When Severus Snape died in the arms of the son of his worst enemy and one-time friend, the last thing he expected was to wake up again.
He did.
Snape felt weak and warm and comfortable. Something fuzzy was laid up against him and he could swear he heard loud purring. Had someone let a cat into the infirmary? Something warm and fuzzy shifted against him. Snape yawned and tried to open his eyes, but found that they were sealed shut. He tried to feel his face with his hands, but could not seem to make his muscles move in such a coordinated fashion. He sneered angrily, hoping to give whoever was caring for him a heart attack.
He tried to inquire about his condition, but all that came out was "Meow!" He froze at the high-pitched catlike squeal.
'Potter better not have turned me into a cat after everything I did for that ungrateful brat!' He thought furiously. Pranking the man who had died to bring you necessary information, and who was still on his sickbed, would be exactly the spoilt brat's style, he concluded. He meowed again. He was most definitely a cat.
He would have his revenge.
Severus hissed and flailed about in fury, claws out. Something grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and a round, warm object was forced into his mouth. He bit down angrily, and something delicious and warm squirted out. Severus, finally feeling hungry, drank desperately. He heard a woman's voice speak some unrecognizable words, and the food was removed. He slowly slid into sleep.
Eventually, Severus spent long enough in the waking world to truly observe his surroundings. He was beginning to doubt this was some inane prank by Potter. After all, the brat was walking to his death, Severus knew, and would not have had time to transform him, bring him to a foreign land, and locate a litter of kittens.
Fortunately, Snape's eyes were finally open, and so he had been able to determine that he was no longer anywhere in the UK. From what little he saw of the humans, their sense of fashion was bizarre, their language was incomprehensible (not just because of his new body), their writing was like nothing he had seen before, and the young woman raising him and his 'siblings' appeared to be some form of royalty. He was fed by a few adult attendants, whom he identified by their deferential manner, when the girl was busy.
Snape seethed silently. Meowing was demeaning. He still had no idea how he had become a member of a litter of kittens, but whoever had done this was going to pay. He refused to believe that he had been reborn.
Snape had always clung to a conviction that he would meet Lily again in the afterlife. She may hate him for his treatment of her, her husband, her son, and his own life choices, but just seeing her would be a relief. As such, the idea that he could have been reborn was abhorrent. He would ascertain how he had been transfigured or cursed and he would reclaim his original body. No other outcome would be satisfactory.
Severus was glad to be up and moving. He may be wobbly, weak, and unstable, but the ability to drag himself from point A to point B was a huge improvement.
He froze as he heard the door to the room open. "Tora! #$^%$&%$*^%$*%^$$%$ going?" he heard the girl say. At least, that was what he thought she said. Most of it was still gibberish, but he had learned that he was called "Tora," which could be either his name or the word for 'kitten' or 'cat' in this strange new language.
Severus had discovered a surprising advantage of his current corporeal form. It seemed that learning a new language became markedly easier. Children were known to have a knack for languages, he mused. This was definitely a topic that would require more research. Imagine the recognition and affluence he would recieve if he invented a potion capable of make improving the learning curve involved in speaking a new language!
Oh, how he missed his potions…
'Tora' hissed in aggravation as his young owner scooped him up in her arms. He wiggled frantically, but was careful not to hurt her. In his experience, hurting the children of politically powerful men rarely ended well.
The woman cuddled and crooned at him for half an hour, molesting his entire body with her greasy hands. While he could admit the petting wasn't terrible - he could now understand why cats like it - Severus just wasn't a person who took having his space invaded particularly well. He would rather the sick woman drowned herself. As soon as he was free, Severus scampered out of her reach and proceeded to clean himself, giving the preteen his most menacing glare.
Unfortunately, it backfired. The little menace squealed. Apparently, being a kitten negated his death glare. Severus snarled in frustration and huddled back into the basket with his five obnoxious, spoilt 'siblings'.
Severus had been getting out more frequently now. He was able to move freely as his childhood weakness passed. Now he had the opposite problem - it was neigh impossible to sit still, and he had a constant urge to pounce on anything sufficiently small or wriggly. Severus glared that the string wiggling around his siblings. He should ignore it and get back to learning about his new location.
It twitched and wiggled as the girl waved her hand. Severus twitched. He really had pressing matters to attend. He needed to know the outcome of the war.
The string twitched, disrupting his thoughts.
With a snarl of fury, Severus sprung at the string. He had the damned thing in two tries - far better than his 'siblings' - and chewed at it furiously. He would chew the thing in half if that was what it took to get some peace and quiet!
"Aww… He's so cute!" his owner's friend squealed in delight.
Severus growled in fury, chewing harder. He had the string between his teeth. Just a little more and the fragile threads would part.
The string was yanked upwards. Caught by surprise, Severus clung stubbornly to the rope as he was lifted off the floor by his teeth.
His damned owner squealed in joy. "Look, Laura! He's holding on so hard that I can pick him up with the string! Isn't Tora the most adorable thing ever?"
Severus growled in fury, his eyes narrowing in an adorable death glare. Killing intent, totally ignored by the preteen menaces, filled the room. If only he could abolish his policy of not physically harming his political superiors without a method to discretely dispose of the body!
Tora stalked the halls, striding brusquely along the empty hallway. He had discovered something interesting today. His owner had been talking to one of her servants, and he had discovered that there was an enclave of those with special abilities living nearby. She had called them ninja.
Finding other magic users in such close proximity was a lucky break.
With their help, hopefully Severus would discover a method to void his transformation. He would be human again. When he had his body back, he could hunt down Voldemort's grave and piss on it, if he had one. If only Potter did not share a grave with Lily, he would deface his grave as well.
