Chapter 4 : To Keep or Not To Keep

Kouta totally forgot to inform his sister about the cat. He really would love to, but it currently wasn't the best of time. Not with that kind of injuries and unbelievable story that Akira received from Mai. The dark-haired man often thought of his sister as his own mother, so when she got mad, he choose to be totally submissive and just received anything that his sister was about to give to him.

"Now what happened to the cat?" asked his sister."Have you found the owner yet?"

"I.. was abut to do it today.."

"Hmm.. Of course, because you were in the hospital yesterday.. Wait.. does that mean.. You still have the cat?"

Kouta's sudden freeze just confirmed Akira's hunch. She knew her baby brother was always interested in keeping a pet, but during the period when their parents died, they couldn't afford it. Even now she didn't think they could afford to, since the apartment rules weren't allowing them to keep a pet. She sighed,"So where is it now?"

"In my room-"

"In your room?" asked Akira in surprise." But I didn't hear any growl or purrs.."

"This cat is pretty different. I was surprised at how smart it is-"

"Just show me now, Kouta."

As they entered his room, she saw the cat was sitting still near Kouta's bed rests. It was true that the cat awed Akira, as she came closer to inspect it. The feline was pretty beautiful, with calm expression as she patted its back. "I never quite saw a cat like this around. I don't think we should keep him like this, Kouta."

"But he didn't have any name tags with him.. Can't we just keep him, Nee-chan?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Kouta. What if the apartment owner finds out?"

"I will take the responsibility! Also, I don't think he's an ordinary cat, just look at how quiet he was this night that you didn't realized there was a cat here. Besides, it's not like I want to hide him or something. I mean.. In case if he has no owner, I want to keep him. "

Akira sighed again in defeat, "Since you said so.. "

Kouta fisted his glory and dancing while twirling around, which caused his sister to smile again while the mentioned cat was just exhaled a long, long breath. This was begin to get further away from his plan. Kaito intended to 'use' Kouta as his guardian for some periods, but now the ex-Gaim member seriously wanted to keep him. Well, he knew from the start he could't relayed on the man too much..

A distinguishable sound came from the rice cooker, indicating that the rice was already done. They started to gather around the dining table followed by the cat.

"What should I give it to eat, Kouta?"

"Hmm, rice with katsuoboshi* is enough for now. Cats shouldn't eat salty or sweet foods too much."

Kaito was surprised to hear such an unappetizing menu. As Akira put down the requested menu for the cat, his golden eyes landed on a grilled fish on the young man's plate. The adult feline thought this was the best time to try his new 'gears'. He crouched on his four legs and suddenly arched his body over the table, snatching the fish as he ran away from the shocked Kouta. It was easier than he thought, as his body was designed as aerodynamically possible to catch his prey. He practically glided from the dining room into the hall. Akira spontaneously giggled when Kouta was trying to chase the cat.

"Kouta, just give up! The cat won't let you get the fish back!"

"Geez, Nee-chan.. Now you're getting on his side too?"

She laughed again, "Just make some eggs or something. Besides, you did say you will take care of it, right? Then, just let it eats its breakfast."

The dark-haired man just clicked his tongue as he watched the cat heartily munched his loot. Turned out that the cat was indeed smart, it was just that Kouta didn't anticipated its slyness.

After her sister went to work, he prepared to go to the police office and animal rescues. The weather was pretty nice, it was the beginning of spring after all. The soft wind swayed his short hair as the locked the door. Kouta frowned upon the cat and lower himself, opening his arms to carry the cat. The feline refused (as Kouta had expected), mainly because Kouta's injuries was still new. The young man scratched behind his back in a daze, but he decided to just strolled as the small creature followed him.

It was pretty weird to saw a cat walking intensely behind a human, usually dogs were the one who threw that much interest when it comes to people. Luckily, not many people realized about this as they were much busier with their chores and works. Kouta learned his lesson and tried to keep his pace as ordinarily as possible, in order to force the cat to follow his speed. Who could guarantee that the cat wouldn't run off like yesterday?

They reached the police station and Kouta asked the cat to stay near the bushes in front of the entrance. He went to the inquiry department and asking about any informations about the missing cat, only to find the cat had already been an accidental celebrity. Girls and women took pictures of the exotic cat, while some people rubbed his fur. All of them was excited to see such a gorgeous combination of brown and black stripes with a wild mane on the place where people gather.

Usually cats avoided crowded place during the busy hour, but this one just sat coolly near offices, periodically licking his fur because he was afraid the human germs might caught on him. After his predator eyes caught Kouta on sight, he leapt and went into him. Which caused several young people to gasp as they knew who he man with the blue parka was. They further took pictures of them again as Kouta denied that the cat was his, slightly enjoying his fame as a former dancer. Kaito just grunted and stomped away with his little feet, making Kouta chased him again.

This was a futile search, said Kaito inside his mind, but at least he want to make amends of his behavior yesterday. He never thought Kouta would come after him, so he just plunged into the street. And also to remind Kaito that he still had his human heart. He wasn't a cat.

For now, he would accompany the young man in his game. And he figured out that finding the Baron member wasn't supposed to be that hard, considering Kouta still hanged around the Beat Dancers.

The problem was the methods that he had to use to communicate with them, to explain that he was Kumon Kaito trapped in a form of a cat.

*katsuoboshi : a dried bonito fish flakes.

Author's Note : I hope I didn't make Cat Kaito OOC.. I mean, sometimes a cat's gonna do what a cat's supposed to do.. right? Their relationship is getting funnier/weirder, lol..