Recap: Mayu bent down, letting the blond and black cats touch the ground before standing upright again, fishing her pockets for something. When she felt what she wanted, she pulled it out, revealing jingling keys. Sliding the key into the keyhole, she turned, then pushed the door open, revealing their apartment.
"We're home~"
. | | .
Red spilled on pale white, ruining what used to be perfect skin. Huge, wide cerulean eyes stared back at trembling mocha orbs. The owner of the latter could only stare in horror at what–or rather,who–laid in front of him, feeling a shudder creep along his whole system. Crimson dyed the whole scene, most of it coloring her body, especially from that painful gash, seemingly laughing at his despair from where it rested on her pale stomach. Throughout all his years of witnessing gore and more than half of them being executed by his own hands, he never felt more sicker than at this moment.
"H-Hoshi…" he whispered, voice cracking as he leaned in and reached out a trembling hand for her.
"Sas…ori…" she croaked in response, mirroring his action. Her ruby stained lips curled in a smile, a peaceful one, the one she always reserved for him and him only. Suddenly, she lunged forward from her lying position on the ground just a few seconds ago, her hands grasped tightly around Sasori's neck. Her eyes were wide open, in an almost maniacal way, with her face scrunched up in anger. "Sasori!" she screeched, repeating his name, this time, in a much more insane manner.
The redhead's eyes grew in panic, unable to process what was going on. "H-Ho…shi…" He managed to choke out after a few broken attempts, feeling his throat being crushed under the pressure.
She held him up by his throat, gripping it even tighter, so that he could fully feel the effects of her hatred for him, narrowing her eyes until they were mere slits.
"You…" she hissed, venom dripping from her voice. "This is all your fault. You're the reason I died, you bastard." The fingers dug into his skin, drawing drips of crimson, matching his hair. "How could you let me die? Sasori?" Her screech touched a higher octave at his name.
The puppet master's face contorted in a grimace of pain, growling as he clenched his teeth to resist from screaming. He didn't even bother to stop her. All the words she spoke of were true. She should just kill him on the spot. He deserved it.
"How could you let the person you lovedie?You're a monster. This isallyour fault."
"Ow!" an all too familiar voice yelped.
"H-Hoshi? What happened?" came another voice, this one softer and sweeter than the first.
"That–that–demon cat!" the girl fumbled for words.
In an instant, all images faded to black, until he slowly blinked open his eyes to blurry figures. As his vision cleared, he could make out Hoshi and a brunette, who was holding the former's wrist gently, as if one wrong move would break it. Grudgingly, he looked around, unfamiliar surroundings trapping him. He was about to reach for his poisonous senbon, hidden in his clothing, before the memories from the past few hours–or was it days? Sasori couldn't tell–came crashing against his head, feeling like a massive hangover. A groan resonated from his hoarse throat as he put his paws against his bashing skull, crouching down in pain.
"W-what? What about Scarlet?" Mayu asked, wanting to get details of what happened.
"He scratched me! And I was just petting him, too." Sasori heard a huff. "He looked as if he was having trouble sleeping so I decided to comfort him by petting him, and this happened."
Curious as to what 'this' was, he lifted his head so that he could get a clear view of what Hoshi was talking about, only to see blood painting the girl's wrists in three slick cuts. Regret and guilt engulfed his poor, small feline body, the dream—no, nightmare, rushing back to him. Something sick began churning inside of his stomach.
He groaned again, leaning back down as if it hurt too much to be in any other position. Out of nowhere, in the midst of coldness, he felt warmth. Warmth that was enveloping him and his whole body. And a hand that was gently caressing his soft, furry body, comforting him. He blinked open his big cat eyes, wondering why Mayu was doing this after he had just hurt her best friend. When he looked up to examine her expression, he was utterly shocked into speechlessness when he saw that it was not Mayu, but Hoshi instead. Her scowl from earlier had melted into a soft expression that looked full of…guilt?
"Hoshi?" The ex-human heard the brunette softly call to her.
Why…are you looking at me like that? Sasori only curled into a tighter ball, shielding him from the rest of the world, from her. I'm the one who hurt you, I'm the one who feels guilty. So why…why are you being so kind as to smile at me?
I don't deserve this warmth. I don't deserve you.
. | | .
When the cat seemed to have been quavering some more, the raven brought it closer to her chest, providing more warmth. A light smile touched her lips as she continued to pet the feline, a touch of guilt etched into her expression. Her smile grew as did her feeling of regret.
"I shouldn't have said that, ne?" Her voice was as soft as her petting. Scarlet seemed to have calmed down a bit from her touch, the quivering lessening, although not by much, she noted.
"It wasn't your fault, Hoshi." Mayu tried to comfort her friend, placing a hand on hers.
The raven looked up to meet compassionate grey eyes, a frowning pulling across her lips. "If it's not my fault, then whose is it?"
"It's no one's fault," she insisted, pouting stubbornly, not wanting to get into this argument.
Blue eyes fell back on the red cat, who was resembling the very thing Hoshi thought it was; a furball. "Is that so…?"
