Kimi Wa Petto (You Are My Pet)

Nostalgia 1

Nostalgia

Ritsu shook the rain from his fur and looked around the almost empty street for some shelter. In the distance he could see a brown cat being tucked snugly into a man’s coat and felt a pang of envy for that cat. He shook his fur again and padded further down the road, hoping someone would come along and tuck him in their nice, warm coat. His green eyes searched for a dry place that he could spend the night in but soon face up and proceeded to just wander through a maze of streets and alleys.

The kitten came to a stop when he saw a tall, raven-haired man standing under an umbrella, a phone pressed to his ear as he shouted at whoever was on the other line. He’d obviously been stood there for a while, the ground around his feet was dry and lighter grey than the rest of the path. Ritsu’s ears pricked forward with interest as he tentatively mad his way over. The man still hadn’t noticed him so Ritsu took his chance and crept in behind to huddle by his feet. The kitten curled up at the heels of this man’s feet, enjoying the warmth he could feel emanating from his legs.

Masamune felt a gentle tickle on the back of his leg and glanced down to see a little, brown kitten curling up by his feet. He hung up the phone and watched as the kitten made himself comfy on the only dry patch left on the ground. Masamune noticed the poor thing was drenched and it reminded him of the time he’d found Sorata in the rain.

Ritsu felt a pair of eyes on him and looked up to see the man looking down at him, he leapt to his feet and ran away as fast as he could. Masamune watched the kitten as it ran and decided to follow it down the road and into the local park. Ritsu hid under a bench and began to shiver from the cold rain, he closed his eyes and curled himself up as small as he would go, covering his face with his slender tail.

Masamune lost sight of the kitten as it disappeared into the park, he sighed and was about to leave when he heard a delicate sneeze to his left. He turned and saw the kitten in a little ball under a bench. He went over and crouched down in front of the kitten, he reached out and patted its head gently. “Hey there little guy.” Ritsu jumped at the touch and looked up to see the umbrella man smiling down at him. Ritsu wasn’t sure whether to back away from the touch or bask in the warmth, so he stayed still and watched the man.

Masamune had never seen such a cute kitten, sure, Sorata was adorable but he’d become very grumpy and preferred to spend his time being pampered by Takafumi. Masamune had a secret love of cats and wished he could talk this little cutie home with him but as the kitten sat up a little straighter, he noticed the thin collar around his neck. He searched for a tag and all that was written on there was: ‘Ritsu’. “So, you’re Ritsu, huh?” The kitten blinked and flicked its ears forward at the sound of the man’s voice. Ritsu found the sound soothing and an involuntary purr rumbled in his throat as Masamune tickled him behind the ear. The man laughed and looked from the kitten to his umbrella. He stuck the handle through the gap in the bench seat and let it fall through until the main body of the umbrella his the damp wood with a small thud. “Make sure to go back home once the rain stops.” The kitten looked at him curiously and he felt a pang of guilt for leaving the kitten but he couldn’t take him home if he belonged to someone else.

Already soaked through, Masamune rose to his feet and looked down at the kitten who was now making himself comfy under the umbrella. He shoved his hands into his coat pockets and made his way back to his apartment, not quite able to forget those adorable, green eyes.

Ritsu woke just as the sun was beginning to rise and watched as water droplets fell from the edges of the umbrella and stretched out his front paws, he let out a long yawn and shook his now dry fur. He looked up at the underside of the umbrella and wondered what to do. He didn’t want to leave the umbrella but he didn’t want to sit around all day waiting to see if the man would come back. Ritsu peered around the bench but there was no one around, he jumped up onto the seat and sat down, wrapping his tail around his legs, deciding to wait for the man to come back.

Masamune leaned back in his chair with a sigh and took off his glasses to rub his tired eyes. It had been another hectic day and he felt exhausted. He threw down his finished manuscripts and ordered one of his coworkers to fax them over to the mangaka, his own legs feelings too tired to make the extra journey. He stuffed his glasses into his bag, along with some manuscripts he would have to finish at home, pulled on his coat and wrapped his oversized scarf around his neck before leaving the office. Just as he stepped outside, the rain began to pour and he remembered leaving his umbrella on the bench. He pulled his coat closer around him as he trudged through the rain, wondering if the kitten had found its way home.

He found the bench and saw his umbrella was still there but the kitten was gone. Masamune felt a mixture f happiness that the kitten had gone home, but sadness that he probably wouldn’t see the cutie again. He reached down to pick up the umbrella when suddenly a ball of brown fur leapt from behind the bench and attached itself to his arm. Masamune fell back with surprise and landed on his butt in the

mud. “Ow.” He winced from the pain and looked down to see the little kitten ‘savagely’ attacking his arm.

Ritsu hid behind the bench as someone came towards it, he didn’t recognize the man, having already almost completely forgotten what the umbrella man looked like. He jumped at the person trying to steal the umbrella and clawed at his arm. Though he soon realized that due to his claws being clipped he wasn’t doing any damage at all. Masamune laughed and pulled the struggling kitten from his arm. “Calm down. It’s me, remember?”

Ritsu stopped wriggling at the sound of this man’s voice, it sounded just like umbrella man. The brown kitten looked into the amber eyes and recognized him, he flattened his ears and hung his tail in shame, he’d only wanted to protect the umbrella.

Masamune brought the kitten close to his soaked chest and let out a sigh. “Let’s go home and get you dry.” Pulling the umbrella from the bench and using it to shelter both him and the kitten, Masamune began the long trek home.

Once they got back to his apartment, Masamune dumped the umbrella, his shoes, and his coat in the entrance before grabbing a towel from the bathroom and wrapping the kitten up. Ritsu struggled at first, not liking the feeling of being stuck in the towel but the warmth soon got to him and he snuggled further inside. Masamune set the towel-wrapped kitten down on the sofa while he went to shower and put on a change of clean, dry clothes.