Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Shouyo, stay here okay? Don't ever go out of this house, okay?"

"Meow" 'Okay!'

The human petted him. "Good boy."

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"Onii-chan! He said don't go out! He'll be angry at you!", Natsu yelled at her brother.

"I know Natsu. I'm just having a look", Shouyo smiled at his little sister who was looking out the window. The orange cat stood outside near the road of busy Tokyo. His human went out to buy something when the curiosity of the kitten poked him to go out.

Shouyo looked at the colorful lights. 'Wow. They're so pretty!' He thought. His marveling was cut short when he heard a human voice behind him.

"Oh! A little kitty!" A human boy picked him up," are you lost kitty?" 'Oh no!' Shouyo panicked.

He struggled to get away but the grip around him is too tight. "Hey! Don't be scared. I'll take care of you from now on", the boy smiled at him. But only terror is seen in Shouyo's eyes.

"Len! We have to go!", A grown-up voice called out. "Coming, mommy!", the human squealed, nearly hurting Shouyo's ears from the high pitch.

"Onii-chan!", he heard Natsu scream. But there's nothing he could do. He can't break free from the grip around him. 'Natsu I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.'

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"Len, is that a cat?" The woman asked the boy. The boy beamed. "Yes mommy! Can we take care of him? Please?!"

"Well..." the woman seemed uncertain. "Please mommy?! Please?!" Len pouted.

They got on a noisy animal that moved because a human is forcing it. And there are other humans inside the beast too. 'Are we eaten?', Shouyo wondered. He managed to calm down in the turn of events and instead looked at his surroundings. 'The humans don't seem to panic though.'

The woman sighed. "Oh alright", she nodded her head.

"Yay!", Len shouted which earned them looks from other humans.

"Shh", his mother warned him.

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"We're home!", the little boy yelled. Shouyo observed the house. It was a bit small but comfortable enough. Still, he wants to go home.

The boy placed him on the floor. 'Thank goodness' he thought. Being suspended in the air for awhile wasn't a very good idea. His legs were still shaky from not having to walk.

"Okay Len. He's your cat. You should take responsibility in taking care of him", the boy's mother reminded him.

"Yes mommy!" Len replied. He looked at Shouyo who is still getting used to walking again. "What should we name him?", the human asked her son.

Len's eyebrows crossed as he tried to concentrate.He looked at the kitten who is looking out the window with a vase of sunflowers near him. "Mommy, we should name him.... Hinata."

Chapter Text

••Chapter 2.5: Farewell For Now••

The Little Giant.

Hinata knows that he will never forget that name. Never.

"Kid, this alley here is called Karasuno."

Karasuno.

The name has a special sound to it. Like it's a piece of hope.

'Well, it is my only hope', Hinata thought as-a-matter-of-fact. He looked at The Little Giant.

"Where are you staying?", he asked him curiously. The cat told him that he would be staying here but the feline didn't say that he was staying here.

The cat smirked at him. "Just around here and there."

"You mean you're not staying in this place?"
"Nah. Its time I let them take my place. Can't always be there to watch their backs you know?"

Hinata didn't understand. But he decided to let it pass.

"And besides, since you're here, I don't think they would even need me anymore", the black, curly cat added.

"Eh?", this time Hinata can't stop himself from having a questioning tone.

But The Little Giant ignored him anyway. "You'll do great, Hinata."

He looked at the cat puzzlingly. What's he talking about?

The other sighed. "Well, you'll understand one day...
So, goodbye Hinata."

"Huh?", he still can't bring himself to speak clearly.

"I gotta go okay?", the cat looked at him sadly and turned to leave.

"Wait!", he called out. The Little Giant looked at him.

"Will I see you again?", he asked, his voice quivering.

The other feline smiled and ruffled his hair. "Of course! When you need me, I'll be there! And hey, I'm still just around here. Its not like I'm gonna die or anything!"

What he said made the orange cat feel a little relieved. So he can see him again.

"It was nice to meet you, Little Giant", he bowed. The other cat grinned. "Same to you, Hinata."

The both of them turned to go.

"Oh and hey!", the black cat called out," Say 'hi' to Ukai for me will ya?"

Hinata nodded. "Sure!"

Chapter Text

••Chapter 3: The Trio••

This is it.

Karasuno Alley.

No one knows what lurks inside. Well, some cats but what else?

Hinata took a deep breath and started to walk further inside. Instantly, an intense feeling surged inside him making him pause. 'What is this?'

He continued to walk until suddenly, there was a meow. And another. There's also a faint hiss. Hinata tried to listen carefully but the sounds are echoing making it hard for him to tell which direction they are from.

