Npov
I was rehearsing all the rules of being a neko in my head.
Do not eat, sleep, or drink without permission.
Stay in your cage when you aren't needed.
Do not-
Someone walked in. It was the prince. I went to the back of my cage in order to get away. He hadn't ever hurt me, but his dad had. Surely a son will be like his dad, right?
But the prince, now frowning, started opening all the cages.
"Go ahead and leave. You're free." He'd whisper to each of us as he opened our cage.
Most of the nekos sprinted out of the castle but when the prince came to my cage I remembered a neko rule:
Never leave the castle unless told to do so by the king, and the king only.
So Prince William opened the door to my cage and whispered for me to leave, but I didn't.
Prince William was royalty, sure, but the rule says only the king can let me out. William is a prince, not a king.
"C'mon. You can go now. You're free." Will said quietly. I pressed myself up against the back of the cage.
"If you don't want to, I guess I won't make you...."
Will moved on to the next cage.
The neko in that cage was mad. It was hissing quietly, but the prince must not have heard. The cat had its ears back and was obviously angry at Prince William for being royalty. So when Will opened the door and the cat sauntered out, it turned back to Will, ears back.
"Woah, woah, woah...." the prince said.
The cat pounced, sinking its teeth into his leg.
A rule popped into my mind. This rule was specially important to me but I'll spare you the details for now. Let's just say I have a special spot in my heart for this rule:
Never attack royalty.
I sprinted out of my cage and attacked the cat. He immediatly turned to me, away from Will.
Run Prince William!
But the prince didn't run.
Must not be the brightest of the princes.
The cat lunged at me, but I darted out of the way, pouncing on it as it went by. I had scratched the cat's stomach. It hissed at me. It scratched my nose and I felt it start bleeding, but I kept fighting. Soon the neko realized it wasn't going to win, and it darted out of the room.
Will picked me up. My ears were back, as I was still on edge from the fight.
"Can you come with me? I'm...im running away from here and I was wanting a neko to go with me."
I cocked my head to the side. Why would a prince, royalty, want to hang out with a neko?
I mean, of course I would love to leave the castle but....
Only the king can set you free.
And surely he just wants me as a servant.
William finished unlocking the ramaining cages and then carried me out. He was running at top speed.
He ran into a forest and about an hour later he stopped.
"How about we stop and put up camp here?"
I meowed and I guess Prince William figured I had said 'yes.'
He set me down on the grass and asked what my name was.
Does that give me permission to transform? Probably.
The next moment I was a human with a tail and cat ears. "Nico." I said.
"Okay. Nico is a pretty name."
I wanted to keep talking to William, but he didn't allow me permission to keep speaking.
"Nico?"
I looked up at him again, careful not to look at his eyes:
Never make eye contact.
"Why aren't you talking? I know you can. I just heard you. Talk."
I looked back away. "It's a neko rule. We aren't supposed to talk unless commanded to do so."
"Is that why you don't make eye contact, too?" I nodded.
"Well both of those rules are gone now."
I looked back at him, cocking my head in confusion.
"Why would you do that?" I asked, extremely confused.
"You like the rules?"
"No, of course not."
"Then why can't I get rid of the rules?"
"Well....it's just....most people hate us. They like the rules." I mumbled, looking at my feet.
William didn't say anything for a while. I sat down.
A while later William finally thought of something to say, "I hate people like that."
I looked away guiltily. "I....I thought you were one of those people before today."
William looked hurt. "You did?"
I blushed, "I'm sorry."
Now he looked at his feet. "You don't have to apologize. I-it's my fault. I was always planning on freeing you guys at some point but I never had the courage to actually do it. Anyway, the only rule now is that you can't tell anyone where I am."
I nodded.
I looked up and I noticed the sun made it seem like it was around dinner time, so I asked if he wanted me to go hunt for him.
"Can you?" He looked relieved. Maybe he hadn't brought food.
I nodded, and a couple seconds later I was a cat running through the woods. I found a lake and caught a few fish, probably more than I needed.
When I got back William was with somebody. The guy had blonde hair and blue eyes the felt like they were penetrating you. The guy had a hat on.
When I stalked in with the fish, William smiled but the blonde kid snarled.
"Oh good! You brought the fish!" William took them and put the over a fire to cook them. I turned into a human again.
"You have a neko with you?" The blonde kid growled.
I took a couple steps backwards. This kid didn't seem exactly kind.
"Yeah, so?" William said.
"They're worthless, you know. You shouldn't have brought him. He's a waste of space and food."
William turned around, angry. "What?!"
"You did know that, didn't you?"
"You idiot! Octavian, he should be treated like a normal human, not a piece of trash."
Octavian seemed even angrier than before. He tried to spit on me, but I stepped away from him so he couldn't.
William was fuming. "How dare you!"
"It's fine, Prince William." I mumbled.
"No, Nico. You can't allow him to treat you like this!"
William finished cooking the fish and put them on flat, stone, circular "plates." They
weren't actually plates, but I assumed we were using them as plates.
William put three of these plates of fish on the table. Octavian and William sat down, but I waited for persmission.
"Come eat, Nico." William said.
Octavian gaped at him, "He is not eating with us."
"He is. He's a human, too."
"No, he's a neko. There's a difference. Anyway, if you let him eat at the table with us, I'll tell your dad where you are."
"But-but....fine."
William came over and sat with me, two plates with him.
"We can eat on the ground with him, then."
I almost laughed, but I didn't.
"No. I am not eating with him. At all. And neither are you. Or I'll tell your dad."
Will sighed and put our plates on the ground. "No, Octavian. I refuse to treat him like you do."
Octavian laughed and ran through the woods, to tell Will's dad where we were.
"Well....that was....interesting." William said.
I didn't say anything.
"Hey.... don't listen to what he said, okay? It wasn't true. You're amazing."
I shook my head, "I don't know why you would think that. Who would want me? Who would want a weak, stupid, gay, scrawny neko?"
I realized what I had said and started shaking.
No, no, no, no, no! William can't know I'm gay! He'll hate me for it! He'll hit me for it!
I started running away from him, and somehow I became a cat. I don't remember transforming, though. I heard William yelling for me somewhere far behind me.
Finally I had to stop. I was exhausted. I couldn't hear Prince William anymore so I came out from behind the tree I was hiding behind, still in cat form. I laid down on the grass and let the sun warm me a bit.
I didn't give a second thought (I was tired, okay?) to the voice calling my name in the distance. And I didn't think anything about warm hands picking me up.
"Nico, don't run away like that again! I was so worried!" I opened my eyes.
I panicked. What was William going to do to me?!
But he held me like a baby and rubbed my head. I involuntarily purred.
"Aww, that's so cute!" William squealed.
Then the prince carried me like this all the way back to our camp. I closed my eyes again.
Never sleep without permission.
My eyes shot open and William stopped, thinking he had done something.
"What's wrong, Nico?"
I couldn't answer, as I was a cat, but Will guessed. "They don't have another stupid rule about sleeping, do they?" I meowed, trying to say yes.
William groaned. "You don't have to follow those rules anymore, Nico."
He looked down at me and saw I was still looking at him. He rolled his eyes. "Yes, Nico, you can go to sleep."
So I shut my eyes and slept almost immediately.
Word count: 1585 words