The new cat didn't have a name.
She had been there for almost a whole day but she didn't have a name yet. Mob knew a lot about her. She had white fur, she scratched when you tried to pick her up, she liked having her picture taken, and she didn't like milk. Well Minegishi had been the one who told her about the milk thing. Cats were actually allergic to milk…Mob couldn't imagine a worse fate for any creature. Milk was delicious and cold and just…the best thing ever. But cats were allergic. Even though on TV cats were always drinking milk they couldn't have any.
Sometimes life could be very sad.
Aside from the milk thing this was very good. The cat had stopped hissing at everyone and she had even made friends with Mukai…well Mob had caught her and given her to Mukai to play with. Mukai could be kind of…rough…but that was because she was only two. She had only played with stuffed animals so far. She didn't know what to do with a real one. Sho taught her, though, not to pull on the cats tail or on her whiskers…and to stay away from her paws too. She had nails, sharp ones, but Mob wasn't going to declaw them. That was very cruel and Mob was not a cruel person. She was a nice person, she worked hard at being nice every single day, and nice people did not declaw cats. Mom had told her and Sho about the declawed cats that had lived at the shelter she took them to sometimes. Their owners were too lazy to deal with the way they scratched things so they declawed their cats. It was cruel. Mom said that it was like if she cut the tips of Mob and Sho's fingers off because she was tired of cutting their nails for them.
Mob cut her own nails and Sho bit his but the point was the same.
Mom would have liked the cat…and now just because Mob hadn't declawed it. Mom had always wanted a pet but dad didn't like animals so the answer had always been no. The answer was still more…but Mob had heard from somewhere, probably Shimazaki, that it was better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. Well Mob didn't have to ask permission, dad was gone, and if he came back then he was the one who was going to have to beg her for forgiveness. He was the one who had cheated on mom and broken up their family. He had also called Mukai a mistake. Mukai wasn't a mistake. She was a person, she was Mob's sister, and she was dad's daughter…and she was not a mistake.
She was, however, making the cat mad….and that was a mistake.
"Mukai, no. See? When her ears get flat like that then she doesn't want to play with you." Said Mob. Minegishi looked over the top of their book and shook their head. They didn't like that cat. That was why they were sitting on the couch while everyone else was on the ground. They didn't dislike the cat so much, though, that they went to read in their own house. That was good.
"Cat." Said Mukai as she poked Cat in the fur. This was Cat. Cat lived here now. Cat liked her. Mama liked Cat too. Cat liked it when you poked her in the fur.
"Don't poke her like that and don't call her that. She needs a real name, baby sis, a real name." said Sho as he pulled Mukai's finger out of the cat's fur. He wondered if it was ok to cut cat's nails. Mom had said, before, that declawing a cat was like cutting the tips of a person's fingers off because they were tired of cutting their nails…so maybe cutting their nails was like cutting people's nails. He hated getting his nails cut, he bit his, so cutting a cat's nails might have been cruel….
But he was tired of getting scratched up.
He always wore long sleeves so the cat had mostly gotten him on the hands but big sis and baby sis had it worse than him. They had Band-Aids to keep their blood in and stuff and hey looked cool but it would have been nice if Fukuda had been around. Just to make them better, of course, not to hang out or anything. He wouldn't have been happy and he would have said something mean to someone and then everyone would have gotten into a fight. If he had been around then Sho would have brought him over once everyone was gone…not that Sho wanted him around. He was mean to big sis and he made Sho lie and…and he was a jerk and…and Sho didn't care where he went or what he did. Fukuda could go and suck a bunch of dicks in a public bathroom or ten yen coins during golden week for all Sho cared.
Fuck Fukuda…really! Fuck him!
He had baby sis and he had big sis and he had his friends and he didn't have dad anymore and he was happy. He had a cat too. Pretty much everything that he had ever wanted. Well…he would have liked a hamster but big sis had said cat and he was just happy to have any pet at all. Without dad being around they could do whatever they wanted…well almost whatever they wanted. Shimazaki reached over him to pet the cat. The goldfish in Sho's stomach decided to try and swim through his belly button. He was close and…and he wondered if the cat could eat the goldfish in his stomach…or at least scare it away so it stopped bothering him.
There was nothing that he could do about it anyway so maybe it was best if it just went away…or…whatever.
"Cat. Over there." said Mukai. She made sure to show Sho were the cat was. Ryou knew. She didn't tell Ryou because he always knew. She pulled Sho away from him though. He had a lot of colors though. That wasn't good.
"We could call it Hello Kitty. That's a famous cat, right?" asked Shimazaki as he felt the little ball of fuzz. Yup. That was a cat. Not a raccoon. The first thing that he'd found turned out to be a raccoon. This was a cat, it was softer, and it hissed differently. He pulled his hand away before it could scratch him. He wished that he could have gotten a dog, well he could have he was physically capable of doing so, but this was the first time the animal rule had been relaxed. He could maybe get Mob to turn around on the dog thing later. She liked cocktails and he wasn't above holding her to promises made while she was drunk so, yeah, he was getting a dog.
It at least wouldn't drool on him as much as Sho did.
Seriously. This kid. He smelled terrible, like usual, and that was a puberty thing and not a skipping baths thing. He was not ready to deal with Sho when he got like this. He could feel Sho leaning back against his chest and he could practically hear Sho's heart beating out of his chest. If he focused hard enough he could see the path that Sho's blood took…but he would not be doing that because Sho was practically his kid and he never wanted to know if his kid was turned on or not. Maybe Toshi had a point about talking to Sho and no waiting for this crush to die…because at this point it looked immortal. Like a jellyfish or a lobster or a rock…were they alive? He didn't know, Toshi would tell him later, and if not Toshi then Mob. She was pretty damn smart. Pretty too. He could hear her aura, it sounded warm, like listening to something on vinyl. She was like listening to a very old record, a well loved one, and also a refrigerator. The way her aura hummed like that. Like an old one. It was a good sound.
He focused more on the warm hum of Mob's aura and less on the fact that Sho was doing everything that he could to lean into Shimazaki while making it look like an accident.
"That's a good name….that's a great name. That's the best name ever. The cat's name is now Hello Kitty." said Sho as he leaned back against Shimazaki's chest. This was ok. It just looked like Shimazaki was getting too close to him. He did that to a lot of people. He had trouble with personal space….and also…also Sho…well he…he knew that Shimazaki didn't like him like that…but if he maybe just pretended for a minute that Shimazaki was his boyfriend and they had adopted this cat and they were going to raise it together…well that was ok. It wasn't like anyone here was a telepath or anything.
"What about Fluffy? Because she's fluffy?" asked Mob. She didn't want to call the cat 'Hello Kitty' for one thing…and for another she just…well she loved Sho. She loved him and she wanted him to be happy and she didn't get to tell him how he felt and she had no idea what went on in his heart…but part of her wanted to tell him that while she knew how good it felt to be near the boy you loved now was maybe not the time or the place to feel like that…since all of their friends and their little sister were in the room and those were private sorts of feelings…
She didn't want to start brining private things up in public so she stuck to the subject of the cat.
"How about Sheddy? Because she's been shedding since Ryou brought her home." Said Minegishi. They poked Ryou in the back with their foot. Ok. Even he wasn't so blind as to not realize what was going through Sho's head. This thing was going in the wrong direction, and had been for a while, and it was about to go down like the Titanic unless Ryou did something. Minegishi wanted to take Sho and shake him and scream at him until their face turned blue that there was no hope for him and Ryou. None at all. The whole thing was hopeless and he needed to let this go and find some boys his own age…or at least someone who wasn't Ryou.
Because, really, this was a lot to deal with.
They chose to focus on the fact that Mob had seen fit to just bring a cat into the house. To be fair she had made this decision after a night of heavy drinking and God only knew what else. Maybe if Mob had been thinking then she would have taken into account the fact that she didn't have room in this house…and also she would have thought about the shedding. There was so much shedding…they picked some cat fur off of their t-shirt. They were not a pet person. They were a plant person…and for their own welfare they were going to have to get the plants out of Mob's house. They could hear the plants quaking in fear…cats and plants did not get along…and it was not a good sound….it was an anxious sort of sound…
The kind of sound that they did not like to deal with.
"She could have th-three names…I've heard of cats having three names." Said Serizawa from his spot in the corner. He liked the cat, cats were cute and fluffy, but he also knew to stay the h-word away from it. He could hurt it on accident. He didn't know what he would have done if he'd hurt it on accident….and also Mukai was there too and he didn't want to hurt her on accident…and he'd had a good run but he was outside of his room and his house and he couldn't open his umbrella too because he was inside….he just had to work harder at being fine, that was all, that was what Shigeko wanted most from him anyway. He just…had to work harder….
