A/N: Hallo everyone. I am a fangirl with a mission: I'm trying to write a whole bunch of cute drabbles for my friend Taisa (because my brain runs on fluff and cute and sugar and his doesn't. xDDD). My goal right now is to do Scar, a Roy/Hughes friendship fic, a Byakuya/Hisana for Bleach as well as a Hitsugaya/Matsumoto, and a Shunsui/Ukitake friendship fic. Here is the Scar one--I've actually intended to write something like this for a long time, mainly because I saw a picture series on photobucket called "The Kitties of FMA" which included the Scarkitty and I fangirled. xDD So, yeah. Here is the first one. I pretty much had squealy fangirl fits while writing this--it's probably going to be the fluffiest of the bunch.
Scar never thought he could grow to dislike rain. Having grown up in the eastern desert, the rains were so few and sparse that they were always a welcomed relief from the dry heat that drained one's energy on the particularly bad days and it was always disappointing when they passed far too quickly.
Though the realization that Central was nothing at all like Ishbal didn't take much time to register, one of the things that Scar still hadn't grown used to was the climate in Amestris's largest city. It was generally mild and overcast, the sun that beat down mercilessly on the desert sands in Ishbal rarely making much of a strong appearance at all, and then there was the rain. It seemed sometimes to the Ishbalan man that it rained more often in Central than the sun actually shone, and the persisting cold and damp after a rain shower made the water that was a precious commodity in his youth more of a nuisance than a blessing.
His clothes were designed to provide maximum ventilation in the arid desert air, so they soaked through easily when Scar, exposed to the elements as he was, found himself caught in a storm, and clung to his body as if attached by some kind of glue. The Ishbalan found himself once again mentally cursing the rain when the usual gray skies of Central unleashed their torrents without warning that afternoon, starting with a light drizzle which magnified to a full storm, leaving Scar drenched by the time he found an overhang to take shelter underneath. It was cold and damp and miserable, his wet hair dripping water onto his face and the soaked clothes making him shiver in his body's valiant attempt to generate heat. He wanted to use the chance to sleep, knowing full well that there would be no soldiers patrolling the city during a storm like this, but his instincts were too strong to let his mind idle enough for sleep this early in the evening. His mind was always on guard, and even in the few hours sleep managed to steal him away from consciousness every night, it was so light that even a harsh wind could cause him to wake with a start.
The monotonous sound of the rain hitting the ground was almost hypnotic, however, and after about an hour of listening to it continuously, crimson eyes had nearly shut, moments away from drifting off…
"Meeeewwwwww."
The sound was enough to snap Scar to full awareness immediately, his mind processing it as a threat before he even had a chance to discern what it was. Blinking a few times, Scar could see through the rain…that it was a cat.
"You all alone too, huh?"
It only mewed in response and padded closer to him. Now that it was closer, he could tell from its size it was a very young one—a stray, it seemed, probably lost from its litter or abandoned by its mother.
"I know how that feels…" And while a voice at the back of his mind jeered that he had finally lost it, talking to a kitten, part of him felt glad for the company of another living creature. Even so, he couldn't hide the flinch as the little creature approached closer and gave his right hand a lick. The Ishbalan willed himself to relax, but as he watched the kitten bat at the markings on his arm with its tiny front paws, he couldn't help but wonder how long it had been since anyone had approached him so fearlessly, much less dared to touch his destructive arm.
A ghost of a smile flashed across his features then, a mirror of a time long past, and he lightly pulled back his arm from under the soft pink paw pads to give the kitten a scratch behind the ears. And watching the kitten purr and curl up in that small space between his arm and torso, he wondered how much simpler life would be if only it was that easy to make a human being happy. There would be no reason for war, no room for hatred and anger to be built up if only one could be scratched behind the ears and be presented with a bowl of milk and a ball of yarn to consider all transgressions forgiven. He watched the kitten rub its head against him, smoky gray fur tickling his stomach, and envied it for having a heart that was so simple and pure, a soul that could know peace and happiness even in a squalid alley in the rain in the company of a serial killer.
And yet even as he thought these things, he couldn't take his eyes off of the tiny creature that had trusted him enough to approach, which was now trying valiantly to pull itself onto his lap with the tiny paws that had yet to develop usable claws. The Ishbalan surprised even himself as a sound escaped his throat then—a deep, rumbling sound that was reminiscent of chuckling. It had been so long since there had been anything worthy of finding mirth in that Scar almost didn't recognize the gesture in himself, but once he had, it was almost…cathartic to allow himself that moment of happiness in watching a being so fundamentally pure and innocent that could approach him so easily and remain in his presence so long without a hint of fear or apprehension.
The phantom smile returned as he finally gave the kitten what it wanted and lifted the creature onto his lap, and this time lingered as it immediately ducked its head into his shirt, its purrs vibrating against his skin as he was licked again.
And as wide blue eyes from the kitten that had made a place for itself under his shirt peered curiously into his own red hues, Scar had to concede that maybe the rain in Central wasn't so bad after all.