Hey again~! DarkLozFanUberest here with another new story~! This time it's a XOver, so…yay!
As for a disclaimer…there is none! BWAHAHAHAHA! I own everything! Including my OC, Ume Hatanaka~! SO THERE! I also own the three little OCs in this chapter: Kudor, Sélan and Midnai~ So, please enjoy and give me some feedback! I'm actually asking this time!
Anime Knows No Bounds
Book I: The Primordial
Chapter I: Of Cats and Thunderstorms
By DarkLozFanUberest
It was a dark and stormy night; the wind blew in gales and tree branches cracked under their force. Telephone wires shook helplessly, and rolling blackouts struck at random all throughout the usually busy city. Thunder roared its dominance over the citizens held hostage in their homes or workplaces.
No one would be caught dead in a storm like this; they were too weary of the darkness. The darkness that was caused not only by the sporadic blackouts, but also from the suspicious lack of lightning.
No one would willing brave such weather, but there were just too many people, too many businesses that needed to be maintained, too much work that needed to be taken care of. Someone would have to face this beast of a storm.
Ume Hatanaka glared out at the rain, she hated rain, or rather, she hated water in general; she wouldn't swim, she wouldn't go to the beach, hell, if not for the fact that it was a social necessity, she probably wouldn't even bathe if she didn't have to, and she most definitely would not go out when it was raining; but, unfortunately, tonight just wasn't her night.
Ume had had to stay late to finish some work at the library, it was the quietest place in this city, and she hadn't bothered to bring a coat or an umbrella. The storm had struck so suddenly, and the days had been clear and sunny all week, the thought of a storm like this striking hadn't even crossed her mind. And plus, she was only sixteen, she wouldn't be able to get her permit for another few months when she turned seventeen, not that she had a car or money to buy one; she didn't even have enough money for a taxi! And the library was set to close in less than ten minutes!
"Shit…" Came a disgruntled curse, Ume's voice was slightly husky from lack of use for the past few hours, she was in a library after all.
A librarian passed her without a second glance, opening the door and her large umbrella at the same time, blocking the rain from hitting her, but causing quite a lot of moisture to ricochet onto Ume.
The teen let out a nearly inaudible hiss of anger and disgust and quickly swiped the water away from her face and her, now damp, two-tone hair.
She hated her hair; it always drew unwanted attention to her, especially at school, people always assuming she had died her hair either partially blonde or partially black. She'd nearly been kicked out when she had verbally assaulted another student who was "absolutely certain" that she had been breaking school policies and needed to "go wash out that hideous hair dye."
The bitch had openly insulted her appearance, and continued to do so even after Ume had kindly pointed-out that bitch's own hair was an unnatural pink color and obviously dyed.
It never came to blows, but Ume had still been suspended for the rest of the week after the bitch, Ume couldn't remember her name, had convinced the vice principle that Ume had punched her. And this was just last week, too; she was still on suspension.
Personally, Ume didn't care, she hated school and skipped a lot, so the rest of the week off had been like a mini vacation. She would have to make up the work somehow, but Ume had a job, and it paid well enough considering she didn't need a degree or anything to work there, and so she wasn't all that worried.
Her steely-grey eyes narrowed as she continued to watch the sheets of rain blow by outside, it was abhorrently wet out there, and perish the thought of actually going out there.
Ume sighed and, with half-lidded eyes, she allowed her gaze to drift down the length of street she could see from the dry safety of the library. There was a sudden flash of lightening, and Ume's eyes widened at the sight of something stumbling outside in the rain.
It wasn't a very large something, quite the contrary, the thing was downright tiny, and it was black; Ume wouldn't have seen the thing if it hadn't have been for the lightning illuminating the sky just when it had.
'A cat…' Ume realized as she continued to watch the poor creature struggle outside, the rain was pounding down on it, to the point of looking painful.
Ume felt a stab of sympathy for the thing, she had always felt a sort of kinship towards cats, though many people associated her with owls or bats, generally things that went bump in the night, as she was primarily nocturnal, one of the other reasons she skipped school so often.
Ume felt bad, cats hated rain and water almost as much as she did, if not more so, and the poor thing was out there in what was practically a hurricane! But if she wanted to help the creature she would get wet, and Ume hated to be wet.
Decisions, decisions…
Just then, another bout of lightning and thunder crashed outside, and the sky and ground was illuminated enough for Ume to see the cat suddenly collapse onto the ground, and stay there.
Ume's eyes widened, and, with a last hesitating moment of consideration, she bolted.
She felt the chill of the rain before her body recognized the feeling of moisture, and Ume savagely gritted her teeth. The water was so cold it practically burned, and that poor cat had been out in this type of weather for how long?
Ume nearly tripped as she dashed through a puddle-filled pothole, and got the right leg of her dark jean soaked, she let out a growl, that was drowned out by an angry roar of thunder, and continued towards the prone animal.
It was so dark that Um nearly charged over the poor thing, and had to back peddle a little when she realized she had passed her target. Not wanting to stop, she did a small hopping motion and tore of her slightly waterproof jacket. She was already wet, what was a little more water?
