Disclaimer: I do not own this amazing franchise know as Big Hero 6. All rights for Big Hero 6 go to Walt Disney, the owner of Disney. This story is written purely for my entertainment with nothing to do with profit or recognition. I also do not own the idea for this story; it is based off the fanfiction piece 'A Rare Species by 'KudaKano', a story that I highly recommend. "I write what I want to write, I write what amuses me, it's totally for myself."- J.K. Rowling.
Please go bug and beg KudaKano to update 'A Rare Species' as it is a fantastic piece of literature that I would love to see updated.
Deep in the caress of sleep, the feline boy noted the warmth circling him suddenly lift. The boy's large eyes blinked open to see the large figure, similar to himself, striding into the cool night as though he owned the world. The larger figure glanced back, a smile curving his gentle features; a slight purr escaped the figure's throat as his gentle, brown eyes rested on the boy. Then he turned and left the chilly cave with silent paw steps into the setting sun. The boy tucked his chin back to his chest, nuzzling deeper into the soft moss that surrounded him. An instant later, he curled tighter around his own body and fell back into the abyss of his dreams.
He woke again, hours later, to the sound of soft pounding outside of his home den. The feline boy glanced up, large eyes gazing to the outside of the cave to a mildly disturbing sight. The pale light of night poured in around a thickset figure standing in the door. The creature was clearly very tall, bending over half and crouching down to enter the boy's home. In the dim light, the figure was somewhat pale in skin with dark brown hair not unlike the boy's. In his opposable hands, the figure carried a rod that beamed light through the cave like the leaves of the jungle funneled the sun's light into long columns. The figure glanced around the cave for a long moment with his light flashing around. The boy resisted the urge to cry out to his protector in fright, knowing that if he were to call out he would have no chance of hiding. The beam rested on his trembling shoulder, travelling to his pale face before examining the boy's short legs and forearms.
Only then did he call out. His call was a long and drawn out meow that echoed through the cavern like the haunted moan of a dying creature.
Something in the thickset creature softened, yet despite this he pulled something small from the baggy cloths that adorned him and raised it to his thin lips, blowing it at the feline boy. Something stung his side, causing him to cry out in pain and confusion despite his better knowledge. The darkness suddenly seemed so inviting rather than intimidating, urging the boy to accept it and allow it to flood over him like water pooling in leaves. And so he did. His large eyes slipped closed beneath his soft fringe of jet black hair. Warmth seemed to encircle him once again, wrapping around him like the summer heat in the middle of the night.
All knowledge dissolved into the warm mist of the early morning air.
Nori Tanaka was adopted. He knew the agony of losing parents and family, but he was lucky; he'd been adopted by a kind couple who had fed him and clothed him since he was two. They'd been good to him just as his parents would have been. Growing up with two loving parents and a energetic big sister gave him something; a family. And a family was just what Nori suspected that the thin cat-boy on the ground before him lacked. He was too thin as though he hadn't eaten in days and his hair was messy. Dark, rounded ears flopped out to the side of his human face. His skull seemed elongate and malformed so that it was like that of a jaguar at the back where it connected to his spine and similar to that of a human at the front; his jaw was also that of a jaguar. The shaggy hair covering his head took the term 'horse tail' to another level. Like an arrow head, silky black hair changed to yet silkier black fur down his back. Following his spine, the strip of darkness grew ever thicker and wider until it reached his waist where it fully wrapped around the boy's small circumference. His legs were completely panther along with his forearms, short and stocky limbs that were built for a creature low to the ground and never climbing. His human upper arms were just as stockily built. Faint, pitiful meows were escaping his lips.
The flashlight Nori carried was trained carefully to the boy's face, examining his every feature. His brow was furrowed slightly though mostly hidden under his shock of jet black hair. Reaching out gently, Nori stroked the soft locks before resting his hand on the boys shoulder. He stirred under the touch. His nose was small and thin, near blending into his face over perfectly curved, pale lips. The boy had eyes that slanted downwards towards his nose. The expression he wore was strange, a mixture of about-to-sneeze and terrified, as though sneezing would kill him.
With a long, heavy sigh Nori grabbed the cat-boy under his short arms to haul him from the cave. It was only in the brighter light of the open air that Nori realized how vulnerable the boy appeared, as though even the smallest of creatures could snap him up. He glanced up at the gangly woman from where he crouched over the cat-boy.
