he could possibly miss noticing the usual bone-deep lethargy that came with the rain, sapping his strength; stealing away his vitality...seeming to drain his very life away...

 

He was so wrapped up in not-so-pleasant reminiscence that he nearly missed spotting the girl who stepped out of the trees, across the small lake from him.

 

The shadows appeared reluctant to give her up, seeming almost to drift out from under the trees with her. They resolved into the longest, fullest head of unbound, coal-black hair Kyo had ever seen in his life--even in manga characters! It reached all the way to the ground, floating freely about and behind her, almost like a heavy cloak. It was hard to tell through the thick, wavy locks, but it looked like she was wearing a black miniskirt and skin-tight, long-sleeved turtleneck shirt, with thigh-high black boots. He couldn't tell what any of it was made from--he could only make out that there was no reflection from the stiff-seeming material, such as leather or silk would have. Possibly the whole outfit was made of suede; it seemed stiff enough from a distance. Her skin was pale as moonlight in the midst of all that unforgiving black, nearly pearl-white. There were no glints as from jewelry, or buckles, or any kind of ornamentation.

 

He couldn't make out the exact color of her dark eyes from such a distance, but they were large, slanted, and seemed to bore into his very soul even from more than two hundred feet away. She stood absolutely still, the only movement about her from the faint breeze sifting through her long locks with delicate, invisible fingers. That same quiet caress of air wafted a faint, sweetish, vaguely distracting scent over the lake to Kyo, who was too preoccupied to consciously notice it.

 

Kyo stared, slack-jawed and stunned. Something about her was--calling to him, in a way he couldn't understand. It wasn't that she was absolutely the single most stunningly beautiful woman he'd ever even imagined; no, this calling felt like it was somehow related to his curse.

 

It was like--she was a cat; simply having chosen to wear human form.

 

That realization snapped him out of his dazed staring, jump-starting his mind and firing up his notorious temper. Not one to mince words, he took a deep breath to steady himself and yelled to her, his voice conveying both anger and nervousness, “Who the hell are you?! Why have you been following me!?!!”

 

She stared curiously back at him in silence for several moments, as Kyo felt his temper start to churn his thoughts into incoherence. He fisted his hands at his sides, gritting his teeth and trying hard as he could to bite back his anger. He wanted--needed--answers, from this strange girl! This mysterious stalking was driving him insane!

 

Suddenly her eyes broke from his, widening and staring behind him with alarm. She spun and darted off into the trees before Kyo's mind had even registered that she was moving, with a distinctly feline grace to her movements that sent an icy chill up his spine even as he gaped in awed appreciation; his body jerking in an aborted move to follow after her, one hand raised and reaching. She was on the other side of the lake; there was no way he'd ever catch her.

 

Shaking his head to clear his slightly muddled thoughts, Kyo scowled and spun to look behind himself. A faint rustling approaching through the underbrush drew his eyes, the dense foliage eventually spitting out his still much-loathed cousin, Yuki. Kyo glared at the rat-cursed boy as Yuki brushed stray bits of leaf and twig off himself, his much too pretty, slightly feminine face set in a mild grimace of distaste for the new snags on his sleeves. All of Kyo's built-up frustration peaked, making it all but impossible for him to use a civil tone with the other boy. It was only later that he would regret his sharp words, wistfully recalling that the two of them had learned better how to relate to each other, and to even grudgingly respect one another.

 

“What the hell are you doing here, you damned rat?!!”

 

Yuki let out a long-suffering sigh, eyes rolling heaven-wards as he gathered his scant patience for his too-annoying relation. A vague sense of disappointment washed over him, fading quickly as old habits came to the fore. Hands loose at his sides and back straight, Yuki stared flat-eyed at Kyo and told him, “Miss Honda is worried about you; you were gone when we got up, and she wasn't certain you'd been back at all last night. I promised her I'd bring you back.” Violet-gray eyes stared coldly into burning crimson, conveying a world of disdain for the inconsiderate boy who would make their so-dear friend worry needlessly. Concentrating on Kyo's `offense' kept the rat from consciously noticing the concern that had been growing in his own heart, as the cat seemed to be getting closer and closer to a nervous breakdown as the days went by and his delusion of a stalker consumed him.

 

Except--Hanajima had believed in Kyo's stalker. Yuki ruthlessly shoved that quiet thought to the back of his mind, unwilling to deal with it in the face of Kyo's irrational anger.

 

Mention of Tohru helped Kyo keep himself from immediately attacking the hated rat-cursed boy, sending a vague feeling of guilt through his heart even as every furious instinct of the spirit he was cursed with argued that he should attack the youth in front of him. He knew Tohru hated it when he and Yuki fought, and so had been consciously trying to build up a tolerance to his rival's presence--even as Yuki had been doing towards him. Yuki's coming after him on...that day...had helped a very great deal.

