Chapter 6: Super Kittens Arc - Believe It

Just to quickly clear things up before we commence, Kagami still thinks Deidara (Firework) is a girl. Also, I'm planning to focus a huge chunk of the story on her, since she does play a big role in the family. But anyways, onward with the story!

Disclaimer: The OCs and plot belong to me. Kishi-san owns everything else.


Kagami's POV

I ran downstairs as fast as I could, screaming.

Rosie couldn't have… I tried to convince myself, but I had seen the way he was levitating my teddy bear with my own two eyes. There was no way I had been dreaming at that moment.

"Meow?" yawned Fuzzsticks, beginning to wake up.

I flinched at the sound, almost dropping the poor kitty, but I caught him again, just before he hit the floor. Fuzzsticks eyed me and gave me an extremely puzzled look.

"Fuzzsticks?" I asked him. "Can you use the force as well?"

He tilted his head and gave me a very confused look.

"Rosie was using it earlier," I explained to him. "He was carrying my teddy bear with an invisible force, like in Star Wars. But then again, I don't think you have seen that movie franchise yet. Despite all of the people constantly being killed and there being war, it actually has a really good sci-fi plot. Maybe I could show you sometime, but now's not the time. I've got to tell onee-chan and both of my nii-chans about this!"

Fuzzsticks seemed to think that this entire thing was a fun game, so he meowed happily every time we bounced down a step. Soon, we reached the bottom step, and I immediately rushed over to my brother and sister, who were talking to each other.

"Naoki-nii-chan! Onee-chan!" I told them, jumping up and down to gain attention. "Come with me! Rosie was using the force upstairs! He was lifting my prized teddy bear with something invisible! Believe it!"

Placing Fuzzsticks on my shoulders, I grabbed Naoki-nii-chan's hand as well as onee-chan's, hurrying to get back upstairs. Both of them seemed to have the "you have got to be joking" look on their faces.

"Hurry!" I called to them, even though I was well aware that they were behind me. "Quick! Before Rosie drops my teddy bear!"

"Kagami-chan," mumbled my brother, "I swear, if this is one of your make-believe dilemmas, I'm going to—"

"We'll believe it when we see it, right, otouto?" interrupted Kaiya, nudging Naoki's arm while smiling nervously. "Come on, Kagami-chan. Lead the way!"

I smiled, glad that even though she wasn't going to get me ice cream, Kaiya was there to defend me as a protective older sister. It was exactly like she had when she adopted me from Little Alder Orphanage.

Back then, I had been nothing but a mere six-year-old, bouncing happily around others who just preferred to be alone. I loved colors very much, despite the grayness of the dull walls and furniture there. All I really needed was a self-reminder that gray was simply every single color combined, plus black and white, in order to save me from the dullness that had attempted to seep into my soul.

The adults there were not at all mean, but they weren't nice, either. Anybody could ask them could ask them to be more amicable. Affable. Agreeable. Admirable. And those were only the As. But never had one child there, not even the teens, had asked for them to be nice. The sorrowful and pitiful smiles that they had shot us every time before we went to bed had been the nicest the adults could really get. Throughout the rest of the day, they would remain stoic and stern, but every so often, about once every two weeks, one of them would laugh.

Although I had spent days painting and writing hopeful poems, I had also spent them trying to think of ways to get them to crack a smile or laugh. Sometimes they had succeeded, and other times, they didn't. But either way, there had been really nothing to lose.

Contrary to popular belief, they didn't force us to do too many chores. That was a mere myth made up by...well, the heavens know who. We still did simple chores, such as making our beds and putting away our dishes, but that was for our own good. They had even paid for our education, which was a major plus.

But despite all the nice things, the orphanage had remained gray. There had been plenty of food, but it had grown flavorless over time. Although I had tried to be as amicable as possible, I had made very little friends. Others had just ignored me, referring to me behind my back as "that strange girl".

Back then, my name had not been Kagami. It had been simply Kage, which meant shadow. I had no idea why my real parents had named me that, but maybe I had been quiet when I was a little baby, distant from everybody else. But then again, that couldn't have been true, since I had been quite a happy toddler when I was growing up, until it happened. To this day, I had never truly known why, and probably never will.

When the Hoshiyume family adopted me, they had renamed me to Kagami, which means mirror. This time, I completely understood why they had dubbed me that instead of Kage. My new onee-chan had explained that whenever she saw me smile, it made her smile too, as if we were looking at each other's reflections. In addition, whenever someone else was sad, their feelings seemed to reflect onto me, and I often cried with them.

At first, I couldn't tell if the family liked having me around, especially since I pestered Naoki a lot. However, the Sunday following the day they adopted me, I had looked out of my bedroom window to see the three launching a yellow firework. The explosion had told me exactly what I wanted to hear, and here I was, a joyful Hoshiyume member to this day.

I continued to drag my siblings up the stairs, racing towards my room. Silently, I hoped that Rosie was still practicing his Jedi skills.

"They're in here!" I shouted, motioned towards the inside of my bedroom.

