"Oh no," Sakura grabbed her head in disbelief. "I don't understand…w-why would this happen now?"
"Meow," Kakashi let out a confused meow. I don't know…
"Come on, we need to get you to Tsunade right away!" Sakura snatched Kakashi off the ground and started running back from where she came.
No, if Tsunade finds out, she'll decrease my rank! "Meow!" Kakashi wiggled around and finally managed to pull out of Sakura's grip.
"No, Kakashi what are you doing?"
"Meow!" Maybe I can undo this? Transform! Crap, transform!
"Kakashi, there's no use in trying we need to get you to Tsunade's NOW!" Sakura went to grab him again, but he ran away. "Kakashi, come back here please!"
I'm sorry Sakura; I need to fix this problem myself this time…
"KAKASHI! Shit!" Sakura kicked the dirt up from the street.
Kakashi speeded down the quiet roads, past his apartment complex, past Sakura's house, past the ramen shop until he reached the bridge. Looking around for his next move he noticed a light on in a small house. He felt the drizzle of a light rain.
"Excuse me; have you seen a black cat with one red and one yellow eye run past here?" Sakura asked the Ichiraku Ramen shop owner.
"Sorry miss."
"That's okay."
"If I see him, I'll be sure to tell you next time I see you."
"Okay, thank you." Sakura walked out of the restaurant into the dark night sky. She felt the shower dampen her hair. "Kakashi's out there all alone. He's not a cat, he's a human! He doesn't know the troubles of the alleyway! Ohh!!" It's early, maybe he went to camp out at somebody's house. Sakura headed down the streets and started knocking on the doors with lit windows. She received a few slams in the face, and a few polite 'no's ', but mostly slams in the face. It came to the point where the rain was coming too hard, and she had to give up. At least I can still tell Tsunade.
Kakashi watched as Sakura's feet clacked against the cobblestone from beneath the bridge. That was close… Sticking his nose outside, he stretched a little too far and fell in the river. Swimming with his entire cat might, he made it to shore without behind carried too far down stream. Uh… He shimmied a little getting the water out of his fur, but it made no difference, the rain only replaced what he got rid of.
"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune burst in through the door in a panic.
"Shizune, what is it?" Tsunade asked not looking up from her paperwork.
"It's about Kakashi Hatake."
"Hm…? I already know about his house if that what he wants…"
"No, in fact it's bad."
"How bad?" Tsunade got up from her chair.
"Bad as in, he's stuck in a transformation jutsu again."
"What? He did perfectly fine at the examination this afternoon."
"I know, but Sakura said that once he got outside he somehow transformed into the black cat again!"
"Where's Sakura?"
"She's out here Lady Tsunade," Shizune led Tsunade to the main entrance where Sakura sit tensely.
The house looked so warm and cozy to Kakashi. Jumping up onto the outside window sill, he saw a mother and a daughter eating their dinner. Not only did the warmth appeal to him, but the food did too. He clawed at the window. Come on, see me! He tried again, and this time gained the attention of the little girl.
Those same pigtails, those same rosy cheeks, it was Teri. Her eyes widened and Kakashi saw her mouth something to her mother pointing and jumping up and down. The mother walked to the door and Kakashi leaped down and ran to the front of the door.
The door opened revealing a woman with a friendly but worn face. "Oh look at you, you poor thing!" She bent over and picked up Kakashi. "So this is the cat that can talk. My daughter talks about you all the time!"
"Meow!" Yeah, yeah, just bring me in please!
"Mommy, mommy! Let me see Red!"
"One second Teri," holding Kakashi against her shoulder, the mother closed the door and set Kakashi down on the tiled kitchen floor.
"Red!" Teri came squeaking over embracing Kakashi in a suffocating hug,
Can't…breath…let…go! "Me…ow!"
"Teri, let go of him, you don't want to choke the poor thing!" The mother bent down and started to scratch behind Kakashi's ear. "Hi cutie!"