A lot, apparently. As soon as the water touched her skin, Ume felt an extremely sharp burning sensation, and let out a small cry. This was why she hated water!
Without a second thought, Ume scooped the cat into the jacket and into her arms. Rather than head back to the library, which, in the time she had run over to the cat, had been closed and locked up, Ume turned and ran in the opposite direction, down the nearly flooded streets and alleys, and towards the housing district.
The thunder was louder now, and almost sounded as though it were the roars of some primal beast, every boom vibrating the ground and shaking her to the core.
By now, her thin white shirt was soaked through and she her jeans would be murder to clean once she got home. She could feel the slight warmth of the cat through her coat, and thankfully it seemed to still be alive.
A flash out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and Ume paused to look up and then froze in shock.
'Was that…?' But whatever she had seen was gone with the next flash of lightning, and the burning sting of the rain brought Ume back to her senses, and she continued towards her small house.
She arrived just as the storm seemed to get worse, and Ume shifted the cat and her jacket into one arm so that she could get the narrow gate open. She hopped and ran along the drenched stones leading towards the entrance of her house. It was a two-story flat, and she lived on the first floor, the tenants of the second floor were rarely ever there, and tonight was no different so Ume didn't worry about slamming the door open or closed when she entered her house. But she was careful not to track mud, she even decided to leaved her sullied shoes outside, they were probably ruined anyways, so it didn't make much of a difference if they were left out in the rain or even stolen, Ume had shoes to spare.
Sharp squeaks could be heard from further in the house and Ume smiled a little, mentally noting that her pets were probably hungry and that she would have to feed them after she took care of her clothes and unplanned guest.
Ume shucked off her soaked socks, immediately noting, with relief, how much better her feet felt as they began to fry almost immediately. She made her way quickly into the living room of the house, it was western style and expensive for this district, but the landlord allowed Ume to stay there as her un-immediate family paid him handsomely for her to stay there alone, and Ume never caused trouble, for him at least, so he even allowed her to keep her…strange pets in the house.
Careful not to drip too much onto the hardwood flooring, Ume quickly swiped the miscellaneous objects off of her coffee table and set the cat, still wrapped in her jacket, onto it. She quickly pulled back part of the jacket from the cat's head, to assure it didn't somehow suffocate, and then darted off towards the laundry room. She tore off her jeans and peeled off her shirt and dumped them into the already half-full washing machine. Dumping in softener and detergent, Ume lightly slammed the lid down and then turned the machine on.
Ume plodded back into the living, uncaring of her indecent appearance, there weren't any other humans in the house, so what did she care about being decent?
Checking to see that the cat was still alive, it was, Ume went over to a door and opened into an "L-shaped" hallway, it had a sliding door at one side of the turn which led to her bedroom, a wooden door which opened into a closet sized toilet, and finally a metal door that opened into a shower room with a very deep covered-bath on the far side of the room. Ume opened this door and removed the large palette-like covering for the tub. Steam rose from the water; the bath was always kept hot even if Ume rarely used it.
Ume dipped her right-index finger into the water to test its heat and frowned, wiping her finger quickly off on her underwear. It was very warm, but cool enough not to scald.
Ume returned to the room and made her way back over to the cat. She removed it from the jacket and carried it with her as she took the jacket to toss it into the washing machine with the other clothes.
As she carried the cat towards the bathroom, Ume noticed the cat had a red bow on both its tail and around its neck, not necessarily because she was looking at the cat, but because of the twin bells that jingled with each step she took. The cat was obviously not a stray.
Ume groaned at the thought that she would actually have to go out and look for cat's owners tomorrow, as she removed the cat's ribbon and bows.
'How troublesome…'
Ume knelt down and grabbed an overturned basin from the corner of the room and filled it with the toasty water from the bath. She lightly lowered the cat into it, nearly overflowing the basin with the added mass, and made sure the cat's head was resting on the edge of the basin, out of the water, before turning to grab some clean soaps and non-toxic shampoo and conditioner. It wasn't for cats, but Ume doubted it would do any harm to the cat as she used it on her own animals.
Ume had to smile a little as the cat began to purr as it was cleaned, it may have been unconscious, but it still appreciated the attention.
It didn't take long for Ume to clean the cat, and when she finished she washed off all of the soap and remnants of conditioner, and wrapped the cat in a towel that was hanging off the back of the bathroom door. She hung up the ribbons to dry before exiting the bathroom.
She took a seat on the rather out-of-place couch sitting behind the low-standing coffee table, and started to give the cat a thorough rub down. She smirked a little as the cat twisted in her grasp, stretching and purring happily as though it were being pampered.
'Spoiled little house cat…'
A small noise causes Ume to glance down and see the cat slowly open its eyes, she blinks at the strange pink color they appear and raises an eyebrow, slightly puzzled.
'Never seen a cat with pink eyes before…it doesn't look albino.'
The two stared at each other for a moment, before the cat widened its eyes dramatically and, letting out a frightened yowl, frantically leapt from Ume's arms, nearly crashing into the coffee table in the process.
