It starts out innocently enough. A monster attack, and an item drop. A candy of some sort. Innocent enough right?

But when Naofumi appraised it…

[Mysterious Candy- Effect: ?]

Since it would be something Filo would try without knowing what it does, Naofumi ate it instead.

After a puff of smoke, he…turned into a cat.

Looking in a puddle of water, he sees himself as a black cat with green eyes, the shield had miniaturized and turned into a collar.

"Meow?!" Naofumi yells before his ears pinned back, 'Oh great. I can't talk…no one's going to understand me now…!'

Huffing, Naofumi goes off to find someone, anyone that can help him.

Unfortunately, he runs into Motoyasu and Malty first.

One of the girls of the Spear's party picks him up and nuzzles him.

Hissing, Naofumi glares at the treatment he's being subjected to.

"A cat? Aw~! It's so cute!" Malty smiles.

Motoyasu tries to pet the cat too...only to get scratched in the face, "Ow!"

"Motoyasu-sama!"

Naofumi jumps down onto the ground, hissing and growling at them, his fur standing up.

Motoyasu had a hand on his face, the three scratch marks being somewhat covered.

"Bad cat!" Malty uses a spell to create a fireball, but Motoyasu stopped her just as she was about to launch it at the poor cat.

"Stop! Just leave it!" Motoyasu says as he held her wrist.

"But…"

The cat disappeared without either of them noticing.

'Hmph! That's what they get!' Naofumi thinks to himself as he escaped successfully.

Then, he sees Itsuki and his party.

He hears him mutter about an evil noble, and that he should be hanged for something or other.

Naofumi walks up to him, "Meow."

"Oh…hi, kitty. What do you want?" Itsuki smiles at the cat, petting its head, "Are you lost?"

Just as Itsuki was about to pick up the cat, he's sucker-punched in the face.

Too shocked by what just happened, Itsuki and his party were speechless as the cat escaped somewhere else.

"Did that cat just punch you in the face?"

Itsuki's still shocked, "...yeah."

"Wow…" is all his party members say, still in disbelief that even happened.

As Naofumi runs off, he sees Ren, who's alone like usual.

Then Naofumi hears his stomach growling, and so does Ren.

"You hungry?"

"Meow."

They stare at each other before Ren walks off, only to return with a plate of food.

"Here…it's…just my leftovers…" Ren mutters shyly.

"Nya," Naofumi rubs Ren's hand before eating his fill.

Ren smiles before walking away.

After filling his stomach, Naofumi wanders the streets, looking for a good spot to nap.

But then he's picked by someone.

Irritated, his claws out, he turns to see who it is that's disturbing him…only to see familiar red hair.

'L'Arc?' Naofumi retracts his claws a bit and just stares at L'Arc's face, who then tries to nuzzle his fur.

Naofumi used his paws to try and push him away, growling at him in discomfort. He even scratched him a bit.

However, L'Arc isn't discouraged. After backing off and seeing the cat's disgruntled look, he scratches a spot behind its ear.

'What's he doing now?! Oh…that's…so good. That's~ the spot~. Yes~.' Unconsciously, Naofumi purrs and rubs him, leaning into his touch, wanting him to keep doing that.

L'Arc let him go after a while.

Naofumi sits under a tree, the shade helping him hide from grabby humans.

Looking through his menus, he sees his condition clearly.

[Curse of the Zodiac - A curse that turns one who ate a Mysterious Candy into an animal.]

[Cure: Victim has to get someone to say their name.]

'…' Naofumi thinks about this, 'There's no way I'm going to the three idiots. I don't want them to know it was me! But L'Arc…he at least has some chance of calling me by name instead of Kiddo…'

Sighing, Naofumi goes to L'Arc as his best bet on breaking the curse. Plus…he kind of wants him to scratch that spot again.

"Meow!"

"Oh, you're back?" L'Arc smiles as the cat approaches him.

"Nyan," Naofumi rubs against his leg.

L'Arc pets the cat's head, "You're such a cute kitty…"

Naofumi then jumps onto L'Arc's lap, putting a paw on L'Arc's chest, surprising him. He stares into his eyes.

Laughing, L'Arc says, "You know…you remind me of Kiddo. Should I call you that instead of kitty?"

Ears pinned back, Naofumi glares as he uses his other paw to slap him in the face.

Shocked at what just happened, L'Arc blinks, "Uh…did you just…slap me?"

"Nya!"

"OK…?"

Then he finally notices the collar. A green collar with a mini shield on it. Staring in shock as the "cat" jumps down onto the ground, "Naofumi?!"

In a puff of smoke, he hears an angry, "About time!" but when the smoke clears…

"Finally! Hey, why is it cold?" Naofumi then realizes his clothes didn't transfer with the curse and the breaking of it.

"... You got a sweater or something?" he blushes, trying to hide his lower half with his hands.

L'Arc just blankly at him before responding, "Uhhhhhhhh, y-yeah, hang on."

He puts a coat around Naofumi to cover him...even though he's just seen Naofumi completely nude.

Naofumi smiles, still red in the face, "Thanks."

"Uh…what just happened?" L'Arc asks.

After Naofumi explains it to him, he starts laughing, "So you…were the cat this whole time!?"

"Yes…" Naofumi growls, "So stop laughing!"

"I don't think I'll ever be able to let you live this down, Kiddo!"

Naofumi sighs, moping a bit, "I know…but can you please keep this a secret? It's embarrassing."

Smirking, L'Arc asks, "What's in it for me?"

"Anything you want…so long as you don't kill me."

L'Arc smiles, thinking for a second before saying, "I want to take you out on a date, just the two of us."

Naofumi blushes at the word "date", "Uh…OK. I'll…go on a date with you."

"Good. See you tomorrow morning then!" L'Arc smiles as he goes back to the inn.

Naofumi facepalms, sighing at what he just got himself into.

Omake:

On their date, L'Arc can't get the image of naked Naofumi out of his head. It's constantly at the back of his mind. He does manage to distract himself by focusing on something more pressing though…like being turned into a wolf.

Naofumi offered him candy, and he ended up a red wolf.

"Now you know what it feels like!" Naofumi laughs. He pets L'Arc's red fur, cuddling him and putting his face into it, "So fluffy~!"

He can't help it!

Then, he gets a ball, and throws it, "Fetch!"

Instinct kicks in and L'Arc runs after the ball, getting it and bringing it back, his tail wagging like crazy.

Naofumi smiles and rubs his head, "Good boy!"

After a few more rounds of fetch and basic commands, Naofumi kisses L'Arc's nose before petting him, "Good boy, L'Arc."

In a puff of smoke, L'Arc is back to normal, Naofumi covering him with his cloak.

Naofumi smiles happily at the results of this date while L'Arc's in contempt…before he smiles.

"You really love fluffy things, huh…"

Blushing, a bit embarrassed, "Sh-shut up…"

L'Arc laughs since he now has more blackmail over Naofumi now.

Naofumi asks, "Lean down for a bit?"

"Hm?" L'Arc obeys him.

Smiling, he pets his head, "Good boy."

L'Arc pouts.

Omake 2:

L'Arc still has some dog-like tendencies, so Naofumi takes full advantage of it.

"Stop treating me like a dog!" L'Arc complains.

"SIT!" Naofumi commands.

L'Arc obeys, sitting down and pouting.

Naofumi smiles as he ruffles L'Arc's hair, "Good boy."