Moirai
II
Kyo angrily sipped his beer as he slouched over the bar. Toshiya, who was sitting on the adjacent stool, put his hand on Kyo’s shoulder.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to be angry all night because you had to go to 10 minutes of therapy today. I even filled out the paperwork for you, you hardly did anything! I came out with you to cheer you up. C’mon, let’s get drunk!” He clinked glasses with an unwilling Kyo and chugged the remainder of his beer. He thumped his empty glass on the counter and inhaled deeply.
Still in the same position as before, Kyo continued to begrudgingly take small sips of his drink. He grumbled something inaudible and stuck a toothpick in his mouth to chew on.
Toshiya sighed ordered another glass of beer. “I’m not going to sit here and baby you all night but try to think of this as a good experience. Everyone could use a little therapy, maybe it’ll be a good time to scrape off all that emotional sludge that’s been building up in your body for the past few decades. Plus, you’re getting ready to move in a few days, so it’ll be a refreshing new start.”
Kyo pensively scrunched his lips and moved his gaze to Toshiya. He lowered his head and admitted defeat for the night. Kyo and Toshiya weren’t the closest of friends, but their relationship was naturally symbiotic. When Kyo goes through one of his famous mood swings, Toshiya is the only person that can attempt to communicate with him. If anyone else attempts to talk with him, he shuts down and refuses to disclose any information. Kyo is the only person blunt enough to call Toshiya out when “he’s being a prying dickhead.” This lack of closeness can be a double-edged sword, however. It allows them to be frank with one another, but there are copious misunderstandings because they always remained closed off emotionally; it was a mutually beneficial but disconnected frie¬ndship built off convenience. They only realized how well they worked together during their carpool for practice because Toshiya had a car and Kyo never learned how to drive.
“Let’s drink to my new apartment, then. I am very excited to finally move out of the dump I’m living in now.” Kyo took a swig of his beer.
“Your new apartment building is really nice, isn’t it? I remember you telling me it was in the city.” Toshiya perked up while daydreaming about having his own fresh start.
“Yeah, it’s in Chuo-ku.” He curtly replied.
“I never saw you as a city dweller. You always complain every time we have to go into Tokyo, what made you decide to live there suddenly?”
Kyo shrugged his shoulders and finished off the rest of his beer. “It’s a lot closer to the studio we will be working with now. Less commute time means more sleep time.” He quietly chuckled to himself while Toshiya rolled his eyes.
A silence shrouded the two men as they continued to drink their beers and periodically watch the soccer game being broadcasted on the bar TVs. Kyo let out a relaxed exhale as he readjusted his back in the uncomfortable bar stool.
“Who even was your therapist anyway?” Toshiya abruptly broke the silence. He was always very inquisitive – even though most of the time he came off as just nosey.
“It was some blonde white lady with a name I couldn’t pronounce.” Kyo curtly replied.
Toshiya scrunched his eyebrows while trying to visualize what she could have looked like, “Huh, I never would have imagined that. Did she seem nice at least?”
Kyo shrugged his shoulders and took another sip of his beer, “I guess. She told me some weird story about Greek mythology.”
Toshiya nodded his head, “Well, I’m glad you ended up going. We were worried that you might decide to bail last minute.”
Kyo chuckled at this remark, his friends knew exactly how stubborn he was. “Well, I certainly considered not going. But, I knew it would be a huge hassle to try to find a new record company now. Plus, I’m moving right next to their studio, so it would be stupid for me to break ties with them now.”
“Well, thank you for being so gracious.” Toshiya sarcastically replied. “Management is really happy with how fast I sent them your medical documents and the fact that I got you to even agree to go to therapy, so they may lighten up after just a few sessions.” He pridefully smirked at his accomplishment.
Kyo rolled his eyes at how Toshiya worded the scenario, he knew that Toshiya’s badgering didn’t make a difference in why he went to therapy. As willing as he is to help, he liked to give himself much more credit than he deserves. Kyo begrudgingly bit his tongue and nodded his head, as to not start a scene in the bar. Even if Toshiya was being full of himself, Kyo would agree to anything to get out of therapy early – and that even meant letting Toshiya think that he changed his mind.
“So, just make sure you keep up the good behavior and do whatever the therapist says.” Toshiya smiled in response.
