Summary: All Atsushi wanted was to pet a cat.

The flow in Bungo Stray Dogs is interesting, at least where Atsushi's concerned. It's pretty different from what I'm used to, haha.

Stray

By Dark Ice Dragon

Atsushi rolled his shoulders, adjusting his grip on the shopping bag. He'd bought everything on the list, but maybe he should check his phone, in case someone had sent a last minute addition.

He stepped to the side so he wouldn't be in people's way and dug into his pockets. He flicked his phone open and then closed it again. No messages.

"Mm?" Atsushi spotted movement out the corner of his eyes and turned his head towards it. There was a black cat down the alley he was standing next to.

He smiled at it and then paused. He'd found everything on the list quickly enough, so he had a couple of minutes to spare because Kunikida-san expected him back...

"Hey there," he said, walking over, keeping his voice soft.

The cat looked in his direction, its tail raised high and flicking a little at the tip.

He crouched close to it, holding his hand out. "I'm not going to hurt you, see?"

The cat meandered over, still watching him with every step. It was almost completely black, apart from one white left paw.

"That's right," Atsushi continued, smiling. There had been a few cats at the orphanage that liked to sneak in a few times and for some reason they'd always left the mice they'd caught in next to his bed... "All I want to do is-"

The cat lunged at his hand, claws out.

"Ow!" He jerked his hand back, wincing as the cat dashed away. "Why did..." There were four scratches raked across the back of his fingers. Blood welled up from a few of them, but the wounds only stung than anything else.

He stuck a finger in his mouth, looking around, but the cat was already out of sight. "Oh well..." he muttered, sighing. He should get back to the office anyway.

xOx

"Mm?" Dazai-san peered at him after Atsushi set the bag of supplies down. "What's wrong?"

Atsushi blinked, then waved his hands in the air, giving him a weak smile. "Nothing! Nothing's wrong!" He'd only been scratched by a cat. It wasn't something important.

Dazai-san made a soft sound. Before Atsushi could do anything, the other man was in front of him, inspecting Atsushi's hand.

"Dazai-san-!" Atsushi hadn't even see him move!

"Hooo, you were rejected by a cat, were you?" Dazai-san said, letting him go and taking a step back.

"I - well..." Atsushi ducked his head, seeing the dried blood still across his skin. The wounds had already cleared up, leaving almost no trace of what had happened.

"That's pretty interesting," Dazai-san said, leaning back against Atsushi's desk.

It was?

"I would have thought all cats loved you." Dazai-san waggled his eyebrows at him, grinning.

"Huh? ...Oh, right." Because of his ability. Maybe that was why the cats at the orphanage kept bringing him dead mice? Was that something cats did for each other?

Dazai-san reached over and ruffled Atsushi's hair. "Maybe they thought you were a weird looking cat and you offended them?"

Atsushi's eyes widened. "Eeeh? Why would they think that?"

Dazai-san just grinned, going back to his own desk. "You can research cat body language, you know — there's a lot of info on the net nowadays."

Atsushi glanced at his laptop. Huh, yeah, he could. "Thanks!"

He would do that! ...After he'd done all the things he was supposed to do around the office first...

xOx

Atsushi sighed, tucking a stray lock of hair behind his ear.

He'd finished for the day and he was walking back to his dorm. He'd been able to sneak in some research about cat body language in between odd jobs and he was sure he caught Dazai-san watching him from the corner of his eyes every once in a while. But he'd worked! He'd earned his keep for the day!

So now he just had to - he jerked his head at a crash to his right. Who was - the alley was empty. Apart from a cat that had knocked over some cans.

A black cat with a white paw. It was the same one he'd seen a couple of hours earlier, he was sure of it.

Atsushi glanced around him. There weren't that many people walking about: he'd chosen one of the quieter streets out of habit and he snuck into the alley, the sound of the street falling away.

"Hey," he murmured, gesturing the cat over.

The cat looked at him, then ducked its head to lick a paw.

Ah, right. Atsushi looked away, making sure he was alone and no-one from the street could see him. There wasn't anyone there and the others were concentrating on their phones or the people they were with.

Perfect.

Atsushi hadn't had a lot of chances to practice his transformation. He was too scared to. If he'd done it wrong, if he pushed too far, what if he ended up transforming completely and he forgot who he was? If he started wrecking everything in sight like he'd done before?

If he hurt people...

He shook his head. He would be able to do this much. So long as he concentrated.

The cat was still there at least, staring him. Atsushi smiled, still making sure to not give it direct eye contact and exhaled, trying to figure out how to transform. The other times he'd done it because he'd had to. There was no other choice. If he didn't transform and push his body harder than he had before he would have died. Other people would have died.

Because of him. Because he couldn't control his ability. His gift.