"Kahaya," he urged softly. "We must get him out of here, to the cage at the truck."
The dark-haired woman nodded in agreement. "You carrying him?"
"Of course." The pair set off, the small boy curled like the cat he was into Nori's arms. Occasionally he would murmur a reassuring word as the boy stirred. It was almost as though he were murmuring the same thing time and time again.
It was mumbled and more of a scared whimper than anything else, but the meow was there each time the young cat-boy murmured something. Nori quickly took to petting the petite boy in order to sooth him. For such a thin and small creature, the unconscious cat-boy was surprisingly heavy; it wasn't long into the trek that Nori began to grow tired despite his strong frame.
Abruptly, Kahaya spoke. "We're being followed, likely by whoever cares for this one. We'd best hurry."
So they did, bustling through the dark jungle while being stalked by a potentially very dangerous predator. The world seemed to become darker around them as the raced farther from the heart of the jungle where the little cat-boy had been found. Every so often, a tail twitched in Nori's face.
It was early in the night, only around eleven thirty, when the trio returned, or in the cat-boy's case arrived, at the camouflage painted truck. Quickly, they set to work on one of the several large cages in the back. Blankets covered the floor to soften the blow for the young when he awoke in the strange new world. Water filled a bottle from which the cat-boy could suck if he were to grow desperate enough. Nori stroked the boy's soft fur as he loaded the tiny creature and locked the cage after him.
A submissive whimper echoed through the jungle around them. Nori realized he was stroking the cat-boy's hair through the bars at the sound. From the jungle opposite the immense truck came another faint whimper. Stalking low to the ground from the bush was yet another jet black and part-human creature. This boy's long tail was tucked between his legs to show his submission. He had the same dark coloured hair as the smaller 'scat-boy, only neat and tidy against his forehead. His soft fur wrapped around his waist and travelled up his spin just as the younger's did.
Clearly nervous, a long meow echoed from the cage sitting in the truck. The sound seemed to solidify the older cat-boy's resolve as he lowered himself to the ground just meters away from Nori; the fear in his eyes told the Japanese man all that he needed to know.
"C'mere, big guy," Nori murmured as he pulled the bamboo blowgun from his pocket, sliding another dart into it. He raised the device to his lips and aimed directly at the cat-boy's side. "Easy there, buddy. It'll only take a second."
He fired, the dart connecting with the elder boy's light-skinned side. Almost instantly, he seemed to relax, falling to his side and his head thumping to the ground. Tension that had been unclear in his shoulders released. With his long and low form relaxed, this cat-boy seemed almost as adorable as the smaller one.
Nori glanced up at Kahaya as he knelt over the form. "I can't carry this boy on my own. Help me get 'im up."
The pair hauled the creature from the ground to the nearest cage, one coincidentally next to the smaller cat-boy's; the younger looked like a large kitten exhausted from play. As the elder cat-boy was lowered to his cage, Nori stroked his hair gently and closed the door.
Robert Jameson Callaghan was the owner and head researcher at the San Fransokyo Anthro Research Centre. It was his civil duty to learn all about the curious creatures that he possibly could; this included social behaviour, feeding habits, range, conservation status, bodily functions and everything else that could possibly be learned about the fantastic creatures. But what Mr. Callaghan was really interested about was the creatures intelligence. As part-humans, Anthro's had a tendency to be more clever than the average animal though the intelligence level of each varied from Anthro species to Anthro species.
The aging man loved learning about the creatures more than anything else and ensured that all of his top employees did as well. It was on that slightly cool day that Mr. Callaghan was extremely excited about the entrance of an extraordinarily intelligent creature to his facility. Long believed to be either a legend or long-since extinct, the Panthera Onca Sapiens were a strange off-shoot of the Panthera Onca or jaguar believed to have developed due to unethical experiments several million years previously. The binding of a mixture of human and Panthera Onca genes had led to the development of an extremely intelligent species that Mr. Callaghan couldn't wait to learn more about. They were commonly known as Hamada in both books and legends.
An arriving truck, immense in size having only recently been dispatched with it's two wranglers Nori Tanaka and Kahaya Matthias, carried exactly the species Mr. Callaghan was extremely curious about.
