Chapter 10

Happy owner, happy cat.

Indifferent owner, reclusive cat.

–Chinese Proverb

"So," Waya started looking at his friend. They were walking side by side, each coming away from the go institute with a new win. "Touya asked you to live with him…permanently?" Shindo nodded a look of complete happiness on his face. "That's good." He started not really knowing what else there was to say. He was only mildly surprised at the announcement. "You really don't have to worry about finding a new place now."

"It's nice." Shindo agreed quietly, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I already called the places to cancel my appointment and everything. Touya and I are going to check out the apartment above us today."

"Now?" Waya asked, arching his eyebrow. Shindo shot him a look.

"It'll only take a couple of minutes. I doubt Touya will mind if you see it with us." The redhead sighed at the announcement. He wasn't as sure as his friend that Touya wouldn't mind. But what the heck…they were already more than halfway there and Waya was loath to just turning around because his idiot friend had once again forgotten about previous plans. Still, he couldn't let Shindo get away with it like that or else the moron would never learn.

"You forgot didn't you?" He slapped the other on the back of the head.

"OW!" The yell that followed it was a bit of an extreme reaction. He hadn't hit the other that hard.

"Wimp. Stop being such a baby."

"Waya!" Shindo growled, hand rubbing his head. "You… stop hitting me will you? I already had a bump there from Touya kneeing me yesterday. I'd like it to go away at one point, thanks. And I'm not a wimp or a baby!" The younger man dropped his hand only to pull up one of his sleeves. "You're just abusive." He jerked his head towards his upper arm. "Look at that! That's from you as well!" Waya made a show of examining the bruise. Hell. If you could even call it that. It was minuscule. He rolled his eyes and stood up straighter.

"Shindo." He tried to look sympathetic while the other narrowed his eyes, intensifying his glare. "You're not helping your case, mama's boy."

"Just wait till we're off the streets buddy. I'll show you whose a mama's boy." The other threatened stomping away. Waya grinned at the sight and ran up to catch up to him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm already trembling." They shoved each other with their shoulders for a couple of minutes, their play causing an older woman to change to the other side of the street and a group of little kids to gawk at them with widened eyes. They weren't always like this and Waya had to admit that it was a nice change to their more 'mature' behavior as Isumi called it that they'd been displaying as of late.

They finally called it quits, laughing at themselves for a moment before straightening up and passing distracted hands through their clothes to get rid of the wrinkles. Waya shook his head, his hands running through his hair to get it out of his eyes. He saw that they were only a block away now from the apartment building. A question that he hadn't asked before flowed back into his head. The smile faded to give way to a serious expression. "Ne Shindo?" He bit his lip. "Are you going to tell him?" Shindo looked up and cast his friend a side way glance.

"Tell him? Touya you mean?" He didn't really need Waya's nod to confirm it. "No." He whispered.

"Why?"

"Things are ok as they are." The voice was still soft but firmer. It reminded Waya of when Shindo had first told Isumi and him about his feelings. Isumi, as always, had accepted the news with serious eyes and a small comforting smile. Waya hadn't taken the news so well. He'd only been able to stare at his friend as if he'd become a sudden stranger—he'd laughed it off, trying to force Shindo into taking the words back, into saying that it was all a joke—but Shindo had continued to look at him with eyes that were much older and there had been bleak understanding shining through them. The younger boy had finally stood up, telling the two of them to forget about it and not worry. Nothing would have to change between them.

Yet everything had.

It was stupid. Clearly, Shindo had always had eyes for Touya and only Touya. But Waya couldn't help but revisit and analyze his memories of the younger boy, dissecting each moment for any hidden meanings. Without even realizing what he was doing, he slowly but surely started to push the other away in an attempt to hide from the awkwardness of it all. He remembered how Isumi tried to talk to him and him laughing it off, saying how that would be stupid because Shindo was Shindo and he was Waya. Nothing would change that. Nothing could. His best friend had sighed then and muttered, why does he miss you if nothing has changed? He hadn't known how to reply. But the shame had eaten away at him…He'd shaped up eventually. Had started to walk by Shindo's side again, teasing the younger boy shamelessly when he managed (always) to place his foot in his mouth, and slowly…slowly things had started to be less awkward.

He took a side glance at his companion and wondered if Shindo feared Touya doing the same thing to him. As hypocritical it was, if Touya ever did…He'd…his hands formed fists at his side.

"I never got to tell you this." His voice broke the silence. Shindo inclined his head towards him as he pushed the door open. "I'm sorry."

"Eh? For what?" Green wide eyes blinked at him.

"Ah Shindo-kun, we were just waiting for you." The manager's voice saved Waya from answering to his relief. Touya stood at the older man's side, a strange expression on his face that quickly changed into relief as he caught sight of them. He nodded in greeting to the two, not minding in the least that Waya was there. The redhead could only sigh. He feared that he never would understand the two of them. "Ready to visit?"

