Chocolate Chip Ice-Cream Kisses!
O*O*O*O
The average 'girl finds cats who turn out to be the Akatsuki' scenario gets turned upside-down when this unsuspecting girl starts to remember a past that she'd been made to forget. Who are her clan, and why do they hate cats so much? ItaXOC.
O*O*O*O
CHAPTER ONE
The Average Road-Side Box
O*O*O*O
When I saw you that day,
I didn't know what to do,
I'd seen you this way,
And, yet, I didn't know you…
O*O*O*O
Friday, April 6th.
The day started out very ordinary for Emma Harridge, but it was one that she was going to remember for a very long time. There were two kinds of days for this twenty-one year old Australian girl – the early-starts and the late-starts. The late-starts were the ones she liked, but they were very late starts, usually sometime shortly aftermidday. The early-starts were the ones she hated, generally sometime before nine, and would either involve the dreaded alarm on her DS or (even worse) her Dad coming into the room and throwing cold water on her.
On this day, however, Dad couldn't throw the cold water over her, since he and Mum had left on a trip toAlbany yesterday, and wouldn't be back until Saturday the fourteenth.
So, Emma had to rely on that alarm on her DS, which she hated. For that reason, she got up quickly, more to shut off the alarm than anything else. She certainly wasn't a morning person, and the sounds coming from outside told her that it was raining today.
Perfect.
Stumbling out of her room, she padded down the hallway, and into the bathroom. The sight that met her tired hazel eyes in the big mirror did not thrill her.
"Augh…I've seen dish rags that look healthier than I do…" She complained, noticing the odd way her hair was sticking up. She grabbed a brush and quickly ran it through her short, dark brown hair which, thankfully, did what it was supposed to after only a minute or two. Moisturizer fromMalaysiafollowed that, as did teeth-cleaning with Macleans tri-clean toothpaste. After her usual morning/afternoon ritual was complete, Emma hurried back to her room, nearly stumbling over the blue Nintendo Wii.
That reminded her of her four o'clock gaming-fest last night, which had ended in her freeing Northern Hyrule from twilight in Twilight Princess, but had also left her feeling like she was still asleep at eight o'clock this morning.
Trying to ignore the feeling of walking around in pea-soup, Emma put on her standard black outfit – a black turtleneck, with a short black partially pleated skirt, black stockings and a black scarf.
Carrying her black lace-up ankle boots in one hand, and her very large shoulder bag in the other, she walked down the long hallway of her parents' large house. They had lived there for seven years now, and it suited them just fine. It had four bedrooms that were bigger than most adults' bedrooms, two bathrooms, a 'powder room', a big kitchen, living room, dining room, laundry and study. Outside were a lot of Australian native flora, a lot of sand and a resident family of kangaroos (including a large, burly male who had attacked a random girl and her dogs two Christmases ago). They had a pool, and two sheds (aka, man's land).
Emma admired her parents for getting to this area of living, although they didn't earn nearly enough so that Gaye and William could quit their jobs. Part of the reason they argued with their youngest daughter was because she had been out of work for two years. They said it was because she didn't try. She disagreed.
That was why she was heading out at (in her opinion) such an unreasonable hour – part of the deal she had with the government was that, in exchange for a measly five hundred dollars a fortnight (most of which went into paying her way), she had to go to training courses and consultant meetings every week. Luckily, she only lived five minutes away from the nearest centre, so the fact that the price of petrol was slowly but steadily climbing in her city wasn't affecting her as much as, say, somebody who lived north of the river.
It was still a major pain, especially the getting up early part.
Out in the kitchen, Emma was greeted by Ranger, the family's black Lab-Retriever. At twelve and a half years old, he was getting on in his years, but he still acted like a puppy half the time, especially at breakfast.
Emma took care of Ranger's rice and vegetables mixed with 'dog' polony first, before making herself a piece of toast with peanut butter on it, which she took down to the shed with her as she checked on the other half of her family. She had to take an umbrella down with her, since she didn't want to go into her meeting later on with wet clothes on.
After changing the water and feed for the four year old hen Henrietta (the soul survivor of a brood of six), Emma did the same for the new hens, four little six week old chicks. They clucked and chirped and kicked up a fuss, especially when she threw in some bread for them. Then, of course, the bread had to be shared with Henrietta and Ranger.
