~Koneko Kidnaps a Kitten~ (Patreon)

“Neighborly Heights” Apartment Complex
(Shortly past midnight, July 14th)

“Hnnnng… nyaaaa~” The young woman stretched upwards with a groaning purr, before letting her arms fall to her sides from above her head.

‘Today was a great day to have a spa night~’ Kuroka thought with a lazy smile as she languidly walked down the stairs in nothing but a fluffy pink bath robe. ‘My Shirone still can’t teleport other people with her, so I should have plenty of time left to sit back and watch something with a nice drink.’

Her “landlord” was with her sister after all, and they were about as far away from her current home as they could get while still being in Kuoh; the complete opposite end of town entirely. Even returning at their quickest, her Shirone would have to carry Nyaruto back home physically, giving her plenty of time to notice and clean up after herself.

Kuroka hummed as she padded into the kitchen barefoot, opening the fridge while wondering what she should have.

‘Nyaruto doesn’t stock it, so Booze is out; I’d have to go grab one of my stashes. Pass.’

Her eyes landed on a carton with a picture of a cow on it, and she grinned. “Purrfect!”

Pulling out the milk, she grabbed a mug from one of the cabinets, and poured a glass of the sweet liquid while moving towards the microwave.

The pleasant hum of the appliance filled the kitchen as she waited for her drink to warm up, putting away the milk carton and cleaning up her water dish in the meantime. While she didn’t mind it much while she was in cat form, because she was a cat, looking at the bowl full of her own backwash-water while in human form was kinda gross.

When the microwave timer went off and beeped its completion, Kuroka pulled out the mug with both hands and took a deep breath through her nose, savoring the nostalgic smell of the steaming sugary drink.

Just as she was about to take a sip however, Kuroka stiffened.

‘Why now?!?!’

The teleportation circle Shirone had set up in the apartment’s living room had sparked to life, ‘spinning up’ so-to-speak in her magical senses, and sure enough, Kuroka could feel her sister’s demonic power start connecting to the circle from across town.

In the fraction of a fraction of a second it took her to react and consider her options, her newly-cleaned bowl popped into her mind.

‘Purrfect!’

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Koneko always found it a bit of a weird feeling to suddenly be somewhere else in an instant.

Unlike her friends, whose senses were “only” enhanced compared to a human’s due to their Devil biology, her sense of hearing and smell was magnitudes stronger than the rest of them, even a high-class pureblood like Rias. Even when her cat ears were hidden.

Going from literally anywhere outside– whether in a city or the wilderness– straight to indoors with a teleport, was always a bit jarring. Scents popped out of existence for new ones to fill her nose, and the ever-present sounds of life and civilization stopped instantly, replaced by the groaning of water pipes and near-silent hum of electricity in the walls.

Which was why she snapped to attention the moment the familiar smell of freshly warmed milk and the sound of a cat’s tongue greedily lapping up liquid reached her.

Someone had been here.

Koneko’s eyes narrowed as she rushed towards the kitchen, her mind conjuring hypothetical images of the mysterious senjutsu user she was certain had been keeping her Naruto-kun alive.

When she entered the room, her eyes locked onto Kuro, the black cat pausing in her drink to glance back at her. Unknown to Koneko, understanding dawned in “Kuro’s” eyes; She had, in her hubris, forgotten one small detail that was only relevant because Koneko saw her as “just a regular cat”.

There was a moment of silence before they both moved.

Kuro practically dunked her head into the bowl of milk, desperate for a few more gulps, before Koneko snatched her up by the scruff, one hand under her armpits to support the now-limp fully grown cat’s weight more comfortably.

“Nn, stupid mysterious sage…” Koneko muttered with a frown while moving over to the sink.

Just because she could stomach them keeping themselves hidden if it meant her friend kept receiving a steady supply of life-force, that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be annoyed if they pulled stuff like this.

Most adult cats are lactose intolerant. And even the ones that don’t have issues with lactose itself, still have trouble processing the other proteins, especially when it comes to cows milk.

The point is that despite what cartoons would have you believe, milk wasn’t good for cats!

Koneko eyed the mug that was obviously used to microwave the milk while she turned on the water, and proceeded to gently clean the pathetically mewling cat’s muzzle even as Kuro attempted to lick up what remained on her face.

‘If I just leave her here, they might come back and give her more,’ Koneko thought when she finished drying the feline. ‘Hmm…’

In the end, she decided to take Kuro with her when she finally looked at the text Naruto had sent her after emptying and cleaning out the cat bowl.

After all, while she couldn’t yet teleport other people, small normal animals weren’t much of an issue.

Koneko nodded to herself and marched the two of them upstairs to grab the cane-sword from his room. When she finally had it in hand, she stuffed it under her armpit to text him that she was ready. A few seconds after she sent the last message and put her phone away, she felt Naruto summon her back; sword in one hand, depressively whining cat in the other.

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Kuroka sulked, even as she secretly assisted her baby sister with teleporting the “normal” cat that she currently looked like.

And she’d been having such a nice night until then, too...