Authors' Note: For those in the United States, happy Independence Day :) enjoy the new chapter!

ALSO, the one shots story...thing...is up and creatively named Outbreak One Shots, feel free to leave requests via reviews over there. Thank you! XD

Review Responses:

Jordansdevil: Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the review!

Final Syai Lunar Generation: We are happy that we made you cry...(is that a bad thing?) It was a very emotional chapter to write, poor Lu, and honestly this chapter was just as bad...so have fun with that. We try really hard with the descriptions so we're glad that they managed to hit you right in the feels ;) Katakuri's cuddles will be returning, don't worry!

Jui-Imouto-Chan: Hey Jui! First of all, the pun was great, we appreciate it lol. Brulee is going into mother mode with Luffy and Kuri is definitely going to suffer because of it. Yes, the hormonal imbalance is definitely something to consider on top of all of his other problems, poor Lu. We love your fashion show idea, it'll most likely make an appearance as a one shot soon :) Thanks for the review!

Shellina123: Welcome back! We're glad that you saw the situation, and Luffy's out of character reactions/moments, as being real/relatable, that was definitely the intention there. Brulee is doing such a good job! Would you believe that when we first met her in the actual storyline/universe we didn't like her? But after seeing her past with Kuri, how could we not love her? :)

Yukino76: Thanks for the review! Kuri definitely needs to be careful since he didn't let Luffy go with his brothers in the first place XD

Son of Whitebeard: Hey, you're back! Yes, the mystery continues...

WARNINGS:

- family meeting
- awkward Kuri
- psychological trauma
- panic attacks
- violence
- animal abuse
- Flambe…

KATAKURI'S POV

Katakuri wasn't really sure how he was supposed to be acting in regard to his cat who was, apparently, a human. Cracker had found that particularly amusing, especially since some of his own words regarding anyone foolish enough to take the boy had been rather...harsh.

After the awkward meeting with the Whitebeards, he had taken King...Luffy...back to his office to make sure that he was okay, only to find that the tiny kitten had fallen asleep in his scarf, as he usually did. But, it seemed different somehow. Different enough that, instead of allowing the kitten to continue sleeping in his scarf, he had carefully removed him and placed him on the cat bed he'd bought not that long ago. Katakuri sat back and studied the kitten for a moment before making up his mind and removing the collar. It had been very...weird...seeing the collar he'd bought King around the neck of a kid….very weird… It was lucky that the thing was made of some insanely stretchy material, it was a miracle the kid hadn't suffocated the second he'd turned back... The private investigator's explanation of what had happened certainly filled in a few gaps, like why King was such a strange cat and seemed to understand everything he said.

What was he supposed to do now?

As the days went on, Katakuri found himself pushing Luffy away more and more, though he always made sure the boy had everything he needed, he couldn't bring himself to interact with him like he used to. Thankfully, Brulee had agreed to make sure he took his pills daily and was eating enough. From what Katakuri understood, when Luffy was stuck as a cat the disorder didn't affect him as much, but now that he was turning human more and more often, he needed to be taking his pills regularly.

Katakuri sighed as the sound of tiny claws and loud meows began on the other side of his office door, as they had everyday since he'd decided to deny the boy entrance. It just….it wasn't the same. With King, he could truly be himself, but he really didn't know Luffy the human. He still cared very much for the little cat...human...he was just confused on how to act. With King he had shown so many of his vulnerabilities, he had even let him see his scars. What would the kid have to say about his deformity? Katakuri didn't want to admit it, but he was a bit too scared to find out.

The next morning, Katakuri was awoken by Brulee storming into his room, a dangerous glare on her face.

"Get up." she demanded, "We are having a family meeting. In the parlor. You have five minutes."

Katakuri was...concerned. He was the one that usually called family meetings so if Brulee was doing it...he must have really done something wrong. He didn't dare argue with his sister, not when she glared at him like that, sitting up instead and moving to get ready as quickly as possible.

Five minutes later, Katakuri found himself back in his chair in the parlor surrounded by his younger siblings, all glaring at him. He crossed his arms and tried to appear relaxed as he asked,

"What did I do?" Apparently, that was the wrong thing to do. Brulee scowled down at him,

"Oh you don't know, do you?" she sneered, "Cracker! Please, tell him exactly what he's done wrong."

