Tsubaki and Anon Pt. 1

>Coming home from work just like always
>Mid March means nights are still freezing as fuck sometimes.
>This evening's air being no exception.
>Small cramped apartment in the city is all I could afford on my budget, a far cry from the big house in the country side I grew up in.
>Get inside and climb the flight of aged stairs to the second floor landing.
>Fish keys out of my pocket and unlock the door.
>"Welcome home Anon"
>A woman of rather average height greets me as I step inside
>Modest bust and hips are the highlights of her slim body, though hidden by the baggy sweatpants-sweatshirt combo she always wore.
>With her tea coloured hair she seems like a normal human woman till you get to the two round ears that poke out the top of her hair and the large bushy tail sticking out from her sweatpants. Both matching the color of her hair with the tail sporting a slanted ring of darker color midway.
>For almost a whole month now I've been sharing my one bedroom apartment with this Danuki girl.
>"Still feels weird coming home to someone else." I said closing the door behind me.
>Get shot this flustered look by Tsubaki with her cheeks a puffed.
>"I'm trying to be nice Anon. I'd thought you'd appreciate coming home to it."
>"Well thanks Tsuba it is nice you're not wrong." I say patting her on the back.
>Conversations like this were a bit common place now, it had almost been 3 weeks since I met Tsubaki
>Our original meeting was less than splendid.
>Only been a couple of months since I had lived in the city by that point
>One very gloomy day late February I was walking home when I saw her in an alley I'd had passed so many times before.
>She looked dirty and disheveled, clearly she hadn't eaten any real meal in days.
>A complete look of dishevel from the dirty face to the matted clumped hair and tail fur told me she hadn't taken a bath in a while.
>Her sunken face told me she hadn't really eaten anything substantial to boot.
>Made eye contact for what felt like forever while I debated internally whether or not to display kindness and invite her home for a hot meal and to clean up.
>Figuring a homeless mamono, much less a homeless Danuki, was a very poor soul allowed my soft nature to triumph the warning bells sounding from my more logic based half.
>I blurted out without thinking much something that now could be described as the opposite of graceful.
>"You look like shit. Hows about coming back to my place and at least getting to bathe and a actual bed to sleep on?"
>The look she shot me is one I got used to, that dirty indignant look of contempt.
>"I'm not some homeless woman you can take home to fuck if you promise them a bed and a hot meal."
>Remember reeling at her response not expecting something like that.
>"Christ almighty, I'm doing you a favor and I never asked for you sex in exchange, I'm just trying to be nice."
>"You're probably thinking it" She said dusting bits of dirt off her tattered street clothes.
>"What the hell is a Danuki doing in the gutter anyways? I thought you guys were good at business?"
>"I came here from Japan to start a business out here with my own money, but a rival company used some under handed tricks and forced me into bankruptcy"
>"Bull shit"
>"It's true, it was even in the news four months ago."
>Think back and something clicks after a few seconds.
>"…Wait, you mean DanDan Trading company was yours?"
>"Mhmm. Well it was, but now this is all I have." She said spreading her arms out for emphasis.
>"Why didn't you just go home then?"
>Her head dipped, "I didn't want to be an embarrassment to my family. I-I felt it would be better to just disappear."
>Felt like a rock dropped into my gut as uneasiness took over
>"Listen…umm, what was your name I never caught it"
>Her ears perked up as her faced burned
>"It's none of your business"
>"Nice to meet you Nunovuor, I'm Anon." I said with a hand extended. "If you want to stop rolling in the gutter I'd be more than happy to offer you some help."
>The woman just stood there fidgeting
>"I-I don't want to"
>"Listen, I have more to lose than you, you could empty part of my house while I'm asleep or worse, I'm willing to trust you so trust me."
>Tsubaki just continued fidgeted in place as she considered my offer
>"…ok" she said finally.
>"Don't look so down cast Nunovuor, it beats being outside tonight, it's supposed to rain."
>"Please stop calling me Nunovuor…I have a name"
>"Of course you do, it's Nunovuor, right?"
>"No. My name is Tsubaki"
>"Well Tsubaki, I'm extremely hungry so let's get back to my place and I'll see what I can whip up."
>I gave her a pat on the back before I continued my walk home with Tsubaki now in tow.
>Looking back that exchange barely reflected our relationship now.
>One night had turned to two, and two into three.
>Less of it being Tsubaki and more of it being on me insisting she stay.
>"Anon, could you go to the kitchen and grab the bowls please?"
>Tsubaki's question snapped me out of my flashback.
>Still half out of it reply with "Uhh yeah sure..."
>Duck into the tiny nook that  called itself the kitchen, returning with bowls and silverware in hand.
>Ask "So whats for dinner anyways?" as I set the bowls.
>"I thought we try something a bit different, miso soup."
>"More of a kale soup man myself, but hey whatever works."
>Go to kick off my sneakers when something crosses my mind.
>"Do we even have the ingredients for miso? I thought that required some special stuff?"
>"It does Anon, I hope you don't mind I went to the market today."
>"We're on a tight budget Tsu," I sigh through clenched teeth.  "Please don't spend frivolously."
>"It wasn't expensive Anon, also the market seems to have some stuff you buy for cheaper than the grocery store."
>Bit a hand on her shoulder and look her in the eye.
>"Just don't spend too much we're not exactly rolling in money here." I say with a softening expression, "promise?"
>"I Promise."
>Try to change the subject to something a bit more cheery.
>"Need anymore help with dinner prep?"
>"Thanks Anon, but It's almost ready. Why not just go relax till then?"
>Living Room acts as of late acting as my makeshift bedroom.
>Like the kitchen it's a rectangle with a hole at one end that you enter through.
>Only real piece of furniture in the room is a couch against the back wall with the TV in the corner opposite the entrance.
>Couch is flanked by an end table that holds my alarm clock as well as a small clothes rack so Tsubaki had room in bedroom closet for some stuff.
>Not the greatest bed in the world, but still cozy enough to fall asleep on after a hard days work.
>Slump down on the couch and grab my laptop out from under the alarm clock.
>Decide to just kill time by browsing the internet.