Chapter 10

Gingerale paced on the floor in Neji's room in thought. After another moment, she stopped and hissed.

Neji frowned. He stood in front of his closed door, his arms crossed. He had locked her in his room, and had asked her very nicely for her to take responsibility for her kittens. According to her response, his request had been rejected. He paused to think, then replied, "Alright. How about we make a deal?"

Gingerale raised a furry brow and sat down. "I'm listening."

Neji smiled crookedly. "You stay here with those kittens until they're weaned. In exchange I'll take you out on occasions for a little bit and… I'll give you wet cat food every other day."

Wet cat food was something Gingerale loved, but her meals of it were few and far between. She only got it right after a big mission. And it was enough to get her to do almost anything.

Gingerale's tail swished happily and she nodded.

Neji looked pleased. "Good. Now if you want to come with me to pick up the food… common."

The cat let out a mrrow of excitement and climbed onto Neji's shoulder, and as soon as they were set, they headed for the pet store.

Needless to say, Gingerale had very expensive taste. Neji ended up spending a total of $15 on canned cat food, much more than he would have liked. On their way home, Gingerale jumped off his shoulders and started to stroll around town, and Neji calmly followed her, expecting as much after leaving her cooped up in the house for so long. She found her way to one of the training grounds. The cat was quick to throw herself into the grass and roll around in it happily.

Neji placed the bag of food down by a tree and watch her in amusement as her medium length fur started to turn green along her sides and back. He suddenly heard a rustle in the distance behind him, and knew exactly what it was. He sighed. "Three… two… one…"

Right on queue Akamaru launched from wherever he was behind him and pinned Neji to the ground with his front paws. Kiba, who was riding on his back, jumped off and looked down at Neji with a mischievous smile. "Can I know the secret now?"

Neji's eyes widened and turned into a glare. "You tracked me down and pinned me under a dog so that you could know a secret that Lee- of all people LEE- tells you supposedly exists over an IM!?"

Kiba frowned. "…Well when you say it like that it sounds so indignant…"

Gingerale looked around for a moment, then let out a delighted "mrrow" and bounded over to Akamaru. She rubbed against his legs, a purr sounding loudly.

Akamaru looked down at her, and his tail wagged happily. He stepped off Neji and walked a little ways away and lay down. She followed, and he pawed her in between his paws and began to lick her all over, dousing her in dog slobber. The ecstatic cat just sat there purring.

Neji watched and made a disgusted face, before turning back to Kiba. "I have no reason to tell you anything."

Kiba continued to frown, so Neji went on:

"What reason do I have to tell you now? This isn't exactly the perfect way to get what you want."

Kiba didn't move for a moment, and then his ear twitched and her swung his head around to look at Akamaru, who seemed to be chatting with Gingerale. He smirked slyly and turned back to Neji. "Gingerale is a chatterbox," he sneered, and then turned back around.

Akamaru's ears perked in interest as Gingerale meowed and mewed to him, and then suddenly he looked quite surprised. The cat nodded and pointed with the tip of her tail to the bag of cat food. Akamaru looked at it, and then looked at Kiba and mumbled something.

Kiba listened intently to him, and then slowly turned back to Neji, his face contorted into a slightly disturbed expression. "Kittens!?"

Neji stared at Kiba blankly, and then looked pass him and shot Gingerale a death glare. She gave him an innocent look and swished her tail. He whipped his head backed to look at Kiba. "Yeah. What's it to you?"

Kiba stared at him blankly.

Neji glared at him for another moment, and then stood up and walked pass Gingerale, who hadn't moved. "Common, Gingerale," he mumbled, picking up the bag as he passed. "And don't even think about getting on my shoulder, unless you want me to break your legs."

The soaked, grass-stained cat stood up and did a full body shake, sending dog slobber flying off her whiskers, and then trotted after Neji.

"Now I have to wash you down in the shower," Neji mumbled as they turned the corner.

Gingerale purred.

"…And then I have to dry you with my blow-dryer…"

"Mrrrooow mrrow!" Gingerale said excitedly. She loved the showerhead, and she loved the blow dryer. Why, Neji would never know.

The kittens were mewling anxiously when Neji opened the door to his room. He knew it was about time to feed them, so he had to make Gingerale's wash quick. He made a swift gesture toward the bathroom, and she bounded into the bathtub. He put the bag down by the door and followed her in.

