Under My Skin

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The ginger was rubbing his eyes tiredly. She had been up all night studying. She didn't have school today so it was an easy thing to do but it wasn't good even if it was to study and practice the work that would be on the exam in a few weeks. Letting out a yawn she looked at the time, it was around lunch time and she would have to stay up the rest of the day in order to get enough sleep to fix her sleep schedule.

"Onii-chan~!" a small voice said from behind the ginger. It was a little girl who only looked about the age of six and looked a lot like the other. "What's up Natsu?" She asked, picking up the little girl and letting her sit in her lap. "You know that thing you said we could do today." she said, letting out a little giggle at the other.

She had been wanting to get a pet for a few weeks now and was bugging her older sister for the longest time about it. Hinata had completely forgotten the promise she made to her little sister, that she would take her to get a pet today, today of all days. The older was more than tired at this point but she rather not see her little sister get upset about this whole thing again since she had promised her, she would take her.

Setting her down from his lap, she stepped out of the room with her, going over to the door to get ready. She was hanging off his arms a lot in excitement, as most little kids did. The older picked her up and put her on her back as they made their way into the town close to their home, going to the pet store there.

When they got inside the store Hinata set her little sister down, watching her run around the store to look at all the animals. Natsu stopped at a cage that had all the cats in it. When she came up they all ran over to the side with her and mewled. She let out a little giggle as Hinata walked over with her and watched the little animals run around. Out of the corner of Hinata's eye she saw something moving and saw the store clerk sitting at the front desk. She couldn't tell what they were doing but they only looked a little older than her from what she could see.
 
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The chair behind the front counter was unfathomably uncomfortable. It was the only item in the whole store that actually needed to be replaced though the owners were keen on making sure all the animals were kept overly healthy and the food and miscellaneous items were always overstocked. They were not the only pet shop in town, but were rather small and everything opposite of industry pet places. Customer service was top notch, animals were trained and raised correctly, and the place was overall clean. With as much money they made, Kenma thought replacing a simple chair would highly benefit.

It squeaked as her waist twisted each way, the tips of her toes resting on the legs since it was a rolling chair. A book was held in a set of frail hands, large cat eyes trained on the words of the page. It was a family business, but local volunteers were hired, but their shift was not for another half hour. Kenma worried she wouldn't hear any animals in need or be able to notice a customer calling for her.

Kenma knew she should be studying, should be worrying over her exams and homework, should be worrying about her already top notch grades. She couldn't find it in herself to bring stress up involuntarily.

Her line of sight was great. If she didn't know any better, she would say her vision was nearly like a cat's. With the loss of her hearing, gained new senses. It was difficult not to see the change of light as the glass door opened, abstract crystals shifting on the tile floor, how the animals rummaged in their confines, and how two fluffy puffs of orange entered the store. Kenma tilted her head slightly. A little girl and a teenaged boy. Almost a teenaged boy. Senses of dread pulled in Kenma's abdomen. She'd have to talk to these people, read their lips, know what they're asking for, guess their tone of voice, read their facial expressions. No stuttering, no asking 'come again?'. It was something she was used to, but that didn't mean she wasn't tired of it.

The book stayed in her hand. It was childish, she knew, but she purposely let her hair curtain the side of her face, subliminally closing off any chance of being talking to, she hoped.
 
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Hinata shook her head, trying to get her thought back to her sister and not what the worker was doing. Her hair, that had been pulled back in a ponytail flopped lightly. I wasn't a very long pony tail, because of the shortness of her hair and the spikes but it was there just to keep most of the hair out of her face. She watched as the other ginger played with one of the kittens, all black with one white paw. "That one." she pointed to it. Hinata turned to the counter to try and get the workers attention. She walked over to the counter and lightly tapped it with one of her nails.

Her sister cheered silently by the kitten cage, this was one of her obsessions lately to get a pet, no matter what it would be, just to have a pet at home. Their mom agreed it, but she told Hinata that she would have to take her sister in to get the pet and bring it home.
 
