She was starting to think even then dogs in America were worse than the ones back home. Yes, there were small yappy canines there as well.... but she hadn't encountered one so determined to be an annoyance before. 

YAPYAP YAP YAPYAPYAP ARFBORK YAPYAP--

It felt like she had been up in the tree outside of the parking lot of their apartment for at least an hour now. Chased up into the sparse branches by a tiny, tan demon with pink ears and a rhinestone encrusted collar. The little monster had MURDER in its eyes- she could tell- and had completely ignored her warning swipes and hisses. It was either very very brave, or very very stupid.

And yet, she was the one stranded in mediocre foliage. 

A few people has passed by and she hoped they were there to collect the demon, but no success yet. It was still down there, jumping and growling as viciously as it could in an attempt to get at her. Hiyori had settled in the crook where a branch met the trunk to try and wait out the dog. Surely it would tire or get bored soon and wander off to pee on something or eat garbage, presumably. 

Why not construct a body to scare the fiend away, you say? Well, she honestly doubted it would work. The dog would probably just bite at her ankles until the construct broke, and then she'd be back to square one. Also, her larger, scarier creations might work but she didn't exactly want to scare the dumb thing to death. It wasn't its fault it was an idiot. 

"Nyaaaan." She could see someone approaching and started up the act of helpless cat, once again. Maybe this time the human would do more than simply scoff at her.

It had been another wonderful day in the equally amazing city of New York! Saturday was patrol all day... day. His favorite day of the week! He'd helped five old ladies across the street, twarted a bank robbery, stopped a kid from wandering into traffic after a ball without getting hit by a truck and reborn into an alternate reality with cat women, and deescalated a lunch rush bar fight between two fratboys!

Walking back toward his apartment he was on cloud 9. Sparkles, the tiny tan Chihuahua seemed to be having a similar type of day, keeping the area safe as well. Safe from what?

Well... Apparently cats. Or. One cat. Stuck in a tree. As he strode up, Xavier's walk turned into a slight jog as he heard the racket, and approached quickly. "Sparkles, what are you doing out here? Were is your Mama, huh?" He quickly snatched up the yapping pup and got a few licks in the face for his troubles. "Oh, you're locked out, huh?"

His owner was Lucinda, an older lady who lived on the first floor. She left the door open at times when it got a little hot outside. Quickly he opened the front door of the apartment complex, and placed the little dog down. The little critter skittered through an open door and could be heard hopping into a fully drawn bath with a racket as her owner was splashed.

He chuckled as he patted his hands together, and turned back toward the tree... Ah, the classic scenario. A cat in a tree. It looked like he had one more heroic act to take care of before bed! He strode forward. "Hey there little one... Don't worry, I'll get you down from there in no time!" He started climbing the tree with ease. It was almost like he'd done this before.

Success! The human had indeed stopped, and surprisingly the tiny demon flipped a switch and was suddenly a small fluffball of love and licks.

Disgusting. Didn't the human by even consider where that mongrel's tong had been? Animals like that enjoyed whole feasts munching on their own asses.

Whatever the case, she yawned widely and stretched her furry legs out in front of her in a lazy sprawl. Promptly sitting up in order to watch the vile canine be carted away by the bigger human. Apparently this was something that happened fairly often if she were to take the boy's words into consideration. She would apparently need to figure out a different route in and out of her own apartment again, unless she wanted another unfortunate run-in with this.... Sparkles.

Once the demon was taken care of, she prepared herself to jump back down and continue on her way... but, oh look, the human was coming back.

She plopped her furry butt back down to watch as he closed back in, ears twitching slightly as he spoke.

Huh. Classic heroic deed of saving a cat from a tree, then? Not something she had experienced a whole lot before, considering how she had been regarded in her homeland. Most people ignored her, others flat out avoided her. Cats in trees were common and not generally a scenario that needed any sort of rescuing.

Hiyori inclined her head to the side slightly, tails thumping lazily against the branch as the boy started to climb. She quickly decided to play along just for the fun of it, seeing as this wasn't something she encountered often.

"Nyaan."

As he neared she remained seated until he was juuust within reach of her. Then, because she was eternally a brat if nothing else, she hopped up into a higher branch with ease and plopped back down. Effectively she was going to play a game of cat and mouse until she ran out of branches, or he gave up. Would he dare to venture into the higher, thinner branches?

"Nyan!" She hung down over a branch a little at batted in his direction with a paw.

So. Most of the time. He climbed up the tree, and the cat scrambled into his arms, he jumped down, and all was well.

