Title: Through the Eyes of a Kitten 1/?
Author: tastykaromel
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously, even the computer this was written on belongs to my boyfriend.
Summary: Through strange and bizarre means that the author is too lazy to fully explain, Kurt is turned into a kitten. Yeah, you read that right.
A/N: Written for my Other: Animal box on my au bingo card
It was a beautiful, sunny day; the perfect day for McKinley High's school fair. There were booths and tents set up all around the football field with a few carnival rides in the middle. Kurt had driven down from Dalton for the day at the urging of Mercedes and Rachel and was very glad he had.
He'd been a little hesitant for fear that he might run into Karofsky, but his girls had reassured him that the jock hadn't thrown a single slushie after the Thriller Performance and had been on his best behavior ever since joining the glee club. Kurt hadn't asked what qualified as 'being on his best behavior' for Karofsky, but in the end it didn't matter. He and the girls had made nearly a complete circuit of the football field and hadn't seen a single letterman jacket.
Free from any potential tormentors the trio had spent the last 5 hours playing carnival games and watching cheesy skits put on by the teachers. Kurt had even let Mercedes cajole him into eating a little cotton candy, though he was sure he'd regret it during next morning's weight check.
By now, they were running low on energy (and spending money) so they'd agreed to just go on the Ferris wheel before heading to Mercedes for a night of musicals and nail polish. However, when they got in line to buy their ride tickets Kurt spotted a tent that he hadn't seen before.
Later, he would realize just how stupid it was that he obeyed the strange compulsion to step out of the line and go over to the tent without saying anything to Mercedes and Rachel, but at the time, it made all the sense in the world.
The tent was small and instead of the almost painfully bright, neon colors of the rest of the tents, this one was a dark purple with an odd, iridescent sheen to it. Kurt stepped into the tent and had to pause a moment to adjust to the sudden lack of light. Eventually, Kurt was able to make out a little, wooden table a few feet in front of him with an old lady sitting behind it. There was a crystal ball sitting on top of the table and Kurt started to turn to leave because he didn't believe in things like fortune telling, but he was stopped by the woman's voice.
"You doubt my abilities, young man," the woman's voice had an eerie quality to it and Kurt suddenly felt like offending her would be the worst possible thing he could do.
"Oh no," he said hastily. "I just don't have that much money left."
"Then because I can tell you have such a special soul, I shall answer you one question without charge."
Kurt didn't feel comfortable and he dearly wanted to go back out into the sunlight, but it seemed rather rude to turn down the woman's offer, so he moved forward and carefully sat down in the chair opposite the woman.
"I've never really done this before," Kurt said hesitantly. "What sort of question should I ask?"
"Anything you'd like to know about your future, my boy, where you'll be in ten years, what job you'll have, whatever you want. Though I must warn you, you may not like the answer I give."
Kurt thought for a few seconds, then said, "All right then, tell me about my true love."
The woman gave a husky chuckle, "I thought you might want to know that." Then she waved her hands over the crystal ball and Kurt was surprised to see smoke start to swirl around inside it. This must be a pretty high tech operation.
"I see a young man, a young man that you've already met." Kurt was impressed. He'd been expecting some cheesy line about a blond girl and a white picket fence. She must have noticed the 'I like my men like my coffee: tall, dark, and sweet' button on his shoulder bag, though how she'd been able to read it from that distance he had no idea.
"This man has very conflicted emotions," the woman continued.
"You mean he doesn't know if he likes me or not?" Kurt asked, finding himself drawn in despite himself.
"Oh no, he is quite sure on that, but he doesn't know how to handle his feelings or if he should tell you."
"What does he look like?" Kurt asked, curious to see if she could describe someone Kurt actually knew.
"He's a good dancer and has a nice smile."
Kurt sat forward at that. Blaine was a great dancer and he had a gorgeous smile. And ok, so he and Blaine had already been over this and decided it would be better if they just stayed friends, but a small part of Kurt was still hoping that maybe, eventually, they'd be something more than that.
"He has a strong interest in sports," the woman continued.
"Football?" Kurt asked eagerly.
