C/N : I got the idea from reading InsanityVixen's Lil' Red. I thank her for the inspiration.

I do not own any of the characters or music/titles I happened to put!

A New Friend

"I can't wait to get home and read the book I bought!" a Lucy Heartfilia thought happily to herself. Lucy and her best friend, Levy McGarden, just left the bookstore after a girls'-day-get-together with some of her other classmates and friends. She was walking leisurely and humming the tune of River Flows in You and singing the song in her head.

Halfway through the song, the dazed blonde heard a soft mewing coming from her far right.

"Huh?" the girl snapped her head to the right immediately at the sound of the distressed feline. "Who in the world leaves a poor kitten out in the rain?"

It was pouring earlier, but lightened up to a thick drizzle. Following the soft cries growing louder, she found herself by a rose-bush, where a wet, orange-colored tabby cat cried as it tried to free itself from a rose vine that hugged its small hind leg and part of its body.

"Oh! How did you get into this vine?" The girl asked the kitten as if it would answer her somehow.

"Hold on a bit," giggling to herself. "Good thing mama asked me to buy a pair of small garden scissors."

The pruning took a while, since the cat wouldn't stop trying to help by squirming and the vines were rather thick. After Thirty minutes of crouching, pruning, and twisting various rose vines, Lucy triumphantly and carefully held the dirty and wounded kitten with bleeding fingers closely to her chest.

"Darn, I'm late for dinner! I'll be getting an earful from mama and papa." Panting and tired, the exasperated blond could already hear the sermon her father would give about tardiness. Grimacing at the thought of ear-bleeding inducing lectures, a soft whimper came from her covered arms.

She smiled softly as she saw a pair of greyish-blue eyes look staring at her, mewing, Lucy cooed the kitten quietly, "Don't worry lil' guy, I'll get you patched up, warm and fed." She said smiling wider and giggling as the little bundle of fur that started purring and rub against her under bust.

"I'm home!" Lucy called out by the large and brightly-lit home's main entrance. Her family was rather well-to-do and had a rather large house with three floors, two balconies and two medium-sized gardens full of flowers, a pool and had 4 entrances.

"Lucy Heartfilia, where have you been at this hour?" Her father, Jude Heartfilia, questioned with a menacing but worried tone at his daughter. "We almost called the police!" He bellowed again, causing the girl to laugh nervously at her father's over-exaggerated statement.

"I'm sorry daddy, I got, um, sidetracked." She smiled while walking over to her father to give him a peck on the cheek, and then proceeded to her mother, who looked calm at the sight of her daughter.

"Welcome home dear. You were out later than you said you would, we started getting worried." Layla Heartfilia said to her approaching daughter, who noted the worried look in her mother's eyes. "What held you up Lucy?" Questioned her mother.

Lucy looked around nervously as her father entered the room as well, wondering the same thing. "Ah, we-well, you see… I just-" her statement got cut off by a small chain of meowings coming from her jacket that she held in her arms.

"Oh well," the teen sighed inwardly "now or never. I did plan to ask them anyway." Her father raised an eyebrow and her mother had an astonished look, "So yeah… this guy's the reason I'm a bit late, mama." Lucy smiled sweetly at her parents, revealing the little kitten.

"So… can I keep him?" Eyes twinkling with anticipation and lips formed into a sort of puppy-dog pout.

Her mother was gently drying off the little kitten and bandaging its wounds, while her father was fussing about Lucy's wounded bleeding hands and fingers.

"Pleeease daddy? I'll take care of him myself! I promise!" Lucy was pleading while disinfecting her wounds. Jude Heartfilia turned his head to his wife, like trying to ask for advice. Or trying to ask her to put some sense into their daughter about this.

"I think we should let her keep it dear." Layla Heartfilia smiled reassuringly to her husband then her daughter. "But she should try to look for the cat's owners first, if it has any."

The breadwinner of the house closed his eyes for a minute thinking and weighing everything out, then looked at his pleading daughter's pout then to his sweetly-smiling wife and sighed, "You have to train him, feed him and make sure he doesn't make a mess or bother anyone or anything." He said.

"And if he happens to get himself into something like this again, please call in advance to say you'll be late. Or that you're hurt." The kindly mother added.

Lucy's whole face lit up and hugged both her parents, nearly tackling them to the ground. "Oh gosh, thank you daddy! Thank you mommy! I promise!" She was practically jumping up and down with joy like a five-year old.

Getting ready for bed, Lucy stopped every now and then to look lovingly at the kitten and pet him or just star at it. Now that she got a closer look, and now that there was better lighting, she could see that the tabby cat was strawberry-blonde, with a few brown and black stripes, that weren't exactly visible from afar. Its fur stuck out pointedly in clumps pointed different directions and it had these dull but sharp blue-grey eyes. The kitten was, by her guess, about 4-6 months old.

