Can We Get A Pet?
Chapter 4
The leash fell from Nagi's limp hand, and he stared straight ahead at Schuldig unblinking. Swift jumped to the side as the leash landed next to her, and looked up at Nagi nervously. The boy wasn't moving. Schu paused in setting up the tank for the anoles, and looked at him.
"Nagi? You okay?"
Farf poked his head out of his room, and then came out, shutting the door behind him to keep Alice in. "What's wrong?"
"I broke Nagi again. I think he's in shock."
"You have to stop doing that. Crawford doesn't like it. Fix him." He picked up the puppy, who was looking a bit scared, but settled down slightly in his arms. He put her down in the kitchen and pulled out the dog biscuits.
Schu went up to Nagi and waved a hand in front of his face. When there was no response, he put his hands on his hips and stared back for a second, before pushing at the kid's mind to move it along a bit. Nagi blinked, and his eyes rolled back as he collapsed. "Oops. Too much," Schu muttered as he prodded Nagi with his toe. "Oh, well. It was probably his nap time anyway." He went back to setting up the anole tank.
A minute later, Nagi's eyes fluttered open, and he sat up with a groan and a headache. He glanced at Schu, wincing. "Thanks a lot, you imbecile."
"You're welcome."
Sarcasm lost. Or ignored. Nagi stood and glared at him. "Bring those back to the store, Schuldig. Crawford called this morning before you got up, and said no more pets. I would have left you note, but I know you wouldn't have read it! What are they anyway?"
"Anoles. They're these lizards that change color, like a chameleon, but I think they only have a couple of colors. Cool, huh?"
"No, they are not cool, Schuldig. Crawford's orders: you are not to bring home any more pets!"
"Hey Farf!" Schu called into the kitchen. "I just thought of one admirable trait of cats!"
"What's that?" Farf came back into the living room.
"Selective hearing."
"Schuldig!" Nagi snapped.
"I mean, it's great. They just block out what they don't want to hear. They know when you open a can of tuna from across the house, but they don't hear you telling them to get off your lap."
Nagi rolled his eyes, knowing he wouldn't win against Schu's stubbornness. Was anyone with a German heritage like this, or was it just him? Ugh. Shaking his head to himself, he went to his room to listen to Din En Grey and do homework, Swift following close behind.
"He's mad," Farf observed.
"Who?"
"Nagi."
"Who?"
Great. Farf realized that he had once again been appointed as translator between Schuldig and Nagi. Not just messenger, but translator, as he needed to word what one said carefully when repeating it to the other. This happened about once a month. He sat on the floor and watched as Schu finished with the anole tank, put the little lizards in, and set the heat lamp on top. "So how long are you going to ignore him?"
"Who?"
Farf gave up, and went back to his room, rabbit, a book, and headphones.
Some time later, Nagi came out to make himself dinner to find Farf sitting on the floor of the living room, staring into the anole tank. "Where's Schuldig?"
"Bedroom. Not talking to you."
"I figured that much, Farf. Why isn't he out here playing with his new pets?"
"One of them bit him. He went to play with Fingers and Maus instead." He continued to stare into the tank until a cricket that had been put in wandered too close to a lizard and got snatched up in the thing's mouth. He grinned. He then tried to look for all three lizards. One of them blended into a branch well, and he almost missed it. He scooped one out and held it out for Nagi to see. "I like them."
"Get that thing away from me." Nagi turned and went into the kitchen.
"Ooh. Dinner." Farf put the anole back, and followed. He perched himself on the counter and watched Nagi while kicking a foot.
After digging through the fridge and freezer, Nagi came to the conclusion that Schu hadn't gotten any food that could be eaten as a meal. "I'm ordering out." He turned around to see Swift sitting by her empty food dish, looking up at him with large eyes. "Okay, I'll feed you first." She wagged her tail, still looking at him. After giving her dinner, he pulled out a menu for a nearby Thai restaurant, and ordered for two. What he and Farf didn't eat, Schu would grab later when he got hungry. All the while he noticed that Swift didn't take her eyes off him, but wouldn't look at his face. "Is it just me, or is she acting guilty?"
Farf looked down at the dog and stopped kicking his foot. He watched her for a minute. "Yup. Whatever you did, good girl."
