Hi! Welcome to the first chapter of To Be!

Now first off, for those of you who are waiting for chapters of Crystal and Ice or Winged Wolf Demon, I'm going to have those out soon! Some things should be explained in the author's note of those chapters. So please don't be mad about this story, because I'll have another Hetalia one coming out soon as well. Heh heh . . .

Anyway inspiration for this story came from reading Markicat stories on Wattpad, where this was first written. I wanted to do one myself and I'm sorry if you don't like the friendship thing going on; I've already said on Wattpad that if you wanted a romance version to request it, and I'll try to make it happen.

Edit: I lied, it's romance now.

Now with all that said, let's move to the story!

Mark whimpered quietly as he lay on the ground, trying his best to stay out of his owner's way. The man had come home angry, a bad day at his gym no doubt, and immediately searched for his Neko, who had been napping on the couch.

FLASHBACK

Mark had been rudely awakened by an unforgiving hand yanking on the back of his shirt. With a yelp he'd woken up and practically fallen on the floor, landing on his stomach. His owner, Mr. Cousins, stared down at him.

"Who said you could sleep on the couch?"

Mark began shaking, "Y-You d-did, M-Maste-er."

Now this wasn't completely true, but his Master had never said he couldn't sleep on the couch. He had always just assumed it was okay, because he'd never been reprimanded for it. But now he was paying dearly for those assumptions.

Mark cried out when his Master put his slightly, heeled shoe on his back and pressed down, nearly putting his full body weight on him. Mark squirmed around, trying to relieve the pressure on his ribs and not scratch the hardwood floors with his claws.

"You should see this couch now! It's covered in your FILTHY, HAIR!"

Mark gasped as more pressure was applied to his back. "P-Please . . . s-sorry. W-won't . . . do it ag-ain. H-hurts to . . . b-breath."

Mr. Cousins stared down at him before lifting his foot off of him. Mark quickly breathed in and moved to get off the floor. This was the wrong thing to do. Mr. Cousins stomped down on his back causing Mark to cry out in pain. His Master dug his foot in a little more, which made Mark squirm. Finally, he lifted his foot off the scared Neko and walked away to the kitchen and, even though Mark couldn't see it, there was a little crescent shaped bruise on his back.

Mark wished, not for the first time ever, that he was a better Neko. Maybe then his Master would want to pet him and play with instead of punishing him all the time. He was always breaking Master's rules and getting in trouble. He wanted so badly to be a good Neko, but he only caused his Master to be angry all the time.

'I wouldn't get punished so much if I were just good for once,' He thought to himself as he got on his hands and knees.

His Master came back and wrapped a hand around the back of his throat without any warning. He shoved Mark's face to towards the couch, "You see that? You stay off of the couch from now on. You can sleep on this rug, but if I catch you on the couch again, you'll be punished! Understand?"

Mark nodded, still shaking. Mr. Cousins dropped Mark, but picked up his leg and slid him across the hardwood floor until he hit the wall. Mark hit his left side against the wall and cried out, gripping the hurt area. He felt tears start to slide down his face. His black cat ears were plastered next to his head, and his black cat tail, with dark grey rings, was fuzzed up.

He crawled to the doorway that led to all the rooms, attempting to stop a sob, and laid down in the dark hallway, trying to stay out of sight.

END FLASHBACK

And that's where he was still staying after his Master had gone to bed. He hadn't been given dinner, which was the one meal he was supposed to get everyday, so his stomach grumbled, causing Mark to whimper again.

He decided to try and fall asleep. Maybe he would get food tomorrow. He closed his eyes and made an effort to even out his breathing and stop shaking. Eventually he was so exhausted he fell into a blessed dreamless sleep.

When Mark woke up it was because someone was knocking on the door. His Master walked out of his room grumbling, but already dressed. He almost stepped on Mark as he passed, but Mark quickly scooted out of the way. Mr. Cousins opened the door and started talking to someone. While he was doing this Mark went to stretch, but immediately regretted it as his side throbbed softly. He hissed quietly in pain. He looked down, lifting his shirt, and saw a bruise where he had hit the wall.