A loud series of agitated squeaks came from a large, covered cage on the other side of the coffee-table, and the cat spun around to look, unintentionally giving Ume the chance to reach forward and take hold of the cat's scruff.
"Hey now," she said in a quietly stern voice, giving the cat a reprimanding look, "calm down, there's no need to freak out, I'm trying to help you."
The cat hung limply from Ume's grasp, eyes wide in obvious fear of her.
Ume let out a sigh and walked over towards the covered cage, right next to it lay an assortment of animal handling kennels, and Ume reached down with her free hand to open the medium sized kennel on the top of the pile. The cat immediately started to struggle and let out frightened yowls.
Ume just lifted the two levers on the front of the kennel and opened the door, lifting her arm at an angle to avoid the cat's swatting paws, and reaching in to drop the cat lightly within the kennel. She closed the door before the cat could even turn around and attempt to dart back out. It let a small, agitated hiss, when the door slammed lightly in its face, but then immediately backed up into the corner of the kennel to curl up in a defensive ball.
With a shrug, Ume turned away and moved over slightly to remove the thick green covering from over the large cage. Immediately, the three small creatures tensed up and let out a reflexive hiss, baring sharp little fangs and opening their wings threateningly before they seemed to recognize the person before them.
Ume smiled down at the three bats in the cage, they were each hanging from roosts scattered at different elevations and angles within the large, decorated cage, but almost immediately, one of the bats squeaked and moved to crawl up the front wall to give Ume a look.
She laughed and opened the cage to pluck the small, silky black creature from the door of the cage. She quickly closed the door again, but neither of the other bats seemed to mind, they just rewrapped their wings around their bodies and went back to sleep, taking a small nap before it was their turn to be examined; Ume always checked them when she came home, to reassure herself that they had all been fine while she had been gone.
The bat she was holding was male, and around half a foot long. His name was a near adult, Egyptian fruit bat, and the only male bat Ume owned.
He didn't even react when Ume laid him out flat on his back in one hand and gently unwrapped his wings; he just lay there limply, small eyes glancing around almost boredly. Ume was quick in her examination of the bat, and before long he was being placed back in the cage with a small smile from Ume.
"Well, you seem fine, Kudor," she murmured with a small smirk, "but you would do well to lay off the extra bananas, yeah?"
Kudor gave her a sour look, but Ume just laughed and reached for the bat hanging in the corner of the cage.
"Sélan, you're next," she chuckled as she pulled the drowsy, smoky-colored Fijian Blossom Bat out of the cage. That examination was over just as quickly and Ume reached for the last bat, after being sure Sélan had gotten a good grip on her perch.
"And last but not least, Midnai." Ume muttered to herself, reaching in to gently grab the last bat in the container.
Midnai gave Ume a slightly irritated look from being lifted, she was the only one of the three that minded being handled, but she had eventually gotten used to the handling, Ume always fed them afterwards anyway.
"Good, good, your wings seems to be healing just fine," Ume muttered to herself as she gently pulled on Midnai slightly lacerated left wing; she had gotten out one night and flown into one of her neighbors cactus plants, it hadn't been easy to get her out, and after the uproar Midnai had caused when her neighbor saw the bat (they were apparently very superstitious and thought Midnai had been a transformed vampire), Ume had been very careful not to let her bats out of the house at any cost. They were upset, having rather enjoyed their nightly flights of fancy, but consented to Ume's wishes; they couldn't let themselves out, in any case, and so didn't bother trying to go against her.
With her inspection done, Ume replaced the rather small Ghost bat back in the cage and closed the door again, it was feeding time, and her bats were hungry. Ume made a mental note to also get the cat some food and water, she didn't know how long the cat had been without such necessities, and it was her duty as a host to take care of her guests, even if the weren't exactly human.
A few minutes later she came back with their dinners.
"Some apple slices for Kudor and a couple of crickets for Midnai," Ume said as she finished tossing in the creepy crawlies into the cage; Sélan drank nectar from flowers so Ume grew them in the cage for her, and only had to exchange them every once in a while for additional flower boxes she had sitting at her windows if the ones in the cage died or got damaged.
Ume turned to face the black cat's kennel and knelt down in front of the kennel. She saw the cat tense up, thinking it could bolt when Ume opened the door, but Ume just smirked. Reaching forward, she paused watching the cat stare at her hand carefully, before she continued and pulled open a small drawer near the bottom of the kennel door. If it was possible, it was almost as though the cat had done an anime fall, its body visibly deflating as Ume foiled its "secret plan."
"Here's some fish and milk, enjoy." Ume snickered, as the cat lay sprawled out in the corner of the kennel, almost pouting.
Ume then gave both cages a final check, and, satisfied, went around her house locking all the doors and windows to ensure she would be alone that night. After this was done, Ume got ready for bed, brushing her teeth and unhappily washing her face before pulling on a long white shirt and a pair of men's boxers to sleep in, and getting into bed.
The storm continued outside, and Ume listened to the wind, rain and thunder, that sounded more like explosions and swords, and fighting in general, before finally drifting off to an uneasy sleep.
Hope you enjoyed~ On to the next chapter!