Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and the plot, everything else belongs to someone else.
Cat Hates Her Name and Colin
Well of all the pets that Quatre had brought home Sassy was one of the few that all the boys liked to any degree and Quatre was happy to point it out. Of course as Heero pointed out the cat was drugged with painkillers a lot of the time so Quatre's statement was invalid as they didn't know the cat when it wasn't high on something. Of course Quatre had given him a dirty look but had gone over to assure Sassy that Heero hadn't meant it even though the cat had been fast asleep at the time. In fact the cat spent a lot of time sleeping simply because Cat had come up with the logical conclusion that time would pass quicker that way which meant the more she slept the sooner her leg would heal and she could stop taking the frickin painkillers. Oh she knew Quatre put the stuff in the soupy broth he'd been feeding her but since she'd never been one to seek pain she'd swallowed the things and gone back to sleep. She'd been in the household for five days before she really starting to move around and when she did she set out to investigate the boys she was living with. She'd pretty much come to the conclusion that they were students rooming together because she'd seen all of them except for Quatre wearing uniforms so she got the feeling that they were soldiers. She was pretty sure that the boys were part of the Preventers organization and the irony of all this didn't really escape her. Her father had once served under Lady Une during the war but had gotten sick of killing civilians who'd done nothing, now here she was living with guys who were working for the psychotic bitch. Of course she was suppose to be sane now but if she'd been about to face people as a mass murder she'd have feigned a change of heart quicker then you could spit. But maybe the guys didn't realize that, wouldn't surprise her in the least.
Getting out of her bed by the fireplace was getting easier and even though she had to drag her back leg somewhat it was almost back to normal. She had yet to make it past the main floor except to watch movies with Duo, which happened frequently since the weather had been bad lately and so he couldn't go out. Watching movies with Duo was always interesting and having never been a moviegoer Cat was learning exactly what she'd been missing. Some of them had been pretty stupid but she'd liked Jaws and Dracula, they were going to watch something called Psycho tonight and Duo had told her that it was really gruesome. That was another weird thing about Duo and Quatre in that they talked to her like she was a human being, which she was but they didn't know that, which made them weird in her opinion. But then again they weren't so bad either, not really anyway. Shuffling a bit Cat made her way out of the room and made her way into the hallway. Quatre was gone for sure because he'd stopped in to tell her good bye before he'd left the crazy blonde. Who ever heard of a person telling their pet when they were going to leave? This guy needed a woman and needed one badly, which is what she'd tell him if she could do more then hiss or purr. She didn't know where the rest of them were but smelling something cooking in the kitchen decided to see what was going on in there.
Eventually getting there Cat stood in the doorway and looked at a new face, one she hadn't seen in the house before. A female for once Cat wondered which of the guys she belonged to but none of the guys were in the kitchen with her so that really didn't help. At a guess Cat figured her to be of mixed race, the blonde hair said European but the eyes said Asian even if they were blue. She was also tall which lead Cat to believe that she probably didn't have a lot of Asian blood and the clothing wasn't typical Chinese either. On second thought that wasn't admissible Cat realized as she was pretty sure this was a Preventer's uniform without the jacket.
"Well what do we have here?" The woman asked as she caught sight of Cat, getting down on one knee to motion Cat forward. Of course Cat simply looked back at her, no intention of moving what so ever until she was good and ready to move, certainly not about to act like the cat she appeared to be. "Ah an independent female, how does Wufei stand living in the same house with you?"
Seeing as I can't talk blonde that should be fairly obvious why he can tolerate me was what Cat would have said. If she could have talked, which she couldn't god damn it. Since she couldn't she just cocked her head slightly to the side, which was really all she could do anyway.
"Well then I'll leave you to your prowling, Sassy." The woman said with a smile as she got to her feet. "Duo said you suited them and I think that for once he might actually be right about something. I'm Sally by the way, feel free to claw Wufei if you ever hear him refer to me as Onna."
