In a small province there was a beautiful sprawling village ruled by a tired and bored monarch whose castle oversaw and encompassed a giant lake, the main water source. The monarch loved water and thus during a large drought coveted it more than gold and only handed out the bare minimum that would keep his subjects alive. He cared not for their concerns, or that they were too weak to work and that the land fell into ruin. The people who were strong enough packed up their measly belongings and left in the night.
Within the castle it was a paradise. The grass was lush, the trees bountiful with fruit, and the lake full. The king would swim for hours in the water, safe within his fortress, unaware that only the dead and dying lived outside his walls.
One evening, many months after the villagers had fled, the king settled down to dinner when there was a knock at the door. The king tried to ignore it but the knocking echoed through the empty halls like thunder and refused to be ignored.
Exhausted from school and practice, Makoto walked home at a zombie pace. He stifled a yawn waiting for the light at a busy crosswalk when he felt something bump against his leg and looked down to see a black blur dart out into the road only to stop as it heard horns. Without a second thought Makoto rushed after it scooping up the creature and sliding to the other side of the road in a harsh roll. He breathed heavily as he scrambled up onto the side walk, hearing the curses from the drivers that went past. He felt a pain in his chest and looked down at the creature in his arms, a black cat with matted fur and blue eyes had it's claws stuck into Makoto's chest and was a stiff as a board.
"Hey. It's okay. Are you hurt?" Makoto asked as he was buffeted by people trying to get past him as the lights turned green again. He gathered his bags, held the cat carefully, and walked to a safer spot, wincing as he felt the claws dig into him more.
He sat on a bench under some trees at the edge of the park and petted the cat. It's eyes stared straight ahead, unblinking, its back was arched and stiff, hair standing on end. Makoto could feel its heart pounding.
Remembering that his mother always packed him snacks, Makoto riffled through his bag and broke open a packet of jerky. The sound of the bag opening caught the cat's attention and it loosened its grip on Makoto's chest in order to pull out a piece of jerky. While the cat chewed at the jerky like a dog with a bone it looked up at Makoto, relaxing on his lap and studying him with a piercing gaze.
Makoto kept petting the cat and eventually the cat closed its eyes and laid down chewing at the food.
"See, you're okay now," Makoto murmured.
The cat purred and they sat until the sun began to set. When Makoto's phone went off, he realized how dark it had gotten and quickly issued an apology to his mother, carefully dislodging the cat and placing it on the bench next to him.
"I've got to get home, I'm late," He said before leaving the cat another bit of jerky.
The cat sat on the bench and watched Makoto run off, before grabbing the jerky in its mouth and chasing after the tall boy.
In the middle of the night Makoto felt like he couldn't breathe. There was something on his chest and he began to panic. He didn't want to open his eyes, too scared he'd see something bad. He tried to calm his heartbeat but it just got worse the more he tried. He could feel it moving. He felt something rough and wet touch his nose and his eyes flew open in panic and a shriek escaped his throat. Startled blue eyes looked at him and he watched the cat recover from his scream, shaking it off and acting unconcerned by looking away.
"What?" Makoto said rubbing his eyes. "Wait, are you the-You are, you're the cat from earlier!"
The cat curled back up on his chest and Makoto groaned. "You're making it difficult for me to breathe while I sleep." He sat up, dislodging the cat and moving it to the pillow next to him, "I'm not going to even ask how you got in. We'll deal with it in the morning, but I've got to be able to breathe while I sleep. So no more laying on my chest as I sleep, Okay?"
The cat just flicked its tail in response.
Makoto hadn't expected his mother to be okay with a stray cat suddenly staying at the house. She just made Makoto pay for everything with his saved allowance. The twins loved it, loved that the cat would run past them on the counter and pause briefly to lick their cheek before running off pretending it hadn't had a moment of weakness. They would spoil it with treats when they thought no one was looking. The cat relaxed into their lives pretty quickly. It would wake Makoto up in the middle of the night, suffocating him by falling asleep on his face, instead of his chest. It would knock Makoto's glasses off the bedside table and then dart through the house in the dark only to come flying right back into bed like it was being chased by a demon. It would climb into anything and everything whether there was water in it or not. Makoto had left a pitcher of water out one night and awoken the next morning to the cat having curled up in it. It seemed to be drawn to water.
"What will we name it?" Ren and Ran asked after their parents had said they could keep it.
"I don't know."
"Dewdrop!" Ran said, "He's always in water."
Their father laughed, "Dewdrop is pretty peaceful for a chaotic cat."
But it stuck. Makoto sat on the floor, facing the couch with a cat toy eyeing Dewdrop, the black cat with blue eyes that seemed ancient and wise, too human. He felt like Dewdrop was not the right name for the creature before him. He could feel the name on the tip of his tongue but couldn't quite figure it out.