"Yes," Kurt heart rate picked up. "But I see he cares more about being on the ice," and then plummeted. Blaine had told him that he'd only gone ice skating once and it had been the worst experience of his life. Kurt actually felt himself get a little sad before he shook himself. He didn't actually believe in this stuff; what was he getting upset for?
The woman had had her eyes closed while she was telling the fortune, but she opened them now and looked at Kurt. He must have still looked a little sad because she reached over and comfortingly patted his hand.
"Don't worry, dear. You may not be able to see it now, but you will."
Kurt got shakily to his feet, suddenly feeling incredibly tired for some reason.
"Thank you very much. It was so kind of you to give me a free fortune," he said politely because he'd been raised right.
"Don't mention it. Oh and there's just one more thing," she cocked her head to the side, her eyes glittering in the dark. "I believe there's a paper you've forgotten about."
Kurt's brow furrowed in confusion for a moment as he tried to figure out what she was talking about. Then his eyes widen in shock as he remembered the week before his history teacher had announced an extra paper he wanted the students to write. Kurt hadn't had his planner on him at the time and had never written it down. He'd completely forgotten about it until just now.
"H-how did you know about that?" he whispered. The woman didn't answer, just gave him what would have been a sweet smile if not for the fact that her eyes were still glittering in that disturbing way.
Kurt turned and fled, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste to get away. He ran all the way back to where he'd left Mercedes and Rachel.
"There you are!" Mercedes cried. "Boy, where'd you disappear to? We've been looking everywhere for you."
Rachel nodded in agreement, "Yes, we bought your ticket, but-,"
"Great," Kurt said shrilly, grabbing each girl by an elbow. "Let's go." He wanted to get as far away from that creepy woman as possible.
There wasn't any line for the Ferris wheel and Kurt quickly bundled the still protesting girls into a pod. As they rose into the air, he took several deep breaths to try and calm his heart rate.
"Kurt, are you alright?" Rachel asked quietly, looking concerned.
"No, I've just had the scariest experience of my life." Then Kurt proceeded to tell his friends about what had happened while they'd been standing in line.
"And I still have no idea how she could have known about my paper," Kurt finished. "I didn't even remember it, how could she have known?"
"Wow Kurt," Mercedes said, looking awed, "Sounds like you found the real deal."
"Nonsense," Rachel said with a sniff. "Everybody knows that stuff like this is just a bunch of smoke and mirrors. She must have seen the assignment on you somewhere."
"Rachel, I just told that I hadn't written it down. Where could she have seen it?"
Rachel didn't seem to have an answer to that and the three stayed silent until the ride finished. As they got off, Rachel said, "Show me where the tent is. I want to check this out for myself."
Kurt didn't want to go anywhere near the tent again, but he pointed out where it…
"Oh, she must have taken it down already," he said when he noticed the spot the tent had previously occupied was now empty.
"She got a whole tent packed up in five minutes?" Rachel said suspiciously.
"No, I'm sure she was right there," Kurt protested.
"Maybe you've been in the sun too long boy," Mercedes looked concerned, laying a hand on his forehead.
"Well, whatever it was, I'm glad I remembered my paper. Speaking of I'm going to have to take a rain check for tonight's girl time."
They all exchanged goodbye hugs and the girls headed to the parking lot while Kurt headed into McKinley High to use the restroom before heading home to right that paper. He was humming to himself as he washed his hands when he heard, clear as day, the voice of the woman saying again, "You don't see it now, but you will."
Kurt's eyes flew up to the mirror, but he didn't see anyone besides himself in the reflection. He whirled around and in the process slipped on a wet spot on the floor. He fell, hitting his head on the edge of the sink and knocking himself unconscious.
~888~888~
When he came to, Kurt's poor head was aching and he let out a groan. Except the fall must have messed up his vocal chords somehow, because what came out was more of a mew. Weird.
Kurt tried to check for a bump and froze when the hand he rose up to his head wasn't a hand at all.
It looked like a paw.
A fluffy, tabby kitten paw.
Kurt jumped to his feet with a screech…and promptly fell back over since he wasn't used to the two extra feet Kurt suddenly found himself with. Kurt lay on his side panting for a few minutes as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on.