"Yes, yes it is. Stop worrying over what you're doing. You're already calming him down. He probably knows better than not to hurt you anymore, so stop fretting over it."
Hoshi could only sigh at this, not knowing what to say. For a moment, her hand stopped brushing against the soft, red orange coat. Scarlet's head jerked up, then stared at Hoshi with an incredulous look, ears twitching. She returned it with a stare of her own, raising one curious brow at this abrupt change in behavior. Shaking his head, he quickly jumped off of her lap, walking away to get as far away from her as possible.
"…What…?" the girl managed to say only a few seconds after the cat disappeared inside a room, probably to nap or explore or something. Maybe to just get away from her. "Do cats hate me or some shit?"
Mayu offered a small laugh, focused on the direction of where Scarlet had run off to. "Nah, I think Scarlet was just feeling too loved. Ne?" She smiled, scratching Noir behind the ear as he stared blankly ahead to the television hanging on the pale brown wall, the apartment looking extremely homey and comfortable. "Just smothering the cat with love!" sighed Mayu dramatically, her pats now making Noir's head bounce up and down. The cat looked extremely irritated.
Hoshi rolled her cerulean eyes, nodding towards the hissing black cat; Mayu gaped, apologizing profusely to the cat and squeezing the life out of him. He lay limp, his eyes narrowed, daring the other kitten to laugh – which, ironically, it was. At least that was what the two girls were seeing.
"Mayu, you're strangling the cat," remarked Hoshi nonchalantly, getting up to make some coffee, tapping Sora on the noise as she did so. Sora twitched his pink nose, frowning. "Aw, this one is definitely the most well-behaved one after Noir."
Mayu smirked. "Growing a soft spot, are we?" She unlatched herself from Noir, setting him down next to Sora; the yellow-ish kitty jumped away from the dark furball, narrowly avoiding a swipe. Mayu raised an eyebrow at the normally calm and collected kitten. "Er … you okay, kitty?" It gave her a blank stare. "Uh, right. I think I'll come with you to make some coffee, Hoshi ..."
It's creeping me out, she thought internally, shuddering.
. | | .
Itachi let out a relieved–and silent–sigh as the bright girl, Mayu, left. He did not like being hugged to death. It was uncomfortable and not to mention, he preferred staying away from affectionate things, cat or not. It had been stomped out of him when he had been forced to murder his clan, save Sasuke. Sasuke. The reason why he had joined the Akatsuki, why he had become a missing-nin, and above all, fought his illness. But the latter had completely disappeared, to his shock and slight relief. No more did his bones ache or his head spin agonizingly. Even his eyes felt brand new. Itachi was thankful for that, but he dreaded the meeting with his otouto, knowing how much Sasuke would grow in his for hate him by then.
He shook off his feelings, turning to see the blond human-turned-cat staring at him with a strange look in his eyes.
"What's wrong with you, un?" he asked, frowning. He padded over, plopping down in front of him with his fluffy tail twitching. If Itachi had been more emotional, he would have smiled at the … ugh … adorable … sight. "Hell, what's wrong with Danna, too, yeah? Everyone is acting so damn weird now, un!" he whined, letting his face fall on the soft couch. Itachi rolled his eyes.
"Stop acting so melodramatically, Deidara. Go and find Sasori, now that you're at it." His own shiny and sleek tail pointed at the direction where Sasori had sprinted off to. 'Sora' glared at him. Itachi only raised an eyebrow at the glare, as if beckoning him to elaborate.
"You know how Danna gets when he's pissed off or depressed, right, un?" snapped Deidara, wondering if the Uchiha was really that cruel and anti-social as to push him to Sasori's short-tempered and irritated aura. Itachi shrugged carelessly.
"Asshole, un..." he murmured, flouncing off the couch and ignoring the sudden chill that had crept up the room. Deidara quickly hurried behind the two girls, his eyes holding a sort-of childlike curiosity, glancing at every object he passed. It was all new and strange to him; this world was certainly very, very different from their own. For instance, he hadn't felt any chakra from the people around him, besides the Uchiha and Sasori-no-danna.
When he finally found the two girls, they were busy making coffee and the other girl, Mayu, was dropping some brown stone-like mush in three bowls.
"Where did you get the cat food from, anyway?" Hoshi asked, looking up from the coffee maker.
Mayu shrugged, yelping as a few of the crumbles fell onto the counter. "The nice lady next door gave me some a few months ago, when her cat died. It's not expired, don't worry," she added at Hoshi's horrorstruck look.
She let out of a breath of air that she didn't know she was even holding in."Thank God, Mayu. If the cats died under my watch, I'd have poisoned you or something," muttered Hoshi, grabbing two cups and pouring the hot mix in, stirring them quickly. Mayu felt beads of sweat form on her forehead, and hastily picked up the three bowls and ran from the kitchen, pausing to nudge Sora with her foot.
"Get outta the kitchen, kitty, or she'll punt you!" whispered Mayu, a mock-horror look on her lightly tanned face. Deidara's eyes widened and he scrambled to get away from the kitchen, doing an impressive jump and landing on the couch, right next to Itachi–who gave him an uninterested glance–and Sasori, who looked up from his curled up position.
