PLEASE READ: Hello friends! This is another side fanfic I've started due to my recent (re)obsession with Supernatural. Little Cas is just the cutest thing, and since all of my stories seem to involve nekos, I decided why not? I'll write a Supernatural AU where Cas is a little neko boy. This will be a Destiel fanfiction and probably get a little... hm... spicy. Just to clear up, Cas is small in this story. I have a little standard in my head that nekos are all very small laboratory-created things. For story's sake, let's just pretend Cas is much smaller than Dean. Sam and Dean aren't hunters in this either. Let me know if you guys like this and if you'd like me to continue! Please review! :D

HUM HALLELUJAH

1. PILOT

9:18 AM, 14 JUNE HOUSTON TX

I opened my eyes but saw nothing. The room I was lying in was darker than night and humid, making my skin sticky with moisture. I began to fidget uncomfortably but soon realized that the room was more or less a crate, and that the crate was rumbling softly with the distant hum of an engine. Although I couldn't see, I had a vague idea of where I might have been.

I pulled himself into a sitting position and wrapped my arms around my wobbly knees. My trousers were damp from sweat and my chest was bare except for the cool chain that dangled down my torso. This chain was connected to the thick leather collar locked around my throat, giving me barely enough room to breathe.

My ears twitched uncomfortably. The smells around me were unfamiliar and the humidity of the boarding crate masked any scents that may have lingered. Every part of me seemed to bump into one wall of the crate. There was no obvious exit to the box other than the tiny breathing holes cut half-hazardly above my head. I was blind and oblivious to wherever the men in white were taking me now.

I assumed I was being transported in a truck. The crate occasionally shifted and bounced over what I assumed to be bumps in the road, and during these moments I could hear the quiet mews of other neko. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the bigger image: I was merely one of the many nekos being transported in the back of an eighteen-wheeler. That semi would be driven by one of the white-coated men, accompanied by an assistant in case something went wrong. But nothing ever went wrong. Not with NEKO INC.

With a violent thrust of the crate, my head was rammed into the corner. I heard other muffled grunts of pain as other nekos were injured as well, although one stood out from the others. This male was loud and clear as if he was directly on the other side of the thin wooden wall.

"Well that was certainly unpleasant!"

I rubbed the side of my head warily and pressed one ear against the wall. I was certain that the owner of the voice was one of my siblings from the neko mill.

"Balthazar?" I called quietly, half afraid I would be heard by one of the men in white. I didn't want to call any attention to myself, and the men in white hated when nekos talked amongst themselves.

There was a short pause before the accented voice responded.

"Castiel? Is that you?"

I let out a sigh of relief. We were very lucky to be placed so close together in transportation. Usually there was an effort to keep kin apart from each other.

"It's me, Balthazar. Are you safe?" Balthazar was my older brother, but we looked nothing alike. While I was small and fragile with messy dark hair, Balthazar was blonde with a larger build.

"If you consider bleeding from my cranium safe, then yes, I'm fantastic." The older brother said sarcastically. His voice was close and comforting, and for a moment I imagined we weren't in a cramped box being shipped to who-knows-where. I imagined we would be free someday, living in a comfortable little house and watching television together with a cold beverage in our hands. There were no heavy collars around our necks and no men in white coats telling us that we were inferior to the human species.

When I opened my eyes, the pleasant daydream faded. We were still stuck in wooden boxes and there was a possibility that we would be separated soon. Like the rest of my brothers and sisters, I was likely never to see Balthazar again.

"Where do you think they're taking us?" I asked, barely audible over the roar of the engine.

"Another mill, of course. What else can they do with us?"

Unfortunately, my older brother was right. Being a neko meant being relocated from mill to mill across the country until some rich man with too much money would purchase you, likely using you for housework or sexual perversions. You were born in a mill, raised in a mill by intimidating men with white lab coats and then sold to a complete stranger to live your life in loyal servitude.

Of course, there were a few rare cases where nekos would be adopted for companionship. In the best of situations, you were given comfortable lives in mansions with your new owners and your only discomfort would be the eyes of the public, judging you for existing. For many neko, that was a fairytale. It was difficult to escape the abusive hands of the men in white.

The engine cut off and the rumbling of the crates stopped abruptly. There was an eerie silence and I held my breath, wrapping my tail around my waist. The back door of the truck opened loudly and for the first time, I saw light beaming in through the tiny holes in his crate. Sunshine.

"I hate this part." said the distant, unfamiliar voice of a man. "They're so loud and stupid."

I could hear the men starting to shift crates. The sound of wood scratching along the metal floor of the truck was enough to pierce my eardrums, so I covered my ears with my hands. Other voices erupted from the silence, protesting loudly at being pulled out of their crates by the cruel hands of the men in white. I patiently waited my turn.