"Lead the way Ojii-san!"

…

A couple hours later, the three were sitting in the living room. Akira was perched on the couch, Karu and Kira both on his lap as Shindo sprawled out on the ground and Waya sat on his knees on the floor beside him.

"Ojii-san can be pushy." Shindo grumbled. Akira sighed. His rival had no idea how pushy that old man could be. He had yet to be caught alone for hours at a time with the elder and his…comments. He shook his head, preferring to not think about that right now and instead concentrate on petting the two furballs. Their purring was comforting as it ran through him.

"Do you two like it at least?" Waya asked, sipping at his soda.

"Hmm," Shindo muttered. "It's not really that much different than here. We'd just have—what?—one more room?" He looked to Akira for confirmation. He nodded, scratching Kira under the chin and Karu behind her ears with his other hand. Shindo sat up from his sprawl, serious eyes looking over the place. "Do you think we even need a larger place?" Akira halted his ministration, looking to where his rival was glancing. The kittens blinked and looked as well, their purrs rumbling within their chest slowing.

"Not necessarily." He answered finally. A furry head bumped his hand in a demand.

"Did you want a bigger place?" Shindo asked.

"Well," Akira sighed. He was kind of torn on the subject. He liked his apartment and he didn't really want to have to pack up everything and haul it up a flight of stairs. Call him lazy if you must but one move in one year was more than enough for his back, thank you very much. On the other hand, it would be nice to have a room where he could tutor his students. With Shindo's arrival, he'd gone back to tutoring them either at their homes or at the go institute. Neither were really options that he preferred. He found that the younger students usually weren't as focused in their own homes and too tense at the go institute. He blinked, suddenly his thoughts fleeing from him as he realized that two sets of eyes were peering at him intently waiting for him to answer the question. Waya even looked a little worried and Shindo…Akira looked away. "I don't know." He finally answered quickly. "There are some advantages to having a bigger place and some disadvantages as well."

Kira stretched underneath his hand, shook himself and then pressed his cold nose against his cheek before jumping away completely. He sort of trotted to the kitchen, the awkward baby walk not completely gone from his elongating gait. Akira watched him go and realized with a tug that the two were growing up and they wouldn't be kittens much longer. He made a face. Another disadvantage of moving would be the increase in cost and the cats would be needing their surgeries soon. He winced at the thought of those bills.

"Maybe both of you could make a list of pros and cons of moving out of this apartment and then look them over together." Waya suggested breaking the thoughtful silence. Shindo nodded, clearly thinking that through.

"That would be good." Akira started. "Thank you."

"Eh? No worries. No worries." Waya cleared his throat and placed his soda down on the ground carefully. He gave Karu a warning glance, knowing how likely it was for her to just leap from her resting spot to pounce on him or his drink. Whichever she thought she'd get away with really…At the moment however, she just nestled into a tighter curl in Akira's lap very happy to now have two hands at her disposal instead of having to share Akira with her brother. "You've got those two totally spoiled." He commented with a grin.

"Me?" Akira asked, surprised. The look he got in return was a 'of course—you!—who else?' Shindo was singularly unhelpful, plopping back down into a laying position with a small smile on his face.

"I always figured you were a cat person." He muttered quietly. "It's cute."

"C-cute?!" Akira stammered, cheeks heating up. "Idiot! You're the one who turned me into a cat person! I had no choice in the matter whatsoever!" Heh. From the way Shindo's face was reddening as well, Waya supposed that Shindo hadn't meant for the last part to be heard. The two rivals started arguing about whose fault it really was and why couldn't Akira just admit that he was happy he'd gotten the cats anyway? Shindo was quite loud when he was being defensive.

"Oh jeez…" Here we go again, Waya thought. That idiot was way too obvious. "I really hope Isumi comes soon. I'm hungry." He continued talking to himself mainly, ignoring the bantering? bickering? hell, was it flirting? that was going on beside him. Whatever. He didn't really want to look into it too much. Karu jumped off the couch, ears flicking back in forth to the two voices snapping at each other over her head. She looked annoyed. Funny how that was, Waya had never thought he'd see a cat looking annoyed. He reached out and poked her on the side of her face. Immediately she batted at his hand, tail whipping around her. "Better get used to it, psycho-kitty. They'll never change."

"No scratching, Karu. You know better." Akira muttered, hands pulling Karu away from Waya swiftly. She made a soft little mew sound that was way too disgruntled. That cat had enough personality to fill ten people or more. Kira padded up slowly back to them, taking in the scene as he always did. Silently.

