To anyone just stumbling upon this story, please go check out onedivinemisfit's art! She's done an amazing job with ObiYuki AU Bingo this year (which just ended), and she even drew a new version of Shirayuki and Obi as cats for one of the AUs for it!
To onedivinemisfit, I know it's been a while. I'm evidently slower at writing updates than I thought I was, but I hope that you really like this chapter and that you've continued to love this story! You definitely deserve incredible gifts and a whole lot of appreciation for the hard work you do for this fandom! I hope you're having a great day and that it continues to get better and better! Take care!
As to be expected, Shirayuki does get in trouble for the knocked over treat container, but it isn't that bad.
"How did you leave the lid on and not break it?" Her grandfather looks the part of ever confused and ever curious. He looks the way she's felt before, but he lifts it back up and refastens the lid just as tightly.
And when she looks over at him, she already can feel both his shock and his disappointment.
"You're a playful kitty and yet this isn't like you." Her grandmother shakes her head, but as she leans on the metal bars with their tennis ball wheels, she looks over at her and still manages to look unsteady.
Like the day is somewhere caught between two rough edges, and Shirayuki keeps her head bowed, apologetically, sorry to disappoint them and yet not sorry to have shared some cat treats with her friend who hadn't had any before, she was sure.
The window is closed the day after that, and Shirayuki sits before it a little sad, that there can be no quick entries and slightly extended visits with a closed window. Especially as she listens to her grandmother in the living room, quiet and still and somehow cold. She's bundled up in more blankets than Shirayuki's ever seen on her at once, and yet she seems relatively comfortable with that anyway.
And Shirayuki rests a paw on cool glass to feel the gentle way it keeps her from being too warm at even the thought of that. She can't imagine wearing one blanket even when it's cold anyway, too heavy, too big, too warm, and she has less wiggle room inside one.
"You locking me out?" Obi's voice is sleek and playful, and when she looks over at him, he's leaning against the window with reckless abandon.
"Grandma and Grandpa, I guess thought it was too cold today?" Shirayuki answered, "Or I'm still in trouble for yesterday."
"What did you do?" He sounds amused, and yet he's one used to rebellion and likely used to people never enforcing any rules on him.
"I tipped over the treat container, so we could have treats." She almost wants to add remember, but knows better. She knows he didn't see her, because it didn't come in until she invited him in after.
"Ah, so you stole them?" He looks like he's laughing at her despite the glare she sends his way.
"No..." She tells him, ignoring the way the protest comes out just a tad too whiny, "They're my treats."
"Not until they give them to you." Obi tells her, as if he's declaring the worst parts about being a people cat and Shirayuki sighs, frustration seeping in despite herself.
"I'm not a thief." Shirayuki retorted, "I'm a good cat. Everyone's always told me so."
"Miss," he is definitely laughing now, half bent over the closed window, and Shirayuki wishes she could just take a swipe at him.
And then there's the sound of a faint clatter, and when she turns to look behind her, her grandfather is leaving the bedroom and already rushing to her grandmother's side. There's a turned over glass spilling water onto the floor, but that's it. Shirayuki doesn't see any marks, no visible pain, and when she turns back to speak to Obi, he's already gone.