When a neko would get too loud, the men in white would hit them or throw them to the ground to shut them up. Of course, I always did my best to stay quiet and listen to their orders, and because of that I had far less bruises than the others. Even Balthazar had his fair share of discolored skin, mostly for his sarcastic comments and bad attitude. I could hear Balthazar being pulled out of his crate, tugged by the chain on his collar out of the truck.

"Don't I have any rights?" the blonde neko joked, coughing from an obvious yank to his neck. "Can't I see a doctor? My head is bleeding quite badly and I highly doubt you'll make any money off of a wounded-"

"Shut up you little shit."

I closed his eyes again, visualizing my brother being pulled away from the truck by a violent and irritated men in white. I silently prayed my foolish brother wouldn't pay the consequences for his behavior.

Sudden light blinded me as the lid was lifted off of the crate. Strong hands grabbed me beneath my underarms and lifted me out of the box, setting me on my bare feet. The gravel beneath my toes was sharp and hot.

Another man in white grabbed the dangling chain of my collar and tugged me in the direction of a dark green warehouse. Another neko mill.

There was a long line of nekos in all shapes and sizes lined up to go into the mill. Our chains were being connected to each other's collars as if we were in a prison line. I was quickly hooked up to my brother's collar, and another male was hooked up to my own.

In the sunlight, I could clearly see the crimson hair on the back of my brother's head.

"You're hurt badly." I gasped while the men went back for the next neko. "How did that happen?" I wasn't stupid- a wound like that couldn't have been obtained from a bump against the crate.

Balthazar turned his head ever so slightly to face his younger brother, his signature smirk on his lips.

"I tried to resist when they were putting us in the crates." he explained proudly. "That hefty one over there hit me with the boarding ramp."

I turned my lips into a sad frown and looked at the ground. My feet were caked with dirt and they had new scrapes from the gravel but the pain was nothing compared to the sympathy I felt for Balthazar. With a head wound like that, he was likely to be put down instead of being treated.

I decided to turn to spiritual hope once again, bowing my head politely.

Dear Lord, I prayed. Please heal my brother's head. Please watch over him and give him the strength to get through these hard times. Please guide him and help him make the right decisions. Most of all, Lord, please take him away from this place. Please give him the freedom and happiness he deserves. If that means that I have to endure the hardships without him, Lord, please help him out. Amen.

I straightened up and started walking in the assembly line of nekos. We entered through the large doorway of the mill and were forced to shuffle our way down a cool cement hallway, which was a nice temperature change from the discomfort of the moving truck. A few times I found myself stepping in something wet and sticky, but I refused to look down to see whether it had been blood or urine from a neko ahead of me in line. Sometimes it was better not knowing.

Finally we were dismissed into a cramped room. As we entered, a man in white unhooked our collars from one another and told us to stay quiet. I stood close to Balthazar as twenty-four other neko piled into the room. There were about fifty of us altogether and the room became just as stuffy as the inside of the truck had been.

"Welcome to the Houston Neko Mill." One of the men in white greeted from the front of the room, cracking his knuckles as if he was about to personally beat all of our faces in. "My name is Crowley, and if you so much as put a toe out of line here, you're subject to my personal torment and punishment. You understand?"

I glanced at Balthazar, who was deviously smiling and already scheming ways to insult the new handler.

"Balthazar..." I whispered under my breath. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that this diva has got ego." He answered quickly. Several neko close around us chuckled. Like me, they were all aware of Balthazar's dangerous sense of humor. Since most of us were too frightened to speak up, it made him stand out in the crowd of us. Even though he was unwise to be so reckless, he was also brave.

"You'll be spending most of your time in here. There are handlers on guard twenty-four seven, so I wouldn't suggest trying anything… hasty." The handler named Crowley gazed over the lot of us, but I could have sworn his eyes landed on Balthazar longer than anyone else. "There is a bathroom to the back of the room. No windows, so don't bother. We're not your maids, so keep it clean. The lights will be shut off at ten o'clock sharp, hope you like the dark. Make yourselves comfortable, my pets."

The nekos around me seemed to nod their heads obediently. No one spoke until Crowley had left the room and closed the door loudly behind him.

This mill, like the previous three I had seen, was crowded and musty. There were no beds or benches for us to sit on, and the cement floor was cold as ice under our bare feet. The ceiling reached miles above our heads and there were no windows. It felt like we had all been thrown into a large cement box.

I slowly turned to Balthazar.

"You should go to the bathroom and put a cold compress on your head, to stop the bleeding." I suggested. My brother laughed and sat down against the cement wall.