So that was what he did.
"We could call her Princess or Duchess since she's so fancy." Said Shibata. He handed Minegishi their glass of water. He knew what it meant when they went fishing around in their pockets like that. He had seen them dry swallowing pills but that was bad for them. He had no right to tell them to do or what not to do but he could at least keep them from tearing up their throat.
"Did she have a name at the shelter, Shigkeo?" asked Tsuchiya as she turned Mukai's head away from Minegishi's direction. They were good with Shigeko, she'd give them that, but also they shouldn't have been doing that around the kids. They were so impressionable anyway and Shigeko was already drinking at the age of twelve. She did not need to be popping whatever those pills were too. She kept the kid's attention on the cat and not…whatever Minegishi was doing back there.
Especially Shigeko's.
She looked up to Minegishi, and not just because they were taller than she was. She looked up to them probably because they were the only other girl, well born female, person that she knew. Also they were apparently best friends. Shigeko was a good girl. Underneath everything that she did, which was not her fault, she was a good girl. She was just a twelve year old without limits who had been raised by a nice, but irresponsible, group of people….and Tsuchiya had no idea what she could do about it. Shigeko didn't want her as a mother figure, she was barely a friend at this point, and she knew that as an adult in Shigeko's life she had a responsibility to do…something…but what that something was eluded her.
So maybe it was best to just focus on the fact that the cat needed a name and not on…whatever it was the Minegishi was doing right now.
"Her name's Hello Kitty like Shimazaki just said." Said Sho
"That's a good name too and….and she could have a lot of names…I mean. I've heard before that cats have three names…I mean my mom said so….." Said Serizawa. He was contributing to the discussion and being a part of the group. Miss Suzuki liked that. He looked over at her…and she wasn't looking his way…but that was ok. He had still done as she asked. It hadn't been so bad. He knew everyone in this room and…and he hadn't messed up and…and he had it mostly under control. He hadn't broken anything…yet…and if he did then…then better he break something and not someone. So…so that was good. Maybe…maybe this day would be alright.
"Not every cat is a jellicle cat." Said Minegishi
"But every jellicle cat has three names, Serizawa has a point about that." Said Shimazaki
"But if this is a jellicle cat then it'll leave us…and whatever would we do if that happened?" Said Minegishi. Sarcasm, as usual, was lost on Mob. She was looking up at them with curiosity brimming in her eyes…and she had, somehow, never heard of Cats. She had dragged them all across the ocean for the Broadway version of Frozen but, for some reason, she had never heard of Cats….
Huh. Well they knew what the next group outing would probably end up being.
"Um….what?" asked Mob
"Toshi thinks that this cat is going to win the jellicle ball and be reborn into a new life." Said Shimazaki
"What does jellicle mean?" asked Mob
"It's from a very long, very pointless play about cats called Cats. I had to watch a tape of it in university. Even if I spoke English, actually spoke it, I doubt it would have made much sense." Said Tsuchiya. Well that had been a waste of three credit hours. Mom an d dad had told her not to waste her time and money in university but western theatre had looked interesting…and it had been…until they got to that play. Three hours of plotless nothing.
"Oh…I didn't know that it was pointless…or a play. My mom just had the tapes and we used to listen to practice English…" said Serizawa. That had been back when he'd been really little. Back before the accident. Back when he'd been little enough for mom to pick him up and carry him in one hand and the tape player in the other and they'd go for these long walks on the hiking trail just them and whatever tapes mom had brought. That tape hadn't helped his English but it had at least sounded nice. He wondered if mom ever went music walking anymore….he could have asked her…but he wouldn't.
He would have just been bothering her.
"There's a play about cats?" asked Mob. She and Sho made eye contact. They didn't have to say anything else. They didn't care what country this play was in or what time. They were going to see this play and nothing was going to stop them.
"Play? Play cat now!" said Mukai as she tried to pull on the tail. Sho stopped her…he was kind of mean like that.
