Chapter 9: Super Kittens Arc - The Forbidden Dream
I've been waiting to write this chapter for a while. Hope you enjoy, and please leave a review if you did!
Disclaimer: Kishimoto-san owns Naruto and the Akatsuki. I don't.
Kagami's POV
Hours had passed, and we still hadn't exactly figured out how to unlock any more of the cats' powers.
Throughout our lunch and dinner breaks, none of us could think of anything. Even Kaiya, who was the smartest out of all of us, had a blank mind, but I felt like the reason we couldn't figure out how to help the cats was due to the fact that we could talk to them, but they couldn't talk to us. I mean, they could, but we just couldn't understand them.
Outside, the sun had already set. At the moment, Yukio was horsing around with the cats, experimenting with different toys. All of the cats seemed to be doing their own thing, aside from Twinkleshine and Warthog, who were at each other's throats again. However, Warthog had a major advantage, having unlocked his powers while Twinkleshine had not.
"Twinkleshine! Warthog!" said Kaiya, pulling the silver cat away from the brown cat. "Let's not fight in front of my imouto, please?"
The two cats paused, looking at me and my shocked expression.
"Please don't fight," I begged the two kittens. "It's a bad thing. Regardless of who wins, everybody will get hurt in one way or another!"
Warthog sighed, releasing his grip on Twinkleshine. The silver cat sent the cat one last glare before heading towards the kitchen.
"He must be thirsty," I remarked, slowly reverting back into my happy persona. "Let's leave him be and see what other cool things these kittens can do!"
I turned my attention to the three other cats who hadn't demonstrated any sort of ability yet: Tiger, Sasuke, and Fuzzsticks. "What do you have to touch in order to gain your powers?" I asked them.
"Meow!" said Dragon, squirming around on the floor. He was batting at a football that was covered in strings, bells, and feathers of all sorts.
"Do you like it?" I asked him. The blue cat nodded, and I continued. "Harumi-san usually recommends those feathered footballs for kittens. Like laser pointers, it sharpens hunting instincts, according to her. It does contain both artificial feathers and real feather, so it's kind of like prey to a cat. I think the biggest feather on that ball belongs to a crow. It's all shiny and dark, so it has to either belong to a crow or a raven!"
Suddenly, Firework and Rosie tackled Dragon, reaching for the football. In response, Dragon growled, blasting Firework in the face with water. However, Rosie had already snatched the football, pushing it towards Sasuke, who only looked at the cats with an indifferent gaze. After Rosie whispered something into his ear, Sasuke suddenly began eagerly batting the football, but he seemed to be aiming at the feathers and not the actual ball.
"I don't know if you're supposed to be playing with the football that way," Naoki commented. "Shouldn't you play with the actual ball and not just the feathers?"
"Sasuke can do what he wants," Kaiya retorted. "After all, every kitten has their own taste, just like how I like wearing my kimono instead of a t-shirt."
It was true. Kaiya only wore a t-shirt on hot days and when she went to bed, and wore a kimono almost every day. Her favorite one was the one she was currently wearing: a light pink kimono with a sakura branch pattern embroidered on it. Along with that, she either kept her hair straight or tied it into a bun, the former of which she was currently doing.
"Maybe Sasuke really likes feathers!" I suggested, clapping my hands. "Either that, or maybe he might have some sort of connection with them that might unlock his abilities!"
Kaiya considered this for a moment, then nodded, turning to face the black cat. "Sasuke, do you think you've unlocked your powers?"
He blinked at her, his red eyes gleaming. Suddenly, he looked straight up and took a deep breath, and in response, all of other the kittens immediately scattered and ran away from Sasuke. A second later, I understood why, watching in awe as he breathed out a column of...black fire?
"Incredible," said Naoki. "That looks exactly like an Amaterasu! Maybe Sasuke really is an Uchiha Clan summon, onee-chan!"
Kaiya nodded. "Maybe, but there's a very small likelihood that these cats could be related to ninjas. I'd say that they're just magical creatures, like the kitsune."
Sasuke twitched, pushing the ball back to Dragon. Happy that his toy was back, he began pouncing on the feathered football again.
"Hold on," I remarked, realizing that we had forgotten about all about him, "where did Twinkleshine go?"
Kaiya shrugged, turning around. Suddenly, she let out an ear-splitting scream, louder than anything that I had ever heard.
"Twinkleshine!" she yelled, looking at the silver cat that was standing on the counter with a tool in his mouth. "Drop the knife now! Drop the knife now!"
