Cattails

Cattails

Chapter Twelve

I Don't Do Mice

Hirogin donned his toque and apron for another day of work. He loved his job—it was a symbol that he was the best of the best. Grabbing the order for today—an extensive list of who would be eating what and when—he quickly reviewed it and went to the pantry to fetch the ingredients. He opened the door, list-in-hand.

Three pairs of red eyes stared at him from the darkness. Quickly, he lit a torch and saw the invading army of little brown soldiers, feasting on the rations of nibbles from his culinary arsenal.

"Eeeeeiiiiyaaaaaaaa!!"

The kitchen door burst open, and a soldier entered, in battle mode at the sound of the scream. "Are you okay? I heard a little girl scream and… Oh." The man stopped when he saw the head chef standing atop the table, quivering and shaking.

"Help! Mice—they're everywhere!"

The soldier caught one of the brown fur balls out of the corner of his eye, scuffling away for dear life. "Er, I think they're gone, sir."

The manly chef withdrew his hands from over his eyes and took a look himself. "Hrm…" He cleared his throat, taking on an extra-deep voice. "Yes, it would appear so." He tried in vain to save face. His bravado dropped when he saw the havoc wrought upon his pantry. "My kitchen…"

"Sir?" The soldier got a clever idea. "I can take care of your rat problem."

"Really?"

"Yes, under one condition. Make me dessert for a week—free of charge."

Chef Hirogin smiled. "Deal!"

XOXOXOXOXOX

A knock sounded on the old man's door, awakening him from slumber. Lazily, he rolled out of the comfort of his bed and opened the door. A soldier on the other side saluted.

"General Iroh, sir."

"At ease. Can I help you?"

"Yes. I came to request a favour of you."

His eyes were filled with surprise. "What?"

The red-dressed man glanced over to where the four kittens lay watching him. "The kitchen has been overrun with mice, and you have four cats here…"

"You want to hire my cats to kill your mice?"

"Yes, please, sir."

"Okay, I guess. I'll see you in the kitchen in an hour."

"Thank you, sir!" He seemed almost giddy as he walked off, as would anyone who was going to get a treat from a royal chef.

Iroh got up and dressed, then gave the four a quick brushing. An hour later they arrived promptly by the kitchen and were met by the chef.

"Thank you so much, General Iroh."

"Think nothing of it." He glanced at his four, "If we just put them in the kitchen, will they know what to do?"

"It should come naturally, I think."

"Hmm…" He stroked his beard, then knelt down next to the kittens. "Kill the mice, okay?" he whispered to them.

The door was opened and they were pushed gently inside. The two men watched from the window.

"I don't want to kill mice," Katara whispered.

"Neither do I." Aang gestured to his arrow, "I'm supposed to help, not hurt."

"Oh, shush, you two." Sokka stretched on the floor, extending his claws and clacking them against the tile. "Just let your cat instincts take over."

Toph grinned. "I bet I can kill the most!"

"You're on," replied Sokka daringly. The two stalked off, searching for prey.

Katara shuddered. "I hate mice as much as anyone, but no way am I killing them." She hopped up onto the countertop to get out of the way. When she noticed a nibbling sound, she turned her head slowly, and out of the corner of her eye saw a mouse nibbling through a bag of flour behind her.

The girl let go a scream, which came out as more of a mreowling screech. Sokka and Toph smiled devilishly and ran toward the rodent. As the approached, the mouse fled, coming so close to Katara that she bailed and leapt off the counter. The two hunters jumped up and skid across, colliding with the vacant sack and sending it skidding off the other side to land in a puff of white on the floor.

The mouse ran for dear life, and Sokka gave a battle cry, "After it!" The two savagely assaulted it with attempts to pounce atop it or sink their claws into its furry flesh. The mouse scurried away as fast as its paws could carry it, and at last made it to sanctuary—a tiny crack in the wall, which it narrowly squeezed through.

Even though Sokka tried, he couldn't get in, and neither could his paw.

Toph resorted to her own secret weapon. She felt the vibrations echoing through the kitchen, and searched for the tiny disturbances of the mice. Most were hidden behind a wall where she couldn't get them, but one was munching lunch in the pantry…

Trying not to alert Sokka to her find, she tiptoes over. Unfortunately for Toph, he was on to her.

"I'm going wherever you're going."

