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Ninth Life

9. Cats Always Land on their Feet

By ©ancercute

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••Yamato••

I lay wide awake in bed, stared at the ceiling and pondering over the unexpected encounter with the male werecat. Mimi was fast asleep, curling on top of my stomach and clinging on my shirt.

Having her in my arms was my lone definition of happiness. I couldn't bear to see her walk away with another man holding her hands. To myself, I was being selfish. To her, I was selfless. And I'm ready to give anything in the world to her, just so she wouldn't let go. I was afraid of the possibility that what if I haven't have anything in me to hold her. Thinking again of that werecat, I decided I should keep my eye on Mimi these few days. I shouldn't let her go out by herself and I should drive her home myself. If anything happens to her, I'll be tormented on blaming myself.

And she still doesn't know my other half. I was afraid of the time when she's come to know the truth and she'd hate me for what I am. The picture on the wall behind the door caught my attention again. The image of a wolf with the words printed in crimson, saying how much she hated the creatures. Still, that idea saddens me and made me frown.

I concentrated on the blowing air through the window of her room and looked for the scent of the werecat. Fortunately, I smelled nothing. He might have gone away now- which was good.

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Three days later, I've been constantly keeping an eye on Mimi and driving her home every after class, missing band practices. I wanted to make sure that the male werecat wasn't anywhere near her, stalking or watching her move. I haven't seen or smelled him near her house in those whole three days and it made me feel at ease. Relaxed muscles and less anxiousness.

And I began to forget the issue about it, until it came up again.

At lunch this noon, Mimi, Sora and I were at the cafeteria, talking.

"He was really watching you with those scary eyes?" Sora asked Mimi, completely freaked out by how Mimi felt in her house on that day.

"Yeah, he did. And it was really weird and scary. I, like, shivered and froze when I saw him," Mimi replied back, taking a mouthful of lasagna.

"But Matt said the guy told him you were familiar. Do you know him?"

"Hmm. I don't think so. It was pretty dark and I was too nervous to figure out who the hell the guy was."

"I guess so. Matt, you said he had dirty blonde hair and green eyes right?" she turned her head to me.

I nodded and looked over Mimi. Then just that moment, her eyes widened like she had some kind of epiphany, but her expressions quickly changed. She avoided my gaze because I know she knew that I saw the look on her face. She might have realized who the guy werecat was and probably knew him. But I knew better, she wouldn't dare mention it to me. So I looked away.

"So, do you know anyone by that description Meems?" Sora asked. Mimi took another bite of her food and drank her water before answering.

"Uhm. I don't think so. I don't know."

Tai suddenly came up the table, grabbing a seat to himself and sat between me and Matt.

"Hey guys," he greeted and started eating his lunch.

"Hey," I replied back.

"Hi Tai," Mimi also greeted.

He drank water before he could talk to me, but I noticed how he couldn't help but stare at Sora first. As the redhead looked up too and found her sight locked up to Tai's, her eyes narrowed. Without a word, she pulled back her chair away and stood up, face cold and bleak.

"I'll see you guys later. I've got classes in a few," she said in a monotone and took her tray, walking away from our table.

Both Mimi and I whirled our heads in Tai's direction, giving him confused and accusing glares, expecting an explanation. But he simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, okay," he spoke in defense. "It's been like that. I think we just needed a time off."

"Since when?" Mimi asked.

"Last Friday."

"Tai!" Mimi exclaimed. "It's almost a week."

"Yeah, so?"

"It's been too long. Are you sure everything's alright?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. It's our problem."

Mimi and I had English after lunch, and as I watched her in the classroom, her expression was thoughtful. It seemed that she was thinking something deep and was concentrated on that thought. I decided not to bother her, but I couldn't help but feel worried.

What if that werecat was someone from Mimi's clowder, and was out to get her back? I hope that he wasn't. I only had Mimi for a short time and I don't intend on having others taking her away from me.

After the whole English period, when we were getting up from our seats, I came over to her.

"Hey, are you all right?" I asked.

She suddenly looked up, like I distracted her from whatever she was thinking, and smiled. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine," she said softly.

"Well, if there's anything that's troubling you, let me know alright?"

"Okay," she replied coming closer to me and pecked the corner of my lips. "See you later. I still have classes." And with that, she walked off to the opposite direction.

As I made my way to my next class, I bumped into Tai.

"Hey dude, where you headed?" I asked.

"It's my free time. I'll be just outside."

"You better work things out with Sora, man."

He looked at me for a while, hesitant, but then continued on. "Yeah, about that. Can I talk to you?"

I checked my wrist watch and thought for about a second before answering. "I guess I can skip Calculus for today," I grinned at him.

We were outside in the school grounds sitting on the benches when Tai began talking.

"I don't know Matt. It's just that since Friday, I can't get close to Sora like I used to. There's no problem with her, it's me."

"Why? What's your problem?"

"That's it, I can't explain it right."

"Well dude, how do you think I can help you if you can't even explain?"

"That's why I haven't said a word about it since today. I don't have the faintest idea on how to tell you."

"Then tell it to me directly. The whole truth."

He eyed me carefully, probably debating inside him if he should tell me or not. Like he's making a quick decision about it.

"Look Tai. It's up to you if you tell me or not. I can't help you without knowing anything."

"Fine. But still, trying to explain it to you won't do any help."

After a few moments of silence, Tai finally gave up.

"Alright, here's the thing. I've changed," he ran his hands into his wild brown hair in frustration.

"What do you mean changed? Don't tell me you've suddenly become emo," Matt managed to put out a laugh.

"Ew. Dude, gross," Tai grimaced. "Even when Sora and the rest of the female population reject me, I'm not going to turn into some nasty suicidal emo with their stupid bangs covering their eyes."