“You’re making it sound like I’m in prison.” Kyo blandly addressed.
“In a sense, you are. You’re in record label prison.” He giggled to himself, “You are doing what the therapist says, right?”
Kyo stared at him and weighed his options: he could either tell the truth and get lectured or lie and hope Toshiya had a little faith in him. Quickly, Kyo chose the latter, “Of course” he replied.
Toshiya gave him a suspicious look, but in the end decided that it wasn’t worth fighting. If Kyo didn’t want to tell the truth now, he certainly wasn’t going to want to after being yelled at. “Just make sure you stay on her good side. She can contact the record company or one of us and make your life a living hell.”
A shockwave of anxiety flooded over Kyo. Through all his scheming to get out of therapy, he forgot to consider the power that his therapist had over him. She only had to make one phone call – be pissed off one time – to ruin years of hard work with his career. Keeping his usual and cool poker-face, “Don’t worry Toshiya, I will” Kyo replied.
Toshiya nodded his head and let the conversation fall completely silent before he added, “It’s getting late and I walked to the bar tonight, so I think I’m going to turn in.” He said as he finished off his beer and set the glass aside, “Are you okay catching the train home tonight?”
“I took the train to get here, I think I should be okay taking it home.” Kyo replied as he gulped down the last half of his beer. “It’ll be nice to finally live closer to here, making a 30-minute commute for some beers sure is tiresome.”
They both paid their tabs and parted ways at the front door. Thankfully, the train station was only a short walk from Toshiya’s favorite bar.
Kyo put his hands in his jacket pockets as he walked through the crowded city streets. He looked at a digital clock displayed on a nearby skyscraper, which said it was almost midnight. He picked up the pace and briskly walked down the road as to not miss the last train.
Even though it was nearing the middle of the night, Tokyo’s streets were as crowded as ever. A crisp breeze of fresh autumn air blew by him. It was mid-November, so the trees had begun to change color and adorn beautiful shades of deep red and burnt orange. The sky was mostly black and seldom stars could be seen, as they were muted by the neon and flashing lights of the city. As he walked, he pondered the upcoming days. Soon enough, he would have to lug all his possessions through this very street to get to his new apartment. It was going to be a royal pain in the ass to move his collection of CDs and Gundam figurines, but thankfully Toshiya had a good recommendation for movers. He spent hours meticulously wrapping each CD case with bubble wrap to be sure none of them were damaged. Every box was labeled and set aside in groups based on their corresponding genre. The rest of his house was also already packed up, albeit not nearly as neatly as the CDs. Because everything was put away in cardboard boxes, his house didn’t feel like home anymore and Kyo had no desire to rush there. Being at his current apartment made him anxious – he wanted nothing more than to just get this move over with. If it were up to him, he would have moved into the new building a week ago.
Without realizing it, he waited at the crosswalk on the street where the new apartment building was located. Kyo could see the Tsukijishijo Station from where he was standing, and there was still 20 minutes until the last train left. He looked at his future home and then his eyes darted to the train station. He went back and forth in his head before ultimately deciding that it wouldn’t hurt to look at the new building.
Making a sharp right turn, Kyo shortly arrived at his soon to be home. He was so excited to move to an apartment building with its own gym; now he wouldn’t even have to find a new gym to transfer to. He stood in front of the apartment complex and looked up. It was a tall, cream colored skyscraper with puffs of green leaves hanging over resident’s balconies. It probably had thirty floors, but the only available unit was on the third floor. Kyo’s eyes skimmed the exterior of the third floor looking for an empty balcony that might possibly be his but couldn’t tell from the skewed angle he was looking at. He walked around the front of the building and peered in the lobby. He debated on going inside until he spotted a familiar head of blonde hair.
Not even wanting to think about the woman who had supposed control over his entire livelihood, he swiftly rolled on his heels and headed back to the train station. Waiting in a dark and dirty station was a hundred times better than running into his therapist. Kyo racked his brain but didn’t pay attention enough in therapy to even remember her name, so he nicknamed her gai-jin in his head, or foreigner. Not only was she a non-native to Japan, but he felt like she was invading his entire life and trying to mark it as her own. Thinking about this made Kyo blind with anger. So much so that he didn’t even begin to wonder why she was in his building until he boarded his train. And then he prayed with all his being, hoping that she didn’t actually live there and was just visiting someone.
xxx
Aurelie exhaled and unlocked the door to her apartment. The click of the lock echoed throughout the empty hallway. It had been three days since she first met Kyo. At work, she would periodically look through his papers and run through their entire interaction in her head over and over again. In a way, she was looking forward to her next appointment with Kyo. However, she wasn’t enthusiastic to deal with his attitude.
