34: Hoodie: Artistica

Sekai ichi "Cat"sukoi

Chapter Thrity-Four: Hoodie

In the apartment next to Takano's, though it was still early, Hisashi lay awake, listening for the sounds of Yuu stirring to signal that it was time to get up.

The neko's thin tail twitched beneath the layers of blankets Yuu had piled on the bed to keep his emaciated foster warm. Hisashi gave a small, stiff, stretch beneath the covers. He had actually been awake for hours, though the quiet of Yuu's apartment and the medication provided by the vet had ensured that he'd gotten at least a few good hours of sleep.

Knowing his nocturnal tendencies, Hisashi felt doubly bad that his temporary owner had insisted that he take the futon, while Yuu had taken himself off to go sleep on the couch.

Hisashi ran his hand over the quilted surface of the mattress. The soft well-washed sheets and thick cushion was the most comfortable place he'd slept in years. Sato's and the pound's accommodations were far from plush, but still much better than the thin mats he and Atsushi, as well as the rest of Takemoto's pets, had been forced to sleep on.

At the thought of Takemoto's, a shiver coursed through Hisashi's spine. The neko's curly ears flattened. He shut his eyes, as if this would keep the memories out.

Hisashi buried his nose into the sleeve of the striped blue hoodie he wore. He had allowed Yuu to take the rest of his clothes for the washer after his bath, but despite knowing he was bound to obedience, he had gently resisted relinquishing this garment, just as every other prior time since he'd taken from the manga-ka's.

Hisashi inhaled and his delicate nose searched the fibers. There, beneath the antiseptic odors of Sato's shop and the pound, beneath the sweat and despair of Takemoto's workroom, he found it: the lingering scent of Atsushi.

Despite his resolve, Hisashi felt tears come into his eyes. What will I do when even your scent is gone, Atsushi? I miss you so much.

The hoodie been Atsushi's. The young noir neko lent it to him often at Takemoto's when he was shivering beneath the threadbare sheet on his mat at night. Atsushi had also covered him with it the night of their failed escape, just before he left him to get help.

You promised you'd come back, Atsushi.

Hisashi opened his blurry eyes and sighed.

At the best of times, Atsushi was often barely conscious of the world around him. The big black neko was smart, but he lived much of his life in the complex dream world of his own head. That was why Renaka-san, their breeder, had home schooled them: worried about the harsh treatment her sensitive hybrids might encounter at a mixed school or even a nekos only institution.

Still what kind of idiot doesn't look both ways before crossing the street at night? Especially when his fur is black?

Hisashi knew exactly the kind. A tear broke loose and rolled silently down his pale cheek.

We were so close, Atsushi.

He inhaled again, grateful that Yuu had not pressed the issue of taking the only thing he had left of Atsushi, besides the sketches that poured from his fingers. He savored the scent that had belonged to his closest friend, his confidante, his protector…

Would we have added lover to that list?

The night before they escaped, Atsushi had confessed his long held love for Hisashi.

Hisashi had never been able to maintain the bodyweight necessary to bring him into the range of a heat. Even if he had, he knew his high-strung temperament might itself have delayed this sign that would have revealed him to be a true uke. Atsushi had never experienced a heat either, but then, despite his soft ways, the black neko has always exuded a distinct seme energy.

Hisashi had been thrown into a tailspin by Atsushi's revelation. They had lived together so closely, for so long he could not imagine life without Atsushi, and yet… He had never once stopped to consider if what he felt surpassed a deep and intense friendship… if he what it was he so strongly felt for Atsushi was love.

Not until Atsushi was gone.

Even with your head in the clouds you still saw things more clearly than I, didn't you?

Hisashi's ears twitched in anger at his own blindness. The neko smoothed the sheets next to him with his hand. He studied his bony fingers with detachment.

"Hands and feet? Why hands and feet?" Takemoto had chided him when he first arrived at the manga-ka's and told her his specialty. "Eyes and faces, bodies and backgrounds, these are more important! What a reader pays attention to!"

Her tuned changed rapidly, however, when "her" new hands and feet began garnering her praise. "So sensitive and expressive!" critics exclaimed. They brought so much more life to the stories than those old crab and spider hands and block feet she was known for.

No one knew except for Hisashi that it was always Atsushi's hands and feet that he drew. Male or female, they were those of his friend.

The black neko's hands had always captivated him. The way they moved like magic over the page pulling worlds into being; the slow languid way Atsushi gestured, following the tempo of his dreamy mind when he spoke; the way that those hands would fly, so violently to protect him and then touch him with such gentleness after.