The silver cat only grinned, holding the knife tightly in his jaws. That was, until something lifted him off of the ground. Facing the culprits, he scowled angrily at Rosie, who was holding him up, and Warthog, who was slapping him with gray tendrils.
"Listen to onee-chan," I pleaded. "If you drop that knife, nobody will get hurt. I don't want to see you get hurt!"
From the living room, Dragon attempted to blast Twinkleshine with water, but tripped, spraying Rosie in the face instead. Rosie flew backward, crashing into Warthog and freeing Twinkleshine from the aura strings. Suddenly, Twinkleshine picked up the knife again and slashed his own paw with it.
I covered my eyes and screamed, and Yukio and Kaiya were immediately by my side. Although I was still screaming at the top of my lungs in horror of what Twinkleshine had just done, what scared me the most was the fact that the cat seemed to be happy that he had sliced himself.
"It's okay, Kagami-chan!" Yukio said reassuringly. "Twinkleshine was probably confused or something!"
"But he was smiling!" I protested, starting to bawl again. "Who smiles when they do something like that?"
"Imouto," whispered Kaiya soothingly, "Let me take you upstairs. I'm very sorry that you had to see that."
"But what about Twinkleshine?" I sobbed. "He's hurt!"
"The cat is okay now," I heard Naoki say. "His power seems to be self-healing, so there's no more blood. It's okay to look now."
Despite being glad that Twinkleshine was going to be okay, I continued to cry. "But still, why did he cut himself? No more, onee-chan...no more…"
"I'm going to put Kagami-chan to bed early," Kaiya told her brothers. "I think she's had enough."
With that, Kaiya scooped me into her arms and carried me upstairs, while I continued to keep my eyes shut, trying to block out the thought of Twinkleshine's horrid act. She patted my head soothingly, calming me down slightly.
When we arrived in my room, Kaiya gently placed me on the bed, clearing away most of the stuffed animals.
"I think you should hug Usagi," she suggested, holding up a white rabbit to my face. "He makes you think happy thoughts, right?"
Nodding, I took Usagi into my arms and hugged him, trying my best to think about rainbows and sunshine. Kaiya kissed my forehead, then proceeded to turn off the lights.
"Sleep tight, my imouto," she whispered. "Sweet dreams."
With that, she closed the door, and I embraced Usagi tightly, pulling my blanket over my body.
"Please give me a good dream," I whispered to myself before succumbing to the serenity of the dark room.
But when I opened my eyes again, about ten minutes later, I found myself someplace other than my comfortable bed.
I spun around, realizing that the walls of my bedroom had also disappeared. Actually, the entire house was missing, including the windows, my siblings, and every single one of my stuffed animals. All I had was the clothes I was wearing, a thin blue blanket draped over my shoulders, and Usagi, who I was holding in my arms. The white stuffed rabbit seemed to give me a long, confused look with his sightless button eyes.
"Where am I?" I said to nobody in particular. To my knowledge, I didn't recall there being a shiny, scintillating habitat on any of Kaiya's world maps, especially one that was filled with swirls of pink and glittering with star-shaped flowers, if that was what they were. An odd, soothing aura surrounded me, but it felt nothing like the glowing blue aura from the kittens. It was an actual ambiance, one that I couldn't see, only able to be felt.
"Onee-chan?" I called out into the distance. "Naoki-nii-chan? Yukio-nii-chan? Where did you all go?"
But in the end, I received no responses. It was as if the entire world had gone silent and trapped me in some sort of comforting veil. I mean, it felt nice, but at the same time, I really wanted to know what had happened to my family. I was even curious about what had happened to Twinkleshine, even though he freaked me out.
"Hey!" I shouted once again. "Fuzzsticks? Firework? Twinkleshine? Anybody here? Hello?"
"They are not here," a voice replied. I shrieked, jumped, and turned around, but I saw nobody who the voice could have possibly belonged to.
I spun around frantically. "W-Who are you?"
"Look up," the voice commanded. After hearing it again, I determined that the voice belonged to a girl, and quite a young one. "And please don't be afraid. I am not here to hurt you."
I looked up, but still, I saw nothing. All I saw was a twinkling trail of tiny stars, which I stared at for a while before realizing that I still had yet to find the girl the voice belonged to.
"There's nothing there except for a trail of stars," I muttered. "Where are you?"
The voice giggled. "You're a funny one, Kagami-chan. You were looking at me just a second ago."
I shrieked. "How in the world do you know my name?"
"We have our ways," the voice replied. "Maybe I should turn into my human form. That way, you'll be able to see me better, rather than just a wafting wave of stars. Here, please wait a moment for me to show myself."
