Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
An: Rewritten. Plot slightly change. Hopefully, it's way better.
Warning: Same as the prologue.
Summary: Usagi turns into a cat and get adopted by the gundam boys.
Cat for a Week
Day 1
Duo Maxwell was bored. He doesn't remember a time before this moment where things have been this dull to the point where he almost wished for an attack by OZ. Hell, at the rate things were going he would even take a mission in the middle of a sewer if it meant some excitement. He could feel his brain leak out of his ears as he laid in bed.
It's been over a week since he arrived and he never thought that it was possible to live in a cramp safehouse with four other guys without crossing paths with any of them. As small as the house was for five grown guys living together, Duo has never even seen or spoken to any of the other pilots. The most he got was a glimpse of a closing door or flash of hair color. The only thing he knew for certain about his housemates was that one of them was at least a blond.
This is what he got for being the last to arrive, he groused. By the time he made his way to the coordinates Professor G had sent, the other pilots were already settled in and locked in their rooms. When he tried introducing himself through one door, all he got back in return was the sounds of keyboards clicking. Duo had been sullenly disappointed. He had been looking forward to the living arrangement. He had been keen on getting a glimpse of the other pilots; to size them up. He had been especially looking forward to meeting the infamous, suicidal one. Pilot 001. The one with a fetish for the self destruct button. The one who Professor G couldn't stop rambling on about. The eagerness about finally seeing the comrades he had never met, but heard about, were dashed when no one came out of their rooms. The other pilots weren't interested in meeting him. Duo did what he always did when he's ignored.
He shamelessly plotted.
He thought playing the stereo ear-blastingly loud would send one of them to his door, demanding that he turn the music down. He added his own voice to the mix, singing loudly and off-key. It didn't bring a peep or complaint and after seven hours of nonstop blaring music the only thing he got was a headache and a hoarse voice. It took two days for his voice to recover.
Phase Two of 'Let's meet the A-holes I'm living with' plan had him in one of the bathroom, picking a random shampoo bottle. He had dumped one-quarter of the content and replaced it with his own unique blend of oil dye.
He waited with anticipation the next morning.
When there were no screams of outrage or threats, Duo figured that whoever own the bottle had probably not washed his hair that morning. He actually forgot about it.
When he woke up a day later, he paled when he noticed the slender, oriental knife that pinned his precious braid to his pillow.
Duo's bid for attention had ended before it had even began.
In a house full of specially trained assassins, it was probably better not to get on their bad side. Especially since one of them could break into Duo's room in the middle of the night, disable all his security system and locks, and threaten his hair.
It still sent shivers down his spine when he thought of it.
Duo, in a moment of weakness and panic, reached up and let out a breath of relief. He gently fondled his braid before he got and grabbed his jacket. He felt as if the walls were closing in on him.
"Going for a walk," he mumbled to the quiet house.
...
Outside, it was a bright and sunny. It had rain the day before, so the ground was still wet. The wind was nice and breezy. Duo even hummed merrily as he walked to the nearest town. His eyes lingered on some very well endowed junior high girls. They blushed when they noticed him noticing them.
Heading in their direction to introduce himself, Duo was distracted when he noticed a gang of elementary kids gathering in an alley.
He heard the meow of pain before he saw it.
"Hey!"
Looking startled, the kids made a break for it, leaving the thing they were tormenting behind. It turned out to be a kitten. A very small kitten that looked like as if it could have fitted in the palm of his hand with no trouble.
Dirt and mud had matted and hid most of its fur giving it a nasty, slushy brown coloring. When Duo squinted, he could see where thin slivers of silver fur peeked out. The animal looked lost and alone. It mewed miserably. From underneath heavily lids, sad blue eyes watched him with unbridled fear.
Duo felt a surge of guilt run through him. He couldn't help but feel like a bully when it stared at him that way; its tiny body trembling.
"Hey there," Duo held up his hands, palm out. "I'm not going to hurt you."
He carefully took a step forward and sighed when it got to its feet and scooted back. With each step he took forward, the kitten took a step back until it backed into a brick wall. Thinking he had it, Duo reached out only to jump back in surprise when the kitten let out the highest pitched wail he had ever heard.
Holding his ears, Duo grimaced. "Fine! Fine! I get it! You don't want any help."
He hurried out of the alley and groaned with disappointment.
The junior high girls were gone.
Heading toward a nearby vendor, Duo tried to drown his sorrow with a hotdog. He didn't notice the thing following him until he felt something tugging at the hem of his jeans. Looking down, he raised an eyebrow as the kitten sat quietly by his feet, eyeing his hotdog with so much intensity that Duo half expected his lunch to burst into flames.
It meow.
"I thought you didn't want my help," Duo rolled his eyes. Tearing off a small bit of his hotdog, Duo tossed it to the ground and watched as the kitten gobbled it up greedily.
It meow.
"Here," Duo shrugged. He tore off a bigger piece and tossed it. Before he could take a bite of his own, it meow again. Instead of sating its hunger, every bite seemed to make the cat more hungry.
Duo shamefully squealed when the kitten, not waiting for Duo to dole out the next piece, climbed up his leg with the agility of a tree monkey. By the time his brain caught up, the kitten was on his arm, happily gobbling up the rest of the hot dog.
"Hey!"