All three of us raced inside, expecting to see the floating teddy bear. But of course, Rosie had managed to place the teddy bear back on top of the tower, as if nothing had happened.

Naoki huffed in annoyance. "Very funny, Kagami-chan. I don't see any Jedi knights anywhere."

Firework looked at us confusedly, then averted her gaze to Fuzzsticks, who was sitting happily on my shoulders. Rosie was indifferent, giving us a blank stare. He had put his right paw down, the one he had been using to lift the bear. His tail quivered uneasily, as if he had placed the bear on the mountain the exact moment we had rushed inside the room.

"The teddy is still in the same place," said Kaiya. "Imouto, you must have been imagining it again."

"B-b-b-but…" I stammered, but Naoki sighed and began to walk back into the hall.

"I'm going to go back downstairs," he announced, disappearing into the hall. "I'm not leaving my otouto alone with Twinkleshine and Warthog."

I could have sworn that I saw Firework stifling a laugh at that moment. However, Rosie remained unfazed.

"Well, Kagami-chan," said Kaiya, "I'm going to leave you to play with the kittens for a little bit. Maybe Rosie will use the force again, after I go away."

She bent down and leaned in towards my ear. "I still believe you," she whispered reassuringly. "But try to be quicker next time."

Sending me a soft smile, she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. That left me alone with Firework, Rosie, and Fuzzsticks, who had jumped off of my shoulder and was running around in circles, playfully chasing his tail.

"You can show me," I said calmly to Rosie. "I've already seen it, so it doesn't matter. Don't worry, little one. If my siblings find out, they aren't going to perform alien experiments on you or anything. Having powers like that is...actually pretty cool."

I sent him a smile, in hopes that he would return it. However, he remained indifferent, as if he had not noticed my smile at all. Firework, on the other hand, was smiling. Giggling, I decided to pick her up, which immediately caused her to whine in protest.

"Look, Rosie," I told the red-furred kitten, pointing at Firework. "Firework is pretty good at smiling and being happy! You should give smiling a try too!"

Firework twitched for a few seconds before leaping out of my arms to rejoin Rosie, who he nudged playfully with her paw.

"How cute!" I squealed. "Firework, do you like Rosie?"

After that comment, Firework immediately leaped away from Rosie. Rosie's blank expression changed into a glare, and so did Firework's.

"Aw, come on!" I teased. "I'm just kidding! I don't know too much about relationships, but onee-chan told me that she used to do that when she was a kid."

I reached inside of my pocket, pulling out the squeaky mouse toy that Harumi-san had given to Fuzzsticks. Upon hearing the familiar chime of the silver bell, Fuzzsticks made a lunge for it, swiping and batting at the little mouse with his paws.

"Here you go, Fuzzsticks!" I squealed playfully, tossing the mouse to the bouncing kitty. He immediately dived for it, tackling the toy and squirming around, constantly swatting at it in order to hear the bell chime.

Firework eyed the mouse warily, as if she was debating whether to pounce on the toy or not. However, her decision was quickly made by Rosie, who shoved her headfirst towards the wriggling mass that consisted of Fuzzsticks and the toy.

She growled angrily at the red-furred cat, but was cut off when a ball of black and orange fur crashed into her, knocking her down.

Fuzzsticks giggled triumphantly before proceeding to tackle the poor yellow kitty as well. Firework was cringing hard, looking ready to claw Fuzzsticks into nothing but a mass of shredded fur.

"Come on, Firework!" I told her. "Don't be such a furball! Fuzzsticks only wants to have fun with you!"

She seemed to consider this for a few seconds, then continued to glare coldly at Fuzzsticks, swiping her claw at the poor kitty. Fuzzsticks shrank back in fear, crouching behind the squeaky mouse meekly as Firework aimed yet another strike at him. This time, it landed, slashing Fuzzsticks's pelt as he trembled in terror. She then proceeded to claw him again, landing another blow on the poor kitten's pelt.

Suddenly, I began to get an image: one that I never wanted to see again. Watching Firework and Fuzzsticks claw at each other reminded me of it. The incident that had happened when I was four years old. At that time, I had barely known anything, but I somehow knew exactly what was happening the moment when they had—

"Hey!" I shouted, not wanting to finish the thought. "Stop fighting!"

But too much of the thought had returned to my head, and before I knew it, tears had begun to escape my eyes. The image of the horrid incident painted in my mind, I bawled. All three cats stopped immediately, and Firework jumped away from Fuzzsticks, realizing that she had gone too far.

"Stop it…" I sobbed, tears streaming down my face. "No more fighting...no more—"

I trailed off, unable to finish my sentence. Detecting my sorrow, Fuzzsticks jumped into my arms, purring in reassurance. Firework walked up to me and nuzzled my leg. Even Rosie, who had initially been unfazed by the squabble, looked as if he was feeling sorry for me.

"Meow?" he asked me, trying to figure out why I had burst into tears so suddenly.

"It's just…" I choked out, "watching Firework and Fuzzsticks fight reminded me of...something that happened three years ago. I had to watch them fight exactly like that from the shadows. I couldn't do anything—" Another round of tears came to my eyes.

