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It starts when she’s coming in with an armful of groceries. Juggling the bag and her keys, Hinata pauses as she hears a soft sound. A few glances around the front porch, however, reveal nothing...and she doesn’t hear it again. Listening a moment longer, she then mentally shrugs and heads in. There’s still several more bags to pack in, after all. And for the moment, she’s all alone with Sasuke at work. Which leaves all the grocery-carrying to her.
Once everything is put away, she changes into a pair of worn shorts and a tank top, hair pulled into a tail behind her head and a visor snug over her brow to shade her face. Gloves pulled onto her hands, she heads back out through the front door to do a bit of yard work. The flowerbeds in the front are getting a bit overrun with weeds. It’s time yet again to go to war with the unwanted flora!
Ten minutes in, she stills. There’s that noise again! Sitting back on her haunches, Hinata looks over the yard. Funny...she doesn’t see anything. The houses on either side are quiet. What on earth…?
There! Again! Head turning, she pinpoints it somewhere to her left. Is there...something under the front porch? Hesitating - what if it’s a racoon? They carry rabies! - she sidles over to the lattice that goes all the way around the underside of the porch.
Or...well, most of it. As it so happens, there’s a piece broken off along the house. Great...there is something under there, isn’t there?
Nibbling her lip, she heads in for a moment to grab a flashlight, reemerging and kneeling by the hole. A button is pressed, and the light cuts through the dark under the porch.
A few random bits of junk - must be from the previous owners - are scattered about. Old broken flower pots, some spare lattice...and a cardboard box…? Heaving a small, curt sigh, Hinata moves around to a better angle to see into said box. Peering through a hole of the lattice, she aims her light...and gasps softly.
Staring with round eyes, giving a quiet growl...is a cat.
“Aww...hey, kitty,” Hinata greets softly. “What are you doing under there…?”
Still the feline growls, Hinata angling the beam to keep from blinding them.
“It’s okay! I’m not gonna hurt you. Gosh, I thought you were a trash panda…” Shifting her weight, she tries to think of what to do. “...hold on!”
Back in she goes, fetching a can of tuna fish. Cracking it open, she forks some into a tupperware bowl...and then gets a second for some water. Placing both near the hole by the house, she calls, “Here kitty kitty! Are you hungry?”
It takes a minute, but the smell of tuna coaxes them to peer around the edge of the box, sniffing with soft snorts. Creeping along as Hinata settles herself back a ways, the cat - a little black one with a splotch of white on their chest - slowly emerges just enough to scarf down several chunks of tuna.
And it’s then Hinata notices, this is a fat cat! But...fat in a sort of...odd way. Almost like…
...oh no.
“...you’re pregnant , aren’t you?” she notes quietly. What is she supposed to do with a wild, pregnant cat?
Sasuke is going to be thrilled .
Not.
Watching her eat (and then get a long drink), Hinata nibbles her thumbnail, sat on the grass. Should she...call the pound? But surely that would be a lot of stress for a kitty that’s so clearly close to popping…
...oh! Duh!
Taking her phone out of her pocket, Hinata sends a quick text. Thankfully it only takes Kiba a few minutes to reply.
Yeah, I can see if my sis has some spare time - she helps with rescues a lot. And she can make sure the cat’s healthy. I’ll text you when I hear back.
Hinata breathes a sigh of relief. Thank you - I just want to make sure mama and babies will be okay!
Having little else to do but wait, Hinata wraps arms around her bent knees, watching her new feline friend eat her meal. “I wish you weren’t scared of me, kitty...I promise I don’t want to hurt you…!” But alas, cats can’t understand something so easily - she’ll have to earn her trust, first. Hopefully Hana will know some tips and tricks for that.
All the while, her guest keeps one wary eye on the human. It doesn’t take long to clean up every scrap of tuna.
“Gosh, you must be really hungry…! Do you...want some more?” She also just got some chicken...maybe that would be better on an empty stomach. Ever so slowly, Hinata moves to get to her feet.
In a flash, the cat disappears back under the porch.
“Oh -!” Trying to gesture, Hinata wilts. Well...she should have expected that. Setting her jaw, she picks up the dish and heads back inside.
One cut up piece of chicken later, she returns, setting it back in the same spot...and this time, sitting a little closer. As before, the kitty approaches slowly, watching Hinata with a heaping amount of suspicion.
“You’re okay,” she murmurs, trying to calm her. “I’m not gonna hurt you...it’s just m-me and you. You’re safe, pretty little kitty.”
On she goes, mostly just talking nonsense to try to adjust the cat to her voice. Reaching the dish, the soon-to-be mother heads right on in to eating.
As tempted as she is to try and pet her, Hinata refrains. Mostly because she knows that won’t work, but also because she can’t know what trouble this kitty’s gotten into: parasites, illnesses...she might not be safe to touch.
And then Sasuke’s car pulls into the driveway. Tensing, the cat - surprisingly - doesn’t flee, eyes round again and clearly scared.
“Easy! Easy…” Hinata urges. “It’s just Sasuke. He’s my husband. He loves kitties!”
“Hinata? Who are you talking to?”
