Zen looked down at the soaked black kitten with a look of sympathy and fear for it. The sky was grey, it was pouring rain and lightning flashed in the distance, then thunder would rumble and scare away all the strays in the alleyway, all the strays except the little black kitten that was laying down on its belly inside of a cardboard box that did nothing to protect it from the pouring rain. It's ears were flat on it's head and its eyes were open a little, it seemed to refuse to fall asleep, but it also seemed it had no plan of moving either. it didn't seem to acknowledge that the white-haired teen was still standing there staring at it. It had looked up when the other cats ran away because of the teen walking into the alleyway, but had lowered it's head when it saw the human walking towards it.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the alleyway for a short moment, but it was enough for Zen to see it – the blood. The black kitten was covered in scratches that he assumed were caused by the other cats. There was a small pool of blood under it's chest and head. The lightning allowed Zen to see the blood, but he still can't see where it's bleeding from. The thunder was deep, but neither Zen nor the kitten acknowledged it.

Mitsuhide and Kiki are going to kill me.

His parents had told him multiple times not to touch strays, much less be near them and his older brother, Izana, had enforced it when he had taken over Clarines Corporations. It's kind of funny in a way; his parents, brother and friends telling him to stay away from strays when the company is meant to help people whether they're poor or rich. Just this morning, Zen had signed a plea to let an orphan child keep his dog that had been stealing bread from a bakery near the orphanage. The dog had been feeding the orphans as it turned out – if Zen had read the horrible green crayon writing correctly. Everyone tells him to help others, even though his family seemed to do it for the money.

The shivering kitten was nearly drowning in rainwater and blood in the dirty alleyway and if Zen left, the other cats might come back and finish the job. Zen on the other hand, was fully dressed with a nice warm white sweater, navy blue jeans and shin high black rain boots with a new blue umbrella that he held over his head in his white mitten covered hand. If his family and friends were here, they would most likely tell him to leave the kitten to die.

Good thing they're not here.

Another flash of lightning tore through the sky. When the dim light above the single door in the alleyway was the only source of light again, the kitten was no longer in what remains of the cardboard box. Zen cradled the kitten to his chest with his free hand, finally being able to take in just how much the kitten was shivering. The kitten was wide eyed for a few seconds and once it realized that Zen had started walking out of the alleyway it started to struggle.

"Shh, it's okay I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," said Zen, looking down his chest at the kitten.

The kitten continued to struggle for a bit, but soon ceased to. The poor thing was tired, Zen could tell, even if he was more focused on all the blood that was staining his sweater and mitten. Now that he had the kitten to his chest, he could see the extent of its wounds better. The scratches weren't from other cats, Zen noted, they were from a knife. He couldn't tell what kind of knife had dealt the damage, but he honestly didn't want to know or to have the image of someone attacking the poor kitten in his head. The kitten had an owner before, Zen could tell by the kitten's relative cleanness, probably having been abandoned a couple of hours ago. Above its left eye was a small fresh scratch that obviously wasn't the culprit to the blood that soaked Zen's mitten and sweater, given how shallow it looked. There were some more scratches on it's sides and legs, but Zen figured that the largest wound that was producing all the blood was on it's chest. The top of Zen's palm – which was supporting the kitten's chest – was already soaked in blood. He could feel the warm liquid on his hand.

"Who did this to you?"

They continued in silence. Zen had been frowning for most of the walk but let a soft smile take his face when the kitten had sleepily snuggled into his chest.

Mitsuhide and Kiki had been waiting for him. They had been in his room for a long time if the two piles of movies and bowl of a few buttered popcorn kernels were anything to go by.

When Zen had entered, he had decided to enter through the door… the door to his balcony, so that none of the maids or butlers would see the kitten or the more concerning stains of blood. To be able to make the journey up the tree and onto his covered balcony, he had ditched his umbrella by the front entrance and turned his sweater around so that the hood was in front of him to put the kitten in so that he could use both hands to climb. Once he had made it onto the balcony he noticed that the TV was playing Star Wars – episode four to be precise – and that his two best friends were seated on opposite sides of the couch.

They work for his brother, Mitsuhide as an assistant to Zen – or a babysitter as Zen often calls him – and Kiki as an intern – or a "definitely going to be a second babysitter" even if she is just one year older than him, not to mention he is 19 years old, too old for a babysitter or two even. He had ignored them and had tried to escape their presence when they had first met and his brother had explained why he had hired them, but he had come to accept them over time and had even been hanging out with them outside of work as friends. Mitsuhide even drives him to his college classes, though it isn't in his job description.