She gently pushed the door open and switched her work shoes with her favorite house slippers. A wave of relief crashed over her as the fuzzy white fabric brushed up against her feet and the embroidered smiling rabbit face looked up at her. Having on her favorite slippers meant only one thing: she was home, and it was time to relax.
The lights flickered on and Aurelie took in a slow breath of familiar air. She kept an incense burner or a candle in every corner of the house, so the air still had some hints of smooth and replenishing sandalwood from this morning.
“Pansy!” She cheerily called out while putting her purse down and scanning the room.
There was no response. Aurelie furrowed her brow and grabbed a bag of Pansy’s favorite cat treats. She walked around the apartment shaking the treat bag, taking special care to look under every table and chair. It was very uncommon for Pansy to hide, he came to greet Aurelie every evening after work. He knows that when she gets home that it’s dinner time – and dinner time means table scraps. Aurelie could never say no to her fur baby, especially those huge golden eyes of his. Initially, Aurelie said she that would never adopt a pet until she moved out of the city. She didn’t feel right keeping an animal cooped up in a shoebox apartment while she was at work all day. A co-worker’s cat unexpectedly had kittens and the second Aurelie saw Pansy in that litter, she knew that she had to have him. He quickly became enamored with Aurelie and the two have been inseparable since they first made eye contact.
Confused, Aurelie stood in her living room and put her head in her hands. She had a jolt of anxiety run through her body at the mere thought of something happening to Pansy.
Still in a panic, she heard a loud thump behind her. Expecting the worst, she quickly spun around. A giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders when she finally spotted Pansy. He was outside on the balcony, pawing at the sliding glass door to be let inside. Aurelie laughed at herself and shook her head for letting herself jump to such crazy conclusions. All her anxieties melted away at seeing his sweet face. He was a shorthair calico cat with a white base and splotches of black and brassy orange. Aurelie always thought it looked like his spots were painted on with a calligraphy brush.
“You must have been trapped outside, it looks like I accidentally blocked off your cat door.” She sheepishly smiled while moving the fallen houseplant out of the way. Aurelie opened the patio door and froze as she was bending down to pick up Pansy.
Not only did Pansy have blood staining his chest and paws, but he brought back a wonderful gift: the back half of a rat. She could barely tell what type of animal Pansy’s offering was, it was mangled to a pulp. The only pointer that the hunk of meat was a rat were the miniature claws and what resembled the remainders of a tail. Pansy looked up at Aurelie with a sparkle in his eyes, very proud of his accomplishment. He mewed at her and picked up the rat carcass to bring it inside – it was dinner time after all.
“Oh, no. There’s no way you are bringing that inside.” Aurelie said as she slipped by Pansy and shut the sliding glass door. She cautiously picked up the cat and gingerly shook him outside to coax him to drop the dead rodent. “Come on, you have plenty of good toys in the house. Just drop it already!” She pleaded as she tried everything to remove the rat without touching it.
Tired of being shaken around, Pansy freed himself from her arms. He made himself comfortable in a corner and gnawed on his prey.
“Alright, well, let’s see what wins the vote. I have your favorite bag of treats here…” She stopped momentarily to grab the treat bag from the table behind her, just to drop them seconds later. The bag fell to the hard concrete and dozens of moon and star shaped kibbles scattered. “Are you serious?” She groaned in disbelief.
Aurelie walked to the edge of her balcony and inspected the broken screen. It appeared that Pansy chased the rat further than she originally anticipated. While in pursuit, the rat must have slipped beneath the screen dividing her balcony from the neighbor’s. In a hunting frenzy, Pansy tore the screen wide open. Bloody claw marks still lingered at the edges of the torn shoji panel. A trail of blood made a loop from one patio to the next, eventually stopping where Pansy was currently laying.
Taking interest in the new treats that dropped to the floor, Pansy abandoned his catch for the spilled kibbles.
