A/N: Enjoy.
The Curse of the Cat
051. Grave
Tomoko knelled back on her heels and lit a fresh stick of incense, letting its sweet scent cloak the grave and the small shrine that been built around it. It wasn't the usual yearly visit, but sometimes she came to see her mother when Koichi was at school. It was…nice, to be able to talk to her about things, things she simply could not talk about with her son.
And Koichi understood, because likewise there were things he could not talk about with her.
And she had talked. Then payed her respects. And now she hovered in the silence and the incense until her lunch break ended.
052. Machine
Koji had to wonder how a girl, and one his age (a single month older to be technically accurate), was able to drag him down the hallway and to an empty classroom – and halfway with no assistance from him whatsoever.
Not that he was going to say that out loud. Zoe was a feminist if he ever met one, and she could punch too. According to Takuya anyway; he had enough sense not to test that hypothesis.
At least Zoe was out of breath though. That proved she was human and not a machine, because really. Who would not be out of breath, particularly considering the ridiculous weather they'd been having. The end of winter and it was as hot as the day he was born…right near the end of June.
But all those thoughts flew out of his head when Zoe dumped a male school uniform at his feet. And he did the most eloquent thing he could think of in that situation. He blinked.
'Uhh…Zoe? Why do you have a guy's uniform?'
053. Destination
Ack, why can't Koji just read my mind?
Not that she could honestly expect Koji to be capable of such a thing; she didn't think the Zodiac curse stretched that far in anybody's case – although she wasn't sure about the mysterious Head of the Family.
But that was getting off topic. If Koji couldn't put two and two together with only three pieces, she would have to explain.
'The Cat –' she began.
'Fluffy?' Koji looked blank.
'Not Fluffy.' Now she rolled her eyes; Koji was being a little unnecessarily dense with that reply. 'The Cat from the Zodiac.'
'But what –' Koji began, still befuddled before the clothes clicked in his mind. 'He goes to this school?!' A pause. 'Hang on, you hugged him?'
'He tripped!' Zoe exclaimed, blushing slightly. 'And I tried to stop him from falling down the stairs. And nobody saw – I think.' She mumbled under her breath: 'I hope not anyway.'
Koji shook his head. 'Great Zoe. Why bother telling me?'
Zoe actually looked a tad uncomfortable. 'I thought you might want to know,' she said quietly. 'Or are you going to hate someone you don't know because of destiny?'
She made a fair point, except she was slightly off the mark. Truth be told, he didn't hate the unknown Cat; he was…in a sense…afraid. Because the Rat tricked the Cat, and wasn't the whole problem between the pair that the Cat wanted revenge?
A part of him was unsure he could handle centuries of rage.
'The thing is…' Zoe was shuffling her feet again. 'We have an assignment to do together.'
Koji got the feeling there was more to the story than that.
'And he kind of ran off. Or the cat ran off really. So I was wondering if you could help me look.'
Koji sighed. That would be a disaster if – any Zodiac member really – transformed back without their clothes. And the times were unpredictable as well. It sounded like the unnamed Cat had left his brain with his clothes – or something akin.
'You do realise rats normally stay away from cats?'
'Great, you'll help.'
And before Koji could protest, she was dragging him. This time outside.
'We'd better find the others too.'
'Don't bother.' Koji sighed again. 'They're probably halfway home by now. Or already there.'
And he couldn't help but envy them a little when the heat blasted him in the face. 'Seriously,' he muttered. 'Some God's having a blast with the weather mess.'
'Amen to that,' Zoe agreed, releasing him on the steps.
They stayed for a minute.
'You have no idea where we should start, do you?'
'Nope.
054. Nowhere
Koji wondered if he was mistaken as to the fact that cats were fond of alleyways, because there were plenty of alleyways around and yet they had not found a black cat or naked human in any of them.
Nor had they heard anything out of the ordinary, which almost entirely ruled out the latter option, because Japanese were very good at picking out abnormalities…and that wasn't a good thing in many cases.
Still, it was frustrating not having found a wayward Zodiac member he hadn't even met before. He was starting to wish a bird had been born into their generation so they could send the guy or girl out looking as well.
Although, seeing as Fluffy was apparently rather fond of skinning birds and doing unthinkable things to them, that might not be such a bright idea.
055. Garden
It was Zoe who suggested the park.
'Fluffy also loves the sun,' she explained. 'And the garden. She always stretches out in the flowerbed when she's not chasing anything.'
But the garden was empty.
Koji signed, then tipped his head back. His neck was getting stiff – which was a surprise. Perhaps it was recalling the warm-up he should have been partaking in at that moment (as he was now late for kendo practice). He didn't expect to be blinking at a black cat in the tree though – nor apparently did the said cat, as it cried out, a mix of human shriek and an animal's, and almost fell off the branch.
Zoe snapped around to look as the cat managed to use its two front paws and its tail to hang on.
'Koichi,' she exclaimed. 'Thank goodness – ' she broke off. 'Should you still be a cat?'
The cat backed away into the shadow of the tree.
'Koichi,' Koji repeated. 'Koichi Kimura. The one you and Tommy wouldn't stop going on about?'
'Shut it Koji,' Zoe snapped, albeit lightly, before awkwardly holding up her bag. 'Uh, I've got your uniform and bag here.'
The cat shrunk further into the shadows. Zoe blinked.
'I already know about the Zodiac curse.'
That didn't seem to help at all, though the head did tilt slightly to the side.