That was how this normally went. This time, it went a little differently. As he got to height, and began to reach out, the little kitty retreated neatly further into the tree. He blinked a few times, and then spoke in a soft tone. "Oh, hey little one. Don't be afraid, I'm here to help you." He climbed a little higher, an innocent smile on his face as he reached out again... And she jumped back again.

Well, she was certainly a cautious kitty, but he would win her over. "Careful, don't go too high... uh... pspspspsps." He moved up again. The tree started to sway a little bit with his considerable mass of muscle weighing it down.

He steadied himself and reached out, blinking as she batted away at his hand. "I don't want you to get hurt, kitty cat. C'mere now..."

He would not be discouraged. He climbed a little further.

The old wood creaked as the thin, poorly fed tree protested at the extra weight currently threatening its branches. Hiyori, still an arm's length away and up from the blond, well-meaning boy, ceased batting at his hand. A little unwillingly she was drawn in by the stupid enrapturing sounds he was making. The dilation of her eyes and how her ears swiveled around at attention might have even been a sign that he'd finally caught her attention fully. She paused there, staring unabashedly, hunch on her chosen branch, and decided what she should do. Continue the game and see how far he would go? Give up and hop down without his help?

She blinked slowly at him and then glanced at the hand he offered and stretched her nose down to sniff at it. He didn't smell bad. She'd assumed all Gaijin lacked in physical hygiene. A combination of bias of a lack of bathing and how they often didn't shower before getting into a bath. Gross.

This one at least seemed clean and kind. Bonus points for him.

After she'd filled her curiosity on what he smelled like, she reached out a paw and placed it on his hand, applying light pressure in a kitty version of a handshake. Nice to meet you, kind sir. Thank you for your heroic deed today.

Then she put a little more weight on his hand and started to cross over from the branch onto his arm. It helped that he was apparently a giant so that she didn't need to focus on balancing so much. The arm led to a set of broad shoulders. Broader by far that her sisters muscular build, and she settled herself with practiced ease there. Her tails curled lightly around his neck.

With a purr in his ear as a sign that she was seated and ready to go, she just... waited. For what she didn't really know.

Huh. This tree wasn't very well tended to, was it? It was right outside of his apartment, too. He made a small mental note to water and tend to this tree in the morning on the way to school every day. It would only take a second, and it would do it a lot of good!

The little kitty finally gave in and... pawed his hand? He raised an eyebrow, and chuckled. "Hey, it's like a little handshake, huh? Ope, yeah, climb aboard!" The little kitty stepped over to him, and the miniscule bit of weight transfering to his location, causing the tree to creek dangerously.

He steadied himself, and then quickly climbed lower, testing the tree to its limits. They were down the tree in a fleeting moment, and he paused as he checked on her health quickly as they made it to the ground.

He noticed the two tails curled around his neck, and furrowed a brow a bit. "huh... Looks like you're like me, huh? A mutant!" He didn't of course, mean that she was a holder of the X gene. She was a cat, after all, but having two tails was a sort of mutation, right? He felt very clever for coming up with a joke like that.

Shame there wasn't anyone around who could comprehend language, right?

A look at her would tell him all he needed to know about her health. She was fit for a cat; not skinny or fat. Her fur was well tended to and shiny. Whatever she was eating apparently did wonder for her coat. Her eyes were clear and very very yellow. Very alert for a cat when it came to looking him in the eye in short bursts while he was talking. It was rude to hold eye contact for very long in her culture. Kinda creepy, most people thought. She'd noticed that the American custom seemed to be the complete opposite when more than one of them had juked and dodged to make sure to look her human body in the eyes.

She inclined her head for a moment at his mutant comment, chirping in response. She hadn't deigned this interaction important enough yet to blow her cover as 'Weird street cat', even if he had already figured it out.

The slim collar and fluffy bow around her neck might allude to her being 'owned' as it were. Today's color was deep emerald green as she liked the way it complimented the color of her eyes.

There were... questions, that popped to the forefront of her mind, however. If he was a mutant like her, what kind of mutant was he? Strength-based? Was that why he seemed to abnormally large compared to the people she was used to being around? She'd been considered tall, or her constructs had at least, back in Japan. This boy however was a good deal taller than pretty much anyone who she had ever met. He surely had some height on even her father himself.

Meowing at him, she didn't move from her spot. Not even giving the inclination that she wanted too. His shoulder had become her newest perch and she was content to just go along with whatever he seemed to be up to.

