a/n: I am obsessed with cats. It doesn't help that Rin reminds me of a cat. Oopsie. Thank you for reading!
"What do we do about it?"
"The poor thing is probably terrified of us. Should we leave it be?"
"It'll either scratch us or run if we try to get near it."
"We have to get it out somehow. It can't stay in here."
Yukio frowned as he said the words, wondering how in Assiah a kitten had managed to sneak its way into the classroom. Now all the doors and windows were closed, so it had no escape. Fortunately, it wasn't a potential threat, like he'd originally assumed when he heard the little thing making noise in the back of the room.
Unfortunately, he had a room full of students, and their attention was now on the tiny baby cat sitting with its back arched in the corner, hissing and growling in primal fear. Yukio sighed and rubbed his temples, annoyed. He was in the middle of a lecture. Now Miwa was looking at the cat longingly, Shiemi was cooing, Suguro and Shima were staring at it curiously, Takara was blatantly ignoring all of them, Kamiki was trying to ignore all of them (and was failing miserably), and Rin...
Rin's expression was cryptic. Rin was the type of person who wore his heart on his sleeve—on very rare occasions would Yukio have trouble reading him.
"For now, we'll just ignore it," Yukio eventually decided, clearing his throat. "Now, as I was—"
"I wonder if it's hungry," Rin murmured absently, completely ignoring Yukio. It seemed the rest of the students had overlooked his words as well, which made Yukio's eye twitch.
"Okumura-kun. You should—" All professionalism dropped when Rin stood up. "Nii-san, sit down."
With a silent wave of dismissal, he walked in the direction of the kitten who was now peering suspiciously at them from behind a spare chair. "Here, kitty kitty kitty..."
He knelt down and extended a hand, tail slipping out of his shirt. It twitched and wiggled, and the cat eyed it with sudden interest. But it didn't move from its hiding place.
"It's ok." The tip of his tail quivered as he spoke. "I won't hurt you. C'mere, kitty. Don't be scared."
That was all it took. Yukio blinked in surprise when the kitten took a tentative step toward Rin, big eyes trained on Rin's tail. And then it was mewling softly and rubbing its tiny head against Rin's leg in a way that strongly reminded Yukio of the day Rin rescued Kuro.
Shiemi cooed again. "It likes you, Rin."
Rin's eyes twinkled as he began stroking its fur, smiling wide. It even let him scoop it up in his hand. When he walked back to his seat and Shiemi reached out to touch it, it cowered away. It was obvious whom the kitten favored.
Yukio frowned. He knew what was coming next.
"Can we keep him?"