"Farf!" Nagi glowered at him for a second before looking down at Swift. "I'm not going to like this, am I? And it's probably in my room..." He shook his head and headed to the bedroom. He needed to get some money anyway. Walking in, he was surprised that there wasn't anything nasty on the floor. She followed him in, and jumped onto her blanket on the bed, and started gnawing on the bedpost where she'd already left a good number of tooth marks.
Nagi pulled his wallet out of his desk and then turned to her. "Swift! No! Stop that!" He chased her off the bed, and frowned at the chewed-upon wood of the footboard. "Bad girl, Swift. Don't chew the furniture."
She looked up at him with a whimper. He sighed and patted her head, before coaxing her into the crate.
"At least it was only the bed post. It could have been the couch," said Farf from where he was leaning against the doorframe, smirking. "Crawford would have killed you then." He turned before Nagi could make a comeback, and opened the door to his room. Alice poked her nose out, and then hopped onto the carpet. With a grin, he scooped her up, grabbed his book and headed to the living room again.
Nagi came in a minute later, muttering to himself, just as there was a knock on the door. He answered, paid for the food, and brought the bag into the kitchen. Farf followed with Alice and set the rabbit down on the linoleum floor. They each grabbed some food and a pair of chopsticks and dug in. A minute later, Schu walked in.
"Has anyone seen Fingers? I had them out of the cage, and I know where Maus is, but I can't find Fingers."
"What's that on your shoulder?" Nagi snapped. Schu didn't respond.
"Schu, which one is sitting on your shoulder?" asked Farf.
"Maus. Fingers is black." Schu reached up to rub the hooded rat with a finger, then wandered back out to search his room again, ignoring the food on the table.
"I'm assuming you're no where near as childish as he seems right now, so I will not repeat what he said," Farf told Nagi.
"Good. Why do you go along with it, anyway?"
"To keep you two from killing each other. You're both more fun for me when you're alive."
Nagi rolled his eyes. "I feel so loved." He took another bite of food, and the two ate in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly, Nagi jumped. "What th'!" He batted something off his leg and stared in horror down at the black rat that had been crawling up his leg. "SHULDIG! Get in here and get this thing out of the kitchen!"
Fingers started to scurry away, and Alice jumped and ran to the other side of the kitchen. Farf pounced out of his chair, and happily grabbed the rat. He set it down on the table to play with it. Nagi's eyes widened. "Farf, get it off the table! Now!"
Ignoring him, Farf let the rat eat from his hand. He looked up at Nagi. "He's harmless, very friendly, actually." When he looked down again, the rat wasn't in front of him. He frowned. "Where'd he go...?"
Nagi sighed and buried his face in his hands. He looked up a minute later, and nearly screamed. He batted the rat away from his food. Farf reached across the table and scooped the rat up again. He got up, and carried the irksome rat from the kitchen and walked into Schu's room, neglecting to knock as usual. "Found Fingers. Out in the kitchen. Trying to steal dinner."
"Oh, hey! Thanks, Farf!" Schu took the rat, and put him back in the cage with Maus. "Say, are you up for a night out, Farf? I'm bored with being here."
Farf shrugged. "Why not?" Then he went back to finish eating. Schu came in ten minutes later, when Nagi was done, and grabbed the leftovers. Within forty-five minutes, the two of them were out the door, without a word to Nagi, who had shut himself up in his room again.
When he realized that the apartment was silent, Nagi crept out of his room. This was odd. There was not loud German music from Schu's room, no strange techno and/or goth music from Farf's, and no sound from the TV. Where did Farf get music anyway? Did he even have a CD player...?
Nagi shook his head, and took advantage of the opportunity and put on some of his music and brought his personal laptop out into the living room. A bit of homework, then it was time to RP.
It was getting late when Nagi decided to go to bed, and the other two still weren't back. They were probably pulling an all nighter again. With a sigh, he hoped that whatever they were doing wouldn't be in the news tomorrow. He turned out the lights and went to sleep.
