Oh, and by the way- This chapter was a dare from my dear friend Prinnie (Princess). x3 The whole EnvyXSasha speil. Flame that part and I'll put it out with my deaded bucket of flamer-doom water. x3
The summer sun lavished Envy's sleek back with a warm splash of light. He eased himself from the front steps, and seated himself on the lawn. Hm. What could he do now? He could wander around the neighborhood for a while and see what kind of micheif could befall him. Or he could take a snooze on the porch. The first one seemed to suit his tastes more.
He stood up, stretched, and began to trot down the road, happy to get out of the house. It was warm and clear out here, and there were some people about that he could pester. He walked for about ten minutes, before a soft sound made him turn.
Another cat was watching him from between a meat shop and a bookstore. It was a she-cat, from it's smell. She had long, white fur with a few black splotches on her back and face, and almond shaped, green eyes.
Envy blinked, and returned the stare hungrily. The cat flicked her tail, and disappeared into the alleyway. Envy followed, entranced.
The she-cat leapt lightly onto a few boxes of discarded trash. That's all the alleyway was full of - bags of garbage and boxes. Envy leapt up onto the box to join her. He was almost twice her size and should have been able to push the she-cat out of the way if he wanted, but the she-cat seemed to order him to do her bidding, to follow her. He was powerless.
And her smell. It was heavy, thick, and sweet, with a hint of sweetgrass and alfalfa. It took him a couple minutes to realize that he was trembling.
She meowed. The sound made no sense to his human half, but the cat part of him could make out the words as she meowed. "You're not from around here, are you?" She purred. Her voice was soft, and delicate.
He shook his head and meowed back, "No."
"Mmmm...it shows. You have such odd fur..." She said quietly, wrapping her tail over her paws "It's exotic..." She smiled. "What do they call you?"
"Env...idia." Envy stammered.
"Envidia?"
"No, INvidia." He corrected, shaking his head. "And you?"
"Sasha." Said she she-cat, her eyes narrowing slightly against the sun. "Your name is interesting, too." She smiled. "Everything about you is interesting. It's better you than nobody else..."
Envy was unsure what she was talking about, until she came closer and rubbed her face against his, a deep purr beginning in her throat. "I-uhm...what? No, wait..." His brain was melted, his jaw wouldn't grind into gear to speak right, his heart was pumping fast. "Erm..."
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About an hour later, Envy was sprawled on a box, exhausted. Sasha was washing her shining pelt delicately. "That was nice..." She said purring. "It hurt, though."
Envy purred humorlessly. "Yeah..." He mewed quietly, standing up and stretching. "Will I see you again?"
Sasha nodded. "Maybe. If you wish to see them being born, I shall send for you." She winked, and smiled.
Envy nodded without thinking. "Yeah, I do." He meowed quickly.
Sasha flicked her tail and mewed, "That's fine." She leapt down from her perch on the garbage bag, and brushed her tail on Envy's shoulder as she passed. "I shall see you around, then."
She wandered out of the alley, leaving Envy to stare after her, still tired. His human brain was screaming and writing in disgust, unwilling to beleive what had just happened. "Thank god I knew what was happening...but EEWWWW..." He muttered, curling his lip. "How female cats can stand that...good lord.." He shuddered, and leapt off the box, and sauntered out of the alleyway.
It wasn't two minutes of walking before he realized that he was hungry again. He looked back at the alleyway, realizing that there was a meat shop next to it. Padding up to the window, he jumped up onto the sill and watched. A fat man was rolling sausages behind the counter, as a young man and his daughter browsed the deli. His mouth watered, and his rasped his tongue over his lips. His stomach howling in complant, he flattened his ears and furrowed his brow.
'How am I gonna get in there...?' He thought, watching as the man began to talk to the butcher with the sausage. He shrugged, and leapt from the flower box in the windowsill. Pushing his nose against the door, he slipped inside, as a small bell jangled somewhere in the shop. The butcher glanced up, but didn't see Envy, who was hiding behind a barrel of salts.
The butcher wasn't watching. He was still talking to the man. Envy slunk behind the counter, moving stealthily and silently. He slipped behind the butcher's legs, and into the back room, which was open. It was cold as ice in the room. Meat hung from the ceiling by huge, iron hooks, swaying slighlty as the freezer blew cold wind on them. This new world of the freezer was silent except for the faint jingling of the chains as they moved. His breath rose in a heavy fog before him, as he wandered among the endless rows of meat.
