A/N: I am so sorry for going on my partially-unannounced hiatus! National Novel Writing Month began in November, and then I had my vacation in the middle of the month. On top of all of that, I had so many book orders from friends and family with my new published book that it was all I could do to meet my daily word counts. Ecalain - book 2 of my series - is only a scene or two away from being finished, though, so I'll have a lot more time after I'm finished with that to dedicate more time to Forgotten Memories.

I'll try to get several parts posted in the next few days to try to make up for leaving you guys hanging. . Also, I know Crazykblade asked me to turn Adrien and Marinette back to normal... patience, my friend. ;) Everything happens for a reason.


Episode Six: Obsession

Part One

Adrien stretched, his muscles aching after the rigorous spar with his partner. Unlike usual, he didn't take off the fencing hood; he already had enough questions for the day on his differently-colored hair. His father still hadn't gotten around to having the beautician color it, so he had to attend his modeling shoots with blue-black hair. However, he had started using gel to get those annoying 'cat ear' strands to stay flat against his head. Colored contacts that were the same shade as his eyes mostly hid the other odd feature about him. At least he managed to avoid those questions.

"Good spar," Esme said, bumping Adrien's arm with her fist. "You don't seem up to par, though. Are you feeling okay?"

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, just a bit rusty." Last week, Zamir had seen Adrien at an all-time low since his mother had passed away. Despite not knowing exactly why, the Persian had taken it upon himself to complain to his father about Adrien's health, trying to help Adrien rest but still have the ability to go to school. Adrien had been certain his father wouldn't agree.

But he had.

Every day, Zamir went with him to school. If it wasn't school, it was to his photo shoots to make sure Adrien wasn't straining himself. He even managed to get Adrien a free evening where he, Zamir, Nino, Alya, and Marinette went to the arcades. For some reason, Gabriel listened to Zamir. Adrien wouldn't complain, although he would admit it was a little strange.

Sighing, Adrien put up the fencing rapier. Esme followed, frowning. "Hey, that loss didn't upset you, did it?"

"No, no! I'm fine!" Adrien quickly reassured his partner. "I've just been kind of out of it today." Esme was the best in the class, better than even Adrien. Adrien believed the only way he could have defeated Esme was as Chat Noir - or now, with his cat-like reflexes, but he was too distracted today to put his all into practice.

Last night, they had found the girl who had been akumatized. However, she was no longer possessed by the little butterfly, and there were no signs of the collar that she had been holding. Adrien figured she had lost a pet due to animal violence since she had been all about 'showing' people what it was like to be an animal. However, the depressing part for him was that he was stuck with these new abilities indefinitely.

"Want to go one more round?" Esme asked, interrupting Adrien's thoughts.

Adrien smiled. Esme had a fighting spirit; she would go until one of them collapsed. Not only that, but she didn't get carried away with his looks and didn't seem to care about his popularity, which was a refreshing change. "Sorry, Esme. Not today; I need to head straight back to my place." Because of Zamir's pampering, his schedule had simultaneously gotten tighter and slackened; if he asked Zamir if he could do something, it would happen, but other than that, he had to follow the usual strict rules his father laid into place.

Esme deflated, looking unhappy. Adrien wanted to comfort her, but he had already dallied enough; grabbing his bag, he hurried out to the black car that always picked him up. I wonder if I could ask Zamir to talk to my father about this, he thought, but quickly shook his head. He didn't want to push the limit with what Gabriel would let Zamir get away with.

However, he was eventually going to get down to the bottom of why Gabriel Agreste was letting a sixteen-year-old boss him around about his son.


Esme Lionis watched Adrien hurry away, obviously distracted about something. She sighed; all she had wanted was one last spar to try to help the model get out of his funk. After all, Adrien was the best other than her; it wasn't fun dueling against anyone else because they gave up too quickly.

"I wish there was someone else I could duel," she muttered to herself, trudging out of the building towards home. She raked her fingers through her chestnut hair before rubbing her face.

"And what if there is?"

Whirling, Esme's brown eyes widened as he saw a dark-skinned boy dressed in a glimmering gem-blue snug tunic and red-orange tights. A plume of peacock feathers trailed down his lower back and stopped at the back of his knees. A blue mask in the design of a blue peacock feather covered his eyes and nose; right above it, an orange oval ringed in black with a black dot in the middle was centered on his forehead.

"Wh-who are you?" Esme stammered, slowly backing up. She knew how dangerous akumatized victims could be, and by the looks of it, he was one.