The walls surrounding him are pitch-black but the road ahead is darker. Sometimes there's a glisten of an eye somewhere but when he turned to look, no one was there.

'Okay, this is getting more and more creepy', he thought, nervously. "Uh, H-hello?", he meowed, the sound turning into an echo. There was a hint of rustling.

"Hello", he still called. Its a miracle his voice didn't turn into a squeak.

"Hey, hey, hey! What do we have here?!", a voice sounded rather devilishly. Hinata felt his knees weaken.

A silhouette began to form a few meters from him. Hinata squinted to get a better view. No, three silhouettes.

A big cat appeared first with a horrible-looking face. His fur is short and gray in color. His eyes are yellow with small black slits. He glared scarily at Hinata.

Hinata became nervous. Damn that black feline! Why did he listen to him anyway? He barely knows the guy!

A huge paw gripped the gray cat's scruff of the neck and pulled him back. Another cat appeared.

If the gray cat was big, this guy is HUGE! He is a huge black cat with chocolate-brown eyes, a white underbelly and a big tail which flickered at the gray cat.

"Tanaka, how many times have I told you to stop doing that?", the huge cat asked him.

"Forgive me Daichi-san", Tanaka looked helpless now.

"Oh? A kitten's here?", a voice beside the duo spoke.

That voice belonged to a medium-sized cat. His fur is also gray but longer. He has warm gray eyes and a small black part of fur beside one of them at the left. 'He seems friendly' judged Hinata.

"What's your name little guy?", the gray cat smiled at him.

"Hi-Hinata", he answered, grateful that there still seems to be a nice cat here.

"Hello Hinata! I'm Sugawara. But you can call me Suga. This is Daichi, and he is Tanaka", introduced Suga also pointing at the two cats beside him.

"Suga-san don't! He maybe a cat sent to spy on us by the others. And I don't like him", Tanaka whispered at Suga but still loud enough for Hinata to hear.

"Um, I'm not a spy", he looked at them earnestly.

Daichi studied him for a moment. "He's right Tanaka."

"Yeah right. But I still don't like him", Tanaka declared with his arms folded.

"You really don't like any cat you meet for the first time Tanaka", Suga looked at him with a sweat-drop.

"Um", Hinata called their attention. "Please help me."

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"I see. So you need to go back home but you don't know where it is?", Daichi asked again.

Hinata told them about how he got there and here except the part about the little giant. He felt that he should keep secret about their encounter and just told them about a random cat passing by and telling him about this place.

He nodded in response to the question.

Suga sighed. "That will probably be hard, Hinata." Hinata looked at him, wonderingly," Eh? Why?"

Daichi got up. "Because Karasuno is just this one alley. All parts of Tokyo have alleys. And every alley is ruled by different alley cats. If you want to expand your territory, you have to fight other alley cats of different alleys."

"To put it simply, you would know different places faster if you have a wider territory", Tanaka explained.

"So to have a wider territory, you must fight other alley cats?", Hinata figured out.

Daichi and Suga nodded. Tanaka sighed. "Which unfortunately, we can't."

"Tanaka don't say that. Its just that--" "But its the truth Suga-san! You know very well Karasuno is long gone from--" "That is enough you two!", Daichi stopped them.

"What do you mean 'you can't'?", Hinata interrupted them.

Daichi cleared his throat. "You see Hinata, Karasuno once had a very wide territory. We even came close to covering the whole alleys of Tokyo. But... when The Little Giant and his alley cats stepped down from ruling, Karasuno didn't seem to improve ever since. We became weaker until little by little, different parts of our territories were taken until only one alley is left to us."

Hinata swallowed hard at this. So there's no hope left for him?

"I'm sorry Hinata", Suga patted his back. Hinata hid his eyes underneath his bangs. "Its... okay", his voice cracking as he said it.

Daichi stepped in front of him. "But you can stay here for awhile." Tanaka jumped and ruffled his hair. "Yeah! You can stay!", and his face turned scary again," and I'll make sure you suffer here."

Hinata jolted. "Tanaka don't frighten him! He's still a kit", Daichi's face also turned scary," Or you'll be the one who will suffer." "I'm so sorry Daichi-san! Please forgive me!", wailed Tanaka. "Hey! Daichi stop scaring Tanaka as well", scolded Suga. "Sorry Suga." "Suga-san you're my savior!"

Hinata watched them while the bickering of the trio continued. He smiled to himself. 'Maybe this isn't such a bad place after all.

