A short time later, just as Holly was contemplating relieving her overheated condition with a dip in the fountain, the kitten came strolling back, followed by a red-haired boy with a horn sticking out of his hair. His big blue eyes widened at the sight of the little girl by the fountain, her red and gold hair glittering in the sun. Her big green eyes smiled at him as he approached.
"Hi!" Holly greeted them.
"Hullo," The boy responded. "Ah'm Jin. What's yer name?"
"I'm Holly. You sound like the kitty. Are you the person the kitty said would play with me?"
"Aye. We have ta play out here in the garden or me big brother Touya will get mad at me. I'm not supposed ta talk ta strangers." Jin grinned and held out his hand. Holly giggled and took it.
"That's OK. I'm supposed to be home napping anyway. So if you don't tell, I won't." Jin led her further into the garden and they spent a pleasant couple of hours getting acquainted and playing. They would have continued, but there was a sudden blast of cold air over the garden and a wave of frost settled over the area.
"Oops, gotta go. That's Touya's signal fer me ta come in."
"Poor flowers. That Touya is so mean."
"Aye," the red kitten commented, suddenly appearing out of the undergrowth. "That Touya's a putz and ye can tell him I said so."
"Oh, the flowers will be fine," Jin smiled. "But if ye think we should start calling him Touya-Putz, Ah like it. It's a good name fer him."
"Ah didn't say that," the kitten protested, but the two toddlers were ignoring her and chanting "Touya-Putz, Touya-Putz" as they wandered back toward the castle. They were almost there when a young male demon with blue hair and green bangs came up to them. He stopped at the sight of Holly and the kitten walking with Jin. Holly's little hand was firmly grasped in Jin's as they chanted. Touya's face grew cold as he heard what they were saying between the giggles.
"Hi, Touya-Putz," Jin called out. "This is my new friend, Holly. We're goin' ta get married when we grow up."
"Pleased to meet you, Touya-Putz." Holly lisped charmingly as she dropped him a curtsey. It was a little hard because Jin did not let go of her hand, but she did a creditable job of it.
"Pleased to meet you as well, Holly" Touya managed to force out between gritted teeth. "Where did you come from? Do you live near here?"
"Sort of, the kitty brought me here. Uncle Kurone says I came from heaven, but Uncle Hiei says it wasn't nearly that elevated, whatever that means. Hehe."
"Oh. And who are your parents?"
"Well my mommy is Muna, second daughter to Talpa, lord of the Nether Realm, but we don't see her and my daddy is Youko Kurama, the Spirit Fox." She giggled again at the expression on Touya's face as he tried to collect himself.
"I...see." He finally managed. "We are about to have dinner. Would you care to join us?"
"Mew. Sorry ta disappoint, but we need ta get Holly home before her da misses her and comes huntin'. Maybe another time. C'mon Holly." The kitty herded Holly back onto the grey cloud and they were in the air before Touya could get another word out. They were about thirty feet in the air when Jin rose up to join them.
"I'll go with ye ta be sure ya get home without problems," he said, oblivious to the muffled shouts from below.
"Are ye sure that's a good idea, lad?" asked the kitten as she dodged ice pellets flying from The little blue speck in the garden. "Yer brother seems a mite perturbed that yer not with him."
"'s OK. He'll be over it in no time. He's just annoyed because me da left him responsible fer me and he can't follow up here."
They traveled quickly to Kurama's much more modest dwelling and headed toward the window of Holly's room. "Uh-oh. The window's closed," the girl observed. They hovered outside a moment in confusion and then found themselves dragged to the ground by a heavy net. Pulling on the ropes securing the net were Kurama and Hiei on one end and Kurone and Koko on the other end. Both ends were tied off to huge trees. There was no way out for the trio.
"Daddy! Stop it!" Holly called out as soon as she realized what was happening. "It's just me an Jin an the little red kitty and this is starting to hurt me!"
"Holly? Prove it."
"Daddy, you are so suspicious. Here, catch." With that, Holly tossed a glowing ball of lightning down so that it landed just in front of her father. Fortunately, Hiei was fast enough to dodge it as it landed just where he had been standing. "Oops, sorry Uncle Hiei." she giggled.
The net touched down on the ground and opened to reveal the bedraggled contents. Youko scooped Holly free and stood back as the other two were surrounded by drawn weapons. Youko checked Holly over for damage and then set her on the ground in front of him. "What were you thinking, young lady? Disappearing like that and being gone for hours. We thought something horrible had happened to you."
"Hrmph. I was bored and had nobody to play with so when the little kitty showed up and said she could take me to see someone who could play with me and that we would be back before anyone knew we were gone, I went." Holly's little arms were crossed across her chest and she met her father glare for glare. "Nobody here wants to play with me and I never get to go anywhere. I am not a baby any more and I need to get out to play sometimes."
"The little kitty?" Kurama turned and reached into the net for the aforementioned feline. Dragging her out by the scruff of the neck, he held her up at eye level. "So, you just happened to arrive when Holly was bored and you just happened to know where there was another bored child of the same age for her to play with?"
"Mew?" The kitten looked as innocent and brainless as she could. Maybe she could get out of this with a whole skin if they just believed she was a cat.
"Careful, Youko," Hiei advised, glaring at the kitten. "She thinks you can be fooled by her pretending to be a normal cat. Apparently the children were just pawns in this. Better get the boy home before someone comes looking for him. We can question your little furry friend later in privacy without so many wide and innocent eyes around."
"Mew?" The kitten tried again, with a sinking sense of dread and was handed off to Kurone to hold onto. Koko took Holly into the house. Youko and Hiei tried to determine where to take Jin. Kurone took the kitten to the livingroom until Kurama and Hiei got back. He put her into a small cage and amused himself by tossing razor sharp daggers toward it. He never hit the cage, but he got very close. He also discussed his favorite recipes including kitten stew and stir fried kitty bits.
