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The call came in at two in the afternoon, just after lunch when Wolf was settling back into work. It was not quite unpleasant to have Timo Sonnenschein call him up, it was simply that Wolf was still uncomfortable with calling him anything other than Mr. Sonnenschein. At home, he simply worked around mentioning the man's name when Juri used it but, to Timo's face- or rather, his ear- Wolf couldn't honestly concede to calling him anything at all.
It was a shame he couldn't call him Emelyn's father.
"David's cat had kittens," Timo said. Wolf was actually aware of that. Emelyn had forced him to join one of her social networking sites because "he didn't meet enough people" and she had been updating on the status of David's very pregnant female cat, Katzalina. Wolf, needless to say, had trouble taking the name seriously. It took a great deal of effort to remind himself that David was actually a certified genius in some areas. Etymology seemed to be one of the ones he'd missed. "We were wondering if you and Juri might want to take one of them in."
Wolf had agreed to talk to Juri about it and maybe, maybe they would come by after work. Wolf was very close to reneging on his promise when he got home. He was tired and the only thing he wanted to do was sit on the couch with Juri's arms around him and watch a little TV till one or the other of them started to fall asleep.
Emelyn ruined that.
Not three minutes after Wolf had pressed his nose into Juri's throat, she came knocking at the door. Knocking because Emelyn knew Wolf had a tendency to not answer his phone for most of the things she deemed "important", including going to visit her parents to see a litter of kittens Wolf didn't want much of anything to do with.
The Sonnenscheins lived approximately ten blocks down from Juri and Wolf. They almost ended up walking except it was pitch black out and Emelyn decided their new kitten would not appreciate being carried for that long on the walk back. Wolf kissed Juri goodbye begrudgingly and let Emelyn drag him along. They would see about this 'kitten'.
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Timo met them at the door, which was fairly amazing for Wolf seeing as his first instinct upon entering the house was to hightail and run back to Juri's waiting arms. They didn't want a cat and Wolf didn't want another connection to Emelyn's parents. He didn't dislike either of them, per se, he just had a very well-developed respect for Timo's space and the property that went along with it.
"The problem is the little one. Katzi-" Apparently, Timo had trouble with Katzalina's given name, too. "-just doesn't seem to like him. She hisses at him. David's afraid she's going to take a swipe at him one of these days and that'll be it for him. "
"I'm sure I can find a place for a defective cat in my house," Wolf muttered sarcastically. Timo either didn't hear him or chose to ignore his comment.
The litter of little cats was in the kitchen. The mother, Katzalina, sat in her cloth bed, her great yellow eyes roaming the kitchen as her kittens tottered about. Emelyn dropped down to play with them instantly, making soft sounds that seemed to delight the creatures.
There were six kittens in all, ticked with black over their main sorrel color. Emelyn had mentioned on her site that she was pretty sure the father of the kittens was an Abyssinian living down the street, a beautiful creature with almost show quality conformation. Katzalina was, for lack of a better term, a mixed breed. It showed in the kittens. They were charming but bumbly, with thick legs and stubby tails.
Wolf's attention was diverted by the especially small one Timo was playing with. It was well distanced from its mother and the rest of the kittens. Timo was keeping it well occupied.
"He likes Timo a whole lot. I just can't understand why Katzalina doesn't want him around," David said, coming to stand next to him. Wolf nodded, watching Timo play with the little tabby. The runt was cute in a way, if disconcertingly small. Timo picked it up and dropped it to the floor and Wolf could have sworn the kitten laughed as it hit the ground. Then it was up again, launching its miniscule body at Timo. They repeated the game a couple of times before the kitten seemed to lose interest and climbed up onto Timo's leg, where it wrapped itself into a little ball and abruptly went to sleep.
"Are you sure it's alright?" Wolf asked. He wasn't sure he could take a crackhead cat. He had no use for something that would wake him up in the middle of the night when it decided to start running up the kitchen walls. The kitten, now cat, that David had given his parents was like that. Pretty as anything it was but completely bonkers.
"Why don't you take one of the others with you?" David asked, smiling with way too much enthusiasm. Wolf wasn't fooled; he was damn sure Timo wanted as many cats out of the house as possible, after which he would immediately neuter the one stray they still had."That'll give him someone to play with when you're not home."
