Rainbow Umbrella

Sometimes, he hated humans.

Well, Kanda thought, there was no sometimes in it. He hated humans and that was a fact. It wasn't in his nature to hate, really, but survival instinct told him that if he were to let himself seek comfort and pampering from those creatures, he will die, never mind that he was supposed to have nine lives.

He broke his tail last week, which was painful as all hell, so maybe he should subtract one.

Anyway, he had more important matters to muse about than a broken tail or his remaining lives. Hating humans was one of them.

He swished his tail back and forth in thought. Humans were greedy creatures, he knew that much. Plus they do anything to gain the upper hand in life, which was stupid, in his opinion. Life was to eat and to get eaten; there was no big boss or whatever. It all comes down to one thing in the end.

Death

As a cat, he didn't fear death. Well. Maybe he did. Or maybe he WILL, once he was facing it. He'll cross that bridge when he got to it, he would say if he were human.

Thank God he wasn't.

He looked down at all the passing human below him from his perch atop a roof. They looked really small from this point of view. It was a really nice change. If only life would be like this for him every day.

A drop of water fell on his nose and the cat blinked its blue eyes. Another one followed, bigger than the first, and then another until he was sitting under the rain with the sound of loud pitter patter it made on the roof. He hunched his back to stretch and shook his fur to rid it of water. It didn't do any good as he was still under the rain. He jumped on the nearest window ledge, landing without a sound on his feet and made to jump directly on the ground-which was still a good seven feet below- when his sensitive nose caught the unmistakable scent of fresh fish.

His stomach growled on cue.

He had forgotten that it was time for his dinner.

His eyes drifted through the window he currently sat. There was another human there. It was holding something that almost resembled a stick, but the black cat didn't bother himself figuring out what the thing was. His sole focus was directed at the plate full of salmon abandoned on the counter.

The human was talking to itself, with another weird thing placed on its ear.

He knew he would be bitten, or worse, killed if he were to be caught but survival instinct told him to get that fish and to get it now.

So he did.

There was a gap on the window, big enough for him to slip through. He kept an eye to the human, also making sure he didn't knock down anything on his way. It was proving to be a difficult task, though. The counter was filled with weird smelling bottles and glasses; it was making his nose itch. One particular glass contained something black and awful smelling it actually made him sneeze.

Kanda's heart froze in that one moment, glancing sharply at the human only a few feet away. It seemed that it didn't hear anything, continuing to talk to itself like an idiot.

That cat doubled his speed on getting to the plate.

A little more, just a little more, almost there…

He bit the nearest fish he could get his teeth on, heart thumping loudly with triumph, and ran as fast as his four feet could. He didn't mind knocking all the weird smelling jars on his way out, effectively catching the human's attention. It made a screeching noise and attempted to smack him with the stick, but Kanda was already a black blur running through the window and out to freedom.

It was with a happy heart that he devoured his dinner.

It felt really great to outsmart those idiots. He felt like he lived for those few moments, barely escaping the hands that would kill him and hearing the shrieks of rage that followed. He loved those moments the most.

Chewing the last bit of fish under the cover of a box next to the trash, he looked up at the dark sky with a sudden sad feeling in his heart. His blue eyes clouded for a moment and a soft mewl escaped his lips.

He hated the rain.

This opinion was shared among the other cats on this neighborhood. The rain made his fur wet and he hated it when his fur was wet. It was cold and he hated the cold. Sleeping places were also hard to find, since most alleys were flooded. The rain made him feel lazy, too, which was a fit in itself since cat, by nature were already lazy creatures.

There was nothing he could do about it, anyway. Releasing a low meow in irritation, he began his long, and wet, journey back to his home.

Hopefully, Alma was there to sleep with him.

His small feet made little sound on the wet pavement. He didn't bother stopping on his way to avoid the cold rain and nobody, human or otherwise, spared a glance at his wet form. He was fine with that. He managed to dodge the many feet walking the same path as him, almost getting stepped on a couple of times, before arriving at the alley next to an abandoned store. He would turn on that alley, jump on the nearest broken window and then he was sure, Alma would be waiting for him.

This place was their home after all.

He did turn on that alley but he didn't have to go farther to see Alma. There was the gray cat, lying on the ground below the broken window. His fur was getting soaked, Kanda noted, which was weird. Alma didn't like getting his fur wet, so how come he was just lying there, getting all wet because of the rain. He slowed his movement, trying to process this fact through his animal mind. It still didn't make any sense. He mewled in distress.

