Chapter 06: Exploration
When Yami's alarm went off, he reached over to his nightstand to hit the snooze button and was startled to feel fur against him arm. Right, Kaiba, kitten, Yami hazily remembered.
The action woke Kaiba up with a discontented murffle as he glared sleepily at Yami. Acting on impulse, Yami caressed Kaiba's head as he apologized, "Sorry, I forgot you were here."
It shocked Kaiba enough that he accepted the kind touch without fuss for once. Only once he realized what he had done did he try to nip at Yami's fingers for daring to touch him so familiarly. He was unprepared for Yami to lightly tap him on the nose in reprimand as he warned, "No biting."
Kaiba bared his fangs at Yami, who merely laughed, annoying the kitten further. "I shouldn't have to tell you of all people that," Yami continued as he pet Kaiba's body to prove a point. It earned him a swat from Kaiba's paw and Yami merely laughed again as he got out of bed. "I have to go to school today, so you're on your own until I come back," Yami informed Kaiba. "I can't let you roam the house because Jii-chan and aibou don't know about you yet, mostly because I thought you would have already returned to normal by now, but…"
The thought of being trapped alone in the room with nothing to do displeased Kaiba immensely; he wasn't used to such inactivity. Then again, it gave him plenty of time to contemplate what lesson it was that Isis wanted him to learn.
As Yami started to get dressed in his school uniform, he suddenly realized, "Shit, we didn't tell the school you'd be absent. Think an email will suffice?"
Meowing once for, "Yes," he watched as Yami hurriedly typed a message to the school on Kaiba's phone, finding it ridiculous that he was doing it half-dressed.
With that done, Yami focused on getting dressed as fast as he could, but it still wasn't fast enough. Yuugi knocked on his door and loudly called out, "Are you awake? It's almost time to leave."
Kaiba hunkered down as if to hide from discovery, but he was spared by Yami replying, "Yeah, I'm almost done," as he fumbled with his uniform buttons. "I'll be downstairs in a minute!"
Kaiba watched with apathetic eyes while Yami hurriedly prepared enough food and water for Kaiba while he was away at school. It's why Kaiba was startled when Yami came back over to him for a final pet on the head as he said, "Take care of yourself and try to stay out of trouble, okay?"
Kaiba huffed in response, causing Yami to chuckle as he left the room and shut the door behind him. Suddenly left alone, Kaiba realized just how big the room was and how small he was. It was a disquieting feeling that left him unsettled. Trying to put it out of his mind, Kaiba readjusted his position on the pillow and felt sleep trying to reclaim him. Since he had nothing else to do and no witnesses, Kaiba succumbed to the urge.
A glance at Yami's alarm clock told Kaiba it was early afternoon when he awoke. He could hardly believe it, but it was true. It forced him to his feet and toward the edge of the bed. Looking down, Kaiba swallowed hard before taking the leap without thought. He landed hard, but unharmed and feeling triumphant at what he had overcome. He took his time using the bathroom and eating breakfast; it almost made him feel human with the routine of it. The only thing that was driving him crazy was that he couldn't shower until Yami got home in a few hours and all of his kitten instincts were yelling at him to bathe the natural feline way. He hated being so dependant on his rival of all people, but so far it hadn't been horrible.
It could have been much, much worse. Isis could have kept him, tossed him onto the streets, or even given him to Jounouchi. They all were horrifying thoughts, putting his current predicament in perspective. Suddenly Yami didn't seem like such a bad option. He was still treating Kaiba with respect and dignity, although he could do with a little less petting. But then again, it was natural to want to pet a cat, so Kaiba supposed Yami just couldn't help himself. He had seemed far more tactile in the morning when he was still moving through sleep, which was odd. Or maybe it was just Yami taking more liberties as he became overly familiar.
Regardless of the reason, Kaiba wish it would stop. It made him feel like the kitten that he was and that was an unpleasant reminder. Plus he was concerned that he would embarrass himself eventually by accidentally purring at the treatment because it did feel good. A little too good, actually.
It all made him wonder how Yami would treat him once he returned back to normal. Even Kaiba had noticed a difference in the way Yami had been treating him. How much of that was because he was a cat and how much of it was because they weren't dueling? He had never really spent a lot of time around Yami when they weren't dueling, so Kaiba wasn't sure. But he knew that there was a difference between Yami's dueling persona and his daily one. Kaiba guessed it made sense. Not everyone could be that intense all the time, not even Kaiba.
Tired of thinking about such things, Kaiba pushed it from his mind as he explored Yami's room for lack of anything else to do. It was surprisingly clean, which Kaiba appreciated since he hated messes. The downside of that was that there was very little to look at in the room.
Kaiba tried jumping up onto Yami's desk and failed miserably; it was just too high up for his little body. It made him grateful that Yami wasn't there to see his failure. Instead of getting discouraged, Kaiba jumped up onto Yami's desk chair and then up onto the desk, causing some papers to slide. Kaiba's body reacted instinctually and pounced on the paper, crinkling it in the process. Flattening his ears in embarrassment, Kaiba continued pawing at it in an attempt to fix it without success. Hopefully Yami wouldn't notice…
There were some pictures posted on the wall of the desk and Kaiba was unsurprised to see a picture of Yami with Yuugi and their grandfather, as well as one of the entire Yuugi-tachi hanging out together. What did surprise Kaiba was a picture of himself with Yami at a tournament. Why would his rival hang such a thing next to his precious friends? He knew that Yami wanted to be more than just mere rivals, but Kaiba Seto didn't need friends. So what did that leave him? It was a thought best left alone and he continued looking around the desk, but there was nothing interesting.
Jumping back onto the chair and then onto the floor, Kaiba resumed wandering around, walking under Yami's bed and wrinkling his nose in distaste when he saw it was dusty in the back corners. He had a momentary thought about staying under there to see Yami's reaction to him missing was, but Kaiba resisted the childish urge.
Growing bored from the lack of anything interesting to discover, Kaiba returned to the bed and tried to jump up onto it. Once again he failed to get the height he needed and had to climb up the sheets the rest of the way.
He sniffed delicately as he realized Yami's scent was strongest on the sheets. It made no sense why he thought it smelled so good when he was a kitten; he had never noticed when he was a human. He started to feel drowsy again and he walked up the pillow and fell asleep, surrounded by the comforting scent of Yami.
A/N: I'm so glad that everyone is still enjoying this story! It's been so much fun to write and see your reactions to it.
NEXT CHAPTER:
"Although I bet you would have made a cute bunny."
Because let's face it, Kaiba would be an adorable little bun bun. The next update will go up on Sunday, July 27th, but until then, I look forward to your reviews!
