Cats
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
ZEXAL
"Y-Yuma…?" asked a rather startled voice.
"Hm? What is it, Astral?" responded a rather bored-sounding young boy, now identified as Yuma.
"What is it doing?" asked the slightly panicked Astral.
"What is what doing?" questioned Yuma from his grassy seat on the bank of the river.
"That…!" Astral pointed.
Yuma turned away from the deck that he was currently tweaking and followed Astral's slightly-glowing finger. The results were that his eyes fell on the small furry creature that sat about 10 feet away, watching them intently.
"What, that? It's just a cat, Astral…" Yuma groaned.
"I know that, but what is it doing?" the Astral body emphasised.
"I don't know. Whatever cats do, I guess," Yuma shrugged before looking back at his deck. There was silence for a few seconds.
"Yuma?" Astral asked after a few seconds. Yuma sighed and turned away from his cards again.
"What?" he asked.
"Are cats dangerous?" Astral questioned.
"No," Yuma replied.
"But, last night, your sister was watching that TV programme. There was a really big orange, striped cat-like creature. It said that they were really dangerous and ate other animals and people," Astral stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"That's a big cat. We don't have big cats in Heartland City, let alone Japan," Yuma assured him. There was more silence and Yuma turned back to his cards.
"Yuma, didn't you say that cats could see me…? What implications would that have…?" Astral quizzed. Yuma rolled his eyes and didn't even bother to turn.
"I said that they might be able to see you. I didn't say that they could," Yuma responded. The answer did not appear to satisfy Astral.
"But what if they can? What do I do then?" he asked in an uneasy tone. Yuma looked back at his cards again.
"You go back to your daily life like a normal person," Yuma replied bluntly.
"I see…" Astral responded quietly. There was silence for another few seconds.
"… Yuma…?" Yuma groaned in annoyance.
"What?" he asked gruffly.
"… I have come to the conclusion that I am not a normal person. What do I do?" he questioned.
"Do what a normal person would do…" Yuma responded.
"What would a normal person do?" Astral asked.
"Exactly what I said a normal person would do," Yuma told him.
"… Go back to my daily life?" he asked after a few seconds of thought.
"Exactly… You're not afraid of cats, are you?" Yuma asked him. Astral crossed his arms.
"No. I have simply not made an observation on them," Astral responded. If Yuma didn't know better, he would have thought that Astral sounded a little… indignant…
Putting his cards away, he stood up and walked over to the cat before picking up the purring fluff ball and making his way back over towards Astral.
Astral, although slightly disturbed by this new and unexpected development, stayed firmly rooted in place. If he ran – or floated – away now, he would look like a fool.
Yuma stopped in front of him and held up the cat.
"Then make an observation and get it over with," Yuma reasoned.
The purring cat in Yuma's arms yawned and stared at Astral.
Astral moved to the left.
Astral moved to the right.
The gaze of the tabby followed.
"… Nya!" meowed the cat.
Astral flinched before drawing slightly closed.
"… Observation #18…" He paused. "Cats can't speak Japanese," he finally observed. Yuma sweatdropped.
"Of course cats can't speak Japanese…" he groaned in an exasperated tone.
"… I see… You're sure it's harmless?" he asked.
"Quite sure," Yuma verified.
Suddenly, the cat licked its paw and began to rub its face which, Astral presumed, was an act of cleaning itself.
"… Is this cat male or female? With humans it is very easy to tell… but…" he muttered.
Yuma looked down.
"… Boy…" he told Astral.
"How do you know?" he asked innocently. Yuma looked at Astral and noticed his distinct lack of any features which may define his gender and noted that this may be confusing to understand for his… species… After all, if it wasn't for his male voice, appearances and… lack of other gender defining features… he would have had a hard time guessing. Maybe everyone from his world looked like this, though. Who was he to judge based on appearances?
"Um… Well… It's got… Huh… How do I explain this…?" he muttered.
"Yuma!" he suddenly heard from behind him.
"Saved by the Kotori…" he sighed.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Um… Well…" He leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She blushed.
"Oh… I suppose that would be confusing…" she stated quietly.
Now, Astral was just getting confused and a little frustrated. Just what was the big secret?
"Uh… I'll explain this to you a little later, Astral. It's not really something that's discussed… in public…" Yuma told him.
"… So it is a sensitive issue for humans?" Astral asked.
"Well… Yes…" Yuma stated. He placed the cat down. It scratched itself before wandering off at its own leisurely pace.
"Observation #19: humans are confusing creatures…"
2 days later…
"Yuma… What is that creature…?" Yuma cursed Astral's natural inquisitiveness and lowered the cards that he was staring at.
"… That's a dog, Astral…" he sighed, preparing for another barrage of questions.
"… Is it dangerous? Should I be wary of it? Can it see me? What would it mean if it can? Are there big dogs, too? That dog is a girl, Yuma," Astral launched his questions and observations one after the other while pointing at the dog. Yuma silently cursed the fact that he had spent those 5 minutes teaching Astral gender differences. Now the inquisitive astral body thought that his comrade would like to know the gender of every single animal they saw, be it cat, dog, mouse or bird.
"No, no, maybe, I don't care, yes and stop telling me the gender of every animal we pass!" Yuma yelled.
There was silence.
"… That cat is male, Yuma…" Astral said innocently while pointing to a passing cat.
"I DON'T CARE!"