Dedicated to all of my friends. :3

If there was one thing Hayner wasn't used to, it was change. Day in and day out, he followed the same basic pattern: wake up, groom self, eat, nap, walk around the house, get the humans to pay attention to him, eat, go to the litterbox, and go to sleep. Pence and Olette followed similar patterns, and while their lives weren't exactly exciting, they were simple and comfortable.

After hearing Sora talk about his friend's new kittens for the umpteenth time, Hayner decided to go find another cat to talk to. Sure, Sora was his owner and his friend, but sometimes the kid just didn't know when to shut up. He could go on and on about the same topic for forever.

Thankfully, he soon found both Pence and Olette sunning themselves in the window. He hopped up into the windowsill, landing perfectly on the small strip of wood. Years of practice had taught him exactly where to jump and how much power to use while jumping. For him, that was one of the few good things about getting older.

He made his way over to the two cats, sitting down next to Olette. "You know what really bugs me?" He meowed, waiting for the other two cats to notice him before he continued, "how Sora won't shut up about his friend's kittens."

"It's just what he does," Pence meowed, looking at Hayner as if he were an idiotic little kitten, "he's always loved animals."

"That, and the fact that he hasn't had one in years," Olette chimed in. "He's probably just jealous of his friends, and maybe he wants one for himself."

Hayner snorted, remembering how hard Sora had to fight just to get the cats he already had. He ended up doing some pretty crazy stuff, and it was crystal-clear that the older humans did not want any more cats. But, deep down they all knew that if Sora really wanted something, he could find a way to get it regardless of his parents' opinions.

The three cats sat in silence for a while, each thinking about what the others had said. Somehow, a little seed of doubt and worry had planted itself in their minds, and they just couldn't shake it.

Eventually, Hayner broke the silence, casually flopping down onto his side (or as best as he could) on the narrow windowsill. "Still, something tells me that he just might get one. I don't know why, but I can just...feel it."

Much to his displeasure, Pence and Olette murmured their agreements. If he wasn't the only one feeling that way, then he knew that something was going to happen.

Rather than dwell on the idea of a new cat possibly coming, Hayner decided to change the subject; it was better than staying in an awkward silence and falling asleep. They did it a lot.

"Hey, Olette...you're better now, right?" He asked hesitantly, earning a slightly confused glance from her.

It soon faded into a small, amused purr. "If I wasn't, I wouldn't be in the window with you two, now would I?"

"Yeah, don't worry, Hayner. She's fine," Pence meowed, lazily scratching behind his ear.

Hayner puffed up in indignation. "What, it's now wrong for me to worry about my friends?" He asked sarcastically, jokingly glaring at them and trying his best to hide the purr in his meow.

"Calm down, silly," Olette meowed. "No need to get your fur in a knot."

"Yeah, you shouldn't overreact so much," Pence added in. The furball never knew when to shut his mouth.

"Hey! Enough from the peanut gallery!" Hayner's groan quickly faded into a purr of amusement. "I don't know why I'm friends with you two."

"Neither do we," Pence and Olette mewed in unison. Before long, purrs of amusement and laughter were steadily rumbling in all of their chests.

As luck would have it, right as the three cats were conversing about Sora and kittens, Sora was biking to Riku's from the shelter. Kairi was busy today, so it was just going to be the two boys; an event that really hadn't happened in a while. While both Riku and Kairi were his equal best friends, he hadn't hung out with just Riku for a few weeks, while he spent every other day with Kairi, with or without the silver-haired teen.

As he sped down one of the many busy streets in town, he whizzed past many small, quaint suburban homes that populated the entire town. Unlike Kairi, Riku's house was on the 'poorer' side of town (if any part of this town could be considered poor; really, it was just lower-to-middle-class). At least not all the houses looked the same.

Before too long he rode into the driveway of one of the many quaint, small homes. The basic, light blue paint was typical for this neighborhood, but what really set it apart was the lawn decorations. To say the least, Riku's mom had an...interest in lawn decorations.

To be specific, pink flamingos. Bright, tacky, plastic pink flamingos that littered their yard like trash on a windy day. A little more tastefully arranged were the glowing lamps Riku's dad loved sticking up from the freshly-cut lawn, but combined with the army of flamingos their yard looked like a complete mess. It was a good thing that Riku realized how utterly tacky his yard looked, so he didn't try to add something like lawn gnomes or sandwiches to the chaos.

As he got off his bike and leaned it against the door to Riku's garage, he heard one of the few shrubs along the edges of the yard rustle. Instantly curiosity took over his common sense. He'd go check out the source of the noise, then go to the door and see if Riku was there.

