Lost Kittens

 I found a box of abandoned kittens on my way home from school. There were four of them in the box. They looked cold and scared. I knelt down next to the box. One of the kittens looked up at me with hopeful eyes. The other three cowered behind her.

“What are you doing in a cardboard box?” I asked.

“We were left here,” explained the biggest kitten.

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? We are unwanted.”

“Why are you unwanted?”

“I don’t know. Do you want us?”

Do I want them? I wasn’t sure. Is this what she meant by unwanted?

One of the other kittens spoke, “Our brother was able to escape from the box. He’s trying to get a colony of strays to accept him. The leader of the colony doesn’t want him, but he keeps trying. Brother brings us food. He says we will join the colony when the leader accepts him.”

Brother brings us food. I wondered how long the kittens had been waiting, and why I hadn’t noticed them before.

“I can give you food and shelter,” I said. “Should I wait here until your brother arrives, or should come back for him later?”

“You want us!!?” the first kitten said.

“I never said that,” I said. “I’m just going to give you somewhere to be safe and warm to stay until you find someone who wants you.”

I was expecting the kittens to be disappointed, but they weren’t. In fact, they were happy. One of them looked up, and said, “That’s the kindest thing I’ve heard in my life!”

I took the kittens home, and I did not wait for the brother. While I was carrying them, I asked, “What are your names?”

“We don’t have names,” said the biggest one.

“I can fix that,” I said. I named the biggest one Chiika. The other female was named Pichi, and the males become Zumba and Dango. Dango was named for his coloring, which reminded me (and the kittens) of mochi or dango coated in red bean paste. Zumba was the only one to choose his own name. He asked if he could, and I let him.

When I got home, I made a nice bed for the kittens. I filled a bowl with water, and started looking for some fish. Aunt said that she’d go to the pet store to buy cat food. She also told me I better rehome them before the landlady comes around.

When Uncle came home, he looked unhappy to see them. “Ao,” he said. “I know that as a dragon, you probably think of animals as your equals. However, here in the human realm, we have rules, and our landlady doesn’t allow pets.”

Before I could say anything, Aunt spoke in my defense, “We have two weeks before the landlady is expected to show up again. Besides, we have rules in the spirit realm to. Don’t go around claiming we’re a lawless bunch out in the spirit realm. We have rules too; some are similar to human rules, and some are very different.”

“I never said there weren’t any rules in the spirit realm,” said Uncle.

“You implied it!” shouted Aunt.

“Uncle,” I said. “If you found a lost child out in the cold with nowhere to go, what would you do?”

“First, I’d ask the child where their parents are, and if they didn’t know, I’d drop them off at the nearest police station,” said Uncle.

“Are you saying I should take these kittens to the police?” I asked.

Before Uncle could say anything, Hana jumped in. “Don’t do that! They’ll be handed over to animal control. You’ll be sending them to certain death that way.”

“How ‘bout this?” Uncle said. “You two ask around school tomorrow. See if any of the other kids want one. Don’t come back until you’ve found one owner per kitten.”

“Ao, Hana,” Aunt said. “You have two weeks to find new owners.”

“And what if someone reports us to the landlady within those two weeks?” Uncle asked.

“And what if we put another kid in this same situation by letting them take home a kitten before even having a chance to ask their parents?” Aunt taunted.

It ended in a compromise. I had a week to rehome the kittens (with Hana’s help), but the new owners (at least one parent included) had to come to our apparent as soon as possible to pick up the kitten.

“You bringing those kittens home caused something unimaginable to happen,” said Hana.

“It did?” I asked.

“Yes! That was the first time Mom and Dad ever argued about something.”

“Actually,” Kenji interjected. “They got in an argument once when I was three, and Mom was pregnant with you. Besides, they didn’t start arguing this time until you made your ‘certain death’ comment.”

“Um, actually…” I began. “They were arguing before Hana joined the conversation.”

