Furuba Invasion: Kangaroos and Switcheroos!

"Thank you for flying Tokyo airlines!" the announcer called over the speaker, after a Japanese equivalent.

"Thank goodness! I thought I'd go mad if I had to spend another minute on that cursed plane!" Zepuka exclaimed, toting a book bag through the passageway to the terminal.

"Hey, what's that sound?" the dad asked, "It sounds like a muffled growl, but what could be causing it?"

"Uh, um, I-I don't know what could possibly be causing it!" Zepuka replied, moving the bag behind her back, "Hey look! A gift shop! Let's go look at it, okay? Okay!" and with that she ran over to it an examined a shelf containing a selection of souvenirs with 'Australia' written on them.

"O-Okay…" the dad (whom I shall call 'Tom' from now on because I don't like saying 'the dad' all the time and because my sisters are watching Tom and Jerry and I like Tom better…) stated, a note of suspicion in his voice.

"Oh look! This Kangaroo plushie is adorable! Can I get it? Please!"

"Sure, if you tell me what's up."

"Um, the sky?" Zepuka guessed an innocent look upon her face. (Man, this is so weird, writing about myself in third person…)

"Anything else you'd like to add? Say, whatever was making that noise?"

"…maybe…"

"Tell me."

"Um, it's nothing, just um, I was complaining and I um, said something I shouldn't have… Sorry."

"It's okay, now how much is that kangaroo?"

"Phew... I mean! A few! Yeah, a few dollars!" Zepuka answered, then checked the price tag, "Eleven dollars, about."

"Okay, you go ahead and buy it while I get our luggage."

So she purchased the kangaroo and then joined Tom as they got a cab to take them to the hotel.

"So it IS nighttime here, but I'm not tired!" Zepuka exclaimed as the cab pulled up to the hotel.

"That's because you're still on U.S. time, which is 13 hours back, so your body thinks it's really 10 in the morning, but it's really 11 at night here." Tom explained but Zepuka wasn't listening because she was distracted by the cutest little boy who was running across the entrance hall, followed by a smiling teenage girl who seemed to be the same age as Zepuka.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" Tom asked, knocking a fist on her forehead, "We have to get to our rooms and unpack. Your room is room C-28 on the third floor, mine is C-30, so just make sure you meet me there at 12 on your watch, but is really 1 am here."

"Ah! Stop confusing me!" Zepuka called before following him up the stairs. She didn't make it very far though, for, being the klutz that she is, ("I'm not a klutz! I'm just coordinationaly challenged") tripped and fell UP the stairs and dropped the book bag.

Luckily, her dad had already disappeared at the top, for her precious little orange cat had escaped and took off.

"Wait! Come back, Momo!"

Meanwhile…

"Momiji-Kun, stop running! You could have run into those people who just came in!"

"Aw, but Tohru! I can't help it! You're gonna be so surprised!" Momiji giggled before running off again.

"Yes I know, you've been talking of nothing else all during my shift, but it's not going to help things if you get hurt!" Tohru explained, huffing as she tried to keep pace.

"Ta-da!" Momiji shouted, holding his arms outstretched in front of him after he had opened the outside door.

"Momiji, why did you bring me out the kitchen door, we're not allowed to be her- hi!" Tohru shouted, beaming as she spotted Kyo by the door.

"See? I told you that you'd be surprised! I got Kyon-Kyon to come pick you up for a change!" Momiji joyously stated, motioning to a fuming Kyo.

"Don't call me that punk!" Kyo shouted, his tail standing on end and cat ears perked.

"Hey! What are you kids doing in the kitchen?" a voice yelled from the darkness of the kitchen, "Now stay where you are until I turn on a light!"

"Eep!" Tohru cried out, tripping over a crack in the pavement in her surprise, bumping into Kyo in the process.

The lights flickered on and the chef's face came into view.

"Hey! What's a CAT doing in my kitchen! No animals are allowed in this hotel!" The chef exclaimed, grabbing a butcher knife and proceeding to chase the orange cat with it.

"AH! STOP!" Tohru shouted, watching in horror as the cook chased Kyo out of the kitchen.

"Here kitty kitty kitty, come out, come out wherever you are!" Zepuka called, searching under a sofa in the main lobby. She stopped however when she heard shouts coming from the kitchen, her little knowledge of Japanese picking up the word for 'Cat'. "Gasp! That's Momo!"

Suddenly the doors burst open and an orange cat came forthwith, followed by an employee with a butcher knife.

"Ah! No! That's my cat!" Zepuka shouted, stepping into view of the man. The man, obviously embarrassed that a foreign guest at the hotel saw him dropped the knife (which stuck in the floor) and said some hasty apologies in Japanese that Zepuka didn't listen to.

Instead she hastily scooped up the cat and ran off to her room, not wanting any other employees to see the forbidden animal and wanting to get away before the man could even think of pursuing her.

Strangely, the cat struggled against her grasp, meowing in protest.

"What's wrong little Momo?" Zepuka asked as she closed the door to her room behind her and placed the cat on the sofa. "I know! You need to hear the cute kitty chant! That ALWAYS calms you down!"

So Zepuka scooped the cat once more into her arms and proceeded to maul it with long strokes and pets, chanting, "Who's a cute kitty? You are! Yes you are!" for the remainder of the 2 hours she was supposed to be unpacking.

Kyo's thought bubble:
'Ugh! She's worse than Kagura!' (annoyed expression on his kitty face)

Back to Tohru and Momiji's POV:

Tohru ran out of the kitchen after the chef, followed by Momiji and halted, for they would have run into the babbling cook otherwise. Tohru glanced around him and spotted a figure running off in the other direction.

"Ah! Momiji! We must find Kyo-Kun!"

"Okay, why don't you look down here, and I'll look upstairs, okay? then after that, we can both search the third floor, okay?" Momiji suggested.

"Good plan! Let's go!" Tohru agreed then headed off to search the lobby.

Tohru searched high and low, on top of shelves and under furniture until she found a fury orange ball curled up behind the check-in counter.

"I found you! Urah! Now let's go get Momiji and head back to Shii-chan's house!"

A/N: yep, Kyo got switched with the ever-tolerant Momo the kitty! What will become of them? Will Tohru figure it out in time despite her dense tendencies? Will Kyo change back before help arrives? CAN THE BUTCHER PRY THE KNIFE OUT OF THE FLOOR? Stay tuned to find out!

Thanks to:

Sohma-san, you think it's intriguing? Awesome! Thanks for reviewing; I hope you enjoy chapters to come! I checked out your author page and I discovered that you like fruits basket and Harry Potter too! I look forward to reading your stories this weekend! I don't know if I'll read 'That Really Scary Feeling' If you didn't continue it, I would not enjoy getting into it and then not have it finished… oh well!

The Hyper Girl of DOOM, love the name! I want it! I can certainly relate! I'm the super hyper girl of doom! Anyway, glad you like the story so far, I really didn't like last chapter, and this chapter was even worse, but I like the chapters that are to come, when I actually start to do stuff with the furuba gang, but right now it's basically introductions and explaining how I met them in the first place, all just very boring to me… well, hope you'll stay tuned!