Onna? Cat wondered before remembering that Onna was the Chinese word for woman, obviously Wufei must have a habit of referring to the blonde as that as oppose to the woman's name. Not really caring Cat walked into the kitchen, moving across the tiled floor rather ungracefully but Cat really couldn't care less. Reaching her bowl she looked into it and wanted to scratch someone's eyes out. There was cat food in her bowl, cat food! What the hell were they thinking putting such disgusting stuff in her food bowl!
"Not one for cat food huh?" Sally said with amusement as she watched the cat swat at her bowl before she watched the cat move to her water bowl, drink a bit then swat it too. "Not to your liking either?"
Obviously Cat thought with a dark look as she pushed her paw against the water bowl, trying to dig her claws into the side of the water bowl without much luck. Not only did they give her cat food with god only knows what in it but they go and give her warm water. She wanted to drink it, not bath in it. Feeling someone behind her Cat looked up to see Sally bend down, picking up the water dish. Watching her carefully Cat watched her walk to the sink, dump the water and refill it from the sink. Walking back over Sally set the water in its original place and looking from Sally to the bowl Cat moved back to it and lowering her head took a drink. Well it wasn't great but at least it was wet and cold. Lapping it up Cat figured she could take it for a couple more months if she didn't manage to off herself before the due date. Lifting her head she licked her lips then looked up at Sally again who was watching her with an amused look on her face. Well if she was willing to fix her water Cat look expectedly at Sally and when the blonde simply lifted a brow moved over to the disgusting food bowl and pushing it with her head brought it closer to Sally's attention.
"Aw, you want be to get you something else to eat as well huh?" Sally said with a smirk as she bent down, looking at Cat with amusement. "So what would you like to eat your highness?"
Well a loaded hamburger with fries and a coke would go down good right about now Cat thought with a smirk, but right now anything that couldn't be described at cat food sounded good to her.
"Onna, where are you and what's taking you so long?" Wufei's voice came from the hallway and seconds later waltzed in with a glare. "We are suppose to be working, it doesn't take this long to make us sandwiches."
"Well excuse me, Wufei. The cat walked in so I was refilling her water and I've only been down here for five minutes tops so stop with the complaining." Sally said with a smile as she picked up the food bowl to look at the cat food. "Has she ever eaten this cat food before?"
"Quatre's been feeding her this liquid broth stuff, I don't think she's tried anything solid yet." Wufei said with a shrug as he looked at the cat that looked up at him with a rather human look of impatience. "I take it she won't eat it?" He added as he noticed that a lot of water was missing from her water dish but that the cat food didn't appear to have been touched.
"I don't think so. I'll make those sandwiches and give her some of the lunch meat, that should hold her for a while." Sally said as she set the cat food dish back on the floor. "I'm going to get you some new food to eat, Sassy so don't pitch a fit okay?"
"You talk to her as if she could understand you." Wufei said with amusement. "Quatre and Maxwell do that as well."
"Well cats are really intelligent animals, Wufei. I had a cat when I was a little girl and that cat was no dummy." Sally said with a fond smile. "There was nothing that cat couldn't or wouldn't hunt and you only had to tell her something once and she never did it again. Plus there's nothing wrong with talking to animals, its very therapeutic. They're great listeners, they love you and are loyal to you, what more could you ask for?"
"How about a sandwich?" Wufei said with a smirk as he walked over to the refrigerator. "What kind do you want?" He asked as he reached the sandwich meats. "We have ham, beef and turkey?"
"I'll have the turkey, thank you, Wufei." Sally said with a delighted smile that Cat took to mean that Wufei wasn't in the habit of acting this way. No surprise there Cat thought as she decided to stick by Sally's side since she was the likely one to slip her some of that sandwich. Cat had met her fair share of Chinese men and they were pretty useless when it came to taking care of themselves. Give them a sword or something to debate and they were fine but expecting much else from them was rather pointless.
