A/N: Hehehe... yeah sorry I lied about not going to start another fanfiction in a while. But I just couldn't resist not writing this. Just felt really strange not writing 2 chapters at the same time anymore after finishing The Baroness Returns, so... here I am again. . *no self control*
So this is going to be a parody of the anime The Cat Returns with all the characters being "genderbend" aka being turned into their opposite gender. xD
The story will somewhat be the same as the anime. However I'll twist the story up a bit with the TCR manga too and I'll add a bit of my own twists too, maybe change things up a bit differently. We'll see how it goes...
I do not own the original characters from The Cat Returns nor it's plot. This is purely made for fun.
Chapter 1
A small green colored house stands between two other larger homes. A lamp post stands in front, along with a chair in front of one of one its windows. In the window, a figure peers out.
A red, elegant frilly dress clothes the figure. A purple hat sits between her two large pointed ears. The figure stands completely still, almost like a statue as it faces the window.
Suddenly a gentle mellifluous voice is heard.
"If you should find yourself troubled, by something mysterious, or a problem that is just too hard to solve, there's a place you can go for help. A place where. . . "
Hiro groaned at hearing his blue cow alarm clock suddenly going off. Peeking from under his quilt to glare at the alarm, he resisted the urge to smack the darn thing off his desk. But reluctantly gritted his teeth, and lazily slapped his hand on the big alarm button to silence it.
Happy that the sudden beeping was no longer disrupting the quiet atmosphere in his room, Hiro yawned and turned away from his alarm to the other side of the bed happily.
But after a moment or so of silence, Hiro instantly jolted up in bed and immediately snatched his alarm clock to look at the time in horror.
". . . Wait. . . WHAT?!" Hiro exclaimed as he jumped out of bed, barely missing all his stuff scattered on his room floor, as he zipped to his dresser to quickly get his school uniform on.
"Please tell me you're up by now?" called a voice from downstairs.
"Yeah, yeah! I'm up!" Hiro called down to his father as he quickly put his uniform on and ran out the door while fixing his wild hair with his hand. But he quickly looked back at his mirror, to frown at his own reflection.
"Jeez. . . I need a haircut." he murmured as he quickly left his room and down the stairs to the dining room. His father had already set at the table and was now setting his plate that held an open-faced sandwich of veggies and a sunnyside up egg.
Nakazo Yoshioka smirked at his son.
"Why do I bother getting you all these alarm clocks? Just last Friday you slammed your other alarm clock against the wall, and still didn't get up in time." Nakazo rolled his eyes.
"Come on, stop teasing me, you know I'm not a morning person," Hiro said stuffing some papers in his school bag and darted his eyes at the kitchen clock.
"Eush! Gotta go!"
An evil smirk played on Nakazo's face.
"Too bad. No food for you then, Hiro." Nakazo said making a big show of taking a large bite out of his sandwich, while his son stared longingly at the food being chomped by his father. Hiro shook his head sternly and heading towards the front door, before turning to glare at his dad.
"Thanks so much, dad," Hiro said sarcastically as he closed the door behind him.
Nakazo chuckled and called out.
"Bye."
Hiro ran out of his yard, passing a few of the neighborhood cats on the way and sprinted down the street for a few minutes and into the busy downtown area.
Still not slowing his pace, he took a short cut by leaping over a couple of bushes in order to get to the street.
Hiro silently hoped he wouldn't sweat in his uniform and look like a bigger slob by the time he made it to class.
Lost in his thoughts, Hiro tripped on the street pavement, but quickly caught himself, unfortunately making his shoe fly off his foot.
"Oh, great! Not now!" he groaned, rushing to pick it up and put it back on.
"Excuse us!" came a bunch of voices as a long line of female joggers blocked Hiro's way, causing Hiro to grit his teeth anxiously.
'I'm not going to make it in time. . .' he thought dread hanging over him as he watch the women continue to jog by him.
Hiro carefully slid open the classroom's door and tried to crawl to his seat out of the sight of his teacher, who was writing on the board recited to the class;
"Not losing to the rain. Not losing to the wind. Not losing to the snow nor to summer's heat. With a strong body, not fettered by desire, by no means offending anyone. . . " the teacher stopped reciting and ceased writing on the board and sighed.
