Japan

Present

The silver and black tabby cat silently padded down the sidewalk. It was sometime in the afternoon and the human monsters roared down the street next to her. She hated the Thunder Path. It always smelled like exhaust and gas fumes. She didn't know how the house cats dealt with the smell in there fur all the time. She stopped and lay down in the middle of the sidewalk. She closed her eyes, fully aware of all that went on around her. Seeing with out looking. She suddenly opened her eyes and looked into the emerald green of a boys eyes. She immediately went into a fighting stance. He was a demon. Her fur bristled and she hissed a warning for him to back down or die. He looked at her and smiled sadly. "You don't know what to make of me do you?" he asked softly. "I look human but don't smell human, huh?"

He was right. To animals, demons disguised as humans did tend to screw with the mind. Senses told you that there was a threat, but the eyes only saw a human. It was enough to make a cat want to go get her eyes examined. "I only want to get home," he said taking a step forward. She hissed again. She would kill him if she had to. She only wanted to get back to the forest that she called home, and away from this hell hole humans called society.

"What's the matter, Kurama?" a boy with black hair called out as he came near with two boys flanking both of his sides. "The cat wanna pick a fight with you?"

"Just kick the damn thing out of your way, Kurama," a short boy with crimson eyes said.

"Don't!" the ugly one said. "It's just a harmless little kitty. It's not like it can really hurt him." 'Who the hell are you calling harmless?' she thought. 'I can kick your ass any day of the week.'

"Hi, boys!" a woman with blue hair sang out as she approached. She also had two others flanking both of her sides. "Oh, what a cute little kitty!" she squealed.

"What's so cute about it?" Another girl had joined the group. She had blond hair and blue eyes. "It looks down right vicious to me."

"It's not vicious. It's probably just disoriented with all the demons around." Another blue haired girl said.

"Yeah," a brunette commented. "Poor thing probably doesn't know what to think."

"I think the little shit should think about movin up out my way," the blond said. "I gotta get home." The boy with the crimson eyes lifted her into his arms and jumped over the cat easily.

"See you guys later," he said as they started walking.

"We should go, Yukina." The perky blue haired girl said. "We do have a science project to think about."

"And math homework to go over," the ugly one added.

"Yes, of course. Let's go. Bye." The other blue haired girl said as the three of them started around the cat.

"Well, we'll see you later, Kurama." The black haired boy said, slipping his arm around the brunettes' waist.

"Bye," she said as they walked away.

"Well," he said watching them leave. "I guess it's just you and me then." He looked down at her and smiled. "Good bye," he said starting past her. He stopped and looked back at her. He shook his head, "I was talking to a cat." He said. "I need to get out more." He started walking again and she started to calm down. Then she shot off like a rocket toward home. Humans had just gotten a little more interesting.

"Hello, Tinko." Geegee said as the silver and black cat came in the window. "What did you find out?" The cat had started to change to a human form except that she had fur, a tail, cat ears, and claws. She had long silver hair with black roots, and cat eyes, which were now blue.

"One: my name is Tinco. As in tin. Not tink. Two: nothing. These demons showed up and Rakunaji ran off like a coward."

"Oh," she said. "I'm so sorry, Tinko."

"Tinco."

"Yes. Sorry." Tinco rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, what have you been up to?"

"Cooking. Cleaning. Housework. Hungry? I made stew." Geegee held a bowl of stew under her nose.

"Um," Tinco said turning her head away. "No thanks." She started toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Home."

"Where do you live anyway?"

"Oh, around. Hear and there."

"When did you move in?" Tinco smiled sweetly. 'God, is she really that slow?' she thought.

"I didn't. Well… bye."

"Oh, bye. Remember, dad has a 11 o'clock curfew." Tinco gave her a skeptical look, then rolled her eyes again.

"What ever." Tinco turned into a cat again and left.

"Hey, Tinco." A girl with deep blue eyes said as Tinco bounded into the clearing.

"Hey, Koji." The girl had blue water for hair that occasionally had fish in it. "Where's Moji?"

"Here," a girl said as she turned herself from a tree to a girl, though her short hair was still a leaf green. The wind blew and another girl formed from the air.

"Whirlwind is the only way to travel." She said when she was whole again.

"I like swimming myself," Koji said. She was in the small lake that was in the clearing.

"Well of course you do. You're half fish," Kiki said, rolling her eyes.

"Dolphin. There are no scales on this fin," she said lifting it out of the water.

"Okay, now that the gangs all here," Tinco said getting down to business. "My meeting today was a bust. Some demons showed up and my source of information decided he wanted to be a coward and run off. I've got nothing."

"We could take a more direct rout," Moji said making her leaf green hair grow.

"How's that?" Koji asked.

"We could go under cover," Kiki said with excitement.

"No way," Tinco said.

"You said that She was living in the human world," Moji stated.

"I said She might be living in the human world. It might not even be Her."

"So let's take a chance," Koji said.

"I'd rather not have to go through a traumatizing experience if it's not absolutely necessary."

"But what if it's Her?" Kiki pressed. "You could miss her."

"And what do you mean by traumatizing?" Moji asked.

"I mean living in the human world as a human," Tinco said.

"Human life isn't so bad."

"Yeah, right. I hate human life. Those monsters on the Thunder Path. Clothes. Shoes. And the smells." Tinco wrinkled her nose as she said the last words.

"They're called cars, and a high way," Koji said.

"Clothes are great," Kiki said. "Especially shopping for them. Shoes too."

"The smells are great too. Pizza, cheeseburgers, ribs, and chicken," Moji said.

"Oh, come on!" All three said at once.

"Fine, fine. Okay, but I'm tellin you, human life is a bitch," Tinco said.