"No, not that kind of play. A play is like a movie only live. They're ok….well probably better without dad being there…or big sis's weird friend." Said Sho
"Minori isn't…that….weird…and she can't help being how she is about you, I think that she's in love with you, but don't worry. I won't invite her." said Mob. She didn't want Sho to have to deal with Minori trying to kiss him and she didn't want Minori to have her heart broken because Sho could never return her feelings. She also didn't want dad to come with….and he didn't like cats anyway…but he did like plays. He had liked Frozen the play…he had been singing the songs for a while when he thought that nobody was listening to him….and maybe he would have liked to come with…but he couldn't. Maybe if he said that he was sorry…and meant it…well then they could talk.
"You'd better not." Said Sho
"I won't." said Mob
"Are we moving again? Should I make moving bentos?" asked Shibata. He didn't know Tsuchiya well enough to make her a good bento…she liked orange…he could go from there. She liked orange and she had been raised in a temple and she was a mom…and…well he could do something with that. Candied orange slices? He'd been thinking of making those this year for Christmas…and it would be good to have a practice run.
"M-Moving?" asked Serizawa. He…had moved before…but he needed some time to get used to the idea of moving…Miss Suzuki was there. She was there and…and he knew that he would be ok. She would keep him safe and…and he had friends and…and she could keep them safe from him….yes…this would be ok…right?
"No salad in mine!" said Sho
"At least a little bit of salad in his, he needs vitamins and minerals." Said Mob. Tsuchiya had told her that it wasn't all about food groups like they had told her at school. No, there were vitamins and minerals that she had to worry about too when it came to Sho. There was a lot to worry about…at least Mukai had Tsuchiya to worry about her. Sho only had her…and maybe Shibata but he said yes to everything. One time she had even found him making Sho bowls of frosting to eat as snacks.
"Uh….I'm pretty sure that this is only playing in New York City…in the States…across the ocean…" said Tsuchiya. She knew that the group moved around a lot…but that was for Claw business. Shigeko wasn't just going to uproot everyone to go for to a play…right? Right?
"Oh! We've been there before…I feel better." Said Serizawa
"When's it playing next? We can go when it plays next…but only after next week because I promised my friend Minori that we would hang out this weekend. She can't see people during the week because this girl from her class is accusing her of putting dead birds in her desk and stuff. That's such a weird thing to accuse someone of and it's obviously not true but her dad is punishing her. I don't know why he doesn't hit her like normal dads do but I'm glad that she isn't getting hit." Said Mob
"Wait…what?" asked Tsuchiya. That…just raised further questions…a lot of questions. Suzuki hit his kids? Like actually hit them or discipline hit them? Because that was two different things….not that she did either. She knew that she was soft on Mukai but she just couldn't bring herself to spank her…and really Tsuchiya hadn't learned much from it anyway and it probably wasn't good for Mukai. No, she did not need to be afraid of her mom.
Her dad on the other hand….
"Dads suck and when I have kids I'm never going to punish them." Said Sho
"Good kid." Said Shimazaki as he patted Sho on the head…which may have been the wrong move. Ok, so he couldn't touch Sho at all anymore without him looking too far into it. Good to know, good to know.
"That's good. I won't punish your kids either. I don't even think that I could." Said Mob. So did that mean that Sho was going to stay with Emmy even though he didn't even like girls? Or was he going to adopt some kids…or marry someone else? He hadn't told her anything…and she couldn't ask. She couldn't just ask him because he didn't like to talk about this…she hoped that his kids weren't as complicated as him…and she hoped that her kids weren't that complicated either…if she even had them. She wasn't ever going to see Teru again and also…also there were all kinds of gross things that boys and girls did together that she didn't want to do…but she also didn't want to get someone's hopes up for something that she didn't know if she could ever bring herself to do.
"No punish! I'm good!" said Mukai
"Not you, Mukai, you've been really good lately." Said Tsuchiya. She added another reason to the list of reasons why it was better that Mukai didn't have her father in her life…and also she added another thread to the tapestry that was the Suzuki kids' lives.
"She said sorry when she bit me…then she bit me again but she said sorry. So I guess that's being good…yeah! Big sis is good! She's always been good and now she's been especially good!" said Sho
"She really has. We should get her a cat too…but maybe when we get to New York. That way we won't have to move with two cats…because I'm not sure how to move with just the one cat that we already have." Said Mob
"Or, and just hear me out, we worry about the one Japanese cat that we have right now and not worry about adopting any American cats until we at least figure out our Japanese cat's name. At least." Said Minegishi. Mob, as usual, was letting things get ahead of her. Minegishi, as usual, had to bring her back down to Earth. She was excited, which was good, but she was also twelve and had the planning skills of a twelve year old.
