Just Like Snow

Chapter Two

      "No, wait, I'm serious! It's really me!" the boy exclaimed while chasing after him.

He grabbed onto Soraru's arm to stop him, and Soraru looked back at the white-haired male quizzically.

"See, I even have this blanket that you gave me! Thank you for that, by the way," the boy continued while gesturing to the blanket wrapped his shoulders.

Soraru looked at it and, sure enough, it was the same blanket he had given the cat last night. Still, it wasn't like that proved anything.

"Okay, so either you're telling the truth, or you're a crazy stalker who took my blanket," Soraru replied. I'm betting on the last one, he added mentally.

"I'm not lying! And I'm not a crazy stalker either!" the boy insisted.

"Cats can't turn into humans," Soraru pointed out flatly.

"But I can! My last owner didn't really like that about me, though, so they left me with you," the boy smiled sheepishly toward the end. There was a certain melancholy in his red eyes that somehow seemed to make his statement believable. That look was just too sad to be faked.

"Is that so?" Soraru asked slowly, contemplating all of this.

The situation was highly unrealistic, but the boy didn't seem to be lying. He seemed so earnest about it all, and his ears and tail even moved to match his expression by drooping or perking up. That made it a little hard to pass it off as cosplay.

The boy nodded vigorously. "Yep! Do you believe me now?"

"Hard to say," Soraru hummed before adding, "I'm still tempted to call the cops."

"Uwah, please don't do that!" the boy exclaimed with a pleading look.

Soraru couldn't help but smile faintly in amusement at the boy's expression. "Relax, I'm just joking... maybe."

The boy pouted, looking admittedly cute. "That's not funny..."

"Anyway, before I decide if I'm going to believe you or not, I need to ask you some questions," Soraru started.

"Ask me anything you'd like," the boy responded with a smile, perking up again.

"First off, what's your name?" Soraru asked.

"MafuMafu," the boy, now known as MafuMafu, chirped.

"MafuMafu, huh?" Soraru muttered mostly to himself.

Since "Mafu" was so close to the word "mofu" it seemed like a very suiting name for a cat. Well, that was one point in his favor.

"Well, I'm Soraru, nice to meet you. Alright, so question two: what in the world were you doing in my kitchen?" Soraru continued.

"I wanted to make breakfast for you as a thank you gift for taking care of me last night, but it didn't really work out all that well..." MafuMafu trailed off sheepishly.

"You tried to make breakfast for me?" Soraru raised an eyebrow questioningly and looked at MafuMafu in confusion.

MafuMafu nodded, and his cheeks flushed slightly in embarrassment. "Uh-huh. But, well, I'm not very good at cooking since cats are usually fed by their owners and don't have to worry about that. I'm really sorry about the mess, though! I promise I'll clean it up!"

Soraru sighed in exasperation. "If you know you aren't good at it, then why did you even try?"

"W-Well, I thought I was doing a nice thing and that it might make you happy... Plus, if I don't try, I'll never get better..." MafuMafu mumbled while staring down at his feet.

Soraru only hummed thoughtfully in response. He was about to ask another question, when MafuMafu suddenly sneezed rather loudly. His nose was red and he sniffled pitifully, looking miserable.

"Are you alright?" Soraru asked.

MafuMafu looked up at him, blinking in a way that resembled the cat from last night perfectly, before giving a small smile. "I'm fine. Just a little cold, I guess..."

"Well, what do you have on?" Soraru questioned.

His house wasn't all that cold if you wore long sleeves and pants, which was only appropriate for the weather. MafuMafu had a blanket wrapped around him, so he should've been fine.

"Um... just this blanket..." MafuMafu answered quietly, looking away as his face heated up in embarrassment again.

"Just that blanket? Why don't you have any clothes on?" Soraru was incredulous, and more than a little weirded out.

"It's not my fault cats can't wear clothes!" MafuMafu exclaimed.

Soraru sighed exasperatedly and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was not one of his best mornings.

"Whatever, just come with me so we can get you something to wear. I can't have you just walking around in nothing but a blanket," Soraru said plainly as he started back toward his bedroom.

"Okay," MafuMafu complied and quickly fell into step behind his blue-haired companion.

I knew it was going to be a little out of my way looking after that cat, Soraru thought to himself with a frown, but I didn't think it was going to end up like this! Soraru wasn't sure what was going to happen, but he was positive things could only go downhill from here.

A/N: So updates for this story probably won't be more than once a week, since I'm prioritizing my other story "After Rain Quest" right now. I'll try not to make too long of a gap between chapters, though. Also, for anyone that doesn't know, "mofu" means something along the lines of "fluffy" in Japanese, that's why Soraru thought it seems like something you might name your cat if you're super unoriginal like me ww