Chapter Text
Splat!
The small sandy furred cat unceremoniously landed on the ground with a small hybrid of a splash and a thump. Instead of landing on her paws, her stomach and elbows received warm, hammering pain as a result of ‘cushioning’ her fall from the window.
She didn’t jump out of one of the second floored windows. Just the living room one that had been left open just enough for the cat to push it high enough to escape and jump.
She couldn’t go back. It was too loud, too frightening. Too much of everything bad. Her upwalkers were fighting again and this time was horrific!
The little cat may not have understood what her upwalkers were fighting about but she knew that their bare paws had both met each other to hurt one another. Her female upwalker, Ren, had been pinned to the wall while her male one, Juno. Juno had his paws around Ren’s purpling throat.
It wasn’t the first time he did this. However, this time, as the sandy cat bolted to the window, Ren had stopped fighting as hard when she last looked at her owner.
Rising to her paws, not daring to stop and check for injuries, the cat began to pick up her pace. It didn’t help that she was now getting drenched with rain water. On top of the fall causing mud to cling to her underbelly and legs. She probably looked like a drenched rat with folded ears.
It was raining violently, drops of rain slamming to the ground. Hail was only shy away from how it felt when it reached her skin under her pelt. It didn’t matter. The sky was purple, only being lit up every now and then by far away white lightning.
The rain made everything wet and slippery. Slippery on top of already shaking from fear and growing cold was making it hard for her claws to find purchase not to fall over again while she ran. Skittering under her white wooden fence, the young cat found herself in unfamiliar territory.
Sure, she often looked out from the fence. She never had the guts to actually stand in grass beyond her own. The rain masked any scent that could be dangerous.
But she couldn’t care about that now. She shouldn’t. She kept focusing on running. Through the slick wet grass. Past trees. She didn’t know how long she had been running when she skidded to a halt for air.
She found herself standing in front of a puddle. Chest heaving, her light brown eyes met her disheveled reflection in the murk.
From the help of the lightning flash illuminating for a fleeting moment, the small cat managed to see how dirty her chin down to her legs were. Her eyes were still shell shocked wide. Her now dirty pink collar that had her name— Kohane, was drenched and uncomfortable around her usually fluffy neck.
Kohane stared at herself for a long moment. She couldn’t tell if it was the tears or the rain making everything harder to see until she tasted the salt.
Finally catching her breath, she felt the adrenaline of it all slowly leave her body. As if she was slowly emerging from water. She felt the disgusting sensation of mud between her toes and claws.
Her short, usually fluffy tail found itself glued to her side after thunder knocked her out of her thoughts. When she shifted to flinch, a warm throb in her hind leg greeted her with caterwaul of its own.
She didn’t feel any pain up until then. Kohane winced, looking around. She had to keep moving. Get out of the forest-y area.
Now limping, Kohane slowly trudged through. Her paws felt heavy. So did her heart. Maybe she could return back home tomorrow? No. She couldn’t go back.
Especially since she heard the words ‘vet’ and ‘claws’ being thrown around before things escalated.
…
She could hear the honks of the metal creatures in the distance. She must be getting close to the city. Maybe a hand full of feetBut every bone in her body was screaming to rest. Her mind however, still swam with fear. What if something attacked her? A fox? A coyote??
She wasn’t sure about coyotes but she did see a fox a month or two ago when she sat on her fence. Just a faint blur. Enough to keep her scared though.
Deciding to finally stop for the night, Kohane found shelter in a few shrubs that had the shape of something bigger that previously found shelter here. Not recently though. She tucked her tail close, holding it in her paws as if holding her old mouse toy she played with as a kitten.
Rest wasn’t easy however. Every unexpected noise made Kohane flinch and whimper. The thunder wasn’t making it any better. Her eyes would snap open faster than a snake’s mouth.
The dirt that made up her bed as well as soggy leaves was just a loathsome feeling that Kohane was trying to suck up and ignore. One thing she couldn’t ignore was the following—
Rustle.
Kohane shot up this time. There was someone here. Ready to kill her for daring to leave her safer haven. She couldn’t fight. Well, she believed she couldn’t. The sandy cat never got into a scrap before. Claws prickling, she kept her body low, her fur spiking up. Well, it only looked spiky because of the rain. Hopefully it was just as intimidating.
Another rustle. Followed by a voice. Soulful, and curious. Maybe a tad nervous? Just a sliver of nervousness compared to Kohane.