This had to have something to do with that crazy gypsy lady, he just knew it. Very shakily Kurt got to his feet, his four feet, and looked around. He was still in the boy's restroom and by his estimation, about six inches tall. He tried walking a few steps and found that he managed quite well. As long as he just moved on instinct and didn't try to over think it he did just fine.
He was just congratulating himself on being such a fast learner when his little kitten ears picked up the sound of someone approaching. Eagerly, Kurt sprinted to the door, hoping to get their attention. Fortunately, he wasn't a very fast runner, so he hadn't made it to the door when it was suddenly flung open.
In the doorway stood Coach Sylvester, her nose looking suspiciously red. Kurt tried shouting (and ended up with a rather pitiful meow) to try and get her attention and then rather wished he hadn't when her eyes snapped to him with a glare.
"I knew it," she hissed, reaching down and grabbing him before he could move. She held him far too tightly for comfort and began walking so fast Kurt thought he might get sick. Vaguely he caught the snatches of words like, "know I'm allergic" and "deliberate plot" and "I'll get them."
Eventually she made it to the front entrance, opened the front door, and without further ado, tossed Kurt outside. It was only with the use of his cat instincts that Kurt managed to land on his feet, though it still hurt. He turned to hiss uselessly at the closed door. When he got back to normal he was definitely going to report her.
Kurt was distracted from his revenge plans by a drop of water falling on his nose. He glanced up and sure enough, ominous clouds were gathering in the sky. Within seconds it was raining hard and Kurt's fur was drenched through. He looked around for cover and spotted a few cars still in the parking lot. As quickly as possible he ran towards the nearest one, a green 2004 Honda Element in excellent condition, he noted absently.
He fit easily under the car and sat down in the middle, shivering with cold. He sniffled and wished cats could cry because is anyone deserved a good cry, it was him. In the last few hours he'd been mentally assaulted by a crazy old woman, hit his head on a sink and probably given himself a concussion, been manhandled and bodily thrown by one of his teachers, been rained on and to top it all off, he'd been. Turned. Into. A. Kitten!
Apparently, while cats couldn't cry, they were capable of yowling, which was what Kurt found himself doing, quite impressively too. He was making such a noise that he shouldn't have been surprised when someone came over to check out what was making all the racket. He couldn't tell who it was since all he could see was a pair of scruffy sneakers and the waterlogged hems of a pair of blue jeans, but he quieted down, wary after his last encounter with a person.
The feet stopped next to the car and knelt down revealing a letterman jacket and the face of…oh, Gaga, why?
"Hey there, little buddy," Karofsky said with a toothy grin. He probably ate kittens, Kurt thought bitterly. "You look kinda wet." No shit, Sherlock. "Why don't you come on out kitty," and then Karofsky reached a hand out like he actually thought Kurt would go to him. Kurt set him straight on that score with a hiss and a swipe of his claws. That got Karofsky drawing his hand back pretty darn fast.
Kurt hoped his impressive display of fierceness would send the jock packing, but instead he reached into his pocket and pulled out, oh, oh, that was meat. A turkey leg to be precise, wrapped in napkins, but Kurt could still smell the barbeque sauce. He suddenly realized that he was really hungry.
Karofsky removed the napkins and tore of a tiny bit of meat that he held out to Kurt with his fingers. Kurt didn't move. He may be hungry, but he still had his pride and there was no way in hell he was eating out of Karofsky's hands.
"Gonna play hard to get, huh?" Karofsky chuckled, reaching out to set the meat down about a foot in front of Kurt. He hesitated, but eventually his hunger won out and he crawled forward until he could reach the meat. And oh, it had been worth it. The meat was so juicy and delicious as Kurt chewed it down, and when he finished he realized there was another little piece just a couple inches in front of him. And when he ate that piece, another one magically appeared.
So distracted was Kurt by the deliciousness of the meat, that he didn't realize Karofsky was slowly moving the meat closer and closer to himself until something heavy was thrown over Kurt and he felt himself being picked up again.
He was juggled around, though not roughly, for a few seconds until his legs and body were still snuggly wrapped up, but his head was poking out of what appeared to be Karofsky's letterman jacket.
Kurt tried to get away, but he could barely move. All he could do was stare up in horror at the now much bigger boy's face, completely at his mercy.
"I've got you now, my pretty" Karofsky said in a low voice.