Aurelie grumbled and looked down at her cat, happily enjoying his second treat of the day. “You know, you’re lucky that no one lives next door yet. This looks like a murder scene.” She looked over at the mangled rat and then back at Pansy, “Well, I get it is a murder scene – a rat murder.”
Aurelie grabbed an umbrella from inside and cautiously nudged the dead animal towards the edge of the balcony. Each time she poked the rat, she recoiled in fear that it may come back to life and attack her for being so careless with its body. Silently, the bloody lump of fur fell from the edge and landed on the ground below with a splat. She couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt for the fallen rat. She said a silent animal prayer in her head.
Pansy meowed and purred quietly while Aurelie picked him up.
“Let’s go inside and forget any of this ever happened. And let me wash all this blood off your face.” She said as she closed the sliding glass door, leaving the murder scene to be hosed off later.
Pansy yowled in disapproval as Aurelie rubbed a wet washcloth across his face. Usually he purred and rubbed his face against Aurelie when picked up, but this time he fought for his life to get out of her arms.
Aurelie yelped and let Pansy go when one of his back claws scratched against her chest. Pansy sat beneath a dining room chair and glowered at his owner as he began to angrily clean the scent of human off him.
Aurelie flinched as she dabbed the droplets of blood from her collarbone. The fresh cut stung and exuded tiny beads of bright red blood. “I can’t believe you actually broke the skin, you never scratch anyone!” She rushed to get a clean paper towel to clean the wound. “Gross, I hope I don’t have dead rat in me now.” She mumbled to herself as she dabbed the blood off her blouse.
Pansy looked up at her and meowed in response before stretching out his back leg and licking it. He yawned and stood up, flicking his tail in irritation. He gave Aurelie one last glare before jumping up on the forbidden kitchen counter, sprinkling papers all over the floor.
A loud groan left Aurelie as she picked up the papers Pansy scattered with one hand and kept the paper towel to her cut with the other. She scuffled through the papers and saw that they were all Kyo’s documents.
She exhaled and sat with his papers in her hand for some time – it seemed that no matter what she tried to do, she couldn’t escape Kyo. He was the only thing on her mind and once she was able to distract herself from work, Pansy quickly reminded her again of him. Maybe this time her speech about moirai actually meant something and wasn’t just filler for the session.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to be angry all night because you had to go to 10 minutes of therapy today. I even filled out the paperwork for you, you hardly did anything! I came out with you to cheer you up. C’mon, let’s get drunk!” He clinked glasses with an unwilling Kyo and chugged the remainder of his beer. He thumped his empty glass on the counter and inhaled deeply.
Still in the same position as before, Kyo continued to begrudgingly take small sips of his drink. He grumbled something inaudible and stuck a toothpick in his mouth to chew on.
Toshiya sighed ordered another glass of beer. “I’m not going to sit here and baby you all night but try to think of this as a good experience. Everyone could use a little therapy, maybe it’ll be a good time to scrape off all that emotional sludge that’s been building up in your body for the past few decades. Plus, you’re getting ready to move in a few days, so it’ll be a refreshing new start.”
Kyo pensively scrunched his lips and moved his gaze to Toshiya. He lowered his head and admitted defeat for the night. Kyo and Toshiya weren’t the closest of friends, but their relationship was naturally symbiotic. When Kyo goes through one of his famous mood swings, Toshiya is the only person that can attempt to communicate with him. If anyone else attempts to talk with him, he shuts down and refuses to disclose any information. Kyo is the only person blunt enough to call Toshiya out when “he’s being a prying dickhead.” This lack of closeness can be a double-edged sword, however. It allows them to be frank with one another, but there are copious misunderstandings because they always remained closed off emotionally; it was a mutually beneficial but disconnected frie¬ndship built off convenience. They only realized how well they worked together during their carpool for practice because Toshiya had a car and Kyo never learned how to drive.
“Let’s drink to my new apartment, then. I am very excited to finally move out of the dump I’m living in now.” Kyo took a swig of his beer.
“Your new apartment building is really nice, isn’t it? I remember you telling me it was in the city.” Toshiya perked up while daydreaming about having his own fresh start.
“Yeah, it’s in Chuo-ku.” He curtly replied.
“I never saw you as a city dweller. You always complain every time we have to go into Tokyo, what made you decide to live there suddenly?”
