Sebastian the Alley Cat

-Chapter I-

The Encounter

It was cold tonight. As usual, I was wandering in the streets, looking for some extra food perhaps. What kind of food? Oh, I don't know, anything that a cat could eat - a slice of half-eaten pizza, some leftover chicken Alfredo, or, if lucky enough, chunks of fish sticks. I had to lick my lips on that one.

As I was saying, it was really cold. Well, it's always cold in London, but tonight was freezingly cold, so cold that I wondered why it's not snowing yet. The sidewalk felt icy under my paws. I was not really hungry, but it'd be nice to find something, in case I wouldn't find anything tomorrow. It's hard being an alley cat in the winters, there were times when some of us wouldn't make it.

There's not much people left on the street, just some drunkards wobbling, trying to find their cars. I turned my head towards the direction of the Big Ben; it was almost twelve. I mentally shrugged, it's not that late, I thought I would still walk around for a while before I go back. I knew I wouldn't be able to find any food, not when it's already this late - the restaurants mostly closed at around ten, all the leftovers would be gone by now, with the numbers of strays - both cats and dogs. With weather like this, everyone must be fighting for food, I already ate my share today, and I wasn't hungry, but I still felt like walking for a while, I am an alley cat after all. I turned to look at the Irish drunkard (not to be stereotypical, but at this point, he was cursing in a fluent Irish accent), he was still trying to get in a car that he mistook as his own, but it was entirely hopeless, and hilarious from my point of view; to be honest, I rather he not find his car for the night, it will be safer for him and all the strays and people in the streets. I watched amusingly from where I was standing, in front of a closed boutique; and that was when I heard somebody screeched from the alley behind me.

Alerted, I turned around, it seemed to me that some lady was in deep trouble. I ran top speed into the dark alley way, a broken neon sign from a bar letting out sparks feebly on top of me. Someone kicked a glass bottle and I heard it rolled on the damp concrete.

"There, there, lit' lady, don't be scared!" A hoarse voice said, I recognized it as Argos, the bloody pit bull.

The "lady", from what I could see where I was hiding, was shaking from head to tail. She inched back as Argos and two of his guys backed her into a corner. If I ran out from my hiding place to help her, we'd be outnumbered, and that's the one thing no cat would want when dealing with Argos. I might be able to take him, but he might hold the cat I was trying to save hostage.

Quietly, I climbed up to the balcony of the building's first floor, where some old lady hung out their laundry to dry. Carefully balancing on the realm of metal, I stretched out and unclipped one of the huge white sheets. It fell right on top of the dogs like a parachute. I jumped off the balcony, landing on a nearby crate, and jerked my head towards the exit, indicating the direction where she should be headed. She took the hint and took off while Argos and his gang were still futilely attempting to untangle themselves, it reminded me of the drunkard I just saw. They barked helplessly behind me as I ran after the lady. The woman from first floor opened her door to shout at them, I almost laughed out loud.

I got out of the alley, she was not far ahead, so I soon caught up with her.

"C'mon miss," I hissed, "they could catch up."

"I am not a girl!" He said angrily.

"My apologies," At this rate, Argos and his friends could really catch up, so I decided to thrown him on my back and kept running.

He was considerably small compared to me, but then I was quite a large cat.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing?" He yelled.

"Trying to save your life; and for goodness's sakes, keep your voice down."

He then kept quite, I didn't expect that, but I kept running still, freezing air hit our faces uncomfortably, I narrowed my eyes to try to keep them from drying. He held on tightly to my neck for dear life, I noticed his claws were trimmed.

I took some detours to make sure no one was following us. Finally, I took a turn to Villier Street and let him off my back, he almost stumbled and fell.

"Easy now," I supported him for a bit, but he pushed me off.

"Thanks."

I finally could take a decent look at him under the street lamp. He's a shorthair white cat, with a black mark stretching from his right ear to his cheek, covering his entire eye. His eyes, I'd never seen such eyes before! One of them the colour of the sky, the other that of lavender, sparkling brilliantly like a pair of gemstones. He also had a dark blue ribbon tied around his neck. I couldn't blame Argos for mistaking him as a dam.

"You've got a pair of unusual eyes."

"Says the black alley cat with red eyes; I've never seen red eyes on black cats before, although I've seen white cats with red eyes in shows." He replied snobbishly.

"Then you haven't seen much. And for the record, they are amber."

"They were red when you were checking me out." He said as he started to groom himself like an aristocat.

I turned around to pretend to leave, somehow I felt like teasing this cat.

"Hey! you are not going to leave me here are you?" He said, half-panicked.

"Oh, I don't know. You clearly have a master, go home and return to your master; I can't bear to keep you." I kept walking and didn't turn my head around.

"Well..." he stuttered, "I-I am lost." He admitted.

"Oh, Mr. Sire, I am sure you don't need the assistance of a dirty black tom like me. You don't want to get your shiny white fur dirty now, do you?"

"My name is Ciel! And what did I ever do to you?" He sneered.

"Oh la la, vous parlez Français!" I mocked, but I had to admit, that's quite a beautiful name, it suited his eyes.

"I don't speak French! I just have a French name. If you don't want to help, fine! I don't need your help, you dirty alley cat!" He mumbled behind me.

Clearly, he was scared, maybe I shouldn't have teased the lost kitten like that. I turned around, and was surprised to see him on the verge of tears. He must had had a hard day; lost, hungry, and probably quite chilled too.

"Hey, there's no need to cry, I was just joking with you." I said gently.

"I am not crying." He denied stubbornly, turning his head away.

"My name is Sebastian Michaelis, you can trust me. If you follow me, I can give you some food and a place to stay."

He looked up at me with watery eyes. Poor little guy, I must have really given him a fright. Well, most of it was Argos's fault.

"Sebastian..."

"Yes?"

"I think I sprained my front leg." He said timidly.

"All you had to do was ask." I rolled my eyes and smirked at him, I began to think that he actually enjoyed the piggy-back ride.

"You sure you don't know Thomas O'Melly?" He asked as I gently let him on my back.

"You watch too many movies," I said, and finally headed towards my lair.

A/N: A tom is just a male cat, a sire (for male) or a dam (for female) is a pedigreed cat, one that has its ancestry recorded. Argos is the name of Odysseus's dog, but also the name of one of the hellhounds, brother of Cerberus.

So, what'd you think of this? R&R, writing in a cat's perspective was kinda weird, I don't think I've done my best.