Chapter Text
He is hungry.
He is so hungry.
This cat does not know for sure how long it's been since he last ate. All he knows is, he's starving, and feeling incredibly weak. Even worse, searching for food has turned impossible due to the heavy downpour. The rain is so thick, he can barely see anything in front of him.
The only spot he could find for refuge from the weather, is right next to a dumpster. The cat wraps his arms around himself, curling up, in a futile attempt to keep a little warmth. He is already wet, there's nothing he can do but shiver and wait in his misery until either cold or hunger take him out.
How fitting to die with trash by his side. After all, he isn't any different. He too, has been disposed of. He, too, is unwanted.
This cat had a ‘home’ until not too long ago. But it's not like anyone there actually wanted him around. They fed him enough to keep him alive, sure, but that's about it. He was never a loved pet. No one played with him, or bothered to give him headpats like most pets seem to get.
When he was thrown out, he wasn't even surprised. He saw it coming. Keeping a defective cat that isn't cute… that's just a waste of money.
Still… he wishes… they had given him another chance. He knows he isn't the most charming, but… he can be obedient. If his owners had given him more attention, he would have done anything… to prove himself…
The cat is crying. The worst part is, he knows it's not the freezing cold or the unbearable hunger that's making him sob. Hybrids like him exist to be pets. If no one wants him… then…
But even so, he can't get himself to stop wanting to survive.
“U-um…”
The cat flinches at the sudden noise, looking up. It's… another hybrid. A dog? He is holding an umbrella, looking at him with so much sadness, it makes the cat feel humiliated.
“Do you… I mean… are you alright?”
The cat hisses. He is not alright! Obviously! Can't he at least be left alone!?
The dog takes a step back, his tiny ears flattening. “Sorry… I didn't mean to scare you. I… I saw you through the window, and you looked like you needed help… do you want to come into my home? I'll lend you a towel, and a change of clothes!”
The cat is skeptical. Why is a hybrid, a pet, making this offer? Where… are the humans? If this dog is acting on his own, won't he get in trouble?
His stomach growls so loudly that even rain couldn't hide the noise.
“We have food, too!” The dog adds. His tail wags a little. He extends a hand towards him.
Food… he really would like some food. His stomach growls again. Wordlessly, he takes the dog's hand, only because the lack of substance has him so weak that standing up by himself sounds like too difficult a task.
The dog smiles stupidly as he pulls him onto the sidewalk. Walking… is a real effort when you can't stop shaking, so the dog has to slow down his movements, and share his umbrella despite the cat already being soaking wet. While the feline is still quite skeptical and accepting only out of desperation… he appreciates the gentleness with which he is being treated.
He is taken to a nearby house. Not too big or fancy, but definitely pretty.
“Come in! It's alright.” The dog drags him in. He puts the umbrella aside, closes the door, and shakes his head to get rid of the water on his hair.
Under the lightbulb, the dog's features are much more visible. His hair is yellow, his ears are very small for a dog, and his tail is extremely fluffy. He has big eyes and freckles. He is wearing a red collar.
But more importantly than whatever this creature looks like… when sniffing the air, the cat can tell humans aren't around. So this idiot dog really went and acted on his own… great, they will both be in trouble.
“So… what's your name?” The dog asks, his tail slightly wagging again.
But the cat won't reply. What's the point of knowing? As soon as the humans return and find a random cat they didn't ask for, they will kick him out. He needs to hurry and get food before then.
The dog seems disappointed, but doesn't push it. “Right, you must be really cold… I'll bring you a towel!” And so he runs off.
Not being cold and wet sounds nice, but what the cat truly wants is to satiate his hunger. Humans can show up and ruin his chance at any minute, probably, so he won't stand around and wait. He rushes to find the kitchen. Food, food… anything will do. His shaky hands find a cabinet, desperately open it, and grab a plastic bag of… something. Crackers?
Which he tears open with his teeth like a feral animal. The contents fall to the floor, but it doesn't matter, he is struggling to stand on his feet anyway. He falls to his knees, grabbing and shoving everything into his mouth.
“Eh? Where did you go…?” The dog asks from somewhere else. It's followed by panicked footsteps. But that doesn't matter.
Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat. He is almost done swallowing down all the crackers. There was more stuff in the cabinet, he can-
“W-wait, it's dangerous to eat that quickly!” The dog shouts when he finds him, throwing the towel he brought aside. He rushes to the refrigerator, grabbing a carton of milk and bringing it to the cat. “At least drink so-”
The cat snatches it from his hand. He gulps the milk down, but ends up choking on it and dropping the carton. Damnit… he loves milk, that's the one thing he wouldn't want to waste the most…
“I-I told you to slow down…!” The dog says, patting him on the back while the cat coughs.
He can't slow down! He is about to grab more of the broken crackers and shove them down his own throat, but pauses once he hears the click of the front door opening.
“Master is home!” The dog announces cheerfully, his ears perking up and his tail wagging, like he didn't do something he most definitely isn't allowed to do mere minutes ago. No human will be happy to encounter this mess.
“Akihiko?”
“I'm in the kitchen, Master. Welcome home.” The dog says, but stays in place. He probably doesn't want the cat to start choking again. And what a welcome this is… his ‘master’ is about to find a wet unknown cat inside his house, eating his food.
Hearing a person approaching, the cat’s instincts tell him to grab more food and run, get out by the window, leave before he is kicked out… or worse. Humans can do much, much worse. But what he has eaten is not enough for him to actually recover any energy, it was hard enough to walk… he is not gonna be capable of running.
The human entering the kitchen is a man. He is wearing nice clothes, an eyepatch and long earrings, he is keeping his hands behind his back, and has an air of elegance to him. And an extremely neutral expression as he looks at him. So neutral that it becomes creepy.
The cat’s tail puffs up, his ears flatten, and he can't help hissing at him.
It doesn't provoque any reaction. Instead, the man turns to his dog. “Akihiko, explain.”
“Y-yes! I saw him under the rain, and felt bad, so I brought him in…”
“You left the house?”
The dog seems to just now be realizing he broke what sounds like a rule. He nervously fidgets with his fingers, staring at the floor. “Only… for a little bit…”
“I told you not to go outside on your own.” The human sounds angry, even if his face remains expressionless.
“It was quick-”
“Quick or not, you disobeyed me.”
“I'm sorry…”
“... We'll talk about this more later. He didn't have a collar?”
“No collar.” The dog confirms.
It's not just now, the cat has never had a collar. His owners never bothered to buy one for him. He stares at the red collar on the dog's neck… isn't having that thing on all the time uncomfortable? But, loved and well taken care of pets seem to always have one. He feels a little sting of envy.
“I see.” The human walks towards them, then crouches in front of the cat, still showing no emotion in his singular eye. “You smell like trash. Should I give you a bath?”
Hearing that, the cat's eyes widened with fear. This guy is a pervert! He covers himself with his arms as best as he can.
“M-master, don’t scare him like that!” The dog places himself between them, agitated. “He was joking! I promise he was joking!”
The hell kind of joke was that!? The cat moves backwards, towards a wall, trying to create more distance between himself and the man that just threatened to put his hands all over his body. Now more than before he really wants to run. Maybe he still can. If these two get distracted for long enough…
“Yes, it was a joke.” The man smiles in a way that does not feel genuine. He points at the crumbs on the floor. “These you ate… they are not meant to be eaten by themselves. That’s why they have almost no flavor, and are quite thin. You swallowed down an entire new bag I was saving, and yet I doubt you are feeling any less hungry than before. You crave an actual meal, yes?”
The cat does not reply. He is shaken, regretting stepping into this house.
“I’ll prepare food for you. Fish. How does that sound?”
The cat stays quiet.
“Akihiko, take him to the bathroom and give him clean clothes. I believe he has enough strength to clean himself.”
“Yes, Master…” The dog grabs the cat’s hand, helping him stand up just like before. While he is obedient, he seems somewhat upset now.
The cat did not stop thinking of how much he wants to leave the entire time he was in the bathroom, scrubbing himself with small towels soaked with soapy warm water. The dog (Akihiko, he now knows that’s his name) said a shower would be dangerous when he can’t stand very well, so this was the best solution. The cat was extremely relieved to be the one washing himself, after all, even if that does not mean he is safe. It felt nice to get rid of the dirt on his skin. And, it is true he was smelling like trash…
He was given clean, soft pajamas. They belong to Akihiko, who is smaller than him, so it’s a bit of a tight fit… but oh well, anything is better than the dirty and wet clothes he had on until now.
