Kuro stared out the window of Mahiru's apartment. He was completely and utterly bored to death just sitting around doing nothing. Usually that's what he liked to do, but without having at least the option to bother Mahiru it just didn't feel right. He'd been left alone at home while Mahiru was at school. He said something about taking exams and that it'd be too risky to bring Kuro to school like he normally did, so Kuro had to stay behind. He took a nap at first, but didn't sleep for very long so he tried playing some of his video games, but he wasn't interested enough in any of them to keep playing. Nothing good was on tv either. He'd read all Mahiru's manga and the fridge had nothing of interest. He needed to remind Mahiru to go grocery shopping.
Kuro simply stared out the window and flicked his tail side to side. Maybe Mahiru wouldn't mind if he took a short trip outside. Just to grab a snack of course, it's not like he wanted to go for a jog or anything. There was just nothing fun inside the apartment and he was starting to get hungry.
Kuro worked the best he could to get the balcony door to open. With the curtains pulled back and the sun up he couldn't change form so opening the door was no easy task, especially for someone currently without thumbs. He eventually got it to budge enough for him to slip his small body through and exit the apartment. He'd have more trouble opening it from the outside, so Kuro chose to leave the door open for when he came back. Hopefully there were no burglars in the area that would take advantage of an open balcony door.
He jumped off the balcony and onto the one a floor below. He could manage just fine with jumping all the way to the ground from Mahiru's floor, but if anyone saw him do that it might end up cause for concern and the last thing Kuro needed was to draw attention to himself. He reached the last balcony and finally made it to the ground. He sighed and sat down for a moment.
"Maybe this is more effort than it's worth…" Kuro mumbled to himself.
He got up and started making his way down the sidewalk. There was a bakery down the street that always left their door open and if Kuro was lucky, he could snag some delicious bread and be on his merry way. It had been a long time since he went food snatching. Since Mahiru became his Eve, that's who he relied on for food. Before that he simply snuck inside shops or begged for scraps as a cat.
Fortunately, the walk to the bakery didn't take too long and Kuro soon made his way to the entrance. He stood by for a moment, not wanting anyone to catch wind of his plan and try to stop him. Taking a peek inside, he spotted the only visible employee talking with a customer. Other than that the coast was clear so he took the chance to slowly step inside the bakery and make his way to a display of bread. It was a bit high up so Kuro jumped and quickly bit into some bread, pulling it down with him. He immediately regretted the decision when the bell on his collar jingled as he landed back on the ground.
"Hey! Drop that!" The employee shouted as he spotted Kuro with a mouth full of bread.
'Crap, stupid bell!' Kuro thought to himself.
He bolted for the door and ran out of the bakery as fast as he could, turning the corner to hide in the alley. It didn't seem like he was followed so he dropped the bread to catch his breath.
"Waiting… for Mahiru… would have… been a safer… idea…" Kuro said through labored breathing.
He let his heart calm down from the sudden adrenaline rush and went to pick his bread back up when he saw a white cat in front of him, mouth open about to grab his bread. There was a long moment of silence as Kuro and the other cat stared at each other, then suddenly the white cat snatched the bread and sprinted off.
"Hey! Give that back!" Kuro yelled as he ran after the bread thief.
"Shorry! Shorry! Shorry!" The thief shouted backed.
Kuro chased the other cat further into the alley. They made a turn down a dead end and Kuro expected them to stop, but the other kept going right into the wall. Just as the white cat was going to hit the wall, a meow echoed in Kuro's ears and suddenly he found himself colliding face first with the wall.
"Uggghh…" Kuro groaned and shook his head.
"Hehehe!" The other cat laughed.
Kuro turned around and saw the white cat running in the opposite direction. It confused him how they got past him without him seeing and how he didn't notice how close he was to the wall. The sun was barely visible within the alley so it was dark enough for Kuro to turn human. He ran after the white cat again and quickly got close enough to reach out with his coattails. The cat glanced behind themself to see Kuro and once again a meow echoed out.
