Chapter 23:
The evacuated staff stood outside the palace waiting for it to crumble. A crowd of people had assembled, asking questions and pointing. The explanation varied from an earthquake to an enemy attack but few were certain, even those who provided the explanation.
Several soldiers stood among the throng while others braved the crumbling building to locate the king and the missing guards. They found him in the foyer with what few items he could salvage and refused to leave until everything was brought to a safe place. The foyer was arguably the safest area being so close to the entrance and away from the throne room which had taken most of the damage.
Few were brave enough to go back inside in case the roof caved in. The structure's integrity remained strong through most of the well-made building, but people pointed to the holes in the roof to the east side of the palace and saw areas bowing and leaning, warning to keep their distance.
The incredible if not horrific sight snared everyone's attention to the point no one noticed the kimono-clad human move behind the palace and down the street and over the wall of the king's garden.
The king's garden wasn't filled with many flowers, but rare and exotic plants that made guests' noses twitch. If anything, it was more of a stone garden used for meditation. There was some grass around the stone paths and sand bank but it was clear that the stone garden was the main attraction behind the palace.
Further down the stone path, beyond the sand meticulously raked to look like lapping waves, was a new feature to the yard. Hidden behind a wall of shrubs and rose bushes was a patch of grass home to a donkey tethered to a doghouse constructed out of wood and metal. The donkey lay on its side in the grass sunbathing listlessly.
It didn't look up when the human with the cat smile bent down in front of it, a tail creeping out from under its kimono.
The cat spirit chuckled lightly as it looked down at the dozing donkey. "I have to say, when they told me a human had been transformed into a donkey, your name never crossed my mind. Now that I see it with my own eyes, I can't say I'm surprised."
The donkey gave no answer, remaining on its side.
"In all these years, you still haven't changed, have you, Kai?" said the cat spirit, resting his human hand under his chin. "Eating spirit food… You think you'd have learned from the first time."
The donkey still gave no response.
"We took pity on you and gave you a home. We showed you love and it was never enough, was it? No. It wasn't the love you wanted, was it? That's why you betrayed us. You wanted the love of humans. A mother's love."
The donkey blinked its eye.
"She rejected you no matter what you did. She could not love you. You came to us and we gave you love. We took care of you, an innocent child, and all we asked was that you not touch one thing that was strictly ours. And you did. For what? To win your mother over? To show her that you were worthy of love? Even with our most valued possession, she would not love you. All it did was push away the only ones who ever showed you love and left you utterly alone. Well, how's it feel?"
It was years ago when the starving boy showed up at the shrine, taking their food with both hands. The boy covered in dirt and his ribcage showing and no shoes on his feet. The boy they took in. They cut his long hair with their claws and shared their food with him. They gave him clothes to wear and opened the doors to the building behind the statue which he used to sleep and keep warm during the winter months. On clear nights, they would gather on the stone platform near the alter and gaze up at the countless stars in the sky, their furry bodies pressed tightly against his, their swishing tails tickling his face and feet. When he asked questions, they answered. When he saw something amazing, he stopped to watch, spellbound. He took note of everything he saw and believed he understood. Most of what he learned was through observation more than questions.
Only one thing was made especially clear to him. It regarded their treasure. He was never to touch it. They warned him not to go near it. They said it was unknown to humans and needed to remain that way. A human could not understand its properties and didn't belong to human kind.
The boy thought differently. He believed that if he came into possession of it, he would be exceptional. No other human in the world knew about this item, so if he obtained it…
He thought it would grant him his greatest wish. He believed this was his salvation. At last, his mother would love and accept him. Once she saw him with this, she would have to understand just how special he was. He would be royalty. People would love and respect him at long last. All he needed was to take it.
But it wasn't so.
Not only could he not return home to show his mother what he had risked everything to take, the only ones willing to call him family abandoned him. He didn't have the item, he didn't have his mother's love, he didn't have a home, and now he didn't have anyone. And without the cat spirits to keep the rat population at bay, the town was overrun. Even if he had wanted to stay in the small shrine, he couldn't because of the rats coming out of every corner and scurrying across his feet.