The thought of Potter's fate boiled his blood. Severus had spent any 'free' time he had looking for a way to save the ungrateful, spoilt brat. Admittedly, it had not been much time. He refused to blindly follow Dumbledore's inane method. Too many variables could go wrong.
He had eventually discovered a lead on a method to remove the Horcrux a few days before the final battle, but had not had the time to follow up on it before his death. Severus snarled in anger. If he, who had been teaching, patrolling, brewing potions for Voldemort, spying for Dumbledore, brewing potions for Dumbledore, keeping tabs on Potter's quest, saving the ungrateful menaces of Hogwarts from Death Eaters, brewing for the medical wing, on the run, and occasionally being tortured and/or mind-raped by Voldemort, had been able to find a lead in the short time since he had been made aware of Potter's impending fate, then he knew for a fact Dumbledore had never even tried to save the boy. Dumbledore had raised Lily's son as a pig to slaughter. Snape had pledged his life and magic to save the boy at Dumbledore's insistence. Even now, the betrayal rankled.
There was a reason he had been able to cast the killing curse on his former boss so easily.
Admittedly, Dumbledore did not know much of the Dark Arts. The man avoided them like the plague and insisted that knowledge of them could, through some inane and incomprehensible process, taint the soul. Considering that the Dark Arts were by definition offensive magic, this was absurd. The hatred mostly derived from the ministry's habit of giving criminals the appellation of "Dark Wizards and Witches," which had resulted in most illegal magic being grouped under the colloquialism of "dark magic". Severus snorted in disdain and headed towards this magical enclave.
Severus fled frantically, a trio of young children, who looked about the age of his first years, chasing frantically after him. He panted and sprinted to the limits of his lithe, young kitten body. He refused to be caught until he had a way to become human again!
How on Earth could these brats keep up with him? He had never heard of a human this fast or agile!
When a child finally grabbed him, Snape wriggled around and clawed his face open. Served the brat right.
The child dropped him with a scram of pain, blood dripping from the gash across his face.
"Idiot! Don't let him escape!" screamed his female teammate. The blond menace grabbed him before he could bolt and restrained him. He hissed at spit, biting at her hands, but she held on tightly. He bit harder as blood oozed from her calloused hands.
"I've got the cage!" her other teammate exclaimed, pulling out a piece of paper.
Severus stared at the lad with pity. What moronic ideas did the delusional brat have? Did the idiot think he could wrap Severus in a piece of paper that small? He bit the girl's hand harder. He refused to be caught by a bunch of children!
Severus accidentally let go of her hand a moment later, gaping as the boy smeared some blood on the runes drawn on the paper and a cage popped out. What was that!? He had never heard of a spell capable of storing things in or creating things from parchment. The best wizards could do was create portals or expand trunks.
The angry girl holding him took advantage of his shock and shoved him roughly into the cage. "There! Let's take this menace to the Hokage as soon as possible. I think I need stitches or someone really good with healing techniques," she said, holding up her hand.
"Sounds like a good idea. Kotetsu, how's your face?" asked the boy with the cage.
The first boy whimpered and held a piece of bloody cloth up, exposing deep, bloody furrows steadily oozing blood. "What do you think?" he asked spitefully.
"Maybe I should just take him to the hospital while you deliver Tora," the girl said weakly. "That looks like it could scar if it isn't treated soon."
Severus rolled his eyes. This bunch of wimps were meant to be ninja? Even a first year at Hogwarts could handle the sight of such a small injury. Well, except, perhaps, for that wimp of a Longbottom. Who had somehow become de-facto leader of the local resistance when the Death Eaters took over. Severus shook his head. How had the incompetent brat who blew up anything potions-related managed to land such and important position? Clearly, there was more to the boy than met the eye. Hopefully, he would be a good backup for Lily's boy and kill Voldemort.
"Sounds like a good idea. See you guys." the boy said, waving.
"See you later, Izumo. You better get there quickly."
Soon, Severus was delivered to an old man who reminded him of a slightly more militant Dumbledore. He tried everything to make the man realize he wasn't a normal cat, even resorting to the bit of wand-less magic he possessed, but all the man had concluded was that 'Tora' must have some 'nin-cat' in his family tree. It was infuriating.
Eventually, Shijimi appeared and dragged him back to the palace, smothering her struggling cat.
Severus made a habit of escaping into the ninja village on a regular basis. He had, over time, come to the unfortunate conclusion that he was not, in fact, in his original world at all. Magic either did not exist here or was a kekkai genkai few people knew about. The ninja of this world used a different, unknown force called 'chakra'. Anyone without a disability could use it with the proper training.
Severus had also discovered a picture book of Shijimi's and had finally been forced to admit that he had truly been reborn as a cat. The pictures of his mother giving birth to him and his siblings was sufficient proof. Hopefully, this life was no more than a punishment and he would finally be able see Lily at the end of this life.
In the meantime, this 'chakra' was fascinating. It might not be magic, but some justus were awe-inspiring. Severus had a hunch that if he was able learn how to use chakra and mix it with magic, he may eventually gain the ability to make himself human. If not, he could still become something longer-lived and more intimidating than a simple house cat.
Severus had discovered a great spot in the ninja academy where he could sit and listen to the lectures without being seen. He was beginning to understand the written form of this new world's language, and while the lessons may be oversimplified and geared to children, they taught him much about this new world and its inhabitants. He was also on the verge of discovering how to access his own chakra. Maybe soon he would be able to walk on walls and ceilings like a ninja.
Severus even developed a new hobby. He had no respect in his horrifying home, constantly smothered by his owner, but here in the village he was feared and respected. The bratty gennin spoke of him in whispers and tried to avoid him at all costs. It was nostalgic, truly reminiscent of Hogwarts. Witnessing their suffering and horror was almost as much fun as picking on eleven-year-olds in the name of teaching. Severus smirked and stretched lazily in the sun.