"U-umm, Karma?"

The red head opens one eye. He was a bit ticked off that his nap was interrupted, but when he saw a pair of shy violet eyes staring down at him, he lightened up. "Yo! Okuda" he greeted.

The braided girl smiled shyly. "Er...Korosensei was looking for you during science" she said. "He was a little annoyed you skipped again"

"I'll make up for it tomorrow" Karma said, closing his eyes again.

"You said that yesterday" Okuda giggled.

The girl shifted from foot to foot. "Anything else? Go on spit it out" Karma sighed. "I don't bite" he jokingly added. The braided girl blushed, and stammered over her words, making Karma sigh. Why was she always so nervous around him?

"Drink this please!" She suddenly shouted. Karma opened his eyes once more and sat up.

He had been lying on his back under the shade of a big tree, up on a hill.

The redhead eyed the unknown liquid in the test tube Okuda was holding. The liquid was orange, and seemed to shine against the sun. He sniffed the air... he could faintly smell something burnt.... as well as something sweet?

"I made it during class...." Okuda trailed.

Karma took the vial from the girl's hand, eyed it carefully, and proceeded to press it against his lips without a second thought. "Wait! Karma aren't you going to ask me what it is?!" Okuda protested "It could bee lethal!"

"Eh" Karma shrugged, tossing her back the now empty test tube "I'm trying to build up an immunity to poison" he answered. Okuda made a face. "Umm... but still-"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Your experiments have never caused death before and who knows?" The red head grins broadly. "If I'm lucky I could end up with a cool super power!"

Okuda sighed. "Really, he's so reckless and suicidal, I'm so concerned for him" she thought worriedly.

She sat down on the grass in front of him, her knees tucked under her. The two waited several minutes for any effects to take place

Five minutes later

Still nothing

Okuda was beginning to grow anxious. "Well? Do you feel anything?" She asked.

"No" Karma said, bored.

"How did it taste anyway?"

"Like... orange juice, except a little more sour" Karma guessed.

"Orange juice? But it's not supposed to taste like orange juice!" Okuda pulled on her hair. "What about the smell?"

"It smelt like burnt toast and sugar" Karma revealed, further frustrating and disappointing Okuda. Her experiment hand been a failure! Sure she's relieved nothing bad happened to Karma... but still, her pride was wounded. "Oh, well" she stood up

"We better return for P.E."

She'll just try again when she gets home. Maybe Karma was just special? He did say he's been building up his immune system("wait does this mean he's been poisoning himself?!" ) perhaps she'll get the results she wanted if she tried a different test subject?

Like Kayano for example

___________________________

"Achoo!" Karma sneezed, and used his sleeves to wipe his nose. "I can't be catching a cold" he muttered. "And there aren't any cats around" he was allergic to cats you see

"Achoo!" He sneezed again.

"Achoo!" And again.

His eyes widened when he saw the vending machine. He licked his lips("that's weird" he thought) and practically skipped towards it. He wanted his precious strawberry milk so badly!

Well actually, he'd drink any milk really, he's craving for milk. It's just that strawberry milk was his favorite.

"Come to papa" he eagerly said.

"A-Akabane?!"

He nearly jumped when he heard someone yell. "What the heck?!" He glared at whoever it was.

His eyes softened when he saw another pair of violet eyes(this time they were much prettier)

Those belonged to his rival, Asano Gakushū

"A-A-Akabane... Are those-" the strawberry blonde rubbed his eyes, stared at him, rubbed his eyes again, and then

Slap!

Slapped himself

"Huh? What's wrong with y--Achoo!" He sneezed mid sentence. "Damn allergies, where's the bloody cat causing this?!"