He wandered for a long time, stopping only to ask for work or some food. No one would give him any. Some chased him away, thinking he was going to rob them as soon as they took him in. Others judged him on his dirty appearance and decided he was untrustworthy or possibly mentally ill. Then there were those who doubted his skills because of his age. Anyone else he came across just didn't want to take care of him, especially if he got hurt on the job. He was turned away constantly.
Until one day he found himself at the docks. He was there to ask for work or steal some fish so he could have a meal. Again, it was more of the same. Only, as he was about to leave, he overheard the king and several men arguing over an issue none of them could resolve. The king was very upset by this, knowing they needed an answer but no one could provide one. The young Kai was the one to step forward to solve the issue, winning the king's praise and respect. He took him in on the spot, saying he had need of someone like him.
To be needed and wanted was the best feeling in the world to Kai. He was given new clothes, his own room and free food. All he had to do was serve the king. He gradually worked his way up and became the king's favorite. The longing feeling he had carried for so long was finally gone. The king's adoration filled the hole in Kai's chest and he felt he had purpose. More than anything, he felt loved. The king appreciated him and loved him and Kai respected him and loved him back, seeing the king as a father figure. He finally had the love of a human being.
Although, the only reason he was able to answer the king's question was because of the cat spirits. The issue was resolved because of what the cat spirits taught him. Several issues plaguing humans had already been resolved by spirits. They taught him several little tricks to help him survive; advice he could use in everyday life. If it hadn't been for them, he would have never made it this far.
They may have abandoned him because of his actions, but they had taught him enough for him to get by and that knowledge was something they couldn't take from him.
When Kai first started living in the palace, he wondered if the cat spirits had known he would betray them which was why they taught him what they had. After much consideration, he believed that wasn't the case. After all, they had left their home because of him. They must have taught him these things because they truly wanted to help him.
He never told the king how he knew these things, saying it was a natural gift of his and the king accepted that answer. He was grateful to the cat spirits for teaching him but he never thanked them.
The cat spirit altered his form, how a white cat in a kimono and a look of pity and annoyance on his furry face. "The humans who came to me for help are decent people. Their friend even put in a good word for them, saying they had helped them in the past and understood what was important to them."
The donkey blinked its eyes, still laying on its side in the grass.
"I said I would help them change the afflicted human back." The cat looked down at Kai. "But I won't."
The white cat stood on its hind legs, peering down at the donkey with a mixture of pity and disgust. The donkey didn't acknowledge any of this, staying where it was without moving an inch.
"They're decent and kind human beings. I would help them. However, helping you… Well, cats can be spiteful. I believe we taught you that as well."
Still, the donkey didn't move.
"From what I've heard, you don't learn. Eating spirit food was downright foolish and you were warned not to and you did it anyway. And here you are," said the cat spirit. "If you learned, things would be different, but you're still the same. And you're not sorry. Bringing you back would be dangerous. Wouldn't it, Sugata?"
The cat turned his head to look at Sugata standing by the shrubs hiding Kai from the rest of the garden. He stepped closer when the cat spirit addressed him.
"You agree with me, don't you?" the cat spirit asked him. "You know what humans are like."
"Yes. But I also know that they are not all the same. You yourself acknowledged that just a moment ago, saying the ones coming to you for help were good." He tightened his hold on the mirror in his arms. "You also agreed to help them."
"You know how cats are," answered the cat spirit.
"Fickle, yes," Sugata said softly, averting his eyes momentarily.
The cat spirit gave Sugata a serious look. "Humans took your mirror from you and sealed you away for a decade at least. Maybe two. Even when warned that the mirror would be dangerous in any hands other than your own, they didn't listen. They decided, challenging the truth, foolishly believing in the scenario that best suited themselves."
"They did," acknowledged Sugata quietly.
"They are but children touching the stove after their parents warn them not to because they will get burned. 'No, I won't,' they say then get upset when they suffer pain. Then they get angry with everyone other than themselves."