It was times like this, however, that made Emma glad she was an animal lover.
After that, Emma headed back up to the house, and got ready to leave. After making herself a quick coffee, she double-checked all the doors and left, glad that she'd moved her white Lancer up to the garage yesterday after her parents had left.
She put on her long-distance glasses, and spent two whole minutes trying to find the perfect CD, before finally settling on Disturbed.
At times, she didn't seem like the type to listen to heavy metal but, then again, she listened to just about anything. She was indecisive, unpredictable and somewhat difficult to understand. People often had a hard time getting to know her, although that was partially by fault of her own. She didn't like letting people in, because that's what had gotten her bullied at high school.
The drive to the centre was good for her, however, because it was her time, and hers alone. She didn't speed, but she turned the volume of her radio up as loud as she dared. She tried to be sensible about it, though – she'd blown a speaker up last year, after all.
She turned the volume down when she got to the centre, though, and took her time reverse-parking into a space between a red Hatchback and a grey station-wagon that may have originally been white.
Sighing, Emma skulled the rest of her coffee, which made her cringe slightly, because she always put in too much of that instant stuff.
She then got out of her car, glad that the rain had stopped for a moment, and locked it (her car) before hurrying into the centre.
O*O*O*O
Emma sat with her hands clenched into fists on her lap, under the table and out of sight from her ranting consultant. Jayne (Emma didn't know her last name and didn't really care) had been lecturing her for five minutes about not having a job yet, and accusing her of misusing the centre's resources. Okay, so she did use their computers to look up other stuff (like fan fiction) on the internet from time to time, but that was because her parents wouldn't let her use the computer at home. Only now, when they were away, did they relent and give her access, but that was only because she needed to job-search and put in her payment request on Monday.
Of course, if Emma was late to an appointment, then Jayne would tell the government, and the company would suspend her payment until further notice. Then, she'd be kicked out of home…well, she hoped that wouldn't happen, but Mum and Dad were threatening…they'd locked her out of her room three times before…
At this point, Emma realised that Jayne had just asked her a question.
"I'm sorry, what?" Emma asked quietly.
"I asked you if you've been staying up too late recently." Jayne narrowed her brown eyes.
"No." Emma lied. The truth was, she'd had so much going on lately, that she'd had trouble sleeping.
Jayne looked like she didn't believe her, but couldn't do much more about it than give Emma Look as she printed out some new appointment schedules.
"And don't be late." Jayne warned, as Emma headed out the door again.
"Don't be late." Emma mimicked, once she was across the car park and safely in her car. "Yeah, right, she's just annoyed because she won't get paid until I find work." Rolling her eyes, she took her scarf off because it was nearly choking her she was that annoyed, turned up the radio and drove out onto the road, letting David Draiman's voice push away all thoughts of Jayne and the appointments she'd made for next week (all of them early-start ones, too).
Rain or shine, Emma liked to drive with her window down, and today was no exception, which is why the whole world practically heard her singing to David Draiman's I'm Alive at the top of her lungs…
O*O*O*O
Nine pairs of anxious eyes looked at the two, almost lifeless forms lying on their sides in the box with them, but they also only really cared about one of them. There was blood at the bottom of the box, coming from both the injured bodies, and the rain beating down twice as hard didn't help.
All ten creatures were small, although some were a bit bigger than others. They all had pointy ears and long tails, and none of them belonged in this world, despite the fact that they were cats. There were nine boys, and one single girl.
She mewed softly. What are we going to do, Pein-Sama? She asked the cat nearest to her – in fact, their sides were touching, as if they were afraid to move away from each other, but of course they were not afraid.
It was not Pein-Sama who answered her, though, but a cat that was moving around far more than the others, and annoying them by doing so. What can we do? He asked, standing up on his hind legs and putting his front paws on the side of the soggy box. We don't even know where we are…Tobi is scared!
Shut up, Tobi, un! It was, of course, not the female cat who said this, but a cat who was sitting next to Tobi. He scratched his ear with his hind leg, sending the tuft of fur that hung over one of her eyes flying into the face of a stoic yet disgruntled-looking cat next to him. We'll figure something out, yeah… He sounded unsure, though.
They were all unsure.
One of the larger cats was crouched down beside one of the injured cats. We had better figure something out soon, or else Itachi-San will… He trailed off.