"Okay, here." Wufei said as he dumped all the needed items on the table then turned to look at Sally, obviously expecting her to make the sandwiches. Oh you are not making that sandwich girl Cat thought as her eyes narrowed at Sally. If she made one move to make that sandwich Cat was going to bite her and then Wufei for acting like a sexist pig. He could make his own damn sandwich; this girl wasn't his slave for god sakes.
"Thanks, you make yours and I'll make mine, that way we'll get down faster so that we can finish those reports." Sally said cheerfully as she walked over to the counter and began to put a sandwich together for herself. Seconds later Wufei joined her, knowing better then to try to get her to make his. Soon they were all done and before putting the turkey away Sally cut some turkey up for Cat and putting it on a plastic plate set it down on the other side of Cat's water bowl. "Here you go, Sassy."
Thanks Cat said mentally then took it back when she remembered what Sally had called her. You'd think after she'd hissed and clawed every time they called her that they would have got the point that calling her Sassy was a bad idea. Of course she'd overheard Heero talking about other pets Quatre had brought in and Cat knew that name wise she'd been one of the luckier ones but still-Sassy? Of course it fit her better then Coddles or something stupid like that but still. Sick of trying to get her hatred of her name across Cat didn't see the point in making it an issue now and so turned her attention to eating the turkey which was way better then any stupid cat food.
"Wufei, Sally, have you seen Sassy?" Duo's voice boomed out as he suddenly ran into the kitchen, a hopeful look on his face as he smiled at the fellow Preventers. "I looked in her basket but she's not there so I figured you might have moved her somewhere."
"Look down, Maxwell." Wufei said with a smirk as he looked over to the cat's bowls where the cat was currently devouring pieces of turkey as though it were her last meal.
"There she is, the bestest, most beautiful kitty cat this world has ever seen or will see." Duo said with a huge smile that wasn't fooling Cat a bit. No one complimented a person like that unless they wanted something and wanted it badly. The question was what could he possible want from her given that she was a small ball of fluff to him? "How would you like to go for a walk then, Sassy. Nice fresh air and the smells of summer, nothing like it." Duo continued as he picked her up, taking her away from the turkey, which had not been a great move on his part.
"Ah, Duo, cats don't need to be taken for walks, that's what the litter box is for. And though exercise isn't a bad idea her leg looks like its still causing her some problems." Sally said with a smile as she reached out a hand to stroke Cat's head a couple of times. "If you want fresh air you could take her out on the back porch with you, that way she could get fresh air without having to exert herself."
"But how am I suppose to show Celine Sassy if I can't take Sassy for a walk!" Duo said with a frown, seeing his plans going down the drain too rapidly for comfort. " What if I carried her, then she wouldn't have to walk on her sore leg. How would that sound, Sassy? A nice stroll in the park."
"Who is Celine and why do you need to introduce her to the cat?" Wufei asked, refusing to call her Sassy on the chance that she'd try to scratch him, which she'd been trying to do to anyone who called her Sassy. He'd pointed out her habit of attempting to attack anyone who called her by her name but Quatre said she was just cranky from the painkillers. Personally he thought it was the name and so far he'd remained scratch free thanks to his refusal to call her anything but the cat. He was also willing to bet that Duo's sudden need to introduce Sassy to this Celine had something to do with Duo wanting to date the latter.
"Well because she really likes cats, I mentioned that I had one too and so I want to take Sassy down to the park to meet her." Duo said quickly, realizing that if he said he was using Sassy to pick up girls Wufei might possible object to it or tell Quatre on him.
Right and I'm the f**kin tooth fairy Cat thought as she rolled her eyes mentally as she was pretty sure that it was impossible for a cat to roll its eyes though she'd never given it much thought before. Could a cat roll its eyes? She'd have to try it in front of the mirror later on and see Cat decided as she looked up into Duo's hopeful face and felt a stir of pity for the guy. It wasn't that he was brainless, he just seemed that way the majority of the time. Plus the hair Cat thought with a roll of her eyes, thinking again for the hundredth time that he seemed familiar but she couldn't place him though she'd recognized his name once she'd heard his full name. The infamous Duo Maxwell, God of Death. Well he had the black down pat but she had a hard time picturing a god of death with more hair then most girls. Not that he wasn't cute in some ways but Cat really had to feel sorry for the girl who chained herself to him, she was in for one hell of a ride.
