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It started off as a normal day.
Nene was walking down the street, towards the local market to pick out ingredients for dinner.
It was raining, so she was holding an umbrella to keep herself dry.
Although, just out of the corner of her eye, she swore that she saw a flash of purple… fur?
Nene paused for a minute, but then continued walking. With all of this rain coming down, her eyes could be playing tricks on her.
But as she walked closer to where she saw the purple fur, she heard a loud meow coming from beneath some staked up boxes.
Startled, she bent down, and below the boxes, taking refuge from the rain were…
Two cats. One purple, one yellow.
She stared at them for a bit, before the yellow cat meowed loudly once again.
Quickly, she took her umbrella and put it over the cats. She looked up and down the street, for potential owners of the cats.
But she didn’t see anyone.
Nene sighed in her head. She knew she couldn’t leave these cats alone in the rain.
So she grabbed both of them (the purple one was difficult to hold considering how big it was), and walked back up the street, completely giving up on her dinner plans.
Hopefully Emu won’t be mad at her.
“We have to keep them!!!” Emu yelled in excitement as she cuddled both of the cats.
“But Emu, what if their owners are out there looking for them?”
“They don’t have any collars!” Emu replied.
“E-Er… well, we don’t have any cat food.”
“You said you were gonna go back to the market, right? Then you can get some!” Emu replied.
“I-I…”
Nene was conflicted. On one hand, she didn’t want to have to worry about pets. It was just her and Emu, already enough to be worried about.
…But on the other hand, she can’t help but want the cats, just like Emu did.
So she caved.
“G-gah… alright. We can keep them.” Nene surrendered.
“YAY!!! OHH! What are we gonna name them?!” Emu jumped up and stared intently at the cats.
“Hmmm… how about we call the yellow cat Tsukasa, and the purple cat Rui! Such cute names!!!” Emu smiled widely was she started to pet them like crazy.
“Huh? How did you come up with those names?” Nene questioned as she was grabbing her bag to go back to the market.
“I don’t know! They just feel right!” Emu smiled back at her.
Nene sighed fondly as she stared at the two cats. Tsukasa and Rui.
…Who knows, maybe having a few pets won’t be so bad for them.
INCIDENT NO. 1
While Emu and Nene were eating breakfast around a week after they first took in Tsukasa and Rui, it started.
Nene had gotten up from her seat and put her plate in the sink.
As she was walking back to the table where Emu sat, Tsukasa came running into the kitchen as fast as a lightning bolt, playing around with Rui.
Unfortunately, Nene didn’t have enough time to react before…
“W-wahhh!” Nene tripped on Tsukasa’s tail and fell on the ground face first.
Tsukasa meowed in surprise as he look at his owner face down on the floor.
“Ergghh…” Nene groaned as she tried to stand up. Once she stood up fully, she looked down at Tsukasa and Rui, who were staring at her.
She then noticed she had a nosebleed.
Quite upset, she started talking down at Tsukasa for tripping her.
“Even though it was an accident, you should’ve been watching where you were going!” Nene said in frustration as she grabbed a paper towel from the kitchen counter.
Just as she was about to say something else to him,
Rui crouched down and shook his backside before jumping onto her head.
“H-HEY!!!” Nene shouted as she was pushed pack onto the kitchen counter.
Tsukasa let out a loud meow (which Emu and Nene had realized just how loud of a cat Tsukasa was), and Rui jumped off of her and back down to Tsukasa.
Nene stood with a nose bleed and now her hair rustled as Rui cuddled up to Tsukasa.
“He probably did that to “protect” Tsukasa from me…” Nene grumbled in her head as she walked back to the dining room where Emu was eating.
“How annoying.” She thought in her head.
INCIDENT NO. 2
Nene woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of a cat running around right outside of her bedroom door.
It couldn’t have been Tsukasa, considering how he was starting to be considered the “good” cat. Also considering how he was snuggled up with Emu and herself.
So there was only one other cat that it could be…
Nene made a sound full of grogginess before sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
She left Emu and Tsukasa in the bed and quietly opened their bedroom door.
She poked her head out and didn’t see anything, so she fully walked out of the room and started to walk down the hallway.
As she got closer to the living room, she swore she could hear… scratching noises?