All of the cats were silent, thinking about their predicament and trying to figure a way out of it.
Maybe they would never get out of here. The best they could hope for was that the rain would cause the box to collapse, and then they might be able to figure out where they were…
Tobi had his head cocked to one side, and was listening to the rain falling on the grass nearby. Just then, he thought he heard a different sound. It sounded like a…pounding.
The others heard it, too.
What the fuck's that? One of the cats, who was eyeing the pool of blood, voiced the thought on everybodys' minds.
Ssh! Pein cat hissed (cats are very good at this). His strange, ringed eyes practically burned a hole through the box as he stared. He then looked at the others. All of you, stand on each others' backs, and see if one of you can see out! Hurry! He instructed.
The pounding was getting closer, and now they could all hear that it was accompanied by a stranger sound still…they couldn't really describe it.
The cats that could quickly followed Pein's orders, and Tobi found himself at the top, although he and the box were so wet by that stage that he could only put all of his weight on his back legs, and try to see out into the rain…
O*O*O*O
Emma wasn't sure why she had come this way – she usually tried to avoid taking the street she was on, since most people seemed to forget that it was a back street, and not a main road.
She was, however, at the end of the day, very glad she'd decided to change her course…
She slowed down as she was going around a bend (a potential 'black spot' of a bend) because it was raining and, if she hadn't been wearing her glasses and just happened to look out onto the far side of the road, then she would've missed it.
'It' being a seemingly ordinary-looking cardboard box…and the furry head of a small animal that suddenly popped up from within the soggy folds.
Emma swore at the same time as the song did, as she tried to slow down and chuck on her indicator at the same time.
"Oh my God!" She said, and she said it a few more times as she pulled over onto the side of the road, and got out of her car, not even bothering to turn it off or lock it (luckily, she remembered to put it into park and put the hand-brake on).
She hurried back the way she'd come, trying to run without falling, just as a car came flying around the corner, and sprayed her with a whole lot of water from a puddle.
Emma gasped, staring down at her now thoroughly soaked clothes, before sprinting the last ten steps to the box.
She slid onto her hands and knees just as she reached the box, and peered inside as a bolt of lightning zig-zagged across the sky, illuminating the area with a crack of thunder.
The creature who had stuck its head out of the box as she'd driven past let out a frightened 'meow', and sprang swiftly up and out of the box, making her gasp as she instinctively grabbed him into her arms, and a cat with a tuft of fur hanging limply over one eye stared in disbelief at the amazing how of acrobatics.
Emma's heart hammered in her chest for a second, as she realised that the creature now snuggled trembling against her chest was a cat, and that there were ten other cats in the box as well.
Her hazel eyes widened in disbelief, at the assortment of colours and patterns on them that she could see, despite the rain.
And, that was when she noticed the blood.
She gasped again, but this time it was more of fear than shock. Gashes decorated the bodies of two of the cats, and she couldn't even see if they were alive or dead.
Customary tears burned in the backs of her eyes, as she held onto the cat in her embrace with one arm, and tentatively reached out a hand to touch one of the cats, the closest one to her.
A hiss made her stop, however, and she looked at the cat responsible for this. The look on his face shocked her more than his strange appearance – he looked fierce, and the hackles stood up on his back. He was quite a bit bigger than most of the other cats, too.
"Relax," Emma said, trying to stop her voice from shaking. "I just wanna help your friend, okay?" Why on earth she was talking to a bunch of cats, especially a hostile one, she knew not. Maybe she was hoping to calm them by the sound of her voice?
Her voice didn't, but one of the other cats certainly did. He hissed very sharply, and the hostile cat immediately backed down, flattening his hackles although he continued to watch Emma's every movement.
Emma glanced at the cat with the sharp hiss. Evidently, he was the leader of sorts, if cats can have leaders…
Carefully, Emma reached out for the other cat first, who opened his yellow eyes and hissed, rather feebly, at her. Well, at least he was alive.
Emma reached for the darker coloured cat, who didn't even open his eyes when she touched a soft hand to his side. She could feel his little heart beating, however, and his breathing, so she knew that he, too, was alive.
Her own heart began to beat a little faster, as she looked around, as if expecting some sort of sign.
At that point, another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, and this time all the uninjured cats jumped. The one in her arms quivered, and buried his head into her soaking wet top.