Kuro became disoriented and looked around. He was back at the dead end again, right in front of the wall. Kuro growled and looked back to spot the white cat shaking their tail at him in a teasing manner.
"Mah breahd naow!" They said.
Kuro was getting tired of their game. He ran after the cat again, only this time he used his coattails to shoot spikes at the cat. The cat scrambled to dodge them, but as they flew past the cat and landed in the ground and made a blockade. They were trapped in the dead end. Kuro walked up to the cat and crouched down in front of them with his hand held out. The cat shook in fear and gently dropped the bread in Kuro's hand.
"What are you?" Kuro asked.
"W-what are you!?" The cat asked back.
Kuro grabbed the cat and held them up to his face. He noticed the red collar around their neck with a bell attached. It was just like his own collar. The one Mahiru gave him.
"Answer the question." He demanded.
"I'm Neko!" The cat shouted.
"Neko?"
"Neko!"
"That's original…"
"Now who are you?"
"...Kuro."
"Like that's any more original."
Kuro tightened his grip on Neko's body and Neko let out a squeak.
"What are you Neko?" He asked again.
"Neko is Neko!" Neko replied.
"...Riiight…"
"Now tell Neko what you are!"
"I'm a Servamp."
"What's a Servamp?"
Kuro groaned.
"If you don't know then there's no point in telling you." Kuro released Neko and began to walk away.
"Wait! Where are you going? I wanna play more!" Neko called out.
Kuro looked back to Neko. "I wasn't playing. I got my food back now leave."
Kuro continued to walk through the alley.
"I can be a person too! Now can we play?" Neko asked.
Kuro turned around again to see a naked woman with long light pink hair standing in front of him. He immediately glanced away, a slight blush forming on his face.
"I can't play. I have to get back home soon." Kuro answered.
"Please? It was fun playing with you, Kuro!" Neko said.
"I don't play." Kuro stated and tried to leave again.
Neko ran up to him and grabbed his arm. Kuro felt uncomfortable with his arm pressed against Neko's chest.
"Let go." He told her.
"Mhm-mhn!" Neko held on tighter to Kuro's arm.
"Can't deal… Fine, if I play with you will you leave me alone?" Kuro questioned.
"Yay! Kuro's gonna play with me! I promise, promise, promise after we play you'll never hear from me again!" Neko cheered.
'I just wanna eat my bread…' Kuro thought.
"Lets chase each other again! But this time as people!" Neko said.
"I can't do that. I turn back into a cat in sunlight." Kuro explained.
"Oh! Kinda like a vampire?" Neko inquired.
Kuro didn't have the patience to respond to that.
"It's okay though! We can just play in the alley!" Neko said.
"If we're gonna play could you at least put some clothes on?" Kuro suggested.
"No way! I hate clothes! They're so uncomfortable and it's harder to move around in them." Neko replied.
Kuro groaned and took his jacket off, handing it to Neko.
"Put it on or we don't play." Kuro ordered.
"Mmmhn… Fine." Neko took the jacket from Kuro and put it on, but only buttoned the first two buttons.
'Guess that's the best I'll get from her…' Kuro thought.
"Okay, let's chase! This time you have to catch me again and if you can't then I get the bread!" Neko shouted.
"No way. It's my bread." Kuro protested.
Neko pouted at him. "But it's how I wanna plaaaaayy!
"Ugh… Fine, fine."
Neko giggled and without warning she ran off. Kuro reluctantly chased after her.
"Stop hiding Neko!" Kuro shouted, looking around as he walked.
Their game was starting to become like hide-and-seek than just chase. Kuro came close to catching Neko several times, but she used her strange power every time he was about to win.
"You're getting warmer!" Neko's voice echoed through the alley. "Warmer! Waaarmer! Waaarmeeeer!"
Kuro looked all over for Neko but still couldn't find her. He finally tried looking up and there was Neko sitting on a windowsill.
"Hot, hot, hot! But now you gotta catch me!" Neko shouted.