Chapter Text

••Chapter 2: Meeting The Idol (part 1)••

The next few days didn't go well for 'Hinata'. He simply refused to eat anything the humans gave him. And he would also just stay in one corner of the room not moving until he thought there are no humans around anymore and would explore the place bit by bit.

"Is he going to be okay Mommy?" Len asked his mother one day.

"I'm not sure Len", his mother replied uncertainly.

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One day, the boy and his mother left. 'This is my chance to get out of here' Hinata thought. He searched around the house until he found an open window in the attic. A limb of the tree outside is lying in the window and he figured out he could use it to climb down.

Carefully, the kitten climbed atop the branch and went towards the base of the limb. 'Don't look down. Don't look down' he reminded himself. Truth be told, Hinata is quite a scaredy-cat.

He looked down. Big mistake. The tree is only about 5 feet but it seemed like Mount Everest in height for the puny kitten.

He instantly froze. Now here he is. In the middle of the branch arguing to himself whether turn back or move forward. 'Maybe I should turn back. No I have to go home and be with Natsu again.' The thought made him crawl inch by inch towards the base of the branch.

Inch by inch. Inch by inch. Almost there. There! He reached it! His claws digged hard to the base. "I made it!", he seemed overjoyed.

But a new thought strucked him. How the heck is he going to get down?! There's no branches underneath for him to jump down. 'Dammit!' He should have thought of this carefully not instantly crawling for his life in a branch and then getting stuck in a tree!

His ears drooped. He would have to go back again. Back in that damn house with nowhere to go.

"Pst! Hey!" A voice called out from below. Is someone calling him? Reluctantly, he looked down. There underneath the tree was a cat as big as himself looking at him wonderingly. 'Probably another kitten' he thought. He looked at the kitten questioningly.

The kitten was black with curly fur and his eyes were also entirely black. Whoa! Black eyes! Its kinda hard to tell were his eyes are, considering the all-black fur.

(Part 2)

"What do you want?!", Hinata snapped at him. The recent event made him irritated and hopeless.

The kitten looked pissed-off. "Hey! I'm older than you! Show some respect!" The sentence nearly made Hinata fall off the tree. Older? Him? They were the same size! How could he be older than him?

But it kinda made sense. The black cat's deep voice shows that he is not a kitten anymore.

"Oh sorry", Hinata apologized. The cat nodded up at him. "What are you doing up there?", the black cat looked at him curiously.

"I--uh...", Hinata struggled for words to tell him that he's stucked in the tree. The cat looked at his position. The curly-haired orange kitten was still hugging the branch with his limbs and tail. He looked like he was trying to wrap the tree whole.

"Wait a sec... Are you stuck?", the cat observed. Hinata felt his cheeks heat up with embarassement.

"U-uh... Y-yeah...", he admitted. This is awkward. He heard the cat chuckle and blushed even harder. Oh man.

"Just stay there. I'll figure out a way to help you get down", he looked at the cat who was smiling at him with amusement.

He didn't answer. This is already embarrassing for him. A lot.

Suddenly, he heard scratching underneath him. He looked down to find the black cat scratching his claws.

"Uh... What are you doing?", he can't help but question the other feline.

"Scratching to get a better grip", the black one answered him nonchalantly.

There is another tree beside the one Hinata is in but taller and leaner. The limbs of this tree seem to intertwine the limbs of Hinata's tree so there's a bridge-like way you can also walk across.

The cat walked toward the other tree. When he was parallel to it, he crouched ready to jump.

And he jumped. High. Very high.

The jump seemed to go slow-motion in Hinata's eyes. The black cat's jump was graceful but strong. The black cat jumping reminded Hinata of a raven taking off to fly.

'Wow' was the only word he thought at that moment.

The cat landed in the same length as Hinata is in but the tree is more high up so he used his claws to climb. When he was in the branches, he climbed on one of them and proceeded to Hinata's direction.

'He's walking as if it's nothing!' Hinata's mouth hung open in surprise. The height the feline is walking is higher than the height Hinata is in now! And it seemed just natural to him.

"Hiya!", the black cat grinned when he arrived at Hinata's tree. "How--how did you do that?!", Hinata asked him, mouth agaped. "Do what?", the cat asked back.

"That! The jumping! And the walking! You were like 'gwooh' and I was like 'gwaah'! How the heck did you do that! And you're the same height as me!", Hinata is being hysterical now. It really did surprise him.

"Oh... That...", the other cat rubbed his neck," experience, I guess..." Hinata made a sound like 'uwooh' but the black feline didn't mind him.

"Look, we have to get you down for now. Questions later", the cat called his attention.

"Oh. Right... He he", Hinata blushed. The cat helped the kitten remove his paws from the branch but it looked like it was glued to the tree.