The problem with trying to choose just one cat to take along with the runt was that Wolf wasn't a quarter as callous as he made himself out to be. He enjoyed the company of animals a great deal, seeing as he hadn't had any pets growing up and the multicolored, fluff ball kittens were absolutely adorable. They seemed fascinated by his fingers when he held them, gnawing at his knuckles with their not-so-sharp teeth and spreading their tiny claws out when he pressed the pads of their paws.
Timo handed the kitten he'd been playing with over to Wolf. He took it a bit reluctantly. The kitten stirred and uncurled itself to peer up at him with large yellow eyes. Something seemed to pass through those eyes, almost a flicker of shocked awareness, but it was gone in the next instant. The kitten licked its paw and began washing its face.
And so Wolf ended up with three cats when all he really wanted was none.
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Wolf bit back a grin. Juri had taken very well to the sudden presence of three cats in his house. They didn't cost as much to feed as Juri had thought they would, though the cat food did smell something awful. But that wasn't why he was smiling: it was the runt, the little kitten that had been the cause of the sudden influx of animals into their house.
Juri was sitting on the couch making notes on his drum students' music sheets. The kitten was perched on the top of the sofa. Juri didn't seem to notice the tiny kitten chewing on his hair, his blonde strands sticking out of either side of the catlet's mouth as it chomped down in that queer cat way. It followed him everywhere now, so much so that Wolf had had to kick it out of the bedroom a couple of times before it got the picture. Still, any time he got up to go to the bathroom, the kitten would sneak back in and curl up next to Juri, leaving Wolf to pick it up and place it back on the floor. He'd almost squashed it a couple of times. It was just so small. It didn't seem to be growing at all, even though it ate constantly and mewled for more when it found its bowl empty.
The other kittens weren't anything like it. They were laze-abouts, content to sit on the windowsills in the sunshine all day long. Bellona and Noleta (Wolf had gotten a kick out of naming them, making sure to find names that Juri, who actually spoke a Romance language, wouldn't be able to figure out immediately) spent most of their waking hours being prissy little catlets, though they did play with their nameless brother every so often. Which left Wolf with two perfectly normal cats and a fricking spaz.
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Two weeks passed and the kittens seemed to be adjusting wonderfully to their new home. David came to check on them every few days, under the pretense of seeing how they were doing. It was apparent to everyone involved that he just wanted the chance to play with them again.
Wolf was surprised at how fast Bellona and Noleta were growing. They were getting bigger by the day but the little one, whom Juri and Wolf hadn't managed to find a name for, didn't seem to be changing in any noticeable way. It didn't seem to be sleeping very much, either. Wolf couldn't remember the last time he'd found it asleep outside of his and Juri's bed. Sometimes it would curl up in Juri's lap, only to wake back up to chew on his hair or scritch its nails on Juri's pants.
It wasn't normal kitten behavior and it certainly wasn't what its sisters were doing. Wolf wondered whether he should call the vet. He put it off again and again, hoping that the little kitten would start to change in the morning. It was just so unnatural.
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The kitten slipped around the barely open door, its feet making only the slightest tapping sound as it stip-stepped over to the bed. It stopped by the edge to stare upwards, its eyes flashing slightly as it judged its trajectory. Then, with only the slightest thump, it leaped skillfully up to the high edge, its little claws gripping the fabric as it wriggled its way up to the top.
It sniffed the blanket, seeming almost sad to find only one of its owners in bed. There was a bit of masochism to the little creature, Juri had always thought; time and time again, it would try to join him when Wolf was there. Every time, Wolf would pick it up by the scruff of his neck and plop the little thing back on the floor on the other side of the door. And, yet, the kitten always returned.
It padded its way over to him and bumped its head against his. A jolt went through him.
Juri stared at the catlet, suddenly understanding why he'd never given it a name, though it had spent almost three weeks in his house. It butted his head one more time and rubbed its whiskers against his cheek, purring softly. Juri petted its soft fur, feeling its whole body rumble with the force of its purring.
That was the last time he saw the kitten. Just as suddenly as it had entered his life, it was gone, disappearing in the middle of the night. Wolf offered to look for it, not even adding a typical comment that it had probably been run over by a car or a bus, but Juri told him it was for the best.
He'd said his goodbye.