VoCats

Chapter ONE: the strays

Len Kagamine used to think that he knew what was to be expected with having a sister.

He knew to expect practical misfortunes like being unable to use the bathroom when he needed to and having to watch shoujo anime when he'd much rather watch a shounen one.

But what he also knew was that this sort of thing only happened if your sister wasn't HIS sister. Then it was safe to say that not one of your expectations would be safe.

Especially when, on a pure whim, your twin sister brings home a big box full of various stray cats and tells you that she is now adopting them all.

A hypothetical scenario which was now all at once now turning into his life.

"She must have picked them all up when I wasn't looking," explained Miku apologetically, thinking back to her long, heated and now admittedly pointless argument with the produce vendor over how many recipes can be made containing negi spring onions. "I'm sorry," she said, hanging her head in shame while Rin surreptitiously released the cats from their cardboard box confinement.

Meiko Sakine, the official mother-figure to Len, his 'sisters', and oftentimes Kaito, gave a deep, long-suffering sigh. "It can't be helped. I suppose we'll have to keep them for now."

Rin cheered, promptly picking up two sandy-colored kittens from their escape route and cuddled them

"Rin, stop!" cried Len, rushing over to Rin's side. "You're hurting them!"

Over in the living area, as caught up in the plight of the kittens as he was, Kaito first noticed the large, white tomcat with long fur tentatively licking the unattended lid of a Neapolitan ice cream carton. After a moment or two, the cat paused in licking, almost as though considering whether the flavor agreed with him. It seemed to, since he lowered his head and licked the lid some more.

"Hey kitty," Kaito smiled. "You like ice cream too?"

The cat meowed.

Kaito laughed, tipping over the carton so the cat could have more.

At that moment, a slender female with short, reddish-brown fur landed on a high shelf. In her mouth was the neck of one of Meiko's half-finished sake bottles.

"Hey! Give that back, you mangy furball!" Meiko shouted, as Miku finally wrenched one of her precious negi stalks out of the mouth of a cream and white furred kitten. In retaliation, the kit spat indignantly, but then went after the tail of the one that Len was holding.

Rin, who had relaxed her grip on one of the kittens, looked over the scene and burst out laughing. "Hahaha~! These kitties act just like us!"

Meiko, who was still trying to retrieve her sake, scowled. "Speak for yourself!" she sniffed, "Annoying little monsters."

"Aw, don't be like that, Mei-chan. They're cute, see?" Kaito held up the white tom, whose tongue darted out to lick Meiko's nose.

Meiko wasn't charmed.

"Just keep them away from me," Meiko said, stalking away to the kitchen to grab a fresh can of sake.

Kaito looked after her, pulling the cat onto his lap and petting it. "Don't worry, kitty, she'll come around." The cat looked at him, then meowed agreeably.

Kaito's expression turned thoughtful. "You need a name. I can't keep calling you 'kitty' can I?" He held the cat out at arm's length. The cat blinked it's azure eyes at him. "I know!" Kaito smiled. "I think I'll call you Aoi. Okay?"

The cat, Aoi, purred. "Okay, from this moment on you are Aoi." Kaito tucked the cat under his arm and headed, coincidentally, to the kitchen. "Come on. Let's go get you some more ice cream."

Meiko lay awake, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom. What was running through her mind?

Guess.

"Stupid little furballs," she ranted mentally. "As if taking care of a whole household of people wasn't enough, now we have two times the mouths to feed. And we'll have to clean up after them. And take them for check-ups at the vet if they get sick! Damn, this is unbelievable!."

Meiko rolled over onto her side, pulling the comforter over her shoulders, still fuming, but beginning to tire. "Ugh." she thought sleepily. "I'll figure out a way to get rid of those ... " Yawn. Sigh. "... nuisances. Maybe I can call the pound to pick them up." ... "Do they even have a pound for cats?"

Meiko fell asleep shortly after.