Chapter 2

New Roommates

Akira's first task was to find his apartment manager and explain the presence of the new occupant currently destroying his apartment. He found the older man quite readily.

"A cat, Touya-san?" A white eyebrow was arched as the man peered at him from his glasses. "That's fine. I'll just need you to fill out these papers. There will be an extra monthly charge." The sound of papers being pushed around did nothing to keep Akira's headache at bay. "Will you be de-clawing the cat?"

"Uhm?" No? Yes? What? Akira looked at the older man helplessly.

"Our policy does not require you to de-claw the cat. However, any damage in the apartment due to the animal will be taken away from your deposit. Ah here it is." A paper was pushed in Akira's face. Pet Policy was printed in large black letters on the top. "When you get all the necessary information, please come see me." All the necessary information? Akira sat down in the chair. His eyes scanned the paper. Proof of various vaccinations—feline distemper, FHV, Rabies, Feline leukemia—licensing, neutering…oh my…

"The uh extra payments?"

"Ah yes. We can take care of that right now. Let me just get that other paper."

….…

Akira came back to his apartment, hoping to find some peace and quiet. He managed to take two steps and close the door behind him before a wild fury ran towards him. Karu didn't slow down one bit, just leaped and started to claw up Akira's pants. The young man yelped. It took an incredible effort on his part to not go with instinct and kick the animal off of him. Instead, he reached and took the kitten in his arms.

"No!" He muttered, trying to keep Karu in his hands. "Calm down." The kitten squirmed even harder.

"Mew!"

"I need to get help." Akira muttered. "Come on." He put the animal down, walked to his study and turned on his lap top. The little critter followed him there and jumped onto his lap the minute he sat down. "I can't believe I'm thinking this because it's completely absurd. But you are an awful like my rival aren't you. Exasperating and hyper and taking all of my attention…" The computer beeped at him, startling the kitten. Its huge green eyes turned to stare at the luminous screen. Petting the little animal almost absently, Akira managed to type in his password with one hand. Karu stilled, curling his little body on Akira's thigh. Soon, the kitten was…purring…its eyes closing gently and opening slower and slower each time. Akira had to smile. He continued his petting all the while doing an internet search on the care and training of cats. Apparently a spray bottle could come in handy when training the cat on what they could and could not do. There was only a moment when he started to get scared again when he came upon a site that listed all the plants that were poisonous. He tensed, hoping that the kitten hadn't nibbled on one or two of them while he had been gone. He observed the sleeping kitten, staring hard to make sure he was still breathing. Was he? Gently he paused in his pettings and was relieved to find that the kitten was ok. It had even opened one eye slightly, looking annoyed. Akira didn't need to be an animal expert to be able to decipher what that look meant. He resumed caressing the kitten, rubbing gently below the chin before reaching behind the kitten's ears. Seeing Karu fall back asleep, Akira was able to finish assessing the credibility of the site. It seemed ok. He sighed; he would have to move the aloe and the geranium to places where Karu wouldn't be able to reach. He finally clicked off the internet having learned enough for the time being.

In any case, at the moment Karu was not causing any trouble at all. Perhaps this wouldn't be as hard as he thought it would be. He relaxed in his seat and decided that peace and quiet could be shared quite easily.

….…

Not too far from Akira's apartment, Hikaru was having some issues. Kira wasn't the problem, he was so quiet and so well behaved, Hikaru sometimes had a hard time realizing that he was suddenly the owner of a kitten. No, his issues were because of his apartment manager. The woman had seen them transporting the kittens the first time into the building. She had gone to investigate, missing Hikaru by a few minutes and had found Isumi in his place. She had asked the young man to tell her renter to come to the office when he came back. Hikaru had done so, sad that he couldn't be with his kitten yet.

When he'd arrived in the office, looking a bit worried the women's expression did nothing to alleviate them. The young woman was looking apologetic but firm.
"I'm sorry Shindo-san. But we do not accept pets in this building."

"But…" The woman shook her head. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, there are several options. You can either find the kitten a new home…" Hikaru shook his head vehemently. "Or you find a new apartment. If you chose to do this, it would be before your contract and this would mean you could not get your deposit back." The death sentence had been delivered.

"Uh…" Hikaru cleared his throat. "Would…would…" The frown on the woman's face left to be replaced with a look of sympathy. She wasn't that much older than him and she'd come to like his cheery presence. He'd been so easy to deal with unlike some of the other renters. She knew from the look on his face what his decision would be. She would miss him dearly.

"I'll turn a blind eye for a month Shindo-san. That's all I can do." He gave her a wavering smile before thanking her and leaving the office. Waya and Isumi were waiting for him in the apartment and looked to him for answers.

"Don't say anything Waya." Hikaru muttered. "I know… I know I should have thought this through. That I'm irresponsible and… god, I can't believe this!" Waya bit his lip. "I freaking pay for this place monthly! Shouldn't I be able to do what I want in it? Within reason?" The redhead had been in fact prepared to lecture the teen. Instead he sighed and went over to his friend. He punched his shoulder giving him a sad look.