"You're right…she does need a name before we do anything else…but nobody unpack anything else. We might move again soon, I just have to figure out when this play is showing again." said Mob
"I'll Google it later, but first there's the cat's name. This thing must have had one before so we should just figure out what it's name was before we go and debate a new one." said Minegishi
"Yeah, she might get confused if we rename her." said Mob
"We named Mukai and she didn't get confused." Said Sho. There was no way in hell that he was going to agree with Minegishi…even if they did have a point. He knew that he would have been mad if someone just changed his name. He was Suzuki Sho and he hadn't picked that name but it was still his….but he couldn't agree with Minegishi…and maybe changing someone's name wasn't so bad. Mukai used to be Mi-Cha and she didn't seem to mind being Mukai.
"Hey Mi-Cha? How do you feel about all of this?" asked Minegishi in Korean. She looked up at them and stuck her finger in her nose.
"Mama? What Mine saying?" asked Mukai. Her voice sounded funny when she did this…but mama didn't care. She just pushed her hand away. Mukai stuck her finger in her mouth. Tasty snacks.
"That was Korean, which neither of us speaks." Said Tsuchiya with a pointed look at Minegishi. Mukai didn't speak Korean anymore…if she ever had. There was no reason for her to speak Korean, they weren't in Korea and they didn't know any Korean people. Also…well Mukai didn't need to know where she came from. Tsuchiya…she was Mukai's mother and Mukai…well there was no reason to just go and tell her about…everything. About her father and her mysterious mother…but she would have questions one day…but that day was coming later. Not now. She didn't want to think about what would happen when that day came…
She was going to worry about today. That was all you could do in this group…just take it one day at a time.
"Why did dad rename her anyway?" asked Sho. Dad didn't love her, or even want her, so why give her a new name…and while he was thinking about it why did dad even bother to name him anyway? The only person who dad liked in their family was big sis and almost nobody ever called her Shigeko.
"I don't know, maybe because she joined our family and her mom gave her away so…she had to forget her mom…and stuff." Said Mob. She had wondered that for a while too…but dad was hard to understand sometimes. She even thought, sometimes, that he didn't really understand himself all that well. If he couldn't understand himself then how could she understand him? And also Mukai was a nice name…and if her real mom decided to just get rid of her like she was an old shoe then maybe Mukai was better off forgetting her. When you had someone in your family then…then you couldn't just get rid of them. Not unless they had done something really bad, like dad had, and…well he could come back whenever he was ready to stop being a jerk and say that he was sorry. Dad could come back and be Mukai's dad when he was ready to apologize to her…but her real mom…probably that Korean lady who liked dad and wanted to be his girlfriend even though she had seen that he was married…well what that lady had done was unforgivable and if she ever came to the door looking for Mukai then Mob was going to close the door right in her face.
She knew that, if she ever did that, it would have been mean…but that was just the way that she felt.
"Mama here! Over there!" said Mukai as she pointed to mama. She was there. Now everyone knew. Now she could get back to work. She tried to put her finger in Cat's nose but Sho took her hand away. He was mean sometimes.
"No, I meant your real mom. The one who you came out of." Said Mob as Sho stopped Mukai from picking the cat's nose. Mob wondered if Mukai ever thought about her real mom…and she wondered if Sho…if he ever thought about their mom. About how…she was gone and…and about if she ever thought of them…and what he was going to say to her if she ever come back. He had always been mom's favorite so the things that he had to say to her….well they would have probably been a whole lot nicer than what Mob would have said.
"She doesn't know that she's adopted or even what being adopted is." Said Tsuchiya. She may have been a little shorter than she should have been. Shigeko was just a kid and she didn't know what she was saying. Tsuchiya…well she was Mukai's real mom. She was the one who had changed her diapers, fed her, dealt with the spit up, bathed her, put her to sleep, woken her up in the morning, and dealt with anything and everything that came with caring for her. She was the only mother that Mukai had ever had….and the only mother that Mukai would ever have. If some stranger came looking around trying to get Mukai back…well Tsuchiya would probably have to ice her fist afterwards.
