The Murder of a Friend
Note: There is not going to be much humor in these next few chapters. Sorry!
…
Joe sat waiting outside of the Yamamayaa Pet Hospital. It was now the Monday after returning from Okinawa. It was precisely 2 weeks until October 1st, and he still hadn't told Sakaki about his job. He had requested until October 1st off, so that he could spend as much time with Sakaki as possible.
Kaorin was the first to walk out. Joe had made sure to hide himself well, so that Kaorin couldn't see him.
Kaorin immediately sensed like she was being watched, but knew precisely who it was. It hurt every time to walk out of the office, it even hurt to come to work everyday. The fact that the cool Sakaki had chosen some computer nerd over her was just too much to handle.
"Hi, there, Kaorin-san" a voice said along the block that Kaorin was walking.
There, standing in her path, was Chihiro.
"Chiyo-chan tells me that you need some help," she said.
"Well, a little bit," Kaorin said, slightly teary-eyed.
She turned back, and Chihiro looked in that direction.
There stood Joe (now unhidden) while he met Sakaki, who had walked out of the vet office. They immediately met with a kiss.
"You really did like her in high school, didn't you?" Chihiro asked.
Kaorin nodded slightly, as she sniffled, and wiped away a tear that came down her face.
"Here's my business card," Chihiro said, as Kaorin took her card. "Set up an appointment sometime. I may be able to help." and she began walking away.
"Psychiatrist?!" Kaorin said as she read the card. "You think I need mental help?!"
Chihiro stopped, and looked back at Kaorin.
"Psychiatrists are not all about mental help. We can also help you with emotional pain that you may be going through" Chihiro said.
Chihiro walked away. Kaorin watched her walk away, and then intently looked at Chihiro's card in her hand.
Kaorin put the card in her pocket, and continued to walk home.
…
"So, Joe-san, you seem a bit troubled today," Sakaki said.
"Yeah, but I want to wait to tell you until we get to my house," Joe said. He thought it might be easier to tell Sakaki about his job there.
…
Joe and Sakaki walked up to Joe's house. Joe unlocked the door, opened it, and turned on the light.
Both Joe and Sakaki gasped at the scene before them.
There, right in the middle of a big pool of blood, was Neko-san.
And he was not breathing.
Sakaki ran up to Neko-san, kneeled down, and put her ear down to Neko-san's chest.
Joe slowly walked up to Neko-san, and kneeled down next to Sakaki, in complete and utter shock.
Sakaki slowly came back up, tears in her eyes.
"He's…gone…" Sakaki said.
Joe's fists clenched up, and tears welled up in his eyes.
"NEKO-SAAAAAAAN!!!" he screamed out, and he pounded the ground in anger.
Sakaki pulled him close, and Joe cried right into Sakaki's shoulder.
That particular moment seemed to carry on forever in Sakaki's mind.
…
"Do you want to hear what they've found?" Kotake asked Joe, standing in the doorway of Sakaki's house.
It was now Wednesday afternoon. Joe was staying over at Sakaki's house while the police looked into the murder of Neko-san. Sakaki was off at work.
"Give it to me bluntly," Joe said. "I hate it when police feel the need to sugarcoat things so I won't get mad."
Kotake took a deep breath, and began.
"He was viciously slaughtered. There were deep scratch marks all over his body. The thing that killed him was a direct slash to the throat." Kotake said.
A tear ran down Joe's face, but he let Kotake continue.
"All the police could find for clue's was these," Kotake said, as he held up a picture of a few cat prints that had been found in the mud.
"Those could be Neko-san's, or they could be Mayaa's" Joe said.
"Well, it's all we could find," Kotake finished.
"Thanks, Kotake-san" Joe said, as he walked into the house, and shut the door.
"He's taking it hard," Kotake said to himself, as he walked away.
…
Joe sat down on the couch, and Mayaa jumped up next to him. Joe began to pet Mayaa, but his mind flashed to Neko-san. He got up, and decided to go for a walk.
…
Joe was staring down at the sidewalk, his mind in a completely separate world.
He looked up at one point to see where he was, and noticed on the sidewalk, some muddy cat prints.
In fact, they were exactly like the ones that he had seen in the picture Kotake had showed him.
Why Joe followed those prints, he'll never know. His mind told him that Neko-san was dead, but his heart told him that he might still be alive.