"What are you, a doctor? I'm just fine. Those flea-brains aren't going to break me that easily." The blonde neko closed his eyes and continued to smile, although I was positive that he was determined to hide whatever amount of pain he felt.

Without another choice, I sunk down next to him and rested my head affectionately against his shoulder. His tail curled gently around mine and gave me the warm sense of comfort in such a cold, miserable place.

3:42 PM 28 JUNE HOUSTON TX

It had been two weeks since Balthazar died.

As I suspected, the trauma to his head was too severe. Within three hours of being placed in the new neko mill, he had begun to have violent seizures and was forced to be euthanized. It was the weakest I had ever seen my brother, and I hardly had the chance to say goodbye before the men in white were carrying him away. My last living family member had been taken away, and now I was on my own.

The Houston mill was nicer than my previous home in the Baton Rouge mill. Since our transfer here, all of us had gained at least a few pounds in weight, being fed twice a day instead of twice a week. Although the cuisine wasn't particularly warm, it was much better than the tasteless oatmeal we had been fed before. Here we received a variety of bread, corn meal, spinach and rice. It was enough of a difference for me to look forward to meal times.

I had made a few acquaintances since Balthazar's death but none of them were special enough to consider friends. There was a timid neko with short brown hair named Alfie who slept near me because the darkness frightened him. He was polite and decent but too scared of everything to hold a solid conversation. A larger dark-skinned neko named Raphael was rude and cold in personality, but he had once shared his biscuit with me when mine was stolen, so I guess that made him good. A quirky boy with two different colored ears often tried to speak to me on my way to the bathroom, but I tried to ignore him because I didn't need any more boisterous acquaintances. His name was Gabriel.

Overall I tried to avoid getting too close to anyone. Making friends meant getting hurt when they were taken away from me. Perhaps it was selfish, but I had lived through enough loss to last a lifetime.

The only person I trusted was God. I often prayed to him under my breath and thanked him for keeping me alive. I prayed that Balthazar and the rest of my family was safe and happy with him. I prayed that he would find me a good home, or take me into his arms as well.

My prayers were finally answered.

The adoption process of nekos is a little secretive. Photos of us are uploaded to the NEKO INC. website with short descriptions. You can either purchase a neko straight from the website and get delivered by a handler or schedule a visit to the nearest mill to pick up your neko first hand. Until someone comes for you, you really have no idea how long you'll be in the mill.

I was sitting against the wall with a hard biscuit in my hand when the steel door slid open. We all lifted our heads, wondering who was being adopted or taken for punishment. The main handler Crowley entered and scanned the room until his eyes landed on me. I froze.

"You, with the blue eyes. Come with me."

I dropped my forgotten biscuit and stood up, hurrying over to the door. Dozens of eyes stared into my back as I approached Crowley.

Please God, let me be getting adopted.

Crowley put his hand around the chain on my collar and led me out of the room.

"It's your lucky day, my boy." The tall handler spoke deviously, guiding me down the hallway. My skin was tingling with anticipation.

Will my owner be nice? Will it be a man or a woman? Will they let me sleep on a bed?

A million questions ran through my head and my heart began to beat out of my chest.

I followed Crowley excitedly through a doorway and into a very bright, pristine room. There was a counter and a shiny metal table in the middle of the room.

Excitement turned to discomfort and I stopped walking abruptly when my feet hit the tile.

"What is this?" I asked quietly, surveying the room cautiously.

Crowley yanked me towards the table and grabbed my underarms, setting me down on top of it.

"Castiel, is it?" He connected the chain on my collar to a metal pole stationed next to the uncomfortable table. I nodded timidly. "Well my furry-eared friend, it has come to my attention that you have been to four different mills now. That's quite a number."

"Yes." I nodded, furrowing my brow. "What's going on? Aren't I getting adopted?"

"Not quite." Crowley smiled in a way that made me want to cringe. "You see, not many people are interested in adopting someone of your age. You are... what, nine seasons old? Most nekos are bought in their first year of creation. I'm sure by now you realize that your chances of adoption are slim to none, pet."

My heart sunk into my chest. I wasn't getting adopted. I was getting euthanized.

"Please, don't kill me." I begged, grabbing onto the sleeve of his white coat.

"Quite sorry, really. Let's make this quick and painless, shall we?" Crowley continued to smile, digging into one of the drawers. He retrieved an injection needle and a vial of pale green liquid.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God, please no. Don't let him kill me. This can't be the end, please. Please don't let this be the end, Lord.

With my collar fastened onto the pole, I was unable to flee. Crowley patted my head hastily and extended my arm towards himself, turning it upwards. His fake form of sympathy made me even more upset. My eyes burned with tears, but I did not struggle. In this world, I learned that struggling is pointless.

God... is this your will? Do you want me to die?

