Work Text:
The announcement was all over the city. It had practically caught on fire the way it spread from person to person.
The youngest Crescent child was seeking marriage. Sephiroth himself had presented the marriage challenge.
Any person in the kingdom that could obtain a certain token, would marry his son Riku. What was odd about that was that the token was right there in the city. Usually such challenges involved leaving the city and going on some sort of journey to prove they were worthy.
People were supposed to face challenges or dangers to earn the right to marry the issuer of the quest. This was all together different.
“Am i reading this right?” Sora asked, the newspaper laid out in front of him. “You gotta catch a cat?”
“What?” Roxas asked, relining the shelf with jars he’s been refilling. “What are you talking about?”
“Yeah.” Xion giggled, “I read it before. To marry Sephiroth’s youngest son, Riku, you have to catch Riku’s cat. Around its neck is the token. No one knows what the token is other then the fact that the cat carries it.”
Roxas blinked. “That’s stupid.”
“It’s fascinating.” Sora disagreed. “What kind of cat even is it? Is it like a tiger or something? Wouldn’t that be the way.”
That had his brother snickering. “Wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Or! Or!” Sora grinned. “It’s like a trained guard cat or something. Only hops from roof to roof. Never comes within ten feet of people.”
“Well it’d have to be something like that, wouldn’t it?” Xion commented, giving it some thought. “I mean it’s supposed to be a challenge. Gotta be hard. If just anyone got picked it would be too easy.”
And Sephiroth Crescent didn’t do anything easy. He was rich, powerful, and well respected.
“I wonder if the cat will just wander around?” Sora muttered, trying to figure out the logistics of it. It just didn't make sense.
“I wonder if you’re going to get off your ass and help me.” Roxas said, dropping another box of inventory in front of his brother. “Get going.”
“Ugh, if only we could spend a day sleeping.” Sora complained but got up anyway.
Sora ran an apothecary with his brother and sister. The three of them making and selling their goods in a little corner of the city. There were other, bigger places but the three of them made it work somehow.
It was all they had left of their parents and they planned to hang onto it. Everything they were taught would be put to good use.
Xion moved to flip the shop sign to open. “No doubt we’ll hear rumors about it all day long.”
“You two trying to catch a cat?” Roxas rolled his eyes. It was absurd.
“Nah, but you gotta admit, it’s interesting.” Sora said, taking his turn stocking the shelves while Roxas took care of the cash box.
Xion was back to giggling. “Can you imagine it? A hoard of men and women chasing down this poor cat?”
“Cat would probably out smart them all.” Roxas snorted. “Seems fitting a Crescent cat would be snotty too.”
“You don’t know their snotty. Just because Sephiroth is scary powerful.” Sora said.
Roxas hummed, pulling out the ledger. “Scary being the main word there. Who’s cooking today?”
Cooking being the term the used for the one making their medicines for the day.
“Me.” Xion said. “It’s my turn.”
Roxas nodded once. The three of them rotated positions between who cooked, who manned the counter and who helped the customers. So far it was a system that worked well for them. As long as they were all there, their business wouldn’t fail.
It didn’t take long before customers started trickling in. They never really had a packed shop but they made a living out of it and the customers they did have were die hard regulars. Many were even from older generations who had visited their parents. Their place was small but their work was high-quality.
Just as they suspected they heard talk of the challenge all day. People gushing about the whole idea of it. Being married by way of a challenge conquered was romanticized but so much effort had to go into each one.
It wasn’t until the following day that they heard there had actually been a few sightings of the cat. Sora had no idea how they knew it was the correct cat but people seemed to be sure. Perhaps because it carried something? It supposedly had the token after all.
It was another week before the more amusing stories started reaching their shop. People making fools of themselves trying to catch a cat that was just too quick. Some people were setting traps that were never triggered and others had been setting out food in an attempt to coax the cat inside.
Sora had laughed and laughed but with every passing day, just began to feel sorry for the poor cat. Days running for its life while people tried to grab it was no way to live. It’s owner must have been a hell of a guy. The thought of the animal getting hurt, well… it sucked. All for a trinket.
Yes that trinket would have led to a very prosperous marriage but still. A line had to be drawn somewhere.
After a month, there was still no marriage announcement. Every day the newspaper would say the same thing: Cat Unclaimed. Sora wondered if it went home at night.
He couldn’t imagine people slinking around the Crescent property waiting for the cat to come and go. Sephiroth wouldn’t have allowed it.
As far as anyone knew, there was still a cat roaming the streets and the sightings were still occurring daily even if they weren’t reported on with the same zeal. Everyone was curious.
