Leia Nichols

“Don’t leave me. Stay with me.”

Aha. Finally. Finally he had said what he really meant. I’d known for a long time how Satoru felt. I knew he was searching hard for a new owner for me. But that as each attempt came to nothing, he felt hugely relieved to be taking me home again.
“It’s such a shame I can’t leave him here,” he’d tell each of his friends. But in the van on the way home, he’d be all smiles.
How could I ever leave him having experienced that kind of love? I will never, ever leave him.”
― Hiro Arikawa, The Travelling Cat Chronicles

“A sense of pride suddenly swelled up in me. Pride in myself as a cat who still hadn't lost his identity as a hunter.”
― Hiro Arikawa, The Travelling Cat Chronicles

“I'd like him to have a good life... but all I can wish him now is a decent death.”
― Poppy Z. Brite, Exquisite Corpse

“I met his gaze steadily as I slammed his head into the wall, trying not to let my face contort, trying not to look angry or cruel. Most likely he was past the point of knowing anything. But if he could still see me, I wanted him to know I wasn't doing this because I hated him. Quite the contrary. Before, I had only seen him as a means to an end. But in these final moments of his life, I loved him.”
― Poppy Z. Brite, Exquisite Corpse