He had barely opened the door when Kiki had paused the movie and turned to glare at him, Mitsuhide turning to look at him a second later.

"It's 11:23 at night Zen, not to mention that there is a thunder storm and heavy rain… you're soaked."

As if to emphasize her point, a giant flash of lightning illuminated the room, followed by a deep rumble only a second later.

Zen closed the door. As much as he wanted to joke around with his friends and maybe continue to watch the movie with them, the kitten was his top priority. The bleeding seemed to have stopped and the kitten was still breathing – he had checked multiple times and picked up his pace because of the kitten rather than because of the growing intensity of the storm – but it was still a shivering, dirty and bloody mess. He was hoping he would be able to get by his two friends but he knew that they would find out sooner or later. Zen looked down at the curled-up kitten in his hood, a sad frown reaching his face.

"We won't scold you horribly seeing that it's Friday and you have the weekend off, but we were pretty worried about you after you disappeared this afternoon. Where were you anyway? We went looking for you for a bit, you weren't in any of your usual places," said Mitsuhide with an apologetic smile.

Zen continued to stare at the kitten a moment before letting out a deep sigh. He knew it would be better if he was honest about the kitten, they could probably even help him take care of it. He looked up at Mitsuhide and was about to speak, but Kiki opened her mouth.

"There's blood on your mitten," worry took over her voice, but she kept most of her stoic attitude as she stared with slightly wide eyes at his left mitten. Mitsuhide let out a small gasp when he saw it as well. He stood up and opened his mouth to go on a panicked rant, but Zen spoke first in hopes of being able to immediately get to work on helping the kitten.

"It's not my blood, it's his," Zen said while pointing into his hood. While he had been walking back to the mansion, he had realized that he should probably find out the kitten's gender. He had been embarrassed, but luckily, the kitten had been too tired to protest further than a weak meow when Zen lifted him higher to look.

Mitsuhide and Kiki were both standing, now giving Zen confused looks. As Zen continued to explain how he found the kitten and how he realized that the wounds are from a knife and not other cats, his friends moved to get everything ready for the kitten. Kiki had gently removed the kitten – who didn't protest at all – from Zen's hood and had demanded that he take off the sweater and mittens. Once he taken them off she told him that they couldn't be saved and would be thrown out and that she would explain to the maids where the blood came from. Mitsuhide had been sent to retrieve extra blankets, a warm towel and a first aid kit.

Kiki gently turned the kitten onto his back in her hand so that they all would be able to see the horrible wound. They all looked at the deep cut that ran across his chest with sorrowful eyes. Mitsuhide said that it was a miracle that the Kitten was still alive, much less that the bleeding had stopped. After that, a bowl – not the popcorn bowl as Kiki had told them when Zen had gone to grab it – of warm water was placed next to Kiki who sat on the floor with the towel over the cleared coffee table, and the kitten with half of his body on the towel and the other half in Kiki's hand as she started cleaning and bandaging the kitten. Zen had offered to help, but Kiki had banished him to go take a warm shower because he was shivering, not as bad as the kitten, but enough that he could get sick if he didn't take care of himself immediately. He did go… eventually, but as Mitsuhide had told him, the shower would give enough time to think of a name for the kitten.

The shower was pleasant, but he still wasn't able to come up with a name. He didn't want to give it a common name – whatever a common name for a cat is – but he couldn't think of anything unique. If Zen was honest though, he didn't spend that much time thinking of names during his 15-minute shower, he was more worried about the kitten's wellbeing. Multiple times had the fear that the kitten would be dead when he left the bathroom occupied his mind. After he had brushed his teeth and gotten dressed into his pajama bottoms and a tank top – that Mitsuhide had somehow snuck in there when Zen had been showering – Zen stood for two minutes with his hand on the door handle, until he finally found the strength to go and check on the kitten.

Kiki was sitting on the couch and Mitsuhide was next to her. He walked over to them to get a better look and had found Mitsuhide with the kitten in a large fluffy white blanket. Kiki looked exhausted but somehow, kept a stoic pose. Even though Mitsuhide couldn't see Zen, he seemed to know when Zen was about to ask about the kitten and turned around to smile at Zen.

"He's alright Zen, just tired."