The Crescent children weren’t often seen, most of them preferring to stay out of the spotlight that even their father couldn’t avoid. Riku had only been briefly present at his own challenge announcement before fading off again.
If the rumors were to be believed, he was beautiful and well worth the hunt.
Two months had passed and still no news. People were starting to wonder if there really was more to this challenge than they first thought.
It was early one morning and Sora was slowly headed back to the shop. It had rained the night before so he’d gotten an early start on picking up ingredients. The sun was only just peeking over the horizon when he was gathering mushrooms, herbs, grasses, and flowers. He had a basket full and was feeling like a job well done was worth a decent breakfast when he heard snarling. Dogs and a lot of them by the sounds of it. There was barking and just overall, a hell of a racket.
With his curiosity piqued, Sora went looking. There were three dogs, all of them wearing fancy collars and looking too well groomed to be strays. These were dogs the wealthy used to hunt fox for sport. These… weren’t the type of animals to hang around these parts.
It wasn’t until he saw their prey that he got annoyed. “Hey!” he snapped. The dogs had cornered a cat, the poor thing soaked to the bone in water and mud, likely from that early morning rain. It’s back leg was bleeding and it was hissing something awful.
"Hey you mutts! Leave that cat alone! They aren’t your dinner!” Sora ran forward but one of the dogs turned to him, jaws parted and ready to lunge. Such aggressive dogs were bad to have around town.
“Oh fuck off.” Sora muttered, reaching into the bag on his hip before pulling out a small vial and opening it. He always had it with him when picking ingredients up too far in the woods. Humans didn’t smell a thing, but to animals it was foul.
He watched as the dogs recoiled, suddenly too busy rubbing at their noses to care about him. They yelped as if they were in pain but a bad smell would only linger so long. Sora put the vial away and stepped around them to pick up the cat who was shaking its head, also poorly affected by the smell.
“Sorry about that.” Sora apologized, cradling the cat. “The stuff is usually for bears, you know? It’ll go away soon.” He started jogging, just to put some distance between him and the dogs as he headed home. He needed to get something for that cat's leg before infection set in. One of the dogs must have gotten in a nip.
The cat was growling deep in it’s chest and Sora just hummed in agreement. “Yes. You’re wet and hurt and unhappy. I hear you babe.”
The growling continued but Sora just held the cat like it was a baby and trekked all the way back to the shop that he and his siblings lived above.
Xion and Roxas were setting up for the day and Sora dropped his basket on the table just inside the door.
“Hey,” Xion greeted. “Breakfast is in the kitchen for you. We were starting to wonder...cat…” Xion blinked at him, her own train of thought dying.
Sora laughed. “Well spotted, sis. A bunch of dogs were trying to eat him.”
“Awe…” She immediately went sympathetic.
“Can you grab me the antiseptic spray Roxas made the other night?” Sora asked, carrying the cat to the bathroom.
“Oh sure.” She said, running off.
The cat clawed at Sora’s arm the second the running water started but Sora held him by his neck. “I’m trying to help you, you know.”
Washing the cat one handed was not easy. Sora had thought the feline was white and just dirty but washing all the mud off showed a pretty silver colored cat.
“Well you’re a gem, aren’t you?” Sora chuckled, mindful of the bite wound. The cat was a pretty creature and male. If the color didn’t peg him as a wealthy person’s pet then the fancy collar around his neck did.
“Did you find the Crescent cat?” Roxas asked, poking his head into the bathroom.
“Huh?” Sora blinked.
Roxas rolled his eyes. “The challenge cat. Is that it?”
“Oh.” Sora shrugged. “I dunno.”
Xion shoved her way in with the spray and a bandage. “Need anything else?”
“No, i don’t think it’s that bad. I just don’t want it to get infected.” Sora said, grabbing a towel to dry the cat off. Poor thing was super unhappy.
Sora held him while Xion sprayed his legs and both needed to hold him while Roxas put the bandage on.
“There you are kitty, no infection for you.” Sora mused.
“Are we keeping him?” Xion asked.
“Crescent cat.” Roxas repeated.
Sora shrugged. “We don’t know that and…” he shrugged again. “He obviously belongs to someone. Figured we’d just leave a window open and let him go when he felt like it. Give him something to eat and some time to rest and let him go on his way.”
“Sounds fine. Will you wanna cook today?” Roxas asked. “Xi and i will open the shop.”
