Chapter 40

For anyone who doesn't know, a female cat is called a 'Queen', hence the use of the word in this chapter.

To celebrate the fact I've gotten 100 favourites to this story, I've done something a bit different, but I hope everyone will like it.

Oh, to heck with acting calm: I LOVE YOU GUYS! 100 favourites, woah! When I first started this story, I never even expected to get a tenth of that! As much as I'd like to give everyone an individual thank-you, I don't have that much time, and I doubt everyone has that much patience.

So, I'll just say 'Thank you', again; you guys are my inspiration for this story, and I can't really express how much it pleases me to know you like it so much.

DragonLady – I don't think Eris has played video games – the closest she's come is cheering Kyo on when he plays them.

PurpleAjah – I think Shigure and Ayame feel a little left out, because Hatori's been so busy. P

Pagegrrl – Hmm, I've never been so lucky with monopoly. Hence why I once proposed that, as the banker, I get a salary! It didn't get any further than that, though.

Mousewolf – Maybe it was! P Not that Hatori will admit it, though.

Kashuneko – Aww, I feel sorry for you. You're plans got all cancelled!

i-luv-the-cat-sohma52 – hankt ouy!

Klove – I suspect it was something to do with being bored with board games.

Charlotte Senpai – Sorry, no FF7 crossover. Eris is named after the Greek Goddess of mischief; the similarity to the name 'Aeris' is just a coincidence.

Sillylittlenothing – All has been revealed!

cheeky doggie – I think Hatori believes in Eris, but finds her hard to get used to.

He remembered darkness.

Darkness, broken by flashes of light before that deep, dank darkness returned.

He heard sounds, though he couldn't remember them now. They were high, quick sounds, like a kitten's cry for its mother, swallowed up by the shadows.

The scent – yes, he could remember the scent – murky, cold, unchanging and full of hate, tainted with an ancient bitterness.

He saw things, things from a world he could scarcely remember, come and gone as fast as those flashes of light. He'd seen rats and mice, a sight that filled him with pure fury. He saw them, but before he finished his pounce, they were gone, leaving nothing but bones and shadows in their wake.

But, in the end, all of these things faded from his senses, leaving only the darkness that was filled with pent-up emotions. And somewhere, beyond the darkness, something had happened. Something was always happening, a never-ending occurrence, it had been happening for a very long time – Yes, that was it. Time passed; strange, he'd almost forgotten what time was, it didn't exist in this darkness.

One instant in a while, there was a flare. A sudden flare of power that filled his being to the brim and burst out. It was only a single moment, but once in a while that flare came, magnifying his lament a thousand fold. That power, raw and powerful, coloured both white and black at the same time, rose through him, surging through every fibre of his being, and he opened his mouth to howl –

Stop!

Wait.

The world snapped into focus, slowly down in a way it hadn't in what suddenly seemed to be centuries.

There was a boy, standing outside the darkness, peering in on them, eyes holding no fear. The orange-haired boy seemed to stare directly at him. Behind him, half-hidden by the boy, was a ghost, peering at him with what was mostly fear, but a small part of which was sympathy.

Then, he howled. The world trembling under the force. The queen-ghost ducked back, but the boy didn't move. Somewhere in the depths of his soul, was something most ghosts would never be able to identify. But it twisted, stirred.

This boy, he wasn't a boy. He was one of the kittens. He cried out again, and then watched as one of the kittens drifted from the darkness, and spoke to the runt, using sounds and words he couldn't remember.

But that wasn't important, the kitten wasn't important, the queen-ghost wasn't important. All that was important, all that mattered, was his rage, his anguish, and letting the world hear his cry. He lifted his head from the darkness, and howled again, until the stars wept his sorrow.

The kitten and the queen-ghost ran, and for good reason. He continued to howl, until at last, the power faded, sparking away, and he sank deep into the darkness once more.

Time didn't have a chance to fade. The queen-ghost returned soon, and spoke; to the kittens, and to him. Asking questions, trying to understand, giving sympathy and understanding that came centuries too late.

But she said she'd help. Not for the kittens in the darkness, not for him. For the runt, the youngest kitten in the litter. He snorted, and turned away from the queen-ghost, returning to the darkness again.

Then, there had been something… strange. He's seen the runt enter the main house, where they'd been forbidden to go; watched the queen-ghost go after the runt. Then, there had been a great spiking in power, which radiated from one source and empowered all that it touched. The kittens meowed their curiosity.

He rose to his feet, and, with the grace of a killer, went to watch.

He found the runt, lying transformed near the feet of the creature which made his anger boil beyond even that from the sight of a rodent. But, standing between them, bursting with power and defending the runt, was the queen-ghost. Ice glistened in the air, and had begun to cover the floor, and the God before them.

He'd said nothing as the queen-ghost dealt out her punishment to the God, before letting her power dissipate. He'd agreed without hesitation to be her eyes over the God, almost desiring to see the situation repeat itself.

And, for a time, everything was calm.

Then, without warning, the God had done… something. He couldn't say what – he had simply felt the queen-ghost be torn apart, before her presence faded from his mind.

The kittens around him had paused, looking up, yowling in confusion and seeking his guidance. He himself had simply stood still, hair on end, until the queen-ghost's presence had suddenly returned, stronger than before, anger vibrating off her in waves.

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. He'd gone, following the power he could feel, to see the situation for himself. He didn't have to look back to know the kittens were following.

He himself was very old, and had seen a few possessions in his time; so it didn't take him long to work out what was happening. One of the kittens meowed a question to him, but was silenced by an older kitten with a pat on the nose.

He was content to simply watch whatever punishment the queen-ghost choose to inflict upon the being that had, for centuries, try to collar the cat. He would have been pleased to witness the god's fall at the hands of this being. But a part of him desired to claim his own vengance, and that part of his was much stronger than whatever in him was content to simply watch.

The ghost-queen had looked up at his call, and then said something to the god was her feet, before moving away, leaving him to them.

Around him, the kittens tensed, moving into couched positions, waiting for him to give them a signal they could begin their hunt.

His eyes gleamed as he stalked forward towards the weakened creature. Then, he lashed out. And around him, chaos began, as his kittens began to tear the creature, and the god-spirit inside him, to shreds.

Time had still slowed, and he watched as the dragon entered the main house each day, baffled to the strange weakness that creature had received at his claws. If only the dragon cared to ask, he could have answered in an instant – the god's spirit itself, residing inside the creature's own soul, was shredded and weakened, possibly dying, at his claws.

He allowed that feeling of satisfaction and pride to linger in his mind for a few more moments, before he yawned, picked his way through the darkness into the center of the slumbering kittens, and curled up into a ball.

After a few moments, for the first time in centuries, the first cat began to purr.