Emma made her decision then, and stood up. "I'll be right back!" She promised the cats, who all looked like they didn't believe her.
Emma turned on her heel and hurried as fast as she could back towards her car, still keeping the soaking wet cat cradled close to her. She ran across the road, her heart pounding in her chest from some unknown emotion.
Once at her car, she leaned in and put the cat on the floor of the front seat. She wrapped him up in her scarf, and turned the heater on.
He was a strange looking cat, all black except for an orange face with a swirl-pattern on it which seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she was too keyed up to take much notice of it. That coffee-rush was kicking in where it was needed most – adrenaline.
"Stay right here!" She told the cat, and opened the boot of her car, taking out a white box that she usually used for bringing cold stuff home from the shops. For now, however, it would do much better than that cardboard box. She put a towel that she also kept in her boot into the box, covered it with its lid, and left her car again, this time hoping that nobody would steal it with the strange-looking kitty in there.
She was nearly hit by a silverSedanas she dashed across the road again, but this was because the driver was speeding. She paid no attention to this, however, and just returned to the cats.
They seemed somewhat surprised to see her.
"What?" She asked them, setting the box down on the grass, and opening the lid just a little ways. "I said I'd be back. Now, come on, let's get you all dry…" She reached over and picked up one of the injured cats. He was all black. As soon as she touched him, a little jolt went through her fingers, although that might've been because the hostile cat – the one who had hissed at her before – had just bitten her. He was big and, somehow, he was blue. A Russian Blue? Emma didn't know. All she knew was that he was fierce, and that his teeth hurt like hell!
"Owch!" She exclaimed, despite herself. She knew that these cats must be scared and a little bit untrusting, considering their current situation, but really!
Before the leader cat could hiss at the hostile cat again, however, the black cat finally woke up, and turned his head to stare…no, glare…at the blue cat, who backed away instantly, and even lay down on his stomach, like he was in submission!
Emma blinked the rain out of her eyes, and then put the black cat in the box, in a corner where the towel was bunched up in a comfortable way. She tried to be gentle with him – she couldn't see the extent of his injuries, but they must've been bad considering all the blood. She bit her lip. She'd heard of animal abuse before, of course, but this was her first time actually seeing it.
The black cat raised his head slightly, before licking her hand briefly, his scratchy tongue passing over the bite-mark his friend had delivered to her hand.
Emma smiled briefly, before returning her hands to the cardboard box to retrieve the rest of the cats.
The other injured cat didn't turn out to be as thankful as the black cat – indeed, this strange cream-coloured and purple cat with the yellow eyes hissed at her again, but he seemed too weak to make any real sort of threat. Emma could see his injuries much more clearly on his lighter-coloured fur, and they scared her.
The big blue cat scared her; too, although he seemed a little calmer once she'd gotten him into the white box with his friend. He settled down next to the black cat, and seemed to be worried about him. Emma noticed something akin to gills on the sides of his face, but didn't dare touch them to find out. These cats were so strange, she wondered if she'd really woken up that day. The throbbing in her hand informed her that she had.
The other cats seemed to have as varying levels of cooperation as they did appearances. A blonde cat with a tuft of fur over one of his startling blue eyes struggled a little when she picked him up – on the contrary, the reddish-brown cat that had been next to him seemed to yawn when he was handled. He had black 'bracelets' markings around his legs and neck.
A silvery-white cat with reddish-violet eyes hissed and struggled throughout the entire process, and Emma rather liked to imagine that he was cussing at her in cat-language somehow. A large brown and tan cat with stitch-like 'broken bracelets' markings on his limbs didn't object to being picked up, nor did he seem to appreciate it.
But, it got stranger still…
A yellow-eyed cat whom was black on one side and white on the other was definitely one of the most peculiar-looking of the group, and quite possibly he was bi-polar, as well. He started to struggle, but then calmed down, until he was in the box, when he hissed at the silver cat and the brown cat, who appeared to 'arguing'.
A pretty little blue (again with the blues!) cat with one white ear was very calm, and even purred contently when set down in the white box. Emma decided that, on account of the size and disposition, that this cat was most likely a girl.
That only left the last cat, the leader, who didn't seem to appreciate being left until last.
He also didn't seem to like being picked up, acting as if he were too high and mighty to be handled by her.