 

They both still had a long way to go before tolerating each other could be called anything but monumentally difficult, though. And that damned stalking girl was not helping!! Kyo swallowed a growl of frustration.

 

“Well, I was back; I went to bed early, and got up early to go for a walk.” Kyo bristled as he snapped; he couldn't help himself, something about Yuki just--always brought out the worst in him, especially when his temper was already high. He was nearly spitting when he went on, “You just scared off that annoying shadow, you damned rat!! I might have gotten some answers, if you'd taken another lousy five minutes!”

 

One almost delicate grey eyebrow rose as Yuki stared back at him, unimpressed. Kyo's recent return to his old, overly touchy self had worn on the rat-cursed boy's nerves more than ever before. His teeth were gritted and his violet eyes narrowed with annoyance when he spoke with his own rising temper in a particularly clipped and precise manner, “Miss Honda should have breakfast ready by now. Are you coming, or am I bringing you?”

 

Needless to say, there ensued another of their infamous rat-cat fights, this time ending with Yuki dragging an insensate Kyo by the collar all the way back to Shigure's house. The only thing keeping him from dragging the idiot cat through as many brambles and mud-holes and over the roughest ground he could find, was the remembrance that it was Miss Honda who would have to repair his fool cousin's clothing, and would fuss over the stupid cat's injuries.

 

He wasn't about to carry the idiot cat, though!

 

Kyo didn't really understand why, but he found himself sneaking plates of Tohru's cooking out into the forest every evening after he first actually saw the girl, when he was sure no one was watching him. He'd set the meal out on a tray, with napkins and chopsticks and a cup of tea and all; where he was somehow sure the shadow-girl would find it. Tohru was pleased to think that he was eating better; Kyo flushed guiltily and let her think he was eating it all up on the roof, his habitual place of solitude. His anti-social reputation came in handy, sometimes.

 

Even when he couldn't see the shadow-girl, he could feel eyes on him. Every morning, when he snuck out for his before-breakfast solitary jog, he'd find the tray and sparkling-clean plates right where he'd left them. He had the oddest sensation that he was feeding a stray animal...except--animals did not use chopsticks; or wash dishes.

 

It wasn't until one drizzly Sunday a whole month later that Kyo was able to catch another look at the strange girl. It was once again at that same small lake, in the evening hours just before sunset. The weather had been miserable for three days straight, heavy storms ripping through the district one after the other with only a few hours of mere sprinkles scattered in between the more pummeling watery assaults. Thanks to his curse, Kyo was barely able to walk without leaning on something, and had great difficulty even stringing two coherent thoughts together.

 

Even Tohru had given up on getting more than a quiet monosyllable in reply to anything said to him. Kyo found himself concentrating on one simple thing at a time, the cursed exhaustion eating at his very bones.

 

He still kept faithfully leaving the food out every day, in spite of his condition; making sure to use a covered tray, and leaving it under cover of heavier underbrush. And he was determined to go sit by the lake again for a few hours, as he now did every Sunday morning; hoping to see her again. He still didn't have his answers, after all; though he was less and less hopeful of ever learning anything about the strange black-haired girl, as time wore on and on.

 

At least he had finally managed to get a handle on his temper, as the situation continued on unchanged for so long. A body could only tolerate so much stress from a state of constant readiness before complacency tried to creep back in.

 

Trudging lead-limbed through the forest, he'd barely noticed the concerned shadow-girl's appearance, hovering closer and closer to him. This was the first truly bad string of storms since she'd begun following him, and apparently she had no clue what was wrong with him. When he got to the lake, Kyo plopped himself down on a convenient boulder; nearly missing his seat altogether as lightning surged, his curse echoing misery sharply through his veins along with the thunder that followed. He sat there, slumped over, elbows on knees; nearly falling over as his curse-inspired tiredness sapped his energy and set his body to a painful, bone-deep throbbing.

 

He stared at the gently lapping wavelets of the little lake in a foggy daze, his thoughts scattered by the water once more pouring down from the sky. He didn't have the energy to be thankful it was only a light rainstorm at the moment, and not another full thunderstorm with accompanying blasts of sky-crossing lightning and deafening thunder; and shrieking winds blowing the rain sideways.

 

This time the girl appeared right behind him, stepping hesitantly to within a foot of his seated form. Her body language screamed nervous curiosity; and concern. Even Yuki hadn't been able to help but feel sorry for the cursed cat as the storms raged on, Kyo looked so pitiful. The black-haired girl cocked her head as she stared silently at his back; wide, slanted eyes that were black as her impossibly long mane of hair going thoughtful. She tilted her head the other way before tentatively stepping to his side, stooping to peer carefully into his face, long, sodden locks still seeming to somewhat flow about her, pooling on the ground amidst the puddles. Light reflected off her eyes in green-gold flashes, like a true cat's, as that same subtle, sweetish scent of some unnamed incense enveloped them both.

