Chapter One: Legato Bluesummers
He wasn't exactly sure why it happened…or even where he was or how he got there. He didnt even know that he was now several feet shorter, and fuzzy. Actually all he knew was that he was just in some random town, sitting in the middle of a dusty road for all to see. The events leading up to such a…event, were as unknown, baffling, and randomly retarded to him, as just about anyone else. Not that any of that mattered right now though, for he had one thing on his mind. His security, his rock, and his stability…the only answer he had to such a question.
"Master…" His mind called since his voice was silent. Rather than cause a ruckus and draw attention to himself, he resorted to the telepathy that he and his beloved master shared…sharED. "Master…where are you master?" There was silence yet again. A deafening silence that rang so loud it penetrated every wall of safety his mind could possibly build to keep out the horrid truth. He felt certain loneliness, like a boat cut from the dock to drift out to sea. His master was gone, the connection was no longer there. "Master!" It was forceful this time though it was rather risky to 'demand' a response from one such as Knives. Still, he would not display any other emotion. The panic that he was feeling would remain unseen.
Lucky for him though –if you can call it luck- he did get a response this time around. Overhead, a little behind him. Grah! Blinding sun! He blinked a moment to adjust to the light when a short but audible 'Nyao' filled his ears. "Nyao?" Well…unless his master indeed lost his during that decisive battle this was certainly not him. Unlike those who had been duped into thinking the other brother had been turned into a cat (and switched genders apparently), Legato was not so easily fooled.
"What are you yelling about?" The oddly shaped cat dandered over to him in such a manor that made him ponder the creatures skeletal structure…not to mention the fact that he was talking to a freakin' cat!
"How…" He was almost speechless…
"How?"
"You hear me…"
"Well you're kind of screaming…."
"I was not…" He grumbled, for a moment the desire for composure overruling the fact that he was conversing with a cat. "Tell me how you are able to understand me." Surely this creature must be of great power to be able to read his thoughts. Of course him now being a small furry dog thing would have nothing to do with it. That's just ridiculous.
"By…listening?" Well now Kuronekko was seriously starting to wonder about the mental health of the small dog before her, and she was starting to get a strong urge to just smile, nod, and walk away slowly and calmly.
Legato really had no answer to this and he felt that the conversation was really going nowhere. He was getting no answers and all she seemed willing to give him were peculiar expressions that all somehow just seemed to look the same. Where was he anyhow? Last he remembered, he was standing on a mountain, staring down the barrel of a gun, and ready to accept his fate and fulfill his master's wish. This was just too strange, and as hard as he tried he just couldn't seem to put any semblance of a puzzle together. His golden eyes drifted to the ground and he saw paws. They were not quite black but almost blue-purpleish…the cats? No those were dark black and in front of him. "This is…perplexing." His mind told him, though once again he refused to give into any fear or doubt that he was in fact, no longer human. He traced the ground to his rear, or what he assumed was his rear, and met a fluffy tail of equal color to the paws from earlier. He stared at it…and it stared back. "Move…" He commanded the limb, and with little thought and some will, the tail flumped. His lips tightened and he just glared at it. Again, without command this time, he willed his own tail to flump a second time. His head quickly spun back to the black feline before him.
"I'm a cat?" Shocked yes, though it barely showed through his collected exterior…which was slowly cracking.
"No…you're a dog."
"But I'm tiny…"
"You're a tiny dog…very good." She definitely should have stayed on the rooftop.
Well this was just ridiculous. If he was in fact, reincarnated as a dog, he would have expected to be something a bit more…impressive. Not that Gunsmoke has breeds, but something like a Doberman or a Rottweiler. You know, something strong and noble and worthy to be at his master's side. Tch, he looked like some kind of Corgi! "This cant be happening…" He muttered to himself and began to study his features. He was bigger than Kuronekko, but not by a whole bunch. Like Beagle sized, with a thick coat of bluepurpleblack, and the tell-tale mop of unruly hair that fell over his left eye.
He had grown eerily silent, and rather than let his obviously dysfunctional mind go in any more circles and get any sick ideas about interspecies relationships or something, Kuro cleared her throat and broke the silence. "So…who's this 'master' you were yelling about? You lose your owner?"
"Master…" He was suddenly brought back down to Gunsmoke with the golden word spoken by his new acquaintance. "Yes! If anyone can tell me what is going on, master surely can!" Ok, now we are getting somewhere! That's the most intelligent word to come out of this cat's mouth for the last 5 minuets. "I must find my master." He said again, looking to the cat with deadly purpose that caused her to shrink back lightly.
"Ok…ok don't worry we'll find your master." Smile and nod and tell him its all going to be okay.
"How?" His head tilted in uncontrolled canine fashion as he voiced his inquiry.
"Oh that's easy. I know this whole planet like the back of my paw. I'll just get a few of the others together and see if any ones seen him. Just tell me what he looks like."
"Well, he is very tall, well built. He is blond with blue eyes, hair spiked but not so tall…"
She did some calculations in her head a moment before she pulled up a person who fit close to that description. "Does he hang out with two girls? One of which looks more male than female? The other barely reaching the standard height for a midget?"
"No…but his brother does."
"Well that'll have to do, I don't recall the other one. Just sit tight ok?" She hopped away from him, again in that peculiar 'I have no real bones' fashion, and perched herself atop a gutter drain. Lurched forward rather dramatically, she let loose one of the longest, annoying, and rather monotone 'Nyao', that anyone had probably ever heard…and Legato suddenly got the strangest urge to eat the cat. Before he could however, he was suddenly made aware of the variety of other 'skills' that comes with being a dog, as he was slapped in the nose with more smells than he had ever thought possible. His ears were like a filter for every squeak, yell, laugh, grinding…just every noise that emitted from the town. For a moment he felt dizzy, trying to gather it all in at once, and he stumbled lightly though he was sitting. How he managed that, probably just another skill that comes with being a dog. A tiny dog.
