Chapter Text
“Just a few drops of this and…”
Rui was in his makeshift lab, finishing up a potion that supposedly boosted the stamina of whoever tried it. He was going to give it to Tsukasa the following day, seeing as the role he was playing in Wonderlands x Showtime’s upcoming performance was strenuous and required lots of stunts to pull off.
“AHA! Done! Now I just need to finish writing the instructions for how to make it, just in case I want to make it again in the future…”
Rui scavenged his desk for a pen, and began jotting down the final steps.
However, as Rui placed his pen down to take a break from writing, his right hand hit the potion and—BAM!
Rui accidentally knocked the potion over, spilling it all over his left hand and forearm.
OH NO.
Not only did he have to make this potion all over again, but since this potion worked if poured over skin, he was going to face the side effects of it rather than Tsukasa!
“This shouldn’t be a big deal…” Rui thought, trying to comfort himself. “It shouldn’t take that long to remake it since I now know what to do, and it might even be helpful for me and my role as well!!”
Just as Rui thought that, he began feeling a weird tingling sensation throughout his entire body as the serum began setting in. That's weird, it shouldn’t be doing that… if anything the side effects setting in was supposed to feel relaxing to whoever tried it!
All of a sudden Rui’s vision became blurry. He blacked out, flopping onto his bed then passing out.
The next thing Rui remembered after that was waking up, feeling…dazed. How long has it been? Judging by the fact that it was still light outside, he was probably knocked out for an hour or so. Rui got up to remake the potion for Tsukasa again but his room seemed… different…
“Eh? I never remembered my room being this big…” Rui thought to himself.
He tried getting off of the bed, which was now a relatively high distance up for himself, yet he managed to land himself on all fours with no damage. Weird…
Rui looked down at his feet to investigate even further this strange occurrence to find… paws?
Eh? What HAD happened to Rui?
Rui frantically began running to the mirror in his room, only to see a small, fluffy, purple cat with blue highlights standing in the reflection.
“What.”
”WHAT.”
How had this potion managed to turn Rui into a cat?
Still in shock, Rui tried backtracking his thoughts to think of a possible reason as to WHY his potion turned him into this. Then he remembered.
On his way home from school that day, Rui ran into a cat that could NOT leave him alone. He stopped to pet the cat for a bit, as the cat was rubbing himself all over Rui. And since Rui wanted to get the potion done as soon as he got home, he didn't think twice about washing his hands. A strand of the cat's fur must have gotten into the potion on accident, which explained Rui’s sudden transformation.
Rui stared at himself in the mirror for a few moments. Setting aside the situation he was in, Rui couldn't help but find himself to be a LITTLE bit cute… he's always had a soft spot for cats, and the fact that he was temporarily one made him awe.
“Ah. Right.” Rui thought to himself. He needed to find out how long this potion would last. Luckily, he only spilt around half of the contents of the beaker on his hand, so the effect should wear off by tomorrow night.
But one problem arose.
Seeing as Rui hadn't eaten in over 12 hours, and considering the fact that the transformation took a lot of his energy, Rui was hungry. REALLY hungry. He can't go into the kitchen to get something either, all of the food was stored in cupboards/the fridge, which would be hard to access considering the fact that Rui now had paws.
Unfortunately, Rui’s parents were out of town for a few days, and Nene would be spending the night at Ichika’s since their vocal practices went on later than usual. “Hmm… What about Mizuki?”
Right. Mizuki lives somewhat far away, walking over to their house would be too energy consuming. And Emu was out of the equation, for the same exact reason. There was only one person left…
“Tsukasa should be leaving rehearsals by now, maybe I can run into him on his way home!!” Rui thought.
Rui managed to get out of his house by leaping through a window that was cracked open, and began walking over to the usual route Tsukasa used to get home.
—
“Alright, I think that's enough practice for today!” Tsukasa said to himself. Emu and the others weren't with him, since it wasn't a day they HAD to show up to rehearsal. Tsukasa just wanted to perfect a few stunts for their upcoming performance, especially since they had been troubling him for some time now… luckily, spending a few hours practicing made him feel a LOT better about it!
Tsukasa began walking home. As he walked home, he thought of Rui… He acted differently earlier that day, as if he was happy to be around him… Was he just trying to persuade him to try another one of his inventions again? Well, Tsukasa didn't really mind the extra attention, setting aside the fact that it made him feel… weird…
Tsukasa’s thought process was suddenly interrupted when he heard a mewing noise nearby. Hm… Tsukasa decided to look for the source of this noise.
After further investigation Tsukasa noticed that the mewing was coming from a small, fluffy cat… wait a minute, did it have purple fur?!
Tsukasa picked the cat up to inspect it more. It stared at Tsukasa with its golden eyes. Tsukasa couldn't help but coo at it–that was one of the cutest cats he had ever seen! He didn't know why, but this cat looked similar to a certain someone…
“Hello there! Are you lost? Do you happen to have a home??” Tsukasa said as he placed the cat down, kneeling to pet it.
—
Rui couldn't help but feel embarrassed by the fact that he had just been picked up by Tsukasa. Not only that but his kind, gentle demeanor was so… comforting!!
