His dreams are terrifying. He's scared, anxious, as can be expected and this is prominent in both his human emotions and his feline ones. His dreams start out in a swirling void, spinning slowly into a tornado. He's whisked side to side, faster than he can keep up with. Dust and debris clog his tiny lungs, and then he can't breathe at all.'
He's thrown into a field, where he starts to run in a panic to get away from the tornado chasing him. His fur is bristling, oddly something he notices very much. He thinks, dimly in the back of is mind, that he should be human in his own nightmare.
Slowly the field transforms into a rainy forest, and he finds himself searching through it desperately. Cold mud pulls at his paws and makes his search slow and tiring, his fur soaked by the rain and heart going faster than it should. Rocks and thorny plants tug at his skin where his silky thin fur does nothing to protect him, nor does the rain help wash his blood away.
Eventually he comes across a familiar door, with walls stretching on either side for miles and a comfort in the dark and cold forest. He scratches at it desperately, leaving muddy, bloody streaks all over the once pure white surface.
Eventually it opens to reveal Shinra, staring down at him with disgust. Behind him, seemingly everyone is staring at him with cold eyes. Celty, Shizuo (in human form,) Mairu and Kururi, Namie, Shiki, Mikado, Kida, Saki, and others are among the group of people.
"You aren't invited." Shinra says, and shoves him back with a boot to his face. Izaya's small body tumbles back, skidding on the slick muddy ground. He opens his mouth to ask why, but a mewl tumbles out instead.
"Heh, who's the animal now?" Shizuo asks, to chorusing laughter. Izaya stands, trembling with cold, exhaustion, and pain. He makes a move to get inside, desperate at this point, and again Shinra strikes him with his boot. It doesn't hurt, not really, but he jerks and flinches at the startle of the action. Shinra comes forward and starts to do it again, and again, and again till it does start to sting.
"This is my territory!" He snaps, much to Izaya's confusion. The forest is gone, and he realizes he's waking up in an alley with an angry orange tabby cat batting his face. He huge, not so much fat as just very large and powerful.
"Get out!" He yowls, smacking Izaya again. "This place is mine, can't you smell anything?!" He demands, and Izaya rolls swiftly out of the way to dodge another paw aimed at his face. The cat looks angier, puffing up and growling low in his throat.
Izaya backs up, fighting the way his own fur bristles, and lowers his head as a sign of submission. He's not sure if it will work with a cat, but it's probably a good idea to try with how angry and vicious this battle scarred tabby looks. Unfortunately, it doesn't help.
"I said get out!" He yowls, launching himself at Izaya with powerful hind legs. They tumble around, Izaya scrambling to get away from sharp teeth and claws. He lashes out, catching the other cat across his ear and tearing the tip. The cat wails in anger and pain, backing up with blood droplets splattering onto the ground with his jerky movement.
"How can you talk?" Izaya demands, somewhat disgusted by the idea that Shinra has been experimenting with his humans. He's starting to entertain the idea that Shinra has finally snapped.
"...What?" The cat stills, stiffening visibly.
"How are you talking? Did you visit a man by the name of Kishitani recently?" The large cat stares at him, quiet and startled. He doesn't reply, after a moment, so Izaya continues.
"Did he use a machine on you? And leave you out here?" Izaya demands, beginning to feel frustration stirring in his stomach by the felines silence.
"Well?"
"You...you're speaking human…"
"Yes." He hisses, glaring now. "I am human, or I was anyway. And you were too, so who changed you?"
"I am feline." The cat claims, sitting down now. The fight is gone, though he's clearly on edge, and licks his bristled fur back down before speaking again. "I was born in the time of heat, very long ago. I was taken care of, after my mother left me, by a human."
"So...you understand humans?" It sounds ridiculous, a silly idea but then again, he IS a cat having a conversation with another cat…
"Yes. All felines do." He says this as though it's obvious, like Izaya is an idiot.
"Can all animals understand us?"
"Are you stupid? Of course not. Only cats can, as we are obviously the superior specie. It is said we were blessed long ago to understand all creatures."
"Curiouser and curiouser…" He mutters, feeling like Alice down the rabbit hole. He wonders is this is what The Cheshire Cat's origin story would be like. I hate to say it, but I miss the brute… He wonders how Shizuo is faring, gut twisting with memories of the blonde in his dreams before. He's not even sure if it's the same day it was when Celty apparently left him here, or how long he's been unconscious for.
Shizuo was likely a human again by now, but if Izaya knew the brute, and he did, he was searching all across the city for him. I just hope I'm still IN the city.
"INTRUDER!" Comes a voice, startling Shizuo from where he'd been sleeping in a soggy cardboard box. He'd stopped to rest after searching for half a day, exhausted and hungry. He hadn't found any food, unfortunately, but he had found this box to take a nap in. It was dry earlier.
"INTRUDER! INTRUDER!" Comes the voice, and the thumping of feet heading in his direction gets louder.
"GET OUT!" A giant dog skids to a stop before him, snarling viciously. Shizuo stiffens, ears going back and body stiffening in alarm. This dog is huge, twice as big as Shizuo and with sleek black and white fur.
"Leave!" She snaps, and Shizuo finds himself snarling back.
"What makes it your box?" He growls back, angrily. The other dog's hackles rise, her growls growing louder.