The sudden sound he made was immediately followed by another, though this one was more of a rustling noise. He jumped back on instinct, only just noticing a hunched form looming over Alma. He growled as menacingly as he could, realizing that a human was near Alma.

A human near a cat was never good news.

The human stood up, noticing Kanda at the same time the cat did. It took a step forward, hesitated, crouched down again, and touched Alma's head almost gently. Alma didn't move.

"I'm sorry," it said. "I tried to…" it then trailed off, looking at Kanda with its gray eyes.

Rain, Kanda thought, it looked like the rain.

The human stood up, picking something on the ground, and glanced one last time at the gray cat before him and then at the black cat on his side. It gave the latter a small smile and walked forward, slowly. Kanda's fur stood on end, screeching threateningly at the human. He looked at the human and then back at Alma, debating whether to run away or help his friend.

For the first time, Kanda threw away his survival instinct and ran forward to Alma's side.

Alma was very cold, but it was raining so there was nothing wrong with that, he thought. He licked Alma's face. It didn't cause Alma to react like he thought it would. Maybe Alma was really tired. He continued to lick Alma's face, even when something in his heart and mind told him it was useless. Alma's face was dirty, anyway, so Kanda would clean it for him. He was getting really wet, too, but if Alma wanted to sleep under the rain then he wouldn't mind doing so, too. Their bodies were warm anyway, so it was fine.

He made himself comfortable, curling his body next to Alma's, looking up at the sky and getting water in his eyes. He tore his eyes away from the gray sky only to meet with eyes with the same color. He realized that the human was still watching him. He couldn't muster the energy to hiss. Suddenly, he was very tired.

The human stood there like that for quite a while, getting himself wet. As Kanda closed his eyes, the human held something in his hand. It opened, shielding the human from the rain. And then he left.

Kanda thought, it was ridiculous, really. That thing the human was holding looked ridiculous.

But then again, it was a nice change, having something so colorful walking amidst the monochrome world.

With that simple thought, Kanda fell asleep.

…..

'Something stinks' was Kanda's first thought when he woke up, followed by 'It's still raining'. When his mind adjusted to his surrounding, it was 'it's very noisy'. His ears twitched a few times and his eyes began to open slowly.

"Hey, Jan, look at this!"

Kanda jumped on his feet when he felt something near him. His eyes adjusted on the dim light of the alley and he saw two silhouettes moving closer and closer to him. He hissed.

"That's gross, Leo. It's dead already."

"Yeah, but there's another one there, see? We could use it for our project in biology."

"But we need a frog."

"…We'll practice with a cat, then. It'll be cool!"

The humans were talking about him, Kanda knew. They wanted him. And Alma! Where was Alma?

He tried to move back to Alma's side but something was thrown at him making him jump back and farther away.

"We have to catch it, Leo."

"I know, idiot!"

The humans were coming nearer, backing Kanda in the corner. He hissed loudly, trying to threaten the humans but they just kept moving forward. He backed away further and further and when his back hit the wall, he knew something terrible was going to happen to him.

"Here, kitty, kitty, we won't hurt you."

"That's lying, Jan."

"Well, it's not like it can understand us."

The loud sound of water hitting the ground, the noises the humans were making and Kanda's thumping heart, it was all too noisy for him. He couldn't think anything other than he should run away, HE SHOULD RUN AWAY, HESHOULDRUNAWAY!

He ran forward, missing the hand that tried to grab him, leaving Alma's decaying body, ignoring the rain wetting his fur and just running away.

There were only a few human on the street. He knew by instinct that it was already morning. He ran and ran and ran until the only thing that he could hear was the rain and his heart and the sound of the car that was going to hit him.

And then Kanda died.

….

Kanda didn't know how he got there, but he was now lying on the sidewalk. His body hurt and he knew he broke his tail, again, along with his feet. He blinked his blue eyes slowly and he mewled when his ribs protested every time he breathed.

This sucks, he thought. And to top it all, it was still raining.

It was fine, though. He still had seven lives left. Now if he could just walk a few feet, get run over by another car seven times, then maybe he could die.

Ugh, he really hated humans.

He didn't know why the rain stopped, but it did. And the sky was unbelievably bright and full of colors. He tried to look up, his vision was blurring, but he just gave up and closed his eyes again.

"Don't worry." A voice said, and this time, Kanda did open his eyes and looked up.

The rain, he thought sluggishly as he was slowly picked up by warm hands.

The rain was under the rainbow.

It was a really nice change.

Kanda closed his eyes.