InsaneJournal

Kumori had curled up at the foot of Pippa's bed that night, slinking under the covers until he sat partially on her chest. His motorbox kicked into gear while those golden cat eyes stared at her pretty face. She was yummy enough to eat. He often bathed her arm with his little pink tongue when she slept through the night. With his paws tucked under his chest those golden eyes closed to fine slits as he curled against her.

Pippa had fed him. Gave him a comfortable bed and a roof over his head. It was a definite alternative to the alley streets and cardboard boxes. His coat was groomed, his belly full. He had a mind to stick around this one for a little while. Her Japanese friend had finally left. Kumori had been sure to leave the bastard a present in his suitcase. Mice were easy to find in New York.

The morning light peered through the window, bathing the cat in light. Only this morning he'd slipped into a different form. His multi-colored bobtail fur was replaced by a head of silky black hair. His naked skin pale, eyes dark but still cat-like.

Pippa had been positively giddy at the idea of having a pet to call her own. She was still young and still possessive over her toys, and so when Akito had spoken negatively of the cat, she immedaitely felt the need to defend it despite knowing next to nothing about it. Cats were cute, they were independent and aloof, something she could admire as she felt she was mostly the same way. And even though this one still went out and wandered about for hours and would mysteriously appear back at her door (or sometimes just in her apartment), the fact that it kept coming back resonated with her more than anything Akito could say.

So Pop kept feeding it. She gave it fresh food and brushed its fur and bought it a fluffy bed (though it seemed to prefer sleeping on her own white bed linens, something she'd been trying to put a stop to but failing miserably at). She tried to give it a name, but nothing she thought of seemed to fit. Akito kept calling it "stupid cat," but that was absolutely unacceptable, even sarcastically. She'd mostly stuck with "Kitty," or "Neko-chan," even though it was obviously a boy and stared at her blankly every time she used the cutesy name. She woke most mornings to find a text from Akito, asking if the cat had eaten her face yet, to which she usually replied with a photo of the cat sleeping in a patch of sun, or perched calmly in the window, or doing something else plain and cat-like.

For the most part, Pippa kept her own schedule, and woke up whenever she damn well pleased. She was always fully rested and never rushed, and because of this, she quite enjoyed mornings. She raised one arm above her head, stretching her body out underneath the comfortable weight of her multiple bankets. She still wasn't fully awake, and so didn't notice the extra body in her bed, pressing fully against her side, effectively pinning half of her body down to the mattress.

When she did open her eyes and her brain began to function, she was already halfway curled into the warmth. With a sharp cry, she pushed the body away from her and practically fell to the floor in the twist of bedlinens and limbs. Her brain was still too foggy to form words, and the only thing that came out of her mouth was a chain of "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

Kumori was startled from his perched position, the comfortableness of Pippa's warm body suddenly shrieking and on the floor. His eyes thinned out with a hiss.

"So loud," his voice no longer that of a content cat. There was a depth to it, not quite in the higher pitched Japanese tongue of his fellows. Stretching out his fingers curled into his palms, dark nails like his hair.

Stretching across the bed he peered at Pippa on the floor.


Pippa pulled herself to her feet quickly, gathering the sheets around her because she slept practically in her underwear, and while she had no qualms about being nude in her own home, there was a strange man in her home and all of her boldness had flown out of the window.

She reached quickly for her cell phone, which was lying on the night stand like it always did, and brandished it like she was going to do something physical with it. She was suddenly, acutely aware of the lack of weapon-like objects she owned, and wished she had at least some mace or something.

"I'm going to call the cops," she said, her confidence slowly coming back to her. "If you don't get out of here, right now, I'm going to--"

It was in the middle of repeating her threat that she noticed he was very much nude, and she paused for a moment, thinking back to the previous night. Confident she'd done nothing she wouldn't remember, she narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm going to call the cops," she repeated sternly.


Humans. So panicky. Combing a hand through his silk hair, Kumori slumped back into the mattress. His eyes stayed glued to hers, unmoving from that thick gaze.

"It's as easy to slip into this form as my other." He spike with the most acute laziness. "You picked up the stray." His grin spread across his face wide and devious.


"You're the cat," she said. Then, again, as if she hadn't heard herself, "You're the cat." Then, "Shit," because Akito had been right, and this wasn't a regular cat and she should have known better.

Now she was going to get her face eaten, and just when she was getting rather used to this face, too.

His grin went from ear to ear, like the Cheshire cat. "You catch on a little slow," he purred. He clhe purred. He rolled onto his back, hair flopping off his face as he crooned his neck to look at her. "Don't worry, I like you." He could nibble on her later.


"Oh, well in that case." The statement was swathed in sarcasm, some of her confidence returning to her.

"You could have mentioned it sooner. And you can put on some clothes." He seemed a bit taller than she was in her male form (who wasn't?), but she probably had something that would fit him. "I don't need my neighbors seeing a naked man leaving my apartment."


"Who said I'm leaving?" He grinned, licking his tongue against those plump lips. He rolled back onto his stomach, enjoying her sheets as much as he did in his cat form. They were soft, easy to get comfortable and stretch across. Much better than the tweed couch of his last owner.


"Who said you weren't?" She perched her free hand on her hip, her nails digging into her side just a bit, half from annoyance and half to remind herself she was still awake and this was a conversation she was actually having.

"Are you afraid?" his tongue rolled with his words. She was ready to throw clothes at him the moment he stood, but Kumori liked the freeing feeling of this body. It was a lot more comfortable than most. He'd worn it in for quite some time now.

"...As if," she muttered, but in reality she kind of was, thanks to Akito's constant yammering about monsters and demons and face-eating. "There are things scarier than you in the world."

She shuffled the few steps toward the fainting sofa against the nearby wall and plucked her robe from it. In what seemed like one quick movement, she dropped the sheet to the ground and pulled the silk robe around her body, tying the sash tight around her waist. "I'm going to have to send my bedding out to get cleaned, now that you've got your man-bits all over it. So, thanks for that bill."