Gakushū slowly approached him, eyes transfixed on his head. His pupils were expanded, his mouth hung open, and his fingers kept twitching for some reason. If Karma wasn't so freaked out by this unusual expression, he would have laughed at the student council president

"Er.... Is E-class having some sort of costume party?" Gakushū asked. Karma scrunched up his nose "What the fuck? No" he answered, this was followed by a sneeze

"Bless you" Gakushū said. "Umm.. hang on" he reached for Karma's head

But Karma slapped his hand away

"Oi! Don't touch my hair with your filthy hand! You weirdo" he snapped, blushing at the close proximity of the strawberry blonde. "What the hell is going on?"

"Achoo!"

"Bless you"

"Get off!" Karma slapped away Gakushū's other hand.

"Hold still! I'm just gonna--"

After a little bit of struggling he finally managed to grab what he wanted to touch

Karma's pupils shrank. "What... are you... touching?"

He heard something come out of his throat. His cheeks blushed, and he felt something hurting his butt. "What the hell is happening?! And... wait... Am I purring?!"

Karma practically melted under Gakushū's touch, and his purring(?) grew louder and louder.

"Wow, this feels nice" he thinks "Achoo!"

"Bless you" Gakushū absentmindedly said, taking out a handkerchief and wiping Karma's nose.

"Hey Asano-kun where's---Eh?"

Ren froze in his tracks at the peculiar scene. There stood Gakushū with a soft(and very cute) smile on him, petting Akabane Karma who was practically bent over, and had(probably) fake, fluffy cat ears attached on his head, wearing the most relaxed expression he's ever seen the redhead wore

Really it was a sight to behold

"Oh my gosh! So that's what it did!" Came another voice, a female.

Okuda stood on the other side of the three, hands on her mouth, expression surprised. "My formula gave Karma cat attributes!" She shouted the last bit.

Hearing this, it snapped Karma and Gakushū out of what ever spell they were under. "HA?!/what?" Karma yells and Gakushū asked

Ren just stood there, scratching his neck as he eyed Karma's fluffy and realistic looking cat ears. He really wanted to touch those.

__________________________

A little while later

Karma, Gakushū, Ren, and Okuda, were in an empty classroom.

Ren was still gawking at Karma's cat ears, and Gakushū kept slapping Ren's hands away whenever he would reach up to touch them.

Karma was pacing back and forth

And Okuda was nervously twiddling her fingers.

"This is shit" Karma hissed at her. Gakushū bit the inside of his cheek to refrain from laughing. "So let me see if I understand this" he said. "You made Akabane drink an unknown chemical you made and had zero knowledge of its side effects?"

"Yes" Okuda sheepishly answered.

"That was careless of you, what if you accidentally poisoned him?" The strawberry blonde glared

"When are these things going away?!" Karma demanded, pulling at his ears. "Achoo!"

"Bless you" the three said.

"Is there anything else wrong?" Asano asked. "Feel uncomfortable somewhere?"

Karma sneezed some more. "Yeah, my ass hurts"

"Maybe you're growing a tail" Ren jokingly said. Okuda giggled, but Gakushū looked at Karma in alarm. "Maybe... " he said. Karma's eye twitched

"A... Tail?" Cat ears... and now a tail? No fucking way.

"Achoo!"

Karma wiped his nose and droopy eyes. This was not his day

"Well, this'll teach me for drinking unknown shit given to me... sometimes I'm my own worst enemy" the redhead thought. "Achoo!"

"Don't worry Karma! I'm sure the effects will wear off in a couple of hours" Okuda optimistically told.

"What if it doesn't?" Ren questioned, already imagining the redhead with a collar and playing with a ball of yarn

"It will! Let's be positive" Okuda insisted. Inside though the braided girl was panicking and thinking of the worst case scenarios "Ohhh no, what if Karma stays a half cat half boy forever?! His life will be ruined! And it'll be all my fault!"

"I'll go ask Korosensei for help though.. Just in case"she added thoughtfully.

Gakushū perked up "does your teacher know anything about experiments and transformations?". Okuda and Karma looked at each other. "Uhhh... Yes! He's a genius with twelve PhD's and.. and... He's the one who helped me create that chemical in the first place!" Okuda lied.