“Who’s out here? Helloo?” A weary chuckle then continued. “If you don’t say anything, I’ll have to assume it’s a big juicy squirrel is what you are! And hopefully not a rabid raccoon.” It sounded as if she was putting on a brave front.
Should Kohane respond? What if this stranger was more harm? More fear, more anxiety. More running away.
Paw steps grew closer. Kohane realized with dread that she was probably whimpering. “Hello? Don’t be scared! You can probably hurt me more easily than I can, aha.”
Fighting the urge to screw her eyes shut, Kohane dared to take a peak. She saw a black paw. Lean but slightly well muscled. Not scrawny or bulky. This paw wasn’t big either.
It was a cat. Finally deciding to say something, Kohane sighed and pulled out her mental white flag.
“D-don’t hurt me. Please?” Her voice sounded pitiful to her own ears. The paw turned into two as the steps grew close enough for Kohane to make out more fur.
Then with a crouch, Kohane was face to face with amber eyes. With another flash of lightning, Kohane could briefly see the cat’s colors. This cat had jet black fur with very faint dark blue highlights on her cheek tufts. Were those— yellow star markings on her pelt too? Amazing, Kohane was immediately intrigued as she was terrified.
“Oh! It’s another kitty! A cute one too. What’s your name?” The other female cat purred curiously, a brow arched.
“Wh-who are you?” The sandy cat retorted back but didn’t sound confident whatsoever.
“My name’s An! Now, you?”
“Kohane…” she supposed she wasn’t in a position to deny this stranger— An, her name.
“You’re not a street cat are ya? You still have a collar. You lost?” If An had seen the collar, then why did she ask for her name? Did she just simply not notice? Or was it because it’s too dark to make out what it says?
“I ran away. It was…bad. Bad at home. I can’t go back,” Kohane sniffled.
“You’re going to get sick or worse if you stay here. Or at least without warmth,” An frowned, whiskers twitching. “Why don’t I take you to my place? Can you walk?”
“I hurt my leg,” and I also don’t want to be kidnapped. She kept that last part to herself though, as not to anger this new cat.
“Ah well, we can get a move on at dawn. Scoot over,” An suddenly began to make her way into the small shelter, causing the shorter to squeak.
“Ah-! An, what are you doing?!” This black cat was going to be full of surprises, wasn’t she?
“Keeping us warm, silly,” An curled up beside the sandy colored cat. Feeling her fur against her own made it prickle. Prickling with a feeling she never experienced before this.
“Th-thank you but- I think I’ll be—“ a sneeze cut her off. Great. It was only proving An’s point. She then furrowed her brows with confusion after a moment. “Why are you out here? If-if you don’t mind me asking.”
“Ah well, I was coming back from the pond near here. I accidentally dozed off earlier and woke up to being a drenched rat! I was just on my way back to the ally when I noticed your fur.”
“O-oh…You’re an a-ally cat?” Her folded ears pinned back a little. She had heard stories as a kitten about how ally cats fended for themselves, got into scraps on a regular basis, ate food from the trash, and showed no mercy.
“Mhm! Born and raised. Free as a bird. No dumb two footer telling me what can or cannot scratch up,” a proud smile formed on the amber eyed cat’s maw. But if this cat was ally-born, why wasn’t she shredding Kohane?
“You’re…nice for someone to be an ally cat,” Kohane whispered, her eyes lowering shyly. “W-well, I’m guessing not every ally cat is violent as they say, right?”
“Hah, I’d never hurt anyone out of malice. Especially not you. You haven’t made my whiskers grow into a twist,” An then swiped her tongue over her white paw. Her movements were almost gracious with a twinge of spunk. “You should probably rest.”
“I can’t…It’s all so loud,” Kohane allowed herself to lay back down at least.
“With folded ears, I have expected that it be less of an issue to hear,” the other adolescent cat teased lightheartedly. “But I understand. Is it your first time being away from home?”
“Outside of staying overnight at the vet once, yes,” Kohane kept her eyes half lidded with a somber sigh. “I miss home but- I don’t want to go back…” for the next few heartbeats, everything minus the continuing rain was silent. An shifted, her head resting on Kohane’s neck where here collar was.
The shorter cat flinched. An could really easily pull at her collar and strangle her if she truly wanted to. But Kohane found herself submitting to the growing comfort she was receiving. “Thank you,” she murmured more drowsily.
An didn’t say more as she began to purr. She could feel her anxieties start to ebb thanks to this newfound friend. Well, at least she hope they were friend and lot later foe.
Maybe, just maybe, things will be okay.