“Yep, i gotta wash the mushrooms still and then i'll get started.” Sora nodded, waving to them as they went. He was scratching the cats ears while headed into the kitchen area. Since it was for both home and work, everything was carefully labeled so there was no chance for cross contamination.
“Here you go kitty.” Sora said, setting him down in the towel on the table. “You heal up and you can wander off in a little while.” He spoke like the cat would answer him and rolled his eyes at himself.
He grabbed his basket of ingredients to set aside for now and paused to grab the kitty something to eat. They didn’t have cat food on hand but they had tuna and that… was the same thing right?
“Here kitty. I have some work to do but you rest.” He laughed when the cat smelled the food and looked at him. “It’s all i got. I didn’t foresee having a four legged friend today.”
He didn’t know if this was the Crescent cat but maybe Roxas was right and wealthy people had snotty pets.
Sora went to work, washing his mushrooms, hanging flowers to dry, toasting herbs in the oven… It was only when he glanced over and saw the cat eating that he realized the growling had stopped. Small victories. He left the cat to his business while he went to work.
Early morning cat rescue or not, he had a job to do.
“Bay leaf, bay leaf, where are you.~” Sora sang. “Roxas always puts you somewhere stupid.~” He looked around the kitchen for the jar he needed and looked up when the cat hopped onto the counter.
Sora watched for a few seconds making sure no classic cat motions of knocking things off flat surfaces happened before going back to his search.
“Bay leaf…~”
It was strange the way he felt like he had an audience. The cat had perched itself nearby and when he wasn’t watching Sora, he was sniffing around the jars and pawing at the hanging herbs.
“Eehh, please no.” Sora said quickly, drifting across the kitchen to pick the cat up away from the tinted jars. “Takes a week of sales to buy more of those. My brother and sister will hang me out to dry if i let you knock that over.”
The cat made a noise, maybe some kind of ‘meow’.
“Yes, let’s not get Sora in trouble.” Sora said, rubbing the cats ears and fetching a dish of water. He liked to think the cat was listening but maybe he just got distracted with every new shiny thing Sora shoved in front of him. Either way, it gave Sora time to work.
“Sora, do you have more of that arthritis cream in here?” Xion looked in. “I can’t find the stock.”
Sora hummed, “It’s in the hall closet I think. Dunno how it got in there but it's at least half a case.”
“Great!” she looked relieved and ran off. They really didn’t have half the space other shops had.
None of them took a break for lunch, the closest they came was Sora making a sandwich for his brother and sister since he was on kitchen duty and he took it down to them while he ate alone in the kitchen, well with the cat today.
He was pulling out pots for a new project when the cat leapt from the counter to his shoulder and Sora gasped hard. Silently thankful he wasn’t holding anything fragile at the time.
“Oh jeez, you looking for some attention?” He reached up to pet him again just as Roxas ran in, reaching for his apron. “Hey-?”
“Xion’s manning the front. We need to make high grade blood thinners. A client just came in and Apothecary Thirteen botched their last order. They came to us by referral.”
“Emergency order, got it.” Sora said, making room for his brother to cook alongside him. “We don’t have any already?”
“We do but it’s spoken for and i’m not depriving someone else who needs theirs just as much.” Roxas said easily and Sora could only agree.
“Okay kitty, stay on the table.” Sora said, picking the cat up off his shoulder and setting him back on the towel he’d originally started on.
The kitchen was small but all three were used to the cramped conditions and to working around each other. When working together, they were just as good. Xion was struggling to work the shop on her own, the least they could do was work seamlessly on this order and potentially get a huge client as a regular in the process.
For two hours they worked tirelessly and by the end of it, both wanted nothing more than a nap but Roxas took their goods back down to the shop while Sora cleaned up. It wasn’t until he heard the ‘merw’ that he even remembered the cat was there.
“Oh, hey kitty.” Sora smiled tiredly, quietly pleased their weren't any mishaps while his eyes were off the feline. He sat at that table, taking a break and rubbing his head. He was fairly surprised when the cat moved to curl up in his lap. “Weren’t you just growling at me this morning?”
He paused to feel the cat’s leg and make sure it was moving the way it was supposed to. He pulled the bandage off and sighed in relief when everything looked good. Hopefully the kitty wouldn’t have to deal with an infection.
“You look pretty good, kitty.” Sora muttered, rubbing his ears again. He got another meow that sounded damn near affectionate.
“Well this is a switch.” Sora chuckled. “What do you think? I don’t have a day off till Sunday but if you’re still here by then we’ll see if we can find your owner. Pretty cat like you, they have to be missing you.”