"Hiro. . . it's bad enough you're late to my class, but being dramatic and thinking you can somehow ninja yourself in here unnoticed is another thing. . . please just sit down. . ." she sighed, not bothering to turn away from the board.
"Y-Yes Ma'am! Sorry!" Hiro said standing up straight abruptly.
The class then erupted with laughter, as Hiro shamefaced to his seat meeting the eyes of his best friend, Hidemi, sitting in front of him.
"Ouch. . ." Hidemi said, giving Hiro a pity smile, while Hiro took his seat blocking the laughter out as much as he could.
Hesitantly, Hiro peered a few rows away, at a long brown haired girl, Machi, giggling softly at him.
In any other situation, Hiro would have admired those cute giggles and bright smile that Machi always flashed to everyone. But the fact that it was at his expense, made Hiro's stomach turn.
Hiro groaned and let his head dunk into his desk, while the teacher quieted everyone's laughter and continued the lesson.
"You see, that's another perk of being a morning person. You avoid situations like that entirely." Hidemi bragged, swinging his lacrosse stick around like a lightsaber as he and Hiro walked down the street.
Hiro rolled his eyes.
"Not everyone can be a morning person like you, Hidemi. Stop reminding me of that painful fact."
Hidemi stopped waving his lacrosse stick around to smack Hiro's back playfully.
"I'm sorry bud, just messing with you."
Hiro pouted a bit.
"But seriously, what a day. I mean, this isn't the first time I've been late, but today just was the worst! I wish Sensei didn't have to scold me like that. The whole class ended up laughing at me because of it. . . even Machi. . ." Hiro said solemnly.
"Yeah, I think she was even still giggling about it at lunch," Hidemi smirked, causing Hiro to twitch in irritation at Hidemi.
"Why today of all days?!" Hiro stopped walking, making Hidemi look back at him. "I've been late so many times before, but why did the humiliation finally occur today?"
Hidemi tsked.
"Hmm, could be a sign that things aren't going to be going so well for you for now on. Something even crazier and humiliating may even happen to you." Hidemi said brushing his red hair out of his face and began to swirl his lacrosse stick as he continued down the street.
"Gee, thanks for the encouragement." Hiro murmured as he followed behind him.
Meanwhile on the same street. A gray, almost purplish cat wearing a golden band around her neck, carried a small box in its mouth, while it climbed out of a window of a building and leaped to the ground, smoothly.
Her mismatched eyes scanned the area, then took a turn, passing an old man sitting on a bench who stared at the cat curiously.
". . . Don't see that every day. . ." the old man said eyeing the cat as it walked away.
"Why do you even like Machi so much?" Hidemi pressed.
Hiro blushed slightly while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.
". . . I just think she's so darn cute. . ."
"Oh? Why not get the nerve to actually talk to the girl and tell her how you feel?" Hidemi asked.
"I could never. . . I always just get so tongue-tied around her. I'd just look like an idiot. Besides, a girl like that has got to have a boyfriend already. She'd turn me down in a second if I ever asked her out." Hiro said an imaginary dark cloud looming over him.
"She does have a boyfriend. She's dating that senior that all the girls are going gaga for." Hidemi said with envy, a pout on his face.
Hiro abruptly snatched Hidemi's lacrosse stick from him and swung it at him, causing the teenage boy to dodge it with a laugh.
"Then why are you trying to encourage me to confess to her?!"
"Because I wanted to see the look on my buddy's face once she rejected him flat!" Hidemi smiled cheekily as he continued to dodge Hiro's playful attacks.
"Gosh! You're such a jerk." Hiro said giving one last swing at the redhead before stopping, causing Hidemi to smirk in triumph.
"Honestly, Machi isn't all that hot anyway, however, my Tsumugi is quite the cutie," Hidemi said placing a hand over his heart as he looked up at the sky dreamy like, as though he was some prince from a fairy tale.
Hiro rolled his eyes playfully.
"Tsumugi? Like she would ever consider a silly guy like you-" Hiro stopped in mid sentence as he saw the gray cat holding a box in its mouth walk pass him and Hidemi, casually.
"Eh? Was that cat just holding a box in its mouth?" Hidemi asked his attention on the cat as well.
"Yeah. . . weird." Hiro said as he and Hidemi followed the cat with their eyes.
The cat continued down the path, before stopping and turning towards the road.
