Okay, I came up with this story while I was petting my cats earlier. X)
ENJOY! 8D
DISCLAIMER! I don't own Wild Kratts! I do own Kate, however. :)
Zach sat there in his office chair, finding himself again staring at the 'scrapbook picture' framed on his desk. The frame consisted of four small pictures: McKenzie in High school, their wedding, him and her playing and laughing, and finally, the last picture was of Kate as a small baby. Zach couldn't help but eyeball the last one with Kate. She seemed so small, but so full of life. She always had been the spunky one. Zach finally gathered the strength to look away.
"Forget it, Zach." He said to himself. He knew, that to Kate, he was just being a monster trying to ruin her life, but if she only knew. He was only trying to get the one thing back that made him happy. Since Kate was so small when she became a Wild Kratt, she had't heard the story of when his mother died, and his sister abandoned him. Of course, she knew about her mother, but still. She was the only he had left in this empty, lonely life of his. Why couldn't she just see that?! He picked up the frame and looked at the infant laughing, hugging her butterfly doll like it was her only friend. At that time, besides him, it was.
"Ugh! Stop looking at the stupid picture!" Zach whispered to himself instead of shouting mentally. "I mean...it's not like she's just gonna walk up to the door and..."
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* KNOCK*
The sudden knocking on his mansion door caught attention in mid-mental sentence. It was probably those pesky kids asking if they could go around back to get their ball. Zach got up and walked to the door and to his surprise, it wasn't the kids at all! I mean, it was a kid...but not really a 'kid'. It was a teenager. She looked to be around fourteen years old. With her green eyes, near to black hair, and of course, all the pink she was wearing, Zach knew right off the bat!
"Ka-Katherine?!" He couldn't believe what he was seeing! His own daughter was standing there. Alone. At his front door. And...holding something. The thing looked soft and cuddly. It had black fur with a white diamond fur pattern on his forehead. His nose was a healthy pink, and his long tail had a white tip. Then it meowed a sweet and joyful sound.
Zach felt like screaming, but then again...it was just a baby. It couldn't hurt him.
"Hey...Dad?" Kate started nicely, refusing to look at his face. Zach could tell...she felt awkward being here.
Kate decided to cut to the chase, because she knew any minute her father would be asking what the heck she brought with her.
"Daddy, Uncle Martin, and I were heading into town, to get supplies for the Tortuga, when we saw all these kittens on the side of the road. Someone just dumped them there on the side of the road. They're old enough to eat cat food, but they had to mother, and they would have surely been killed by big predators or cars or something if we didn't do something. We're gonna take them to the local shelter, but I told Daddy that I knew someone who could use a little company." She explained, holding the kitten gently in her hands, rubbing his ears to keep him calm.
"And...who would that be?" Zach asked.
Kate simply pointed at her father. That's when Zach understood.
"What?! No way! I am not taking care of a cat,Katherine. Unless it's a jagua-war." Zach retorted, looking away from his daughter, and the feline, disgusted just at the thought of having that...thing in his mansion.
"Oh C'mon, Dad? Look at him, he's so sweet and helpless. Besides...I know how lonely you've been lately." She added.
Zach nearly choked.
"I..I'm not lonely! I have over a hundred Zachbots that keep me company!" He retorted, crossing his arms.
"Pfft! Oh, please!" Kate remarked, "You and I both know those 'things' can't possibly keep you company. I mean, they're metal and computer programming. No feelings, no hearts, no emotions...no love?" Kate ended, looking back down at the kitten.
That made Zach groan and look back at her daughter with the cat.
"I know you must be very alone sometimes, and I was thinking, well...maybe you'd need a friend." Kate said sweetly.
Zach looked at the ground. He was going to accept it, but to him, this house, this life, this feeling of emptiness...was a living Hades.
"Just try it? For me? Tell you what? You take care of him for a week. After that, if you just can't stand him, then we'll take him to the shelter. But if you love having him around...don't even bother to call?" Kate offered.
Zach bit his lip. To him, it was a convincing offer. I mean...what having someone around to keep him company for only a week gonna really harm anyway?
"Going once," Kate started.
What?! Was he insane?! There was no way he was letting any mangy animal in his house!
"Going twice," Kate continued.
Do it!
No!
Do it!
No!
"Okay, fine! I'll take him for the week, but no more!" He said finally. Every word tasted bitter on his tongue.
"Oh yeah! There's one more thing. You're not allowed to use him as a robot." Kate said with the seriousness of her adoptive father, Chris.
"Oh please! What kind of a robot can I use with this small...thing?" Zach asked.
Kate shrugged her shoulders and gave a too-shay look.
Kate walked into Zach's mansion, and set the young kitty on the couch nearby.
"Okay, you'll need cat food, a bed, some cat dishes, maybe a small scratching post, and some toys." Kate said, going down her checklist on her fingers.
"Oh! And you might need a litter box, unless you prefer to train it to be outside, which is harder to do than for dogs."
Zach was a little wide eyed as she past him, looking for anything that might harm the poor feline. That was a lot of stuff.
"Wait wait! I'll need a scratching post?!" He asked.
"Hey, it's either the scratching post...or your furniture." Kate replied, pointing with her thumb to the cat on the couch that was already getting his claws ready.
"And...I'll also need a what, then having it go outside?"
Kate slapped her forehead. Seriously?! Did her father know anything about pets? Probably not.
After going a few things, Kate finally said goodbye to the little kitten.
She was just about to walk out the door when,
"Wait!" Zach called as she left.
"Yeah?"
"What's his name?"
Kate really hadn't thought about, but...since Japanese was her second language, she said, "His name is Neko."
"Ne-ko?" Zach asked, a little surprised at how weird, yet how perfect it sounded for the little guy.
"It's a Japanese name for a boy that means victorious. Also, there's a anime called Neko that involves 'cat' people." She said with a shrug, before she ran off, before her father could ask another question.
So? Whatcha think? It'll be a chaptered story, don't worry. X)
Review! 8D