Kuro jumped up to the window and surprised Neko. He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Gotcha." He said.
"Mmh! No fair! I didn't know you could fly! ...Carry me down please." She requested.
Kuro grabbed Neko and she held onto him until they reached the ground.
"The bread stays mine. Now no more games Neko. I have to go." Kuro said.
"B-but…! I had so much fun with Kuro and if we stop playing you'll leave and I won't see Kuro again, but I wanna be friends with Kuro! Forever and ever!" Neko whined.
She started getting herself worked up and tears welded up in her eyes. Kuro flinched. He didn't expect her to be so upset, nor that she wanted to be friends with him. He looked down at his bread and broke it in half.
"Stop crying." He said as he held half of the bread out to Neko.
She looked up and whipped her eyes. "R-really?"
"Really." Kuro replied.
She took the bread and quickly bit into it, eating all of it in just a few bites.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you Kuro!" Neko ran up to Kuro and pulled him into a tight hug.
Kuro blushed again and tried to back away.
"Do you really have to go though?" Neko questioned.
"Yeah, I do." Kuro sighed. "Sorry Neko."
"Can I come with you?"
"Uhh… I don't think that'd be okay."
"...Can I at least walk there with you?"
"I guess that's alright."
"Yay! I won't have to say bye yet!"
"I need my jacket back though."
"Oh, right!"
Neko took off Kuro's jacket and handed it back to him. He felt weird again now that Neko was once again completely naked. He put his jacket back on and Neko followed close behind as he headed for an exit out of the alley. When the sunlight hit Kuro he turned back into a cat and Neko followed suit. The two cats, Kuro with his half of the bread in his mouth and Neko walking along beside him, left the alley and began making their way down the street. Kuro then realized how long he was out. At any moment Mahiru could return home and see he was gone. He couldn't imagine the amount of worrying Mahiru would go through.
The sound of bells finally reached Kuro's ears and he noticed both his Neko's collars were jingling as they walked. Before he only ever heard his own bell, the one Mahiru gifted him, but hearing the sound of Neko's bell together with his gave Kuro a fuzzy feeling. Like he wasn't alone. That he had a friend. Neko was really his friend.
Kuro saw the apartment complex come into view. He and Neko continued walking up to it when off in the distance, Kuro spotted Mahiru. He was almost home from school and Kuro started walking faster. Neko kept up with him, but was surprised at his sudden change in pace. They reached the bottom of the balconies Kuro had climbed down and he stopped to place the bread down.
"I gotta go now Neko. See us later, okay?" Kuro said.
"See me later? Wait… Does that mean you'll wanna play with me again?" Neko asked.
"Sure, I had fun. Now I really gotta go Neko." Kuro picked the bread up and jumped into the first balcony.
"Okay! Byeeee Kuroooo! See you next time too!" Neko shouted back to him.
Kuro continued to make his way up the balconies, hoping Mahiru didn't spot him. He reached his balcony and scurried through the opening he left. He quickly dropped his bread to pull the curtains shut, which would be easier than closing the door. He heard the door unlock and scrambled for the couch, laying down with his bread in his hand.
"Kuro, I'm home! Sorry I had to leave you here alone. I hope you weren't too bored without me." Mahiru said as he walked in the apartment.
"Oh uh, hey." Kuro replied.
"Is that all I get?" Mahiru placed his bag down and walked over to Kuro.
"And look at you. Laying here in the dark and snacking. I'll start dinner soon so don't ruin your appetite." Mahiru took the bread from Kuro's hand and placed it in the kitchen.
Kuro just stared from Mahiru to the bread with a sad expression. Mahiru walked back to Kuro and reached for the curtains.
"You can't live in the dark like this forever." He said as he opened the curtains and was completely shocked to see a naked woman sitting on the balcony.
"Hi Kuro!" Neko called and waved to Kuro.
"Neko, go away!" Kuro ordered her.
"Kuuurrroooo!" Mahiru yelled as he tried to cover his eyes.