Zen let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and rounded the sofa to be able to sit in between his friends. Once he sat down, Mitsuhide had (reluctantly) handed the bundled-up kitten to Zen. The blanket was warm, and when Zen gently ran his index finger over the kitten's forehead he found that the kitten was purring rather than shivering and Zen couldn't keep the smile off his face. Zen found himself tracing the small scratch above the left eye – too small to be bandaged and to close to the eye for a band aid – but the kitten – as comfortable as he was – started to struggle and tried to get away from Zen's finger. Zen retracted his finger and settled to just holding the bundle as the kitten found peace again. He looked up with amber eyes at Zen with what looked to be a tired glare.

"Guess he doesn't like it when you touch his scratches," Mitsuhide chuckled from beside Zen.

"I know I wouldn't," said Kiki.

They all continued to watch the sleepy kitten who seemed to have forgiven Zen for the unwanted petting. It was Mitsuhide who broke the silence.

"Have you thought of a name yet, Zen?"

Zen sighed, still looking at the kitten in the blanket – there was more blanket than kitten… a lot more blanket than kitten.

"No… I was too worried about him to come up with anything. Besides, I didn't want to give him a plain, boring, common cat name."

"Hmm… well we can't keep calling him 'he' or 'the kitten'," Mitsuhide said looking back to the TV screen. The movie was stopped on Obi-wan in his hut watching the hologram of Princess Leia.

"How about Obi-wan?" Mitsuhide offered.

Zen looked up at the screen with a blank stare.

"As much as I love Star Wars, I'm not going to name him after any of the characters."

"Why not?"

"Because that's how most people name their animals," Zen said, looking back down at the sleeping kitten.

"And how would you know how most people name their animals, Zen?" Kiki said with a knowing smirk.

A small blush appeared on Zen's cheeks, but he kept his gaze on the kitten.

"… I wanted some ideas for when I got my own pet, but now that I have one, I don't want to give him a regular name."

The kitten's ear had twitched at the word "pet". Suddenly, a little black paw came up and smacked Zen on the nose. It didn't hurt but it shocked all three of them. When they all looked down at the kitten, his eyes were still close, his ears were flat on his head and it looked like he had a pout on his face. After a few seconds, Kiki closed her eyes and smirked while Mitsuhide turned around, covering his mouth as he tried to suppress his laughter. Zen was still staring at the kitten in shock but a small smile had found his face.

"I guess he doesn't like being called a pet," Kiki said, amusement in her tone.

"…Definitely…not…Obi-…" Mitsuhide was having a hard time speaking, he had found the kitten smacking Zen in the nose far too funny.

The kitten's ear twitched at the word Obi and the little pout had left his face. Zen was the only one who noticed it.

That's it!

"You like the name Obi?" Zen asked the kitten, he wasn't really expecting an answer, but he still got one. The kitten opened his amber eyes and meowed at Zen. Zen could have sworn he saw a smile on the kitten's face.

"I thought you said you didn't want to name him Obi-wan?" Mitsuhide was finally able to calm down but still had a big smile on his face.

"I'm not naming him Obi-wan, I'm naming him Obi. He likes it," Zen smiled, still looking at little Obi.

Obi meowed again and started playing with the white hair that fell over Zen's eyes. Kiki chuckled as she stood up.

"I feel confident in my skills of cleaning and bandaging Obi's wounds, but it's for the best if we take him to the vet tomorrow. The wound on his chest is pretty bad and I would feel better if a professional looked at it."

Zen nodded, still watching Obi who started to sleepily pet Zen's cheek with his paw. With everything said and done, Kiki turned off the TV, even when Mitsuhide protested. She got the final word in by saying that it was one in the mourning and that they would be taking Obi to the vet when they all woke up. Once they closed the door behind them, Zen stood up and walked to his bed and set the bundle down.

"I'll be right back; I'm just going to turn off the light."

He left his bedside lamp on so that he could find his bed again. the lightning and thunder had stopped, but it was still raining hard and the moon couldn't be seen through the dark clouds. When he had returned to the bed, Obi had gotten out of the bundle and had made himself comfortable on the left side pillow, facing away from the right side of the bed. Zen climbed into the right side of the bed and reached to pet the heavily bandaged black kitten. Obi didn't look and his ear didn't twitch, yet he still somehow knew that Zen was reaching for him and had kicked Zen's wrist away with his hind leg. Zen looked at Obi in shock for a while but then chuckled. He turned around and turned off the lamp. Once it was dark again Zen flipped back over and pulled the comforter up to his chin, watching Obi's steady breathing. A small smile tugged at his face as he closed his eyes.

"…Goodnight…Obi."