"Sure man, whatever. So what change are you talking about?"

"I don't think it's pretty nice Matt. I think.. argh! I don't even know what it is."

"You sure you didn't take drugs?" I asked in curiosity.

"Huh? What?! No!"

I heaved a loud sigh and looked at my watch. It was thirty more minutes before Calculus would end. I got up and patted Tai's shoulder.

"Hey man, tell me when you're ready. It's no use when you can't explain it to me."

"You're probably right. I'll catch you later."

I nodded and walked away from him towards my class. Poor Tai. He's got a lot to deal with.

••Mimi••

It's been a while since I've shifted and I began to feel the ache on my neck, arms and legs. But obviously, I can't right now since I'm in the middle of our Physics test. Now I'm not so sure if it ached for the shift or because of looking down at my paper having humungous trouble on answering some of the questions.

I remembered Matt's expression earlier when he watched me lock in my thoughts. I was sure he knew that I was thinking something deep, but he didn't bring it up. It's always like him. He knows yet he wouldn't ask. But I like the privacy he gives me.

Though I think my privacy has gone far too much. Keeping my identity was still a stress for me. I don't want to get married without him knowing the truth. And hell if we will still be going out in the future. But I can't think of letting him go. I've grown attached to him that it feels so painful just to imagine I couldn't have him for myself.

I thought about how our children will look like if we were going to have any. I laughed quietly to myself, remembering I was still inside our classroom. And speaking of, my test still isn't done. I examined the room, looking for anything that might give me idea on how to answer these annoying questions. Then, as I looked outside, I saw a pretty white cat standing on a tree branch, staring at me with its bright minty green eyes. It was a tabby, a female. I knew from the looks of it. I suddenly caught myself staring back at the creature.

Another gray cat appeared behind it. It was a male, a tomcat. They both leaped from the tree branch to the ground in such lithe and graceful movements. People say cats always land on their feet, but they aren't always true. Cats can fall from six stories, or even higher and 90% survive. But there are those that often fall off windows and sustain injuries.

I remembered once, when I was in my feline form, I fell from the rooftop of a three-storey building and my feet didn't tolerate the shock. I spent two days having my forepaw limping in pain.

My attention returned to the cats outside. They took a glance at me before running away, and I felt suddenly jealous of the feeling. To run in full speed, sensing the fresh strong wind brush against my face and the heat of adrenaline rushing through my veins. I missed it.

••Yamato••

I left the classroom of my last period with Seiji by my side. We both had the last subject together and usually, we'd go to the auditorium to practice our songs. Now, I was planning to check on Mimi and ditch rehearsals to drive her home. I wanted to make sure that she's safe.

As I went through the door in the hall, I was about to turn to the left, the opposite way towards the auditorium to fetch Mimi from her last period, but Seiji grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.

"Hey, hey, hey dude," he said. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to fetch Mimi and drive her home," I explained.

"And miss practice? Man, it's been three days that you've been ditching. What's the matter with you?"

"Look, I have to make sure Mimi's safe."

"Dude, nothing's gonna happen to her. I'm sure she can take care of herself. She's strong and independent."

I shook my head then looked up to my friend. I heaved a loud sigh before digging my hands in my pocket and reaching for my phone. True, I've been missing out band practice too much, and I should learn to be confident about Mimi. I'm sure she can take care of herself. I've told her that thousands of times but sometimes, she's really stubborn. But I don't think she'd be careless enough considering what happened few days ago.

I texted Mimi's number telling her I can't drive her home.

"Fine. Let's go," I said giving up and we made our way to the auditorium.

••Mimi••

After my last period, I received Matt's text message. It was a good thing that I brought my car because I was going to drive home myself today. I didn't waste time looking for him to say bye since it was nearly six o'clock and it will be dark soon.

I went to the parking lot and hopped in my Mercedes. Putting the key in the ignition, I checked my rearview mirror and strapped in the seatbelt. I started the engine and sped off in the direction of my house address.

While I was driving, I thought I saw a small figure cross the road at the same time I was speeding off. I was going to hit it if I didn't push the breaks quickly. As my headlights made out the figure on the road, I saw a panicked cat- eyes bulged out staring at me in shock. I was driving so fast that I instantly hit the breaks. My car stopped at once and I didn't see the creature anymore. I didn't know if I hit it or it ran away but I felt the urge to check it out. I took off my seatbelt and got out the car. I went beside the hood of the vehicle to examine what had happened. Surprisingly, I found out that the cat was no longer there. I scanned under the car to see if maybe it was there. But it wasn't. Shrugging my shoulders, I thought that it might have ran away and escaped before I could bump into it. Without giving much attention to the incident, I decided to go back inside my car. But before I could move a single muscle, I felt a strong muscular hand from behind cover my mouth and the other gripped my waist tight. I instantly felt scared as I felt my heart jump out of my ribcage at the touch of the unknown person behind me.

"Don't scream, ma chéri."

©ancercute ©opyright

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-a/n-

Group of cats: clowder or clutter (But if you read Rachel Vincents books, she refers to it as 'pride'. OMG i sooo love her novels. It's a series about werecats: Stray, Rogue, Pride, & Prey)

I'm not getting any reviews in my recent updates, except for M M Forever. M M Forever, thank you for your support and loyalty. I really appreciate you for sticking to my fic and continuing to read it. You're the one who I've noticed to be ever loyal in my NiNTH LiFE and for you, I will continue making this fic. Sad to say, I'm really disappointed that no one else is reviewing. It's such a shame. But whoever is reading this, I hope you would review, because they mean a lot to me. Your reviews are our motivation in continuing our stories.

And I'm really sorry if this chapter sucked because I wasn't really feeling it. But don't worry, I'll make it up to you on chapter 10! For now, Au revior! C: