Nao stretched, and smelled his breakfast.

It said chicken on the package, but this was definitely not chicken. These were just dry crackers with a vague trace of meat-like substance. There was grain in it, probably.

He hadn’t read the package carefully in fear of actually knowing the ingredients, and then not being able to have breakfast anymore. Ryan had changed the brand 3 times already, because he wasn’t eating enough.

Nao felt like he had to eat at least a bit of the horrible kibble, or he’d get him worried. He didn’t want to get Ryan worried. Ryan had enough on his mind as it was, and he was blessed enough getting actual food for dinner every day.

Suck it up. Nao told himself, and ate his breakfast.

Ryan was showering. He’d always close the door when showering and Nao respected his privacy. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, he thought. It would be weird to do 'that' in front of someone else obviously. Probably even if you thought that someone else was a cat.

Nao wasn’t a cat though. He just made himself look like a cat. Nao was a guardian like Mr. Masato had been.

He was supposed to protect Ryan from his Yakuza dad. But his job had been incredibly easy, since his dad never showed up. His dad had never shown up in the past 22 years. And after all this time Nao figured they’d probably given him the job, because no one thought Ryan actually needed protection.

Nao had minded at first, of course. Pretending to be a cat day in and day out got boring. But he really liked Ryan, so he had settled in his job, and felt happy doing it. Ryan was nice, kind, attentive. He treated him like a person, and always petted him so lovingly, he couldn’t help but purr.

Ryan walked out of the bedroom dressed and ready to go. He picked up a banana and his bag of books and got on his way. He picked Nao up gently, held him to his chest, and kissed him on his head.

“I love you Kitty” he said.

“I love you too” Nao thought.

As soon as the house was empty Nao changed into his true form. It looked human enough, but the ears and tail gave him away. That, and his feet. Nao walked on his toes along with the balls of his feet, his less developped heel bones up in the air. Which wasn't all bad. Because if he didn't walk on his toes, Nao would be even shorter.

His body slowly assumed the proper form, and the pupils in his green eyes dilated until they were as round as any human’s.

He moved around a bit to get comfortable in his shape. Then he went into Ryan’s bedroom, took some trousers and a hoodie from the floor, and got dressed.

The clothes were too big, but Nao was glad. If Ryan had been smaller than Nao, he’d have had a serious problem getting dressed. Also, in the oversized clothes he had no problems hiding his tail and ears.

Shoes had been a bigger problem. He still had the same shoes he had gotten himself in his first week he spent with Ryan. They were broad-heeled boots, to which he had made some adjustments in the inside to make sure his feet would be comfortable. Well, as comfortable as they could be shoved in a leater encasing. He had made a special hiding place for them and his other stuff under the floorboards in the kitchen. He opened the space, put on his boots and closed it again, just to be sure. Then he went outside.

Nao liked to wear worn clothes. They smelled like Ryan.

As he walked to the college he looked around at all the signs of spring. Purple and yellow flowers came out from the grass. Trees had new leaves ,and some even blossomed. Birds were building nests.

Ha, Nao thought, there’s gonna be some jummy chicks in those nests soon...

At this thought Nao stopped himself. Fucking hell, he was actually turning into a cat. He needed to get his head on straight. Robbing chicks from nests… What was next? Stealing goldfish from someone’s pond?

Nao thought about this and started drooling.

“Fuck.” He said out loud.