Kyo shrugged his shoulders and finished off the rest of his beer. “It’s a lot closer to the studio we will be working with now. Less commute time means more sleep time.” He quietly chuckled to himself while Toshiya rolled his eyes.
A silence shrouded the two men as they continued to drink their beers and periodically watch the soccer game being broadcasted on the bar TVs. Kyo let out a relaxed exhale as he readjusted his back in the uncomfortable bar stool.
“Who even was your therapist anyway?” Toshiya abruptly broke the silence. He was always very inquisitive – even though most of the time he came off as just nosey.
“It was some blonde white lady with a name I couldn’t pronounce.” Kyo curtly replied.
Toshiya scrunched his eyebrows while trying to visualize what she could have looked like, “Huh, I never would have imagined that. Did she seem nice at least?”
Kyo shrugged his shoulders and took another sip of his beer, “I guess. She told me some weird story about Greek mythology.”
Toshiya nodded his head, “Well, I’m glad you ended up going. We were worried that you might decide to bail last minute.”
Kyo chuckled at this remark, his friends knew exactly how stubborn he was. “Well, I certainly considered not going. But, I knew it would be a huge hassle to try to find a new record company now. Plus, I’m moving right next to their studio, so it would be stupid for me to break ties with them now.”
“Well, thank you for being so gracious.” Toshiya sarcastically replied. “Management is really happy with how fast I sent them your medical documents and the fact that I got you to even agree to go to therapy, so they may lighten up after just a few sessions.” He pridefully smirked at his accomplishment.
Kyo rolled his eyes at how Toshiya worded the scenario, he knew that Toshiya’s badgering didn’t make a difference in why he went to therapy. As willing as he is to help, he liked to give himself much more credit than he deserves. Kyo begrudgingly bit his tongue and nodded his head, as to not start a scene in the bar. Even if Toshiya was being full of himself, Kyo would agree to anything to get out of therapy early – and that even meant letting Toshiya think that he changed his mind.
“So, just make sure you keep up the good behavior and do whatever the therapist says.” Toshiya smiled in response.
“You’re making it sound like I’m in prison.” Kyo blandly addressed.
“In a sense, you are. You’re in record label prison.” He giggled to himself, “You are doing what the therapist says, right?”
Kyo stared at him and weighed his options: he could either tell the truth and get lectured or lie and hope Toshiya had a little faith in him. Quickly, Kyo chose the latter, “Of course” he replied.
Toshiya gave him a suspicious look, but in the end decided that it wasn’t worth fighting. If Kyo didn’t want to tell the truth now, he certainly wasn’t going to want to after being yelled at. “Just make sure you stay on her good side. She can contact the record company or one of us and make your life a living hell.”
A shockwave of anxiety flooded over Kyo. Through all his scheming to get out of therapy, he forgot to consider the power that his therapist had over him. She only had to make one phone call – be pissed off one time – to ruin years of hard work with his career. Keeping his usual and cool poker-face, “Don’t worry Toshiya, I will” Kyo replied.
Toshiya nodded his head and let the conversation fall completely silent before he added, “It’s getting late and I walked to the bar tonight, so I think I’m going to turn in.” He said as he finished off his beer and set the glass aside, “Are you okay catching the train home tonight?”
“I took the train to get here, I think I should be okay taking it home.” Kyo replied as he gulped down the last half of his beer. “It’ll be nice to finally live closer to here, making a 30-minute commute for some beers sure is tiresome.”
They both paid their tabs and parted ways at the front door. Thankfully, the train station was only a short walk from Toshiya’s favorite bar.
Kyo put his hands in his jacket pockets as he walked through the crowded city streets. He looked at a digital clock displayed on a nearby skyscraper, which said it was almost midnight. He picked up the pace and briskly walked down the road as to not miss the last train.
Even though it was nearing the middle of the night, Tokyo’s streets were as crowded as ever. A crisp breeze of fresh autumn air blew by him. It was mid-November, so the trees had begun to change color and adorn beautiful shades of deep red and burnt orange. The sky was mostly black and seldom stars could be seen, as they were muted by the neon and flashing lights of the city. As he walked, he pondered the upcoming days. Soon enough, he would have to lug all his possessions through this very street to get to his new apartment. It was going to be a royal pain in the ass to move his collection of CDs and Gundam figurines, but thankfully Toshiya had a good recommendation for movers. He spent hours meticulously wrapping each CD case with bubble wrap to be sure none of them were damaged. Every box was labeled and set aside in groups based on their corresponding genre. The rest of his house was also already packed up, albeit not nearly as neatly as the CDs. Because everything was put away in cardboard boxes, his house didn’t feel like home anymore and Kyo had no desire to rush there. Being at his current apartment made him anxious – he wanted nothing more than to just get this move over with. If it were up to him, he would have moved into the new building a week ago.