He still wasn't sure it was one, but maybe if he was able to control his ability, it would be.

He exhaled again, and concentrated. Focus. Maybe. What had he done the other times?

He'd wanted it. It was that simple. He'd wanted to transform. Transform his hands to grab and slice, transform his legs to move faster, jump farther.

He closed his eyes and exhaled, focusing. He wanted a tail. He wanted his tail.

He frowned, creasing his brow when he felt a change. He hadn't had a chance to pay attention to his transformation before, and the changes had happened instantaneously. This time it was different. He could feel it, feel something slip out from the bottom of his back, lengthening. Atsushi reached back, untucking his shirt to let his tail slip out the gap, exhaling when it stopped being trapped under his trousers.

He could feel it as it twitched and the surface of it, his skin, tingled and itched as the fur sprouted out from it.

He opened his eyes when he stopped feeling the changes and he looked over his shoulder.

He didn't have to. The tail curved around for him to see it. It was covered in white fur, the stripes almost black.

Huh.

Atsushi turned to his side a little, so he could show his tail. Was he supposed to go on all fours? Uhmm... That might help. He would be able to show off his tail better that way.

Atsushi crouched and went down all fours, waving his tail a little.

The cat was approaching him, its ears pricked. Though if it was coming over to scratch his face...

Atsushi wasn't sure what to do, trying to see if it would show any signs of attacking, but its ears were up and that was good. Right?

The cat went over and lightly headbutted him.

Atsushi smiled, relaxing. That was a good sign, and he reached over to pet it. The cat watched his movements, and then pressed its head into his hand, purring.

"Aah, I'm glad that worked," Atsushi said, sitting up and the cat followed him, purring.

The cat pressed up against his fingers, twisting so his fingers were against its chin, so he scratched there instead.

"No collar… You don't belong to anyone?"

After a few minutes, the cat wandered away. Towards his tail.

"Huh?" He watched as the cat reached up to bat it. The cat didn't have its claws out, and his tail was pushed to the side.

The next time the cat did that, Atsushi twitched his tail out of the way. Unperturbed, the cat tried again.

Smiling harder, Atsushi let the cat chase his tail around.

"Ack!" It caught it once, laying on top of his tail, but when Atsushi tried to jerk his tail before the cat bit down, all the cat did was lick his tail. Oh. That was all it wanted to do.

Purring more, the cat continued to groom his tail, and Atsushi scratched the top of its head while it did that.

"Hmm, I should probably leave," Atsushi said, pulling his phone out. He'd stayed longer than he'd planned to, but he didn't have much else to do anyway. "Well, I'll see you around!" He patted the cat one more time and pulled back his transformation, tucking his shirt in afterwards.

He made one last check in case anyone was watching, then left the alley.

He walked down the street, following the slowly becoming familiar route. Hm, if he wanted something to eat... Take out? Or maybe he could buy some vegetables... It was nice having money to afford food.

As he crossed the road, he checked both sides to make sure there were no cars coming. He paused when he saw a familiar black shape trotting up the street.

Uh.

Okay, that was fine. It probably wasn't the same cat.

It had a white paw.

Well, maybe wherever it lived was close by!

Oh, right, it hadn't worn a collar.

So it was a stray. Without a home. Hungry. Like he'd been.

Atsushi shook his head. He was making it up. It wasn't like he was empathising with a cat! He would walk down the street more and it would stop following him. Yeah! That was what would happen.

Atsushi kept walking, and every once in a while he would turn his head and the cat was still there, dogging his every step.

Uhm. What would happen if it did follow him home? Was he allowed to keep pets? Knowing Kanikida-san, that was unlikely...

Atsushi stopped at the next corner. He would be fine. The cat would walk past.

The cat sat down at his feet, lookied up at him and meowed.

Damn!

"H-hey," he said, making small shooing motions with his hands, "I just want wanted to pet you! Nothing more! You should go-" It didn't have a home. "-away now?"

The cat stared at him for two seconds. Then meowed again, standing up and twining around his legs.

Shit!

"I don't want to — I'm sorry!" Atsushi stepped over the cat and ran as fast as he could away from it.

xOx

Atsushi closed his dorm room behind him and leaned on it, sighing. He hadn't seen the cat again after he'd ran away, and he'd kept looking around to make sure.

He should be fine now.

But… He stared at the floor. Maybe he shouldn't have ran away...

Okay, he would make up for it with food next time!

xOx

Atsushi was warm when he woke up. He breathed in, keeping his eyes closed, just revelling in the feeling. It was going to be a long time before he got used to this.

And-

He blinked, staring up at the ceiling. There was a heavy weight on his chest. And there was a purring sound in his room that hadn't been there when he'd gone to sleep.

He jerked his head up and -

How-?