In the darkness, she could barely see anything. But as she motioned around for a light, she heard another scratch. It almost sounded like ripping, perhaps…
Finally, Nene found the light switch. And when she turned the lights on…
“WHAT?! RUI!!! BAD CAT!!!” Nene screamed in shock and annoyance at the scene in front of her.
Rui, the giant purple menace, was giving her puppy eyes as he stood next to Nene’s ripped up couch.
The couch was entirely ruined, even all of the pillows. There was couch stuffing everywhere.
Nene was frozen in place as Rui trotted on over to her and rubbed his head against her leg, as if asking for forgiveness.
Nene couldn’t believe it.
INCIDENT NO.3
Nene thought she finally figured out Tsukasa and Rui’s favorite cat food.
There is a ton of different options at the local market that they live near, but Tsukasa and Rui seemed to really love the fish flavors. They only learned this after trial and error, of course.
(Rui always threw up the vegetable tasting ones and Nene always had to clean it up… gross.)
It was 6pm, which meant it was feeding time for the two cats.
Emu had picked out two bowls for them, one with polka dots and one with stripes.
Although, the odd thing about today is that only one of the bowls was being eaten out of.
Nene was just finished making dinner, and was bringing Emu and her’s food out to the dinner table.
It was then when she noticed that Rui wasn’t eating his food. In fact, Rui was no where to be seen…
It was odd considering that Tsukasa and Rui were always together.
Nene thought nothing of it as she sat down next to Emu and chowed down.
Almost an hour later, Nene and Emu were completely full. Nene grabbed both of their plates and walked towards the kitchen.
As she walked, she realized that Rui hasn’t touched his food in the hour that she has been eating.
“Even more weird…” Nene thought to herself as she walked into the kitchen.
It was then when she saw the sight that was truly her breaking point.
Rui was on the counter, leaned over, eating some of the salmon that she had used in their dinner tonight. Tsukasa watched on with concern.
With Rui disrespecting her face, her belongings AND her food, she finally snapped.
“RUI!!!” Nene screamed as she quickly put her and Emu’s plates down.
Tsukasa and Rui both jumped in surprise and Rui quickly jumped off the counter and took off.
“You’re not going to run away like you always do!”
Nene ran after Rui, cornering him by the front door. Emu and Tsukasa were close behind.
“Nene?! What’s happening! Why are you yelling at him?” Emu asked in concern as she picked up Tsukasa.
“I’m tired of this cat disrespecting our stuff, Emu!” Nene picked up Rui, but she had some trouble considering how big he is.
“But Nene! That’s what’s fun about having a cat! Dealing with their antics is-“
“I’M NOT HAVING FUN!” Nene yelled in response.
The house grew silent. Only the chirps of the crickets outside could be heard.
“Nene…” Emu was left speechless as she slowly tilted her head and looked down at Tsukasa.
“I-I… fine. I’m okay with keeping Tsukasa, but not Rui! He’s too much of a trouble maker.” Nene turned around, towards the front door.
“I’m going to take him to the shelter. You two can stay here-“
“No!!!” Emu put Tsukasa down and grabbed Nene’s arm.
Nene turned back.
“They’re a pair, Nene! We can’t get rid of one and keep the other, they need each other! I’m sure you’ve noticed how close they are…”
Nene started to feel conflicted as she looked at Rui in her arms. She then looked at Tsukasa, who rubbed his head against her knee.
…Slowly and quietly, she leaned down and put Rui on the ground.
She watched as Tsukasa walked up to Rui and bristle against him. She watched as Rui leaned towards Tsukasa and licked parts of his fur…
As she watched them interact, despite the simplicity of it, she couldn’t help but stare fondly.
After a moment, she couldn’t believe that she even thought about getting rid of Rui.
“Gah, these two cats being in love is so powerful…” Nene said as she started to tear up. Emu laughed and leaned down, starting to pet Tsukasa and Rui.
Nene started to pet them too.
”… I guess you’re right, Emu. The fun part about owning a pet is the struggles that come with it.” Nene smiled.
Tsukasa ended up falling asleep, cushioned by Rui’s furry tail.
“But still, what are we going to do about the couch?!” Nene pointed towards their destroyed couch as they sat on the floor with a blanket underneath them.