He really needed to finish cleaning up. He needed to finish the powders he was making before Roxas interrupted him too. He was just so damn tired. Early wake up calls weren’t his specialty.
He let himself have a five minute break, the warm, purring body on his lap was a nice change. They’d never had a pet in their house before, maybe they should get one. A therapy animal of sorts…
“Okay kitty. I gotta get back to work.” Sora yawned, moving to lift the cat and put him back on the table but he paused when the cat held his own collar in his mouth. “How..did you get that off? Let’s get that back on.”
The cat dropped it on Sora’s lap and he lifted it, wondering if this was an animal trait he wasn’t familiar with.
“Stubborn.” Sora commented, undoing the collar to slide it back on the cat and freezing at the inside of it.
The outside of the collar was fancy leather, the inside however was lined with chips of stones that.. couldn’t actually be real diamonds…
“Woah…” Sora muttered, looking up at the cat. “Oh my god you can’t actually be the Crescent cat…”
He got another ‘meow’ and stood, setting the collar down beside him.
“Oh my god, nope. So much nope. You got this all wrong kitty. I wasn’t hunting you. I’m not trying to marry a Crescent.” He started pacing, wondering if this was binding. “They’re like, well known, rich people. Like.. like people who can actually just toss out a challenge for marriage and people go for it. I’m just.. I’m just me. I make medicine with my brother and sister in a struggling part of town...I'm not...in that world.”
Had he ever even humored the idea? Even when just reading about it in the paper? He wasn’t… no one would want to marry him. The Crescents would laugh at the mere thought. No. He’d put the collar right back on the cat and let him go on his way.
“Right.” Sora muttered to himself. “Kitty got this wrong.”
“Kitty did not.”
Sora almost yelped, turning around to find a man sitting on his kitchen table, stark naked. Silver hair fell like curtains down his back and his right thigh area was oddly bruised.
“....What?” Sora stared, making the silver haired man smile a little. “Who…?”
“Riku Crescent.”
...Of course he was…He was as beautiful as the rumors said.
“Cat…” he couldn’t string together cohesive words anymore.
Riku laughed. “Yes, i’m the cat too.”
“So…” Sora blinked. “The challenge was…” Nothing made sense.
“To impress me.” Riku mused. “I like animals. Being able to change into one and all. Everyone in my family can. You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat one.”
And everyone had been hunting Riku for two months…
“The dogs?” Sora frowned.
Riku’s smile slipped away into a frown. “Cheaters. Deciding killing the cat was the best course of action.” he paused. “Thanks for that. The help.”
“Right…” Sora said, wondering if he over worked himself and hit his head. “Um… So you can like.. Reconsider and-”
“No. I picked.” Riku said, amusement back in place. “I picked you. I like you. I like your brother and sister too.” he looked around. “I like your shop even though i haven't gotten to see it. I didn’t know it was here.”
“Not surprised.” Sora said dryly, jerking and looking away when Riku stood up. Naked. He was still naked.
He held his cat collar out for Sora to take. “The shards on this will be taken and designed into a ring for you.” Riku purred. “Not taking it doesn’t mean a ring won’t be commissioned.”
“Okay so…” Sora looked up at his eyes. Eyes were safe. “This is a lot.”
Riku’s look softened. “Challenges are. I came out better in this than I’d hoped.”
Sora shook his head. “I...I can’t marry you. I can’t just leave my siblings. I can’t just-”
“I wouldn’t ask you to.” Riku mused. “Like i told you, i like them. My father will likely be thrilled that I found someone to marry with a skill rather than an idiot wishing to take only what I can offer. There will be no need to abandon them. This unites our houses.”
Sora’s throat felt tight. That was kinda sweet… “What if i wanted… a long engagement. To get to know you.”
Riku tilted his head to the side, something cat like about it. “I think that is sensible. I’ve decided. I’ll wait for you to decide too.”
“Okay… okay…” Sora was overwhelmed. He’d just saved a cat, that’s all. “Um…”
“Relax, champion.” Riku grinned easily, cupping Sora’s face to catch him in a kiss.
Sora’s eyes rolled shut, enjoying someone kissing him far too much. He had so much to think about, and thinking was hard when kissing.
“Congratulations, Sora.” Riku muttered against his mouth.
"Naked man."
Sora jerked away from Riku, his face inflamed when he heard his sisters voice and saw her standing in the door way, her brow curved up. Roxas appeared just behind her, giving them a slow blink before noting the collar dangling from Riku's finger tips.
"Told you it was the Crescent cat."
Roxas and Xion were going to be laughing at him for weeks…