She just points, Sasuke coming around and then stopping in surprise. “...oh! Is that cat...pregnant?”
“I think so. Poor thing is so hungry...I’ve been trying to make friends!”
Just as curious, Sasuke takes a seat beside her.
Torn between her appetite and her fear, the cat lingers in inaction for a while before taking another bite.
Feeling her phone vibrate, Hinata gets a text from Hana. Can be there in twenty minutes - be careful not to approach, get scratched / bit
True to her word, the vet soon arrives, a carrier and a catch pole in hand. “So, she’s under the porch?”
“Mhm...we had her out to eat, but she got nervous at your car.”
The couple stand aside as the vet gets to work, laying on her belly and fishing around for the feline. Soon there’s a startled howl as she gets ahold of her, and Hinata can’t help a flinch. Fishing her out, Hana carefully gets her into the crate.
Immediately, the cat shrinks into a corner, hair on end and pupils like dinner plates.
“...well, I’ll have to do a lot of tests, make sure she doesn’t have any mites, fleas, diseases...but if she checks out, I’ll let you know.”
“Will...will she need a foster home?”
Hana perks a brow. “...are you offering?”
Hinata looks to Sasuke, who deadpans. “...Hinata…”
“We can help find the babies homes! Haven’t you always w-wanted a cat since we moved in?”
“Yeah, one. Not a whole...troupe.”
“Kittens are pretty easy to get adopted,” Hana offers. “Everyone loves baby animals.”
“Pleaaase?”
The Uchiha sighs. “...oh, all right. But we have to make sure she’s safe and healthy first.”
“Mhm!”
A week passes as Hana does tests and cleans the cat up, doing her best to socialize her. “I think she was someone’s housecat,” she reports over the phone. “She doesn’t have a chip, but she’s actually gotten a little friendly. Still very scared, though.”
“Aww…”
“You sure you want her in your house? She didn’t have fleas, and seems clean besides some ear mites I treated her for...but who knows if she’s housebroken, or won’t go nuts and jump on everything.”
“I’m sure!”
Thankfully, the couple have a spare room in their little house: what was going to be an office, but has mostly just been storage as the project keeps getting pushed back. Hinata does her best to clean it up, investing in a large dog crate filled with second hand store blankets, water and food, and a small litter box.
Hana brings the kitty back a few days later, helping move the very round cat from one crate to another. Curling up in a corner, she stares with wary eyes.
“Hey there,” Hinata greets with a smile.
“Got a name picked out yet?”
“Hm...no, not yet.”
“She seems nice, just...very shy of people. She hasn’t bitten or scratched - very well-behaved. I’m willing to bet she’s a housecat that got pregnant, and the owner just...tossed her out rather than deal with the kittens.”
“Oh, how horrible…”
“But, she’s got a good home now. Once the kittens are born and old enough, I’ll help you find homes. Shouldn’t take much.”
“Thank you!”
Kittens, as it turns out, aren’t far off.
As a matter of fact, they only wait about a day before arriving.
Going in to check her the following morning, Hinata freezes at the sounds of soft, tiny mews. “...oh my g-gosh!”
Very carefully checking the cat’s nest of blankets, Hinata counts a whopping twelve babies . Twelve little kittens!
“Holy smokes, mama! No wonder you were so hungry, having all those little ones in there!”
Sasuke doesn’t believe her until he gets home to check himself. “...well I’ll be darned.”
Most of the kittens are shades of black or grey, but a few are tabby colored. “Well, I guess we know what the dad looked like…”
“Freeloader, not even sticking around to raise the kids.”
Hinata giggles. “I guess that falls to us, huh?”
Hana comes to check them, also amazed. “You don’t see litters this size very often! But they all look healthy...what a good mama.”
Hinata starts her new home hunt early. Everyone she knows gets a call advertising the little kitties.
Kiba’s girlfriend agrees to take one. Naruto and Sakura too, if they can get a pet deposit in their apartment. Shino politely declines, citing an allergy. Kurenai, Hinata’s favorite high school teacher, agrees to one. Ino goes in for two. Sasuke’s brother lets his wife talk him into one. Shisui agrees to one, as does his mother. Even Hanabi manages to convince Hiashi to let her have one. That leaves three unaccounted for, which Hana assures them won’t take long.
Sasuke, however...quickly becomes attached. He’s told her before of his family’s love for cats, as evident by their percentage of participation. But more than once, Hinata catches him in the spare room, letting himself be overrun by kittens.
As time goes, the mama cat quickly warms up to them both.
“How about Oreo?”
“You have any idea how overused that name is for black and white animals?”
“Cuz it fits!”
“...how about...Shadow?”
“...what was that about overused?”
Staring at her, Sasuke then brightens. “...Bowtie.”
“What?”
“Her white mark on her chest! It looks like a bowtie!”
Hinata stares...and then laughs. “It does!”
Once the kittens are old enough, they get one last checkup by Hana, and then get dispersed to their new homes.
And Bowtie gets spayed.
“I think one batch of twelve babies was enough for the poor thing,” Hinata agrees.
“Yeah...one cat is plenty. For now.”
“...for now.”