"Oh…well you should tell her. If I was adopted then I would have liked to be told." Said Mob
"It doesn't matter that she's adopted. She's my daughter." Said Tsuchiya
"But I think that-" said Mob
"Anyway, back to the subject of the cat. Ryou, did this thing have a name when you got her from the shelter?" asked Minegishi. Nope. That fight was not going to start here. Mob did not need another reason to go and drown her sorrows with Ryou…and also this fight was pointless. The baby was adopted. She had a mother and a family. That was all that there was to it.
"Shelter? I didn't get her from a shelter…and also she's a guy." Said Shimazaki with a shrug. Coffee houses didn't count as shelters…right? He didn't know. He wanted the fight to get back on. Mob was going to win. She had the most points. People didn't like it when you keep secrets from them. He knew that he didn't, anyway, not that he was thinking of anything specific…and not that Toshi had been keeping secrets from him. No, they'd worked all of that out and he wasn't going to think about this anymore. He was going to focus on the coming move and the cat and also the warmth that was Mob's aura. The sound of her voice, too, that was nice. Everything about her was nice.
"She is? How can you tell?" asked Mob
"The same way with humans. Just pick her up…well someone other than me…and then-" said Shibata. He hadn't once picked up that cat for the same reason that he had never picked up Mukai. Things…people…they broke easily. Sometimes he felt like the world was made of glass or tissue paper and he always had to be careful not to break something….or someone.
"Don't check! You'll be invading her privacy." Said Sho. He knew that if he was a cat he wouldn't have wanted anyone to look at his dick. He didn't even like thinking about how everyone had seen him naked when he was a baby…but he had been a baby then. He wasn't a baby anymore. Back then he'd looked different and been different. He hadn't cared who saw him naked. He had ever taken baths with big sis. Now….well that would have been weird…and not just because she had boobs. He was too tall to share with her and his dick did that weird thing and he had a bunch of itchy hair on his legs and stuff, it was red and hard to see but it was there, and he just did not want anyone to see him naked aside from himself.
And if he was a cat then he knew that he would have felt the exact same way.
"But she might get confused if we call her a girl when she's a boy…if Shimazaki is telling the truth." Said Mob
"I always tell the truth, you know that." Said Shimazaki. He knew that he was a bastard. He knew that he was a morally bankrupt asshole. He knew that he had some stuff that was seriously wrong with him that was best left for a team of professionals to puzzle out. He was a lot of things but he was not a liar.
"I-I knew that." Said Serizawa
"See? Serizawa knew that." Said Shimazaki
"Fine, you aren't a liar but sometimes you say things just to start with people." Said Shibata. Ok, Shimazaki wasn't a liar…but he was a shit stirrer…and they did not need someone around stirring shit. It stirred its self just fine on it's own.
"Yeah, I stir the shit but I always say things that are one hundred percent true." Said Shimazaki
"How about we debate this after Ryou brings the cat back to his family." Said Minegishi. Well somebody out there was looking for this cat. Good. They could bring it back and then forget about this little experiment into pet ownership. They pulled some more fur off of their shirt. They were not going to deal with this for the rest of their life.
"This cat doesn't have a family, at least I don't think so. I went to one of those cat coffee places and brought home the fluffiest one." said Shimazaki
"Wait…you stole this cat?" asked Mob. She looked down at the cat. It hissed at her…no wonder it was so upset. Not only had Mukai been trying her best to pick it's nose but also Shimazaki had stolen her from her friends and family. Mob…she had never lost a friend before…and Hatori wasn't gone forever so he didn't count…but she had lost a mom and she knew that it hurt more than almost everything else in the world put together…and she had…she was the reason this poor cat felt that way.
"No, I adopted it." Said Shimazaki
"Yeah! He adopted it!" said Sho. He felt bad for the cat, he really did, but if Shimazaki adopted it then he adopted it. There. There wasn't any point in arguing and…and it was stupid to argue with Shimazaki anyway. This was why they were best friends. Sho always agreed with him…and…and if they had ever been more than friends…
That was just the goldfish in his stomach swimming around…maybe one day it would get tired and rest…or die.
"Stealing adopting, same thing." Said Minegishi with a wave of their hand. They slouched down onto the couch. They were getting tired…they needed a nap. They needed a nice, cat fur, nap.