With all his cash at the safehouse, Duo only had enough change for that one hotdog. His stomach rumbled as the kitten's belly budge out happily with the meal.
"I don't suppose you take credit cards," Duo asked.
The vendor shook his head.
Duo reached up and puck the cat up by the scruff of its neck. He watched as it squirmed. "Now that you've had your lunch, you can go home."
He noticed the crisscrossed band-aid on the kitten's forehead. In a final act of kindness on his part, he gently took it off and stared at the crescent moon-shaped bald spot.
Bright blue eyes stared intently into his violet-colored ones.
Duo shrugged off the weird electric tingle that went through his body as those eyes studied him. He placed the kitten on the ground and walked away.
Duo never expected to see the stray again.
That's why it struck him dumb a few hours later when he was heavily buzzed. After seven empty bottles and being kicked out of the bar for starting a bar fight, Duo sat blissfully against a lamppost with his eyes closed. The warmth in his belly kept him from feeling the cold air as the temperature dropped. Only when he heard the meow did he opened his eyes.
The kitten, still dirty and caked with mud, sat watching him. Then with slow steps, the kitten came closer and closer until it crawled on his lap.
"Whatca do'in?" Duo slurred. He giggled out loud when the kitten's little nudges tickled his side. It climbed into his jacket and sniffed around before its little head poked out the zipper.
In its mouth was his cell phone.
Duo snickered. He pulled out the phone and set it on the ground.
"No lon distinct," he mumbled before he passed out.
...
Usagi waited in the dark with the snoring boy.
His cell phone had only one number in it, so Usagi had carefully used her nose to pushed the green call button. Several rings went by before a voice answered.
Not having Luna's ability to talk, Usagi had been unable to do anything other than meow.
The your friend's dead drunk, you need to pick him up came out as meow, whine, whine, meow, whine.
The other line went dead after a long moment and Usagi wondered if it was better to just call the police.
No, she couldn't get the police involved.
One look the boy and she knew that he was underage and drunk. She blamed it on her sense of justice, of course. The boy had saved her that day and even fed her. She couldn't repay him by putting him in a jail cell. She would just have to wait with him until someone came who could take care of him.
Hopefully, it wouldn't be long.
Sleepy, Usagi laid down. She snuggled into the boy's side, trying to get some of the hot warmth he seemed to radiate. She thought about her day.
Usagi had spent the entire morning and noon trying to avoid the senshi, Rei in particular, and Luna who were frantically searching all around the city for her. It was a comforting feeling to know that they were worried about her, but she was determined (stubborn, Rei would argued) to kept her promise.
One week. She would be back in one week.
She had spent most of her first day as a cat digging through trash for food. Usagi knew a part of her should be disgusted. She had gobbled something indistinguishable to keep the rumbling in her stomach at bay. But at the time, it had seem so instinctual. So natural. The other part of her day she spent chasing rodents, her tail, and bits of sunlight until she was happily exhausted. She even jumped in a puddle of mud in her excitement, which turned out to be a bad mistake because now her fur was heavy and she felt itchy. Other than that, Usagi couldn't remember a time when she felt lighter.
Usagi honestly thought she had the whole cat thing down to an art form until she was caught by those children.
Usagi still remembered being petrified as they crowded around her. She had never noticed how small she really was until they loomed over her, easily blocking out the sun with their bodies. She had trembled with fear when the first child reached out and pulled her tail. She had let out a painful whine, but did nothing. There was nowhere to run and she wasn't willing to hurt a child to do it.
A tug at her ear had made her eyes water.
When they place the band-aids over the mark of her forehead, Usagi felt her world darken. The moment her forehead was covered, the sense of loss was so profound, Usagi didn't know what to do. It was like losing a limb. She didn't know how to function without something she had grown unconsciously depended on.
Usagi had lost a part of herself and she didn't know how to get it back.
It had been a relief when someone intervened. He had chased the kids away, fed her, and had taken off the horrible band-aids.
Usagi never forgot her debts.
Especially when they involved food.
She kept the boy's face memorized in case they should run into each other again.
She never would have expected that she would have to pay it back so soon.
It was sheer coincidence that while going back to the alley she now called home, she stumbled across him; the stench of alcohol heavy in the air around him.
The smell was horrible.
Usagi lifted her paws to cover her nose as he moved in his sleep.
Her savior's loud snores cut into her train of thoughts. It was almost loud enough to drown out the footsteps that were heading their way.
Her head jerked and her eyes narrowed into two slits.
She watched as an angel appeared.
Struck dumb, Usagi could only stare until she realized that it wasn't an angel. It was just a really beautiful person with wheat blond hair and light blue eyes. The sparkle around him was from the moon and not some ethereal light.
Usagi thought he was the most good-looking, beautiful boy she had ever seen, even beating out Motoki, and most definitely beating that jerk Mamoru.
She found herself wishing that Rei was here. Usagi bet Rei's expression would have been priceless.
A gentle hand reached out and patted her on the head.
"So you were the one who called," the boy said.
Usagi felt herself go a little starry-eyed.
Even his voice was perfect.
She watched as the blond looked to the unconscious boy next to her.
With a heavy sigh, the blond hefted the boy over his shoulder. Bending over, the boy placed his hand under her belly and lifted her up. He gently cradle her to his chest.
"Let's go home," he said.
Usagi was suddenly glad for all the mud that coated her.
It made hiding the blush much easier.