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„This is where we keep the kitten with her mother.” The man from the humane society explained and led the way to a fenced off area of the house. Behind the fence the front room contained many beds and toys scattered around and three big cat trees with all kinds of caves and possibilities to sharpening their claws. All in all the cats had enough space to explore and romp, but also hideouts to withdraw.
The man asked Obito to cross the white fence to approach the kitten. Sure, he could do that. After all he was more suitable for this than his dog-loving partner; also he could seize the chance to pet the kitten. “Just sit down and let them come to you.” was the instruction. “Let them choose and explore you. Calmness and patience are the keys to win a cats’ heart. Also important to gain the mothers’ trust.”
This was the reason, why the male preferred cats over dogs. You couldn’t force a cat to like you. They had their own unique will and would express them in any way – as well when they didn’t like or want anything. Unlike dogs which always tried their best to please their humans and became everyones’ friend.
No sooner said than done, Obito seated himself on the grey short carpet and waited without a word. A cat was a nice company, so he thought, but also he didn’t really know how to approach them. Maybe the little ones were scared of him – for whatever reason. But they were probably more scared of Kakashi and his mask. Though the thoughts of owning a cat soon caused a warm fuzzy feeling inside him. A fuzzy feeling named joy.
Yet he hid his excitement under his average stoic face.
The man then listened to the small conversation between the man from the humane society and Obitos’ grey haired attendance Kakashi. 14 weeks old were the kitten and a Main Coon / British Short Hair mix. The 5-year-old mother was a red and white Main Coon and her children turned out to be very colorful. They were all vaccinated. It didn’t take too long until the black-haired male saw the first little furball, followed by the longhaired and fluffy mother who inspected him carefully. Then the next cute baby cats appeared with lumbering steps.
First they were all cautious and timidly who that big stranger might be. They carefully sniffed on the man, their mother observing everything. The male remained motionless to not scare any of them, only observe their behavior. Just a little jerky movement would ruin everything. Little by little the small cats got courageous as they noticed that this human meant no harm.
One of the kitten – whose fur had the same pattern as the mother, but with additional grey spots – had a stretch and treated Obitos mantle with her claws. „No, this is not a cat tree!“ the Uchiha complained in a low voice, carefully drag her down from his clothes, but the small fluff kept holding on it. The body of the small furball was so soft and fragile that the male feared he might break her something when he would hold her too tight. After a few attempts the kitty gave up, released the blue fabric, so Obito could take her in his arms. Specifically to pet the small one, he took off the gloves and felt the soft fur under his hand which looked so giant compared to the furball.
The Uchiha was absorbed into taking care of the kitty, until he was ripped out of this soothing moment when one of them climbed on his head – using its claws of course. Also the other four lounge leopards were pulling, scratching on and playing with his clothes and anything on him which might be interesting in the slightest matter. Everything could be interesting or a funny toy for little kitten. “Ouch!” let the male out lightly surprised when a cat scratched and bit his toes while another fluff were climbing on his bare back after slipping under Obitos robe through the wide collar.
The small pack of fluffy cuteness completely took over the black-haired man, though the mother were resting on one of the animal beds and just looked over to the spectacle. She was probably glad, someone else kept the little bundles of energy busy.
Then help came in an unexpected and sudden way. “Achooooo!” All the kitties panicked and immediately left the Uchiha in a rush to seek shelter by their mother. “Bless you…” Obito responded, turned around to his sniffing partner who just saved him with his sneezer.
Once the male got back to the other side of the fence, they were discussing if and which of them they should take. “The decision is not difficult. We take all of them.” Hearing the others’ words, KAkashi facepalmed and sighed, mentioning that they would only take one. They already discussed that earlier. “Remember?” Obito gave him evil eyes and crossed the fence once again. Yes, he remembered. Kakashi told him a long rigmarole that they should buy only one cat. Obito should be glad that they got one in the first place, because Kakashi wanted a dog. In the end the Uchiha won the heated discussion.
It didn’t take long until the kitten noticed the man and came running, surrounding their new playmate in a blink of an eye. After a short while observing the little ones, the male carefully picked up the small female which he held in his arms before. When the man from the humane society asked if he had decided on this one, the black-haired male simply nodded. “And her name is Shanoa.” Looking at this little furball, he felt a warmth deep in his damaged heart.