The black cat was sitting there, eyes closed like it was sleeping.

He slumped back, his head thumping against the pillow. "How did you get in..." He was sure he'd closed all the windows and doors. Maybe there was a way in he wasn't aware of.

The cat didn't answer, continuing to purr away.

Maybe it really was asleep.

"Hey, cat," Atsushi said, still staring at the ceiling. "I need to get ready for work. Can you get off me?"

The cat didn't move.

"Great..."

xOx

"Good morning…" Atsushi said, sighing as he entered the office. He'd been able to get the cat off his chest, but he'd almost been knocked over as the cat demanded his attention while he'd changed. He'd managed to lock it outside his dorm but if it found its way inside again... Or followed him to work... That would be worse.

He'd just stepped in when he looked up at Dazai-san standing over him, grinning. Leering at him.

"D-Dazai-san?"

"My my, Atsushi-kun," Dazai-san cooed, reaching down. "You had a midnight rendezvous?"

"What?" Atsushi yelped. Where did Dazai-san gotten that idea? "No, I di-"

Dazai-san pulled a long hair off Atsushi's shirt. A long black hair.

Ack! How hadn't he noticed that before? "It's not what it looks like!"

Dazai-san waved the hair. "Then what does it look like?" His eyes widened and he leaned closer. "Ah! Do you dye your hair, Atsushi-kun?"

"No! My hair's always been this colour!"

"Stop teasing the brat, Dazai," Kunikida-san said, his lips pursed as he walked into the office.

"But aren't you curious, Kunikida-kun?" Dazai-san wouldn't stop waving the hair.

This was it. He wouldn't be able to hide the cat from the others. Atsushi took in a deep breath. "A cat followed me home after I petted it once -well, maybe more than that- and then it snuck into my dorm and I can't get rid of it now!" Atsushi ducked his head, staring at the floor. He was going to get reprimanded for that. The dorm probably didn't allow animals in it. "I'm sorry!"

"Say, Atsushi-kun?" Dazai-san said.

"Yeah?" Atsushi didn't lift his head.

"This cat," Dazai-san said, "does it have a white front left paw?"

Huh? "Yeah," Atsushi said, looking up at him. "How did you know?"

Dazai-san pointed at Atsushi's desk.

He turned and - oh shit. The cat was sitting right there on his desk, twitching its tail on his laptop. When had it gotten in? When Kunikida-san opened the door? It had followed him all the way here?

"Kunikida-kun, I think we found our mascot, what do ya think?"

"I'll try to keep it outside the Agency!" Atsushi went over, intending to grab the cat.

When the cat saw him coming, its ears went back and it hissed, its tail lashing.

Uh-oh.

"Oh, I think the kitty doesn't want to leave." Dazai-san hummed.

Dazai-san, that wasn't helping... Maybe if he transformed his tail instead, he could convince the cat he was friendly. But once he grabbed it, it would just come straight back into the Agency...

"It can stay," Kunikida-san said, walking to his own desk.

Eh? Just like that? But wasn't it disrupting Kunikida-san's schedule? "You're - you're okay with it?"

Dazai-san chuckled. "We've had a bit of a rat problem for a month," he said in a conspirator whisper. "They're smart enough to dodge all the traps we put out."

Really?

"So maybe a cat'll be more successful!" Dazai-san patted him on the back. "Good job!"

"Just remember," Kurikida-san said, tapping already heard from his side, "that you're the one paying for everything it needs, and if it makes a mess, you're the one who cleans it up."

"Got it!" That...should be fine, right?

Atsushi looked at the cat and it yawned, flashing its fangs and tongue at him. Like it knew it was allowed to stay.

"Do you understand what's being said...?" he muttered to himself. He concentrated again and transformed his tail, remembering to untuck beforehand this time, waving it like a white flag at the cat.

It blinked at him, then hopped off his desk, twining between his legs and meowed.

"It probably does," Dazai-san said.

"Hey, Atsushi-kun?" Dazai-san said as Atsushi kneeled down to pet the cat.

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever looked after a cat before?"

Atsushi froze. "No...?" It...wasn't that hard, was it? He just had to feed it, right? Though it could catch the rats here and eat them.

"Welp!" Dazai-san clapped his shoulder. "We need to go shopping then!"

Atsushi gaped at him. "Eh? But what about work?" They'd just arrived!

"They can call us if something comes up," Dazai-san said, already heading for the door. "Unless-" He turned and smirked at Atsushi over his shoulder. "-you wanna tell the President why the cat did its business right outside his door?"

Atsushi's eyes widened and he snapped upright. "I'm coming!" That was one outcome he didn't want!

"Great! We'll make a list as we go!"

It wasn't what Atsushi imaged he would be doing when he first joined the Agency, but it would still give it his best.