Chapter 4
"Huh?" Suzaku asked.
"I asked why you think that is."
"Who's talking?"
"Down here."
"But . . ." Suzaku looked down at the cat, who was now lying on his side, looking up at him with a mischievous smile. "It can't be you, can it?"
"And why couldn't a cat talk?"
"KEYAH!" Suzaku shouted, pulling his hand away. "A talking cat. There is a talking cat in my room."
The cat laughed. "Oh, come now. Did you really think I was an ordinary house cat? I pick your office to go to when I first manage to get into the palace, dodging several maids and one Gino Weinberg in order to find you. Then, when you complain about the prison files, I somehow manage to hit the right set of keystrokes to have all the ones that spoke out against the Emperor set for release within the next three weeks, with something already set up to help them back into society. Then, I eat the vegetables in the heat and serve dinner you cooked up, where no other cat would. And somehow, last night, I don't defend you against someone who manages to get your pants off you and give you a blowjob at two in the morning."
Suzaku's face went pale. "How did you know about the blowjob?" he asked.
The cat snickered again. "Who do you think gave it to you? Santa Claus?" He laughed again. "Oh, and as for that question you asked me yesterday, about if Lelouch sent me? The answer is yes."
"I'm talking to a cat that can actually answer me." Suzaku said. "Why?"
The cat tilted it's head. "Who knows. I'm certainly not arguing the fact that I can get around most of the time without anyone knowing who and what I am."
"And who are you?" Suzaku asked.
"Three guesses." said the cat. "I'll give you three guesses. If you can figure me out in three turns, I'll show you something extraordinary. If not, I get the bed tonight."
Suzaku blinked. "What?"
"Oh, come on. The floor is hardly comfortable. When was the last time someone cleaned this carpet, huh?" The cat pulled it's paw across the floor, catching several hairs along it's claws. "And it gets cold down here, too."
"You're fussy."
"No, I'm cramped, sore, and in need of food. What's in the freezer?" The cat got up, just like that, and headed into the kitchen. Dumbstruck, Suzaku got up and followed.
"Hey, you're not allowed to jump up on anything." Suzaku scolded, picking the cat up before he could jump up on the counter. He opened the freezer, looking at the cat when he heard it sigh. "What? I'm busy, alright. I don't have time to cook."
"Fine, but can I have chicken tonight?" the cat asked.
"So, do you have a name?" Suzaku asked as he put the dinner in the microwave to cook.
"Yeah, but it's not like I'm going to just tell you." the cat replied, watching the dinner in the microwave. "Like I said, you have to guess."
"It's hard to guess when I know almost nothing about you." Suzaku argued.
"Really? You seem to have found out a lot in just two days." He started eating as soon as Suzaku had it on the counter. "Meow."
"Your tail's too long for an ordinary house cat." Suzaku said as he began to cook his meal. "And your fur is longer around your face than anywhere else."
"Esthetics." the cat returned. He started eating the corn that was with the dinner.
"You have an attitude, you know that?" Suzaku said. He watched the cat. "But I guess it's the esthetics that I really paid attention to with you."
"So?" the cat asked. He sniffed the potatoes and put his paw on them before starting to eat. "Oh, perfect."
Suzaku tried to go over everything he knew about this cat. He'd chosen Suzaku's office to go to, knew his way around the computers. Also knew his way around the palace. Didn't like Cornelia and had been afraid of Nunnally. Also had seemed interested in the ivory frame, and possibly the picture therein. The cat was scarred on his chest, in almost the same place Lelouch would have been had he lived through the stabbing at Zero Requiem. He also seemed to want to spend all his time with Suzaku.
"Question." said Suzaku as he took is meal out of the microwave and began eating.
"I might answer." the cat replied, finishing his potatoes.
"Are you a boy?"
"Yes and no." the cat returned. "You heard Rivalz. I seem to have both parts." He sniffed, lowering his head and flattening his ears back some as cat-calls and yowls started to come from outside. "Yeah, and all the parts, too."
"You're not fixed?" Suzaku asked.
"Fix me and I'll neuter you, Kururugi." the cat growled. He went back to eating his chicken.
"I never told you my last name." Suzaku suddenly pointed out. "So, you already knew me."
The cat said nothing.
"You're pretty forthright, too." Suzaku continued. "Are you a reincarnation?"
"Might call it that." the cat returned, right before burping. "Oh, scuse me."
"And polite. So you couldn't be Shirley Fennet."
"Guess one, and it's sort-of right. I'm not that clingy she-dog." said the cat. He lay down on the counter, watching the microwave clock. "Tick-tock. Time's wasting."
"What, it's only six." said Suzaku.
"Game ends at eight-thirty." said the cat.
"That's still two and a half hours."
"Meow."
"And that last one doesn't count. I had already ruled out you weren't her."
"Oh, fine." The cat looked at the floor. "Can I get down?"
Suzaku put the cat down on the floor and headed back to his room. So, the cat was someone come back from the dead. With dark hair, apparently. "Has your hair always been dark?"
The cat looked at him out the corner of his eye. "No." he said. "I was born bald."
"Born or reborn?" Suzaku countered.
"Tuche. Reborn." The cat sighed. "I've always been a dark color, though."
Suzaku looked at him, a smile creeping across his face. "Get over here, Lelouch."
The cat turned it's head, looking at him, and sighed. "You always were the pushy one of us, you know that?" he replied. "You got it right, and on the first official guess, too."
"How did you survive?" Suzaku asked, picking him up. "And why are you a cat?"
"I chose a cat." Lelouch replied, sitting next to Suzaku. "It was the only thing I could think of, to be honest. I was scared when I woke up. It was dark around me. I needed to see. A voice asked me what form to take, because I wasn't . . . human anymore. I answered without really thinking. I said a cat. The next thing I knew, I could see around me. I was . . ." He shuddered. "I was in a coffin. My own coffin. My first fear was I'd been buried. Turned out, I was at the funeral home. I managed to open the lid and got out. Ran for all I was worth out of there. And then, I realized I was no-where near the place Zero Requiem had been. I had to find you."
"Why did you have to find me?" Suzaku asked.
Lelouch leaned on him. "Through everything, you were the only one I could confide in." He sighed, looking up at the clock. "I was ugly and nearly hairless at first. It was so cold. I hid most of the time, waiting for the fur to grow in. That's when I started to notice things. I was more than just a cat. I could still talk. I could still reason things out like a person. I could still do things like me."
"You keep looking at the clock." Suzaku said. "Something up?"
"I need on the floor again." said Lelouch. "It's almost time."
Suzaku put him down on the floor. "What's going on?"
"Just watch." said Lelouch, as the clock on the wall began to chime nine.