The gold bangles around the boy's wrists clinked softly as he rolled his wrist to expose what was in his hand. A white butterfly with a single purple spot on each of its wings crawled across his fingers, flapping its wings lazily.

"You can call me Song Bird," the boy said, giving her a friendly smile. "I couldn't help but overhear your desire for a duel. You wish to fight someone powerful, correct? What if I could give you that?"

Esme looked at the beautiful white butterfly, wanting to coo at the pretty wings. Her gaze lifted to meet the kaleidoscope of Song Bird's eyes, becoming trapped in the gently turning strands.

"I could give you that opportunity," Song Bird crooned. His tail feathers vibrated slightly as he stepped forward. "The ability to find an enemy."

Song Bird circled the girl; he was a head taller than the fencer. Esme trembled, torn between accepting the strange person's offer and wariness.

"Who do you want to fight the most?" Song Bird asked, his voice lilting and hypnotic.

Esme trembled again, but this time, it was out of her desire to duel the one person she admired the most. "Chat… Noir," she mumbled, her fists clenching and unclenching as her cheeks turned pink. "But… it's impossible…"

Song Bird threaded an arm around Esme's waist, lifting the butterfly to the girl's face. The wings tickled her chin. "It is possible," Song Bird whispered in her ear. "All you need is a weapon, something that would reflect your fighting style."

Esme's hand moved as if it had a mind of its own. It unzipped her bag, pulling out the toy Chat Noir baton she kept in the bottom. It looked like the real thing, only it didn't extend and was made out of plastic.

Song Bird chuckled, and even that sounded entrancing. "You have a crush on him, don't you?"

"Y-yeah…" Esme admitted, unable to stop herself from answering him. "I always wanted to duel him because he's so strong and dependable. He might just be the only one who could beat me; not even the best in my class, Adrien Agreste, has been able to beat me in a duel yet."

Surprised, Song Bird stared at Esme, his hypnotic ability nearly broken from the surprising news. He knew Adrien was good in everything he did; despite not liking to be forced to live in his rigid lifestyle, he definitely didn't flake at anything. To learn he wasn't the best in his fencing class…

Song Bird smiled. This might actually work out in their favor. "Accept this as a gift," he murmured, holding the butterfly near the baton. It stepped onto the plastic, sinking into the surface. "And become the thing you wish to be…"

Esme's eyes widened.

"Hello," a smooth voice said into her head, compelling her to listen. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Shinobi. I hear you desire a duel with the infamous Chat Noir. To transform into a form where you are more likely to meet him, click your baton once to activate and twice to deactivate the transformation."

Esme stared at the baton in her hand; it felt heavier than before, as if it was made of metal. Shifting her grip, she realized it had transformed into a real baton. A smile curled her lips involuntarily. "Thank you," she whispered.

Before she could activate the baton, Song Bird rested a hand over hers, rolling a little purple jewel between his fingers. "I believe this could help you out," he said casually, popping the stone into an indent in the middle; it fit perfectly as if it was meant to go there. "Perhaps, once you transform, it will give you some special abilities."

Esme nodded, her eyes only for the solid metal in her hand. She clicked the button below the stone.

Purple energy pulsed outwards, encompassing the girl. Song Bird took one fluid step back, out of the way from the pulsating energy field as it sank into her for the first time, conforming to her body like a second skin.

When it finally finished, a girl with black hair and dark eyes stared at Song Bird. It was drastically different than her light brown hair and chocolate eyes from before. A black cloth covers her jaw, disguising her facial features as the leather suit conforms to her body. Several shuriken and kunai were tucked into her waistband, not even glinting under the late afternoon sun. Her black gloves have textured tips that look as though they were meant to climb walls.

Esme flexed her fingers, curling them into a fist a few times. "I… don't feel that different," she whispered, a bit dazed. Had she just been akumatized, or was this something different?

"Nor should you," Song Bird said simply as if it made perfect sense. "After all, Shinobi, you would like to simply duel Chat Noir and Ladybug, right? I'm sure if you hang out on the rooftops and enough people notice you, they will arrive eventually to meet you."

Esme - no, Shinobi contemplated this. Grinning like a little kid who just got a new toy, she clenched her baton in her hand tightly. "Yeah! You're right!" She eyed her gloved hand with a frown. "How long does this last?"