"What are you going to do?" Isumi asked. A small black furry head peered out from under his sofa.

"Move." Hikaru avoided their eyes and kneeled onto the floor. Making sure not move too fast or in a threatening manner, Hikaru tried to beckon Kira from his hiding place. The little kitten looked at him for a long time before very carefully darting towards him. He picked the kitten up and cradled him to his chest. "I have a month." He dared to look up at his friends.

"Shit." Waya sighed hard. He scratched the back of his head. "Uh…do you think Touya would take in Kira?" Hikaru's eyes widened. "It's worth a try. I mean…you did say you didn't want these two separated. And what's one more cat?" Isumi shook his head warily. Poor Touya. That boy never got a break. While Hikaru mulled this new idea over, Waya sat on the floor next to him. Slowly he reached out to pet the little kitten. It glared at him for a second before burying its face in his friend's t-shirt. It did purr however when scratched gently behind the ears.

"I think he's gonna kill me." Hikaru moaned finally. "But it is worth a try. For you Kira." The kitten purred louder.

"If worse comes to worse, 'Sumi and I can check with our landlord and see whether our apartment accepts cats." Waya stole a glance to see Isumi's reactions. The taller man held his serene expression like a pro used to hearing stupid and dangerous comments.

"Yes. We'll have to." He then said very calmly.

"But it'd be temporary cause…" Waya trailed off and Hikaru gave him a shaky grin.

"Thanks guys."

"Hey. No problem. Just let me be there when you ask Touya. If you decide to do that." Waya muttered. "I'd love to hear his reaction."

"Ok…"

….…

Akira was a bit frazzled as he grabbed Kira for the fifth time from the counter to put him back on the floor. The kitten was being impossible! Where was the cute little fluff ball that had been sleeping on him only a couple hours ago? And when had he been replaced with a mischievous and curious bundle of energy? Akira had been trying to cook himself dinner. But he found it hard to concentrate on dinner when Karu kept climbing up his dress pants to jump onto the counter. He wanted to investigate what Akira was doing and what a frying pan was. Akira nearly had a heart attack when the kitten walked across the stove, missing the hot plate by a mere inch.

"Why must you be impossible?" He asked finally, brushing strands of his hair back behind his ear. "I'm just cooking! There is nothing inherently interesting in me cooking! Shoo…" He tried to wave the kitten into the other room and only managed to excite the furball further. It danced in place, arching its back before running towards him and trying the same trick for the hundredth time. Its tiny claws hooked onto the fabric of the pants. "No!" He grabbed the kitten by the back of the neck like he'd read online. This was how mother cats dealt with misbehavior. Karu emitted a little squeak. The sound alone was enough to make Akira feel bad. "What am I going to do with you?" He brought the kitten closer to his face, cradling him in his hands. The kitten playfully batted at his cheek, the paw soft and warm. Sighing, thinking that it wasn't quite fair that Shindo and now this kitten could see through his defenses like they were nonexistent. He placed the kitten on his shoulder and tapped its nose whenever it felt like Karu was going to jump on the counter. With that settled, Akira managed to save his stir fry from burning too badly.

And that's when the phone rang. Careful to not jostle the kitten off his shoulder, Akira slowly went to the phone.

"Hello?" Hikaru's voice was bordering on hysterics. "What's wrong?" Karu tried to attack the phone chord. "No Karu…No, not you Shindo. The cat." There was a pause. "Your apartment manager said what? You want to what? Shindo…" Akira closed his eyes. Karu took the opportunity of inattention to pounce. He lunged and his little paws caught the phone line. His sudden weight was unexpected and Akira had the phone snapped from his hand. He cursed, the kitten meowed pitifully. It hadn't landed on its four paws like it was supposed to and it was tangled in the white chord. It tried to give an indignant glare and wash itself but failed, tangling itself more. Akira then cursed even louder.

Poor Hikaru on the other end of the line winced and seemed to shrink further into his couch. Waya's hand rested gently on his shoulder, trying to be reassuring.

"Of all the—" Akira hissed. "Shindo, Hikaru!" He carefully extradited the kitten from the chord and grabbed the phone again. Taking a deep breath that was NOT calming. "Shindo, Hikaru…" He started again. "If you expect me to not only take one cat but two because of…" He trailed off. "Just, no. I cannot handle two. If you want me to take the kitten, you're coming with it to take care of them!" Then because he didn't have anything left to say, he did possibly the rudest thing he'd ever done in his entire life. He hung up.

In the other apartment… "Did I hear that correctly?" Waya asked weakly. "Did Touya Akira ask you to live with him?" Hikaru was still too startled with the dial tone to even try and comprehend what Touya's angry shout had meant. "Well fuck. Guess you don't have to worry about finding a new place to live."

To be Continued…

A/N- Thank you for the feedback guys, I really appreciate it. I hope you're still enjoying the story.