Grabbing the shower nozzle down from its stand, he looked down at Gingerale and made a disgusted face. The drool was drying and getting crusty. He turned the shower knob to hot and ran it over her until she was soaked to the skin. She looked like a drowned rat when she was wet.

When she was completely soaked Neji turned off the water and ran a single squirt of his shampoo through her fur- mostly over the grass stains- and then rinsed it off and slicked all the extra water off her. His fingers were covered in clumps of white and ginger hair, and he washed it off with the shower nozzle as she did a full body shake. Then she jumped out and onto the sink, slipping slightly on her wet paws.

Neji straitened and pulled out his blow dryer. He hooked it up and set it on high. Several minutes later Gingerale was a huge ball of fluff again. He picked up one of his brushes and smoothed it down until it was back to normal, and then he put away the blow dryer and pulled the wad of hair out of the bathtub. As he did so Gingerale jumped down from the sink and trotted into the room, purring loudly. Neji followed more slowly.

Suddenly Gingerale hissed and smacked his foot as he walked off the linoleum bathroom floor and onto the carpet, and he looked down to see that he had just missed stepping on the calico kitten. He took a step back, and Gingerale picked it up by the scruff. As she carried it to his bed, Neji picked up the brown kitten, who was mewling next to the bed on the floor.

He placed it next to the calico kitten, and Gingerale curled into a ball around the two. Neji pulled the plug on the electric pad and moved it under his nightstand. "Alright. You'll be fed wet cat food tomorrow."

Gingerale nodded slowly, and Neji got up and picked up his cell phone. He dialed a number, and after a couple of rings it picked up. "Hello?" said a familiar voice on the other end.

"Tenten. It's Neji. Gingerale is going to take care of the kittens. You can bring the one you have over to my place."

There was a pause, and then Tenten said, "How did you get Gingerale to agree to that!?"

"We made a deal. Now do you want to get that kitten off your back or not?"

"Only Neji Hyuuga can make a solid deal with a cat," she muttered quietly, before saying louder, "Alright, I'll be there in fifteen minutes… What are you gonna do with all the formula?"

"I dunno. I'll keep some of it just in case… after the kittens are weaned I don't know what I'll do with it."

"We'll sort that out later… I'll see you in a few. Bye." She hung up.

Neji closed the crazer call phone and looked at Gingerale. She was curled around the two kittens, her fluffy tail resting on her nose. "'Only Neji Hyuuga can make a solid deal with a cat'!? What is that supposed to mean!?"

About fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the doorframe, and Neji got up and walked to the opened door. Tenten stood in the doorway, holding the ginger kitten in a blue and green baby blanket. Neji nodded hello and gestured for her to follow him. The two walked through the house and into Neji's room, where Gingerale was still laying on the bed.

Gingerale lifted her head sleepily and waved her tail to Tenten in welcome. With a wide yawn she uncurled herself, revealing the two sleeping kittens. Tenten smiled at her and placed the ginger kitten next to the other two. Gingerale looked at the ginger kitten next to the to her other two for a moment, and then leaned over and sniffed it. She snorted and pulled the kitten in front of her and started giving it a good tongue bath.

Tenten laughed. "You don't like the way the kitten smells!? I find that offensive!"

Gingerale looked at her, still washing the kitten, and then looked back at the kitten, disinterested in Tenten's words.

Neji watched Gingerale finish the kitten's wash and then nose it to her side next to the calico kitten. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Are they males or females?"

"Uh…" Tenten stammered, "I don't know… I don't think it'll matter until they're weaned anyway… Oh!" she added, "I know that calicos are always girls!"

"Hn…" That didn't seem to make sense. "Why?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. They just are. I think it's just a trait in cats…" She picked up the baby blanket.

Neji watched Gingerale curl up again, her soft purr sailing through the air. "Well, like you said, it doesn't matter for now. We'll figure it out when they're older."

Notice 'ONE of Neji's brushes' XD lol, sorry, that was very amusing to write. In case anyone is wondering about the whole cat in the shower thing, (not that anyone IS) my mom used to have a four foot long cat that used to climb in the shower with her X3 That's where that idea came from.

In the next chapter I'll skip ahead, and it will be from Gingerale and her kitten's POV! Coming soon!

The more reviews i get, the faster I write.