Horton Hears a Who: 96 sisters

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I get tired of saying it, but… I do not own Horton Hears a Who, those rights are reserved to other people.

A/N: This chapter was possible do to the lovely help of my two wonderful proofreaders; Spleeny and Socks who took the time to read and correct all my mistakes in it. Now go ahead and read it, I command you to!

A thin stream of light fell over the small lump curled up upon the room's single bed; and it was with the creaking of a door that dim glow vanished, and tiny catlike footsteps prodded across the boards. The teenage Who buried beneath his covers continued to snooze lightly until a small body plopped down onto him.

This might have scared anyone else senseless, but it was a regular occurrence for the brother of ninety-six little Who sisters. The pouncing on him was something the dark furred who could have gone without, though. Because of size difference, the air was knocked clean out of his lungs.

However, the weight was soon lifted as his little sister rolled over to sit beside him instead. "Jojo… I no sleep…" Yeah, and now he couldn't either-- thank you, Tally. "Wead me storwy." In the darkness he could make out the form of a square-ish item shoved up close to his face.

Taking the book, he sat up, slowly flipping through the pages with mild amusement before he set the volume aside on the bedside table. They knew better than to ask him such things; after all, he really preferred not to use his voice. Instead of reading, he reached his hand down the side of his bed, stuffing it between the mattress and railing to draw out a flashlight.

He smacked it against his palm, causing the yellowish glow to dimly light up a section of the room. Then he tilted it sideways to face the wall and propped it up on the edge of his bed.

"What you woo-ing Jo-jo?…" said his sister.

He crawled to the edge and held a hand before the light, forming a dark silhouette.

Shadow puppets would be sufficient to tell a story.

His sister was gone from his room when Jojo awoke in the morning. He got up rather sluggishly, picking up the book that had been left aside his bed. He trudged down the stairs, dropping by the large shared room that was his sisters'. Most were still asleep, but a few had woken up and glanced at him curiously when he entered.

He waved the book for them to see and crept over to the young who's girl bed to set it at the foot of her sleeping form. With that, he turned to leave before a voice stopped him.

"Jojo? I need to talk to you." And she had to be using the work 'talk' very lightly.

He turned to walk over to her when she shot out of the room, literally dragging him with her. His toes couldn't actually reach the ground as her feet flew down the many steps of the stairs. He was only aware of their mother casting them a strange look as they vanished out the front door.

Jojo shared a similar strange look as his sister stopped and panted rather stiffly. He waited a moment before plopping down on the front steps. "See… I…" His sister started before spinning around with a groan. "Maybe I shouldn't be saying this to you." She glanced back at him looking at him in a rather untrusting manner. "You promise not tell anyone?"

He rolled his eyes at her.

"This is serious! You better not tell anyone." She shook her finger at her older brother rather threateningly before using it and the rest of her hand to fan her face. "See… I… this boy… he's so… so… hot!"

Serious huh? His sister was crushing --in fact her cheeks were glowing a brilliant rosy red at this very instant-- and she classified this as serious? Sorry, but Jojo just couldn't understand his sisters sometimes.

Oh, Sandy was still talking, but she didn't seem to care if he was interested in her words or not, so he didn't listen much and instead just watched the citizens of Whoville walking past their house on their way to-- wherever it was that they were going. It took him a moment to notice the Who boy wandering in their direction.

Trying to get her attention, Jojo waved his hand in his chatting sister's direction, but it wasn't doing much. She continued blabbing to the air until the boy stood right behind her and tapped her on the shoulder; this caused her to squeal like a mouse whose tail had just been stepped on, and it was quite painful for Jojo's ears.

She turned around slowly and sucked in a gasp of air as the green who boy spoke to her. "It's neat seeing you here Sandy, I mean, I'm sorry to startle you and all, but why are you standing in front of the mayor's house?" This was really weird; Jojo was betting all his inventions that this was the boy his sister was crushing on. It didn't take a genius to figure that out, though; he didn't think her face could get any redder.

"Oh, Jeff! I… live… here…"

Was she going to pass out? He raised a brow at his sister, wondering if he should be worried that she wasn't getting enough oxygen as this conversation progressed.

The boy, Jeff, looked between the house and Jojo's sister. "You're the mayor's daughter?"

Sandy was shuffling her feet. "One of them…" She murmured nervously. Suddenly, she perked up and said, "Want to meet the others?" This was not something Jojo would recommend anyone to do, unless he wanted to send his guest running toward the hills as fast as he or she could.

That many who girls in the same place at once was quite frightening, especially since they were all his sisters.

Jojo, being a mute, knew a lot about a person's actions and it seemed this who was struggling to find a polite way to turn his sister's offer down. In the end it didn't seem he was able to though, because his shoulders had slumped slightly though his voice remained rather sure. "Yeah, yeah. I'd like that, if your parents wouldn't mind?"

The girl giggled and glanced toward her brother. "Go tell mom I'm having a friend over."

Narrowing his eyes Jojo went along with her suggestion, anything to get him away from those two.

When he got inside however, he was cut off by one of his smallest sisters who was clutching a very familiar book to her front. "Thank for werning my wook, Jo-jo."

He waved his hand aside to show it was no big deal and then continued past her and their mother as well.

He didn't get very far before another girl cut him off. "Jo…jo… Is that Jeff out there?" She seemed to slump over in disappointment as she spoke to him. "Sandy promised she wouldn't…" she whined to her shorter brother who continued to stand idly by. "She knows that I like him…"

Jojo just nodded wanting to get out of here.

"BREAKFAST IS READY!" Hearing the voice echoing through the room, Jojo leapt back, allowing his complaining sister to be swept away with the rest of the mob as his remaining sisters flooded into the dining room. Breakfast was going to be all drama this morning, not something a teenage boy should have to deal with.

And he had just been about to skip breakfast, too, when his father spotted him. "Yo! J-dawg, off to breakfast?" His father just had to embarrass himself like that--well, Jojo couldn't refuse now...better just get this breakfast over with.

A/N: Thanks for your time. Tell me what you thought of it.