Cure for the itch
Dedicated to my friend Khursten. She's the one to blame for giving me this brainfart.
"Do you always do that?"
"…Eh?"
Mao lifted his head, sending Hei a curious look. BK-201 was looking back at him, staring with an intensity that he usually reserved for their missions.
"Er. Do what?"
"That." Mao paused mid-action, suddenly too aware of his own habits. "Scratch between your ears. Do you have fleas?"
"OF COURSE NOT."
"Ah… so, you just do that?"
"Well, yes," Mao huffed. "I'm a cat, you know."
"Ah. Hm."
Mao was beginning to find Hei's stare a bit disconcerting, but decided to ignore it. The Contractor's eccentricities were well known to him, and he decided to count that as yet another abnormality in Hei's behavior. This did not stop him, however, from protesting rather vehemently at being grabbed from behind and lifted up and into Hei's lap.
"O-OI!"
Hei, deaf to Mao's yowling, stretched the cat-Contractor out and proceeded to scratch Mao's belly. Although nothing changed in Hei's expression, Mao had the distinct and unpleasant feeling that the Contractor was making fun of him. He had half the mind to rectify the situation up until Hei reached a particularly nice spot, and even the idea of protest suddenly seemed ludicrous.
Yin appeared a few minutes later to find Mao purring away on Hei's lap as the latter diligently stroked his fur and scratched him between the ears. Yin blinked, poked Mao a few times, and then turned on her heel, returning to her shop.