It didn't take long for him to prioritize his senses. Someone was cooking something, and from the sound of sizzling meat and spatchula on grill…it was close. "This might not be so bad…" He thought to himself as he turned in the direction of the sound and smell towards its source. Perhaps…just something to eat before he left? Surely the cat wouldn't mind. To be sure of that, he looked back and almost instantly wished he hadn't. The cat had greatly multiplied in number, almost all of them black and identical, some rare calico's thrown in the mix, and one orange cat who looked none to happy to be there. Yes…acquiring food was definitely a priority now, and without further questioning or doubt, he headed off towards the small bar.
It was routine for him. After all, he had always gotten food this way; just walking into places and sitting at the bar till he was served. Of course this time, there were a few small…complications. The bar stool, not to mention the actual table, stood heads and tails above him. He could try and climb his way onto one of them, but he decided to just save himself the embarrassment and go around and be served that way. You know, because dogs do this all the time. Poor Legato was still quite new to this world he had found himself in, but he was about to get a very hard lesson in the form of a swift kick from a rather angry barkeep.
"You mangy dog! Get out of here!" Following the muffled thud, there was a shooting pain in Legato's side that forced his jaws open, and a noise he had never uttered before in his entire life escaped his vocals. In shock from both the horrible noise he made and the kick to his side, he stumbled almost backwards, and nearly toppled over –though he didn't have far to go to hitting the ground- before he put some distance between himself and the irascible man. He looked back, very unused to being vested in any way shape or form except by his master, and glared at the man almost daring him to do that again…which unfortunately the man had every intention of doing. "Why wont it work…" Legato tried furiously to work his magic on the human before him, but the man seemed to neither slow down or crumble in fear as he rushed the small dog and booted him once again, clean out the door.
Wall, sky, ground and then black, Legato came to a tumbling halt in front of an army of cats. "Oh there ya are!" The cheerful and yet annoying voice of Kuro sounded in his ears, and he was sorely tempted to eat her face off. A naked boy walking irately past momentarily distracted him. What the hell kind of town is this!? "We've located your master I believe. He's staying with that brother and the two women and a kid."
"A what?" After a moment of figuring out where all four limbs were in relation to where they were supposed to go, Legato got to his paws and looked to the female cat with all masks dropped and an obvious look of surprise plastered on his face. "Please tell me she means a goat…"
"A kid." She just assumed he was being crazy again and continued. "They've been located over in October. Your lucky too, it isn't too far from here."
"Then that's where I'm going." He pushed past the small group of cats, walking unhindered despite the nagging pain in his side, until he reached the end of the town and looked ahead at the vast desert. Normally, he would ride the wind –which he secretly loved- or just teleport from place to place with the help of his master…but this time, he had no such power. He tried, oh my he did try, and he looked mighty silly doing it. He stood there, staring to the point of a glare out into nothingness, and concentrating so hard that it looked like he would pop a vein. The other cats looked at poor Kuro, as if judging her by association with him.
"Eh heh…honestly I just met him today." She gulped before slinking over to Legato's side. "Um…what exactly are you doing?"
"Trying to locate my master…but this body is useless…"
"Um…if by 'locate' you mean your trying to sniff him out…you wont be able to. October is close but not that close." He didn't seem to be listening, and she really really did not want to see an eye pop out or anything. "Uh, hey look. How bout if I take you to October okay?"
Well that got his attention. "You know the way there?"
"Of course I do! I've been all over this giant dust ball. Just follow me and you'll be a-ok." Well…at least this way there was less a chance of him killing and eating her along the way. She knew where he wanted to go, and with the state he was in, she had a feeling he wouldn't be able to navigate his way down a hallway.
"Ready?" She chirped before taking the lead. Legato simply nodded and fell in tow behind her, the two small animals heading out over the vast desert landscape to find Legato's master and solve this strange mystery he seemed to be wrapped up in. Despite all the things he had ever done in his past and for Knives, this would no doubt be the single most interesting and difficult thing he would ever have to do.
Authors Note: Hi! Okay...this is just a totally random idea that I had that I got while I was half asleep, and it was just so cute that I had to write about it. Normally I dont write about things that I think will come off as stupid, but yeah, I wanted to so I did heh. Legato as a puppy! I've seen people draw him out like some sort of wolf or a cat or a cougar or something, but for the life of me I couldnt get this little corgi beagle looking thing out of my head. And him being tiny wouldnt go away either. Obviously I'm sure Knives would prefer a Dobi or a Sheppy or something to a tiny mut (if he got a dog anyways) but yeah, it just makes it all the more cute.
If theres any OOC in Legato I appologize...but if you think about it...him being a dog is just bound to make him act a little wonky lol so yeah. Forgivness please! I like Kuro. This writing style is something that I do rather rarely and I was in such a good mood when I wrote it, so I hope I can keep it up as the story continues. We'll see, who knows when I get to that heh. I just hope someone likes it .
Oh yeah, for anyone who picked up on it, the orange cat as well as the 'naked boy' is Kyo from Fruits Basket XD. Sorry I just couldnt help throw him in there for no reason at all. Yay to anyone who picked up on that .
Oh, and if anyone wants to see what this little version of Legato looks like, I drew a picture of it so yeah, It'll be up on my DA account. Ok I stop talking now. Thanks for reading! Drop a review? Be gentle :3.