While they were at Takemoto's, Hisashi's rendering of hands had become even more superior. The neko wondered if anyone would ever know the reason why.

It wasn't just that he was forced to draw every day for hours on end. In fact, in the time he was with the manga-ka, Takemoto had sold off more than a few nekos whose drawings had become stiff from such constant repetition.

No, the reason was, that chained as they were, spaced at their tables, no neko could initiate full contact with another. He and Atsushi had been set beside each other. He would get so emotional if Atsushi was taken away for any significant length that Takemoto did not dare separate them.

Even though they were chained apart, Atsushi's overlong arms reached just far enough if he stretched, that he could hold Hisashi's hand. And he did, for two hideous years... Every night. It was the only thing that could bring the blond neko his much needed sleep: the feel of Atsushi's large warm hand around his own.

Tracing Atsushi's fingers, the back of his hand with his eyes until they became too heavy to hold open, this was the only balm that soothed Hisashi. In their incarceration at Takemoto's the Araki had memorized every millimeter of Atsushi's hands.

Drawing them now was how he kept Atsushi alive… and himself.

Hisashi was jolted from his reverie by a sound coming through the wall of Yuu's apartment. His tattered back stiffened. He knew the sound immediately, having heard it often enough: it was the cry of a neko in pain. Hisashi's tail stilled its thoughtful swish and the rest of him froze instantly as well.

Hisashi felt his breath catch in his throat and his heart began to pound. Is that the Onodera I met last yesterday? The Araki neko fought to quell the panic that suddenly crashed over him like a wave.

"Araki-san…"

At the sound of his name, Hisashi bit his bottom lip and opened his eyes, unaware that he'd even closed them. He slowly straightened his mouth and turned his head to greet the figure standing in the door. Hisashi strove to keep his expression perfectly blank and reveal none of the terror that surged through his veins.

Yuu had been awake on the couch in the other room for some time himself, wondering what he was going to do with the Araki. Now that he'd brought the hybrid home and had seen his wounds, had begun to understand the depths of the blond neko's suffering, there was no way he could just send him back to Sato's.

Yuu had started himself at the noise that emanated from Takano's apartment. Though in the relatively short time he'd lived next to the man, angry sounds were not uncommon.

But this one was different.

His mind had gone first to the brunet neko he'd met with Takano the night before. That there was tension between the man and his new pet was obvious, but Yuu, while he'd often thought of Takano as brash, had never previously considered the Emerald editor to be cruel.

The second thought that popped into Yuu's consciousness was the traumatized neko sleeping in his bed. He imagined Hisashi's ears were far more acute than his own. He had risen immediately to check on the Araki, wondering what response such a sound might elicit.

"Yes, Yanase-san?"

Yuu stood in the doorway, not wanting to crowd his foster's space. He was stunned by both the blank look in the Araki's slate blue eyes and the flatness of the neko's voice.

"I heard a noise from the apartment next door. I wanted to see if it had woken you up."

Hisashi sat up, knowing he should rise to greet Yuu. It wasn't fitting for him to be reclining while the man was standing, not without permission. He tried not to grimace as he shifted his stiff aching torso.

"Thank you, Yanase-san, but I have been awake for a while," Hisashi answered truthfully.

Yuu frowned. "I had hoped that sleeping in a better bed might help you."

Hisashi dipped his head before attempting to get up. "Please, Yanase-san, you were more than gracious to offer me your futon. The fault is not with your bed, but with me."

Yuu's frown deepened. He was troubled not only seeing how much the Araki was obviously suffering in his movements, but also the quiet voice and dead expression were in conflict with the hybrid's tremoring tail. He knew immediately that there was far more going on in his foster beneath the Araki's placid surface than Hisashi was letting on.

"Ah, well, having Takano-san rumbling about next door doesn't help, I'm sure. I swear that guy never sleeps. I can always tell when he's working from home; he never quits yelling."

Hisashi offered Yuu a very weak smile, knowing that his foster owner was trying to dismiss the disturbing sound that had roused them both.

"Speaking of work, Araki-san…" Yuu rubbed the back of his neck. "I spoke with my editor and he said you could come with me if you like. Though I also understand if you just want to stay home and rest too. I am sure you could use some quiet time to yourself."

Hisashi's stony eyes sparked before he dropped them, looking away from Yuu. He was surprised that he was being offered a choice, allowed to make a decision of his own.