"Don't you mean you want her to help you pick the girl up, Duo?" Sally asked in an amused tone and had Sally not been too far away to hit Cat would have taken a swipe at her; it wasn't funny. She was not helping the moron pick up girls and if he tried it she'd claw the girls's faces into ribbons then go after Duo's.
"No you won't because that will look bad on your report, Catherine." A voice said and stretching her neck Cat could make out a person casually leaning against the kitchen counter as though he owned the place. Of course he didn't and he hadn't been there a minute ago therefore logic dictated that this was the angel guy who was suppose to keep her out of trouble. Oh she was so going to find a way to kill this guy; it would improve her day enormously.
"First of all you can't kill someone who's already dead and even if you could killing me would ultimately result in you going to hell." The guy said casually with a wink. "And in case you're wondering I can read your thoughts and you're the only one that can see or hear me."
Why is it always like that Cat wondered with a pout before realizing to her horror that she was doing it. Sending him thoughts that would send a repeat serial killer running Cat's eyes narrowed even more when he showed no signs of being scared or even knowing exactly what Cat wanted to do to him at the moment. You can get lost pal, I don't intend to do any killing today, though how they think I could manage it in this body would certainly be an interesting conversation.
"You're a very skilled and resourceful girl, Catherine. I'm sure that if you wanted to you would manage it somehow." The guy said with a grin and looking through narrow slits Cat put him at about her age, early twenties with dark brown hair and green eyes that spoke of mischief. "I'm Colin by the way, pleasure to meet you."
The pleasure is all yours pal and if you call me Catherine one more time I'm going to slice open your stomach with my claws and strangle you with your own intestines. Cat thought cheerfully and smiled a bit when Colin went a bit paler at the thought.
"Is that humanly possible? Never mind." Colin said quickly as he instinctively placed a hand over his stomach. "So do you have any questions about what's going on? You've really ended up with an interesting group here, there will be plenty of good deeds you can do here."
I intend to do nothing of the sort Cat thought stubbornly. If I don't succeed in killing myself-
"That won't work by the way, they'll just send you back to finish your months in another body, usually a worse one." Colin said quickly before she could finish that sentence. "Trust me when I say there are a lot worse things they could turn you into."
Fine then, while I'm here I have no intention of doing any good deeds and you can't make me Cat thought smugly. I'll just stay here, do my time and let them take me to hell. You can really go home, Colin; there's no reason for you to stay.
"You're right in that I can't make you do anything but I can't leave either." Colin said with an unhappy look. "You see I'm stuck with you and I'll be spending these three months trying to make you worthy of heaven. It's not so bad there I hear, it's suppose to be the most beautiful place in the whole world."
You've never been there before Cat asked, surprised at the idea. Weren't angels supposed to live in heaven and spend their days doing nothing but laze around?
"You're kinda right in that angels live in heaven but I'm not exactly an angel, not yet anyway. You see what I look like now is just what I looked like before I-before I became an Oz officer. I'm actually a lot older and well, like you I'm earning the right to go to heaven, only difference is that we're on different levels for candidacy."
Oh, Cat said as she shifted in Duo's arms, ignoring the pilots and Sally, all her attention on Colin and his explanation. Why are we on different levels?
"We're on different levels because I killed during a time of war thinking that what I was doing was right, you killed during times of peace and you knew what you were doing was wrong." Colin said looking tired and much older. "We both have different things going for us in that you have your age as an excuse and I have my actions before the army. I have no intention of going to hell so you better understand that I'll do whatever it takes to save your soul."
Oh God Cat thought as she correctly read the determination and stubbornness in Colin's eyes. This was definitely going to be a long three months.
Well that's all folks, hope you like and that you'll review to tell me what you think of it. Thanks again and have a great day.