". . . And now it's going into the street like a moron. Hey! Ditzy cat, you'll be roadkill!" Hidemi called out to the cat, who either didn't hear or was ignoring Hidemi's outburst, because it then stepped into the street, while further down the street a big truck was approaching.
"Oh well, instinct will kick in and it'll run like it should if the cars get too close." Hidemi shrugged and walked onward.
"It's not looking good for it, though. . ." Hiro said, causing Hidemi to stop walking and glance back at the cat again.
In the middle of the road, the unusual cat suddenly dropped the small box from its mouth. She quickly moved to grab it again, but lost her grip on it yet again, making it fall from her mouth. The cat stopped fully on the road to concentrate on how to carry the box with her, while the approaching pickup truck rushed towards her.
"Is that cat crazy?!" Hidemi cried watching the scene with his mouth hanging open, not noticing until too late by the fact that Hiro was no long by his side and was now sprinting towards the cat with his lacrosse stick.
"Ah-! Hiro!" Hidemi cried out towards his friend.
The truck driver and the passenger to her side, not looking at the road up until this point, cried out, at seeing Hiro run in front of them when they were a short distance away. The truck driver immediately slammed on her brakes, in a desperate attempt to stop the truck, while the tires screeched in protest.
Hiro, ignoring the fast approaching truck, maneuvered the lacrosse stick, in order to cup and scoop up the feline's figure with it, while he ran forward. Unfortunately, Hiro did this all too fast, causing him to lift the lacrosse stick, higher than he needed to. The purplish cat, holding its package with her front paws, eyes almost popped out of her skull in horror, when she realized Hiro's actions.
The feline gave a loud yelp when Hiro lifted his lacrosse stick too high and too fast causing the lacrosse stick to snap from not being able to support the feline's weight, hurling the strange feline into the air and towards the other side of the road.
"MEOOOOOOWWWW!" she screeched, as she was catapulted towards the other side of the road.
Hiro, realizing his mistake, watched the purplish figure flying in the air, hoping for the cat not to crash into a nearby store window or anything else. Although in a daze, Hiro continued to run down the road, barely missing the truck in the process.
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU SON OF A-!" Hidemi yelled across the street to the bolting truck, but stopped his words with a frown, and attempted a karate kick in the direction the truck was darting off in.
Hiro collapsed on the sidewalk, letting go of the lacrosse stick, and began gasping for air.
"Woah. . . What. . . a . . . ride. . . !" Hiro said between gasps, then looked up suddenly, remembering the cat.
"Hey, Cat! Where are you?! Are you okay-?!" Hiro gasped, his eyes widening when he turned to look at his side.
To his amazement, the purplish cat stood on her two hind legs, not her fours, and used her front paws to brush her fur to rid it of dirt.
Hiro continued to gaze at the cat with his slightly widened eyes, not daring to move, or even breathe, while the cat licked her paw (still on two legs), then turned suddenly to him with a smile.
She giggled softly.
"For a moment there, I nearly didn't know what I was going to die from. The truck? Or a strange human boy flinging me into the air like that? . . . Although then again, a fall like that wouldn't have killed me since I'm skilled at landing on my legs." she said giggling some more.
Hiro continued to watch the cat, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, trying to say something, but couldn't bring any words out.
'This cat. . . it's speaking. . . actually speaking! Not meowing!' Hiro yelled within his head, as best as he could, with many thoughts flooding his mind at once.
The cat suddenly flinched.
"Oh I nearly forgot my manners." she said then bowed towards Hiro.
"Thank you for saving my life. You have done a selfless and brave act for my sake and I'm extremely grateful and hope you're not hurt at all?"
"Ah-! Um-! Eh?" Hiro tried to speak but still, couldn't muster anything else out.
The grayish cat smiled again at Hiro politely.
"Thank you again, but I'm going to have to leave now, I'm in a bit of a rush. I'm sorry for being rude, but don't worry. I'll return to you to express my gratitude, later. I hope you'll excuse me." she bowed.
Finally finding his words, Hiro bowed his head too, but hastily.
"O-Oh! D-Don't mention it!"
The female cat smiled one last time at Hiro, before picking up her package that was at her feet, with her mouth and trotted out of the area.
"Hiro!" called Hidemi running towards his friend, looking cautiously around for any approaching vehicles.