Though he was weak and felt like he could probably sleep for days if his frantic mind would let him, Hisashi did not want to appear any more compromised than he already was in front of Yuu. And while he wasn't sure he was in any real shape to face the busy world outside the walls of Yuu's apartment, he also didn't relish the idea of staying there alone, especially with Renaka-san's drawing staring down on him all day.

"Ah… well…"

Before Hisashi could articulate an answer, another yelp of pain broke through from Takano's apartment making both males jump. This cry lasted much longer. It stopped suddenly after the harsh sound of Takano's deep voice barking back.

That decided Hisashi immediately. He didn't know if Takano and his new pet planned to stay in today or not, but he had no desire to find out. Being subjected to such noises and the speculation they stirred was the last thing he wanted.

"If you're up for it, I think I'd like you to come with me."

Hisashi looked up and though Yuu didn't say it, it was obvious the small seme had come to the same conclusion.

"Yes, I'd like to go with you, Yanase-san. If it is not an inconvenience."

A snort escaped Yuu at this. "Araki-san, knowing my co-workers as I do, I think the trouble is more likely to be yours."

Hisashi felt a jolt of apprehension at this. "Are they anti-hybrid?"

Yuu could have kicked himself for not being clearer. He'd meant his comment to be humorous and not frighten his foster.

"Oh no, just the opposite. I work with a bunch of neko fangirls." Yuu saw Hisashi's eyes widen at this. He wanted to kick himself again, having already forgotten the hell the neko been put through the day before by his adolescent tormentors.

"But don't worry. Araki-san. I'll set them straight when we get there. And if they can't control themselves there's a hybrid lounge you can go hide out in. I've never been in it myself, but I have been told that it's pretty nice."

Hisashi studied the man in the doorway. Yuu seemed to be in earnest. "Okay, Yanase-san. I'll go with you then."

Yuu breathed an audible sigh of relief. Not even twenty-four hours had passed, but his latent seme senses were already being activated by Hisashi presence and he really didn't want the neko far from his sight.

"Well, let's get cleaned up then and head out." Yuu was anxious to get Hisashi out of the house before any more noise from Takano's drifted into his apartment. "We'll pick up breakfast on the way. I know a neko friendly diner."

Hisashi managed to rise from the bed at last.

Yuu had turned his head back to the hallway, not wanting to embarrass the hybrid by witnessing his obvious struggle. "Your clean clothes are in the bathroom, laid out on top of the hamper. We can get you some better shoes on the way to work if we have time, but if not we'll go after."

Hisashi felt a blush come into his cheeks at Yanase's words. He was just a foster after all. "Thank you, Yanase-san, but I don't want to be a burden. I'm sure what I have will be sufficient for the time we're together."

The blond started when Yuu turned back and gaze him a stern look.

"I'll be the judge of that."

Hisashi's blush deepened at the strength of Yuu's tone. Despite the fact the man was small, there was no denying his seme energy. The neko dropped his eyes and nodded rather than offer any further protestations.

This meekness however evaporated at his foster owner's next words.

"Now, Araki-san about your hoodie…"

"No, I won't take it off. YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!"

Both Yuu and Hisashi stood stunned after the Araki's exclamation. It was almost as loud as the sound that had initially stirred them.

Hisashi knew he had transgressed severely: no hybrid should ever raise his voice to a human. Wearily, Hisashi sank down to his knees. He bowed his head and his wooly tail curled over into his trembling hands. However kind he had been last night, Hisashi knew Yuu could not let such a breach of etiquette pass. He braced for his punishment.

Yuu sighed and stepped over to Hisashi. "I was going to say that your hoodie smells a bit gamey. It needs to be washed Hisashi-san."

Hisashi shuddered at the thought of this. He would have gladly endured physical blows rather than part with Atsushi's garment for even a moment. The blond neko bowed low where he knelt.

"Please, Yanase-san, forgive me for my outburst." Hisashi managed to keep his tone level for this, but at the next words his voice cracked beneath the weight of his emotion. "Please... Yanase-san… the hoodie... his scent. Hisashi struggled to put his words together.

Hisashi winced, but Yuu's next motion was merely to sit heavily on the side of his futon next to the kneeling hybrid.

"It was Atsushi's. Wasn't it?"

Hisashi choked back a sob of surprise both at Yuu's words and at hearing Atsushi's fall from another's lips. He looked up at Yuu, wide-eyed and trembling.

