Her Otherworldly Smile (Kyo⨯OC; Yuki⨯OC)

「Chapter 13」

—A Shopping Trip (and Some Mischief)—
—Third Person—

Kyo stretches his back without opening his eyes. The sun shining through the cracked door is bright, making him want to bury his face in the tatami flooring under him.

As he goes to roll over, though, something presses against his back, snuggling up against him.

He freezes, confused.

What the hell...?

The only time cats surround him in his sleep is when he has one of his bad nightmares—the ones that wake him up in attack mode and keep him up for the rest of the night—but he doesn't even remember dreaming, let alone having a nightmare, so why would any of the strays around the house crowd him?

Slowly, he turns his head, trying to see without bothering whatever it is.

His eyes widen.

Skylar's laying on her back next to him, her face turned towards him. She's so close, the tip of her nose is against his hoodie, her left hand curled into the curve of his back. All of her hair is a mess of knots behind her, reaching all the way to Aly, who's practically cuddled against Yuki.

He lets out a breath, relieved, and tries to extract himself without waking her up, but the moment he sits up, she whines and grabs onto part of his hoodie, locking him down.

He looks at her, trying to figure out how to get out of this mess, when she lets go of him and rolls over onto her side, strands of blonde hair falling on her face.

Shaking his head, he moves them out of the way.

Yuki wakes up at that moment, though, lifting himself up and rubbing his eyes. Kyo freezes in place, the tips of his fingers ghosting against Skylar.

"What're you doin'?" Yuki mumbles sleepily, blinking as his eyes focus and refocus.

Kyo glares. "What the hell does it matter to you, ya damn rat?"

He opens his mouth to retort, but his eyes catch a glimpse of brown hair, distracting him. "When did they get home?"

The cat shrugs, removing his hand. "I don't know—they were here when I woke up."

Yuki smiles. There's something charming about the sleeping brunette, a softness that's not there when she's awake. He notices she has dark circles under her eyes, though, like she's not getting enough sleep.

"I wonder why..." he murmurs.

Shaking himself out of it, Yuki looks away from her to see Kyo getting up, careful not to wake Skylar.

"Just what were you planning on doing to her?" he demands, disgusted.

Kyo's fist twitches. "What're you getting at?"
"How crude." Yuki gets up as well.

Kyo scowls. "You got something to say, pretty-boy?"

He doesn't retort at first, fixing the collar of his shirt, before he crosses his arms, looking at Kyo. "Stupid cat."

He clenches his fists. "Don't call me stupid!"

"Then don't act stupid, stupid!"

The girls stir, making the cat and rat stop moving.

Skylar rolls over again, sleepily snagging the bottom of Kyo's pant leg.