Before Gakushū could question any further, Okuda was already out the door.

"Just stay here the rest of the day Karma! I'll get help" she called over her shoulder before leaving

"Fuck--achoo!--my life--Achoo! And why did it have to be a cat?! Why the damn animal I'm fucking aller--Achoo!--gic to?" Karma kept sneezing between words. "Couldn't I have been a dog instead? Or a wolf? Or some other cooler animal?"

Snap!

The redhead whipped his head to Gakushū, and saw the strawberry blonde with a smirk, his phone out.

"Hey! Delete that" he hissed. "Nope, I want to have something to remember this by" Gakushū said with a chuckle. "Give it here!" Karma leaped forward and tried to take a swipe at Gakushū

The strawberry blonde side stepped and held his phone away from the red head

"Hey! You two, don't fight! Akabane you might hurt Asano-kun!" Ren tried to pull the red head away from his friend

"Here kitty kitty kitty" Gakushū kept provoking the red head

Karma growled and leaped forward again.

This time the two of them fell to the floor, with Karma on top of the strawberry blonde. "Akabane! Bad kitty!" Gakushū snaps, infuriating Karma further.

Then there was the sound of ripping

Karma froze, his cheeks red

Ren stood behind him, staring down at his butt in bewilderment. "You--holy shit I was right?!" Ren gawked at the tail that ripped out of Karma's pants. "What is it?! What's this thing on my ass?!" Karma screamed, jumping back

He reached behind him and touched something long and soft

"What the hell?!" Karma panicked and began chasing the fluffy thing around.

"Pfft--hahahaha!" Gakushū laughed as he watches the red head panic.

"Calm down" Gakushū told the red head. Karma suddenly stood rigid, with his tail held out stiff and straight. "Oh, he's embarrassed and angry" Gakushū snickered

"Stop fucking laughing! This isn't funny!"

"You're right it isn't" Ren agreed sympathetically.

Karma, hissing, crossed his legs and dropped to the floor, arms crossed his lips pouting, his cute cat ears dropping.

Gakushū sighed and crawled over to him.. "I'm sorry for laughing at you, that was very... mean of me" The red head still refused to look at him.

Gakushū sighed "Oi" he absentmindedly placed his hand on Karma's shoulder

POOF!

suddenly Karma's cat ears and tail were gone

Surprised, Gakushū jumped back

Karma's cat ears and tail returned.

"Keep doing that" Karma demanded. Gakushū nodded and cupped Karma's cheeks(he felt how warm Karma's cheeks were, and resisted the urge to smirk because Karma was blushing) and the ears and tail vanished

Gakushū let go

They returned

"They disappear when you touch them!" Ren exclaimed.

"Lemme try" the brunet knelt down and pressed his hand against Karma's neck. The ears and tail remained on the red head

"I think it only works on you Asano" Ren observed. Karma frowned "Or maybe it works on certain people" he reasoned. "Go get Nagisa and Rio!"

"Is that how you speak to someone you're asking a favor for?" Ren frowned.

Karma's ears dropped. Gakushū resisted the urge to pet him affectionately.

"Sorry" Karma mumbled. "Please get..Nagisa and Rio"

"Better" Ren grins and stands up

"Stay here with him Asano, I'll be quick" the brunet said before leaving the classroom

Gakushū was left alone with the neko boy

Karma's head was tilted downward, his bangs covering his eyes.

Gakushū bit his lip, and tentatively touched Karma's ears. He started rubbing behind them, causing Karma to purr

"St-stop that" Karma hissed, his face reddening again. "But you like it" Gakushū teased. "No I don't, it's this damn, cat feelings" Karma said. He sneezed three more times

Gakushū felt sorry for Karma, who had to suffer because of his allergies.

"Here" he held out his hand. "Huh?" Karma looked confused.

"Your ears and tail disappear when I hold you right? Hold my hand so your cat ears and tail would go away for now, this way you wouldn't suffer your allergies" Gakushū offered.

