A/N: And I begin by thanking 7 for this idea! It's slightly toned down for a more lighthearted mood but I hope you like it!
—
Cafe Munio
"So how are things going in Italy?" Colonello inquired, while he drizzled raspberry sauce over a cheesecake.
After Tsuna sent him a blank stare, he singsonged, "No one knows better than you do."
Tsuna snorted. "As if anything I learn is actually related to the cafe."
"I told you it was a bad idea to give out your phone number, hey," Colonello said resignedly, "But at least you're having fun…?"
"I've seen enough chameleon pictures to last several lifetimes," Tsuna grumbled, "And there are probably enough fill up all the billboards around the world, in their original, 900 x 900 pixels forms."
"That much, huh," Colonello said sympathetically, while sliding the display door open and carefully setting the cheesecake inside.
"We need to restock the paper bag supply," Tsuna said, changing the topic, then left to write that on a sticky note.
It was an unusually windy day and the setting sun cast blurred, dancing shadows on the patterned sidewalk, though it did very little to ease the chill that was settling into everyone's bones. Tsuna took short, shivering steps, carrying a plastic bag of groceries in one hand and a textbook in the other.
He had just passed a row of houses, when there was a loud clatter of a dustbin lid. A kitten had leapt from one of the walls to the dustbin and it was staring at him, but mostly eyeing the groceries with hunger.
It was small and fragile looking, its bones showing through its matted pelt, and when the wind blew it looked like it would blow away with it.
It ignited some sympathy in Tsuna — after all, it was just a kitten, and surely they could not take care of themselves as well as stray cats. He wondered whether to take it home and feed it some food. Would his mother even approve?
But then it turned its gaze from the bag to him and its eyes were a whirlpool of gold and amber, pleading and playful all at once, and suddenly Tsuna didn't have to wonder anymore.
"Of course you can keep it," Nana promised, "As long as I can take a picture of you two to put up on the wall! It looks just like you!"
"Sure," Tsuna agreed, without hesitation. "I'm gonna give you a bath, 'kay?" he said to the lump of bones and fur, which was perched in his arms.
The kitten blinked at him.
"I don't know how to wash cats, either," Tsuna informed the kitty, "So you're going to have to bear with me. I hope you don't hate water that much…"
The kitten squirmed as it was lowered gently into the tub of water, and as Tsuna held it down with one hand and brushed furiously with the other the water turned an icky shade of gray.
"Gross," he announced, drying it off to indignant yowls, and then poured the water away. "Do you like the hairdryer? …No, you do not like the hairdryer," he said, putting it away hurriedly when the kitten shied from the loud gust of hot air. "Food, then? Yeah, food it is." Tsuna sighed when the kitten disappeared soundlessly down the stairs, and Nana's joyful squeals sounded through the house moments later.
Once the kitten was fed and had dried itself off, its coat was revealed to be a soft golden color that seemed to glow when basked in the soft light of one of the lamps.
"I like it already," Nana said, delighted. "And its so well-behaved, look," and she cooed when the kitten padded over for a cuddle. "We'll go to the vet tomorrow for its checkup."
"It's surprisingly healthy for a stray cat," the vet said, combing through the kitten's fur. "And yes, it's male, and it's surprising that it survived for so long, despite being so young."
Tsuna beamed proudly, for no particular reason.
They exited the office, and in the car, Tsuna said, "I'm going to name him Natsu."
"I like it," Nana said happily. "It fits him, and the name would be connected to you, too!"
"I like it too," Tsuna said. But he was slightly disturbed by how his first instinct, when he got home, was to send a picture of his new cat to Reborn.
[Photo]
oH my gOd iS tHaT yOuRs
…Are you okay?
dO i loOk oKaY
You look mildly disturbing and unstable.
the kitten and leon could be best friends
NEVER.
what, do you think he could catch leon's dress sense or what
YES.
lol
i was joking. you wound me
I'm going to ignore what you just said. His name is Natsu! I found him when I was walking back from a shift at the cafe :)
so you're the princely animal-hero type, huh
I am not — most of the time.
[Photo]
OH GOD IS ARE YOU WEARING A CHAMELEON ONESIE
I CANNOT UNSEE THIS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.
Monday signaled the arrival of a thick mist that settled around the town. Everything was slow and sluggish; even the teachers cared less than usual about the students' behavior.
School was a slow affair, but the cafe stayed as cheerful and bright as ever when Tsuna entered. He was busy manning the counter when Colonello, who was wiping the tables, shouted, "Hey, Tsuna! Is that your cat outside?"
