Me: OMG!! I'm soooooo sorry!!

I know I told you guys I'd update every Friday, but my laptop went wonkers on me over the weekend! It's fixed now, and to make up for the missed update, I made the chapter longer!

Ok Sandy! Review time!

Sandy: Got some great reviews last chapter! Here are our responses!

Kawaii-Chibi-Kai: Yeah, you might think he's safe now, but just read this chapter and you might change your mind.

Hutchy: Woots! Two reviews! The tree's part of what turned him into a cat. You'll see much later. Cat food? Well, it'll be interesting to see how he takes it. He doesn't have much of a choice right now, does he? A pink bow?! LOL!!!

Kais Devil: We just have one thing to say. . . HELL YA!! Kai and Hiromi parings rock!

Silverm: Hee, hee. We have a lot of fun torturing the poor guy. I wonder what Rishika would do if she had a Kai kitty. (shudder) She's always wanted a cat for as long as she could remember, but her sisters had allergies too, so she couldn't.

Chibi-Kari: Yep! Just read on my friend! Kai and Hiromi are just so awesome together, aren't they? Let's see what other things you can pick up in this chapter.

Jani Rieme: We try to update every Friday evening, but as you've seen, things happen that we can't control. We will try our very hardest, even if it means pulling an all nighter! And believe you us, we have for the sake of a fanfic deadline. You guys mean everything to us!

Suheil373: Yes, it would be funny if he turned human while in her room. Lol!! But unfortunaly for him, it won't happen.

(Kai: Damn!)

Sheena: Okay, it seems you've all given up on the pop quiz in the first chapter. In chapter four I'll reveil the answer. Keep guessing!

Me: READ AND REVIEW!!!

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Cat Tales

Chapter Three:

Mornings Suck

-x-x-x-x-x-

Everything was dark. Icy winds and rain pelted Kai. He was confused. Where was he? His body felt much smaller than normal, but it didn't feel like his cat body. And there was something else that didn't make sense. Someone, someone who was running through the fierce storm, was carrying him. The only thing he could make out was that the person was a woman, and she seemed terrified.

Suddenly, she tripped. She fell, covering his body with her own. Kai felt something warm on his face. It took him a few moments to realize that it was the woman's tears falling on his face.

"No, please don't!" she cried. "He's just a boy!"

There was a flurry of events, none of which Kai could make out, but the menacing face that loomed over him afterward was one he could never forget.

Volitare.

His evil grandfather reached down toward him, a sinister smile on his face.

'NO!' Kai tried to shout, but not a sound was heard. 'Stay away from me! STOP!!'

-x-x-x-x-x-

"MROOOOW!!"

Kai's eyes snapped open. He was lying on his back, his paw in the air, claws extended, ready to strike the horrid specter in his nightmare. He was in Hiromi's room, lying on her bed with a leg of the sleeping Hiromi lying across his abdomen.

'What the hell was that. . . ?'

He then realized what was pinning him on the bed.

'AHHH-!' He clamped his fore paws over his muzzle, not wanting to wake Hiromi.

'Ok Kai, stay cool,' he said to himself.

He worked his way free and stood up. He felt much better now with a night's sleep, even if it had been one with a nightmare. He tore off the bandage on his foot and waddled to the edge of the bed in his odd gate. He glanced at Hiromi who was still sleeping comfortably.

She looked so adorable and peaceful lying there, with her rich brown hair framing her face and her hands lying on the pillow giving her a childlike appearance. Kai was filled with an overwhelming desire to touch her face and feel her hair. He wanted to talk to her, whisper softly to her, feel her softness against him.

He shook the feelings from his head.

'What am I thinking?! I'm a CAT for god's sake!' This harsh reality made him growl. 'I need to find a way to get my body back, but how? I need to find my team. They're my only chance.'

With his new determination he looked over the bedside. It looked too hard to jump, so he crawled down backward. He was still learning how to flex his claws, so he lost his grip and fell. He landed with a "thump" on his back.

'Owww. . . I thought cats always landed on their feet.'

He stood up again and moved toward her door. His movements hadn't improved in his cat body and he stumbled a few times before he could reach the hallway by the front door of Hiromi's house. That was when he saw it: a large grandfather clock with a golden pendulum gently swinging side to side. He watched the golden object swing back and forth, hypnotizing him.

His gaze intensified on the object, and time seemed to slow down. He calculated the precise moments he could strike it.

"What am I thinking? I need to find Takao and the others. . . but. . . I can't. . . help it. . . !"

His muscles bunched and he sprang at his golden prey.

WHAM!!!

"REEEEEOOOOOOOWW!!!!!"

Kai didn't even notice the glass covering on the front of the clock, at least not until he slammed headfirst into it. Now he was rolling on his back, covering his snout with his paws and screaming every profanity that came across his mind.

