Summary: Tao tries to turn into a cat.
Haha, thanks to phireye for helping with prompting the second half of this part. XD
Side Effect
By Dark Ice Dragon
"We are not helping you," M-21 said firmly.
"Ah, come on!" Tao wheedled, turning to look at Takeo. "It shouldn't take that long."
"You don't even know if you can," Takeo pointed out, sighing into his palm.
"Won't know unless I try," Tao said, already formulating at least six different ideas. "Turning into a cat doesn't have anything to do with revenge though – maybe I was born as a cat!" Which was a weird but interesting thought. He'd never felt an urge to start moving along on four limbs though, but nekomata also walked on two legs, so maybe that was why he hadn't. And he hadn't started getting cat instincts until he got his tail. Hm.
It was M-21 who sighed next. "You aren't going to stop until you've tried."
"Of course not!" Tao exclaimed. "I can turn into a cat. If you could turn into a wolf, wouldn't you want to try?"
M-21 just raised an eyebrow at him.
"Properly turn into a wolf," Tao corrected himself.
"No," M-21 said flatly.
Tao chuckled. Okay, no, M-21 wouldn't. "But what if I need to in a fight?"
"Why would you need to turn into a cat?" Takeo asked, shaking his head.
"I need to…" Hm, 'squeeze into a small space' didn't work, because he could jump right over an obstacle, and unless he was tiger-sized –and even then, actually- he'd be able to leap further in his human form anyway. "I have the ability to, and I want to." If trying to convince them didn't work, then the truth was the next best thing. "Sooo? Are you going to help?"
Takeo and M-21 shared a look and didn't leave.
Heh.
xOx
"Well, that didn't work," Tao said as he threw himself into his chair. He'd tried everything they could think of and viably do – thinking about being a cat, imagining turning into a cat, being at one with the cat, even being in danger, except Takeo and M-21 had vetoed that one as soon as Tao had voiced it. It had barely twitched his tail.
"Maybe it is an acquired power," Takeo suggested, leaning on his bed.
Tao shook his head, standing up. "It doesn't seem right though." He didn't think it would have anything to do with revenge.
"You're talking about turning into a cat," M-21 said dryly.
"So?" Tao said as he started taking off his suit jacket. "We've seen weirder."
Neither Takeo or M-21 made a comment to that, like Tao thought they would, because it was true.
Tao's hand felt weird when he pulled it out the sleeve and he blinked down at it before he presented it to Takeo and M-21 with a grin. "Knew I could turn into a cat!" Or at least had the ability to turn into a cat – Tao's hand had changed into a furry black paw. He kept trying to move his fingers and he could see they were, but they didn't have the range Tao was used to. Getting his claws out was easy though.
"Does this mean I have to get naked?" Tao mused, feeling the tug of the suit jacket on his other shoulder.
"The other nekomata didn't," M-21 pointed out.
Hm, that was a good point. So, it was something else mental, where he had to think like he was changing clothes… Oh, that was simple.
It wasn't about a state of being or how he thought – he was merely changing forms like someone changed clothes.
Tao closed his eyes and concentrated, thinking about shedding not his clothes, but his skin, the skin of a cat replacing it. He could feel his body changing, far more extensive than when he took the D drug; he fell forward onto his paws when his hips no longer allowed him to stand up straight on two legs.
Once he didn't feel any more change happening, Tao opened his eyes.
To someone's shin.
"I'm not tiger-sized," he stated, drooping, and wow, talking with fangs was weird.
"No," Takeo said.
"Damn." Tao looked down at himself, curious to know what he looked like. He was nearly completely black, except for one white sock on his right foreleg and - uh-oh.
"You're getting a haircut," M-21 said flatly.
Tao's ears flattened. There was no way he could argue with that though, not when his fur reached the floor while he was still standing; Tao wasn't keen on finding out if the Boss would skin him if he shed all over the carpet.
Tao pushed himself up onto his hind legs and he tottered there for a second, his tail straightening as he settled a paw on –he glanced up- Takeo's shin to help him keep his balance. It felt like he was walking around on his toes, his knees continually bent, and Tao started practicing how to walk in his cat form. "Can we check if I'll – woah!" Tao fell forward, landing on all fours.
"Haircut. Now."
"…Yeah, definitely going to need one," Tao agreed. Tripping over his own fur would get annoying really quickly. "Still need to see if I'll revert to having long fur when I change back," he pointed out. It would be a waste to give him a thorough haircut for it to all grow back again when he changed back into that form later.
Tao heard someone sigh, and then M-21 was crouched next to him, his hands transformed into claws.
He didn't move when he felt M-21's hands on him, and M-21 stepped away a second later to put the handful of Tao's fur into the bin. Tao looked over his shoulder and saw the line M-21 had cut on his left side, a square of empty space – it would be obvious if that patch regrew.
Tao's suit jacket was still hanging off his shoulder when he changed back and Tao took it off and tossed it onto his bed, changing forms before it had landed.
"It's still gone," Takeo told him.
"Haircut it is, then," Tao said, wondering if they would cut the rest of his hair off in the same way.
I felt like we should have seen them trying and failing, but it refused to come. After a week of nothing, I decided to go with what the fic wanted. Rest of the fic was written in about an hour. ORZ