Without realizing it, he waited at the crosswalk on the street where the new apartment building was located. Kyo could see the Tsukijishijo Station from where he was standing, and there was still 20 minutes until the last train left. He looked at his future home and then his eyes darted to the train station. He went back and forth in his head before ultimately deciding that it wouldn’t hurt to look at the new building.
Making a sharp right turn, Kyo shortly arrived at his soon to be home. He was so excited to move to an apartment building with its own gym; now he wouldn’t even have to find a new gym to transfer to. He stood in front of the apartment complex and looked up. It was a tall, cream colored skyscraper with puffs of green leaves hanging over resident’s balconies. It probably had thirty floors, but the only available unit was on the third floor. Kyo’s eyes skimmed the exterior of the third floor looking for an empty balcony that might possibly be his but couldn’t tell from the skewed angle he was looking at. He walked around the front of the building and peered in the lobby. He debated on going inside until he spotted a familiar head of blonde hair.
Not even wanting to think about the woman who had supposed control over his entire livelihood, he swiftly rolled on his heels and headed back to the train station. Waiting in a dark and dirty station was a hundred times better than running into his therapist. Kyo racked his brain but didn’t pay attention enough in therapy to even remember her name, so he nicknamed her gai-jin in his head, or foreigner. Not only was she a non-native to Japan, but he felt like she was invading his entire life and trying to mark it as her own. Thinking about this made Kyo blind with anger. So much so that he didn’t even begin to wonder why she was in his building until he boarded his train. And then he prayed with all his being, hoping that she didn’t actually live there and was just visiting someone.
xxx
Aurelie exhaled and unlocked the door to her apartment. The click of the lock echoed throughout the empty hallway. It had been three days since she first met Kyo. At work, she would periodically look through his papers and run through their entire interaction in her head over and over again. In a way, she was looking forward to her next appointment with Kyo. However, she wasn’t enthusiastic to deal with his attitude.
She gently pushed the door open and switched her work shoes with her favorite house slippers. A wave of relief crashed over her as the fuzzy white fabric brushed up against her feet and the embroidered smiling rabbit face looked up at her. Having on her favorite slippers meant only one thing: she was home, and it was time to relax.
The lights flickered on and Aurelie took in a slow breath of familiar air. She kept an incense burner or a candle in every corner of the house, so the air still had some hints of smooth and replenishing sandalwood from this morning.
“Pansy!” She cheerily called out while putting her purse down and scanning the room.
There was no response. Aurelie furrowed her brow and grabbed a bag of Pansy’s favorite cat treats. She walked around the apartment shaking the treat bag, taking special care to look under every table and chair. It was very uncommon for Pansy to hide, he came to greet Aurelie every evening after work. He knows that when she gets home that it’s dinner time – and dinner time means table scraps. Aurelie could never say no to her fur baby, especially those huge golden eyes of his. Initially, Aurelie said she that would never adopt a pet until she moved out of the city. She didn’t feel right keeping an animal cooped up in a shoebox apartment while she was at work all day. A co-worker’s cat unexpectedly had kittens and the second Aurelie saw Pansy in that litter, she knew that she had to have him. He quickly became enamored with Aurelie and the two have been inseparable since they first made eye contact.
Confused, Aurelie stood in her living room and put her head in her hands. She had a jolt of anxiety run through her body at the mere thought of something happening to Pansy.
Still in a panic, she heard a loud thump behind her. Expecting the worst, she quickly spun around. A giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders when she finally spotted Pansy. He was outside on the balcony, pawing at the sliding glass door to be let inside. Aurelie laughed at herself and shook her head for letting herself jump to such crazy conclusions. All her anxieties melted away at seeing his sweet face. He was a shorthair calico cat with a white base and splotches of black and brassy orange. Aurelie always thought it looked like his spots were painted on with a calligraphy brush.
