“Add a cat door,” Kakashi suggested. “And make sure your seals won’t kill him. If you die in the field, he can let himself out.” He considered this, found it lacking in tact, and added, “Or you could survive and come home to something small and violent.”

Katsuko thumbed the hilt of her sword, looking down again. “You’re pushing pretty hard for me to keep this guy,” she said, but there was a thread of something in her voice. Wistfulness, perhaps. “Did you make an emotional connection when he tried to maul your face?”

It hadn’t even taken that long. Kakashi didn’t allow himself free reign in many things, but cranky, evil-minded animals were an exception. He liked survivors.

Besides, Minato had made a point about taking the homeless, abandoned, or forgotten kids off Konoha’s streets. There weren’t enough resources available to offer the same protection to Konoha’s four-legged, furry destitutes but that didn’t mean the will wasn’t there. The older ones had been through the same wars. The same Kyuubi fires.

“Isn’t that how you make your emotional connections?” he said, mouth quirking. Katsuko snorted and he shrugged. “Things should have homes. Shinobi are more likely to make it back if they have something waiting — Intel did a study. But if you don’t want him, I’m sure someone else will take him.”

He left that hook dangling.

Katsuko gave the cat a supremely doubtful look. It had finished its fish and was eyeing Kakashi’s ankles in a meaningful way.

The leap was not surprising to either ninja. Kakashi stepped sharply aside, Katsuko chuckled, and the cat skidded to a baffled stop three feet past its intended target. It made a show of licking one paw, then casually strolled into Katsuko’s bedroom and jumped up onto her expensive sheets.

Kakashi said, “You could call him Katsudon.”

Katsuko’s amusement had been abruptly replaced with a complex mix of outrage and… yes, resignation. “I’m making no promises,” she said, watching the cat roll luxuriously across the bed. She raised her voice. “I’m leaving you here, stinky, and I’d better find my apartment the way it was when I left it.”

The cat burrowed into her pillows and kicked half of them playfully off the bed, settling down in a nest made from the rest like he’d found his own personal fiefdom.

Laughing softly, Kakashi headed for the door. “They say pets take after their owners.”