Devil Summoner ficlet- Narumi and That Cat
Narumi and Gouto hadn’t been on the best terms at first. Circumstances had made it impossible and impractical for Narumi to kick out his high school demon tamer and gofer, but a cat hadn’t been part of the deal.
But it had. Any normal male high school student wouldn’t be caught dead with a cat following him all around town, but Narumi was constantly reminded of how normality didn’t seem to apply to Raidou. Knowing that, it was a wonder it’d taken Narumi so long to figure out that Gouto wasn’t quite a normal cat.
But the clawed up furniture, broken glasses, and dirty paw prints everywhere made it hard to remember. It was when Narumi started catching Raidou staring-just staring-at Gouto that he began to wonder. But then the cat would find a dust ball and go crazy for it and Narumi would shake the weird feeling off.
Then, one day, Raidou had somehow left without his feline friend. The two were rarely ever apart, and it was a bit disconcerting to see the cat just snoozing away on the (thoroughly slashed) sofa. Narumi was reading the paper, but he couldn’t help it. He glanced at the cat, back to
the article about Third impending armagedon this year in Kabuki-cho! and back at the cat. Narumi took a quick look around him. Raidou had gone off not twenty minutes before. He had time.
Narumi loudly folded up his newspaper while staring at the cat. Narumi cleared his throat. That cat didn’t budge.
“Er…” said Narumi.
Nothing.
Narumi got up from his seat and walked over to the sofa until he wasn’t two feet from it. Gouto’s left ear twitched and Narumi took it as a sign. He squatted down and stared at the cat. There was something a bit different about it. It didn’t have the….Narumi didn’t know how to explain it.
Narumi rubbed at the back of his neck, wondering how to start. Gouto twitched again and Narumi thought to hell with it.
“So…Gouto. You’re a pretty swingin’ cat. I can see why Raidou likes you. You’re pretty uh…sleek…and seein’ as you follow the kid around, I guess you’re pretty keen on him too…”
Nothing.
“Now, the kid ain’t here, so I wanna be straight with you. You’re not a normal cat-I got that much-but I’m not really sure what you are. Raidou’s a good kid though, aces, and I’m inclined to believe that whatever you are, you’re a straight deck too.”
Narumi rubbed the back of his neck some more and watched the cat for any signs of unfeline actions. He wondered how to say the next part, the realized he was wondering how to talk to a cat and figured he best just get on with it.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d square with me, Gouto. I know I send him a fair share of work-I have things I need done, and he’s good at doing them. But I don’t send him on errands that call for coming home at 2am, looking like a sack of beaten tomatoes, savvy? I know something’s up and I know you know what it is.”
Gouto’s fur shined a little in the fading light. Narumi sighed. Of all the things he’d done (and he’d done a lot), talking to a cat had to be up there on the crazy list. Expecting it to actually respond was the cherry on top. But if he started, he may as well finish.
“He’s special. Got something extra, that kid. I just want to help the him out if I can. ”
Narumi looked at his shredded sofa. He’d ordered that from one of the old Dutch traders that was still around. It’d been expensive. A will o’ the wisp on the ground next to it didn’t look much better. The detective was glad he didn’t have a landlord.
Narumi made to stand, feeling a right fool, when the cat cracked one of it’s eyes open. It looked back at Narumi, and they locked eyes instantly.
Narumi stared at Gouto and Gouto stared straight back at him. For almost a whole minute, they continued that way.
Then Gouto twitched his whiskers, turned to his other side, and went right back to sleep.
“Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle,” Narumi said, blinking, “if that isn’t the most boring cat I’ve ever met.”