He raced around curbs, following these tracks, to a point that he would only recognize later as the same point that he and Sakaki were attacked by cats before Sakaki was arrested (A giant concrete wall to the right of him).
It was at that point that the tracks merely stopped. No fading at all. Just stopped.
Joe stood there for a moment, taking in this information. He looked around, and sighed.
I guess I just don't want to accept the truth, Joe thought, as he began walking back the way he came.
He then heard something land behind him. He whipped around, and saw nothing. He looked down, and saw Kamineko standing there, with his bear-trap teeth bared.
"I'm really not in the mood for your antics today," Joe said, with an irritated tone and look on his face.
Kamineko took one step back, then another. Joe saw that his paws were also muddy, but the thing that made Joe gasp was not Kamineko's paws, but his paw prints.
They were an exact, precise match to the one's he had followed.
Joe felt his anger and his rage boil over once again. But this time they were also mixed with a little confusion.
"You killed Neko-san?!" Joe asked angrily, "Why, why would you do that?! WHY!?!"
Kamineko just went "keh keh keh" (which sounded something like menacing laughter)
Joe tried to kick Kamineko, but Kamineko jumped back and easily avoided the kick.
Joe chased after Kamineko with a fury of kicks and punches, all of which Kamineko easily dodged.
At one point, Kamineko jumped back, and made the summoning noise. Instantly, cats surrounded Joe once again.
"Fine!" Joe yelled angrily. "You all want to take me on, I'll kill you all!!"
And that's when the fury began.
To explain this part of the battle: Four cats would jump at Joe. Three of them would get kicked or punched away. The one that did make it through would put one new scratch on Joe, whether it be on his legs, on his arms, or on his face, one even putting a big one across the top of his forehead. This continued for about a minute, though it felt longer to Joe.
Joe would also remember later not feeling any of the pain, due to his anger and rage for the death of Neko-san driving him.
Kamineko, meanwhile, sat outside the brawl, just sitting there (mouth closed) watching this go on. After about a minute, three cats came up on Kamineko. One to his right, one to his left, and one behind him, and they took the same sitting position Kamineko had.
The three cats were completely black, with dark green eyes (and those slit cat pupils).
Kamineko signaled to one of them.
The black cat to Kamineko's left took off straight at the brawl. He weaved through the group of cats, and jumped right at the precise moment.
At that moment, Joe kicked away one (regular) cat, and punched away two more cats(regular as well). His left leg was used to hold up his weight.
The black cat unveiled his claws. They were far longer than any of the normal cat's claws.
He scratched right on the back of Joe's left leg, and made a huge slash across it. Blood immediately came gushing out.
Now Joe felt pain. He fell flat on his face as all the strength instantly drained away from his left leg.
But the black cat was not done. He caught himself on the wall, pushed off, and slashed the back of Joe's right leg as well.
Joe let out a scream of pain. He looked back to see that the sidewalk was already covered with his blood, and the cats were closing in.
…
The black cat that had slashed the back of Joe's legs now took his original place next to Kamineko. Kamineko was now wearing his bear-trap grin again.
…
The cats were closing in. Joe let out what he thought to be the last tear of his life.
I'm sorry, Neko-san. I guess I just couldn't avenge you, Joe thought.
The cats bared their teeth, unsheathed their claws, and were about to leap.
A flash jumped right in front of Joe, that made him look.
There stood an Iriomote cat.
…
Kamineko, teeth still bared, now looked unhappy.
…
The cats were not afraid of the Iriomote. They had to deal with Mayaa before, this one would be no different.
Or so they thought.
The Iriomote let off its battle aura. The aura, though weaker, was much more concentrated than Mayaa's was.
The cats all backed off slightly. They didn't scatter, but none of them wanted to attack, either.
Kamineko now felt rage himself. He stood up (along with his three black cats) and was ready to attack.
The black cat to his left signaled to Kamineko that something was coming. Kamineko looked to his left, and saw an animal control vehicle coming that way.
Kamineko let out a loud "rharh" that made the entire group of cats scatter. He and his three black cats also jumped away.
The Iriomote noticed that animal control was coming, and jumped away as well.
Joe, having witnessed all of this, now passed out from loss of blood.
…
Joe woke up in a hospital bed next to Sakaki, who had her head turned the other way (so he couldn't see her face)
"Sakaki-san," Joe called out.