"Hello, Sir," Ms. Matthias greeted in her neutral central-continental accent. "We're not entirely sure what the pair are. Shall we grab Fredrick Emerson to help identify them?"
"No, no, that's alright Ms. Matthias, I can identify them on my own." His breath was catching in his throat as he approached the cages in the back. The area within the truck was dark but pleasantly cool compared to the normally warm air of San Fransokyo. There were two cages not far from Mr. Callaghan that had the mesh floors covered in green blankets designed to simulate the soft grasses that both jungle and tundra creatures would be more accustomed to. Both cages were securely strapped to the side with their occupants curled into perfect circles as close together as they could be.
The glimpse that Mr. Callaghan received of the nearer creature completely hid the creature behind it. Partially feline, jet black fur covered his lower body and large swaths of his back. Short legs like that of a jaguar existed rather than the legs of a human. From the forearm downwards, the creature's arms were the front legs of a jaguar as well. His face was human from the jaw up, lower jaw consisting of a vaguely feline shape while the rest of his face was completely human. His eyes were closed and large, round ears fanned out to either side of his face in the same way that human ears did. Jet black hair similar to his fur lay messily across his scalp.
"What are their names?"
Ms. Matthias smiled at the question. "The one closer to you is Tadashi while the little one behind it is Hiro. Mr. Tanaka chose them."
As Mr. Callaghan entered the covered back of the truck, the creature's eyes opened revealing milk chocolate brown iris' around slit pupils. A low growl emanated from deep within his throat as his lips drew back to reveal sharp canine teeth.
"Absolutely fantastic," Mr. Callaghan murmured as he gazed at the creature. "Panthera Onca Sapiens or Hamada. Believed to have been extinct or a legend. Aren't you gorgeous, even when so small. And where is your friend?" Right on cue, a energetic face peeked up over the large Anthro's back. It let out a tiny meow, revealing teeth even sharper than its companion's. Mr. Callaghan's knee cracked as he knelt next to the cage that held the smaller creature. His strong fingers reached through the bars to the less dangerous appearing creature. "Hello, small one," he murmured to the petite Anthro. The cat-boy crept slightly closer, remaining low to the ground.
A long snarl chilled his bones coming from the next door cage; Mr. Callaghan turned his pale eyes to the larger Anthro.
"You hold no power here, Hamada. Ms. Matthias? Mr. Tanaka? Call on Gogo Tamago, Honey Espina, Wasabi No-Ginger and Fred Emerson to come out here, please. I'll be assigning them to care for and study this pair." The latter sentences were directed to the pair who had caught the low-set creatures. Turning back to the scared creatures, he murmured another few words. "It will be alright," he promised. "We'll care for you." Despite his words, the smaller Anthro had shrunk back.
Just a few minutes of gazing at the Hamada's later, the bizarre group had arrived. Mr. Callaghan glanced up with a genial smile lighting his face.
"Hello Mr. Callaghan!" Honey gushed with delight. "I'm so excited to be helping out with this project! What species are they?!" Honey was an unusually tall girl with long blonde hair pushed back by a yellow head band. Her bright green eyes were covered slightly by large, magenta glasses over her tanned skin.
The rest of the group took a far calmer approaching, shaking hands with their boss and offering excited smiles, save for Fred. Very informal, Fred was grinning ear-to-ear when he shook Mr. Callaghan's hand. "Hi Mr. Callaghan!" He enunciated cheerfully. "What species?" Fred had a beanie covering his hair and ears despite the warmth of the day and the stiff lab coat he wore. His entire air was extremely informal despite the manners his rich parents had attempted to pound into him. The boy was more of an Anthro fanatic than expert but had so much information bundled into his head that he could get away with his informality and lack of proper demeanor on the job.
Meanwhile, Wasabi was speaking to Mr. Tanaka in a hushed voice. "Have they eaten since you captured them? How long ago was that? Were they this thin then?" His tone was concerned for the two feline-boys as though he had met the pair before.
The Japanese man shook his head gravely. "Neither is willing to touch anything we give them, especially the older one. The little one has come close but always looks to see what the older one is doing before touching anything. No water, either. Three days. We brought them in at around ten in the evening. They were slightly less thin then but I still could have counted either's bones."
Wasabi glanced at the small creatures. "Poor kittens. They both look real young, ya know? The larger one seems to be the equivalent of a eighteen year old. The little one is maybe the equivalent of a ten year old. That's based on looks. We'll see what Gogo says."
