He was about 3/4 the way up a particularly titanic tree, doing what he loved most - napping. A dead bird who'd fallen prey to his claws lay a few inches from him, half eaten. Its blood stained the tree's light brown bark crimson. Served it right, he thought with a scoff. Any semi-intelligent bird knows not to go landing on a branch with a neko on it. Thorn, which was the chosen name of this particular neko, looked up from his branch to see a clear, blue sky above him, tasty, delicious birds flying gracefully over his head. This irritated him, causing his tail to flick. Come just a little closer, will you? It was no use - those birds, with their raven black feathers (Kind of like my hair, he noted, but shinier) were not as stupid as the one he'd killed.

It was a loner's life he had been born to live, and so he took pride in the beauty of the forest he chose to call home. There were, to his knowledge, no humans in here that would mistake him for some kind of violent, satanic creature that would need to be destroyed. No one can find me here, he assured himself. No one would think to look for a wildcat that shouldn't exist in the forest near the humans hunting him. Right? 

Then he heard it - footsteps, down on the forest floor. Human, if the gate of walking was any indication. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. This can't be the end. I'm too young to die by the hands of humans.

Her gasp left him a bit speechless as if she'd never seen one of his kind before. "A neko..." 

His red-brown gaze looked below him, and he almost hissed but kept himself silent and his lips in a straight line. Almost no one, apparently. One ear flicked, and his tail lashed on its own. One, two, three - his claws came out from the tips of his fingers as he stared. Thorn felt his muscles tense and he was sure he was about ready to bolt at the first sight of this human moving towards him. For an instant he felt the weight of the pants he wore and the breeze against his bare chest - time had stopped, almost. Then he sniffed, saw, and heard why.

The creatures of the forest were bolting - deer and mice and birds and foxes, creatures of all shapes, sizes, and colors in one giant stampede, making a mad dash for the treeline. It came to him like a murder of crows over the decaying body of a long-dead animal: the scent of smoke, the crackling of flames, and the red flower that meant death to all it touched. Fire, he thought, suddenly panicking. It was faint, meaning it was far from being a threat, but the one thing the neko knew about fire was that it spread quickly and that humans wearing long yellow coats with weird tools came to fight it. He could pass off the color of his hair and fur temporarily as stains from ash, but that wouldn't last forever and eventually, he'd be on the government's radar.

"Come on!" he heard the human below shout as if she was actually concerned about a neko like him. "You can't stay up there forever! We have to go!" 

A feral hissed escaped his mouth before jumping from the branch and landing on his feet (which were void of any sort of shoes or socks, as expected), immediately running with the stampeding animals. He caught up with the girl and ran past her, shouting as his cat-like grace had allowed him to run farther and farther from her, "This way!" Without thinking about if she could understand Japanese or not, as that was the language that slipped from his lips, he jumped across a small, clear creek, landing in the water and holding his tongue between his fangs. This is nice, he thought bitterly. Normally I run into the forest, not out of it. But what's worse? Going into human fire or actual fire? Either way, I'll end up dead. 

Thorn, who had paused to catch his breath, didn't even think about the human or even dare to look at her until he heard her voice again. 

"Look." 

Which made his ear flick toward the source of the noise and cause him to do so, while his attention was divided between her and the surrounding landscape. They were in a part of the forest he'd never really been to. The trees were thicker but less dense, and through their branches, he could see, hear, and smell the beginnings of a human town. It made him a little nauseous. The human was also aware of her surroundings after a quick look. Can humans do anything without turning their heads? 

"You can't be found," I know that already. Tell me something I don't. "and I don't want to get involved with anything that could end up in a newspaper," what's that? She shook her head as if trying to clear a thought. Humans were weird, that much he didn't need to decipher. "If you'll let me, I can help you. You can come home with me until the forest clears up and it's safe for you to go back again. I know the way home from here." 

Now that he wasn't instantly running from a fire, though his stance clearly told her he was ready to bolt if she tried to kill him, Thorn noticed that the human must have fallen during their race from the fire and it must have drawn blood. She had wrapped some sort of material around her hand and was holding it rather tightly with the other... were all humans that weird? 

"Hurry up and make your decision."

