The king-turned-cat looked up at the man with red hair and a sharks smile. "A dewdrops' worth of water is barely a rain drop. It could have saved lives," he said picking up the cat by the scruff of the neck, "Come with me Haru."

The king struggled in his new form against the grip around his neck. "Listen, your highness," he said climbing out to the castle wall to over look the lands. "What do you see?"

Haru didn't respond.

"Nothing. You're right. There is no life in your kingdom. Because of you. You have no people. Because of your greed people have died. Outside your palace is a desert. The forest, the grass, the land, it all turned into a desert. It is death. This is your fault."

The pain around the king's neck loosened and suddenly he was falling. There was pain. Momentarily. When he awoke he was back inside near his lake. He went running, feeling it was all a dream. A nightmare. He couldn't understand why he was so close to the ground, why it was so hard to run, he kept stumbling, when arms picked him up.

"One down. Eight left," the man said walking the cat to the lake and with one quick jerk he pushed Haru below the surface and held him there, waiting patiently until the movement stopped.

"Seven."

The red haired man haunted Makoto. The fear of someone killing an innocent cat, someone's pet, was horrifying. Now that he was aware of it, he felt paranoid for his furry friend. Dewdrop seemed aware of the unease and would sit for hours in Makoto's lap. To be fair, Makoto was aware that the man might not have killed his cat, but the fact he could have, the fear he could have overruled that bit of common sense.

The castle in his dreams seemed to be effected by this unease. It was crumbling and Makoto couldn't get into it anymore. Instead Makoto would find himself in the village, a ghost town, running from house to house to look for any life at all. He'd upturn the whole house, the layers of dust were undisturbed and sometimes his heart would leap when he turned around and see foot prints only to fall when he realized they were his own. He found dead bodies. He'd open doors and they'd be slumped against the walls, or curled up in beds, a few looked alive and he'd rush over to check, only to run screaming from the house. He'd run and run, crying to the castle and bang on the doors, knowing that there was life on the other side. He'd slam his fists against the door hearing it echo, hoping the king would come and open the door soon before he joined the dead and became a ghost, his body turning to dust.

Makoto liked to spend his Saturdays with Dewdrop. After one weekend where Dewdrop snuck into his bag and Makoto found him hours later meowing out of hunger in the middle of a movie theater, Saturdays were now their day. Makoto would wake up and Dewdrop would already be waiting in a bag, tail swishing excitedly. Makoto would laugh, scoop up the bag and receive a lick on his cheek. Their walks were peaceful. Usually they'd go to the fish market and Makoto would buy mackerel. Makoto would always ask for a small bit to be cut off and Dewdrop would eat it happily.

Dewdrop had shown an affinity to it early on. Makoto had found him one night after midnight, after waking up to strange sounds in the kitchen and finally talking his knocking knees into the thought it was only the wind outside. Instead he found Dewdrop on the counter, frozen with mackerel hanging from his mouth leaning over a pan, the stove on. Makoto just sat down and Dewdrop went back to cooking. Eventually Makoto got up and helped flip the piece of fish, got down a plate and helped Dewdrop put it onto a plate. The cat sat across from him on the table eating the cooked mackerel before nosing a bit for Makoto. It was delicious. Makoto was still 90% sure it was a dream. Cat's don't cook. And if they did they surely didn't cook well. Now if he heard something in the kitchen he just buried himself further under his comforter.

They'd walk down to the docks and Makoto would buy ice cream and snacks that they'd share. They'd wander the coast and Dewdrop would chase gulls and fight with the tide and crabs. Sometimes Makoto would bring a blanket and he'd sit and read while Dewdrop played. Dewdrop usually ran up to him throughout the day to escape the heat, sprawl out next to him and drink water. He'd shake off all the sand and deposit a defeated crab on the blanket next to Makoto or curl up on his lap and shake off seaweed. Sometimes he'd bring a fish to snack on that he'd caught or he'd have a snail stuck to his head that would, after a nap in the shade, slowly peek it's head out of it's shell, look around and then crawl off. Makoto would take thousands of photos.

One afternoon, while doing homework under an umbrella on the blanket with his feet bare Makoto heard a cry from the water. A kid was on the shore yelling and pointing. In the water he saw a black blur getting dive bombed by gulls.

"Hey!" Makoto called tossing his book aside and taking off for the dark water. He rushed into the waves, swimming out to Dewdrop and swatting away the gulls that gave up as soon as something bigger showed up.

Dewdrops' fur was matted with blood but he seemed perfectly fine. Dewdrop let out an appreciative meow and purred as the water pushed at them. Dewdrop turned and swam back to shore. Makoto went to follow when something tugged at his leg pulling him below the surface. Seaweed had tangled and wrapped around his ankle and he struggled to break the surface and get another breath before being pulled again. As he fought with the weeds around his leg he found it harder and harder to get back to the surface, they were dragging him down with the current. His lungs felt like they were on fire, everything was quiet, and peaceful and dark. He saw someone swimming to him. A boy with blue eyes and black hair, he worked quickly freeing Makoto. Makoto felt lips against his, air rush into his lungs and a whisper in his mind. "You've saved me time and again. My life is yours, Makoto."

Makoto broke the surface like a cork and swam back to shore, breathing heavily, coughing up water on the sand. On the shore he looked for Dewdrop with a sinking heart and the boy who'd saved his life. There was blood on the beach but no cat, no boy. He called for Dewdrop, got the help of nearby families and called out until his throat was raw and his voice was hoarse.

"I leave you with one last life Haru. The world has changed vastly. I doubt you've learned anything in your eight lives. But if you don't use this last life for good. To help others you will die a cat, forgotten on the side of the road. This is your chance to redeem yourself. For there is a lot of blood on your hands. You are no king in this time or place. I will be watching," the red haired man with a sharks smile said setting the black cat down on the sidewalk. The black cat ran, bumping against the leg of a brunette with green eyes, into the road.