As the others had been asking questions, Gogo was staring at the pair. She had popped a piece of gum into her mouth and was carefully examining the larger Anthro cat-boy. Fascinated by the bizarre mix of human and jaguar, Gogo jotted down a set of notes on the elder creature before turning to the smaller one. Large brown eyes gazed up at her as though she were an alien from another planet, which, from his point of view, was probably a fairly accurate way to describe the punk Gogo.
It was the smaller creature that tugged at her tough heart. He was just a kitten who needed someone to protect him; he couldn't have been able to survive on his own. And for that matter, both cats were too skinny as though they hadn't eaten in weeks, not days. It was then that every snapped perfectly into position; they were orphaned or abandoned siblings rather than parent or child as Gogo had originally anticipated. "Oh you poor kitties," Gogo muttered.
"Hey Gogo! How old are they!" Honey was gushing again, words just a little too loud. A ferocious roar and loud bang cut her off before she could say more. The elder Anthro had leapt head first into the side of the cage with his teeth bared to let out his ferocious warning. Naturally, all the elder Anthro caught was a mouthful of cage bars, but he nonetheless had proven that he did not want to be there in the slightest. It was then that it became crystal clear to the group what they were dealing with; wild, dangerous cats with brains likely far superior to their own.
"Keep your voice down!" Gogo hissed at the other girl. "They're both young, the big one maybe the equivalent of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old while the little one can't be more than the equivalent of a ten-year-old."
The smaller Anthro had begun meowing again, his calls directed both at his brother and at his captors. Long and piteous, each wailing meow tugged at each person's heart as though it were ringing a bell. He was pressed to the side of the cage closest to his brother. Human-like face gazing through in terror at his brother. The floppy, round ears poking out from either side of his head despite his thick, messy hair were pressed back so that they were flat against his strange head. His brother had begun to pace the floor of his cage erratically, his ears pressed back to show his distaste for the situation.
"We should get them into one of the ready rooms," Fred contributed to the conversation. "There's too much stimulation out here for them to handle at one time."
And so it was that around ten minutes later, a large and partially feline boy was released into a much larger enclosure soon followed by his far smaller brother was released after him into a different enclosure, the two nearly connecting at one end. The walls of each enclosure consisted of cloth cloaked and sturdy wood with windows into each enclosure made with yet more wood crisscrossing through the open area. The windows continued at the same height all around the enclosures until they reached the concrete-reinforced wall behind them. The wall of each enclosure that almost connected was made of the same, crisscrossing wood that prevented the pair from being in the same enclosure. It was possible to remove the wall depending on the creature that was being hosted. The floors were concrete covered in a mixture of soil and sand designed to simulate a jungle with a large heap of blankets intended to be some form of bed at the end that near connected with the other enclosure.
"Let's leave them to settle in, shall we?" Mr. Callaghan asked calmly.
"What are their names?" Wasabi asked as they wandered out of the door to the room.
Mr. Callaghan smiled at the thought of the pair. "Tadashi and his little brother, Hiro."
Tadashi disliked many things; his parents' death, humans, his sister's death, fire, unnecessary death, humans, his aunt's death, climbing, swimming, humans, kidnapping, cat-napping, enclosed spaces with no way out, humans who kidnapped cats, fly-away-prey, run-away-prey, swim-away-prey, uncatchable-prey, humans, rivals trying to kill him and Hiro, metallic water, and humans. And hunger, though Tadashi could hardly remember the last time he hadn't been hungry.
So when he fully realized that he was locked in a wooden enclosure with no way to get to his brother, he fully freaked out. His lips drew back to let out a ferocious roar in the direction that the humans had gone. And then he paced. The enclosure was a total of seven strides wide and 12 strides long, too small for the strong feline-boy. A quiet meow caught the boys attention and he turned to wear his little brother sat with his tail neatly tucked around his paws like a proper cat. Tadashi mentally nodded his approval though still mentally clucked at his disastrous hair.
"Nii-chan?" The boy meowed again from wear he sat gazing at his brother. His human face showed fear and confusion at the situation. Instantly protective of the small kitten, Tadashi pressed against the seven-stride long wall to be close to his brother.