"Hey, let go of the tree!"

"I can't! I'm gonna fall!"

"No, you're not gonna fall! Just let go!"

"It's too high up!"

"If you're not gonna let go, I'll kick you!"

"Okay! I'm letting go! I'm letting go! Don't rush me!", Hinata screamed when he sensed a black aura beginning to surround the also black cat.

Slowly, his grip on the tree loosened. "That's it. That's it", his savior encouraged him," you can do it."

Hinata closed his eyes tight and shuddered when he finally let go of the branch.

"There. See? It's not so hard", he heard the cat next to him say. He looked at the cat who was grinning at him again.

"T-thank you", he stuttered. The black cat shrugged his shoulders indicating it's no big deal.

The cat looked down. Hinata tried to follow him but couldn't bring himself to do it. Jeez, he really is a scaredy-cat.

"This won't be a problem for me but for you, considering how you got stucked in this tree, we're going to have to find a way", the black ball of fur stated.

Hinata felt his ears droop again. 'Dammit why is this so easy for him when I can't even look down the damn tree!' He mentally cursed himself. His companion noticed this and patted him on the back.

"Don't worry. It'll be alright", he smiled. Hinata weakly nodded at him.

They stayed silent for awhile when suddenly the black feline shouted, surprising Hinata who jumped.

"Oh sorry", the other apologized," It's just that, I have an idea." The orange furball looked at him, "You do?"

The black cat nodded. "Can you use your claws?", he asked Hinata. "I'm not so sure...", Hinata answered uncertainly. "Oh well, you are a cat", the other seemed to answer his own question. "Show me your claws."

Hinata showed him his not-so-sharp-anymore claws. 'Probably from digging my claws to the limb' he thought to himself.

"Scratch them." "Huh?", his train of thought interrupted by a voice.

"I said, scratch them. Sharpen them."

"Uh... How do you do that?"

The other cat looked at him blankly. Hinata looked at him blankly as well. A huge silence filled around them.

The other cat circled him. "Aren't you a cat?!", the feline seemed to scream at him. "Yeah. I am... a cat", he answered back.

"Then what kind of cat doesn't know how to scratch?!", the black cat pulled at his own hair, with a look that says you've gotta be kidding me'.

"W-well...", he was cut off by the other. "Forget it. I'll teach you how", the cat stated, weakly.

(A few minutes later)

Really. Sharp. Claws.

"Uwaah!", Hinata marveled excitedly at his own claws. "Careful. They're really sharp." Hinata nodded at him so hard his head looks like a blur of orange.

"Well... Let's go down", the other cat smiled challengingly. Hinata stopped dead on his tracks. Oh no. No no no. He is NOT going down.

"No way! I can't!", he shouted. "Yes you can", the black cat assured him.

(3 hours later)

"There! See! You got down finally!", the black cat looked relieved. Getting Hinata to go down was so hard he nearly had to drag him down.

Hinata was still shaking. "Are we on the ground already?", he still doesn't seem like himself. "Yep. We are", the other feline ruffled his fur (hair).

Hinata grinned and got up. The other cat also got up. "So... Where are you going now?"

The orange head told his story.

"Eh? So do you know where your house is?" Hinata shooked his head sadly. "Hmm", the cat looked thoughtful. "I think I know where you can go for now", he added, smiling mysteriously.

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"Here we are!", the black cat announced. The orange ball looked at him questioningly. "Eh?"

They're in the opening of a wide, and very dark alley. At least 'wide' in Hinata's perspective. And he can't see the ending of the alley. 'It must be really long' he thought.

"This is where you're going to be staying", the black cat told him. Hinata gasped. Staying? Here? In this dark and dangerous place? Nu-uh.

"What? No way!", he screeched, starting to back away. The cat gripped his arm," You want to see your sister again right? These guys here can help you."

"Wait. These guys? You mean there's someone else here?!"

The black cat scoffed. "Obviously. I won't lead you to a place like this with no other cats around you know."

"But still!"

"Hey! You want to go home right? These cats here are your only hope in going back home! You don't wanna go wandering all over Japan all by yourself do ya?!" At this, Hinata managed to think about it over.

The other cat is right. He barely even knows where he is right now.

"But are you sure they will help me?", he looked at the black cat doubtfully.

"Trust me. They will", the other replied, smiling.

Hinata gulped. Okay, fine.

"That reminds me. What's your name?", the cat asked him.

"Hi-hinata", he answered. "Hinata huh?", the black cat looked up to the sky when there was a gentle breeze.

"What's your name?", he asked his companion. The cat smiled at him.

"Call me 'The Little Giant'."