A half hour later, the front door quietly opened. Farf poked his head in. Schuldig had ditched him halfway through the night in favor of a pair of women, so he'd been wandering the street, terrorizing people, vandalizing property, and generally making a nuisance of himself. He had just run from the scene of his last crime when something had caught his eye. He'd picked it up, and hidden it in his coat, deciding to head home. He waited outside until he'd seen Nagi's light go off, and waited a bit longer to make sure he was asleep. Moving silently, he grabbed what was left of dinner to snack on, and went to his room, shutting the door behind him.
It was quite some time later when Schu came in, a bit drunk, the scent of cheap perfume clinging to him, and a large object in his hands. He stumbled toward his room, muttering something to Farf, who had poked his head out of his room at the noise, and then set the thing down and dropped onto his bed. He was asleep in minutes.
Farf shrugged, not having been able to make out what he'd said, and laid back down with his book.
The next day, Nagi got back from school to take Swift for a walk before going back to the library to study. He came back from his room with Swift trotting happily beside him, holding the leash in her mouth, to see Schu setting up a tall stand and hanging another cage from it. "Schuldig! What the hell is that!" Swift jumped took a step away from him.
Schu didn't acknowledge Nagi's presence. Farf came out a minute later, holding something. "What's wrong now?"
"Hey, Farf!" Schu said before Nagi could open his mouth. "One of the girls I was with last night asked me if I'd like to have her parrot. She's moving and can't take it with her. It's an African Grey Parrot, named Sasha. You like?"
Farf grinned and nodded.
Nagi blinked. "Farf, what are you holding...?"
"I found a cat last night."
Nagi resisted the urge to scream and quickly left with Swift before he killed every living thing in the apartment.
A note for my dear friends the readers. Well, there's two more for the zoo! Oh, and those aforementioned two have gotten more pets. So let's see, that's two rats, a rabbit, a dog, anoles, a bird, a cat, a German and a mad Irishman. Seems like the apartment will be a menagerie by the end of the week.
Thank you all for the reviews!
ShadowCrow25 – Yep! Lizards! Another type of pet I'd like sometime, but highly doubt I could ever have. At the rate they're going... Let's see, one or two animals a day, and it's been four chapters... They still have a couple days before Crawford's back... Yeah. They could open a pet store. Make some money on the side. Schwarz: Assassins by night, illegal animal dealers also by night, just because sunlight is bad, and the Evil Bright Glowy Thing in the Sky must be shot.
MalletWielderofDoom – Well, technically, Schu is in charge, but we all know that Nagi is the responsible one when Crawford isn't around. Poor, poor Nagi-kins. (bows) Thank you! I know that my local pet store feeds the anoles crickets, so I wouldn't really put it past the little things to chomp at people. I'll have to look it up. Oooh. Giant Squeaky Mallet of Doom! Is it good for beating brothers? And don't worry about me disappearing from the face of the planet. I might have to fight off two older brothers to use the internet, but I find the time to get through!
Wherdatcomfrom – Hmm... Crawford with a pet. I like it, I'll keep it in mind. And Crawford with a chinchilla is just so hilarious that I love it! Keep reading. I think I might actually put that in now! Thanks for the idea!
Night-Owl123 – Thank you! I always update as soon as I can. Mustn't keep my loving fans waiting!
Naruka – Borzoi are adorable. And I wouldn't trust those two with... um, anything. Not even my life. Obviously, that would be a bad idea. Schu will buy however many pets he feels like, regardless of orders, 'cause that's just the type of moron, I mean guy, he is. I love him, really.
fluffy-sama's worshiper – Hee. Glad your enjoying it!
xKokurox - Yeah, lucky rabbit gets to cuddle with Farf. Actually, Alice was named (and looks like) a rabbit my friend Kou and I found at the mall last fall. I've seen Bloody Roar once, but I've never played it. This rabbit we saw was white with black ears and circles around the eyes. Since we didn't know it's gender, I just called it Alice for either Alice in Wonderland (white rabbit, march hare, and all) or Alice Cooper (the guy wears a lot of heavy black eye liner, and probably dyes his hair black). When we saw the rabbit, I would have loved to get it, but there were a couple problems. No money for it, I lived in the dorm so no pets that don't live in water, and I already have a huge white rabbit at home named Schmendrick the Little White Magician. Don't let the name fool you. He's bigger than the cat.