Without warning, Crowley poked the needle at the vein in my pale underarm. I felt a sharp spike of pain shoot through my body. The handler stepped back and began to discard the needles as if I was no longer sitting there, ignoring me as my mouth opened and closed. Speechless. The pain was starting to ebb away and within sixty seconds, my eyes were heavy and my heart slow.

God... Oh, God... This is it.

Finally, gravity pulled me down to the table. My body was numb and I was unable to keep myself in a sitting position. I slowly fell onto my back and blinked groggily up at the flourescent lights. When I recognized that my eyes were closing for the last time, I tried to imagine that the blinding light was God taking me into his arms.

12:32 AM 30 JUNE DALLAS TX

In death, I was comforted by a warm glow. It felt like I was laying beneath an afternoon sun with nothing but the calming sounds of nature around me. The ocean waves hugging the hot coastal sand. The birds chirping overhead. The bees buzzing past my ears. Everything was serene and for as much as I could tell, I was alone. There was no one else in this sedating daydream, but I was so comfortable and calm to mind.

Is this Heaven?

Before I could open my eyes, the light behind my eyelids began to fade. The soothing sounds became more distant and it felt as if the tranquility was being taken away. Within seconds, I was in total darkness. Everything was silent.

What just happened?

A sudden pain erupted from every limb of my body and I was bolted awake. When my eyes shot open, I found myself not in a peaceful field, but in an overflowing mound of garbage.

What?

My body was stiff and weak. It was difficult to move quickly but I was able to pull myself into a sitting position. The area around me was cold and dark, but dimly lit by the moon above me. There was a suffocating scent of trash and it made me want to vomit. Apparently, I had landed myself in some sort of garbage dump.

How? Where in the world am I? I thought I was dead?

No, I decided. I was very much alive. There was a dull ache in my left arm where Crowley had injected me with the poison. The skin there was severely discolored but I was able to move it slowly. I was alive. Whatever poison that handler had pumped me with hadn't killed me.

I could only assume for one reason.

Thank you, God...

After a quick prayer to the stars, I began to shift and find a way out of the trash heap. After moving my legs from underneath a dirty bag of rotten food, I found that I was completely naked.

They thought I was dead so they unclothed me and threw my body in the trash... Is this the kind of funeral all nekos receive?

I tried not to imagine the bodies of my dear siblings rotting somewhere in this garbage dump. The thought brought me chills and encouraged me to keep moving.

It took a while, but after maneuvering my body I was able to make it to the bottom of the pile. I thanked God quickly for the dirt beneath my toes as I stumbled in the direction of the chain link fence.

Where am I going?

It didn't matter. Other than the leather collar still binding my neck, I was free.

I glanced up at the sign on the fence which read in bold letters: Dallas Waste Management Center.

Dallas?

That was a long way from Houston. I had to hope that it was far enough away from the mill to keep me safe. If Crowley and the others believed I was dead, it was better to keep it that way.

I was able to crawl my small body through a hole in the fence and make it to the other side. My nudity wasn't embarrassing but the air was cold and made my lack of clothes a disadvantage. I hadn't realized that Texas could get so cold at night.

Without a game plan in mind, I walked for at least a few hours. My legs were weak and my feet felt as if they were being grated like cheese. It was clearly the middle of the night since there was only one or two vehicles passing down the road, but I kept out of sight when they did. I hoped I could make it out of the city by dawn and find somewhere in the woods to hide out and regain my strength.

Unfortunately, my tired body wasn't going to let me get that far. I was out of breath and forced to lean against the wall of a building for support.

Please God, just a little longer...

My eyes were just as heavy as my legs and I slid down against the wall with my tail curled around my waist.

I'll just rest for a few minutes...

6:16 AM 1 JULY DALLAS TX

"Hey... hey, kid! Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

"Look at his tail, Dean. He's a neko."

"I've never seen one in person... Why is he naked?"

"He looks pretty beat up, maybe he got jumped or something... We should get him off the street."

"Put your jacket around him, Sam."

I recognized that a sudden warmth enveloped me and I was lifted weightlessly into someone's arms. Although I couldn't force my eyes open, I allowed myself to feel comforted by the presence of these strong male voices. Unlike the voices of the men in white, they sounded concerned and sympathetic. They wanted to help me.

"Let's go back to the motel. We'll clean him up there."

That was the last thing I heard before slipping into a deeper subconscious, surrounded by the darkness once again.

What do you guys think? Are you excited to see what happens when Cas meets Dean for the first time? Have any ideas of what will happen next? Please review and let me know if I should continue writing! :D Don't be hesitant to message me either, I love feedback! Thanks everyone! Stay tuned for the next chapter! 3 fuchsia light