"He was provoking her." Shindo muttered. "He deserved getting scratched though I doubt he did." He was waving a lazy hand towards Waya's face in what Waya could only guess was a silent request to see the hand that had been batted at.

"You're a jerk, Shindo. Standing up for a cat instead of your friend." He stubbornly ignored the waving hand.

"Jerk? Me? Bah!" The knocking on the door got everyone to be quiet.

"ISUMI! Thank the gods!"

"Che. If you were that hungry, you should have said something. We do have snacks. I mean, I live here."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Akira huffed a sigh and then shook his head. "Anyway, I doubt it's just because he's hungry that he's that happy to see Isumi-san." How perceptive of you, Waya thought as he swung open the door.

"Uhm…hi." Isumi muttered weakly, looking for all the world as if he was trying to hide behind his pizza boxes. No doubt the commotion had been all too noticeable even from the hallway and behind the closed door.

"They were doing ok when visiting the apartments." Waya offered, grabbing the first pizza box from his friend's hands. "And then well," Waya shrugged. "Shindo had to go open his mouth and they've been at each other's throats since. You know the usual." He was teasing the two rivals but was surprised to see a rather smug look on Akira's face.

"See. Not just the hunger." He turned away from his rival then, going to the kitchen to grab plates for the four of them. Shindo just stood there for a minute, looking stunned.

"How is this all my fault?" He asked finally. Waya just laughed and nudged him with the pizza box until he moved out of the way. He dropped the box on the table and flipped it open. The smell was heavenly and he was quite sure it wasn't only his stomach that grumbled. He eyed Shindo who just scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin on his face. "What?" The other asked. "I'm hungry too!"

From the counter a white and orange fluff ball was plotting. She had been sniffing the air in what could only be described as an appreciative manner and Karu was now shifting her weight on her paws, trying to calculate the best way to jump from her spot to the table. The table was a BIG NO zone and she glanced behind her to see where Akira was once or twice. But all the humans were talking and not paying attention to what she was doing. Her butt started to wiggle. She could definitely make it if she tried and then…

And then, Waya swore he just felt a rush of air fly past his face and that Karu had moved too bloody fast for the eye to see. Shindo just thought he was an idiot because how could you miss seeing all that fur and SHRIEK! The noise that erupted from the small body caused chaos to follow. Akira nearly dropped the plates in his surprise, banging them noisily into the counter and bumping into Isumi who had been coming to help him. What followed was an awkward shuffling as both tall young men tried to let the other pass and kept blocking each other's way instead.

"CATCH THAT MENACE! I'M GOING TO KILL HER!" Waya yelled. His one cheek was hot and tomatoey where Karu had jumped from the pizza onto him, no doubt to keep her little paws from being totally burned by the steaming cheese. Shindo was already running after her, face contorting from a mixture of alarm to downright hysteria. Akira was going to kill the two of them. Little red and greasy paw prints were forming wherever she ran. And oh no… no…no…

"KARU!!!" Shindo tried to leap for her before she crashed into Waya's soda can but it was too late. The young kitten tumbled over it, the last of the soda spilling on her and the carpet before the can came and hit her on the head. Shi-it! She was shaking her head, meowing pitifully with her large green eyes shut tight. Most of the soda had gotten on her head. Before she could even think of running again, Shindo grabbed her with one hand. Another heart wrenching mew came from her. Perhaps, Shindo winced, he was holding her too tightly.

"What the hell are you doing to my cat?!" Akira hissed, finally grabbing Isumi's shoulders and pushing him to the side so he could get through. He ignored Waya's victory chants that were turning into expletives of what a little hellion of a kamikaze his kitten was. Shindo offered a weak smile and gave up the kitten right away with a promise that he'd clean the mess up. "What? What?!"

"I'm going to clean it I swear, just check her paws… I think she might have burned them."

"What? How? Why is she wet?" Akira asked. Karu was not cooperating, wiggling out of his hold and whining—it really was the only word he could come up with to describe the sounds that were coming from her. He snagged her free from his shoulder where she had been climbing up onto. With Isumi's help, Akira managed to keep her still long enough to examine her paws that did indeed look redder than usual.

Shindo sighed, wet towel in hand as he started scrubbing at the carpet. "She jumped into the pizza."

"It's ruined now! There's no way I'm eating anything that she's stepped on." Waya added, glaring at the kitten and wondering how Touya had managed all this time in not strangling that little monster. Dealing with Shindo and that little beast? Urgh. No thank you. "Good thing Isumi bought two of them." Shindo nodded wearily and picked up the now empty soda can. He threw it at him with a silent thanks when Waya went to throw it out.

"Anyway, Karu freaked out and ran into Waya's soda. So I wouldn't let her…" He trailed off. It was too late to even bother finishing that sentence. Karu had wiggled her way loose again and was currently looking as if she was trying to bury herself in his rival's hair. He withered under Akira's deathly glare and sighed as the other man stalked off to the bathroom with his kitten.