Rosie sighed heavily, then extended his right paw while turning his attention to a box of tissues on my desk. I sat up and watched, wiping away my tears.

"Wait," I said in disbelief. "Are you...for me?"

He nodded, giving me a "just this once" look. As I examined his outstretched paw, I noticed that if I squinted, it was shrouded in some strange blue aura. I watched in awe as the aura materialized into five thin strings.

"Amazing," I breathed, forgetting about the incident for a moment.

Rosie proceeded to wave the strings around a little bit. Fuzzsticks gasped slightly as the strings quickly attached to the sides of the tissue box. Motioning for the box to come towards him with his paw, I stared at the box as it bent to his will and moved a couple of inches away from its spot on my desk.

I clapped and cheered, but Rosie did not give a response. Instead, he proceeded to pull the box off of the desk, where it floated in the air like a ghost.

Off to the side, Firework cheered for her friend, seeming to forget all about Fuzzsticks, who was bouncing up and down with joy. I felt the urge to pluck the box out of the air to save time and Rosie's energy, but my arms were frozen to the ground as I continued to admire Rosie's magic, if that was what it was called.

"Go, Rosie, go!" I chanted in a singsong voice. "Go, Rosie, go! Go, Rosie, go!"

However, he continued to ignore my trills, focusing only on bringing the tissue box to where I was sitting with his strings. Finally, unable to take it any longer, Firework attempted to swat it out of the air. Unfortunately, Rosie pulled it out of reach of the yellow kitty, who fell to the ground with a thud.

"Are you okay?" I quickly asked her. She nodded, rubbing her head with her paws before glaring angrily at Rosie, who was trying as hard as he could to reel in the box.

"You can stop now, Rosie," I giggled, plucking the box out of the air. "Thank you!"

I lifted him up in my arms and gave him a warm hug. At first, he growled and flailed about in my grasp, then stopped, letting me embrace him and stroke his head. In response, he purred, and I thought I could detect the smallest hint of a smile on his otherwise stern face.

"That was very nice of you," I said, wiping away my tears with a tissue. "Come on, let's go downstairs. Then, you three and your friends can all play together with me!"

I flashed a smile, showing them that I felt much better. Fuzzsticks leaped onto my shoulders, happy that I had recovered. Firework returned the smile, proceeding to walk out of the room. Rosie followed him out, his expression having returned back to normal again.

"Let's go, Fuzzsticks!" I trilled, stroking my kitten's fur. "There's more toys that you haven't played with yet!"

He mewed in excitement as I got up and walked out of my bedroom, carefully placing the tissue box back on the desk.

"Kagami-chan!" called Kaiya from downstairs. "It's lunchtime for the kittens! Do you want to come feed the cats?"

I jumped up and down with glee. "Yay! I wanna do it, onee-chan! I wanna do it!"

With that, I quickly rushed down the steps, holding Fuzzsticks in my arms. Kaiya stood at the bottom step, waiting for me patiently.

"Did he do it?" she whispered into my ear, referring to Rosie's magic. I nodded, before rushing over to the kitchen, where we had placed the food and water bowls. The water bowl was already full, and Tiger was already drinking out of it.

"Over here, Kagami!" called Yukio, holding a small pot full of the kitten food. "Dump this in the food bowl!"

"Yay!" I squealed, dashing over to where he was standing to grab the pot. Racing back towards the food bowl, I noticed that nearly all of the cats had assembled in front of the bowl, waiting for food. Smiling, I dumped the contents of the pot in the bowl, causing some of the kittens to jump back in surprise.

Fuzzsticks jumped out of my arms as soon as I had stopped pouring, approaching the strange brown pellets. He poked at one curiously, rolling it a few inches towards him and sniffing it while all of the other kittens watched. Suddenly, he lunged for the pellet and ate it in one bite, causing some of the other kittens to gasp.

Once Fuzzsticks had eaten the pellet, he eagerly ran up to the food bowl, munching on the pellets noisily. After witnessing his comrade try, Tiger walked up to the food bowl and decided to eat a pellet. He seemed to enjoy the taste as well, because he motioned to all the other cats to come closer and meowed.

At once, all of the kittens ran up to the food bowl, trying to grab a bite of this new and unfamiliar food. I chuckled softly, watching as the cats surrounded the food bowl and greedily crunched on the pellets. Twinkleshine was trying to stuff as many as he could into his mouth, while Dragon ate ravenously, as if he was starving the most out of all of the cats.

"I think they like it, Yukio-nii-chan!" I told him. He nodded silently, watching in amusement as the cats continue to gobble up the kitty food.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Rosie had already stopped eating. I had seen him take only one bite, but he didn't appear to be too hungry, which surprised me, considering how much energy he had probably spent using his magic.

Assuming that that was the case, I smiled adoringly at our kittens as they ate to their hearts' contents. Ten minutes later, the entire food bowl was completely empty, with all of the food eaten. Kaiya walked into the kitchen, grinning at the cats with a laser pointer in her hand.

"Alright, kitties!" she teased the balls of fur. "It's time to have some fun!"