Showdown style, the two crept toward the pantry, keeping one eye on the mouse and one on each other.

Mean while, the adults overseeing them decided this was going to take a while, and went off to go chat.

Aang flinched when he heard sudden banging and fighting. In the pantry, Sokka and Toph found a treasure cove of rodents and had gone on the offensive. While they were busy trying to make a kill, one escaped the death-trap and ran for its life. When it got to the other side of the room, the thing slowed down and sucked in some oxygen.

Aang watched as it took out the food it carried in its mouth and adjusted it. Over by the wall, two tiny mice emerged out of a mall hole. They came sniffing the air and dancing around happily, then started towards the larger mouse Aang had been watching. When another mouse emerged from the hole and squeaked something at them, the two went back inside to safety. Aang's mouse watched intently before going over towards these other mice.

"Hey!" Aang whispered loudly as he stepped in front of it. The little creature took off running, and he pursued. "Wait! I'm the Avatar! I ant to help you!"

The mouse made a wrong turn towards the cabinet—there was no mouse hole here. He was trapped in between the wall, the cabinet, and Aang. With one last distant gaze to the other mouse, he accepted his fate and waited patiently for death. However, Aang didn't deliver.

"I'm not going to eat you, so quit running!" The mouse didn't look convinced. "Is that your family over there?" Slowly, the mouse nodded. "You were just trying to feed them, right? But stealing food is wrong."

The mouse looked sadly at the pilfered crumb in his mouth.

"Will you let me help you?"

It nodded, deciding help was better than death. "Bring your family to the kitchen doors and follow me." Hearing this, the mouse uncertainly scurried off to his family. Aang checked one last time to make sure his two friends were busy, and then went over to wait by the door. He was met a few moments later by the mouse, another one the same size which must have been his wife, and their two kids.

Aang smiled. "Follow me, okay?" He gently pushed open the door and made sure the coast was clear. Then he gestured for them to go through, and he followed behind, door swinging closed. Then he led the family around the hallways, taking the least travelled routes to assure they wouldn't be spotted. After several minutes and a few close calls, the strange group had arrived in the courtyard. Stepping foot into the sunlight for the first time, the four mice were filled with wonder. There was grass and trees and flowers. Looking up, they saw their first sky.

"This is where you'll live from now on, okay? You'll be safe here." Aang smiled at their amazed, joyous expressions. "But you can't steal any more food, okay? Don't go inside the palace." The older two nodded while the younger pair went off, racing through a forest of grass. Aang held his paw out, and the mouse he'd rescued put his paw in Aang's. Then the couple went off into the gardens to build a new home.

Alone in the grass, Aang sighed. "Sokka and Toph are going to kill me." Stealthily, he snuck back into the palace and headed to the kitchen. No one was watching over the carnage, so Aang pushed his two front paws against the door and opened it a crack, then slipped through.

Katara smiled and practically jumped on him. "Aang, you're back!"

"Do Sokka and Toph know I left?"

"No. They've been…" her facial expression was one part humour, one part horror, and one part exasperation, "Busy."

"Ow!!" Shouts came from the pantry, belonging to Sokka and Toph. "Move your head!"

"Move your tail! It's tickling me!"

"Oh, I'll give you tickling…" The girl started swishing her tail back and forth over Sokka's nose."

"Hahaha! No, stop, that—A-CHOO!"

"Eeeeewwwwww…" She remarked in disgust at her snot-covered tail.

"I said stop."

Curious and disturbed, Aang inspected closer to find out just what was going on. As it turned out, the two numbskulls were chasing mice, and got themselves caught instead. Their tangled bodies were trapped in a wire labyrinth of one of the lower shelves. Seeing no carcasses around, Aang decided that it was safe to assume neither had caught any rodents.

"You guys can't get out?"

"If we could, we wouldn't still be here!"

Aang sighed and looked at Katara. "We'd better go get Iroh."

End Chapter Twelve

A/n: A toque is a chef's hat, in case you don't know. Haha, I had to look that up. xD I had some trauma with rearranging the chapter order. This was going to be chapter twenty, but I decided to switch and do this now. o On another note, I've been busy with my photoshop. –wink- Check my DA is you want a pretty Avatar wallpaper. (I'm still a novice with that program, but I'm showing improvement.)

I just wish they'd air the second half of Season III in the US. It's no fun watching online.