"Yes, Ototo?" Tadashi purred gently in response, paws beginning to poke at the partial wall separating them. He was having very little luck as his paws were just a bit too large for the entire contraption. His dark, curved claws caught hold of a shining piece inserted into the wood to hold it together. The sharp claws poked at it absently.
Hiro's large, brown eyes gazed up at his brother from beneath his messy fringe of hair. " 'm scared," he mumbled in a quiet meow.
Gazing down at the little thing, Tadashi smiled soothingly. "It will be alright, brother. So long as we are together, we will be fine." The silent 'I hope' shimmered at the end of his gentle words though his gaze was sincere.
Hiro nuzzled against the wall so that his form was pressed against Tadashi's. "I hope so," he murmured, lightly nuzzling the soft, green substance beneath him.
It was the littler Anthro that Wasabi noticed relaxing more easily. While Hiro's elder brother sat next to him with his tail curled up to his front paws to gaze at the door in wait for someone to come in, it was little Hiro who decided that a nap sounded like an excellent idea. And it certainly sounded like a good idea, thought Wasabi. He'd hardly slept the previous night in his excitement about the new arrivals to the SFARC, or just ARC, and was very tired due to his terrible idea of staying up all night.
Tadashi seemed to have decided that allowing his tail to twitch back and forth while his brown eyes were locked on the door seemed like a lot of fun, for that was all that he was doing. His head rested on his paws like a large cat-dog-person. The bored yet hopeful expression would have been adorable if Wasabi hadn't known that the boredom was from nothing interesting wandering in to kill and the hope from wanting someone to come in so that he could attack them. Quite frankly, Wasabi still thought the face was adorable. The hulking man turned his gaze back to little Hiro. That was the real heartbreaker, the small form getting as close to his brother as possible.
Wasabi let out a long sigh, rubbing a hand to his forehead. While he wouldn't have chosen a different job for anything, it was exhausting to spend all of his time with creatures who were only part human. It was even worse when said creatures were siblings separated and longing for each other.
A metaphorical light bulb lit up above Wasabi's head. He hated the idea, yet still found it to be a good idea. It would be so, so much easier to coax a creature into eating when they didn't have a protector telling them not to!
"Watcha think' 'bout?" Gogo asked from directly behind Wasabi. The tall man jumped, spinning around in surprise.
Another thoughtful look crossed his face. "Would it be productive to your studies to put them in different rooms?"
"Oh Wasabi! How can you think of separating them! But, yes. It would be."
A crazy and terrifying smile lite up Wasabi. "I think we need to talk to Fred and Honey. There's no way I'll get Hiro to eat until I can get Tadashi to eat if we don't separate them and then it might be easier for me to convince Tadashi to start eating. I get the sense that if we don't try this, Hiro'll starve to death and quickly be followed by Tadashi. And I can't have that. Once we get Hiro to start eating, it'll be easier for Tadashi to trust us. We need to do this."
They exchanged a glance and a smile, a mixture of delighted and upset about their choice.
"Do what?" A accented voice asked. This time it was both Gogo and Wasabi who jumped. Honey and Fred stood in the doorway to the observation room.
Gogo turned to grin at Honey. "Separate them. It sucks, yes, but it might save their lives. They're starving to death right now."
It was only Fred who looked reluctant. "I dunno. I mean, look at them down there. They're so cute and scared down there."
"Yes," Gogo agreed. "But soon they'll be a pile of bones curled up together if we leave them. Then we can put them back together so they can be cute and scared again. Woman up!"
Fred blew out a long sigh. "Are we sure that this is what's best for them?"
Eyes rolled.
"Yes!"
"Fine, fine, be that way. We leave Tadashi here though. He's too big and strong for us to move. Hiro, though. He's both small and un-strong. Fist bump?"
"Bada-la-la-la."
Nervous laughs were exchanged between the group before they quieted to gaze down at the creatures. "Let's wait for them to be a little bit calmer, 'Dashi especially."
Two long months later, a humanoid panther-boy nuzzled up to a larger creature very similar to himself. The larger creature glanced down before gently stroking the small one's head with a clumsy, large paw. Together for the first time that day, little Hiro batted Tadashi's paw away with his own before rolling onto his stomach like a kitten begging for a belly scratch. His paws floated in the air while his face lit up with giggles as a paw did just that. When apart, the brothers worried for each other, but when together they had no flaming worries, all was quenched by water.