“You must have been trapped outside, it looks like I accidentally blocked off your cat door.” She sheepishly smiled while moving the fallen houseplant out of the way. Aurelie opened the patio door and froze as she was bending down to pick up Pansy.
Not only did Pansy have blood staining his chest and paws, but he brought back a wonderful gift: the back half of a rat. She could barely tell what type of animal Pansy’s offering was, it was mangled to a pulp. The only pointer that the hunk of meat was a rat were the miniature claws and what resembled the remainders of a tail. Pansy looked up at Aurelie with a sparkle in his eyes, very proud of his accomplishment. He mewed at her and picked up the rat carcass to bring it inside – it was dinner time after all.
“Oh, no. There’s no way you are bringing that inside.” Aurelie said as she slipped by Pansy and shut the sliding glass door. She cautiously picked up the cat and gingerly shook him outside to coax him to drop the dead rodent. “Come on, you have plenty of good toys in the house. Just drop it already!” She pleaded as she tried everything to remove the rat without touching it.
Tired of being shaken around, Pansy freed himself from her arms. He made himself comfortable in a corner and gnawed on his prey.
“Alright, well, let’s see what wins the vote. I have your favorite bag of treats here…” She stopped momentarily to grab the treat bag from the table behind her, just to drop them seconds later. The bag fell to the hard concrete and dozens of moon and star shaped kibbles scattered. “Are you serious?” She groaned in disbelief.
Aurelie walked to the edge of her balcony and inspected the broken screen. It appeared that Pansy chased the rat further than she originally anticipated. While in pursuit, the rat must have slipped beneath the screen dividing her balcony from the neighbor’s. In a hunting frenzy, Pansy tore the screen wide open. Bloody claw marks still lingered at the edges of the torn shoji panel. A trail of blood made a loop from one patio to the next, eventually stopping where Pansy was currently laying.
Taking interest in the new treats that dropped to the floor, Pansy abandoned his catch for the spilled kibbles.
Aurelie grumbled and looked down at her cat, happily enjoying his second treat of the day. “You know, you’re lucky that no one lives next door yet. This looks like a murder scene.” She looked over at the mangled rat and then back at Pansy, “Well, I get it is a murder scene – a rat murder.”
Aurelie grabbed an umbrella from inside and cautiously nudged the dead animal towards the edge of the balcony. Each time she poked the rat, she recoiled in fear that it may come back to life and attack her for being so careless with its body. Silently, the bloody lump of fur fell from the edge and landed on the ground below with a splat. She couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt for the fallen rat. She said a silent animal prayer in her head.
Pansy meowed and purred quietly while Aurelie picked him up.
“Let’s go inside and forget any of this ever happened. And let me wash all this blood off your face.” She said as she closed the sliding glass door, leaving the murder scene to be hosed off later.
Pansy yowled in disapproval as Aurelie rubbed a wet washcloth across his face. Usually he purred and rubbed his face against Aurelie when picked up, but this time he fought for his life to get out of her arms.
Aurelie yelped and let Pansy go when one of his back claws scratched against her chest. Pansy sat beneath a dining room chair and glowered at his owner as he began to angrily clean the scent of human off him.
Aurelie flinched as she dabbed the droplets of blood from her collarbone. The fresh cut stung and exuded tiny beads of bright red blood. “I can’t believe you actually broke the skin, you never scratch anyone!” She rushed to get a clean paper towel to clean the wound. “Gross, I hope I don’t have dead rat in me now.” She mumbled to herself as she dabbed the blood off her blouse.
Pansy looked up at her and meowed in response before stretching out his back leg and licking it. He yawned and stood up, flicking his tail in irritation. He gave Aurelie one last glare before jumping up on the forbidden kitchen counter, sprinkling papers all over the floor.
A loud groan left Aurelie as she picked up the papers Pansy scattered with one hand and kept the paper towel to her cut with the other. She scuffled through the papers and saw that they were all Kyo’s documents.
She exhaled and sat with his papers in her hand for some time – it seemed that no matter what she tried to do, she couldn’t escape Kyo. He was the only thing on her mind and once she was able to distract herself from work, Pansy quickly reminded her again of him. Maybe this time her speech about moirai actually meant something and wasn’t just filler for the session.