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When Kaoru had first proposed the idea of getting a cat, Kojiro had been skeptical. It wasn’t that he had anything against them, per se, more that he recognized how busy he and Kaoru kept most of the time and couldn’t envision bringing any animal into that space.
And, okay, maybe he was a little worried about the prickly nature of cats. He’d jokingly compared Kaoru to the stray that had clawed at his ankle on one of his morning jogs before, but while Kojiro said it with all the fondness in the world for Kaoru, the fondness didn’t carry over to the cat in his story.
It took several arguments (or, rather, “heated discussions”, as Kaoru liked to call them) before Kojiro relented, and Kaoru practically had to drag him through the shelter on the day they went to find their new housemate.
Somehow, despite all of that, the first cat they encountered was positively enamored with Kojiro. She was skinny, long-legged—perhaps malnourished—but her black coat, splattered with orange and white, was absolutely stunning. A particularly large splash of ginger covered the left side of her face, emphasizing her too big, impossibly round yellow eyes.
Kojiro wouldn’t let Kaoru forget about her feet—he’d even sounded teary when he’d held up the cat’s white little paws and insisted that she was dressed in stylish mittens. Ridiculous.
They’d adopted her with little hesitation, and Kaoru could only roll his eyes and sigh as Kojiro decided on what he thought was the perfect name: Kiiro.
“It’s the eyes. They’re kind of like yours,” Kojiro’d laughed. “And it sort of matches, doesn’t it? Kojiro, Kaoru, and Kiiro. It’s cute.”
Kaoru wanted to argue that the name was too basic, too on-the-nose, and perhaps he would’ve, if he weren’t so stupidly fond of Kojiro and his natural sentimentality.
Though slightly disappointed, Kaoru wasn’t surprised that Kojiro remained Kiiro’s favorite. After all, what wasn’t there to love about the man’s too-warm body, with his surprisingly soft, over-inflated muscles, and the soothing laughs that stirred deep in his chest?
Kaoru and Kiiro’s relationship was simple and quiet, for the most part, Kaoru working or reading in silence while Kiiro curled up somewhere close by. There were the rare occasions when Kaoru was particularly high-strung that Kiiro would curl up on his lap, but beyond that, they usually just tolerated each other.
When Kojiro was around, though, Kiiro followed him everywhere, as if he was her personal sun, pulling her into orbit. She didn’t seem to mind that she was constantly at risk of being stepped on by his large, clumsy feet, and she always forgave him when it did happen.
Kaoru could’ve presented her with a dish filled to the brim with the finest fresh fish, but if Kojiro were in the apartment, she’d instead be in his arms or on his shoulders, trilling in his ear and receiving ear rubs in return—her favorite.
Kaoru wasn’t even in the running for her attention.
Kiiro had earned a special place in Kojiro’s heart, too, but as they figured out only months after settling her into their home, Kiiro had an arrogant rebellious streak that put even Kojiro’s love to the test.
Kaoru was sinking into their rather lavish couch one Sunday afternoon, legs tucked underneath him and his ipad propped up on the tops of his thighs, while Kojiro was working in the kitchen to prepare an early dinner.
Kaoru looked up from the article he’d been scouring when he heard a loud clatter followed by a sharp, almost pained gasp from Kojiro. “Kiiro!”
No ‘Ki’ or ‘Kichan’, no ‘precious’, no ‘sweet girl’—her full name, spoken in a tone that sounded utterly distressed.
Kaoru slapped his ipad down flat against his thighs, ready to spring into action and ensure there’d been no fatal accidents in the kitchen, when he spotted movement from the kitchen’s entryway down the hall.
Kaoru had never seen Kiiro move quite so fast, and she was moving away from Kojiro, who dove into the hallway after her. As Kiiro scurried into the living room, Kaoru got a clear look at her.