"Why are you running life a buffoon, brat?" Sasori asked in a dry tone, flicking his tail lazily. Deidara did not answer him, too busy looking around.
Suddenly, a blaring blast of music came from the kitchen. Mayu, clutching and balancing three bowls precariously, raised an eyebrow, then an abrupt grin crept up her face.
"I'm feelin' sexy and free!" she loudly sung, now dancing around the room. The three Akatsuki stared at her in disbelief and slightly amusement. "Like glitter's raining on me!"
"Mayu, shut up!" came Hoshi's roar from the kitchen. "I don't want you to spoil the whole song, twit!"
Mayu smirked happily, setting down the bowls in front of the cats – on the floor, though, obviously – and petting Scarlet as she sat down on the couch next to them. "Pfft!" she replied back, grabbing a thin black contraption and pressing a button on it, pointing it at the television. It sprung to life, displaying an animal documentary.
"Eh … have they got anything good on?" asked Hoshi, plugging in a wire to her iPod and leaving one earplug off. Sasori's eyes flickered towards her, looking up from his bowl, only to switch his gaze at anything but her just as quick. Itachi and Deidara had already finished (though, Itachi had eaten more politely) and were looking intently at the screen.
"Nah. Lemme switch over to … AHA! Boomerang, yeah, yeah!" she exclaimed happily, setting the remote beside her, watching the moving pictures enthusiastically.
" … What the fuck is that, un?" asked Deidara in blatant bewilderment, watching a pseudo-cat with blue-ish fur chase a brown mouse.
Itachi mentally pinched the bridge of his nose. "Idiots." Suddenly, Mayu gasped loudly.
"Let's plug in my PS2, ne?" She had an exuberant smile on her face, and Hoshi rolled her eyes. "Kingdom Hearts part two! Here I come!"
"What the devil is she playing?" Sasori inquired after a while had passed.
Hoshi laid on the other side of the couch, eyes wide as she followed the screen. The boy with the 'keyblade' was currently trying to hit a large silver monster. Sasori was stumped, and wondered if this was the regular entertainment for the people of this world. Such morons.
"A sequel of sorts, yeah." Deidara was engrossed with watching the game, very interested in it. "Ooh, look, Danna, the kid backflipped in midair!" Sasori rolled his eyes, none-too-gently swatting him on the head.
"Brat, you are a moron."
"Shut it, Danna, un!" he hissed, swatting him back without taking his eyes off the screen. Itachi was now asleep, laying in next to Hoshi as she petted his fur. Sasori felt a small bubbling of fire in his stomach at the sight, but turned away. It wasn't his Hoshi; his Hoshi was dead. He winced, curling up and trying to fake his sleep, for once wishing he could ask Deidara to knock him out for a while. But he was too proud, and if the brat did knock him out, it would seem odd and investigation-worthy to their 'caretakers.' He contented himself with closing his eyes, trying to fall asleep.
But sleep wouldn't come.
Even after what felt like hours. He let out an aggravated sigh, which earned him a curious Deidara who was now walking this way towards him. He mentally groaned, wondering if there were any medicine to stop him from the on-coming headache he was feeling. Seeing as how there was no escape, he simply laid there, his head down with eyes half open.
"What, brat?"
The other merely sat there, swaying his tail back and forth as he stared at his danna, grating his patience. Shouldn't he of all people know the fact that he didn't like to be kept waiting?
"Are you okay, Danna?" the blond cat asked, peering at him curiously.
"No." Sasori's tone was doused in annoyance. "Why would I be when you're here irritating me?"
Deidara visibly flinched at the harshness. It was not hard to see that Sasori was usually like this, after all, Deidara would know, since he was his partner and all. But this time, it held a sharp edge to it. And after their time together, the blond came to know this as a sign of when his danna was really troubled.
"…Danna, it's not hard to see that something's bothering you, un."
The ex-puppet master only exhaled a breath. "And that something is you."
This only made Deidara frown, his tail moving in a faster rhythm now. Why did he always insisting that nothing was wrong and trying to push him away? He should know by now that Deidara would help him with whatever was wrong. But he didn't voice these feelings aloud. All he said was, "Danna, that really hurts, yeah."
The red cat looked as if he wanted to say something, silently debating on whether or not to let those words out. In the end, he only closed his eyes for a few seconds before completely shutting out the world around him.
"…Be like that, un." Deidara got up from his sitting position, sneering at the attitude of his 'superior'. He turned his back on Sasori, about to go settle next to Mayu and watch the girls play the game, whatever it is. Before he walked out, he only sighed, "Why are you so stubborn, hm?"
When he was sure that the younger male was gone, he only let out another sigh, staring at the fur of his paws dejectedly, his thoughts bringing pain, writhing in his small body.
How much pain can such a small body hold, he mused.
MysticShadowDemon: Mystic here. Yes, I'm finally alive. Yay. I hope you guys are enjoying this story Ahuze and I are writing. We're having fun doing this, and we hope you guys are, too. Thank you all who have supported us by reading, favoriting, alerting, and reviewing. See ya next Sunday.