"Nikko-chan? What are you doing down there?" Hiromi walked out of her bedroom rubbing her eyes.

'Nikko-WHAT?!'

Hiromi giggled and picked up Kai, cradling him in her arms.

"What's up lil' kitty? You playin' all by yourself out here?" she cooed in a baby voice. "And what did you do to your nose?"

-Shoot me now.- Kai said in cat speak.

Hiromi only smiled and cuddled him closer. She walked off with him looking over her shoulder. She made a sudden turn into what looked like an office. He looked toward the front and found that they weren't alone. Sleeping at the desk was a woman with the same brown hair as Hiromi. He presumed it was her mother. His suspicions were confirmed when Hiromi began to shake the woman by the shoulder.

"Hey mom, wake up."

The woman blinked, then quickly sat upright.

"Oh dear! Is it morning already?"

"There's this wonderful invention called the bed. You should try sleeping in one sometime," Hiromi said laughing.

"Oh my. . . I was working on that grant when I came home. . ." she looked at the cat sitting in Hiromi's arms. "What on earth?"

"I found him last night lying in a gutter and took him home," Hiromi said quickly. "Can I keep him? He's really sweet."

Hiromi's mom looked at the now nervous Kai with doubt.

"I don't know sweetie, are you sure you can care for him?"

"Yes! Please can I keep him? Pretty please?"

'Alright Kai,' he thought to himself. 'I don't know how long I'm going to be in this body, but if I'm going to stay somewhere, I had better stay at a place where I know and trust the person, and Hiromi's your best bet. It's time to swallow your pride. . .'

"puuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. . ."

He honestly didn't know how he did it, but he did, and not only that, but he mustered up the cutest face he could. Surprisingly, it worked.

"Oh, you're just a little charmer, aren't you," Hiromi's mother scratched the side of his face gently. "Alright, you can keep him."

"Really?! Thank you mom!" she gave her mother a hug and ran back to her room, holding and very relived Kai.

-x-x-x-x-x-

-Hey! You locked me out! Hello in there!!- Kai shouted as he was pawing at the back door.

Hiromi left to see the Bladebreakers at the dojo leaving Kai behind with a breakfast of some leftover chicken she warmed up the microwave. When her mother went out to the backyard to cut some flowers Kai followed silently, but to his dismay he found the entire backyard was fenced with a wooden fence that was too high for him to climb over. Then, to make matters worse, Hiromi's mother went back inside and closed the door behind her, not realizing that Kai was outside.

-Great, just great. What else could go wrong today?-

-For you, plenty.-

The fur on the back of his neck prickled at the snarling voice behind him. He turned around slowly and saw a large German Shepard sliding through a broken board of the fence. His eyes gleamed with anticipation at the defenseless house cat before him, and his teeth were in full view as he grinned viciously.

Kai, with his newfound sensitive sense of smell, found the dog's scent all over the yard, and figured that the dog came here often. If Kai was going to learn how to jump a fence, now was definitely the time. He turned just as the dog began to charge at him and ran to the fence. He bunched his back muscles, much like he did this morning with the clock, and lunged upward just as the dog's teeth snapped behind him.

Kai came up a little shorter than he would've liked, but he managed to get a good grip of the top of the fence with his claws. He hauled his body up and over, but he lost his balance and fell onto the concrete sidewalk below.

-DAMMIT!- he roared in pain. He had landed on his still tender forepaw.

In spite of this he stood and ran for his life, in case the dog found another broken board. He knew the way to the dojo, but his forepaw and uncooperative cat body was really slowing him down. After tripping for the fourth time he didn't pick himself up and just lay there catching his breath.

'What a morning,' he thought.

After resting for a few minutes he slowly stood up and started walking again. However, he only took a few steps before realizing that another cat stood in his way. A cat he knew all too well.

-Well, well, well. Looks like today's my lucky day! I was just looking to settle an old score, human!- Gutterfang said with a sneer.

-What do you want, Gutterbreath?- Kai growled. He knew it was dangerous to mess with this cat, but he really wasn't in the mood to deal with him.

-I already told you,- Gutterfang said, taking a step closer. -And this time you don't have an old bag of fur to save you.-

-Funny how that 'old bag of fur' sent you and the rest of your cats running.-

-Alright tough guy, it's one thing to mess around in our sacred shrine, but it's quite another to insult me and my gang!-

-Go whine to someone who cares, I'm busy.-

Kai tried to walk around the alley cat but he tripped and fell.

-Oh, you're not going anywhere I'm afraid,- Gutterfang suddenly sprang and pinned Kai down before he had the chance to get up. He held him down with a single paw to the back of the neck, and he brought up his other paw, claws fully extended and ready to strike. -Now what should I cut off first? Your ears? Nose? Or maybe your eyes!-

Kai's eyes went wide. -DOG!!-

Gutterfang screeched in fright and jumped over Kai.