The yellow of her eyes was almost entirely hidden by her wide, empty pupils, and her tail fluffed up defensively behind her, as if such a thing would really deter Kojiro from coming after her. Dangling from her mouth was a large chunk of what looked to be raw chicken, long enough that, were it not for Kiiro’s notable legs, it would’ve been dragging on the ground.
“Hey! Kiiro! Put it down. That’s my dinner, not yours.” Kojiro raised his voice and snapped his fingers as if he had any sort of authority over the situation, but Kiiro ignored him, making a beeline for the coffee table next to Kaoru’s feet and squeezing her body beneath it.
Kaoru found it increasingly hard to keep a straight face as Kojiro floundered, huffing and puffing and gesturing at nothing in particular, overcome with indignation.
“She stole my chicken!”
“I noticed.”
“I was going to cook that. To eat.”
“Were you, now?”
“I turned around, and she was on the counter just staring at me like I was the weird one doing shit I wasn’t supposed to be!”
“Mm.”
The more worked up Kojiro got, the more Kaoru’s lips began to tremble, and when Kiiro reappeared from under the table and shot between Kojiro’s legs and back into the kitchen, he couldn’t stop the peals of laughter that exploded out of him and echoed through the apartment.
At some point, Kojiro crossed his arms, looking less than impressed, but Kaoru could hardly see through the tears that clouded his vision. He laughed until his lungs burned enough to make him wheeze and cough, and he thought he heard a muttered, “I don’t think it’s very funny.”
They both perked up at the sound of a high-pitched meow, turning their heads toward the kitchen to watch as Kiiro came stomping back out with another stolen piece of chicken, having taken advantage of them being distracted.
Kaoru was cackling again before he’d even fully caught his breath, head tipped back against the top of the couch, arms wrapped tightly around his stomach.
“Kiiro, do not—do not—no!”
There was the loud thud of Kojiro falling to his hands and knees, likely grabbing at the pilfered poultry Kiiro had tucked away.
“That’s it, you’re no longer my favorite baby. Consider your baby card revoked. You come into my house, disrespect me in my own kitchen—“
Oh, Kojiro sounded so betrayed and heartbroken. Kaoru started to wonder if he should ask Kojiro for his inhaler at this point, unsure his lungs would ever recover.
‘Meeeeew! ’
“Don’t—excuse me? Don’t you use that tone with me.”
‘Mew.’
“No backtalking. You committed a crime!”
‘Mew! ’
“Ugh, I can’t talk to you right now. Stay out of my kitchen, you fiend.”
Kaoru couldn’t say for sure, his eyes closed through the entire interaction, but he could’ve sworn he’d heard Kojiro hiss at their cat, as if she’d tried to follow him after he specifically told her not to, and he was warning her off.
When clattering resumed in the kitchen (likely Kojiro cleaning up the chicken mess Kiiro had made), Kaoru forcibly regulated his breathing until the hitches in his breaths died away. He lifted his head and opened his tired eyes, only to be met by Kiiro’s piercing gaze from where she was now sitting at his feet.
“What, are you going to behave now? Listen to what your dad says?” he asked, mouth quirking up in a wry smile.
Instead of responding as vocally as she had with Kojiro, Kiiro simply jumped on the couch, crossed Kaoru’s lap, and settled down next to him until her back was pressed snugly against his thigh. He stroked his hand down her mostly-black spine, fingers then wandering to brush against some of the small white flecks scattered across her side.
“For what it’s worth, I think it was funny. You’ve got to keep that man in his place, make sure that fool knows what he’s up against. I think you did very well, Kiiro.”
“I can hear you conspiring in there,” came Kojiro’s accusatory tone from the kitchen.
Kiiro craned her head back to look at Kaoru, and he pressed a finger to his lips before offering her the hand he’d been petting her with. She sniffed it hesitantly, taking her time considering it, before she shoved the top of her head into it and purred just once.
Kiiro may have liked Kojiro best, but Kaoru was officially her partner-in-crime, and Kojiro loved them both dearly even as they found new ways to drive him out of his mind.