We found homes for the kittens. Hana and I asked around school. I recruited Junichi’s help (he didn’t take any of them, because he also lived in a no-pets apartment), and Hana recruited her friends. Her friend, Reina, took in Chiika. A second-grade boy and his family took in Dango. Before Dango left with his new family, he said, “Tell them they can change my name if they want.” So I told them, but I’m not sure if they changed his name or not. It’s not that Dango objected to his name. It’s just that he was the only one of the four kittens who didn’t love his name.

One of Uncle’s co-workers took in Zumba. Apparently, Uncle had told some of his work friends about the kittens, and one of them wanted to see them. After coming over, he took one look at Zumba, and the match was made.

Pichi was the hardest of the four to place, but we eventually found a home for her too. Her new owner was a boy who had a turtle, a hamster, two mice, a beetle, and three gold fish. I wondered if he was trying to start a zoo. I remembered the wolf I met at the zoo and how lonely he was. I hoped that the same thing wouldn’t happen to Pichi.

While rehoming the four kittens, I also started my search for their brother. I asked some stray cats if they knew him; one of them answered, “You mean that kitten who keeps trying to challenge Akitaro to a fight? Yeah, I know him, unfortunately.”

“Do you know where he is now?” I asked.

“Akitaro or Kasha?” said the cat.

“The kitten…He’s still young, so I doubt he’s become a kasha.”

“His name is Kasha, and I’m afraid I don’t know where he is. This is, however, the one time I wish I did.”

“Do you know where Akitaro is?” Maybe I could get some hints that way.

“I know his three usual spots. We can hope he’s at one of them now.” The cat lead me to one of those places, and there was, in fact, a solid ginger tabby there. “Oh, Great Colony Leader, Akitaro, I have come with a guest who seeks your presence.”

“Enough with the bullshit formalities, Tomi,” said Akitaro. He turned his head and looked me over. “If you're a bakeneko in human form, please transform into your cat form before continuing with this conversation. If you’re not a bakeneko, please leave.”

“I’m not a bakeneko,” I said. “Nor am I leaving until—”

I was interrupted by Akitaro turning to the other cat, and saying, “Tomi, where did you find this moron?”

“He’s looking for the kitten who wants to fight you,” said Tomi.

“Great,” said Akitaro. “We have an idiot looking for an idiot. With great luck they will find each other, and with greater luck they will never meet.”

“Does he need to win a fight against you in order to join your colony?” I asked.

“No, he doesn’t,” said Akitaro. “Even if he did, I wouldn’t apply that rule to an itty bitty little kitty barely weaned from his mother’s milk.”

“His siblings said that he was trying to join the colony.”

“Either they’re liars, or you got the wrong kitten and the wrong colony, Kid. Or maybe the idiot just doesn’t know how cat colonies work.”

“Why do you want to find Kasha, anyway?” asked Tomi.

“Why does it matter?” asked Akitaro. “If you cared why, then why didn’t you ask him before bringing him to me?”

“I found his siblings,” I said. I began telling them the story, but Akitaro (eventually) cut me off.

“Enough,” he said. “There are cats who better suited as pets, and there are cats better suited as strays. I’m sure Chiika, Pichi, Dango, and Zumba will become fine pets. I cannot say that is their best fitted rule, for I have not met them. I can, however, say that if that idiot is their brother, then he is not suited for the life of a pet. Especially not a city pet.”

“I understand,” I said. I left; my search was over. It’s not that I wanted to turn Kasha into a pet. I just wanted to let him know that he had the option, and I wanted to let his brothers and sisters know where and how he was. More than that, I wanted him it know where and how his siblings were. I told Pichi about the encounter. (The meeting was before we rehomed her, but after rehoming the others.)

“You tried searching for him?” Pichi sounded surprised.

“Of course,” I said. “Aren’t you concerned about him?”

“I’m a cat not a dog.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m not concerned about anyone but me.”

“Really? Chiika seemed concerned about all four of you when I found you in the box, and you, yourself, seemed concerned about your brother then.”

“Well, for one, I am not Chiika. For two, what did I say that made you think I was concerned about Brother?”

“‘Our brother was able to escape from the box,’ and ‘The leader of the colony doesn’t want him, but he keeps trying.’”

“I was concerned about my food source,” Pichi huffed.

Cats!!