Slowly he stepped onto the grass, trying his best to keep his footsteps from being too loud. Unfortunately, the grass crunching underneath his shoes was in fact very loud, and it certainly didn't help that he ran into a few flamingos on the way over.

After about the third time Sora ran into a flamingo and fell face-first into the ground, the shrub rustled again, and a small, silver furry head popped out. Aquamarine eyes gave him an irritable stare, lingering for a few seconds before the head disappeared into the bush again.

Rather than get up and just trip again, Sora stayed on the ground, attempting to crawl over to the shrub where the kitten (it was a kitten!) was hiding. Surprisingly, he made a lot less noise than he did walking over to it.

As he crawled, a strange sense of excitement came over him. For a few seconds, he felt kind of like a super-spy infiltrating the enemy's bases. He imagined himself crawling through the air ducts, slowly sneaking his way past dozens of armed soldiers staring off into space, unaware of his very presence. Once he reached the boss's office, he burst through the grate, landing right in front of the boss and ending his imagination sequence.

"Here, kitty kitty," Sora called, softly clicking his tongue. Within a few seconds, the silver head popped out of the bush again, and Sora leaped for it, managing to wrap his hands around its thin body.

The silver kitten struggled in vain; Sora quickly grabbed its scruff and brought it close to his chest. Standing up, he examined the kitten. Exactly what he expected; thin, dirty, angry, and clearly a stray.

However, while he expected the kitten to struggle and try to get away, it (well...as Sora just found out, he) didn't. He relegated himself to simply staring at the bundle of fur in his arms, and said bundle of fur stared back.

That gaze felt familiar. One of impatience, exasperation, annoyance, and the slightest bit of amusement. It felt like the look Riku almost always had in his eyes whenever Sora was around. And as Sora examined the kitten, it finally stuck him that his fur was the exact same shade as Riku's hair, and their eyes were exactly the same. Well, about as exactly the same as a cat's and a human's eyes could get.

So, of course, the first thing that popped into Sora's head was to show Riku his cat-self. The brunet happily rang the doorbell, and soon found himself face to face with his very upset best friend. His hair was disheveled, he was still in his pajamas, and a little black kitten happily clung to his shoulder. "Yes, Sora?" He practically spat.

"I found your cat-self!" Sora announced, proudly holding up the cat. Cat-Riku and human-Riku stared at each other for several seconds, and countless unspoken thoughts and emotions passed between the two. Finally, Riku broke the strange bond by reaching over and scratching the cat's head.

"He's cute, and he does look like me, but I do not want another cat." He sent a glare to the cat on his shoulder, who reacted by digging his claws deeper into Riku's flannel pajama shirt and...hissing happily.

It was at that moment that Sora found out that cats could hiss happily.

"Uhh...anyways, you can't keep him?" Sora asked, holding the cat up next to his face and pouting. "Just look at his wittle furry face." The cat remained impassive as Riku raised an eyebrow.

"Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't want the cat."

Sora frowned, setting the kitten in the crook of his arm as Riku tried to get the wannabe parrot off of his shoulder. After a few unsuccessful tries, he gave up, and now tried for his new goal of ignoring the kitten.

"But I can't leave him out here!" Sora complained, stomping his foot on the ground like a child. He knew he was starting to act childish, and frankly, he was fine with it.

Riku sighed, rolling his eyes. "Who says you have to? Ask Kairi or ask your parents." He knew better than to mention the shelter.

A smile slowly formed of Sora's face, growing until it was a grin reaching from ear to ear. "Great idea! Hold him so I can call Kairi, alright?"

Sora trust the cat into Riku's arms. The second the cat was comfortably situated in his arms, the black parrot-cat on his shoulder threw a fit. Exasperated, Riku used his free arm to wrench the cat out of his shoulder and set it down on the floor. He hissed again, this time out of annoyance, before scampering off into the house.

Sora dug into his pockets, searching for his phone. It didn't take long for his hand to wrap around a rectangular piece of metal and plastic. He quickly pulled it out, and in an instance had punched her number in on the keyboard. While both Riku and Cat-Riku watched him with the same expression, he waited for Kairi to pick up.

Thankfully, she was fast. "Sora?" Came her hesitant voice. She always sounded more nervous on the phone.

"Hey Kairi! It's Sora. I found this stray, and Riku can't take and and I know my parents would say no-"

She cut him off before he could even ask the question. "-sorry, but Dad told me that we can't have any more cats."

"Are you sure?" He pleaded. "Go ask him maybe?"

She sighed. "He specifically told me no more cats. Sorry, Sora. Just take him to the shelter?"

