Chapter 6

Touch

"Can we go now?" Akihito mumbled as he pulled his shirt back on. After being poked and prodded and tested for everything known to man or neko for the past two hours, he was more than ready to bolt out of the building. Asami had taken him to a private veterinarian that catered to the wealthy, and despite the lack of crowded waiting rooms and strange smells, Akihito still loathed the ground on which it stood. He had behaved very well though, and this was not lost on his new master.

"I still have to go over your results with Haji-sensei," Asami replied as he stood from his chair. "But I've arranged something else for you in the meantime."

Akihito radiated disgust at these words, but didn't protest. There had been dozens of opportunities to display his contempt for vets and society in general today, but he had restrained himself for Asami. He told himself that this was because he didn't want to give Asami the chance to change his mind about adopting him, but in reality, it was out of a sense of loyalty. The kitten couldn't explain it, but the fact that Asami had dominated him during his heat had forged a bond between them. Akihito vaguely knew Asami was a jealous man, and would protect him because of that. That protection gave his psyche enormous relief, and thus he submitted to it. Even still, he was wary of this arrangement his master spoke of.

Akihito followed Asami as they left the exam room, finding Dr. Haji just outside.

"Asami-san," he nodded to the man. "Aya-chan is ready for Takaba-kun. We can go through his results while she works."

Akihito's ears flattened hesitantly and he looked to Asami. "Aya-chan?"

"Yes," he replied. "She's Haji-sensei's neko, and a masseuse."

"A what?"

"She's going to give you a massage."

Akihito raised an eyebrow, finding the idea a little stupid, not to mention creepy.

Asami seemed to notice this and smiled. "It'll help you relax a bit. You'll thank me later."

"Sure," Akihito muttered under his breath.

"Her room is the last door on the left, Takaba-kun," Haji said. "Asami-san will join you when we're done."

Casting one last disgruntled look at Asami, Akihito nodded and headed down the corridor as slowly as he could. When he reached the door, he knocked a few times.

"Come on in," came a voice from inside.

Akihito turned the knob and entered, finding a dimly lit room with a low massage table. A female neko was sitting on a stool and Akihito was surprised at how tiny she was. She looked like she barely reached four and a half feet, and had black and white spotted ears and tail.

"Welcome!" she greeted with a cheerful smile. "Takaba-kun?"

"Uh, yeah," Akihito replied, shutting the door behind him.

"I'm Sakura Aya, and I'll be giving you your massage today."

"So I heard."

Aya's eyes glinted at his unenthusiastic reply. "Is this your first time having one?"

Akihito nodded and Aya giggled.

"Fresh meat for me," she grinned. "I love a first-timer."

Aya got up off the stool and paced a slow circle around her patron. Her nose twitched briefly.

"You smell nice. Are you coming out of a heat?"

"Yeah."

"Lower back's probably sore, huh?"

Akihito glowered at the words, but recognized that her tone was just matter-of-fact, not ridiculing. He nodded again.

"Are there any other places that are sensitive?"

"The back of my neck," Akihito answered. "I don't like being touched there."

"Gotcha. I'm going to step out so go ahead and disrobe. There are blankets on the table to cover yourself with."

Aya skipped out the door and Akihito sighed in dread as he once again pulled off his shirt and sweats. In a small form of defiance, he left his boxers on and crawled onto the table and underneath a light down comforter.

"Are you indecent?" Aya trilled a few minutes later.

"Yes."

The tiny neko came back in and turned a knob on a stereo. Sounds of oceans waves filled the room as she lit a few scented candles and came over to him. In an attempt to mask his own discomfort, Akihito began to make small talk.

"I've never heard of a Sakura neko before," he said quietly as Aya weaved her fingers together and cracked them.

"Most people haven't," she answered. "I'm a miniature neko. We're a designer breed so there aren't that many of us."

"So, how old are you then?"

She laughed, pouring a citrus-scented oil into her palms and rubbing them together. "Twenty-nine, though I still get plenty of people thinking I'm a little lost kitten. Sometimes I go along with it, just to mess with them."

Akihito's ears laid back nervously when her hands moved the edge of the coverlet down to his waistline and he had to stop himself from jerking when her hands touched his back. However, once they began to move, an entirely new sensation came over him. Aya grinned again as he relaxed under her ministrations, and she looked forward to the next hour they would have.

"Please have a seat, Asami-san," Haji said as they came into his large office. After both of them were settled, the vet began to scan the notes he had taken about the Takaba's test results. Normally, it would take at least twenty-four hours to process them, but as Asami was a high-profile client, he had ordered a rush job.

"Well, to put your fears to rest," Haji said as he set the papers down. "I'll tell you right now that there's nothing seriously wrong with your neko, but there are a few things we should discuss. First of all, the bruises on his lower stomach. I know you just adopted him, but do you have any idea how that happened?"