"Some humans do not heed warnings because they feel they are being tricked and others fail to listen because they think they know better."
"Yes," agreed the cat spirit. He gestured to the donkey. "Just look at him. You decide which it is."
Sugata frowned at the cat spirit, returning his gaze to the kimono-clad feline. "We are not blameless ourselves. We cannot think ourselves above them when we have made our share of mistakes."
The cat looked offended. "You're saying it is...? The only mistake we made was trusting that pitiful human child!"
"You believe that was your mistake?" Sugata asked quickly.
The cat was quiet a moment and scoffed. "You are to tell me leaving the innocent town was the mistake? That punishing all for the actions of one was wrong?"
He remembered what Naruto had said to him and he unconsciously took it to heart.
When he returned to the town years later and found it overrun and abandoned, he came to regret their decision to run. They were trying to protect themselves but ended up harming those who had nothing to do with it. They inadvertently punished those who had done nothing wrong and respected them. They caused the humans to wonder what they had done to cause this when it was never their doing.
He found himself returning for two reasons: nostalgia and guilt. The shrine was their home and he missed it. They fled because they felt betrayed, leaving him to wonder if the humans felt the same. He regretted leaving, even more so after discovering what happened after they were gone.
They blamed Kai, but as Naruto pointed out, they were not faultless.
"We're connected," the cat told Sugata. "Without us around… the people… Many creatures stay because they have to. If one human screws that up, how many will...?"
"I know," Sugata said, hanging his head. "Even our actions can sometimes…"
He remembered Yuji telling him about the bandits and felt guilty about what he had done. He hadn't thought his methods would harm anyone but prevent it. He didn't realize what would happen after he left and his spell was still in effect.
The cat's ears twitched and flicked. "We all have good intentions, Sugata," he said. "But I do not believe Kai's were. He was out for himself."
"You left to protect yourselves. Is that not just as selfish?"
The cat spirit hissed at him. "It is not the same."
Sugata didn't argue, knowing the temperament of a feline.
"If you gave your word, you should honor it," Sugata told him. "You said you would change him back."
"I entered no contract," said the cat spirit. "I also told them that he would have to be brought to the shrine in order for it to work. Last I checked, this isn't the shrine."
"So you will do nothing?"
The cat spirit sighed and started to walk away from the donkey towards Sugata and stopped. "If he had demonstrated effort on his part, perhaps I would. I see no such thing, so why should I exert any effort on my part?"
Sugata looked at his own reflection in his mirror thoughtfully.
He used his mirror's power to look into the recent past and saw what Boruto had done and how he felt afterwards and was forgiven. He saw the noble use the mirror on Naruto and what occurred after. He saw Yuji looking hurt to softening his face and forgiving him for his own mistakes.
Every event flashed before his eyes and reflected back into the mirror before revealing his own stoic expression once again.
"You will give him no more chances?" Sugata asked the cat spirit.
The cat spirit sighed and walked around him, stepping onto the stone path leading away from Kai and to the rest of the garden. "I do not believe Kai will change, so I won't."
"If given no chance, how can he prove himself?"
"Eating that spirit food was his chance. Knowing what it would do to him is irrelevant. Many humans are not informed of what something will do to them and still won't take it when offered. He took it by force and decided its purpose based on what best suited his whims, not fact." He looked over his shoulder at Sugata. "I will not change him back."
The cat spirit hurried across the yard before shifting back into human form and scaling the wall in one leap. He did not look back before disappearing on the other side of the wall.
Sugata watched the wall for a long time, wondering if the cat would change its mind and return but didn't. He looked back at the donkey on the grass and then at his mirror. He, too, had told the humans that once he had his mirror back, he would help them.
"I shall keep my word."
Sugata stepped before the donkey and held the mirror in front of its face. In its surface was the reflection of a human man. When Sugata took the mirror away, that human lay naked in the grass tethered to the donkey's shelter.
"I owe them this much. Don't make me regret it."
Sugata turned his back to the man beginning to rise and walked away without another word.
With mirror in hand, Sugata left the seaside city and did not look back.