Hiro continued to watch the grayish cat, with his mouth agape, until it was at the corner of the street. She looked back at the human boy one more time, and bowed her head, before disappearing around the corner.
A sigh came from above Hiro.
"Jeez dude, you broke my lacrosse stick. But I guess it was for a worthy cause." Hidemi said picking up the broken lacrosse stick and frowning down at it.
Hiro then snapped his attention to his friend and pointed in the direction the she-cat walked off in.
"You. . . did see that, right?" Hiro asked.
"Huh?" Hidemi frowned some more, looking at Hiro.
"That cat. . . she spoke. . . she bowed. . . and everything. . ." Hiro said with a dazed look as his finger still pointed down the street.
Hidemi studded Hiro for a few moments, with a somewhat concerned look on his face.
"Hiro. . . you sure you weren't hit?"
Hiro lowered his hand slowly and looked off in the direction the strange cat left in again.
'Did I just imagine it?'
Opening the front door to his house, a bit solemnly, Hiro halfheartedly called out to his dad.
"I'm home, dad. . ." he said as he closed the door behind him with a sigh.
'I guess it was only natural for Hidemi to think I was nuts. No matter how silly and cheeky he is, he isn't the type to believe that a cat can talk.' Hiro thought as he entered the living room.
"Watch it!" Nakazo exclaimed before Hiro could step foot in the room.
Hiro looked down on the floor where he was about to step and saw many scattered pieces of scrap fabric laying all over the floor and groaned before looking up at his father at the kitchen table.
Nakazo tapped his fingers on the wooden table in thought, staring down at a canvas that had many patterns of what looked like miniature quilts lying on it, with a bottle of red paint to the side, and frowned.
"Ugh, what a disaster, Hiro. No creative flow. . ." Nakazo's frown deepened, resting his head on his hand. "Make dinner tonight, would you? I refuse to leave this spot till I know what to do with all of this."
Hiro moved carefully to dodge all the fabric on the floor so he could reach his dad.
'Should I ask dad?' Hiro thought glancing at his father. 'It wouldn't hurt, I guess.'
"Hey dad?"
"Yep?"
"You think cats can talk?"
". . . "
Nakazo turned to glance at his son, for a second, before turning back to his canvas.
"Yeah, sure. . ." his dad said halfheartedly with a shrug.
Hiro's eye twitched in irritation, already knowing his dad was barely paying attention anyway. Hiro then moved away from behind his dad, and leaned on the dresser to his side and groaned.
A few moments of silence passed before his dad abruptly turned to Hiro, with a puzzled look on his face.
"Wait. . . what?" Nakazo said with a slightly gaping mouth.
A halfhearted grin grew on Hiro's face.
'Maybe he was listening after all.'
After Nakazo heard his son's question repeated. Nakazo only gave Hiro another answer that almost mirrored his previous answer, with an incredulous look and a nervous smile.
"Why not?"
Hiro ended up just groaning again, and telling his dad he was no help, then headed to the kitchen to cook dinner, determined to forget everything that occurred today.
Once dinner was ready and Nakazo removed his work from the table. The two silently ate together, before Nakazo chuckled a bit, earning a confused glance from Hiro.
"You know. . . You've asked me something like that before when you were about six I think. . .?"
Hiro gave his dad is full attention.
"Huh? I did?"
Nakazo nodded with a smirk.
"Yep. If memory serves, you said something like 'Dad, do you think cats can talk? Because they can!' . . . something like that . . ." Nakazo said raising his chopsticks to eat some of his steamed rice.
'I said something like that?' Hiro thought. 'So I was basically a nut job back then, huh?'
Hiro paused to collect his thoughts. Thinking about any memory that could have possibly led to him say such a thing to his dad at that earlier date.
I was around six years old, walking down a neighborhood I can't recall so well. Munching on a box of crackers, contently, not a care in the world.
I think I was alone? I don't remember dad walking with me, so I think I was?
Hiro scrunched his face up thinking harder, then lighting up.
'Yeah. . . I remember it. . .'
A dirty white kitten was following me, almost desperately.
It wasn't until I scarfed down two more crackers did I finally notice the cat behind me and turned to it.
"Hey? Why are you following me?" I asked the white kitten curiously, in a voice that only a young boy could have before puberty.