"My cat?" he said, before remembering the stray kitten he'd picked up yesterday. "Yeah, it — wait, had I introduced you to my cat?"
"No," Colonello shrugged, "But one look at its eyes and I jumped to conclusions. Why else would such a nicely groomed cat hang around our cafe, anyway?"
"You have a point," Tsuna admitted, "but it isn't that obvious, is it?"
"It's probably just because I know you," the blond reassured him.
After his shift ended, Tsuna was walking down the pavement when a stranger tapped him on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, but I think your cat is stuck in a tree," the middle aged lady said, pointing.
"Oh," Tsuna looked at the squirming kitten, "Thank you. But how did you know -?"
"It looks like you," she said, smiling, "And I sort of guessed, really. I didn't think you'd noticed it getting stuck. It might have been following you around."
Tsuna set his backpack down against a wall and hoisted himself onto the edge. "Thanks again," he called.
"It's very cute," the lady said, amusedly, "Good luck." And she left.
"How do you get yourself into these things," Tsuna said despairingly. "I can't even climb a tree. What am I going to do now?"
"Tsuna!" someone shouted, and he nearly fell off the wall while trying to look back.
"Hi, Yamamoto," Tsuna said in relief. "And Gokudera. Just in time, thank goodness," he said, "I kind of need a little help."
"I didn't know you had a cat," Yamamoto said, as the three of them walked together to Tsuna's house. Tsuna was suffering in silent embarrassment after watching the other two spring up onto the wall and gently rescue the kitten, all in one smooth move.
"I didn't have one until yesterday," Tsuna informed them. "I forgot to tell you today at school. But his name is Natsu, and I found him yesterday when I came home from the cafe."
Yamamoto admired the kitten that was slinking beside them. "He looks exactly like you," he said, "In kitten form."
"It's just the eyes," Gokudera grumbled. "And maybe also how weak it is."
"It's going to grow up into something fierce," Yamamoto argued.
"You wish," Gokudera said in return.
"Everyone says it looks like me," Tsuna intervened, steering them away from yet another argument. "I mean, it does, but I wish it was a little less identical."
"That just makes it cuter," Yamamoto said, "And it's probably fate, anyway, because you don't meet lookalike animals by coincidence like that."
Tuesday morning blurred past in the form of damp mist and small drizzles every so often. The trio met up for lunch, as they always did, but Gokudera was clutching a suspicious lump to his chest.
"I found a kitten," he explained grouchily. "The most bad tempered one in the world, I bet. Why wasn't I blessed with an adorable, well-behaved one like you were?"
The other two were busy exclaiming about the wet huddle of fur that was staining dark, stinky patches on Gokudera's jacket. The rainwater had turned its coat a matted yellow color with dark yellow patches down its back, and its eyes slanted upwards and its mouth down in a fierce frown, giving it a permanent menacing glare.
"It's shivering, poor thing," Tsuna said, stroking it cautiously. The kitten purred. Then Gokudera lifted an arm to scratch it behind its ear and it yowled.
"It hates me," he complained. "But it also keeps coming back, which is weird. Maybe it'll leave to one of your houses today, and leave me in peace."
(It didn't, but it often followed Gokudera into class, and when it did no one could get it, or Gokudera, to behave.)
Soon after this incident, Yamamoto adopted a dog from the local pet shop and it was much better behaved than Gokudera's cat. It fit itself into Yamamoto's life with remarkable ease — it joined him on morning jogs and during afternoon baseball practice.
It also frequently fought with the kitten, which Gokudera had named Uri. It wasn't the one doing the squabbling, though. It was mostly Uri hissing from a good few meters away and the dog staring at it and occasionally ambling forward, to which the kitten jumped back another few meters in response.
Yamamoto named it Jirou.
There was also a swallow that showed up often wherever the trio walked, and it was distinguishable by the sleek blue markings along its body. It particularly liked Jirou, and would perch on the dog's head — so Yamamoto named it Kojirou.
Tsuna always updated Reborn on the animal incidents. 'It's a sudden influx of adorable animals,' he called it.
'It must have been Leon,' Reborn responded,
leon is the source of everything, after all.
Or maybe it's fate setting us up for something big.
don't be so superstitious
it doesn't happen 99% of the time anyway
it's fate messing with you, not setting you up
Probably.
I'll tell you when the next victim gets their animal.
Uh, person*