Two silhouettes clashed in the moonlight, then sprang apart, eyeing each other across a courtyard.
"Not a bad party, Yukimura." Masamune flicked his blueish-gray ear.
"I have yet to concede, Masamune-dono!" Yukimura's orange striped tail bristled.
A distressed groan caught both of the cats' attentions.
"That was the Dango-Scented Human!" The little orange tabby cat sprinted towards the house.
"Hey! Yukimura!" The one-eyed cat ran after him. Masa-kitty leapt past the dojo, through the halls, and turned towards the bedroom of the humans who had adopted them.
Yuki-kitty was about to claw open the door and "save" his master, when Masa-kitty tackled him, and with a roll, grabbed the scruff of his neck between his teeth, then pinned the orange cat to the floorboards.
"Masamune-dono!" The tabby's orange paws waved up and down from under Masa-kitty's weight. "The Dango-Scented Human is being hurt! We must see to him! Please release me!"
Masa-kitty squashed Yuki-kitty's face with a furry paw. "Cool it, Yukimura. That guy's fine."
"How can you assume such a thing, Masamune-dono?! Can you not hear his continuous cries? The Dango-Scented Human is being attacked!" Yuki-kitty's orange ears twitched, picking up another voice, also heavily panting. "Could it be that the Kiseru-Scented Human is the one attacking him?!"
Masa-kitty went silent for a moment. The humans' voices continued crying out incoherently in the dark. "...Uh, yeah...Something like that."
"Then we must put a stop to it!" The orange cat began to squeeze out from under the gray one. Masa-kitty bit his ear.
"Masamune-dono! You would continue our battle at a time like this?!"
"Hey, I don't wanna hear that from the guy who interrupted our match just to barge in on someone else's!"
Yuki-kitty's movements quieted. "The Dango-Scented Human and Kiseru-Scented Human are engaged in decisive battle?"
"...Sure."
Yuki-kitty's brown eyes went wide with understanding (...of some sort). Masa-kitty stepped off of the tabby, who stood on his own paws, then inched towards the door with "the sounds of battle" behind it. "So very strange..." The orange tabby sniffed the door, while his triangular ears swivelled. "I had thought that human battle required a space on par with the dojo, from which the Dango-Scented Human taught the sword. To think that he and the Kiseru-Scented Human could conduct battle in such a small room... There is much I do not yet understand of humans."
The one-eyed cat watched him, with jaws agape, and sighed. "Anyway, Yukimura, you up for pickin' up where we left off?"
The striped cat sprang up. "Yes!"
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A shoji door burst open, and a young man in disheveled pajamas scanned the courtyard. "Tsuki! Tora!"
"The cats are fine, Yuki." A voice grumbled from the bedroom futon.
"I heard a shrieking, Masamune-dono! What would befall Tsuki if he were again injured, fighting those raccoons?"
"That cat's pretty tough, Yuki."
"But at the last instance, they infected him with rabies and he was required to stay at the veterinarian's office for a week! For other injuries as well!"
"And he survived." Masamune put a hand on Yukimura's shoulder. "He's fine. 'Sides, Tora's watching his back. If somethin' happens, he'll come running, like last time."
Yukimura quieted, but gave worried glances towards the floor.
"Try to have a little confidence in 'em, Yuki." He held his cheek and tilted Yukimura to look towards him.
Those brown eyes started smiling. "You are correct, as always, Masamune-dono. I should have more faith. I am ashamed to think that I had-"
"Stop that, already, Yuki. You realize you're talkin' about cats, right?"
Yukimura gave an inquisitive blink.
"Ah, whatever. It's what makes you cute."
"M-Masamune-dono!" Yukimura's cheeks turned red, while Masamune laughed. "P-Please do not belittle my concern for others!"
"I'm not sayin' that." Masamune smiled, staring into Yukimura's confused eyes, as he brushed the boy's bangs from his forehead. "I'm just sayin', it's that same type of thing..."
Yukimura was caught off guard by how close Masamune had become without him realizing.
"...that makes me want you."
"Masamune-dono..." Yukimura began to close his eyes into Masamune's advances.
The shrieking of 2 cats battling it out, came springing around the courtyard.
"Tsuki! Tora!" Yukimura tore away from Masamune and chased after the cats.
Masamune stood there, in the silent doorway, watching. He let out a big sigh, shut the door, and went back to bed.
xwxwxwxwxwxwx oxoxoxoxoxoxo
[Author's notes:
I was going to end this chapter with a joke about Masamune shaking his fist at the "goddamned furballs", but I didn't want to be repetitive. Even if it could be taken as a running gag, I wanted Masamune to be more in-character this time. I only let him be so grumpy before, because I was tired, so I made him tired in that chapter too. ^^;
If anyone is interested, I have Neko Basara fan-art and a fancomic at Deviant Art, under mysticdragon3.]