At the sight of a hand coming into her view, Kenma froze up; eyes trained on the crackled pastel blue that was worn down, hints of glitter showing where the light hit just right. Looking up, she came face to face with the boy from before, only know she noticed it wasn't a boy; instead a girl with short hair and equally short eyelashes. Kenma dog-eared the page she was on, softly closing the book and setting it face down, fingers picking at the edges anxiously.

"Yes?" She said politely before remembering that she was in charge of her family's pet store for the time being and needed to show authority.

Be confident.

Kenma straightened her shoulders, collar bone and breasts noticeable though she was still slouching a bit. She inhaled. Exhaled quietly through her nostrils.

"How can I help you?" Kenma internally winced, anxious that her slur showed. Though she had been deaf long enough to know her voice, in fact, did not slur in the slightest. She was being anxious just because a paranoid itch in her brain had taken over ever since she hit high school.
 
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Hinata put her hand back at her side after getting the attention of the girl at the counter. She pointed over to the little ginger girl standing over by the cage that had the kittens. "We want help over here with getting one of them." she said, adding a rather cheerful tone into her voice as she looked at the black hair of the other. It wasn't light slick black, it was a duller black that made it almost look like a dark brown. It was pretty.

After telling the girl at the counter what she needed to, she skipped back over to her sister's side, not literally skipping, but putting a little bounce in her step as she walked to be at her sister's side. She focused her attention back to her sister, watching her as she stuck one fingers through the cage, letting out a giggle as the small creature licked and batted a small paw at the appendage.
 
Kenma stared blankly, nervously, at the orange puff of hair, rising from the disfigured rolling chair and followed suit. When arriving at the large wall decorated with lost felines, a great amount flocked in their cage in her direction. She never understood why cats seemed to gravitate towards her, but it seemed better for her situation that animals loved her instead of hated her. The little orange puffball had wiggled her finger through the cage, the dark feline licking away at it. Kenma stepped forward, silently telling the girl to back up a bit as she fished out a key from her jeans pocket and opened the cage. She held out a fist to the cat, thinking it was cute when they always headbutted it. Kenma reached and grabbed it under the belly, it's paws dangling uselessly around her arm. She also never understood why this cat fancied being picked up in such a way.

"Hold him like this," She said, holding out the cat to either orange puffballs. The cat meowed softly.

"You'll need a parent or someone 18 and up to be able to adopt an animal, but I can give you his information and hold an interview for you," She explained, eyeing the cat. "If you'd like," was added softly.

 
Hinata looked to her sister and then to the other girl before nodding her head profusely. "I would like to do an interview please." she almost forgets to say please, since now she is actually excited like her sister to get this new 'friend' in their household.

On the outside she tries to stay calm, but looks rather tired from her night of staying up through it, trying tot study. While on the inside she is way too excited for her own good, but also very tired. Her hair wasn't its usual mess of spikes, it was more flat but still pulled back into a pony tail. She had been reading through most of the night and didn't want her hair to get in the way so she pulled it back in a pony tail, and put a couple bobby pins in. She took the bobby pins in before they had left to come here.
 
Nodding, Kenma held the cat close to her chest, hand still supporting the feline's weight near its belly. Kenma tilted her head, quietly signaling the two ginger girls to follow her. She walked to the back of the store, fishing a key from her apron pockets and unlocking the door, opening a room decorated with various pet toys and a softly matted floor. She made her way to the middle of the room sitting down and setting the cat down in front of her.

"He... He is still young and not fond of children," Kenma started, brushing a lock of hair shyly behind her ear. The cat sat on its hind, a natural steely gaze coming from it's large blue eyes. She reached out, ghosting her hand over the cat's back. "He can still be trained."
 
Hinata sat down with Natsu in the chair across from the noirette. She listened closely to what she had to say to them. Her eyes shifted to the cat as the other ran a hand down it's back.

Natsu was smiling and humming a soft little tune, kicking her legs slightly as she watched the kitten. She was more excited about taking the cat home then what the other girl had to say. Hinata looked at her sister before turning her attention back to the girl across the table, Hinata nodded her head, "We can train him to get used to being in our house and getting used to being around Natsu." she said, tilting her head to the side slightly at her sister.
 