“Hm… do you happen to have a microchip? Maybe I should take you to the shelter to get you scanned..” Tsukasa said.
Oh NO. The last thing Rui could have wanted was to end up in an animal shelter. He had already gotten himself into enough trouble as is today!!
Rui looked up at Tsukasa with a stern look, trying to make him not take Rui to the shelter, only for Tsukasa to awe even more.
“Oh my GOODNESS YOU ARE. SO. CUTE AUUUFHHGHHHHH” Tsukasa said as he burst into tears of joy. Well, that definitely was Tsukasa…
Rui looked down. Communication with Tsukasa– or anyone for that matter–was useless. As long as he was stuck as a cat, nobody would be able to take him seriously.
“Hm… on second thought it is rather late… The shelter is probably closed. I’ll rely on you to find your way home!” Tsukasa said as he began walking away.
Oh no… Tsukasa is his ONLY option! Rui began thinking quickly for ideas on how to make Tsukasa take him home, when he suddenly came up with an idea.
Rui decided to take advantage of his awe factor and ran up to Tsukasa, running himself in between Tsukasa’s legs. Tsukasa stopped once more to awe at him again.
“Hehe… you sure love attention!! Could it be that you’re trying to tell me something??”
Tsukasa picked Rui up once more to investigate him again. After inspecting him again, Tsukasa realized how HUNGRY Rui looked!!
“Oh my goodness, you must be starving!! You poor thing… Well, my parents probably wouldn’t mind, and my siblings will definitely love you, so you can stay at my place for a few days!!”
PERFECT!! Rui had managed to get himself into Tsukasa’s home! Now, he just had to hope that they didn’t feed him any veggies…
“Alright, come here!” Tsukasa said, interrupting Rui’s thought process. Next thing he knew, he was being carried by Tsukasa, in his arms, home.
“EH?” Rui was once again embarrassed to be held by Tsukasa. Every so often Tsukasa would look down at him to make sure he was ok, giving him the most… loving, caring look!! He didn’t know why but it made Rui feel uneasy… in a good way, of course!! He’s never seen this side of Tsukasa before… he’s only ever known the confident, proud Tsukasa who was hard working to achieve anything—but this gentle side of Tsukasa was just as amazing. No matter what Tsukasa was like, Rui would still love him the same no matter what. Wait a minute… did Rui just say love?!
“Ah, I should probably tell you!! Tonight is the official Tenma movie night! Every few months or so me, my sister and my brother Toya will watch a movie with snacks at my house. Don’t worry, I’m sure they won’t mind!! If anything, they would LOVE your presence tonight, ESPECIALLY Saki.”
Rui smiled to himself. He found it cute that Tsukasa was telling him all these things, even though for all that Tsukasa knows he’s just talking to a cat.
Eventually the two made it to the Tenma household. Toya was sitting on the couch, drinking tea while Saki prepared snacks.
“We’re home!”
“Ah, welcome home, big brother!! Wait—did you just say we??”
“Yes! Well about that…”
Saki then came over to Tsukasa to finally see the small, fluffy cat in his arms. Saki’s face IMMEDIATELY lit up as soon as she saw the cat.
“I ran into it on my way home, and it just wouldn’t leave me alone… it looked hungry, and I figured that the animal shelter was closed so I decided to take it home. He’s adorable, isn’t he?? You guys don’t mind if he stays for movie night, right?” Tsukasa said as he joined in on Saki’s cooing.
“OF COURSE!! THAT IS THE CUTEST CAT I HAVE EVER SEEN HE’S GOING TO MAKE MOVIE NIGHT EVEN MORE FUN THAN IT ALREADY IS”
Toya watched the two fawning over the cat, beaming at their enthusiasm. One thing that has never changed between the two was their undying optimism.
When the two of them finally settled down, Tsukasa said to Toya, “He DOES look a lot like Rui, doesn’t he? I mean, the odd colors and the eyes… his personality too, even!!”
Toya took a sip from his cup of tea. “You really care about Rui a lot, huh… that’s a good thing, him and your other cast members definitely bring out the best in you! Not to mention you always talk about him a lot whenever I am over… it’s great that you have found someone to trust!”
Tsukasa’s face then began turning red. “Ah, is that so? Um… don’t say that so loud, it’s embarrassing..!” Tsukasa said, flustered.
Toya gently laughed. “Of course, of course, I’m sorry!”
Meanwhile Rui was about to be put into cardiac arrest.
“Tsukasa… talks about me a lot?? With his siblings? Why was he so flushed when Toya said that?! Is this the so-called proud world future star that I see every day?” Rui thought to himself. He was still in Tsukasa’s arms, which only made the situation worse.
“ANYWAYS, I should get to feeding you, you still look like you’re starving! Here, let me see what I have in the fridge for you…” Tsukasa said, finally setting down Rui.
Tsuaksa walked over to the fridge and opened it, scavenging through the inside to see what to feed Rui.
“Ah, of course! You can have some of the leftover Chicken tonkotsu we had last night!” Tsukasa said, pulling a small box out of his fridge and moving the contents of it onto a plate for Rui to eat.