 

When he made no move, and didn't even acknowledge her presence, she blinked and let out a tiny little snort of surprise. She sidled a bit closer, until her face was a mere ten inches from Kyo's.

 

After nearly five minutes of her intense, unblinking scrutiny, Kyo's curse-befuddled mind finally registered her patient attendance. He startled and winced away from her, shaking his head sharply in an effort to clear his muddled thoughts before staring right into her large, slanted black eyes.

 

She startled in turn at his sudden movement, but didn't back away. Crimson eyes were caught by deep, fathomless obsidian, sucked into the slit pupil that was invisibly blacker within them.

 

That evening, Kyo returned to Shigure's house with a veritable parade of sodden, but content felines about him; and an elegant, long-haired black cat snuggled comfortably in his arms, miraculously barely dampened by the still-pouring rain, oddly black eyes half-lidded with utter satisfaction. Kyo bore a slightly dazed expression when Shigure met him just inside the door, answering his dog-cursed cousin's questions only vaguely, and with a worrying lack of his normal fierce temper. When Shigure asked about Kyo's `guest,' the dog had the oddest sensation that he and Kyo were talking about two entirely different creatures.

 

“She's decided she's staying with me. Her name's Yume.” Kyo was staring into the black cat's eyes as she had twisted her head about to gaze at him with contentment. His voice was unaccustomedly soft--and eerily calm.

 

Shigure raised an eyebrow as he tried to ignore the way his neck-hairs were trying to stand on end, and gave Kyo a slightly worried Look before replying. “All right, Kyo-kun...but just remember, she's your responsibility. Our poor, dear Tohru-chan has enough to do, without feeding this stray of yours as well!” Shigure was thinking of litter boxes and cat food, as well as cat hairs on the furniture. Kyo was usually quite embarrassed whenever his curse affected felines to respond to his moods, and removed both himself and them out of sight of everyone; usually into the woods, sometimes up to the roof. This was the first time that Shigure had ever heard of the boy wanting to actually keep one of the creatures with him as a pet; he wasn't certain just what to make of the development.

 

The belated idea of feline claws and upholstery didn't occur to him until a good half hour later, when it was really too late to do much about it. Compared the fallout from Kyo's and Yuki's fighting it could only be negligible damage, anyway.

 

Crimson eyes almost focused on Shigure's as Kyo gave him a mildly confused look before the boy sidled carefully by, staring at Shigure like he was an alien or something. The dog-cursed man stared back in consternation, dark eyes blinking in mild perplexity at the complete lack of a violent response. Ah, well; he supposed he'd figure out what had Kyo so weirded out later, he always did. Perhaps his young cousin was ill...?

 

The long-haired black cat was forever with Kyo after that, going everywhere he went. It even managed to repeatedly get into his classes at school, in spite of the school faculty's determined attempts to chase it away. After the third day of this game of hide and chase, Kyo blew his temper and informed his teacher, “She's not going to do anything to disrupt the class, so just let her sit there quietly, already!! Damn!”

 

Of course he was reprimanded for his language, as well as his rudeness to his teacher. Mayu-sensei forgave him quickly, though, knowing the hot-tempered boy as well as she did. It helped that the cat--Yume--made a point of buttering her up, spending most of Kyo's class time either curled up in Mayu-sensei's chair, or on her desk; or right in the teacher's lap, every time she sat down. The steady, soothing purr she gave off did a great deal to keep Kyo out of trouble. This tactic worked equally well on the rest of his teachers, though Yume didn't hop into any teacher's lap but for Mayu-sensei's.

 

Kyo didn't truly realize for a couple of days that he was the only one who saw Yume as a human. The first time she jumped into Mayu-sensei's lap was his first obvious clue. The black-clad girl's slow, decidedly feline look of satisfaction aimed right at him while Mayu-sensei absently began to pet her on the head, told him clearly that something was definitely not right with his world!

 

After a couple more weeks, Kyo had gotten used to the oddity of seeing the girl treated by everyone as if she were a real cat. He stopped wondering about it, and just accepted things as they were. A boy who turns into a cat when hugged by a girl had no cause to complain about a cat who looked like a human girl, but only to his eyes. Her presence somehow brought him comfort; he wasn't about to worry about it, and maybe chase her away. It didn't matter, really...and he needed the supporting friendship she was giving him too desperately to risk losing it through his own foolishness.

 

After all, he graduated High School in less than seven months. After that, he wouldn't be seeing anyone, ever again...except, quite possibly, the mysterious Yume.

 

-.-.-.-

 

There are at least a couple-three more chapters to this. It's not going to be a 100,000+ word full-sized monster this time, though--yay! I might actually hit my target length of under 10,000 words. --Unless Count D wanders in, and bribes me with one of the yummy sugary-sweet confections he's so fond of...I work for chocolate, after all. Just ask my co-workers! ::wanders off, drooling at the mental image of about twelve tons of various kinds of chocolates::