She did get a whiff of a different feline scent on him, and her sharp eyes zeroed in on the telltale healing scratches that could be spotted in various spots on him. Her cold nose sniffed at one for a moment. He was a cat parent himself, then? Apparently to one that didn't much like him... unless he made a habit of rescuing other cats from trees regularly and they weren't at all happy about it.

Two tails and all, his new little friend seemed to be in excellent health. So... She wasn't a stray, clearly. She we well fed and had a collar. No tags, though. Did she belong to the new tennants, maybe? He didn't recognise her.


"Well, little one. I guess we gotta get you inside... Maybe get you some food... Then we can take you to a vet nearby and see if you've got a chip." He started heading toward the door to the apartment complex once more.

It was odd, the cat was very well trained. She just sorta calmly perched on his shoulder, no sign of wanting to escape, or panic anywhere. He reached up cautiously to pet her gently, pausing to let her sniff his finger if she desired first.

"You're really something else, huh? I bet your owner is looking everywhere for you..." He headed into the building, turning toward the stairs instead of taking the presently broken elevator.

While she was mildly insulted at the notion of having a chip inside of her, of all things, she couldn't exactly blame him. That was apparently what caring owners did nowadays to keep track of their pets. His ignorance of her status as not-a-pet didn't stop her from slapping him in the face with the end of her tails, though.

She did sniff at his fingers a little when offered and actively had to battle away the instant urge to lick or bite. She could smell traces of various things on them from his activities throughout the day. Some reminded her of stagnant old women, but overall she could just smell soap. Plain old soap. Another estimate of her current beliefs on his personal hygiene.

She did take a chance to turn and butt the furry crown of her head into his hand though at the offered scritches. Little did he know just how special she actually was and if she actually had been lost her sister would have razed the city to the ground to find her.

Due to her act, she wasn't actually able to laugh at the moment. Instead, she purred loudly while the nameless boy walked on. They headed to the stairs apparently. Stairs that she had yet to actually use in her short tenure at the apartment complex, seeing as the elevator had worked fine over the last few days. The fire escape stairs outside also lent her easier access to and from home as it were. A cat waiting for the elevator had raised more than a few eyebrows.

As soon at they were at the stairs she chose to hop down and use her own legs for once. Onto the rail, then down to the steps. She murred at him quickly and then started up the stairs herself, pausing and looking back occasionally to see where exactly he was going. The offer of food had been enough to peak her interest and put a bit of a spring in her step.

Xavier blinked as a pair of tails brushed his face. He gave the cat on his shoulder a quizical look, and then shrugged it off, as he reminded himself that she was just a cat. A two tailed cat.

The animal let him give scritches, and he obliged as he walked into the stairwell. She hopped down, and he tilted his head, looking down to her. "Oh, uhm... know where you're going already?" He headed up after her, his long legs striding up the steps with ease. His eyebrow creased a bit when she looked back at him. That was a little strange.

He followed the kitty until they made it to the third floor. As he turned back to see if she would follow, he would wait to see if she ran off. Cats were normally pretty cautious. He didn't want to have to chase her down and carry her to make sure he could secure her.

He had to find her home, after all. "Here girl. Let's get you fed, yeah?"

He would head toward the apartment if she followed, unlocking the door quickly and stepping in to a well planned ambush. A little orange blur would appear as if from nowhere and land on his face in a torrent of scratches before fading into the shadows once more. "heh.... ow."

It amused her to no end that he might have been catching on to the fact that she was not a regular pet cat. The increase in looks and head tilts gave it away. She was tempted to correct him when he called her 'Girl', but reminded herself that she didn't know his name yet either. It would have to do if she wanted to keep the game up any longer.

She dogged his steps dutifully as he led them to his apartment. She didn't live on the same floor as him, but close. Close enough that if she ever needed to get to his place via the fire escape, it would be easy.

She could smell the other cat from the other side of the door as he unlocked it. A few good whiffs of air gave her a good idea of the ambush that was about to happen. She might have thought it was for her, but the other cat hadn't moved since she had sidled up to the door. There were no returned sniffs or Meows. No paws under the door. No growling. The other cat hadn't been waiting for her.

Her theory was proven correct when the door opened and a sneak attack was sprung upon the hapless male. He seemed to take the resulting damage in stride- even seemed entertained by it? Hiyori strode into his apartment like she owned it, head down to catch the scent and see where the orange devil had vanished too.