-SUCKER!!-

Kai bolted from the ground with a very enraged Gutterfang running after him.

-You tricked me! Crow-brained slime!!-

Kai ducked into an alleyway, taking a zig-zagged route to the dojo, but he could still hear the cursing alley cat behind him, and he was gaining. But finally something broke in his favor this morning and he nearly shouted for joy as the Dragon Spirit Dojo came into view.

He sprinted through the gateway and hopped up the front steps before turning around. Gutterfang stood outside the entryway, ears back and hissing, but not daring to get any closer to the building.

-YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER!- he bellowed. -NOBODY ENTERS THE SHRINE OF FELINE WITHOUT PAYING A HEAVY PRICE! YOU'LL GET YOUR'S HUMAN!!-

With that, Gutterfang ran off. Kai let out a large sigh. At least now he was safe.

"What is going on out here. . . Nikko!"

Suddenly Kai was lifted off his feet and into Hiromi's arms.

"How did you get here?"

"Hey, Hiromi! What was all that noise? Sounded like a cat in a blender."

"Takao! Don't say stuff like that!"

"What? I didn't mean it," Takao and the other Bladebreakers walked through the front door to see what was going on. Takao blinked when he noticed Kai. "Huh? What's this?"

"It's a cat, Takao," Kyoujyu stated.

"I know that!" he snapped back.

"Awww, is it yours?" asked Max as he gave 'Nikko' and pat on the head.

"Uh-huh. I found him yesterday. I named him Nikko. I can't believe he followed me here."

"Well, I don't know what my grandpa will think, but I don't mind having him here," Takao smiled and pet the cat. "He is kinda cute anyway."

Kai stiffened. 'Takao just called me cute,' a shudder went through his body. 'That's going to haunt my dreams tonight.'

-x-x-x-x-x-

Kai sighed for the umpteenth time that day. He lay on the wooden walkway outside the dojo in between Hiromi and Kyoujyu, watching his team practice without him. He noticed that they had gotten a little sloppy since he left. Normally he would've barked a few pointers here and there, but he couldn't even meow right, much less bark.

Besides, he kept thinking about what Gutterfang had said: something about the shrine of feline. Maybe that was the shed he fell asleep in? If it really is a shrine, maybe all he had to do was go back. But with Gutterfang out for his blood, getting anywhere outside would be a hard job.

So here he sat, wanting so badly to give much needed advice to his teammates, but far from doing so. What was he thinking coming out here? How would they be able to help him anyway?

He watched Takao make a bad turn and get knocked around by Max, eventually pushing Dragoon out of the ring. Takao sighed loudly and picked up his beyblade.

"I don't know what it is I'm doing wrong! Why does Dragoon lose speed when I turn?"

"I don't know," Max answered shrugging.

"I wish I knew how to stop that. . ."

Kai couldn't help it any longer.

-You're trying to turn too sharp,- he didn't care if they didn't hear him. He needed to get this out. -You're beyblade has to compensate for the more than average friction and it slows down.-

Then, much to his surprise, all four of his teammates looked up.

Hiromi blinked. "What's up guys?"

"Did you hear that?" Takao asked, looking in the general direction of a certain blue cat who was hiding his snout behind his front paws trying to look innocent. "It sounded like Kai!"

"I didn't hear anything," Hiromi said shaking her head.

"I heard it too," said Max. "He was telling Takao not to take sharp turns with his beyblade."

"And it sounded like he was standing right here," added Kyoujyu looking around for the source of the voice.

"You guys are losing it," Hiromi laughed. "I think you all need to take a break."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Takao agreed scratching the back of his head.

Hiromi stood up. "I'll get you guys some sodas."

Kai looked up, shocked that they had heard him, but Hiromi had not. He then noticed Rei, who was staring right at him with eyes wide and mouth agape. It didn't take a second longer for Kai to realize that Rei knew exactly where the voice had come from, but was having trouble believing it.

"I don't care what Hiromi says," Takao said crossing his arms. "There's no way all of us hallucinated that at the same time."

-You didn't hallucinate. I'm right here.-

Takao spun around again. "Kai! Where are you! Now isn't the time to play hide and seek, man."

"Ummm, Takao?" Kyoujyu and Max where now staring at the blue cat in a similar fashion as Rei.

"What is it guys?"

-Look down.-

Takao did so, and found himself staring at 'Nikko,' a cat with very familiar colored fur, very familiar eye color, and staring at him with a VERY familiar glare.

"KAI?!?!"

-x-x-x-x-x-

Me: hee hee, I love a good cliffie. . . (ducks an assortment of rotten fruits)

Sandy: Ok, so we didn't get to see the weird she-cat like we said you would. But no worries, she'll be in the next chapter and the rest of the story quite a bit.

Sheena: Sorry again this update is late!

Me: Read and Review!! Later!!