Karma looked surprised, and a little hesitant.

"Go on, what're you scared of Akabane?" He knew teasing the red head would do thet trick. "I ain't scared of anything!" Karma snapped, and grabbed his hand, holding it tightly.

Gakushū smirked, and sat beside the red head, their fingers intertwined. He glanced at Karma, who looked embarrassed to be holding his hand.

As expected, his ears and tail were gone.

Soon, the door slides open, revealing Nagisa, Rio, and Ren.

"Karma! What happened?" Nagisa stepped inside the classroom, looking concernedly at his friend.

The red head quickly let go of Gakushū's hand, thus, his ears and tail returned. "This happened--achoo!" Karma points at his ears and tail.

"Didn't know you were into cosplay" Rio teased. "It's not cosplay" Karma hissed at her(he's been hissing a lot, he realized, like a cat) "Okuda made me drink something she made after science"

"This idiot didn't even think twice about it" Gakushū scoffed.

"And now he has cat ears, a tail, and acts like a cat" Ren supplied.

Rio raised a brow at this "what? No way" she scoffed. "You're pulling our leg"

Karma scowled and stood up, his tail swishing back and forth. He walked towards Rio and held out his hand. "What am I supposed to do with your hand?" Rio asked.

"Just hold it" Karma snapped. Rio shrugged and held his hand. Nothing happened.

Ren suggested "try Shiota"

Karma pulled on Nagisa's ear. "Ouch! What the heck Karma?" Nagisa slapped his hand off. "Nothing" Karma realized.

Gakushū stood up and went to stand beside Karma.

He placed a hand on Karma's arm

POOF!

"His tail and cat ears are gone!" Ren exclaimed.

Gakushū let go

"They're back" Nagisa said. "This isn't a joke" Rio said, eyes wide. "Holy shit dude you're really a cat?"

"Half a cat!" Karma snapped.

He wiped his nose. "Damn, allergies" he groaned.

"Poor Karma, he's stuck with cat ears and a tail because of Okuda's experiment... and he's also allergic to cats!" Nagisa thinks.

"Well you can't go on the rest of the day like this" Ren rubbed his chin. "Maybe you should just go home and wait for the effects to wear off"

"How am I supposed to go home? I can't go out looking like this!" Karma touched his ears, feeling how soft they were.

"Hmm.. " Rio studied her red haired cat friend for a moment. "Isn't it fine to be with them though?"

"No it's not! I look ridiculous" Karma held onto his tail.

"It's fine, people are into cosplay. Most would just think you're cosplaying" Rio reasoned.

"No way, I don't want people thinking that" Karma protested.

His companions brainstormed for possible solutions

"But Karma... You don't really live too far from the school right? It'll be a short walk so you should be fine" Nagisa suggested.

"I'm not going out looking like this!" The cat boy stubbornly refused. "And I don't want anyone thinking I'm into cosplay!" He released some angry growling, which surprised the others.

"Karma... " Nagisa tried to reason.

"Fine then" Gakushū said. "There's only one other solution left"

Everyone turned to Gakushū

"Just hold hands with me"

______________________

"Oh my!"

"Are they a couple?"

"Awwe such good friends"

"That red head is so handsome! And so is the strawberry blonde one, so dashing!"

Karma's now enhanced hearing allowed him to pick up the women's gushing and giggling. He felt embarrassed, walking down the street holding someone's hand, a boy's hand, Asano Gakushū's hand! "Calm down, this is nothing, you're over reacting cat boy" he hissed in his mind. "Why do I care so much? Probably effects of Okuda's damned potion!"

"Hey aren't they from Kinogigaoka? Look they're holding hands, such a cute couple" he heard two teenage girls gossiped.

"You're probably embarrassed aren't you?" He asked the strawberry blonde

"Not really" Gakushū shrugged.

"Come to think of it he's been really calm and accepting over this... is he just the kind of guy who's okay and quick to adapt over anything?" Karma thought.