Sakaki turned so that Joe could see her face. She had the face of Kamineko.
"rharh!" it said.
…
Joe snapped awake and sat up, sweating heavily and breathing hard. He was in a hospital bed, but this time Sakaki had her face turned toward him, so he could see it was Sakaki's face. (Sakaki was sleeping)
Joe lay back down.
"What a nightmare," he said. He then looked at his arms. They had scratches all over them.
"Well, Joe-san, that was something you got yourself into," Chiyo said as she walked in.
"Chiyo-chan, you're here too?" Joe asked.
"Sure, I got myself a job here. I'm an official doctor now!" Chiyo said, happy at her own success.
"Glad to see one of us has a ray of sunshine in their life," Joe said.
"Hey, consider yourself lucky. Had animal control not gone by, you'd be dead!" Chiyo said.
Joe sighed.
"Anyway, the scratches on most of your body are minor and will heal within a few days. The scratches on the back of your legs, however, may take a few weeks to heal completely. You'll have to have bandages over those for the next few days." Chiyo explained.
"How long have I been out?" Joe asked, feeling slightly light-headed.
"A few hours. Sakaki-san called me when you weren't outside waiting for her like usual. But I couldn't call her back until after you got out of the emergency room, which made her worry even more," Chiyo explained. "What happened to you anyway?"
"I was attacked by cats," Joe said, looking out the window.
"Why would cats attack you?" Chiyo asked. "I thought they only attacked Sakaki-san"
"Kamineko murdered Neko-san," Joe said in a monotone voice, almost as if he didn't care anymore. "I tried to kill him, and he got his army of cats to attack me. I was defending myself pretty well, but then one of them got me good in the back of the legs."
"Kamineko is involved in this?!" Chiyo said. "There have been multiple cat attacks with him involved over the past few years. I need to tell the police about this!" and she began to run out.
"Chiyo-chan!" Joe yelled. Chiyo stopped.
"I may know of a way to capture Kamineko, as well as his entire cat army, if the police are interested." Joe said.
"How?!" Chiyo asked. "Not in your condition, you don't!"
"Which is why I need the sheer numbers that the police have. Don't worry, I won't injure myself anymore," Joe said.
Chiyo contemplated for a minute.
"Fine, I'll let them know," Chiyo said, and she ran out to call the police.
Sakaki woke up later, and she and Joe shared a very heartfelt moment.
…
Two days later (Now Friday, and Joe still hasn't told Sakaki about his job)
…
Joe sat right where the cats had attacked him, with his back against the wall. Sakaki was sitting right next to him. Joe's scratches on his head, arms, and legs were all visible. The big one's on the back of his legs were covered by giant bandages.
"Are you sure about this?" Sakaki asked.
"Dead sure," Joe said. "He'll come."
Sure enough, as soon as he finished his sentence, Kamineko came walking around the corner, and slowly walked up to Sakaki.
Sakaki slowly reached out to pet him, but Joe grabbed her other shoulder.
"Don't do it," Joe said. "You know the outcome."
Sakaki pulled back, slightly disappointed.
Kamineko began walking away, also slightly irritated that he didn't get to bite Sakaki.
"Hey, Kamineko!" Joe called out, and Kamineko looked back at him.
"Your mother was a dog," Joe said.
"Joe-san!" Sakaki said, utterly surprised at this insult.
Kamineko didn't even think, he was so angry. He immediately called out his cat army, and told them to leap all at once.
"Now!!" Joe said into his hidden microphone.
Instantly, millions of tranquilizer darts seemed to come out of nowhere. Kamineko barely managed to dodge the ones intended for him, and he ran off.
…
After the shootout was over
…
"Thanks to you, we finally have these cats off the streets. It's only a matter of time before we catch Kamineko," Kotake said.
"No," Joe said. "The one thing I do remember about that day was Kamineko had three black cats with him, almost like they were his guards. I didn't see any black cats in that army."
"Well, just make sure to watch yourself, then," Kotake said. He then got into a cop car and drove off.
Joe and Sakaki stood there. The wind blew Sakaki's long hair. They both knew they had a big battle with Kamineko coming.
…
Author's notes: Kamineko's "rharh" refers to that noise that he always makes before biting down on Sakaki's hand in the anime series. I tried to put it down in text, and failed miserably.
Next Chapter: Kamineko attacks.