“I made it myself, so enjoy!!”
Rui walked over to the plate that was set on the ground for him and tried some of the chicken. It was some of the best food he had EVER eaten.
Rui managed to down the entire thing in under one minute as Tsukasa watched, amused.
“Wow, you really were hungry!! Or maybe you just really like my cooking… as expected of a world future star like me!!” Tsukasa said to himself, proudly.
Rui giggled. THERE was the Tsukasa he was so used to seeing. The Tsukasa that made Rui fall in love… platonically, of course!! These new found feelings he harbored for Tsukasa were perfectly normal, right? Almost every other group of friends felt this way towards each other, most certainly!!
After a while and constant attention from both Saki and Tsukasa the group was finally ready. Toya got out blankets and such, while Saki placed the snacks on the table. Meanwhile, Tsukasa went looking for the movie they will be watching.
“Ah, here it is! Spirited Away!” He said, proudly after finding the movie on a streaming site.
“Yay! I’ve been waiting for a while for this, this is one of my favorite Ghibli movies!!” Saki chimed in.
The three of them then gathered on the couch to begin watching as Rui watched. However, after some time they never started. Tsukasa then looked over to Rui.
“Well, aren’t you going to join us?”
Rui looked shocked. “They wanted me up there? I thought they just wanted me for company!!”
“But… being so close to Tsukasa… I don’t know if I can handle that!” Rui thought to himself.
Tsukasa waited for the cat to walk over.
“Come on… don’t make me pick you up!!”
If Rui were human at that point in time his face would have gone completely red. Being held in Tsukasa’s arms AGAIN?? That’s too much!
Then, just as if he was ordered to do so he walked over to where the trio was and leaped onto the couch, right onto the lap of whoever was in the middle—which just so happened to be Tsukasa.
After that the movie started, and Saki ended up being the first to pet him. Of course, the attention from Saki and Toya was enjoyable, but the attention from Tsukasa felt… different… Rui felt his heart skip a beat whenever Tsukasa reached his hand over to stroke Rui’s soft, fluffy fur. He was so gentle… Rui wondered if he was ever like this with people. He found himself wanting Tsukasa to hug him while he ran his fingers through Rui’s silky hair… wait a minute, WHAT was Rui thinking?! He tried brushing this aside, and focusing on the movie instead.
Eventually, Saki fell asleep, and Toya found himself dozing off as well. Soon enough it was just him and Tsukasa left, which obviously made Tsukasa give him even more attention than before.
“Oh my goodness..” Rui thought to himself. He was trying hard to not show his happiness visibly. But he eventually gave in, and started purring for the first time. He couldn’t help it anymore, it was embarrassing but it felt so good.
Tsukasa looked down at the cat lovingly.
“You purr so softly, just as I thought you couldn’t get any more cuter…”
Rui wanted this moment to last forever. Him, on Tsuaksa’s lap, as Tsukasa loved him ever so caringly. Rui purred even more deeply.
Unfortunately, the movie eventually came to an end, and Tsukasa got up to wake up the others and walk them to their rooms. The entire time he was gone Rui lay on the couch, bored and sad that Tsukasa left him. Once or twice when he crossed by the couch he tried mewing to get Tsukasa’s attention, but it was no use. He really is determined to take care of his siblings, huh… Rui admired Tsukasa for that.
Finally, when both Saki and Toya were asleep in their rooms, Tsukasa came back for Rui.
“You look sleepy… would you perhaps like to sleep with me tonight?” Tsukasa said to Rui.
Eh? Sleep? With Tsukasa? Just when Rui thought this day couldn’t get any more chaotic…
“Alright. Let’s go.” Tsukasa said, as he once again scooped up Rui in his arms.
As Tsukasa carried Rui up to his makeshift room, Rui couldn’t help but feel happy. He could definitely get used to Tsukasa carrying him like this.
Tsukasa gently placed Rui on his bed while he got ready for bed himself.
As Tsukasa left for the bathroom to change/brush his teeth, Rui looked around Tsukasa’s room while perched on his bed. His room certainly smelled and looked nice, nothing less expected than his star.
When Tsukasa was done with his bedtime routine he came back to his room, and turned his lamp on.
“Now, I normally brainstorm ideas for future shows before going to bed, but since tonight was so long I’ll just go straight to bed…” Tsukasa said to himself as he crawled under his covers.
Rui decided to sleep on the opposite corner of where Tsukasa was, just to make sure he wasn’t even more of an emotional wreck than he was at that moment. But after a while Rui began to feel lonely and cold…
Tsukasa was already fast asleep, so Rui decided to crawl up to him and curl up right near Tsukasa’s chest. Almost automatically Tsukasa placed his hand on Rui, almost as if to comfort him. As the two cuddled, Rui began purring until he eventually drifted into sleep. His first time asleep as a cat… he thought it would be more humiliating but if he was being honest he loved this, ESPECIALLY considering the amount of attention he got from Tsukasa in just a few hours (although the situation itself and all the attention he got made him feel a bit embarrassed sometimes). Who knew what would happen tomorrow?