I noticed two feral kittens living in the bushes outside my apartment in Dallas and took pity on the poor things, started leaving food for them outside my door. At first, they would only come to eat after I closed the front door and I would watch them from my patio some distance away. After a while, I was able to watch them from a few feet away, but they would constantly hiss and bare their fangs at me. Finally, both of them stayed and stared at me one night after they ate...I bent down and extended a finger towards them and they both hissed at me, but did not run away. They kept creeping closer and closer, still showing their teeth and hissing...suddenly, they were both rubbing up against my hand and purring. They were my kitties!
It started to get cold and I was going home for two weeks around Xmas, so I was really worried about what would happen to them while I was away. I tried to train them to go into the storage closet on my patio, where I stowed some old blankets for them...big mistake. I brought them through my apartment and out to the patio and closed the slider...once they realized they were confined, THEY WENT BERSERK. One of them tried to slam through the railings with its head over and over...I had to open the slider and let them flee through the apartment.
After I got back from my trip, I didn't see them for several days and was convinced they had died...then I got home from work one night and saw a small cat walking by the building next door. We stared at each other for a while...was that my kitty/person? Once we knew for sure, I bent down with my hand out and the cat came bouncing over, meowing happily all the way. After a few seconds, the other one showed up...but, really, the bond had been broken. I saw them a few more times, but they had found someplace else to live and, possibly, another benefactor.
I'm probably lucky I didn't catch fleas...