The cat meowed loudly in response.
"Oh, you're hungry?" my younger-self said.
Hiro frowned.
'I could understand cats back then? Really? Why can't I remember what the kitten said, then? All I can remember is his meows . . . wait. . . him? So the kitten was male?'
My six-year-old-self grinned at the dirty kitten and kneeled before him.
"Do you want some of my mice?" I asked the kitten.
The kitten tilted his head in confusion at me and meowed curiously.
"No! Not real mice! I'm a human, real mice are gross!" I said with a disgusted look. "These are crackers shaped as mice."
I pulled a cracker out of the box to show the kitten, who licked his lips with his blue eyes glued to the cracker and meowed again.
"I know strange, huh? I like that. The more popular type of crackers are the ones shaped like fish, but these mice shaped ones aren't eaten a lot. I don't know why, though." I said obliviously.
"Even though they're strange. . . do you want one?" I asked the kitten.
The kitten eagerly meowed back.
"Here try one," I said placing the mouse shaped cracker in front of the kitten who eagerly chomped on it.
I pet the kitten, softly.
"You're pretty strange yourself. You're all dirty! Anyway, do you like it?"
The kitten looked up at me and meowed gratefully.
"See? I'm not the only one!" I said with a grin. "My friends tease me a lot because they think they're too strange to eat, but who cares?"
I dug my hand into the cracker box.
"Do you want more?"
The kitten meowed.
"Okay. Here, have them." I said placing the whole box in front of the cat, as he immediately dipped his face inside to eat more of the crackers.
The white kitten then looked up at me and meowed again.
"Hehe, no problem. I can have my dad get me more anyway." I said.
Hiro's eyes widen, the memory becoming more clearer.
'Oh yeah. I wasn't alone. Dad was just walking a bit ahead of me.'
"Hiro!" that said my dad called out.
I stood up and turned to see my dad waiting for me down the street.
"Dad!" I called out to him and ran to his side, excitedly.
"What held you up, sport?" Nakazo asked ruffling my hair a bit.
I grinned at him.
"I was talking to the kitten. Turns out he likes the mice crackers too!"
Nakazo looked across the table at his now teenaged son, with a fond smile.
"Humoring you, I asked you, what the kitten said to you. You said that the kitten told you that life was tough. Hmm, even a kitten has his facts straight, huh?" Nakazo grinned, placing a piece of mackerel in his mouth.
'I don't remember that. Hmm, guess I only remember little bits of what I talked about the cat.' Hiro thought placing his chopsticks down and rising from his seat, earning a puzzled look from his dad.
"Finished already?"
"Yeah. . . I'm not so hungry tonight. I'm more tired than anything." Hiro said grabbing his dishes to store away the leftovers in the refrigerator.
Nakazo sighed.
"You know, I wish you'd eat more. You're already a bit troublingly skinny as it is. Don't you want to be nice and strong so you can literally sweep the ladies off their feet, like that young lady you have a crush on, err. . . Machi right?" Nakazo grinned cheekily at his blushing son.
"N-No! I- I-!" Hiro stuttered then collected himself the best he could and glared at his dad.
"Goodnight dad." he said a bit bitterly, already walking into the hallway and up the stairs to his room.
Hiro heard his dad chuckle and reply back.
"Night, son."
Hiro groaned and sharply frowned realizing he probably groaned more today than he has his whole life, causing him to groan again with a scowl.
After finishing getting ready for bed, Hiro sat on his bed in his pajamas which consisted of a red and yellow checkered patterned t-shirt and plain gray shorts.
"So I guess. . . cats can actually talk?" Hiro spoke aloud as he stared up at the ceiling.
'But if that's the case, why am I the only one that seems to understand them? If people could talk to cats, wouldn't more people complain about cats talking or something? Maybe only a handful of people can understand them?' Hiro thought, his nose wrinkling. 'I guess that would explain why the world has cat ladies. . . but then again, I don't think even many cat ladies say that cats talk to them.'
Hiro sighed and crawled on his bed and reached the lamp to his side and turned off the light.
'Guess I'm just a freak of nature then. . .'
Hiro settled himself in bed, wearing a solemn smile.
'Just another thing to add to the list of why I'm so strange. . .'
With his last thought on his mind, Hiro closed his eyes and slowly drifted to sleep.