A couple minutes later and Akira came out with a dripping and pathetic looking Karu who apparently he'd been lecturing the entire time. Waya and Isumi watched on with huge eyes as he toweled her off. Akira had changed his own clothes and his hair seemed damp. Kira, who'd hidden because of all of the noise, finally emerged from underneath the couch and darted to where his sister was. He started to lick her face, helping in the task of getting her dry. It didn't seem to be improving her mood any but it really was an adorable scene. Shindo decided to keep that to himself though as he worked on removing the last of the paw prints off the floor.

Isumi finally looked away and blinked at Waya. "Uhm." He poked his friend's cheek. "You might want to get cleaned up as well."

"Eh?" Amber eyes looked at him curiously before darkening. "Damn cat. Lunatic. Couldn't even see it coming." The redhead grumbled as he stomped his way into the kitchen to clean his cheek.

…

Pizza incident aside, they finally settled down to eat in front of the television, debating what they wanted to watch. Touya remained silent as the three friends shouted out suggestions. Well, Waya and Hikaru shouted, Isumi didn't. There were relatively few movies that Touya had seen and Hikaru knew each of them. He was making sure to brandish the ones he thought Touya might be interested in watching but he really wasn't sure. They'd never done this before. It was kind of…nice.

And that's when they all heard something that they'd never heard before.

Hissing.

Hikaru blinked and turned to see what was going on.

Kira was hissing at his sister.

What the hell?

"Wha--?" Waya asked.

"Karu." Touya started. "He doesn't want to play, leave him alone." It must have been the mixture of her brother's reaction and Touya's voice or something because Hikaru had never seen Karu listen the first time like that. She immediately backed off, tail drooping listlessly between her legs. She walked until she was hidden behind the couch where no doubt she immediately would begin washing herself.

"Touya, what just happened?" Hikaru asked, crawling towards his kitten. Kira was looking proud of himself. The little guy walked the rest of the way to him, purring and tail erect. And it was just so odd. He'd never hissed or done anything remotely aggressive looking before. Well, there had been the few times when he'd kick or bit Karu back but…

"Karu was going to pounce on him and he hissed at her."

"Hissed at her?" He scooped his kitten into his arms and looked into the blue eyes. "Who are you and what did you do to my sweet Kira?"

"He's growing up Shindo, sheesh. It's a good thing. That little fury can be vicious you know!" Waya muttered going back to looking at the movies spread out in front of him. "In a way," He started a couple minutes later while Hikaru was still looking Kira over to find some kind of explanation. "He's acting more like Touya. I could never really see the similarities between Kira and Touya the way I could with you and Karu. Never could imagine Touya just taking that kind of abuse, especially from you." Waya offered a grin to Touya who had the strangest look on his face. It was that look alone that kept Hikaru from leaping down his friend's throat and start bickering with him about the injustice in all those comments. Calling Karu a little fury, a vicious one at that and then saying how similar the two of them were…Jerk. "What? I didn't insult you there, did I?"

"…no." Touya started, pushing a strand of hair back behind his ear. "It's just…I'm not sure you're entirely correct."

"Huh?" Hikaru and Waya looked at each briefly before turning back to Touya for further explanation. If anything the taller man seemed to retreat into the couch as if he could blend into the background.

"It's nothing."

"Uh-huh. Can't pull that one on us now!" Waya shook his head with emphasis.

"Waya!" Isumi hissed.

"Don't tell me you're not curious!" He muttered back.

"It's nothing. Really." End of discussion. Hikaru sighed and almost wished, for a millisecond, that Ashiwara and Ogata-san were here. As creepy and awkward as that would make it, they'd know exactly what Touya meant and Ashiwara would probably have been more than happy to spill the beans. He sat back, still cradling Kira to his chest and tried to imagine what it could be. Isumi sighed as if the answer was so obvious he just couldn't understand how the other two could not see it. Another question he'd have to remember to ask Isumi then. He filed it away and stood up to make his way to the couch. He settled close to his rival and let Waya and Isumi choose the movie.

A/N-I first wanted to apologize for the slow updates. Second, I want to explain that updates will probably continue to be slow. I apparently have either tendonitis or the start of carpal tunnel in both of my wrists. The pain started late July but I continued to write… However, with the start of the new semester the pain got to be a little too much to handle. I've been getting treatment for it but the biggest thing I can do to help myself is to decrease my time on the computer, drawing and basically whatever activity that needs the use of my hands. This is killing me cause writing and drawing our my passion.

Anywho, please don't think I've given up on this story or any of my other ones. I haven't. I've just been trying to follow the doctor's orders. Hope all of you are well. Yuimag