CHAPTER 4: Excuses


I decided to give you the next chapter too since the last one was pretty short. Enjoy chapter 4!


Little Cato woke up and realized he had slept in. It was 11:30. He didn't really mind though, he hadn't been sleeping much recently so he was actually kind of happy he'd slept in. Little Cato turned his head to look out the window. He used to think it was strange waking up with it still being dark outside but he'd gotten used to it by now.

Little Cato made his bed and went to the bathroom. He then brushed his teeth and had a quick shower. Since he had barely eaten anything yesterday, he was really hungry, so he decided to get some late breakfast.

Little Cato walked to the kitchen and saw that no one else was there, he didn't really care though. Going to the cupboard and opening it, Little Cato grabbed the box that they kept the protein bars in.

Little Cato looked inside the box and frowned. There were none left. He threw out the empty box and decided that he would just settle for some milk.

Going to the fridge, he took out the milk carton and poured himself a cup. After taking a sip, Little Cato made a face at the foul taste and spat it out. It had definitely gone bad. Hurriedly, running to the sink, Little Cato didn't bother getting a cup and just drank straight from the tap. Once he had done, he sighed in relief. That milk had tasted disgusting, even worse than H.U.E's pasta!

Little Cato couldn't believe how unlucky he'd been this morning. First the protein bars and then the off milk. Little Cato sighed as he began to clean the sour milk off the floor. Then he walked over to check the fridge.

Little Cato frowned again. Just as he'd suspected the fridge wasn't working meaning everything in it was off. Throwing out all the bad food, he tried to find out what the fridge's problem was. After finding out the problem, Little Cato began to fix it.

Around 10 minutes later, he had repaired it. Deciding he would just go to the lounge room, Little Cato walked out of the kitchen.

Once he arrived, Little Cato saw that Quinn, Gary and Avocato were all in there. Gary and Quinn were both watching a movie on the couch together, whereas Avocato was leaning against the wall looking slightly bored.

Little Cato quickly decided to not sit on the couch and watch the movie with Quinn and Gary, not wanting to be the third wheel. Instead, he walked over to join Avocato.

"Hey, dad." Greeted Little Cato cheerfully.

"Hi, son." Avocato replied with a small smile. "Have you eaten breakfast?"

"Nah. There were no protein bars left and the fridge was broken so the milk had gone off." Answered Little Cato.

"Does the fridge need to be fixed?"

"No. I fixed it." Replied Little Cato.

"Good job." Stated Avocato. Little Cato smiled.

There then was a comfortable silence for a few seconds.

"Quinn and Gary look happy." Little Cato whispered to his dad with a grin.

Avocato looked over at them and smirked as he saw they were cuddling on the couch.

"Do you know where Ash is?" Little Cato asked but instantly regret it as his dad gave him a suspicious look.

"Why do you want to know?"

Little Cato literally felt like beating himself up right now. Why the hell had he asked that?! "Because she isn't in this room." Little Cato replied thinking fast.

Avocato gave him a confused look. "But neither is Sheryl, Fox, Tribore, Mooncake, KVN or H.U.E."

Little Cato didn't know what to say. Why had he asked him that? He didn't even have any reason for seeing her!

"Uhh…W-Well…" Stuttered Little Cato, deciding his only choice was to make a run for it. He then glanced at the couch and was surprised to see Quinn and Gary were now kissing. This distracted Little Cato as he tried his best to stifle a giggle and quietly said, "Eww." This made Avocato also look at the couch too. Avocato gave a tired looking smile.

"We should probably let them have some privacy…" Said Avocato as he led his son out of the room.

"Well…I'm gone to my room." Stated Avocato after he had walked out. "See you later, son."

"Bye, dad." Replied Little Cato as he decided he would go to his own room too.

As Little Cato walked down the hallway, he began to think about how lucky he was and how happy everyone on the ship was because they were all together. Of course, everyone, including him, was extremely sad about Nightfall's sacrifice. Ash and Gary had been hurt the most though but they did now have Avocato, Quinn and Sheryl.

