Title: Kitten Calamity
Rating: T
Summary: In which Rin smuggles a stray kitten into his dorm room…and Nitori eventually finds out.
I'M BACK EVERYONE! OhmyGod I've been nonexistent this year I'm so sorry. This took me over 2 months to write I hate school and college aps. ;A;
I was going to work on my other stories but then Free! grabbed my foot and pulled me into the pool of feelings. You guys, it's flawless. I've never been this into an anime since Hetalia. For this story all it took was finding out Rin takes in stray cats and I was just asdfghjkl.
This is pre-episode 7. Also, these two are dorks. My lovely precious dorks.
XXX
Of all the obstacles Rin expected to block his way as he made his way back to Samezuka Academy in the midst of a particularly hard rain a fluffy kitten certainly wasn't one of them.
Especially a fluffy kitten whose fur was slowly but surely getting soaked.
And also appeared to be a stray.
…
Dammit.
Heaving a long-suffering sigh Rin tilted the umbrella to look at the little calico, which unabashedly looked back at him. "What?" the corners of his lips pulled into a little smirk. "Never seen a guy like me before?"
The rain beat rhythmically on the stone walkway as he knelt down to the cat's level, secretly savoring the fact that the little thing immediately walked over to him and bumped his hand with her hand, mewling quietly when he started to pet her.
"Heh, you are pretty cute." Her fur was starting to darken from the rain, drops sticking against her coat. He started to frown as he realized her situation, which was probably hopeless in this storm. He stood up and glanced about; the school building was definitely too far away to walk to…
A nudge against his leg made him look down, coming face-to-face with the imploring gaze of the kitten's startlingly green eyes. Realization dawned.
"Ooooooh no," he took a step back, "no no no no no. There's absolutely no way I can take you to Samezuka. No way in hell. They'd kill me if they knew I brought you there! It's a no-pet policy!"
The damned kitten kept staring at him.
"A-and besides, Nitori might find you." (It never occurred that said underclassman would likely have jumped at the chance to help his senpai.)
If anything, the cat's eyes seemed to glow brighter. Holy shit, was this tiny cat guilt-tripping him?
"A-and also I'd never be around. How the hell would I keep you preoccupied!?"
The calico rubbed against his leg and purred, looking up one more time with those ridiculously green eyes.
Utter silence spread between them, echoing the music of the rain, until—
"Fuck it."
A few moments later Rin continued on his way to Samezuka, this time with a certain cat ensconced in his jacket, purring into his ear happily.
His heart flopped pathetically as he glared at the manipulative creature. It was definitely a guilt-trip.
*~kitties~*
The warmth of the dorm was like a soothing balm for the freezing boy as he sighed in relief and tossed his umbrella into the bin where it entered with a single thump.
Nitori swiveled in his desk chair to greet him, "Matsuoka-senpai! I was just about to call to see if you were all right." The younger boy had his phone in hand, a relieved smile spreading over his face. "I didn't expect it to get this bad."
"Neither did I," water droplets flew off his hair as he shook his head and walked to the bathroom, keeping to the wall so Nitori wouldn't see the kitten trying to poke her head out of his jacket. "I'm gonna take a shower," he said over his shoulder.
"'Kay!" was the cheerful reply, followed by a few seconds of silence, and then: "M-Matsuoka-senpai!?"
"Hn?" Rin raised a bored eyebrow as he turned his head to observe his kouhai, whose eyes had noticeably widened.
"Ah—I uh…thought I saw a tail come out of your jacket…"
SHIT. "You must be seeing things," he snorted, admirably covering up the brief spasm of panic. "Take a break from studying. Working non-stop can be bad for your health."
Nitori chose not to comment on the irony. Glancing at his homework that he had been studying for the past half hour and then towards the new novel sitting on his bunk, he smiled. "That sounds good."
Rin, priding himself on his ruse, watched as Nitori ditched his math homework and climbed the ladder to his bunk. "Alright, see you in 45. And don't you dare let me see you working."
The younger boy, opening the book, only nodded as Rin vanished into the bathroom.
Locking the door behind him the redhead slid to the floor, plucking the kitten out of his jacket and setting her on the floor in front of him. "What were you thinking?" he hissed. "Were you trying to get yourself caught?"
The small creature purred, looking for the world like she didn't care.
Cats.
"Look," he leaned forward until his face was within inches of hers. "In order for this to work, we're gonna have to keep this undercover. Nitori cannot find out."
"Mrow!"
That cat did not just respond to him. No way in hell. Nope.