After what seemed like mere minutes, Hiro began to shiver and sneezed.
'What in the world? Why is it so darn cold? It almost felt like a breeze went by.' Hiro thought as he squeezed his eyes tighter and grabbed for his quilt for warmth, only to discover he couldn't find his quilt.
Hiro reluctantly opened his eyes with confusion, before his brown eyes widened.
"Wait. . . what?!"
Hiro found himself in front of his house, wearing only his pajamas, standing in the middle of the street.
Blinking his eyes in confusion, Hiro scanned his surroundings.
'A dream?' Hiro pondered, pinching himself and grimaced. 'Maybe not?'
"Meeeooooowwww. . ."
Hiro jumped at the sudden loud cry and turned to the neighbor's house where he saw two cats, a calico, and a black cat sitting on the stone wall staring off into the distance intently.
Hiro's nerves began to tingle.
'Jeez . . . Now I'm starting to get freaked out by these ordinary cats. I need to calm down. . .'
The two cats continued to stare down the street, which looked pitch black, almost as if a black hole was at the end of the street. Hiro's frown, disappeared, however, when orbs of light began to emerge from the area, bobbing and moving around in a strange way, while an unusual melody played in the air that started to build in volume.
The two cats on the stone wall got up abruptly.
"Merrrrooowww!" the black and calico cried, leaping from their spots on the wall and darted towards the wobbling balls of light, that were coming closer.
"Uuurghhhh. . . " a low half-hearted growl broke, startling Hiro, causing him to look behind him at the opposite side of the street.
A herd of, what Hiro guessed, was about nearly twenty cats ran past him and followed the two other cats, who were ahead, getting much closer to the bobbing lights.
Hiro rubbed his eyes to make sure what he was seeing, was actually happening.
'This dream just got ten times more weirder. . .'
Hiro squinted his eyes at the bobbing orbs that were getting even closer than before, and his eyes widened.
Out of the darkness, the bobbing orbs appeared to be a long line of small lanterns, but that wasn't what caught Hiro's attention. Holding the lanterns, were cats walking on their hind legs, while their front paws held the lanterns. Their walking was a bit wobbly and uneven. As Hiro got a closer look, there were other cats behind the ones holding the lanterns, an even larger group of cats that were walking on their back legs, simply walked behind these cats. There were also some cats playing instruments, that were interspersed in the long line. As the cats walked down the street, the neighboring houses' outdoor lights, turned on, the motion of the cats triggering them.
Hiro's frown returned.
'Okay. . . this has gone from ten times more weirder to ten times more creepier. . .'
The two cats from earlier along with the others following behind, ran on all fours, meowing loudly at the walking cats. They charged at the long queue of cats, but the ones that got close too close were stopped by tuxedo cats, roughly pushing them out of the way, some even being thrown into bushes or in someone's yard, much to the amusement of Hiro.
Taking his attention from what Hiro assumed were the bodyguard cats, Hiro noticed two larger cats pushing a rickshaw, which carried a casual type throne where a large cat was reclining in it. The cat sitting on the throne had long messy fur, that was identical in color to the cat he saved earlier but had a light patch of gray fur on the top of its head that fell its face a bit. It wore golden bands around its wrist with the design of a fish on them and wore a plain golden collar around its neck. It also wore a weird looking purple jewel on its head that looked a bit like an eye. The cat's eyes were closed as if it were sleeping. Meanwhile to the side of it, there were two other cats walking along side the long haired. One had gray fur and wore a long purple robe and spectacles. The other was a brown and tan furred cat, that had what seemed like two big pink spots on either side of its face, holding a rolled up scroll in its arms.
Hiro peaked behind the odd group to see yet more cats behind them also holding lanterns in their paws. The bodyguard cats were still fighting off the ordinary cats, making yelps and loud meows, filling the air.
Hiro looked around at the other houses waiting for the surrounding homes to turn on their inside lights and have people curiously looking out their windows to see what all the commotion was about. Only to see that no one did. There seemed to be no movement inside the houses. Hiro craned his neck to look at his own house, waiting for his dad to open the front door with an annoyed glare and throw a shoe or something at the loud cats, but not even his dad showed up.
'Is everyone in the neighborhood such heavy sleepers?' Hiro thought.
But before Hiro could ponder more, all the cats' cries, the melody, and ruckus had suddenly halted.
Hiro looked down to see that the long haired cat and the two other cats had stopped in front of him, a black and gray striped cat had opened an umbrella and put it over the long haired. The purple robbed cat, fixing her spectacles, coughed and looked at Hiro suddenly, making Hiro freeze in place.
"Hello there." she said.
Hiro cringed.
'Uh no. . . Not more talking cats.'
"Please allow me to present to you the beautiful, wise, talented, I must repeat, beautiful ruler of The Cat Kingdom, The Cat Queen." the cat said in such a formal tone that it sounded like she was reading it from a script.
Hiro's eyes drifted from the purple robbed cat and back to the cat on the throne. She looked pretty old, looking at her aging fur, and her slow movements.
The long haired finally opened her eyes, and slowly let her eyes focus on Hiro. Hiro noted her mismatched eyes, one blue and the other almost a fuschia color.
"That's me, Sugga. . . " she said her voice slightly raspy with age.
Hiro stared at the cat strangely.
'Did she just call me, Sugar?'
"I'm the Cat Queen's royal adviser, Naori. We've come to tell you that you have bestowed on us and the whole Cat Kingdom a great blessing. The cat you have saved earlier today was no other than the Cat Queen's only child, Princess Luna." the purple robbed cat said, who's name was Naori.
Hiro's eyes widen.
'I knew that fur and eye color looked familiar. That cat I saved today is related to this cat?' Hiro thought staring at the Cat Queen.
"Given the great importance of the matter, the Cat Queen has come to thank you herself, to express her deep gratitude." Naori continued.
"O-Oh?" Hiro finally muttered staring at the Queen again.
The Queen was silent for a few awkward moments before she finally spoke.
"Yeah, thanks a lot, Sug.," she said almost too quickly and bluntly.
Hiro couldn't help himself, a few helpless chuckles erupted from him, that quickly turned into laughter, at the whole situation.
'This is all so nuts, but I'm not gonna lie, this theme beats most of my other dreams.'
Naori looked at the brownish, tan cat to her side.
"Natoru." she muttered to the cat.
The cat then suddenly stepped closer to Hiro, causing Hiro to stop laughing, and held up the paper scroll they had been holding, for Hiro to take.
"A scroll to tell you what to expect," Naori said simply, making Hiro crinkle his nose in confusion.
Hesitantly, Hiro took the scroll from Natoru's paws.
Natoru grinned up at Hiro.
"Once the sun rises, you will be showered with many great gifts and joys as a reward for you saving our Princess."
Hiro studied the rolled up scroll in his hands.
'Reward? I'm getting gifts? Ugh, don't take this too seriously, Hiro. This will all be something to laugh about once you wake up anyway.' Hiro scolded himself.
Figuring he had to say something because the cats were still staring at him expectantly, Hiro lightened his expression.
"Thank you?"
The Cat Queen, made a noise, in approval.
"Ciao, Sug."
Suddenly the cats all began to walk away, the cats holding their instruments began to play the strange melody again. The cats holding the lanterns moving suddenly caused the lanterns 'ting' in protest. The large parade of cats including Naori, Natoru, and The Cat Queen, all disappeared into the darkness at the end of the street.
Hiro stood there for a few moments, looking off into the area they all had disappeared, in wonder.
"It's hard to believe this is a dream. It seems so real. . ." Hiro said brushing his hand through his messy brown hair.
Clutching the paper scroll in his hands, Hiro walked into his yard sleepily and into his house to go back to bed. He was determined not to question anything about this, telling himself it was all just a dream, while a small part of his mind told him it was anything but, making him dread even more waking up in the morning.
A/N: Those of you questioning why I didn't "change" Natoru, it's because depending if you watched the original Japanese version or the English dubbed version of The Cat Returns, you sort of see that Natoru's gender is either unknown, placed to be a boy (English dub), or a girl (original Japanese version). So in this version, Natoru's gender will remain unknown. You can just make them out to be a girl or boy, your choice. xD
So opinions about it so far? Think it's fine as it is, or should I definitely change the story more to be almost completely different from one point on (possibly right after meeting the genderbended Cat Bureau) then just small changes? Opinions or ideas are welcome! I'm just writing this thing for a gag, so I won't be bothered! After all, this is a parody. ;D