"No…no it's not because…because this cat had a home and now she's…he's…homesick and the other cats miss him…her…." said Mob. She hated disagreeing with her best friend…but this was what it meant to be best friends with someone. She knew that she could disagree with Minegishi and they would always be friends no matter what.
"Also maybe we shouldn't be stealing things." Said Tsuchiya
"Stealing bad. Ryou did bad." Said Mukai. She pointed right at Ryou so everyone would know that he had done bad. Bad was bad. Mama needed to put him to bed and take away his TV.
"Yes he did." Said Tsuchiya
"Hey! Don't talk about Shimazaki like that! He can steal whatever the fuck he wants!" said Sho. How could baby sis have betrayed him like that!? Now Shimazaki would think…well Sho didn't know what he was thinking but he knew that it wasn't good and…and he didn't….he couldn't believe that he had just…
"Whatever the fuck! Whatever the fuck!" said Mukai
"Kid…" said Tsuchiya with a groan. Sho and the cursing…the constant cursing….
"Sho, stop teaching Mukai how to curse…and stop cursing…and…and now we have to give back the cat because it wants to go home. It's homesick." Said Mob
"I don't think that cats get homesick. We used to have them back when I worked at Pet Palace and they didn't seem to care when one of them got adopted. The puppies cared but the kittens didn't." said Shibata
"Maybe they were just happy to be away from you." Said Minegishi
"Hey! I loved them!" said Shibata
"Wee World." Said Minegishi
"….that child went on to lead a normal life." Said Shibata
"So am I taking this cat home or not? Speak now or shut up. Toshi's getting tired and we need a nap." Said Shimazaki
"I'm fine." Said Minegishi. They were fading, and fast, but…well they could be very contrary sometimes without ever trying to. He didn't know that about them. He was…well he saw the best in them. There was the best and then there was them and…and they were their own worst enemy now weren't they.
"You just took two, you're going to be knocked out in a little bit." Said Shimazaki. He teleported over to Minegishi and sat down on the ground beside them. They reached over and ran a hand through his hair. Truth be told he was pretty damn tired himself. Out all night with Mob…up all day with the cat…a man's work really was never done.
"You know me too well." Said Minegishi with a sigh. They scooted forward and made some room on the couch. The next thing they knew the energy around them had shifted and Ryou's legs were on either side of them. They leaned back onto his chest. They could feel Sho glaring at them…fine. He was not their responsibility.
"Um…we should bring her home…I think." Said Mob. She could see that a fight was going to happen. Sho…well he got mad when Shimazaki and Minegishi acted like they were in love. She…well she understood that Sho had feelings…but also…well also he wasn't Shimazaki's boyfriend and…and maybe this was something that she needed to stay out of.
"But…we love her…" said Sho. He didn't know if he was going to cry or hit Minegishi in the face…probably cry…since he was getting close to doing that now…but everyone would just think that he was sad about the cat. Mukai thought so…and she wasn't even mad about how mad he got at her. She was trying to dry his tears now…and it was so nice of her…she was such a nice little sister.
"But she's getting homesick…and we can get an orphan cat. Not one with a home and a family. She wants to go home…that might be why she kept on scratching us." Said Mob
"Home? Go home?" asked Mukai. She hadn't been home in a while. Home was white. Home had all of her friends. Home had tall tree. Home had colors everywhere. Home had more people. This was not home. This was a home but this was not her home. This was a house, like from the picture book, and her home was not a house.
"No, the cat. Not you." Said Mob. She took Mukai's hands in hers. This was her house. This was where she lived with her friends and family. Home wasn't a house, like she had thought before, home was where the people who loved you the most were. She used to think that the Castle was home and when dad had told her that they wouldn't be going back…well it had felt like she could never go home again…but now she knew that she took home wherever she went because she took her friends wherever she went. Her friends…Hatori would come back eventually…and her dad was gone but…but he had done that to himself.
"Go home!" said Mukai. She pulled as hard as she could on Sho's mama's hair. She wanted to go home! She wanted to go back home right now!
"Mukai, no, this is your home. See? All of your stuff is here." Said Mob as she pulled her braid free from Mukai's hands. She was strong…maybe because she was talking about something that she really wanted…and that really made her mad.