Panicking slightly, I watched in awe as the stars began to move faster and take the shape of a human, just before a huge burst of light blinded me.
"Eek!" I screamed, squeezing my eyes shut and hugging Usagi tightly. "Too bright! Too bright!"
She chuckled. "Whoops! Forgot about that part! You can open your eyes now, Kagami-chan! The lights are all gone, I swear!"
Reluctantly, I opened my eyes again, gasping when I saw the person standing in front of me. Like I had predicted, she was a young girl, looking about a few years older than me. She had short and straight brown hair that was cut in a chin-length bob that framed her face, along with eyes that were the color of milk chocolate. In addition, there was a purple, rectangular stripe on both of her cheeks, which made her resemble an animal of some sort. She wore a plain lavender kimono with a shuriken pattern, quite similar to the pink flower-patterned kimono that Kaiya usually wore.
"Onee-chan?" I asked stupidly. "What happened to you? Why did you cut your hair?"
The girl continued to laugh. "Kagami-chan, I'm not your sister!" She then proceeded to form some sort of hand motion, which I stared at confusedly until I realized what she was really doing.
She smiled, watching as a sparkling ball of twinkles formed in her hands. "Can Kaiya-chan do this?"
I gasped, shocked at the fact that this girl both had magic powers and seemed to know our names. "How did you—"
"Simple," she replied, releasing the ball into the air. "I've been watching you and your family all day, Kagami-chan."
Jumping back, I pointed an accusing finger at her. "Stalker!" I retorted, using one of Yukio-nii-chan's strange terms for strange people.
The girl quickly shook her head. "N-No! I didn't mean it in that way! The point is, you do realize that you're not in your world anymore, right?"
"I'm not really sure," I replied. "Where am I, miss?"
"Oh yeah, I should really tell you that," she replied, grinning. "Kagami-chan, welcome to the Pure Land."
My eyes went wide. "Wait, Naoki-nii-chan said something about this being the place where souls go to after people die! Am I really—"
"No," the girl quickly reassured me. "You're not dead, Kagami-chan. You're just dreaming. In a few minutes, you'll wake up and see your family and cats again. But since we have such little time together, there was something I wanted to tell you."
"What is it?" I inquired, wanting to listen to what this girl had to say.
"Listen," she began, "Kagami-chan, you must not tell anybody, not even your siblings, that you met me. The fact that I can talk to you is highly classified information, and even the other people in the Pure Land don't know that I was able to use this kind of jutsu."
"Jutsu?" I asked upon hearing the familiar name. "Isn't that supposed to be the kind of ninja techniques the characters use in Naoki-nii-chan's favorite show?"
She nodded. "I'm using a forbidden one, hidden away for years in the Pure Land. Although I am not usually one to do stuff like that, I couldn't help it. When I figured out that he was in your world, I tried to contact him using this jutsu, but ended up reaching you instead."
"Him?" I inquired, tilting my head to the side curiously. "Who's this boy you're talking about?"
The girl paled, then blushed slightly. "That is not important right now. In approximately ninety seconds, you are going to wake up, so please pay attention to what I have to say. My chakra can only support me for so long."
Although I had the urge to ask her what in the world chakra was, I decided to keep silent and listen to the girl's advice, whatever it was.
"Those kittens your family recently adopted the other day," the girl began again, "they're — how do I say it — something else. In certain ways, they're lost. Although they may look like it — especially with a couple specific cats — they might not be who they act like. With just a bit of something sweet, you might be able to guide them to where they really belong."
"Huh?" I responded. "I don't understand—"
"You'll eventually find out what I mean," she replied, cutting me off mid-sentence. "For now, please take good care of your cats, especially Tiger and Fuzzsticks. Maybe give Fuzzsticks a little candy every now and then, okay? And try not to be too scared of Twinkleshine...he can be like that sometimes."
I watched as she slowly began to fade away into wisps of twinkling stars. Frantically, I waved my arms and tried to touch her, but my hand just passed right through her body.
Right, I thought. She's supposed to be a spirit from the Pure Land.
"Wait!' I cried, thinking that we haven't had a proper goodbye yet. "Don't go yet! At least tell me your name!"
The girl sent me one last smile, then answered my question before fading completely, sending me into a spiraling realm of darkness.
"My name is Rin," she answered calmly.
A/N: Surprised? Yeah, I wanted to add her to the story, but spent a very long time deciding on how she was going to make her appearance.
Anyways, thank you all for your support thus far! This story now has over 730 views and 235 readers! I never thought it would make it this far, especially since it's been only a little more than a week!
Have a wonderful rest of your day/night!
— Tenshi —