It didn't take her long to find the cat stowed away under the bed of the boy. The two cats hunkered down to stare at each other for a moment; the orange one from under the bed. Then, without much energy behind it, since she was tired of pretending to meow already, Hiyori did just that. "Nyan." It was bland like she was bored, but the kitten perked up and scampered out from under the bed in a flat second. Hiyori jumped a little at the sudden movement and lifted a paw to try and push the suddenly very affectionate kitten away from her. It was purring loudly and throwing its small fluffy body at her in circles.

While it did its thing, she glanced around the room she was in. Lots of figurines she wasn't at all familiar with. Posters themed bedding. Was this guy a Neet? One of those American's who claimed to be 'Otaku's' without knowing the terrible truth behind the title?

She turned and headed back out of that room, sauntering into the kitchen and letting herself up on to the counter so that she could watch him some more.

Hmm... how long was she going to keep the charade up? Maybe after food?

He'd lowered his guard. He had a new friend, and he was inviting her into his home. He didn't think of the predator tucked away, waiting for its prey. As Milli ran off into the shadows he looked around, touching the new marks on his face. Tender.

"Uh... Sorry you had to see-" He looked around to see that the little kitty was no longer by his side. Slowly he closed the door, looking around. Oh. There she was, under the bed... with... Milli. "Oh, careful, she's a bit feisty! She'll-" Cuddle you.

But... But her affection was hard to obtain, right? He'd had her a month, and she had yet to let him pet her. Here she was, cuddling the two tailed mystery cat like it was nothing.

He let out a sigh, and turned to get some food.

Now, as far as food was concerned, he'd done some research. When he decided to become a cat parent, he took it seriously, so he didn't reach into the cupboard for food. He reached into the fridge.

Pausing to look back at the cat, he frowned a bit. "Hmm... Probably shouldn't feed you raw... Got some fresh food left, though." He pulled out a little tub and scooped some into a shallow plate, setting it down on the floor, and turning to prepare the raw for Milli, which he deposited cautiously by the bed, jumping back as a claw came his way.

"heh heh... Bon-apetit. I, uh, need to get some band aids." As he let them eat, he started to tend to his wounds. It was funny, he'd fought crime all day, and not one scratch. Walk in the door? five minor lacerations.

The black cat stared at the plate in front of her with... whatever that was on it.

Her furry little nose wrinkled and she pushed it away from her with a paw. The orange demon could have it. Instead, she followed the boy into his bathroom, paused by the door to think twice about it, and then sauntered the rest of the way in. The leap up to his shoulder was a little harder than usual since he was so gosh-darned tall, but she made it and barely had to use her claws to stabilize herself.

Once there, she sat on his shoulder and stared at his reflection in the mirror as he tended to his wounds.

Hmm... Was now the right time? It felt right.

"Should you not disinfect those scratches first? Claws can be awfully dirty."

Yellow eyes squinted slightly, a silent laugh, and she wrapped her tails around his neck again.

"Do you have anything else to eat? Chilled gruel is not normally the best offering to me."

As he placed his last face bandaid, he jumped a bit as he felt the sudden bite of claws and prepared to defend himself against the orange menace, when he realised it was two tails jumping up no him.

"Oh, woah... okay. Not hungry, then? You do seem well fed..." He looked back to the mirror and leaned in to adjust his last banage a little more.

And then a voice chimed in. "Oh, right, I have some neo-WHAAAAA" It was the cat, the cat spoke. He lurched back, as she spoke again, and threw her off in surprise, jumping into the tub and staring at her from behind a clutched shower curtain.

"Uhm.... h- hello.... talking cat?" She was a talking cat. Talking cats existed? Wait, was she a mutant that turned into a cat? If that were the case, this was messed up, right? A stranger had followed him home and invited themselves in on false pretenses.

Was this okay? "You... Really need to explain yourself."

Apparently she had spooked him real good. He lurched away, throwing her off his shoulder in the process. She landed on the sink and re-settled there, watching him calmly as her tails dangled over the side and swayed gently.

But, oh, she wasn't done with the games yet. There was infinite potential for fun to be had. She blinked at him slowly as she pondered how to respond.

"All cats talk." She responded simply and lifted a paw to insect her claws. "Most people simply can't hear us."

She tilted her head at him curiously, large black ears listing to the side slightly. "What am I to explain? I am a cat. You invited me home for food. Here we are."

She hunched for a moment and prepared herself for a jump. Leaping up and balancing precariously in the show curtain rod right above him. His head very nearly poked out the top.

"You're cat is very unhappy with you." She purred loudly, her version of a laugh.