He looked up to the wall, where fish lay in wax papers on the chrome counters. He steadied himself, then leapt onto the counters, skidding slightly and scattering the meat. He sniffed several slabs of white meat, choosing his peice carefully.
Suddenly, footsteps clomped into the room, and he heard the door shut. Panic rose in his chest, and he grabbed a random peice of fish and leapt off the counter. His claws clattered noisily on the floor.
He froze, and looked up to see the fat man staring down at him, holding a meat cleaver. "Hello, kitty..." He said gruffly. "What brings you here?"
Envy ran for it, dodging in between the man's boots and down the row of meat. He heard the man catching up to him, his boots thudding hard as he ran. The sliver of light that outlined the door was shining feet from him. He put on an extra burst of energy and burst through the door, dodging the flood of people entering the butcher's shop, and skidding to a halt outside the shop.
He looked back at the shop. The butcher had given up the chase and was now attending to his customers. Envy felt a smug sense of satisfaction at his capture. That stupid butcher didn't know what hit him! Grinning to himself, he hurried off down the street to eat his prize.
The fish turned out to be tuna...again. But, instead of being that nasty moosh he had eaten that morning, it was tender, white, and flakey. Delicious. He sat on Pinako's porch, finishing up his meal. He looked at his paws and flexed them. They were sticky and covered in white flakes and scales. He swallowed and flexed his paws again. He knew he needed to clean them off.
He rasped his tongue over his paws. His paw pads were silky, soft, and squishy. It felt good underneath his tongue. Experimenting some more, he licked the top of his paw, where the fur was. His fur was very soft, and he was pleased with the result on his paw; his fur was smooth, and shiny. He licked it some more. It didn't taste bad, either. Like tuna. It wasn't long before he was licking every inch of his body he could reach, lavishing the feeling of his smooth fur under his tongue. And what he couldn't reach, he licked his paw and rubbed it over the spot, like he'd seen real cats do.
He heard the door open just as he was washing the base of his tail. He didn't pay it any attention, though, until he heard a voice crow.
"EEEWWWWWWW!"
He looked up to see Edward staring at him, a look on his face that could have either been disgust or hilarity. He heard a chair scrape and footsteps. Then he heard Winry's voice.
"Ed? What's..."
She stuck her head out the door, and froze. "Uhm... Invidia?"
Envy was stuck in a very weird position. He was sitting halfway up, bent over backwards in order to reach his tail. He blinked, and curled his lip. "Say anything... and I will fucking kill you." He whispered.
He heard Al's voice. "What's going on?"
Ed looked up. "Nothing, Al, the cat's just giving himself anal." He said in a casual voice that masked his jubilation.
Silence. Then he heard Al's footsteps clanking away VERY fast.
Winry looked at Ed. "We should go..." She tugged on his black jacket and pulled him away. Envy sighed, and stood up. He figured it was best to go hide under the bed for a few hours.
"WROUF!"
Envy had forgotten all about Den.
He turned slowly to see the dog bounding up the porch towards him, automail clanking and tongue lolloping happily.
Normally, Envy wouldn't have gave a damn about dogs. He didn't like them, sure, but they didn't bother him. But now, a wave of powerful, irrational, mind-bending terror rose over the chimera. His eyes flew open wide, his hackles raised, and his fur puffed out as he hissed in terror. He streaked down the wooden floor and into the door, which Ed and Winry had left open.
With a wild yowling he zoomed into the house, toppling over a chair as he did so. He dashed under the table, where Pinako was laying plates for lunch, and into the kitchen. Barking like a mad beast, Den followed, drool flying out behind him as he ran. Envy didn't know where to turn! That dumb dog was right behind him! He ran up the stairs, past the bedrooms, and skidded to a halt at the end of the hallway.
Den was almost upon him. Envy grit his teeth and did the only thing he could think of doing. He lashed out with his claws.
The black dog yelped and retreated down the hall, licking his nose, where three gouge marks dug into his skin.
Envy blinked. That was easy.
He watched Den's retreating hind end gallop down the hall, feeling a smug sense of satisfaction at his victory.
He yawned, and curled up into a ball. Sleep was what he needed now. His eyes drooped, and he felt himself slipping into dreamland.