NOVEL NEXT [Extra] Alternate Universe – Anima
The youth felt absolutely giddy, for inexplicable reasons. He heard his owner laugh - she was often laughing, very often weirdly, but he loved her dearly - and tried to pull his eyes away.
Owner Haru was grinning broadly, ruffling the messy fur on the Golden Retriever’s head lovingly.
“Pretty, isn’t he? I already saw him this morning while you were out. I hope you’ll get along”, she hummed playfully, rubbing the large breed’s ears.
Riku turned his eyes back, staring over the fence. The huge car and large number of people going in and out of the house would usually be a reason for him to stay inside, but he had glanced out and then couldn’t stay away.
Under Owner Haru’s coaxing, they approached the fence.
Nervous, Riku hid behind her back, peering over her shoulder while sniffing the air.
“Looks like everything is going well”, Haru greeted the woman whom she had seen just a few hours ago and attracted her attention.
The woman - an amazing beauty - came closer and smiled very lightly. Rather than her face, her tone was enough to make her seem amicable.
“Yes, thankfully”, she began. “This is Riku, right? You mentioned him.”
“Yep”, Haru cheerfully replied, tugging Riku to her side and cuddling him. “Cute, don't you think? He’s a large one, but incredibly shy. No need to worry about him causing trouble. He doesn’t have a problem with cats, either.”
The woman’s face twitched a bit. “That’s good… Although I fear that our sweetheart might become a problem. He isn’t exactly friendly with strangers.”
The prompt was enough for Riku to look back to the roof again.
In the glistening sun, the cat sat leisurely, gazing at the people on the ground as if nothing had to do with him. His fur was a very dark grey with black spots, and his tail was curling around his leg.
“What race is he?”, Haru whistled, taking a closer look.
“A Bengal. He had his fair share of… troubles”, she muttered, rubbing her forehead. “Since there are a lot of people treating Anima like regular pets, with his looks, we encountered quite some problems. That's why he isn't to keen on meeting others.”
Haru made a sad face. “I see, that must be hard. I understand just a tiny bit… People always expect Riku to be overly social due to his breed, like he’s gonna take care of everyone around, but in fact, he’s just a fluffy coward.”
She sighed again and continued cuddling her beloved Anima, who whined but accepted the treatment mutely. They were talking a bit too fast for him, but he could somewhat understand their topic.
So… it was a Bengal cat?
“Mizuki”, the woman called, looking up to the roof, and the cat finally moved after a glare.
With elegant movements, he just jumped down and walked over gracefully, completely entrancing the poor little dog.
“This is Riku, and his owner, Haru. Be kind to them, alright?”
The cat’s black eyes moved to the dog, slit pupils being hidden under the thick eyelashes lowering. He had a dangerous air around him, like being covered in frost, and the way his fur shimmered in the sun did indeed make it look like covered in ice crystals.
“U-u-uhm… He-Hello”, Riku greeted with a stutter, lowering his head and whining nervously.
At the greeting in their own language, the Bengal’s slightly raised fur lowered around his fluffy ears. The tail behind his back, which had been lowered and kept still1Signs of aggression and wariness, began to move in small waves as he mustered his opposite2Sign of focus on something.
Riku felt his lowered stance relax a bit at the sight of it. He knew enough about cats to realize that the other had left his overly guarded state for some reason.
“I’m Riku”, he finally managed to push out, his fluffy tail moving in a slow wag. Hey, he had managed to introduce himself!
“Mizuki”, the cat just replied with a twitch of his black ear. His voice was smooth and nice to hear.
Besides them, Haru giggled.
“I sure wish I could understand even a single word of that. I imagine they just introduced themselves?”
“Probably”, the woman replied. “Mizuki is quite intelligent, so he understands our language very well. Since I said that Riku is a neighbour, he should be playing along.”
Not all Anima would develop a level of intelligence higher than that of a little child. Haru felt relieved to hear that their neighbour’s Anima was on a similar level as her own beloved family member.
“I think they’ll become friends soon”, she prophesized quite accurately.
When winter came, Mizuki abandoned his favourite napping place on the roof and began to search for another. Everyone knew he wouldn’t leave too far, since it was dangerous for him, so they didn’t stop him.
A late evening, Haru came home, shivering and mumbling to herself as she took off her scarf.
“What a weather”, she quietly whispered to herself. It was snowing endlessly, the temperatures several degrees below zero.
“Riku, I brought you a snack”, she shouted into her home as she worked herself out of her thick clothes, earning a loud whine in response to her words.
A bit worried, she frowned and hurried to get rid of her wet shoes before quickly walking into the living room.
They had a really nice fireplace that they often put on in the winter. The crackling and warmth were comforting for their nervous little, tall Anima, so they also added a beanbag in front of it for him.
Riku would spend hours a day just lying in front of it with content sighs, listening to everyone else move around or sometimes stretching his neck to watch one of the movies playing on the TV.
This time, Haru was greeted by a slightly different view.
Riku was lying on his back on the beanbag in front of the fireplace, just…
There was an additional black ball curling on his stomach, purring loudly with a twitching tail-tip.
Haru snorted, then broke out into laughter at the desperate look her Goldie was giving her. It was a perfect showing of not knowing what to do with one’s arms and legs. The poor boy didn’t even dare to move.
“That’s his place now”, she chuckled, slowly walking over.
Mizuki opened his eyes at her, watching for two seconds, before resuming his purring and rubbing his head against Riku’s chest to the point of flattening his ears3Claiming ownership/friendly gesture, sometimes asking for attention.
Riku’s nervous whine grew louder.
It wasn’t that he wanted to complain. He absolutely loved the fact that the black cat had just waltzed into the room and made his place lying all over him. He was warm, his soft fur was tickling his skin and he smelled good.
The problem was… He was warm, his soft fur was tickling his skin and he smelled good! What was he supposed to do!
This, wasn’t this too despicable?! The cat came over to relax, and he could hardly control his thoughts! He was such a terrible person!
Meanwhile, the little cat didn’t care at all about controlling his purring.
The dog was so nice to be around, not at all threatening. The fire was nice, but the best reason to be here was that he could curl up against Riku like this. It was really very comfortable.
Haru watched the scene and tilted her head thoughtfully.
She should google how cross-species couples with Anima worked. It… shouldn’t be a problem? Since they were humanoid, that already eradicated a number of problems…
Besides, they looked cute. Who would say ‘No’ to such a fluffy pair?
The black cat yawned loudly, revealing his sharp little teeth and then leisurely blinking at the stressed dog4Trusting gesture, displaying affection. Slowly, he leaned over and just pasted a light lick with his barbed tongue over the other’s cheek5Cat kiss! (Or, well, sign of affection xD), causing the dog to instantly turn to stone.
Haru left the room.
Maybe before googling, she should talk to her parents to give Riku his own room for reasons.