"Um...well...you see…." Cracker began, stumbling over his words until Brulee cut him off,

"You are pushing Luffy away." she informed him, "And it is hurting the poor boy."

"I-" Katakuri tried but Brulee kept going,

"No! I don't want to hear any excuses! I talked to him last night you know, something you haven't done in days! He was...very upset! You of all people should know that he hates being alone and yet here you are sticking him in an extra bedroom with nothing but a stuffed lion to keep him company! Do you know what he asked me last night? He asked me what he had done wrong! He thinks the way you are acting is because of something he has done! He thinks you hate him, Charlotte Katakuri!" she snapped, "Everyday he sits outside your door, scratching and meowing, wanting you to give him some semblance of attention yet you ignore him still! I know you can hear him, the rest of the house certainly can! You fought for him to remain here yet you leave him for the rest of us to take care of and ignore his very existence! If you were just going to treat him like this, you should have let him go home with his brothers."

The room was silent as Brulee caught her breath, the rest of their siblings awkwardly avoiding making eye contact with any of the room's other occupants. Katakuri was honestly shocked. Brulee hadn't given him a lecture like this since she'd decided to convince him to leave his scarf off when it was just the two of them.

"Luffy was truly that upset?" Katakuri managed to get out, voice barely audible.

"He was." Brulee informed him, "He likely still is. You should have seen this coming with how well you claimed to know King."

"...she's right…." Katakuri frowned, "I really should have seen this coming. He's my responsibility...I need to stop being such a coward."

"I...I am truly sorry everyone," he said finally, "Brulee's right, while Luffy is here, it is my responsibility to care for him and make sure he is happy. To be honest, discovering his true nature has been...shocking...though that's no excuse to be treating him in such a way. Please forgive me?"

"We accept your apology." Brulee said, "But it is not us you really need to be apologizing to." Katakuri nodded,

"I will make it up to him." he assured her, "I owe him that much."

He meant those words yet, hours later, he was still trying to figure out what to do. He glanced at the window, realizing that night had fallen as he sat in his office, thinking.

"Literally the entire day and still no idea….and I haven't heard anything from Luffy all day either...I hope he's okay….maybe if I sleep on it, it'll come to me…."

Katakuri left his office, glancing down the hall at Luffy's closed door. For a moment, he considered going to check on him, but he sighed instead and turned to walk to his own room. Climbing into bed and turning off the lamp, Katakuri heard the beginning rumble of a thunderstorm as he lay down and drifted off to sleep.

LUFFY'S POV

Everything was dark. Luffy had been sure that moments before he was running for his life, still out of breath from the activity, but then he couldn't see and he was very much alone.

In the next moment, he found himself lying at the bottom of the familiar stairs leading to his apartment, staring up at the comforting form of Kuri as he crouched to inspect him. Luffy wondered briefly if he was just going to relive his own memories but then Katakuri was standing again, face contorted into an ugly sneer as he said,

"What a pathetic creature." With that, the man turned and walked away and Luffy was left alone as he lay helpless, dying, as a puddle of his own blood spread around him.

Then Luffy was falling through the darkness landing with a splash in a flooded gutter on the side of the road. He shivered violently as the icy rain pierced him to the bone, the currents threatening to rip his feet out from under him. It was then that he saw the familiar headlights coming towards him and he was once again unable to move. Luffy searched desperately for any sign of the leopard that had saved him before but he was completely alone except for the car barreling towards him. He stared down the vehicle as it approached, knowing that help wouldn't come, and saw, to his horror, that the people inside the car were his own brothers. Luffy shut his eyes moments before impact and found himself falling once again.

This time, the darkness remained but the sound of jewelry clinking together around him told him where he was. Luffy fought for breath as the box was shaken again and again, certain that one of the long chains had found its way around his throat and was constricting every time he moved.

"What's wrong, Little Rat?" sang the little girl's voice, "I thought the little cripple wanted to play with me? It's not like Big Brother has any time for useless rats like you. Just a broken toy."

This time, there was no Kuri there to pick Luffy up and yell at the girl. This time, the child didn't dump the box out on the floor. No, this time the child threw the box somewhere...warm...no, hot.

Suddenly, Luffy was no longer in a jewelry box as flames lit up the space around him and he found himself in the burning building that had haunted his dreams for most of his life. He spun, trying to see a way out as the smoke burned his eyes and flames began closing in. He scrambled to find and exit but as he watched, the room seemed to become smaller and smaller. There was no way he would ever be able to reach the door.