"My driver hit him with the limo," Asami replied. "He pretty much ran right in front of it."

Haji lightly scoffed. "He's lucky he didn't rupture something. But more notably, Takaba-kun is underweight and malnourished, much more so than he looks. Frankly, I'm surprised he was able to go into a full heat in his condition. Though Takabas are a resilient breed, not to mention stubborn."

Asami smirked, knowing that particular trait to be true.

"You said he was complaining about neck pain?" Haji asked.

"Yes," Asami replied. "Initially I thought it might be whiplash, but he said he's had it for quite some time."

"Interesting," Haji murmured, his fingers toying with a pen. "A few years ago, there was a case of a Takaba who was picked up by hybrid control in Kyoto. He had been living with ferals and was on the verge of starvation when they found him. He also was in constant, blinding pain that made him virtually untamable. The authorities were going to put him down of course, but they didn't count on the fact that Clarice Hall happened to be in Japan at the time."

Asami nodded. Clarice Hall was a wealthy American and well-known hybrid philanthropist who took on extreme cases of hybrid abuse. As she had other business enterprises in Asia, Asami knew her well.

"Clarice is a friend of mine, and she speaks of her Takaba often."

"Yes," Haji replied. "And when she got wind of the case, she managed to talk hybrid control into releasing him into her care. She checked him into a private hospital and had him medically examined head to toe. During a neuropathy test, the vet found that the nerves between his brain and spinal cord were extremely sensitive. Some of them were even severed from what looked to be some brutal fights. The Takaba had multiple surgeries as well as other treatments and his temperament completely changed. Now he's a concert musician who plays six instruments.

"The vet who discovered this got quite curious, and did the same test on a dozen other Takaba nekos, and he found the same sensitivity, though the degrees varied. He even found that if they were wearing heavy collars that rubbed against the skin too much, they had a much greater chance of being ill-tempered. It's very possible that this is a genetic mutation. We could run a neuropathy test on your Takaba if you'd like, but I have a hunch that collars are a large part of the problem."

Asami ruminated this carefully, remembering how much Akihito had relaxed after he'd taken that foster collar off during their first coupling. He also recalled how irate the kitten had been after biting him on the back of the neck.

"I see," he replied. "I'd like to hold off on the test right now, but I'll keep it in mind."

Haji nodded. "Lastly, his blood work did reveal that he has neko Rhinotrachetitis, an upper respiratory virus. It spreads easily and is very common in foster homes. Though the symptoms aren't usually serious, I'd like to give him a vaccine to eradicate it, given his current condition. Other than that, I'd mostly like him to put some weight on."

Asami agreed to this and after discussing some possible treatments for Akihito, the men rose and headed down the hall. Aya was just coming out of a break room across the hall with a bag of cookies, munching on them happily as she smiled and bowed to Asami.

"How did he do, Aya-chan?" Haji asked.

Aya swallowed a mouthful and giggled. "He was out like a light five minutes into it. I think he's still sleeping."

"Well, we need to wake him up Aya-chan," Haji said. "He needs to go home and rest. Now Asami-san, with the vaccination, Takaba-kun is going to be out of commission for at least three days. He'll probably run some low-grade fevers during the first twenty-four hours, and after that he'll basically feel like he has mono. He probably won't have the energy to get out of bed, but he needs to eat often and keep warm in the meantime."

Haji opened the door to the room and three pairs of eyes settled on a snoring Akihito on the massage table. His ears twitched lightly and he mumbled something in his sleep, which had Aya laughing again.

"Aww!" she squealed. "He's so adorable! I love him."

"Aya-chan," Haji chided. His little neko had a rather shameless habit of being far too forward with their clients. Thankfully, Asami didn't seem to mind this and smiled slightly as he stepped forward and gently shook his kitten's shoulder.

Akihito grunted and slowly opened his eyes, hardly knowing where he was at first. Although he would never admit this, Asami had been entirely right about the massage.

"How do you feel?" Asami asked, running his fingers through the blond hair.

"Hungry," Akihito murmured, groggily sitting up.

"Haji-sensei is going to give you a shot," Asami replied. "Then we'll go eat."

The mention of food was so enticing to the kitten that he barely flinched when Haji poked the needle into his upper arm. Akihito and Asami left in short order, but as they were riding in the car, the man noticed that his pet had once again fallen asleep.

Last update for a few days. I have a three day road trip ahead of me...

AubreyLoveWonKyu, finderlov, Marxou, Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night, Pariyapooriya, Smarthiz, I'm A Freaking Epic Ninja Duck, Jade Rojo, Ryuakilover, and Guest- Thanks for the awesome reviews! They would make me purr if flamingos could! ^_^

More sick kitten fluff up next!

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