"His name's Red mommy," Teri clarified.
Yeah, the name's Red… Kakashi closed his eyes in enjoyment.
"Red, my name is Suji, Teri's mother."
"Mreow…" Suji…I think I like you…
"Oh what was that?"
Kakashi's eyes widened. His stomach grumbled.
"Ahaha!" Suji laughed. "I never knew cat's stomachs could grumble like that. And look at your eyes! Wow, what a handsome little fellow. Does he have a home Teri?"
"I don't think so, I found him trying to fish for his food by the bridge." Teri picked up Kakashi and sat on the couch with him in her lap.
"Well, we'll give it a few days, and if nobody claims him, we'll adopt him okay?" Suji stood up.
"Yay!"
No you can't adopt me! "Meow!
"Red thinks it's a good idea!" Teri hugged Kakashi.
No I don't!
"Well he looks awfully thin," Suji reached in the refrigerator and pulled out some covered up shrimp. "I hope he likes shrimp!"
Kakashi's ears pricked up. Did somebody say food? He jumped off of Teri's lap and started literally begging for the leftovers Suji had in her hand.
In the lobby, Sakura, Shizune and Tsunade were all talking about Kakashi. Tsunade had sent for Gai, so he too could help with the search.
"So he just ran away?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes, and I don't understand why, I mean, he knows you wouldn't decrease his rank, I mean, he did pass the actual examination." Sakura reasoned.
"This has to be something health wise," Shizune added. "Why would this happen after he performed the jutsu?"
"Possibly Shizune," Tsunade folded her arms across her chest. "Irregular chakra flow can cause something like this."
"He did have his sharingan uncovered all day," Sakura felt like kicking herself. How could she let him get away?
"Whatever it is, he still has that injured ankle of his." Tsunade said just as Gai pushed through the glass doors.
"What happened to Kakashi?" Gai came running over.
"You haven't heard the story yet?" Shizune asked.
"No, all I heard was that Kakashi was in trouble and you guys needed my help. What's up?"
Sakura went through the whole story, retelling it from the very beginning when it first happened to their most recent dilemma now.
"What do you want me to do Tsunade?" Gai adjusted the headband around his waist.
"First, starting tomorrow, we need to find Kakashi as soon as possible." Tsunade became grave. "Then we need to prepare copious amounts of medicine. Sakura, I'm counting on you to make that for me with Shizune. If he doesn't receive it in time, he'll start to permanently change into the cat, and we may never see the true Kakashi Hatake ever again."
"Huh…?" Sakura gasped.
"There have only been a few cases like this before, and this only happened to one of those five cases, so it may not happen, but we cannot take the risk." Tsunade turned her back on the group.
"Kakashi, I shouldn't have let him get away like that!" Sakura's eyes brimmed with tears.
Gai wrapped an arm around her. "Hey don't blame yourself. If I know my rival, he has a mind of his own. He probably wants to figure this thing out by himself." He gave his signature smile.
"You all need rest. Tomorrow at six we look for a black cat with one red eye, one yellow eye. We may best see him hanging around young teenage girls who are raving about something 'adorable' or 'cute'." Tsunade walked up the stairs to her office.
Shizune followed her and Gai and Sakura dispersed soon after.
"Teri, time for bed!"
"Aw, but mommy…"
"Teri, it's late and we have a big day tomorrow. We need to hand out flyers in the morning." Suji turned the water on in the sink and rinsed off her hands.
"Oh okay, can Red sleep with me tonight?"
That's okay; I'm good on the couch.
"No honey, we don't know if he has any weird diseases yet, so he'll have to sleep out here. In fact, go wash your hands thoroughly."
Kakashi was highly offended by this remark. Excuse me but I do NOT carry any weird diseases! "Meow!"
"Oh sorry!" Suji apologized hearing the hilarity in Kakashi's insulted tone of meow.