Neko-Hiro

Chapter 4: Morning

The next morning Hiroki was abruptly awakened by Tsumori throwing cold water on his bruised face.

This was a terrible way for anyone to be woken up, but for a catman, it was particularly awful. Hiroki sputtered with a start and went to sit up, but the moment he tried to move, the pain in his stiff, battered body roared through him, jolting him to consciousness far more than the water.

Despite trouble opening his swollen eye, he could see Tsumori's blurry feet in front of him. He braced himself waiting for a kick but it didn't come. Instead, his owner walked away, moving into the kitchen. Hiroki almost cried at the relief of this.

"Get up, Hiro!" Tsumori's receding voice ordered. "You are the hardest fucking animal to wake up I have ever known!

"That was the second time I tried to get you up. I had to make my own goddamn coffee this morning!"

"I'm sorry, Tsumori-sama." So sore he could barely move, Hiroki struggled to his feet .

"You look like… like something the cat dragged in."

Tsumori laughed at his own joke. Then he put his hand up to the deep scratch that ran down one of his cheeks. Hiroki had done this at one point while he was thrashing about, trying to escape his assault the previous night.

Staring hard over his coffee cup at the shaking hybrid before him, Tsumori pursed his lips and blew at his steaming coffee before speaking. "I have to admit, Hiro; you got me good."

Hiroki stiffened in fear. Finally able to focus, he saw what he had done and heard the dangerous tone in Tsumori's voice. He cowered as Tsumori stepped back over to him. But his master surprised him again by ruffling his hair, though he did it so roughly he jarred Hiroki's tender bit ear it brought tears to his eyes.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to punish you for that... Just yet. But you will be paying for it when you come home tonight." Tsumori said this with an evil smirk. "For right now though, just get your sad neko ass up and fix my breakfast and get to work before you're late… Unless, of course, you'd like to stay home with me all day today?"

Tsumori laughed as he felt Hiroki shiver under his hand.

"Oh, and by the way, you are to wear all your heavy piercings to school today."

"Yes, Tsumori-sama."

Hiroki shuffled away as quickly as his aching body could move and set about making breakfast. As he prepared his owner's meal, he found himself wishing that Tsumori had just beat him right there instead of prolonging his suffering and humiliation.

Surprisingly, Hiroki made it to the University, actually a little bit early. Unlike the regular human faculty, who had their own offices and their own lounge separate from the rest of the staff, hybrid faculty had no offices and so, had to use the tables in the lounge they shared with the rest of the University's hybrid staff. Limping into the hybrid lounge, Hiroki found a small empty table at the far corner of the room. After placing his workcase atop the table, he settled very slowly into his chair, his abused backside was so tender.

The other hybrids present, maintenance workers, teacher's assistants, and the few other nonhuman faculty had noted his entrance. A few looked at him curiously, but none made any move to approach. Quiet and standoffish by nature, Hiroki had not made many friends. Normally this did not bother him, since he preferred really to put all his time into his research and classes.

Hiroki ducked his head away from the few hybrids who continued to stare his direction. How it had happened, he didn't know, but somehow the grapevine had caught wind of shift in fortune. He knew that when the other University hybrids had first heard the rumor that Lord Usami was no longer his owner, some of them were secretly pleased to see him taken down a peg or two. Many had thought the Kamijou cat was entirely too proud a creature for his own good.

As the last few months had gone on, however, and they had seen him gradually reduced despite his best efforts to hide it, Hiroki sensed that quite a few felt very bad for him. He'd caught a few whispers here and there, heard a few hybrids saying, "No neko, even if he was proud and standoffish, deserved to be treated like that."

His colleagues' pity was almost as painful to bear as Tsumori's abuse. And today was the worst: it was clear from the ones that stared and the rooms quiet murmuring that they were horrified with how bad he looked and shocked his master had let him out of the house in such a state.

No one made any move to approach Hiroki, however. After all, what could they do? They themselves were only hybrids and unfortunately, pet cruelty laws were rarely enforced, even more so with certain species. Especially nekos of late, since the virus had been contained and there were now so many feline hybrids.

Hiroki flushed with embarrassment under the other employees' scrutiny and, as much as he wanted to remain resting in his chair, he decided to go to his classroom early, rather than continue to endure this humiliating attention.

When his class started, his students were also shocked by their professor's appearance. Up until now, Hiroki had been pretty much able to conceal the direness of his situation but today, he clearly looked like he'd been on the losing end of a cat fight.

Despite their clear curiosity most of Hiroki's students remained respectful. However, as he was giving his lecture, three boys in the back kept talking despite the disapproving looks he shot them. They were all jocks, players on the University's soccer team. The largest of the three had already failed his "Introduction to Japanese Literature" class once before.

It was soon made clear that the trio had decided they were going to push their advantage of having their professor in such a 'compromised' state. Regardless of how terrible he felt, Hiroki's dedication to literature being taken seriously remained. The third time they ignored his pointed stare, the Kamijou cat had enough of their disrespect.

Without thinking Hiroki hurled a piece of chalk at the ringleader. Despite the distance and how stiff he was, his aim was dead on and caught the boy square in the forehead.

"Please, stop talking and pay attention!"

The class as a collective gasped and then fell silent, the three troublemakers included. Hiroki went back to his lecture as if nothing had happened. Inside though, he was as shocked with what he had done as his students had been.

The boys stopped talking, but their eyes followed him intensely throughout the rest of the lecture. Hiroki was so disturbed by the fury in their glares that he almost lost his place once or twice. At one point, he gathered the long heavy sweater he'd worn to conceal his piercings around himself nervously as he continued, feeling as though the angry athletes could see right through it.

When the class finally ended, the three boys lingered in the back until the room was empty.

Hiroki had a very bad feeling about this. Quickly as he could, he gathered his books and papers together so that he could leave. But before he could escape, the three swaggered their way down to the front and stood between him and the door. The biggest of the trio, the one that Hiroki had hit with the chalk, towered threateningly over him.

"What's the idea, throwing stuff at me, you dumb cat! It's obvious looking at that eye of yours, you can't fight for shit, so why pick a battle you know you can't win?"

Hiroki pulled himself up straight despite the impulse to cower. But the kid sounded so much like Tsumori, he couldn't stop the way his ears flattened and his tattered tail curled up protectively between his legs.

"I think it's time the students taught their teacher a lesson!" One of the smaller ones said.

Hiroki shrunk back as his students closed in.

How will Hiroki escape/will he?...

Thank you for reading and reviewing!