Thirteenth part of my 100 Themes Challenge! Ta-Dah!
This on is Misfortune. And to be perfectly sincere, I knew right from the start what I wanted it to be. This story is a side story to my yaoi manga, Chibi No 'Aishiteru', and so contains minor yaoi hints at the start and end.
But mostly it's just a friendship thing.
"Chorro died…" Shigure said solemnly, quietly, his eyes rimmed with dark circles and blood shot; evidently from the amount of crying he'd been doing.
Chotto's hand shot out immediately and gripped hold of his as he let out a tiny squeak of despair himself.
He too looked like he was going to cry, his face scrunched up and breathing unevenly. Daitony didn't understand what was going on but knew Shigure well enough to see this wasn't just anything that had died.
Her hand rested on his knee, rubbing the black fabric sympathetically as Shigure stuttered a breath.
Damaru frowned and glanced from his crush to his sister in confusion. Usually he would offer up a snide remark or follow Kyoki's suit but much to his surprise, the red head was very quiet. So Damaru kept his lip buttoned and watched his sneakers under the table with as much fascination as he could manage.
"Please don't cry, Shishi…" Chotto gasped, though it was probably more directed at himself as a single tear rolled down his cheek. "You and Chorro have been together for years… And will be for years to come…"
Shigure sniffed miserably.
"Can I asked who 'Chorro' is?" Damaru chipped in quietly.
Daitony shot him a deathly look and it was Kyoki that spoke up.
"Chorro was Shigure's cat. He had her since he was a kid but she passed away last night after kidney failure…" he told the raven haired boy as he flattened his plaid shorts carefully.
"You guys don't need to do the whole 'replace her' or 'I'm so sorry' thing.." Shigure said bitterly, pressing his chin into his neck. "I don't want to hear it to be honest."
Kyoki stood abruptly and glowered down at the older boy reprocatively.
"Don't count on it you pompous moron!" he snapped, flouncing off on his own, long ginger hair bobbing behind him like a curtain.
Damaru and Chotto blinked uncertainly.
"Yeah. Like I care." Shigure huffed before swaggering off too.
"Uhm. Hi." Kyoki grumbled, not meeting Shigure's eyes, focussing his attention instead on the hanging basket of flowers by the doorbell. The grey-haired boy stood gaping back at him in complete shock.
He'd just turned up on his doorstep not two minutes ago-alone- and with nothing but his school bag.
It was Saturday, three days had passed since the Chorro row in the canteen and Shigure had calmed down but he was weary about having a screaming match the red head right now.
He still felt incredibly hollow.
"Shigure, can I come in?" Kyoki asked, twiddling a long lock of hair on his finger shyly.
Shigure nodded in response and stepped back so Kyoki could step inside and kick off his sand shoes.
"I was awful to you on Wednesday about Cho, I'm sorry." the younger boy said, his voice apologetic and eyes glittering sadly.
Shigure shrugged. "I was pretty lousy too. But did you really need to come over to say that?"
"I wasn't going to say it over the phone was I?" Kyoki huffed.
"Could've."
Sighing, Kyoki crouched over, dropping his school bag which had been left open and gently reached in, rummaging around for a second as Shigure watched on tiredly but suspiciously.
He was not expecting Kyo to produce a tiny bundle of fur from his bag.
"K… Who's this?" he stammered as Kyoki handed him the curled up bundle with a smile.
"A present. For being the best enemy ever." he giggled sarcastically.
The kitten unravelled itself in Shigure's large palms and stared up at him with large brown eyes. It was mostly cream except for the ginger patches on it's paws and club-like spolodge on it's face. The kitten's whiskers twitched curiously as she began encircling the skin below her and experimentily licking it.
Chuckling, Shigure put his face closer and the kitten daringly licked his face. First his cheek, then nose before centering on his chin.
"Bijou and Saria had a litter this Monday and when I heard about Chorro… I wanted to help you remember what it's like being able to look after someone again. I know Chorro always looked after you so…" Kyoki smiled.
Shigure grinned back at him, eyes brimming with happiness. "She's fantastic. I love her. Thank you. Thank you… Kyo."
The two of them spent the rest of the morning playing with the kitten; teasing her, giving her milk and showing her her new home. She recognised Kyoki but not once did she shy away from the wolfish stranger who tasted so good.
She purred and crawled all over him; scaling his massive body and squeaking in suprise if he were to turn and wink at her or whisper 'boo'.
Once she grew particularily cross and gave him a grumpy little hiss before Kyoki soothed her once more with a stray bit of fluff.
Shigure found it hard to imagine he'd experienced such misfortune before the kitten had come along.
Or...
He looked up uncertainly, watching the red-head dangle a piece of fluff before the kitten as he laughed.
... Was this happiness now because of Kyoki?
Shigure and Kyoki are minor characters in the manga but they donnot share any feelings for each other aside a mutual, friendly rivalry for their love of Chotto. That's about it, though you could maybe extend it to friendship in this particular story.
[Chibi No Aishiteru]