Akihiko also continued to insist his Master simply has a tendency to say weird things, does not actually intend to do anything bad to him, and is in truth very kind. This cat does not believe him. Sure the human might be nice to his already beloved pet, that does not mean he will receive the same treatment.
Anyway, his stomach is still growling like crazy, only getting worse thanks to the delicious smell in the air. While his owners did feed him, it was never stuff particularly tasty. Just like with everything else, they didn't care if he was happy with it or not.
He is guided back to the kitchen. His hunger mixed with the strong scent of freshly prepared dinner makes his head spin. The human tells him to sit down, and after some hesitation, he does. There's an empty plate in front of him.
The guy isn't… messing with him, right?
“Tell me your name.”
The cat glares at the human giving him an order, holding a tray actually filled to the brim with food. But he hesitates to answer. After all, what does it matter what his name is? And he is still creeped out!
“Don't have one?”
He does have one. It's just… he doesn't associate himself with it much. His owners rarely said it, it was always ‘you’ or ‘hey’, if not straight up insults. When he can't remember the last time he heard someone say it, it's hard to say it himself. His stomach growls again.
“No answers, no food.”
“Ha…Haruka…” The cat murmurs.
“That's such a pretty name!” Akihiko says cheerfully, in contrast to how tense the cat is feeling.
The human gives the dog a glare that very clearly means ‘be quiet’. As a reward for answering, he grabs a spoon and uses it to pour a bit of rice, some vegetables, and a small portion of fish onto the empty plate.
The cat, of course, wolfs it down in an instant. So happy to be eating something filling, tears form in his eyes. He hates how his hunger is being used to force him to speak, but what can he do?
“Do you have a home, Haruka?”
“N-no… not anymore.”
Again, a small amount of food is put in front of him, and again, he eats it with desperation. If he had the energy to snatch the tray, he would.
“What happened? Got thrown out?”
The cat finds this one too shameful to answer verbally, so he simply nods.
The human smirks, as if mocking him. “Poor thing.”
“Master, don't bully him!” Akihiko speaks up to defend him, again, and this time pouting. “He is already suffering enough! Stop that!”
But the human is right. He is but a poor, sad, pathetic thing. It hurts to hear, but he won't deny it.
“Hmm. I'm sorry. Cats are just fun to mess with, don't you think?”
“No!”
The cat watches them. To think a pet can so freely stand up to his owner… he wasn't allowed to do that back when he had owners. He initially thought this eyepatch guy was very strict, with the way he spoke to Akihiko… but now he is seeming lenient.
“Fine. You can eat all you want now, Haruka.” The man places the tray down, allowing him to finally properly eat.
While the cat is busy, the human sits down with a sigh. He turns to his dog. “You want me to keep him, don't you?”
“He doesn't have anywhere to go…” He looks at him with his literal puppy eyes, begging.
“I don't want to live with a pervert.” The cat says between bites. He is fully aware that, as a hybrid, whatever it is he wants is beyond irrelevant. He knows humans just grab them and do with them as they please, always. But maybe if he shows some rebellion, this weirdo won't want him.
The human laughs, truly amused.
“But…” Akihiko steps towards the cat, grabbing his arm. “You'll die of hunger out there on your own!”
That's true. That's absolutely true.
“Master isn't as bad as he seems, he won't do perverted things to you!” How can a pet say that with such certainty, really?
“He is not the one that gets to decide, Akihiko.” The human reminds him, firmly. How does this dog keep forgetting that they got no rights or agency at all? Has he been that… pampered? “You get bored when I'm not home, don't you? I suppose it will be beneficial for you to have a companion. He is staying.”
Akihiko brightens at the news. The cat instead becomes gloomier. He understands this is his only possible chance for survival, however… he doesn't feel safe here. He wraps his arms around himself, remembering the first thing his new owner said to him.
But the human has made his decision. If he is anything like the other humans he knows, protesting will only earn him a slap in the face and at least one day of starvation as punishment.
“Too bad for you, Haruka.” The man says with another of his fake smiles, seeing his dejected expression. “I'll get you a collar later. Akihiko, he'll sleep in your room. Tell him the rules, I'll be cleaning up here.”
“Yes, Master!” Akihiko smiles joyfully, lowering his head while standing next to the human. He gets headpats. The cat is conflicted between wondering what that feels like, and hoping this guy never lays a single finger on him.