Adopting A Cat

"Tasha is a good name for now. Has a nice sound," Kiyomi decided firmly, her eyes drawing out to the window. Whoosh! Whoosh! Buildings streaked past, and she watched them the same way a cat watches a lazer pointer dart past.

As they arrived at a store, Kiyomi got out of the car with a sheepish bounce. "Not often is asked what Kiyomi wants to be called," the tall NEK0 mused shyly. "Always has been Kiyomi."

Or "my pet", but she was starting to realize it wasn't a good name to go by.

"Never thought there were other options out there. Maybe will stay Kiyomi? Too many other names to consider, very overwhelming." As she wrapped her coat tighter around herself and padded across the icy concrete of the parking lot, she shivered. "Nurses hand Kiyomi lots of names, tell her that it might be good to pick one that Owner did not pick. But couldn't decide. Did Tasha choose her own name, or was it given?"

The NEK0 gave a quite meow of approval as they passed the sliding doors, a wave of warmth washing over her. The store smelled of plastic, food, and shelf-dust. She liked the newness of the combination.

”Yomi maybe works,” the NEK0 suggested with an intrigued flick of her tail. “Used to Kiyomi, though…”

That was about as far as she got before the business of the store hit her. Not busy as in people-filled, but busy with color. She gawped under the fluorescent lights. This was a very difficult luxury from Owner’s place — not the luxury of expensive things displayed tastefully, but of cheap thing after cheap thing filling every shelf and rack.

Men’s aisle, infant’s clothes, maternity wear… it was once Kiyomi found sleepwear, pastel and shapeless and soft that she knew she was in the right place.

Kiyomi gasped and padded on into the jungle of clothes. “So many!” She ran her fingers down the rows of fabric, stopping on a purple nightgown. “So different, so colorful, so pretty! Kiyomi has never had purple before. Oh, but what are slippers?” she asked, though the question was a bit of an afterthought.

”Ooh? Actually will fit Kiyomi’s paws!”

She almost picked up a white pair, but hesitated when she saw the plastic rhinestones glued to the toe-portion of the shoe. An unhappy noise built up in the back of her throat. The store aisle felt smaller as she tilted her head at the little glitters, a bit familiar in a way that a store you’ve never set a foot in before shouldn’t. Wordlessly, she tore her gaze away, grabbing a creamy yellow pair instead.

As they moved on to more clothes — a sundress, several long sweaters, a couple pairs of leggings — Kiyomi cheered up. She had a lot of questions about Tasha, and as the adoption seemed more official and set-in now, it was easier to swallow her reservations and ask.

“So, what does Tasha do again? For work. Who all does Tasha live near? Are they nice? Does she have an Internet machine? Is her house a biiig house? Or is it small and cute?”

Hopefully, not too small, but she was pretty sure Ms. Scales would’ve known to ask about that.

“So Tasha is a doctor,” the NEK0 concluded proudly as she tried on a fuzzy coat. “Like the people at the other clinic, but more magical? Mmm. Doctors are nice people. Maybe Kiyomi will be one someday. She would like to be helpful, but isn’t sure how, yet. Has to focus on learning about everything first!”

Kiyomi stopped and bowed as a sales employee passed by. The employee gave her a somewhat perplexed bow back.

“A big house and an Internet? Wow!” It took some effort to keep her tail from curling around Tasha excitedly. She’d been allowed to play around with the computers at the clinic once or twice, being monitored as she zipped through a few Wikipedia articles on domestic and wild cats as a way of introducing her to the internet. It was apparently a much bigger place than Wikipedia, and Wikipedia seemed like a big enough place on its own. How did it fit all that information? Where was it stored when it wasn’t in the computer? This required investigations. “Do we have anywhere else to go before exploring Tasha’s big house, or are we going to see it soon?”

(Fast forwarding is fine!)

For the trip home, and during the beginning of the tour, Kiyomi was a little quiet, but not unpleasantly so. It was less that she didn’t want to talk, and more that she had a funny fuzzy warmth blocking her throat. Not a hairball. It was more pleasant than that, and more metaphorical, she suspected.

On the porch, they were so close to the ocean, that Kiyomi could practically smell the salt and the seaweed. Her tail’s tip twitching as she skimmed her hands across the railing.

“House is nice,” she called out to Tasha. “Kiyomi’s old living place was nice too, but glitter. Hurt the eyes.”

She hadn’t seen many houses before— and the ones she saw in the car had streaked past rather quickly — but having a whole entire shed for art was bound to tip the place into her good graces. And there was grass! That was definitely new to her. Natasha would definitely hear a quiet purr as the NEK0 sidled up to her. “Tasha make this house all by herself?”