"H-how?"

The naked pain on the blond neko's face tore at Yuu's heart. "I'm sorry, Hisashi... you said his name during your spell at the store and… Sato-san… Well, she let me look through one of your notebooks.

Hisashi dropped his head, the blush on his pale cheeks deepened. Some of the color came from of anger at the intrusion into his private shrine for Atsushi. The rest came from his shame at being so clearly revealed.

Yuu remained silent a minute, allowing Hisashi to get a grip on the turmoil of his emotions. His own heart was not without conflict as well. He had known immediately, looking at the neko's notebooks, that there was an incredible connection between the artist and his subject. Now he knew without a doubt it was love. This, more than anything, was what he had just seen in the Araki's eyes. It was the first undisguised emotion he'd witnessed since they'd met.

Yuu shook his head.

There was no denying that Hisashi was deeply stirring something in him. Yuu knew also that he while he could not permit Hisashi to go back to Sato's, he also knew just as clearly he would never force himself on the neko.

He pulled on his game face before the Araki looked up again and slapped his palms against his knees as he rose.

Hisashi jumped at the sudden movement.

Yuu pretended that he hadn't seen the neko react and moved over to his closet. He pulled out an orange striped hoodie of his own that set off the red in his hair and was sure to make the blond neko's blue eyes pop.

"Well, if you won't take it off, at least put this one over it." He handed it to Hisashi who held it in his hands looking stunned. "It'll help keep things uh... contained. When we get back tonight, if you can bear it, maybe we can hang it out on the balcony for a few hours to at least air it out."

Cool blue eyes widened at this suggestion.

Yuu leaned over and gently took hold of Hisashi's thin shoulders and helped move the neko back up to his feet. "I'll set a chair right by the sliding glass door so you can stand watch over it and make sure no pigeons get any wild ideas about hauling it off for a nest. Sound good, Araki-san?"

Hisashi just blinked and his lamby ears fluttered. He could hardly wrap his mind around what was happening. That Yuu was making jokes and not thrashing him was completely out of the realm of anything he'd known for the last few years of his life.

"Yes, Yanase-san."

Yuu began combing his closet for what he was going to wear that day himself.

"Yanase-san…"

Turning, Yuu had to bite tongue to keep from saying something out of line. Hisashi stood before him, bony tail held between his hands, wooly ears quirking in the midst of his curly bedhead, his normally porcelain features were tear-stained and sporting a new blush. The hybrid was a complete wreck. But Yuu was struck with the thought that the Araki, Hisashi, was cute enough in this disheveled state to set any neko fangirl's heart into cardiac squee-rest.

"What, Araki-san?" He tilted his head to the side and studied his foster intently.

"Thank you." Hisashi's voice was soft, but genuine.

This made Yuu smile. His smile grew even bigger when Hisashi offered in an even softer voice. "You, know, you can call me Hisashi, Yanase-san. It's your right after all."

Yuu's smile faltered just a bit at the last sentence. He knew that the neko was offering him a cautious invitation, accepting the use of his first name as he'd offered it to Hisashi before, attempting to comfort the neko. Yuu was also aware that the blond was incredibly sensitive to the precariousness of his position as a pet.

"Alright, Hisashi-san, but only if you call me Yuu."

Yuu watched Hisashi struggle with what it was he was offering. But then he got help from the most unexpected and unfortunate of places: another piercing yowl permeated his apartment from Takano's direction.

Hisashi clutched the orange hoodie to his chest and his tail dropped and curled around between his thin legs. His large eyes widened.

"Yuu, can we get out of here please?" The neko was made so anxious by the sound, he not only used his foster's first name, but completely forgot to add the "san."

Yuu took one of Hisashi's fragile-looking hands in his own and began pulling the neko gently along behind him. "Absolutely. Let's grab our stuff. We can clean up in the restroom at the diner."

As they hurried to gather their things Yuu knew he was going to need to have a seme to seme talk with Takano at some point. Seeing the shaky blond Araki, rocking back and forth, waiting for him at the front door, however, Yuu knew that discussion would have to take place later.

"Come on Hisashi," Yuu placed a comforting hand on his foster's shoulder, careful of the hybrid's bruises and ushered Hisashi with him out into the world.

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews or the last chapter! Hope this one pleases as well.

It's so good to be back and working on this story.

I'd wish you a happy Valentine's day, but I think it's a stupid holiday. You should all know you already have my heart anyways... This chapter is for TBF101... just because.

Cheers!