Seeing it made him want to cry, but crying usually made his Master angry. He decided to get up and maybe get a peek to see who was at the door. No one ever visited the medium sized home, unless they were trying to sell something. Considering that his Master was still talking to the person, Mark assumed it was someone known personally by his Master.

Mark decided to crawl over to the door. His tail swished a little behind him, but his ears were still plastered to his head. He sat next to the open door, but not close enough so that his Master would think he was trying to run. He'd tried that one time, but he had been caught and beaten so badly, his Master had needed to call a personal doctor. Thinking about it still made him shiver with fear.

His ears pricked up slightly listening to what was being said.

"-like to talk about this in further detail," a new voice said.

"Why don't you come in? We can discuss this more comfortably inside." his Master said.

Mark quickly scrambled backwards so he wouldn't be hit with the door as it swung wide open. A woman walked in. She was a redhead with business attire on, a serious expression on her face, and a clipboard in on hand.

MARK'S POV

She walked in and looked around the living room area as my Master closed the door behind her. Then she looked down at me.

"Is this him?" she asked.

"Yes, yes. I fine specimen isn't he? I got him for cheap at an auction."

"Can you ask him to stand up? I'd like to study him more. The faster we do this the faster we can file this report away," she said.

'Report? What report?'

"Of course. Please, take a seat on the couch. I'm sorry it's covered in hair, but they shed you know," he tried to be funny, and failed by the unamused look on the lady's face.

She simply nodded and dusted a spot off, before sitting down and crossing her legs. She had a 'no nonsense' look on her face. Master made that face a lot. My Master joined her, sitting in the chair next to the couch.

"Mark come over here, a stand up straight!"

I walked over and stood in front of them. At first all they did was go over some basic information about me, such as: name, date of birth, breed, how long I'd been in Master's care, and what our day to day activities were like. While they did that I started to fidget. I was bored, and I hadn't been given permission to leave. Finally, they stopped, and at first I was relieved, but then they just stared at me. I felt my palms get sweaty and I gulped nervously. Had I done something wrong? Was I going to get punished now?

"Feel free to poke and prod as need."

My Master's voice, startled me and I jumped, which earned me a glare from him behind the lady's back.

The lady got off the couch and stood in front of me. I only now realized she was taller than my 5"4 height. I couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. The first thing she did was force my mouth open. I could feel her fingers poking my sharp canines. Her hands tasted like disinfectant, and I wanted her hands out of my mouth. From there she shined a light in my eye, made a noise in each ear, and had me bend all my joints. It felt like I was at the doctor again.

She prodded my chest and sides. I hissed in pain when she pressed down on my bruise. When I did, her eyebrows rose and she looked at my owner inquisitively. He simply shrugged, "He's a very clumsy creature." She hummed, accepting the response.

I was told to turn and I felt her fingers lift my shirt and skim the area around the bruise from my Master's shoe.

"What is this? Why is there such an odd bruise right here?"

". . . He was playing around the counter. On top of it to be specific. He fell and hit his back on a corner," was the slightly hesitant response he gave. Why was Master lying?

"Alright, well I guess he checks out. I'll file this under 'False Incidents' and make sure not to be so loud that the neighbors suspect you of Neko abuse," she said in a monotone voice.

My Master nodded his head, "Yes, yes, of course. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

'Is it just me or did that sound menacing? Am I in trouble?'

He walked her to the door and said good-bye. When the door was closed and the sound of a car leaving was heard, he turned towards me. His eyes burned with fury. I gulped, I'd never seen him this mad. "Do you realise how much trouble I could have gotten into, just because you couldn't keep quiet!"

I whimpered in fear, and backed into a corner. Master stood over me menacingly, and I knew I was in big, big trouble.

To be continued~

Thank you all for reading Chapter 1 of To Be. I suck at making titles so if it's the cheesiest name ever I'm sorry. I'll try and keep updates constant (don't roll your eyes at me) since I have some pre-written chapters handy.

Once again please don't be upset if you want more chapters of my other stories, I'm working on it.

Well that's really all I wanted to say.

Bye!