Title: Counting Cats

Author: sllebswap

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi

Type: One-Shot (Complete)

Genre: Romance/Humor

Word Count: 1267

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Shokugeki no Souma belongs to Tsukuda-san.

Summary: Aristocats inspired AU ft. Elite 10!kitties. The Cat Café receives a new feline resident…

Verse: Aristocats inspired AU

Chapter Last Revised on: 18/06/18

He was easily the prettiest creature she had ever seen gracing these halls…and she would know, having lived here for as long as she could remember. He also obviously did not look like he belonged to this kind of place; the bustling and busy environment startling him enough that he was visibly bristling from accumulated stress, and he had bolted straight for one of little unoccupied cubbyholes to hide in the moment they let him loose in here.

Not really a social one, huh.

Perched up high on her favorite resting spot, Rindou's ever present curiosity was roused. She wasn't the only one. The other inhabitants within the centre had also noted the new arrival, and some – like Isshiki and Kuga – were already meandering over to check out the newcomer, though their nosy nature was hardly appreciated, it seemed. There were plenty of startled hissing to be heard when Kuga stuck his head into the little nook which the stranger had claimed for his own, and the slight, indignant Bengal had promptly gotten scratched on the nose for his efforts, yowling with displeasure as he bounded off to lick his wounds.

Isshiki had been rather amused by the other feline's bad fortune, though the tawny Siberian wisely decided not to push his luck. He gracefully picked his way over to Nene instead, though the beautiful Russian Blue gave him a deadpan, withering stare…and then she promptly ignored him, her tail flicking back and forth in silent irritation. But Isshiki had always found entertainment in subtly needling the aloof female, delicately toeing the line and testing her level of tolerance more and more with each day…

Rindou decided that she would the first to fall off her branch laughing when Nene finally reached the end of her tether and gave the other cat a good smack for being deliberately annoying. She rolled onto her back and stretched luxuriantly, absently paddling her paws in the air. Her stomach was starting to growl with hunger, reminding her rather unceremoniously that she had been snoozing all day and it was time to mosey on up and about to look for dinner. But first…

The Somali lazily heaved herself onto her feet. Her long, bottle brush tail waved idly behind her, and intelligent slit gold eyes surveyed her surroundings briefly before she started to leisurely pick her way down the cat tree, one ledge at a time. She passed Eizan one level down, and the sleek Siamese looked irritated and cross as always. So Rindou stepped daintily on the younger cat on her way past, much to his growl of displeasure. She flicked her tail in his face in amusement, quick enough that it automatically engaged his attention, though he failed to react fast enough to catch the fluffy appendage, which only served to make him crabbier.

"Bitch," he mumbled, though she was hardly impressed.

"Excuse you, I'm a Queen~"

Pleased that her effort at being irritating had been properly recognized, Rindou snickered and leapt off the edge, landing gracefully on the ground. She sauntered over to where Kuga was sitting in the corner, the ruffled feline licking its forepaw aggrievedly and then trying rather ineffectively to clean the shallow wound on his nose. A few paces away, Megishima watched with faint sympathy…though it was hard to tell, what with the Persian always looking so dour…

Rindou came to a stop before the Bengal, her head tilted as she watched Kuga working in vain to get at the hard to reach spot.

"Stuuuupiddd," she uttered, and the lithe, wiry male paused in his motions to glower at her. She sat down and smirked faintly. "You should know better, Kuga~ New guy got ya good, didn't he?"

"Oh, shaddap," the bicolored tom snapped grouchily. He was still attempting to clean himself but to no avail. "How was I to know that the new fella's gonna be so testy?"

Rindou gave the other feline a blank look. "How calm were you again when you first got here…?" she asked pointedly. The half feral Bengal had been so jumpy and on edge for weeks, he was practically scaling the walls every time he so much as accidentally startled himself.

A wave of chagrin and embarrassment washed over the younger cat at her reminder.

"That's different!" Kuga flashed his fangs, only for his senpai to raise her paw and bat at him. She also stood up and took it upon herself to push his head down and flop on top of him, and the smaller feline yowled in protest. "Hey!"

The Somali ignored him and set upon doing her first good deed of the day. She pinned him and generously washed his wound for him, the way a mother cat would an errant kitten. To say that Kuga was not pleased by her consideration would be understating it.

"Don't treat me like a baby!" he sputtered, trying to wiggle free but Rindou had quite a good grasp on him and she wasn't going to let up until she was well and ready to do so.

"Then don't behave like one," she muttered in between licks. "Quit squirming, will ya! I'm doin' you a favor here!"

"I don't need your favor! Yer droolin' all over my face!"

He got another smack on the nose for his efforts, which made him hiss even more. "Are you tryin' to make me better or worse?!"

Overhead, Somei silently watched the two with Momo tucked up quietly beside him. For some reason, the young Ragdoll kitten had taken to the Norwegian Forest cat and would often play or curl up next to him. She seemed rather dazzled by the fact that he was the largest cat she had ever seen in her young life, and she particularly liked to pat at him with her paws and stalk his thick, plume-like tail, much to his silent chagrin. However, her presence was certainly more preferred in comparison to some of the noisier inhabitants living in this compound, for sure…

Rindou finally let go of Kuga, satisfied that she had done her best, and immediately, the Bengal sprung up and away, visibly fluffed up and all but flying up the nearest tree to recover from her 'attack' and frantically groom himself back to some semblance of normalcy. The female feline who had been the cause of this uproar only stood up and moseyed over to the cubbyhole where the newcomer was still cooped in.

Just like Kuga had before, she fearlessly stuck her head into the opening.

Gold met pale lavender.

The white Turkish Angora was wide eyed and visibly stressed still, fangs parted, panting from fatigue and anxiety.

"Are you still having a panic attack?" she asked him rhetorically. "If you start hyperventilating, they're gonna poke you with needles and make you wear a cone, ya know. That's gonna suck even more for you, Whitey."

The other cat focused on her, stiff and hackles raised. But he wasn't attacking her, though perhaps his restraint was also because she wasn't being particularly threatening to him. He was silent, however, and she wondered if he was mute or hard of hearing. But Rindou could be patient, and it wasn't as if there was anything very interesting going on at the moment anyway. The red furred Somali sat back down on her haunches and idly licked her forepaw, her pretty foxlike tail wrapped daintily around her legs.

"…What is this place?" he asked uncertainly after long minutes, still looking very lost.

"What's your name?" she asked him in return. "I'm Rindou. Welcome to the Cat Café."

::owari::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Eishi: Turkish Angora (white)

Rindou: Somali (red)

Tosuke: Persian (black)

Momo: Ragdoll (bicolor lilac)

Somei: Norwegian Forest cat (smoke)

Nene: Russian Blue

Satoshi: Siberian (orange)

Etsuya: Siamese (seal point)

Terunori: Bengal (orange tabby)

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-sllebswap