Not exactly a kitten, but hey, my cat.

"You're simply adorable! An absolute bundle of fluffy cuteness!" She giggled while playing with the kitten, the kitten, likewise, started to try and catch the wagging finger in front of its nose. Lucy giggled then yawned, checking the time, she decided it's about time to sleep.

Picking up the cat, she made her way to bed and tucked the tabby beside her.

"Good night." She scratched the cat behind the ears, its eyes started to close, signaling that it was sleepy. Even in the dark, the fur looked liked it glowed, making Lucy still see the strawberry-blonde color.

"Ichigo." She murmured. "Hey, I should call you Ichigo." She smiled at the cat, who was purring now asleep.

"Night-night Ichigo." She whispered as she closed her eyes.

Lucy woke up just before her alarm woke her up. She tried to move her arms, but couldn't, feeling something pinning her to her side. She opened her eyes to see a bare chest, handsome man with orange hair, sleeping beside her. Feeling her face heat up, she unconsciously gave a tiny yelp when the man hugged her tighter.

"Can't... breathe! Murrmph! Stop... hugging me..." Struggling animately, looking quite mall. She yelled out, "Get away!" while pushing strongly the man away from her toward the edge of the bed, making him stir from his sleep slightly, in time for his falling off the bed.

Hearing the loud 'thud', Lucy sat confused, flustered and panting, because of her racing heart beat, on her bed, bending over to check the fallen male. Startled again, she backed away, looking at the, now fully awake man, rubbing the back of his head with one hand, while supporting himself to a sitting position with the other.

"Ah. What a fall," the man said, wincing at the pain and recall of the fall, "That hurt you know?" He pouted toward the now blushing blonde, then a smile creeping onto his face.

"I didn't think you'd push your 'bundle of fluffy cuteness,' off the bed, onto the cold, hard, unforgiving floor." He was now smirking, while the girl turned tomato red, at a loss for words, recalling what she said to her kitten last night.

"My cat!" Lucy snapped out of her embarrassment, and started looking everywhere for her lost cat. "Ichigo, hey, where are you tiny?"

Having looked everywhere near her bed, she pouted towards the mysterious man, "Where or what did you do to my cat?"

The orange haired intruder chuckled, dusting off imaginary dust while shaking his head in amusement, said simply "Can't you tell, love?"

"I'm not your 'love.' Now, who are you and how in the world did you get in my room next to me?" Retorted the still pouting blonde, whose blood threatened to make way to her cheeks.

Chuckling more, the man stood up, making Lucy avert her gaze, now blushing, but noticed the man had pants.

He laughed openly now, "Quite modest now aren't you?" Raising a brow.

The girl just blushed more and stuck her tongue out to the man, "You haven't answered my questions. And where is my cat?" Crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, to answer your questions, one, you are my love, when you helped me yesterday," He stated matter-of-factually, while she was plain confused. "Two, my name is Leo, but call me Loke. Three, you put me beside you remember?" Raising a brow to the very confused girl. "And four, I am you cat, darling."

Clearly confused, Lucy shook her head and furrowed her brows.

"Seriously." She said in a commanding tone.

Sighing, the man named Loke smiled at Lucy and explained, "My name is Loke, I am Leo, the lion. The cat you found yesterday was me in one of my feline forms. Right now, I am in my real form. You helped me yesterday, and so, technically, I owe you." Loke gave Lucy a charming smile while stating all this.

"Hold on. Backup. What?" Lucy cried. still very confused.

Sighing, Loke came up to her almost nose-to-nose, "I am the cat you found yesterday. Understand?"

The girl nodded.

"This is my real body. My name is Loke, alright?"

Again, the girl nodded.

"You helped me yesterday, and so I owe you a favor," He watched the girl's expression while she nodded.

"And until I can repay you back for your kindness, I will be your cat, and take care of you. In more ways than one if you wish." Saying the last part with a wink. Lucy blushed at this, and pouted once more. Loke chuckled and added, "It's good that you understand. It's a deal then."

"No." Furrowing her eyebrows. Sighing,"I kept you thinking you were a stray kitten, but since you're, uh, that, a-a person. Please, I can't keep you here away from your home."

"By all means, please, head home." Saying with an almost motherly tone in her voice and smile.

Startled by the girl's expression, he shook his head, and smiled kindly "It wasn't a question, it was a statement. A firm declaration." He said kindly but firmly.

The man then sat by Lucy on the bed, tilted her chin upward to him, "And this will seal the deal."

"E-eh?" Still trying to process everything.

Loke smiled at her and closed the distance from his lips to her, in a sweet, firm and passionate kiss.

C/N : I'm open to comments and reviews! I'm not very good at cheesy stuff, so sorry.

"I'm not mad. My reality is just different from yours."