What did I just get myself into went through his head as he heaved a sigh, leaning back against the door. "I have an idea," he addressed her, "but I need a reason to get Nitori out of the room…"A sliver of a plan came to mind and he rose to his feet with a smirk.
The little creature looked on in puzzlement as he promptly started tearing off his wet clothes until he was naked, immediately following with a towel wrapped around his waist. After ruffling his hair a bit, he cracked the door open and stuck his head out. "Oi, Nitori."
A pair of bright blue eyes glanced up from the novel page. "Yes, senpai?"
"I'm out of shampoo. Can you see if Mikoshiba has some? You can't go out in this weather."
A grin and a nod answered his question before Nitori climbed down the ladder. "Sure; the blue stuff right?"
"Yup. Bye." Following his kouhai with his eyes Rin watched as the door closed, watching for a few moments to make sure Nitori was gone before dashing out of the bathroom and over to his bed.
"It's gotta be here somewhere," he muttered, rummaging around underneath before grasping something, "Ah-ha!"
A box filled with swimming magazines soon revealed itself. Hastily plucking them all out and dumping them on his mattress he high-tailed it to the bathroom, holding his towel with one hand and the box in another, and snatched a spare towel off the rack and made a quick nest for the curious kitten.
Within a few minutes she curled up happily in her new abode. "It's a good thing you're cute," he muttered as he failed to suppress a smile.
The door to the dorm opened, bringing Nitori's voice along with it. "Senpai, I'm back with the shampoo!"
"That was quick," he mused, easing the door open.
"That's 'cuz the captain wasn't there. If he was he would've tried to talk to me for an hour," Nitori said while handing his senpai the shampoo. His eyebrows furrowed as he caught sight of something, "is that a—?"
"ABSOLUTELY NOTHING," Rin cut off, slamming the door shut. "Enjoy your book!"
Nitori stood blinking for a moment before laughing softly. "See you in 45, senpai."
"R-right!" the redhead heaved a sigh and turned on the shower, glaring at the now-sleeping-soundly kitten.
"I'm going to suffer because of you aren't I?"
The answer was oh yes, yes he did.
*~kitties~*
Nitori tilted his head to the side, complacently watching as Rin barged out of the bathroom holding a cardboard box with towels draped over it. Matsuoka-senpai's been acting very strange lately since the storm, he idly thought.
It was the third time this week he had rushed to the bathroom when Nitori announced he was going to take a shower, claiming as his excuse that he had swimming magazines in there that could not get wet. He had simply glared when Nitori suggested he keep them under his bed.
A long-suffering sigh escaped from the younger boy as Rin slid the box under his bed. As cool as his senpai was, he was awfully stubborn.
Of course, it wasn't just the bathroom. Rin was acting like a nervous puppy, if he dared compare the intimidating swimmer to one; he started whenever he heard a noise in their room, ran straight to their room after swim practice without bothering to change (Mikoshiba's shouts fell on deaf ears), calling at least twice within the hour to make sure things were fine whenever he went out, and fussing over that box.
It was driving him mad.
"Aaaggghhh," he groaned, flopping back on his bed. "What is senpai doing!?"
"Hah?"
"Ack! I-it's nothing! Don't mind me!" Nitori groaned inwardly this time, reminded that he needed to stop speaking his thoughts out loud.
"Mrow."
A pin could be heard dropping in the brief silence that followed. "Wh-what was that?" the younger boy said hesitantly, sitting up on his bed.
An expression that can only be described as "oh fuck" flashed across Rin's face. "NOTHING," he accidentally exclaimed and then winced. "T-take your shower now," he coughed, repeatedly glancing under his bed.
"Mrow!"
Nitori glanced around him as he climbed down the ladder, "Senpai, where is that coming—?" His voice trailed off into a shocked squeak as Rin strode over to him, grabbed him by his hips, and carried him like an American football to the bathroom door. "M-Matsouka-senpai! What on Earth are you doing?"
The older boy huffed and set Nitori on the floor before opening the door and shoving him inside. "You were taking forever to take your shower."
"But that's because you—"
Slam!
Nitori was left with a shut door and a lot of exasperation.
*~kitties~*
A week after that particular incident found Nitori at his desk, engrossed in his history homework and very proud of himself for studying the chapters on the Japanese clans two weeks early. He was just about to fill in the answer for the leader of the Tokugawa clan when—
"Meow!"
Nitori gasped and jolted in his chair, sending it spinning haphazardly as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. "W-wha-what was that!?"
A few moments later he was calm enough to think. And the more he thought, the more it sounded like—
"Mrow."
—a cat.
In his dorm.
A cat in his dorm.
A cat in his dorm.
"Oh. My. God."