He grimaced, prompting inquisitive stares from both Riku and the cat in his arms. "I can't do that, and I can't just leave him out on the streets!"

"Sora, I would if I could, but I really can't. Have you called your parents yet to ask?"

"No."

"Then try that." With that, she hung up. Sora shoved the phone back in his pockets and crossed his arms, sighing.

"I'm guessing no?" Riku asked, exchanging glances with the cat.

"She can't. Already has too many cats." Sora bit the bottom of his lip, deep in thought. He needed to find a place for the kitten, but both Riku and Kairi said no. They were the only people he talked to outside of school, so it wasn't like he could go up to one of his classmates and ask them. He couldn't take it to the shelter, because they might deem it feral and put it to sleep.

Which meant that he only had one choice left...

"Sora," Riku said, jolting him out of his thoughts, "how long are you planning on standing there? Because I made a grilled cheese sandwich and its getting cold." Cat-Riku seemed to be getting impatient as well, and the look that he gave Sora clearly showed that.

"Just one last call, okay?" He begged, digging the phone out of his pocket again. Even though he already knew the answer, if it meant saving a life, one last ditch effort was worth it.

In the amount of time Sora spent in a grievous mixture of arguing and pleading with both his mother and his father, he had flopped down on Riku's lawn, had Cat-Riku transferred to his lap, listened to Riku's shouts from inside the house (he guessed it was because of the parrot-cat latched to his shoulder earlier), and watched Riku eat a cold grilled-cheese sandwich.

He didn't know how long it had taken, but eventually his mother finally caved in and agreed to take in Cat-Riku. With a triumphant cheer, he flung the phone into the neatly trimmed grass, waking up the kitten in his lap and distracting Riku from his current occupation of kicking over plastic flamingos.

"They said yes! THEY SAID YES!" He cheered, hugging the cat tightly to his chest, who meowed in confused protest. "Sorry Riku," he hopped up and spun around, facing his silver-haired friend, "but I gotta take Kittyku home!"

Sora started to walk back to where his bike was parked, but a hand firmly holding his arm kept him in place. "Wait...did you seriously just call him Kittyku?" Riku asked, shaking his head in disgust.

To his displeasure, Sora nodded. "Now that I think about it...that's gonna be his new name!" He smiled, the grin stretching from ear to ear.

Riku grimaced. "...please tell me you're kidding."

"Nope!"

Riku knew when to give up. His shoulders slumped, and he let go of his friend's arm. Sora settled for tilting his head and staring at him, but Riku ignored his expression and went back into his house without a word. Rather than try to chase after him and wrestle an explanation for the odd behavior out of him, Sora shrugged and went over to his bike. Kittyku, still in his arms, mewed impatiently, as if he was waiting for Sora to stop standing around and go home.

So he did just that.

As the three older cats of his new home circled him, Kittyku felt like he was being judged. Even though they looked vastly different, all three held the same contemptuous displeasure towards him. They all bore the same expression; ears back and eyes narrowed, with the slightest glint of a canine tooth peeking out from under their lips.

He watched them with an impassive gaze. They would be done soon enough, and either accept him or hate him. Either way, his stomach was snarling in protest, twisting itself into painful knots and kinks. The food bowl -while full of unnatural little pellet-things- looked extremely tantalizing, but he couldn't bypass the older cats.

After they circled him so many times he'd lost count, he couldn't take it anymore. "Hey, I'm really hungry, so can I please go eat? Please?" He mewed, calmly waiting for them to blow up in front of his face.

With a growl, the blond cat sat down. "Kittens! Always thinking about food. Can't believe them." Kittyku cautiously stepped forward, but none of them made a move to stop him. With a grateful nod, he dashed to the food bowl and ate until his stomach was about to burst.

"He's going to eat all of the food," Hayner growled. After seeing that he was getting no sympathy from his companions, he settled for more grumbling. "Why did I have to be right? Ugh..."

He was only met with purrs of amusement.

You know what sucks? When you're in show choir and your show choir keeps getting last or second-to-last place. D: We have ONE more competition...at Disney's California Adventure. I'm guessing a LOT of show choirs are going to be there, and if we don't win first place I'm going to cry. It's DISNEY. We have to win. D:

Anywho, I'm really tired. My week is packed, as is my Saturday, so Sunday's usually just spent lounging about. Plus this week is testing and blagh. D: Oh well. It'll all be over soon and summer shall be here.

Btw, now that Kittyku is here, I believe that all of the KH OC cast has finally arrived. :D Took 'em long enough.

See you all next Tuesday.