"Can't you smell us?! Get out, you're covering it up!"
"Covering what up?" He asks, much to the others apparent displeasure.
"His scent!" She snaps, lurching forward to snap it him. Shizuo jumps, moving out of the box to avoid her big jaws.
"Whose scent?" He asks, testing the air himself. He can only smell her and the city, no other dog nearby. She doesn't answer him, pressing her nose to a corner of the soggy box and inhaling deeply. She seems to visibly relax at whomever she manages to smell, and settles down in her box.
"His." She answers quietly, after a moment.
"Who is he?"
"The skinny human. He's not here anymore, just the smell." She says, ears down and body lax. Shizuo pauses a moment to wonder how they're communicating, when it dawns on him that he's only opened his mouth to growl once. He freezes in alarm, the other dog lifting her head to observe his new behavior.
"What's wrong with you?" She asks, and he realizes she's not opened her snout either. But he can see the question in her eyes and in her body language,and though his human brain doesn't understand what it means, apparently the new canine side of him does.
It's translating for me, he realizes. He shakes his head, amazed and confused with this new information.
"Where did he go?" He asks, and she looks at him sadly.
"He died. Some other humans took the body away." She says quietly, pressing her nose back to the box. She closes her eyes, lying there silently. Shizuo feels a pang in his chest, and finds himself dipping his head in sympathy.
"I'm sorry." He offers, and she looks back to him.
"Why were you lying here?" She asks, and he sighs.
"I needed to rest."
"Don't you have a place to do that already?"
"Well, yes, but I can't go there right now."
"Why?" She inquires, curiously. She lifts her head to better acknowledge him, giving him a better look at her floppy ears and big brown eyes.
"I'm looking for someone." He answers, with a pause "Although I might have lost the scent."
"If it's a human, don't bother. I know a cat, Sunny, who was abandoned by his human. He's been searching for a very long time, and it's pointless." She says, matter of factly.
"Well, technically I'm looking for a cat. Have you seen him?"
"Have I seen a cat? Yeah, tons! They don't like me very much, though."
"He's, uh, black. Small. Red eyes." He says, and she makes a motion that would equate to a human shrug.
"Nope, haven't seen that. But red eyes on a cat? Sounds weird." She huffs, properly curling up in her wet box. The rain is heavier now, and he can smell the both of them more than he'd like. He'd always thought wet dog smell was a myth, but then again he avoided dogs. He was always afraid he'd hurt them.
"Well, he's more like a flea than a cat." He laughs, over the pang in his chest. Shizuo misses Izaya, truthfully. His sort of boyfriend is missing, all because he wasn't smart enough to stop Shinra or fast enough to catch Celty. And if he's hurt or dead he will never forgive Celty. As is, he refuses to forgive Shinra at this point.
But I'll find him, he assures himself. If I have to search all of Tokyo, I'll find him.
As much as I love Izaya, I can't deny that I am a dog person. I don't hate cats at all, however, and I happen to own four. Two are outside cats (They adopted us and I can't bring them inside XD) and better at fending for themselves (plus I've experienced others before them) so I have a decent ability to understand cats. That, plus a little research and imagination, is what's helping me write Izaya in a cats body.
Now, the cat featured in this chapter was batting at Izaya's face harshly but without using his claws. I understand this might come across as silly, and looks silly, but they really do this to warn each other off. Now it is a little more plausible that he would have outright attacked Izaya first rather than just warning him, but this character is going to be a bit kinder than you'd think.
As for personality with any other felines...I'm torn. You'd think you'd write a house cat as haughty and above everything else, but my inside cats are not like that at all. Sheba, my eldest inside cat, is a love machine. She always has to be on my lap or near me and can't stand it if I leave her alone too long. She's incredibly sweet and has NEVER attacked me even if she has been upset (which is rare) and she's even careful with her claws when kneading me or holding my face (She likes to place her paws around my head when I hold her)
Daphne, my youngest cat (inside and out, she's only around 7 or 8 months old) is an antisocial dirt bag. She is not, by any means, a mean spirited cat she just...dislikes us. Well, that's not true. She can be very sweet if she wants but her wanting this is rare. If you try to pet her, she will run. If you approach her, she will run. If you look at her too with any hint of intention to do anything at all, she will run.
She's an antisocial hoe and I love her. Sometimes she's come, purring louder than any cat I've met before, and after tearing into my thighs for 10 minutes, curl up and sleep. As long as I make no movements, and no one else in the room does anything either, she'll stay there purring and sleeping. Unfortunately she's a gorgeous little calico, and very very very petite with lovely white paws like mittens. In short, I just wanna squeeze her till she pops.
Sheba is orange, pretty, and FAT. Good for cuddles.
I might (probably will) tell you guys about my dogs next time. You know, the two people who read my notes anyway XD Much love. Originally this was going to be much shorter with just Izaya's side of this chapter but I decided it looked pathetic so I stayed up an extra two hours just to bring you guys Shizuo's side. Aren't you lucky? ;) I ACTUALLY CRIED WHEN I WROTE THE PART ABOUT THE DOGGIE WHO'S HUMAN DIED UGHHHH XD It was so brief but I'm tired and really sensitive about doggies being alone :(
Sorry for my rambling. I'm fat off turkey and in a good mood. With how much fun I'm having writing this, I doubt another chapter is far off. 3 If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments!