"What do you mean you're not going?" I demanded, frowning into the mirror. I shifted to hold the phone between my ear and my shoulder so that I could lean forward and fix my eyeliner.

"I'm not going. I figured I could stay with you," said my best friend through the phone.

I sighed. "I can't believe you. You gave up Hawaii to stay with me?"

"Of course I did," she said matter-of-factly. "You're my best friend, J. I couldn't just leave you all alone in your apartment." Her grin was evident in her tone.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, Lucy. You'd better get your ass over here soon then."

She laughed. "I'll be on my way in twenty minutes, promise. I gotta go, I'll see you soon!" She hung up. I sighed.

I guess now would be the time for introductions. It sounds stupid, but I need to get everything down somehow; it was all so surreal - but I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm Joelle Kennedy, my best friend is Lucy Lynch, and this is the story of how my life changed. Not that I think anyone will read this, or believe me, for that matter.

Anyway, I was just dicking around in my bathroom, putting on the makeup my sister had left in my apartment the last time she visited. I smirked at my reflection and wandered out to the living room, turning on the TV. It was the beginning of summer break, and my next semester of classes didn't start for another two months. I was a junior at Chowan University, majoring in English Education, along with Lucy, who was going for music.

I threw myself onto my back on the floor. It was almost July, but everyone who lives in North Carolina knows that summer begins in April. Almost all of the windows were open. I loved summer.

I shot to my feet when I heard a knock at the door, and opened it with a grin. There was Lucy, and she was holding a cardboard box. My grin slipped into a mask of confusion when I heard a soft meow from the box.

Third Person!

Needless to say, the Akatsuki weren't happy. Well, Tobi might have been, but everyone else was thoroughly pissed. In fact, it was Tobi's fault they were even in this situation. He had apparently decided that the jutsu in the scroll left from a skirmish with Leaf ninja - that was obviously a trap - would be useful. Oh, how wrong he was. Now they each had four legs, a tail, and could only make pathetic mewling noises.

"This is bull, un."

"For once, I agree with the brat. Where are we, anyway?"

These two voices were barely recognizable in the cacophony of meowing and hissing. Suddenly, the orange tabby they knew as their leader stood, silencing them immediately, having heard footsteps, and then a distinctly feminine voice... singing.

"... wayward son, there'll be peace when you are done; lay your weary head to rest, don't you cry no… hmm?" The footsteps came to a halt next to their prison and light suddenly poured in from the top. Nine pairs of differently colored eyes looked up at a single pair of shocked green ones. The girl gasped. Her blonde curls were quickly tied back away from her face. "Oh, J is going to absolutely love you guys! How could anyone have just left you here?" The felines were once again drenched in darkness before their cardboard cell shifted, being picked up.

They moved only a short way, and they felt the girl shift them so she could use her hand to knock on a door. Seconds later it opened, and another feminine voice inquired, "What's that?"

They felt themselves move again before becoming still. The first voice spoke again. "You're gonna love it." A sigh. Once again, they were startled by bright light above them. They came face to face with the owner of the second voice, a girl with dark brown hair and equally dark eyes. Surprise was evident in said eyes, and then she sighed again.

"Great, just what I need." She looked away from the cats, who were watching the transaction closely. "We'll have to take them down to the shelter later." There was a gasp and an exclamation.

"But J - I thought you loved cats!"

"I do, Lucy, but I can't afford…" she looked down at them, "nine. Where did you even find them?"

The first girl, Lucy, came into sight, pouting at her. "They were out on the sidewalk, all alone in this box." J sighed again.

"Well, we'll feed them and clean them, but tomorrow they're going to the shelter."

First Person!

As soon as I said it, my eyes found one of the smallest of the nine: it was obviously a boy, and he was all black, save for the orange on his face. I frowned. I'd never seen coloring like that on any cat before, and I made it a point to know as much as possible about cats.

I really loved cats.

He had his little paws up on the side of the box, and he was meowing at me hopefully. I instinctively reached in and picked him up, rubbing his chin. He purred loudly and walked up onto my shoulders, rubbing on my face and head. I grinned, but it was replaced with a sneer when I saw Lucy smirking at me.

"You'll change your mind," she said, sounding very sure of herself.

"No I won't. I just like cats. Get out of my face." I pushed her over, and she sprawled out dramatically. I rolled my eyes and got up to go into the small kitchen. I dug around in the fridge and found a package of ham. I went back into the living room to see that Lucy had let all of the kittens out of their box, and they sat in a loose bunch in front of her, looking around curiously. I raised an eyebrow, but sat down with her.

I pulled apart the ham and put it in front of the cats, who sniffed it cautiously. Then a pretty silver one started eating, and the rest followed suit.

"They're acting weird. I don't know much about cats, but shouldn't they be all skittish?" Lucy asked. I shrugged at her.

"If they were raised around people from when they were born, maybe not. But you're right, they're strangely calm." I shook my head. "But we're probably overthinking it," I said, shifting away from the orange tabby with the strange purple-grey eyes, who was eyeing me piercingly. "Let's name them, yeah?"

Lucy visibly brightened at that. "Okay!" She snatched up a large blue one. "This can be Bosco."

I stared at her. "Bosco?"

She nodded excitedly. "Yeah, like the bear from The Last Airbender. Remember?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I remember. I'm not stupid." I sighed. "Fine. Bosco it is."

The black and orange boy I had held first made himself known by meowing loudly and jumping onto my lap. I smiled and pet his head. "Hello there, Boy."

"Is that his name?"

I shrugged. "Why not?"

She just laughed.

Bitch.

I picked up Boy and dumped him next to the newly christened Bosco. I was then greeted by a loud yellow kitty, long-haired. I grinned widely and picked him up. "I think this is a Legolas." Lucy laughed and agreed, and Legolas joined his friends again.

As I named the small blue one, the only girl, Iris, Lucy frowned and asked, "Do you think they're all related?"

I looked at them and shook my head. "Probably not. They're too different. Plus, some are visibly older." I picked up a brown one with darker brown stripes all over his body. "Like this one." I held him up to my face, and he growled softly, more of a vibration in his chest. I smirked. "Okay, okay, Brutus." The name came to me randomly and I decided to keep it for the aggressive creature.

Lucy suddenly gasped and picked up an all-black boy with equally black eyes - something else I'd never seen before. She held him up to my face. "Knight!"

I tilted my head. "Night?"

"Yeah, but with a K!"

I grinned at her; she was so proud. "Alright, Knight it is." I looked down and saw Legolas with his paws on my legs. I picked him up and let him settle on my lap. I saw him hiss at a dark ginger cat about his size, so I picked up the instigator.

He stared back at me with bored brown eyes. My own eyes narrowed at him. "You're a fighter, aren't you?" I shared a look with Lucy and we came to an unspoken agreement. "Boromir."

True, Boromir's hair was canonically dark brown, but this little cat had his personality.

I just really liked the Lord of the Rings.

"How many have we named?" I asked. Lucy counted.

"Six." I groaned.

"I hate cats," I muttered, though we both knew I was having the time of my life. I sighed and reached out to the one furthest away from me, whose fur was black and white, split directly down the middle. "Hey there." He sniffed my hand but continued to just sit there. "I think you're a Brad."

Lucy spluttered. "Brad?" I laughed.

"Hell yeah, Brad. What's wrong with that?" She just shook her head.

"Alright, who's left?" I asked. She dropped in front of me the orange tabby and the pretty silver one who ate first. Before I could do anything Lucy picked up the silver and snuggled her face against him. He looked positively terrified, but at a low growl from the tabby he didn't attack.

"Chairman Meow," Lucy said.

"What?" I asked. She sighed shortly.

"This needs to be Chairman Meow, or Chairman for short." She waved him in my face. "It's the name of Magnus Bane's cat from the Mortal Instruments series."

"I know, I was just hoping I heard you wrong," I grumbled. I saved the poor creature and placed him next to his best friend, Brutus, who promptly smacked him. I laughed before I finally turned my eyes to the last cat, who was still staring at me with those weird violet eyes.

"Rinnegan," I said quickly, not noticing how he tensed. "His eyes look like the Rinnegan." Lucy agreed and checked the time.

It was only about eight in the evening, so we gathered the cats in the living room and sprawled out on the floor to watch our favorite movie, The Time Machine. We both agreed that Guy Pearce was better - not to mention better looking - in Lockout, but this was a classic. As usual, I scowled at the points that made me sad and Lucy 'aww'ed when Alexander talked to Mara about his question and his reason. And, as usual, we were both asleep before the movie ended, even though it was barely ten. I was vaguely aware of a furry body pressed against my face and Lucy behind me before I was out.

So... yeah. It's pretty shitty. Not really meant to be taken too seriously. But I'll work on it, I guess.