She was about to place him in the box with the others, when he put a paw out onto the back of her hand, as if trying to stop her.
Emma glanced at him. He was a ginger-coloured cat, with strange black markings on his nose, chin and ears that, for some reason, made her think of a certain cartoon-character's piercings (that, and of her older sister's piercings).
When she looked into the leader cat's strange ringed eyes, she was definitely reminded of a certain cartoon-character.
"Holy Jashin…" She muttered, and could have sworn that she saw the silver cat tilt his head to one side as he looked up at her.
Emma placed the ginger-cat in the white box, and he immediately walked over to the lady cat, and sat down beside her.
On an impulse, Emma checked the remains of the big cardboard box behind her, and saw something she hadn't seen before – a bag.
She picked it up – it was a backpack.
Shrugging, she shouldered it, and then picked up the box with the ten cats inside, being careful not to put the lid on all the way.
She then hurried back to her car, and to the black and orange cat, who was asleep on the floor of her car, despite the music which she now turned down…
O*O*O*O
Who do you suppose she is, Pein-Sama? The blue female cat whispered.
I'm not sure, Konan. Pein replied. Still… He glanced around at his subordinates, who were all looking at him in the semi-darkness. The girl who had picked them up had put them on the backseat of this strange machine, which was now moving at quite a fast pace. Tobi was still asleep on the floor of the front seat.
She mentioned Jashin-Sama! Hidan said suddenly, his violet-red eyes gleaming. You all fucking heard her, don't lie! He added, sternly.
Just because she knows about your so-called-God, doesn't mean she worships him, Hidan. Kakuzu said lazily, earning him a death-glare from the Jashinist.
What I wanna know, Deidara looked thoughtful. Is just who is she, hmm?
It was nice of her to pick us up like that she could have just left us there to die somehow. The one known as Zetsu said, in both his personas (fursonnas?).
Itachi and the snake-freak could still die anyway. Sasori said calmly, and it was Kisame's turn to glare. Well, they could.
ANYWAY, Pein said loudly, before the topic got out of hand. Zetsu's right – she didn't have to do this, but she's helping us anyway. Until we figure out what's going on, we should be nice to our host. He glared sternly at the rest of his subordinates. Hidan, that means no attacking or killing. Zetsu, no eating.
The two in question looked sulky, but nodded.
Kisame, Pein went on, and the big blue cat looked over at him. I know how worried you are right now, but you will trust in whatever our host is going to do to help Itachi, understood? Kisame nodded mutely. Kakuzu, don't steal anything from her.
Kakuzu rolled his orange and green eyes, and then wondered: What was in that bag she took with her? They had all wondered what was in the bag, but none of them had been able to unzip it without thumbs. It was one of the many bad things about being stuck in these cat bodies.
Pein shook his head. I don't know, but I wanted to be sure she took it with her. Whatever's in it could be useful. He glanced at the cream-coloured cat…at Orochimaru.
Konan followed his gaze. What do you want to do about that? She asked quietly.
Pein thought for a moment, and then addressed everybody. It won't do us any good to fight amongst ourselves, since I doubt our host will appreciate it. So, since we don't want to be kicked out, let's try and keep the fighting to a bare minimum, everybody. It wasn't a suggestion – it was an order. Pein narrowed his eyes. That means you two. He added, looking right at Hidan and Kakuzu.
That means you two. Hidan mimicked, which earned him a death-glare from Pein which he skilfully ignored. Sitting back, the Jashinist looked up at the lid of the box. Still, this bitch has got some fucking good music… He mused, listening to the beat.
O*O*O*O
Tobi woke up slowly, coming out of his dreamscape and into reality.
It had been such a lovely dream, too…one that was full of people under his control, and the Ten-Tailed Demon.
A dream that would become a reality, someday…
Tobi smiled a little at this thought, and then jumped as the face of his host appeared over the seat.
"We're here," She announced brightly, although Tobi could see the worry in her eyes, hear the concern lacing her voice. "Come on, kitty." She added, and Tobi stood up and stretched, before jumping up onto the seat and then onto his host's shoulder.
She seemed a little surprised at first, but then she smiled. "I can see you're no worse for wear…" She frowned. "Now, let's see about your two little friends…" And, this time, Tobi could definitely hear the note of panic in her voice…