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The cat made a low growling noise, a noise that was often mistaken for being hostile. Kenma reached out and lightly scratched her fingers behind his ears, the cat closing it's eyes. She nodded while listening to the older ginger girl talk, watching as the cat leaned forward to sniff at the younger girl.

"I've seen him try to be friendly towards children." Kenma watched blankly as the cat pawed at Natsu. Kenma grabbed the cat when she noticed his claws coming out. "It doesn't always turn out well..." She paused for a second. "I don't think he knows how to be calm with little kids," Kenma murmured softly.

She sat the cat in her lap, wrapping her lithe fingers around his paws and squeezing the pink pads, the cat reacting its claws reluctantly. Kenma scratched its neck, his fur soft and silky. She set him down in front of the older of the two orange puffballs.

"Hold your hand out like this.." Kenma held out her hand, bunching it into a small fist.
 
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Hinata watched the other pick up the cat and mess around with him for a bit before the cat was free again and moved towards her sister, his paw batting at her out stretched hand that she had set gently in front of the puff ball, "It's okay kitty..." she said, calmly watching it play with her fingers before the other picked him up and placed him in her lap. Hinata watched, carefully as she pushed on his paws lightly, causing the small claws it had brought out to contract back into the soft fluffy paws.

She looked at the cat as he made his way over to Hinata. She paused for a moment to listen to the noirette, holding out her hand as the other had instructed, waiting for the cat to respond to the gesture. "Like this?" She asked for approval on the way her hand was looking at the black fur of the cat , trying to focus on him.
 
"Auh." Kenma acknowledged, dropping her hands away from the cats midsection. The two older girls watched as the cat sniffed at the presented fist, before pulling back and ramming his head into it. Her shoulders slumped in relief. This particular cat had been in her shop for the longest time, having been returned from a few family before their test "trial" was over, saying he was too intense or aggressive. Kenma was finally glad to see the cat accepting somebody as much as he accepted the two ginger girls.

Kenma fumbled with a loose strand of hair, a dark wave of silk curtaining her face as it fell from behind her ear. She wasn't prepared to ask all the questions she knew was mandatory for pet adoption. She knew she had grown attached to the intense feline, or rather he had grown attached to her, and the thought of leaving this cat here in the store longer without a family o love him made Kenma's heart ache in a way she wasn't expecting it to.

He likes you, she wanted to say but didn't. Take him home. Love him. He's so lonely. He's a tsundere cat if I ever saw one.

This made Kenma realise that she had most likely grown too attached to the cat at this point.

Kenma twirled a strand of hair around her finger, absently thinking of the list of interview questions that she had trained over for years already. She knew them by heart. That didn't stop her from purposely wasting time.

Focus, shorty.

An irritable huff of air escaped Kenma's nose. I should tell Kuro I'm skipping out this Friday night. His voice is trapped in my head...

He's right, though. Focus.

Kenma closed her eyes, shaking her head ever softly. She pulled at a loose hemming in the old, worn sweater she was wearing. I need to go shopping soon.

If I can just get this over with, they can come back next time with their parents and adopt the cat. Speak clearly, pay attention to their lips. All will be fine.

"Uh..." She started, fidgeting with her jacket. "Wh... What type of place do you live in? The area needs to be qualified for an active cat..." Kenma eyed the dark cat on the floor. "And your income needs... to be expansive enough to accommodate food and toys." Kenma looked down into her own lap. "As well as check-ups," she added softly.
 
Hinata smiled, extending a finger to have the kitten check it out and to see what he would do to it. It was mainly just an experiment to see if this kitten could get used to people easily or if it took time like most pets. Some animals might take short time to get used to everything, while others may take several weeks sometimes a month to get used to its surroundings.

Hinata watched the kitten before turning her attention back to Kenma. "We live in a pretty big house. Two stories. I'm sure there is plenty of space for him to wander, and he can go in every room." she explained, lightly running a finger over the kittens head but still looking at Kenma as she did so. "Our mom works through most of the day and I am getting paid for helping neighbors and working in some after school activities that need help when I don't have volleyball practice. So I would say we can afford it." she said, putting a finger from her other hand on her chin and looking up in thought, still letting the kitten do his thing.
 
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