Little Cato then bumped into someone. He immediately jumped back and looked to see who it was. Then his heart skipped a beat as he looked up and saw Ash standing in front of him.

"Sorry." They both said at the same time. Then they both looked away shyly.

"I-I wasn't paying attention." Said Little Cato apologetically.

"Me neither. S-Sorry." Responded Ash in a high voice as she walked away, not wanting Little Cato to see her bright red blush. "Uh…Bye."

"Bye." Replied Little Cato as he watched Ash walk away.

Little Cato was still slightly stunned as he began to walk away too. 'Why hadn't I been paying attention?! Due to my good hearing, I should have heard her footsteps coming from a mile away!' Little Cato thought to himself crossly as he walked into his room.

Little Cato sighed as he decided he would just do some exercise.

Ever since he was 4 years old, his dad had made him do exercise and training every day. He hadn't really minded it all too much. However, after his 3 years in prison, his father didn't seem to care as much about all the things he had cared about before. He seemed just happy to be with him.

Shaking his head slightly after becoming lost in his thoughts again, Little Cato decided to start with push-ups. After doing his usual 500 push-ups, he did around an hour of stretches. Then Little Cato decided to practise his fighting moves.


It was now 4:30 pm and Little Cato had finally finished his exercise. Little Cato groaned as his stomach growled, he was now really really hungry.

Little Cato walked to the kitchen again and checked the cupboards and the fridge but there was still nothing to eat. Little Cato scowled as he left the kitchen and headed to H.U.E's kitchen. Unlike the normal kitchen, this kitchen contained all the ingredients H.U.E used to make stuff.

Little Cato knew H.U.E had been doing a lot of work lately and barely had any free time. In fact, he was probably in the kitchen right now making dinner.

Little Cato decided that he would offer to help H.U.E make dinner, even though he wasn't the best cook. Due to him being imprisoned by the Lord Commander for three years, he hadn't been able to really learn how to cook. Sure he could make toast or put things in the microwave but that was basically it.

Little Cato knocked on the door to H.U.E's kitchen and as he'd predicted, H.U.E was there and he answered the door.

"Hey H.U.E! Would you like some help?" Little Cato asked H.U.E.

"Yes." H.U.E answered sounding slightly relieved.

"So what are you making?" Asked Little Cato walking in to see Mooncake was also there, although he was busy looking out the window.

"I'm making brown rice with veggies. It's really easy to make." H.U.E replied, pointing to a bowl of rice and a bag of frozen veggies.

"What do you want me to do?" Asked Little Cato hoping his job wasn't too hard.

"Could you put the rice in the microwave? It would take me a lot longer to do because of my horrific excuse for legs."

"For how long?" Asked Little Cato giving H.U.E a sympathetic glance.

"8 minutes." Replied H.U.E.

"Okay." Said Little Cato as he put it in the microwave. He didn't tell H.U.E but he put in for 2 minutes longer than he said because whenever H.U.E made rice, he always undercooked it.

Little Cato then stood there waiting for the rice to cook.

"Little Cato. Can I ask you something?" Asked H.U.E, loudly walking towards him.

"Sure." Replied Little Cato curiously.

"When you were watching TV, yesterday. Why did you act strange when Ash and Fox came in?" H.U.E asked extremely bluntly.

Little Cato stared at H.U.E slightly alarmed. How had he found out?! Was it really that obvious?! Why would H.U.E even care?!

"I didn't." Little Cato lied. "And if I did it must have been because of the movie."

"But you weren't even watching the movie." H.U.E replied, slightly confused.

"Yeah, I was." Answered Little Cato now even more confused than H.U.E. He had been there, H.U.E saw him!

"You were? Then what was it about?" Asked H.U.E. If he could, H.U.E would have smirked.

Little Cato froze for a second. The truth was he didn't even know the name of the movie, let alone what it was about. He hadn't been paying any attention to it whatsoever.

"It was about these two partners Nick and Lee who were at war with the snail creatures." Little Cato made-up hoping that H.U.E hadn't watched the movie.

"No. The movie was about a guy called Steve and there were no snail creatures."

