Title:The Kitten Who Wanted a House
Rating: PG for some language.
Paring: none, but 278059 if you squint.
Summary: ...I don't even know where to begin. Read the title, I suppose. XD
There was a kitten, who lived in a good house. He was well-loved by the daughter of that house, and the father, and grew to consider himself part of the family. This kitten had been taken away fro his mother very young, and, though fond of the lady cat who sometimes visited and gave him gifts, he did not think of her as his mother, for he had been raised in that house, and thought himself to be one of them. And as to that, perhaps he was. The daughter loved him dearly, and concocted little messes to feed him and keep him. That they were poisonous to him and caused him great pain was a sad consequence, for human food is not, in fact, very good for cats. Even cats who lived in human houses. The master of the house treated the kitten like a favored pet, as he did his daughter, and if the mistress of that house was cold to the kitten, what of it? He was a very young kitten, and thought it was the way of mothers.
And then came the day when the kitten learned that his mother was dead. Accompanying this was the revelation that he was not, in fact, of this house, but rather a stray, taken in out of pity.
This news devastated the kitten. He knew now why the mistress of the house was so cold to him. Why he had been mocked by the sons of other houses. He knew without doubt that he was different from everyone around him, set apart in shame. And most of all he knew that his mother, the only one he could see loved him in the world, because they were the same, was dead. Who would love him now? He could not stand to stay in the house of lies, where he had loved so trustingly and for nothing.
So the kitten left the house, and traveled to find someone that would love him, as he would love them. At first he went away to the other houses, and was turned away with laughter and mockery. He learned to use his claws, for protection, and grew to rely on their power. People came to fear him, for those claws. And still he searched, for he would not give up on finding a home.
Then the day came when the kitten chanced upon a house with a young boy living in it with his mother and a baby, and, not first knowing that the boy was harmless, attacked him by accident and bad temper. While the kitten was confronting the boy with his sharp, sharp claws, he slashed several times at a tree in the area, which became dangerously weakened and wobbled with each successive successful dodge the boy managed to snag. The tree, obedient to narrative laws, toppled- onto the boy, who snatched the kitten out of the way to safety.
The kitten was consumed with guilt. Even though it was the kitten who had provoked a fight, it was the boy who had saved him- moreover, saved him to the possible cost of his life. There was no way to repay such wonderful kindness, and the kitten desperately asked the boy what it was he could do to make amends.
The boy had just been struck rather hard on a head that was frankly not optimal in any sense in the first place. "Are you hurt?" he asked, eyes unfocused. "Do you want to come to my house?"
"YES," said the kitten. "A THOUSAND TIMES YES I WILL GUARD YOUR HOUSE UNTIL THE DAY I DIE."
"How- nice?" said the boy, and then had to go lie down quietly for a while.
And so the kitten began to live with the boy. They were both happy, although the boy remained rather confused, and perpetually scared of the kitten's claws. But he was a simple boy, was glad that his new friend was glad, and happy with the world.
Then came the day when a rain cloud followed the boy home. It was good-natured, and fluffy. It's only interest save the boy and his house was to make rain. It was kind, and it took to following the boy about, who was delighted to have made a new friend.
The kitten hated it on sight.
"You're annoying," he spat at it, and the rain cloud would only laugh and go off to make rain.
"Go away," he hissed, and the rain cloud cheerfully cast it's shade everywhere, especially over the kitten.
"Why are you so damn interested in rain?" he wailed, and the rain cloud only became more cheerful and content as the kitten brooded and sulked and feared that with the rain cloud, the boy would no longer need or want the kitten to be his guard, for the kitten thought that the boy only tolerated him because he wanted something to guard his house. It was still a very young kitten, and not very bright.
Of course, the boy was not like this, but nevertheless the kitten was terribly jealous of the rain cloud, which was free and floating and always too bloody happy. It also irked him that, no matter how high he jumped, he was never able to claw the rain cloud, as it undoubtedly deserved.
It is unknown for how long this sad state of affairs would have continued, for the kitten's sister descended upon them without warning.
The boy was away on an errand to a village over the hill, and the kitten was off some ways away from the house, dreaming little elaborate plots to get rid of the cloud, or, failing that, to dissuade the cloud from it's ever-present obsession with rain.
"Where is the kitten?" demanded the girl of the cloud. "I want him. Where is he? I shall take him away." Her voice and face was made harsh by anger, and her temper long gone, for she had been terribly worried about the kitten, and searched for him diligently.
"Maa," said the rain cloud. "Will you wait? I don't think you can just-"
"I don't care," interrupted the girl. "Where is he? Tell me now."
"Ah," said the cloud, hovering carefully. "No. You will not take him away."
The kitten raced back to the house to the sound of, if not battle, than a very violent disagreement. He arrived in time to see the rain cloud strike a blazing white-hot streak at the girl, scorching beyond edibility some missile that was probably barely edible in the first place.
"Idiot," said the kitten, taking refuge from awe in rage. "What are you doing to my sis- that girl."
The rain cloud, with uncharacteristic tact, floated up and away to rain somewhere else.
"Brother!" cried the girl, and tried to throw herself upon the kitten. He skittered away. "No," he said. "I am not your brother. I should not have called you that. In your house, I was only a stray cat."
"You are my brother," said the girl, ignoring the fact of his species. "Whether you are in my house or not. I only want the best for you."
"There is no place for me," insisted the kitten. "I am not part of your family, and no other place will have me but for here, where I am fit only to guard it's doors."
"Really?" said the rain cloud, whose somewhere else was clearly not out of hearing range like a decent person. "I thought we were all part of the boy's family. Huh."
"You shut up," suggested the kitten, hardly daring to hope that he was part of this house, these people, even though he was only a stray cat.
"You are a part of this place," said the rain cloud, comfortably disregarding this suggestion. "You will only leave here if you want to, and no one else shall drive or take you away." It changed shape, less fluffy, and somehow solid. "The only thing I am good at is making rain, but I will keep you here if you wish it. If we don't want to," it added, "Nothing will ever make us leave him."
And then the girl said to the kitten, "Brother, your place is here," and promptly went to into the house to create a replacement for the food which the rain cloud had burnt.
The kitten eyed the cloud carefully, and steeling himself, he asked, "Will you wait here with me for him?"
"Of course," said the rain cloud, and cast his shade over the kitten as they waited for the boy to come home.
-end-
-omake- (which will only make sense if you read the omake of Bird Snake Boy)
"…Tenth," said Gokudera carefully. "Why has Chrome told my life story to the kids?"
"I like the rain cloud," said Yamamoto thoughtfully. "He and the kitten must be very fond of each other."
"Campfire and bedtime stories," said Tsuna firmly, and had another Talk with Chrome.