Leaping out of his chair he began scouring every nook and cranny of the dorm to find the source of that little noise, partly worried for the kitten's well-being, and partly dumbfounded that a kitten had found itself into the room. When the search proved fruitless, he flopped onto Rin's bed, about to give up and call his senpai for help. Nitori was so busy imagining the mostly one-sided conversation he almost didn't notice the soft ruffling going on underneath the bed until he opened his eyes.
"Wait," he muttered to himself, crawling to the edge of the bed. He tipped his head forward, almost colliding with the calico kitten sticking out of the blankets covering Rin's swimming magazines.
Hold on, that doesn't seem right.
Nitori sat back up, blinking owlishly, and tilted forward again.
Yup, still there.
The younger boy could only sit there numbly as the kitten defeated the blankets and gracefully jumped onto the bed, bright green eyes regarding him with interest before sauntering over, head extending to sniff his hand with a delicate nose.
Nitori's heart was stolen.
"Hi," he whispered, stroking the fluffy head. "What's a pretty…girl…like you doing in my dorm? Come to think of it," he said to himself, "why are you hiding in Matsuoka-senpai's magazines?" He chuckled to himself. "It's funny actually; during the storm I thought I saw a…tail…in Matsuoka-senpai's…jacket…"
Everything hit Nitori at once: the way Rin asked for shampoo the day of the storm to get him out of the room, how he always fetched the box before Nitori took a shower, how he'd constantly check on it, the late-night sneak-outs, the startling whenever he heard a noise that sounded out-of-place in their room.
"So that explains it," he mused, staring bemusedly at the kitten that had crawled into his lap, "it was to keep you hidden."
A giggle bubbled out of him. Matsuoka Rin, he of the sharp teeth and sharper attitude, snuck a cat into his dorm to keep it safe from the storm.
A light grin traces his lips as he continued petting the kitten. "I always knew there was something more to him."
*~kitties~*
Rin almost had a heart attack when he returned home that day.
There was Nitori, seated on his bed, playing with the calico kitten and laughing at her antics. The entire thing was so horribly domestic and adorable, it was a wonder he wasn't dead from shock.
"Matsuoka-senpai!" Nitori called out to him with a joyful smile. "Why didn't you tell me about her sooner? I know just what to do!"
*~kitties~*
As it turned out, Nitori had a young cousin who was heartbroken over her recently departed cat. He had promised her mom that he would be on the lookout for any potential candidates, so Rin had found the perfect replacement. A few phone calls later and they would be at the dorm to collect her in a few days.
When the day came around Rin watched the ecstatic little girl, whose crystal blue eyes reminded him strongly of his kouhai, as she held the purring kitten in her arms. He found himself smiling.
Nitori's aunt picked up the bag that held the supplies Rin had bought for the kitten in the past two weeks and called to her daughter. "Yume, it's time to leave. Say thank you to your cousin and his roommate for your new cat."
She hugged Nitori first and shuffled over to Rin with an adorably flustered expression. "M-Matsuoka-san, thank you very much!"
His mouth kicked up in a little smile again and knelt down so he could be face-to-face with the girl. "You're welcome. What will you name her?"
Rin's proximity caused Yume to blush even more and stammer before coming up with: "I'm naming her Mamoru! Mamo-chan for short!"
A single eyebrow rose while Nitori hid a smirk from view. "Isn't that a boy's name?"
"Well yes, but Aiichi told me that you had a girl's name and you were a boy, and you were the one that found her in the first place, so I thought…"
Oh wow, she really was Nitori's cousin.
He smirked and patted her head once, swearing afterward that he saw stars in her eyes. "In that case, Mamoru is an awesome name."
"R-right!" And with a hurried bow Yume left, lifting the newly christened Mamoru's paw in a wave as she followed her mom out the door.
Rin let out a short laugh as he closed the door and sat next to Nitori on the bottom. Silence fell between them, but it was a comfortable silence, made all the nicer as the two of them thought about how happy Yume and Mamoru would be together. Rin soon found himself thinking about how helpful Nitori had been, and how he readily jumped to help him. He hadn't had that in a while.
"Thanks," he said off-handedly. "I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to keep that cat hidden before someone noticed.
"No problem senpai!" was the immediate answer.
Rin looked at the boy's sincere, bright blue eyes and snorted, reaching a hand to ruffle soft gray hair. Only when his kouhai ducked his head to laugh did he let a smile briefly lift his lips.
There was more to Nitori than he thought.
XXX
Ah, it's finished! My first Free! fic that took over a month to finish, at the expense of other fics. ;_; I'm smiling through the tears.
I also have a tumblr noooow~ find me at thedarkestsong.