Chapter One: Operation Sneak the Cat in.
"Ren, why do we have to hide her?"
Ren glanced over at his younger twin, as meowing could be heard coming from the depths of his back pack. His arms were wrapped around the backpack in order to stop the occupants shifting. "Because, Shin, they'll never agree to let us keep her."
Shin nodded, his dark brown eyes settling on the still shifting back pack. He sighed, but kept any further protests to himself. He knew his brother was right. The only pet they'd ever allowed was a gold fish, they'd named Macbeth. A fish was alright, but all it did was swim in circles in its fish tank.
"Okay," Ren said as they reached the door to the apartment. He shushed his backpack one more time, before grinning, and whispering to his twin, "Commence operation: Sneak the Cat in!"
Shin nodded, returning his brothers grin as he placed his hand on the door knob, turned it, and opened the door. For a moment the twins stood frozen in the doorway. They could hear Misaki cooking in the kitchen, and smelled something fishy. Meanwhile, Usagi-san was sitting on the couch in a meeting with his editor: Aikawa.
The twins exchanged a surprised look. They hadn't expected both of their guardians to be home. Ren and Shin entered the apartment, attempting to sneak their way towards the staircase and then to their room, but then a certain kitty cat began to meow once more. The twins froze once more: Misaki was cooking something fishy, which meant the cat wanted to eat it. Thinking quickly, Ren coughed, in order to try to cover up the meowing kitty in his bag.
"Ah, welcome home boys!" Misaki said as he started open another can of tuna fish. "Would you like a snack?"
The twins shook their heads, "No thanks, Oji-san!" they then continued on their way to the staircase. The cat shifted a few more times, mewing agitatedly and all the while Ren coughed to cover it up, but with one glance at Usagi the twins knew he wasn't buying it.
"Are you alright, Ren-chan?" Aikawa asked, putting down the manuscript she'd been reading.
"I hope you're not coming down with anything." Misaki said concerned.
"I'm fine!" Ren called over his shoulder as he and Shin approached the stair case, and at the same time Shin said, "He's fine!"
"Hold it." The twins sighed, half way up the stairs, when they heard Usagi's voice. They turned around to see Akihiko still sitting on the couch, lighting a cigarette. "Ren, come here and show me what's in your bag."
"We have to feed Macbeth." The twins said in unison.
"Shin can feed the fish by himself." Akihiko replied taking a drag on his cigarette. "Ren come here."
For a moment they hesitated, glancing up the stairs to where their room was, but then started back down the stairs. Slowly, Ren walked towards the living room area of the apartment. Shin followed behind Ren, both twins staring at the floor. Ren's backpack shifted again, and meowed as he handed it over to Usagi.
"A cat?!" Misaki exclaimed as Usagi opened the bag and a silver tabby cat with a bulging belly jumped out of it. It dashed over to the kitchen area, jumped from the floor and onto the counter, where Misaki was. It then ambled over to a bowl with tuna fish in it, but, before it could have some, Misaki moved the bowl out of its reach.
"What a beautiful cat!" Aikawa said standing and walking over to the counter. She took the gray tabby into her arms, and it began to purr. "Oh, she's so thin! The poor dear,"
Shin followed after her smiling, "Miki looked so sad, when we saw her outside. We couldn't just leave her there."
"Shin, Ren, we've had this discussion befo—you named it Miki?" Misaki said surprised, pausing in his cooking to look at each of the twins in turn, both of who were nodding.
"She's named after Onee-san." Shin said quietly, his eyes on the floor and bit his lip.
"We named her Miki and we're keeping her!" Ren shouted suddenly, drawing all attention to him. Beads of tears accumulated at the edges of his eyes, and stung as he held them back. His hands were fists at his sides. "…She's staying…"
Usagi's expression softened a bit as he watched Ren and reached out to gently place his hand on Ren's head before ruffling his hair slightly, "She can stay Ren."
"A cat is takes more responsibility than a fish," Misaki said smiling at his nephews. Whatever took their minds off their current situation was a good thing to keep around. "However, I think you two are up for the challenge. "
Both boys were now grinning, "Thank you Oji-san and Usagi-san!"
"How wonderful for you boys!" Aikawa said as the cat meowed once and purred even louder than before.
Animecheetah: I updated the chapter a little bit. Now it seems to be a little more complete than before.