"This is actually kind of enjoyable, almost like a date with you" the strawberry blonde continued. "What?!" Karma nearlyet go of Gakushū's hand.

"HEY! YOU!"

A short girl with long black and blue hair suddenly appeared in front of them, expression livid and eyeing their hands with detestment. "What the hell do you think you're doing holding hands with Asano-kun?! Redhead!"

"My name's Karma" Karma said, eyeing the shortstack up and down.

"I don't care what your name is! I'm asking you... WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HOLDING ASANO-KUN'S HOLY HAND!"

"Holy hand?" Karma cringed. He glanced at Gakushū, who looked bored. "Is this a regular occurrence for him or something?! Man I feel sorry for him"

"I've never gotten the chance to walk side by side with Asano-kun" the girl said through gritted teeth. "LET ALONE HOLD HANDS WITH HIM!"

"Do you mind?" Gakushū snapped. "Can't you see this is a date? You're ruining it"

The girl gasped, and seemed to think it over "but Asano-kun has always been interested in women... however he is in a relationship with a boy? So that means-"

She glared at Karma, looking even angrier. "Redhead, you've deceived Asano-kun!"

"You're wrong, midget" Karma snapped. "I have a problem and he's helping-" he got cut off by the girl "don't lie redhead!". Karma's eye twitched, really this shorty was getting on his last nerve

"It's not a lie Nadia" Gakushū placed his arm around Karma's shoulder and, to his and the girl's shock, kissed Karma's neck

"AHH?!!" Nadia screams in shock.

"what the fuck?!" Karma's brain screams

"He's my boyfriend, and you're being a pest to us... beat it" he glared at the shaking girl. "Now, Nadia"

Still shocked, and with tears in her eyes, the girl turned and ran away.

"Phew.. finally" Gakushū said. "Sorry about that, I couldn't think of anything else to get her to leave"

"It's" The red head was still frozen. "It's fine" he managed to say.

The rest of the walk was uneventful. Gakushū kept his arm around Karma's shoulders, and Karma's face was a flaming red.

Soon enough they reached Karma's house(well really it was more like a mansion)

"Here's my stop... thanks... for the.... walk" Karma choked out, opening his gate.

"Hmm" Gakushū slid his hand down Karma's shoulder, to his arm, and then his wrist, sending shivers up Karma's spine.

Karma was about to yank his hand away, but Gakushū spoke again "Karma, I'm in love with you"

Karma gulped, feeling sweat gather behind his neck. Then, he yanked his hands away and jumped back, behind his gate, his ears and tail back out. " Asano, don't joke like that, it's creepy" he snapped.

Gakushū just looked at him, and mumbled "Uh.. yeah... you're right, sorry"

"I was quite serious about what I said just now though" he thought, disappointed. "Karma, you're quite dense" he told the redhead

"What?"

"Nothing"

"Maybe I can try again someday" he decided. "See you at school Akabane"

_________________________

The next day

"Karma! You've recovered!" Okuda cheered when Karma entered the classroom, no cat ears or tail visible on him.

The rest of the day progressed smoothly with no leftover effects from Okuda's chemical. Karma had to make up for all the work he missed out on yesterday

Hours later, it was time for them to go home

Karma walked down the same street he walked with Gakushū yesterday, thinking about the strawberry blonde... he didn't see him all day. He must have been too busy with student Council work.

"Man yesterday was stressful, that's not good for my skin, I shouldn't have gone to school yesterday" he thought.

"That shorty really pissed me off... and Asano's dumb joke"

He stopped walking, and touched his cheek. Oh, he was turning red again

"I know it was just a joke, I already knew that... that's it" he believed

Someone like Asano, and someone like him? Why should he take that seriously? So, even though he likes him, he can't say it

"Meow"

He turned his head and saw an orange tom cat and burgundy colored Abyssinia cat, affectionately rubbing against each other

Karma found himself smiling

"Maybe some other day I'll tell him" he decided.

"Achoo!"

{The end}