Little Cato looked left and then right. Seeing nothing that could distract H.U.E, he gave H.U.E a sheepish smile. He then looked on the table and saw a pack of frozen vegetables.

"Are you going to put those with the rice?" Little Cato asked pointing at the veggies.

"Yes." Replied H.U.E knowing that Little Cato was just trying to change the subject and was honestly doing a pretty poor job.

"Hey, H.U.E." Said Little Cato quickly thinking of something that would distract H.U.E so he wouldn't continue their previous conversation.

"Yes, Little Cato."

"Has anything happened between you and A.V.A recently?" Little Cato asked genuinely.

"No, nothing." H.U.E replied with a tinge of sadness.

"Oh." Little Cato replied with a slight frown. He was pretty sure everyone on the ship knew H.U.E and A.V.A liked each other. It was extremely obvious due to their constant flirting. It was a shame that they both didn't have much spare time to spend together. With A.V.A being the ship's A.I and H.U.E being the ship's cook and main fixer, it must be very hard to find a time where they both weren't working.

Then they both heard a beep from the microwave meaning the rice had done cooking.

H.U.E walked over to the microwave. Opening the microwave, he took out the cooked rice.

"Little Cato, can you pour half the pack of frozen veggies into the glass bowl over there?" Asked H.U.E, referring to the bowl next to the packet of veggies. "I'll boil the kettle."

"Okay." Little Cato replied. Cooking seemed a lot easier than he thought it would be.


Meanwhile, Ash was thinking about Little Cato. She replayed when they bumped into each other again in her head and smiled slightly. His fur had been so soft and he had been so kind.

Ash sighed to herself. She couldn't deny it any longer, she had a crush on Little Cato. She loved everything about him. From his warm heart to his incredible personality. Even looking at him made her heartbeat quicken and her feel amazing feelings she'd never felt for anyone else. Ash covered her face as she moaned. She doubted this would end well. Little Cato and her lived on the same ship and constantly saw each other. Her feeling these exciting, amazing but dangerous feelings would probably just lead to hurt. Little Cato could NEVER EVER like her back!

Ash looked down sadly as she stood up. She then left the room and headed to the kitchen to get dinner.

Once she arrived, through the window she saw Little Cato was eating dinner in there, alone. She gasped and quickly hid her face from sight. She wanted more than anything to join him but she was scared she'd do something stupid or wrong. Maybe she should just have dinner later… Ash shook her head as she quickly decided against running away. She couldn't hide from him just because she had different feelings for him than he did for her. Ash nervously walked closer to the door and it automatically opened.

"Hi!" Said Ash unable to suppress a smile at seeing him. He looked pretty cheerful.

"Hey, Ash!" Greeted Little Cato looking up.

"What are you eating?" Asked Ash.

"Rice with veggies. I helped H.U.E make it."

"I didn't know you could cook?"

"I can't." Stated Little Cato simply. "But this was pretty easy to make. Besides, it doesn't taste that great. It's pretty flavourless actually."

Ash smiled as she walked to the fridge and got some for herself. Quickly heating it up, Ash walked back over to Little Cato and sat down opposite him.

"So, how's your day been?" Asked Little Cato, once Ash had sat down.

"It was good. I spent most of it with Fox." Ash replied scooping up a spoonful of rice and eating it.

"How's Fox's head?" Asked Little Cato.

"It's good." Answered Ash happily. "A.V.A said that it's pretty much fully healed."

"Well, that's good." Little Cato replied with a smile.

"Yeah." Responded Ash returning his smile.

They were silent for a few minutes while they both ate their food, then Little Cato asked, "Have you seen Sheryl lately?"

Little Cato had just realized the last time he'd seen Sheryl had been around 5 days ago when they had entered final space. He felt bad as he'd forgotten she was even there, until now.

"No." Ash answered thoughtfully. "She doesn't really come out of her room."

"Does Gary go visit her?" Asked Little Cato as he stopped eating being too full to finish the rest of his food.

"Yeah. He seems very happy having his mum, Avocato and Quinn back." Ash replied.

Little Cato nodded with a small smile. "Everyone on the ship seems to be quite happy."

"Yeah, they do." Said Ash, smiling back.