"Go home now!" said Mukai
"She doesn't get it." Said Tsuchiya. Mukai didn't know what the Seventh Division was besides her home. She…well it made sense that she would want to go home. It made perfect sense. That was the only home she knew and…well she had to have been able to remember it. This place…well it had been nonstop playing and toys and fun and now cats…but now…well now she had a minute to think. She was a thinker when she wanted to be, as much as a two year old could be, and Tsuchiya….well she knew how her daughter looked when she was deep in thought about something….
And right now she was deep in thought about going home.
"Maybe she wants to back to the Seventh Division." Said Sho. He hoped that she didn't. He didn't know what he would do if she was just…gone…from his life again…like if he had to lie and sneak around just to see her…and…and he had worked hard to make her happy. He had worked so hard at being a good big brother and…and he couldn't just…he couldn't have just messed up in some big way that made her not want to be with him…to make her want to leave…he…he hadn't done anything….
But he must have done something.
"He gets it." Said Tsuchiya
"She can't…because this is her home and also I accidentally broke the Seventh Division and…um…how about Shimazaki gives this cat back and then we go to a pet store and get all the cats. Doesn't that sound better than going back to the Seventh Division? Doesn't it? Lots and lots of cats?" asked Mob. She wasn't going to let Mukai go…no. That came out wrong. She wasn't going to give Mukai any reason to go. This was her family and these were her friends and…and she had friends from her old house and…and she wanted to go back and…and Mob didn't want to be selfish but also…also she wanted her sister and…
And she wanted another cat.
"I want a hamster." Said Sho. Maybe baby sis would want to stay if they had hamsters. He knew that he would have stayed if there had been hamsters…and also he wanted hamsters. Lots and lots of hamsters. Lots and lots of sisters two…and two was a lot and…and he really didn't want to be back down to just one sister again. He didn't know what he would do if he was back down to one sister.
"Lots and lots hamsters too." Said Mob even though she didn't know how to take care of a hamster let alone lots and lots of them…and cats and hamsters didn't get along…but that was ok. She could and would make this work. She had to make Sho happy. He was her little brother and she wanted nothing else but his happiness.
"May I cast my vote for hoarder levels of dogs as well?" asked Mob
"Is-is there room?!" asked Serizawa. If they were voting for pets hen he would have voted for a bird but…but he didn't want a pet. He didn't know what he would do if he had someone who depended on him totally and completely like that. He couldn't even take care of himself let alone another living thing.
"Ryou….one dog. Ok?" asked Minegishi. They loved him…and they hated pets…but he'd wanted a dog for so fucking long…and all of that shit that went on with his dog when he'd been a kid and…he wanted a dog and they could put up with it until he got bored or it had the good sense to run away…and also if it lived outside.
"May I cast my vote for one dog?" asked Shimazaki
"OK. One dog." Said Mob. Dogs and cats didn't get along…but also neither did cats and hamsters…and neither did Shimazaki and anyone so…so maybe then this whole thing would work out. She was starting to think, now, that maybe they didn't have room…but they could always move…and maybe dad wouldn't like if it they had pets…but he didn't live there anymore…and if they moved then maybe dad wouldn't be able to find them again…but they had Hatori and he could find anyone and…and maybe this would all work out.
"….you can't be serious…" said Tsuchiya. She felt a headache coming on. She had no idea how they were going to fit all of these animals into these houses or where they would come from or…or anything. She felt like she was just going along with this…like this was an amusement park ride and she was just stuck going along for the ride….and it wasn't fun. It wasn't nearly as fun as it sounded.
"Mob wouldn't joke about cats." Said Shibata
"We live our lives according to the whims of a twelve year old." Said Minegishi
"These are whims…I mean…um…let's get a cat. How does that sound, Mukai?" asked Mob
"Cats…home….home and cats!" said Mukai. Cats and going back home? What could be better?
"I'll take that as a good thing." Said Mob. She had no choice but to take it as a good thing. She loved her sister and…and she had to make this the sort of place that her sister would want to stay in. She had to make herself the sort of person that her sister would want to live with. She had to make this place better than the Seventh Division. She had to make her friends better friends to Mukai than the ones she had in the Seventh Division. She had to make this place better and…and that was what she would do….that was the best that she could do.
That and figure out a name for this cat…before they got all the new ones.