Chapter Nine: The cat who would interfere

"Right... so...lavender haired boy, violent midget...um?"

The orange haired lad paused, directing his reddish brown gaze to the sky. As opposed to his eyes, and what colour an evening sky should possess, it was a dark purple colour, with dabs of black scattered about its vast length.

He scrutinized it, brows furrowing and linking, before he yawned loudly and rubbed his ear with his fingers in a very odd way.

"It's already affecting the sky. God damn...I have to find them too?" He grimaced. "What if the girls punch me? I've already lost three of my nine lives."

There was a sigh.

"The things I do for Ariol."

---

"Why the heck did you just stomp on my foot!"

"Because it's big and in the way," came the gruff response.

"In the way?! You purposely leapt onto it!"

"Go away! I hate you!"

A poor, rattled and bemused Trunks blinked as he watched Pan storm away. He vaguely recognised his sister stifling giggles in the background while Marron merely gave a long sigh. Hell, Trunks did just not understand why Pan had attacked him so much recently.

If he were a cat with nine lives, he'd be dead.

"Trunks, let her cool off," Marron suggested wisely.

At this point, Bra stopped struggling and allowed herself the reward of her patience.

Trunks glared at his younger sister as she burst into hysterics.

"Cool off? She's going to burn buildings by just passing them!"

And Trunks promptly buried his head into his gloved hands.

---

"Wow, it wasn't hard to find you."

In response, Pan gave the man a sharp glance, crossing her arms.

"And why were you looking for me?"

"Oh. It's about Trunks, your spouse."

"What about-he's not my damn husband!"

"Ah. My bad; with the way you two saiyans bicker..."

"Saiyans...um..."

Unable to deal with the shock running through her, her expression curled into her well-perfected glare. "Who are you? How did you find me?"

He arched a brow, before rolling his shoulders back, smiling slowly, and taking a damn eternity doing it.

A vein popped up on her head. "TELL-"

"Your aura," he cut in simply, smirking at her face, which held the emotions of irritation and confusion. "It was raised and fluctuating so much that a cat could find you."

Without realising the humour behinds his words, her fingers clutched her tee shirt hard, and she gave him an uneasy look.

"Who are you?"

"My name is..."

---

"I'm in love with Darren, but he's in love with Chloe, who's in love with Shaun, who's in love with Alice, who is in love with me." There was a toss of hair. "And I can't blame her for having good taste, though her stalking me was a bit much."

Marron made a face.

"She ended up murdering that teacher, right...?"

"Well, yes. She's an evil nutjob with good taste."

"...Ah...apparently not..."

"Pardon?" a clear voice queried.

Judging by her darkening eyes and expression, Marron figured she'd probably already heard. She was just egging it on to further the dramatics.

"...Trunks is upset."

"...Good tactics," she grumbled.

Her eyes swooped over to her brother, who was squatted on the floor, sulking and scowling forlornly at the ground, of which was imprinted with his figure at various places.

Especially his face.

"You should console him."

She made a face.

"You know I'm no good at that. If I did so and he jumped for joy, we'd be ducking from the threat of Armageddon."

There was a twitch of Marron's lips.

"I think you might be able to do something with that quirky humour of yours."

She frowned playfully in return.

"Flattery in the form of insults will get you somewhere," she said in a humoured voice as she began to approach her brother. "How ironic."

"Good luck!" Marron gave her a little wave.

---

"Your name is Kyuu?"

Nod.

"You're actually a cat?"

Nod.

"And the hag who turned Trunks into a teenager is your owner..."

Nod.

"...Who forcefully turned you into a cat?"

Nod.

Pan's brow twitched as she gave him a half-lidded glance.

"She sounds more appealing company the more I hear."

"Ah, yes, sarcasm." There was that weird cheeky smile of his. "Y'know, Ariol is very sarcastic, and has a strong hit. You two are actually-"

A flying fist silenced him.

---

"Let's try this again. How long are you going to keep tabs on me?" Pan asked curtly as she watched the anxious looking cat man cradle his injured face.

He fixed her with an offended look, before hissing and pocketing his hands.

"As long as I need." His eyes narrowed. "Little girl, if you hit me like that again, I swear I'll cut you-"

"With your incredibly sharp claws? Indeed."

She pointed to his hands and cocked a brow, amused at the red that flared on his face.

He ducked his head in embarrassment, growling.

"They're so weird. How can you put up with them?"

"Human's are not cats, nor are they completely opposite. By that, I don't mean biting your nails makes them sharper. It 's still the same thing as when you were a cat."

He glared at her.

"I know! And if you keep this up I'm going to-"

"I can stuff a ki beam into your mouth to shut you up, so I do hope you consider that fact and behave like the good little pet you should be."

If he still had his lovely tail, he was sure it'd be thumping on the dusty ground.

But, beaten verbally into submission, he hung his head and nodded glumly.

Ariol had better give him that special kitty treat she'd promised one hundred years ago when he got back.

Pan smirked.

If he got back.