Sakae: "I am home"
"Welcome back, Master"
Sakae: "It's good to be back, Mike"
The one Sakae was addressing was a white cat with red facial markings. His familiar.
Every day, before going to school, she would bid him farewell and welcome him when he came back.
She was no ordinary cat. Many ninja clans kept familiars, and Sakata clan was no exception. Mike happened to be Sakae's familiar, a nekomata to be precise.
Mike: "I missed you, master!"
She jumped into Sakae's embrace, purring all the while.
Feeling the cat's soft fur was a very relaxing sensation. It always managed to relieve Sakae's stress.
Sakae: "It feels so nice"
Mike: "Feel free to pet me as much as you want, master"
Sakae: "I will take you up on that offer"
Such moments were a regular occurrence in this house.
Since Sakae was no longer living with his family, his only companion in his apartment was his familiar, Mike, who insisted on coming with him.
His family was rather supportive of him moving to an apartment to live by himself.
They saw it as his first step in leaving the nest and becoming independent. Apparently his older brother, Takae did the same thing at his age. Though, the landlord just happened to be Sakae's aunt on his mother's side, so it was not exactly flying too far.
He did keep contact with his family, of course, visiting them on weekends, but Mike was pretty much the one person who always there for him.
And she did make his life much easier.
She would always listen to his tales, what happened during the day, his worries and stresses. Many times, Sakae would use her as a stress pillow, hugging her tightly and crying into her fur.
They would even sleep together.
Surely enough, they had been companions for a while now.
When Sakae turned four, he was paired with a kitten. A ninja and a familiar always established a bond from a young age. Sakata clan just happened to use nekomata as familiars.
Sakae was not the only one with a cat familiar.
Mike's older siblings were the familiars for Sakae's elder siblings, loyally serving and assisting them with every need.
Mike: "Master always comes home late, so I was worried"
Sakae: "Sorry about that. I just needed to wait until my teacher went home, for her own safety"
Mike: "I guess it couldn't be helped"
As a ninja, Sakae collected info on every student in his class and the majority of the people in his school, including the staff.
He could sense that someone was stalking his homeroom teacher, Arikawa Reina.
In the life of a ninja, there was no such thing as being too cautious.
Because of this, Sakae would regularly stay late after school just to make sure his homeroom teacher was safe. If his instincts were right and they usually are, the culprit might strike at any time.
It was most likely one of the enemies of his clan. Unfortunately, sometimes the bystanders end up getting hurt due to such circumstances. Sakae was determined to make sure that would not happen.
He would likely wait until everyone left the school and he is left alone with Reina sensei.
Luckily, nothing happened yet, but just to be sure, Sakae had put hidden cameras all over the school, to monitor any suspicious activity.
Normally, he would stay away from other people's lives, especially that of a woman.
But Reina sensei was different. She tried her best to help out her students, even addressing their life problems. Ayumi would often talk to her.
As good of a ninja he was, Sakae was not exactly a great student. Reina sensei would regularly help him out after school, even if it was in her personal time.
As thanks, Sakae vowed to keep her safe.
And he was the type that kept his word.
Mike: "Please don't push yourself too far, master. Your wounds have not completely healed"
Sakae: "It's fine, I am already used to it"
Mike knew perfectly well that this was a bold faced lie.
Two years ago, Sakae ended up in a car accident that almost killed him.
The doctors were able to save him, but even they could not reverse the permanent damage he received.
His left eye, while still intact, could no longer see, forcing Sakae to rely only on his right eye to navigate.
That was nothing compared to his more severe injuries.
Ninja rely on their ability to manipulate their internal energy, their chi, in order to use their ninja techniques.
Each clan even had a specialty that no other clan could hope to replicate or match.
But in order to use any of the ninja techniques, user's body must be able to flow and manipulate the chi within it.
Sakae's right arm and right leg ended up so badly mangled that he could no longer flow his chi through those limbs. In fact, his right arm sustained so much damage that currently he can barely do the basic rudimentary motions with it.
This essentially meant that Sakae's potential had been cut by half if not more.
His career as a ninja was over before it even began.
But Sakae was a stubborn one. He refused to give up.
One of the reasons he set out to live by himself was because he wanted to prove that he would be fine even with only one good arm.
Knowing Sakae's condition, Mike followed him here, trying to do everything she could to make Sakae's life even a little bit easier.
Due to losing the ability to use his dominant hand, Sakae's life became a mess as he tried hard to adapt to his circumstances, not helped by having only one functioning eye.
It took him couple of days to figure out how to use chopsticks and kitchen utensils and an entire month to learn how to write with his left hand.
Cooking in his condition or even wielding a knife was impossible.
Mike could still recall her horror after seeing Sakae on life-support. When he made it out alive, she felt a great weight fall off her chest. It was such a relief…Just knowing that her master was going to make it.
Even walking was quite painful, but Sakae kept stubbornly persisting. That is probably why he managed to 'recover' after the car crash.
Doctors did say that it would have taken several months if not a year for a normal person to be able to walk after getting into such an accident, yet Sakae managed to stand up and walk in less than a month.
That was nothing but the strength of his resolve and burning spirit.
Mike: 'I promise, I will pamper you to your heart's content!'
As Sakae ended up falling asleep on the bed, Mike crawled up next to him, examining his right arm.
Mike: "Master is too kind for his own good"
To make sure Sakae was safe; Mike would spy on him on his way in and out of school, usually hiding in the trees.
A day ago, a little girl fell into the water under a bridge. She was drowning with none noticing.
While most people did not see the child, Sakae is a ninja, as such; his senses were far sharper than normal.
Without any hesitation, he jumped into the water and saved that child's life.
But doing such an activity in his condition placed a huge strain on his right arm, ending up damaging it even more.
Mike: "I guess it can't be helped"
In the place of the white cat, there now was a long white haired girl in a kimono.
With Sakae sleeping, he did not see a change that occurred.
Mike: "I will heal you up right away, darling"
Putting her hands on his right arm, she began healing him with her chi. It was a good thing that Sakae was sleeping; otherwise, he would have been horrified to see that he was sharing a house with a girl.
Mike's clan, Sasaki clan, consisted of nekomata, shapeshifters that could alternate between human and cat forms. Of course, Sakae was not aware of that, thinking of nekomata as magic talking cats.
Mike was going to tell him, but after the car accident, he developed a severe phobia of women for some reason. It was traumatic enough that he started screaming when a nurse tried to examine him.
Mike did not want to lose her connection to Sakae or want him to hate her, so she had been hiding her human form from him all this time.
Mike: "A familiar….as in family. Maybe like your wife *giggle*"
With Sakae sleeping, Mike snuck into his covers while still in her human form.
While sleeping, Sakae wouldn't even notice that he was using Mike in her human form as sort of a body pillow. He often wondered what was the soft sensation he felt as he slept, not realizing the truth.
Mike: "This place, in master's arms…it is a place reserved for me"
She snuggled against him, fully aware that if he were to wake up, he might condemn her.
But she couldn't help herself.
Ever since the day she met him, when they were still children, she had been in love with him.
This was the only time where she could truly embrace him.
Mike: "I love you, Sakae…."