"Depends on what you do," Song Bird explained simply. "The more you use your abilities, the sooner you will be forced to transform back. The baton will be able to keep track of the time remaining." He waved his hand, turning to walk away. "Have fun."

"Wait - that's it?" Shinobi asked, stumped. She thought for sure there would be a catch.

Song Bird shrugged. "You want to fight someone powerful? Go fight someone powerful."

Shinobi pondered it for a few more seconds before heading in the opposite direction of Song Bird, thinking the Eiffel Tower would be a good place to start searching for her idol since that seemed to be a favorite hangout spot for the two heroes of the city.


Adrien scrambled for his bedroom door just as someone knocked gently on it. Flinging it open, he caught a glimpse of Marinette's surprised face before he pulled her inside his room, shutting the door quickly as he hugged her tightly. She squeaked, surprised from his sudden response to her showing up 'unannounced.'

That wasn't true, though. He had heard her walking down the hallway; a week of listening to footfalls down that echoing corridor helped him memorize people's cadences. So, even though she had been trying to sneak up to the door, he had still heard her trip on that one section on the carpet that seemed to be permanently folded up.

"A-Adrien?" Marinette asked, her voice a few octaves higher than normal. Plagg escaped her purse, floating over to the cheese already waiting for him on the computer desk. "Are you all right?"

"Mmmm…" Adrien took a deep breath, taking in her scent of caramel, vanilla, and pomegranate. However, a new scent invaded his nose, and he sniffed curiously. Cookies. "You've been baking again…"

She sighed, giving up. She handed him a bag of goodies. "I can't hide anything from you anymore, can I?"

He opened the bag and took a huge bite out of a cookie. "Of course you can," he said around the mouthful as he set the bag down on the coffee table in front of his couch.

Marinette shook her head, sitting down on the couch. He curled up next to her, his head on her leg as she absently ran her fingers through his hair. They had developed this habit last week when he had passed out on her leg the first time. They learned that his urges to be 'scratched' was pretty much daily, and the longer he went without one, the more he acted like a real cat. Whether as Marinette or Kitty Noir, she found herself taking care of him in a way she had never expected to.

It had been nearly twenty-four hours since the last time she had been over; even though he had come to terms with being part-feline now, he was still ashamed as to how much he enjoyed her running her fingers over his hair and back.

His purr rumbled through the couch and into her leg, making her chuckle as she scratched between his ears. "Say, kitty."

"Hmm?" he hummed, the sound being absorbed into the purr. Her fingers chased down his neck, tracing circles over his shoulders. He stretched, ending up sprawled over her lap.

She giggled at him. "We haven't gone on patrol in a while. What do you say? Should we figure out if anything has changed since the last time we had taken one?"

He butted his head against her stomach. Unlike the first time, she didn't flinch; instead, she scratched underneath his chin as the other hand ran through his hair and down his back. "After this…" he mumbled.

She sighed, exasperated, though he could hear the smile in her voice. "Fine. But this time, no - eek!"

Unable to resist any longer, he pounced on her, pushing her into the pillows on the couch. He nuzzled the bottom of her chin with his nose as her hands flailed behind him.

"A-Adrien!" she exclaimed breathlessly, her fingers finally gripping his shoulders and pushing him back - or, at least, trying to. "Stop! What if someone walks in?"

He pulled up, hovering above her. He blinked slowly, and he saw her melt underneath his gaze. "Oh… no fair…" she breathed, her hands sliding along his chest.

He lowered his face to hers, nuzzling her nose. "This is perfectly fair. You were teasing me all day long…"

She had been. Her hand linked with his, drawing small little circles on the back of his hand; the few seconds her fingers would trail down his leg underneath the table; the tiny tap underneath his chin she had given him when he had stolen a bite of her bread. It had slowly driven him mad. Sure, she may have thought it would have helped, but in reality, it only made it worse.

His lips met hers, and she finished melting into the couch.


A/N: Based off of a recommendation by Kitty Cheshire (who, by the way, should PM me so we can talk about those 'tips' you want me to give you), I will be answering questions and comments at the end of chapters now. Not really very many have popped up... but I want to give a huge shout-out to everyone who has read Forgotten Memories and is still sticking around: THANK YOU! I started this fanfic as just a fun little project for my beta reader and cover artist of my scifi/fantasy novel, so I never expected it to make such a big hit. I'm so happy all of you like it!

I'll try to keep it going steady again now that NaNoWriMo is coming to a close. Yet again, I apologize for the sudden hiatus... Please forgive me. ;_; -Max