Something else caught his eye, as he turned from the door to try and find some other way out. Corpses. The smoldering corpses of his brothers, their vacant eyes staring up at him, faces twisted in the pain they must have felt as they died. Luffy backed away in horror, the sudden, overpowering stench of burning flesh making him gag. He turned and found more corpses waiting for him, anyone and everyone he cared for just laying there. Dead. He might have imagined it, but there was something like accusation on their faces, becoming more and more prominent as he watched. Then he heard an ominous crack as the beam above him weakened and warped. He knew what happened next and it was the cold blank stares of the dead that froze him in place this time as the glowing red beam fell and burned its mark into his chest.

Luffy woke up screaming, tears streaming down his face as his eyes searched the darkness. He heaved in breaths of cool air but it felt as though they did him little good, his mind telling him that something was still wrapped around his throat intent on stopping his racing heart. Shaking, Luffy tentatively felt his way to his lamp's switch and attempted to turn it on, hoping that the light might help in some way. The lamp, however, stayed dark no matter how many times he tried. Luffy's shaking increased and his breaths came in short, heavy gasps as he tried again and again to get some sort of light to fill the room, paying no attention to the sound of pouring rain and rushing wind outside until a massive clap of thunder shook the entire house, accompanied by a bright flash of lightning, leaving Luffy half blind, his ears ringing.

The next thing Luffy knew, he was fighting his way to his door,trying desperately to tear off the tendrils of the thing attempting to keep him in place, ending up flat on his face as the thing trapped one of his legs. He tasted blood in his mouth even as he wrenched his ankle away and jumped to his feet, sprinting out the door and down the hall, not even thinking as he threw open Kuri's door and leaped onto the bed.

KATAKURI'S POV

Katakuri startled awake as his door was thrown violently open, sitting up just in time to catch the small body that flung itself at him. Out of habit, he held the shaking body close, rubbing calming circles into its back. He was used to doing this for his family. It was then that he realized, that this could not possibly be one of his younger siblings as none of the ones that lived with him were quite this small, since Flambe had been sent home.

"So who…." Katakuri wondered, suddenly noticing the telltale ears pressed back against the wild raven hair.

"Luffy?" he asked, voice rough from sleep. He tightened his hold a bit as the only answer he received came in the form of loud, shuddering sobs.

"Is he hyperventilating?!" Katakuri pulled the boy even closer and focused on steadying his own breathing.

"Luffy, breathe with me. Just breathe." He tried for a few minutes but quickly realized that nothing he said got the boy's attention.

"This isn't working!" Katakuri inwardly groaned, "He's going to pass out at this rate. I need to get his attention...I wonder how his brothers deal with this? Uh….wait! Don't they call him something specific?" He went back through his memories of their meeting, frowning, then it came to him.

"uh...L-" Katakuri tried to force the nickname out of his mouth, trying to ignore just how awkward it felt to say such an...intimate...name. "er...L-L…" he sighed and contemplated actually calling the boy's brothers before he realized that was never going to happen. They had left Luffy in his care and he would not be going back on his word.

Katakuri moved one of his hands to the back of Luffy's neck, gently guiding his head back until the boy's wide, unfocused eyes were staring up at his face as he said,

"Lu, you need to calm down. Breathe."

Luffy's eyes cleared a bit at the sound of his nickname and Katakuri bit back a sigh of relief as the boy's gasps for breath began to calm into a more regulated, normal breathing pattern.

"K-Kuri?" Luffy's voice broke, hesitant, as he stared up at the man, "I-I'm scared..ca-an I sleep with you?"

"It's okay, Lu." Katakuri assured him, pulling the boy close again, "You're safe. I've got you. Go back to sleep." He kept repeating himself, rocking slightly until he felt Luffy go limp in his arms. Katakuri smiled fondly at the boy as he moved to situate him more comfortably in the bed wondering how and why he had been stupid enough to push him away. No matter what body he was in, this was still King, the cat that he had opened his heart to. He had some serious apologizing to do. He also had some questions that needed to be answered. What on earth had caused such terror? He would get answers in the morning.

Katakuri lay down next to Luffy, pulling the covers over both of them and reaching over to briefly stroke soft cat ears before settling in and closing his eyes. It was then that a thought occurred to him.

"Is Luffy wearing any clothes?"