His ear flicked, and with a quick bit of pain, he noted the ash that stung it. How'd that get there? he asked himself, purring to keep himself calm. "After you," Thorn nodded as he responded again in Japanese, feeling blood on his leg from a bramble thorn he didn't feel until that second. She can't know I know what she's saying, and that I can reply. Not yet, not till the fire is gone. But I am curious as to why she's offering to help me in the first place. Does she really not know what my kind of neko can do? Why I haven't seen another one like me... ever? 

Doesn't everyone know Japanese? She doesn't seem to. “Well, I’m going, so if you’re coming - come quick.” the human stated with finality. She jogged the line of a fence for several minutes, turning and climbing up an oak tree. Just as fast she ran she jumped into a fenced-in area and then dove under a loose piece of wood. Thorn followed suit, but in a much more quickened and hurried manner, as he was scared of stray bullets from human guns, though even that wouldn't end his life. Hardy things, nekojin. 

Now that his forest was full of flames, he had nowhere to go, anyway. As the girl crawled into what he could only assume was her home, he was climbing the oak tree, making quick work of it with his claws, and landed in the neighboring territory. Instead of crawling under the fence, though, Thorn jumped over it, once more thankful for his claws. The neko winced, a bit of ash coming loose from his fur and falling to the ground as his ear flicked again. "Now where?" he asked in his native language when they got to a landing with a wooden door. 

The human took some form of metal from her pocket and put it into a slot in the door. “No, you’re a neko,” she replied. What? I know that. She kept her smile and stepped inside the den. “Come on in... we can't have anyone seeing you." That's what Mother said humans say when they want to kill you...

"I know," he commented bitterly, still refusing to speak English. And I know what will happen if anyone sees me. You'll have the honor of watching me get shot or burned or in some other shape, way, or form... killed. He looked around, not seeing fire anywhere, and dashed inside, instantly smelling birds from where he stood. Oh, great. Now I'm gonna have to try not to hunt in front of her. Should I tell her? No, Thorn. Not yet. Wait until you're sure no other humans are around, and this isn't some sort of trap.

She closed and turned the metal thing. He heard a click that made him jump a little. Skittish thing, he was. His eyes followed her blonde hair as she put the metal on a... what was the word? Table? Thorn was fluent in English, but that didn't replace the fact humans had many names for the same thing. Whatever it was, it was to the right of the door. “Okay... what now?” he heard her murmur to herself. She turned a round thingy, and it dispersed water... ack. They had control over that? Of course they do. They have control over everything. It's foolish to think humans are mice. Mmm... mice. 

The human ran her hand under the water before turning it off - he was positive she had some sort of mind control over the liquid - and opened part of the table, taking out more material and wrapping it around her hand, taking the other, green material off before doing so. The stuff you wrapped it in before wasn't enough? There were a million new questions flying from his brain. 

“Okay, so -" her voice caught him off guard, a shiver running down his spine. It wasn't even a scary voice, she'd just startled him, that's all. "if you’re going to stay here, you have to be clean. There’s a shower or a bath, you can decide which you want to take. We have two bathrooms, so I’m also going to take a shower. We can’t be tracking ash everywhere.” That means water, human. Do you not understand what a cat is?!

Glancing around, she paused. “Well, if you can understand me, I’m assuming you don’t know what either of those are..” 

The ash was still warm on his ear, which was annoying and painful. He hissed under his breath, "I'm not an idiot." But I hate water more than I hate being kept awake... He hissed to himself, Baka... which of course was Japanese for 'idiot'. As he went to find the bathroom (and more importantly, the location of those birds), the wound on his leg bled a little more. Dumb plants... 

He was stopped by the human's voice again, another tiny jump made. Will you please stop doing that?! "You can speak English!" Well, duh. Of course I can. I also speak Cat. Her face flushed for some unknown reason, but then she explained where this bathroom was, somewhere he would definitely be avoiding in the future. The only door...

Clothing was provided for him, much to his surprise. He'd only been wearing white pants, so it made sense that she'd want to put him in something else. What did he care? A cat didn't need a shirt, but it didn't hurt. It was a little colder in the den than outside. Thorn stepped inside and took the first shower he had in... literally the entire time he'd been alive.