Foosha: Aww look how nice I am. :D I went and wrote this whole chapter yesterday and today. xD Now the other chapter isn't as bad of a cliff-hanger!
Nicky: Kitties? ;_;
Vash: *shakes head*
Nicky: TT_TT I want kitties!
Foosha: Thanks for the reviews, alerts and faves even though it's only been a day! You guys are so responsive! ):D Anehways… enjoy this chapter! Should be entertaining.
Nicky: Foosha doesn't own Naruto, Mario, Soul Eater, Sims, or any television or random references in this story! And there are quite a few in this chapter!
Foosha: Also, if you see any repeated sentences, please let me know. My Microsoft word is all wonky. Oh! And a lot of Vash's dialogue in this chapter was revised and rewritten by the actual Vash! So it's a special treat! 8D Enjoy~!
The man turned around to reveal a terrifying face, filled with piercings of all kinds and strange looking eyes. I froze in my spot. But wait…
"Hang on. Vash, did you set us up for one of those prank shows or something? Hehehe… Are you a magician, sir? Because if so, you are wonderful!" He looked at me with a level expression as I stood up and flitted around the room, searching for hidden cameras. "Where are they? How long were you keeping this from me, eh?"
"Nicky… I didn't…" And by the seriousness in Vash's voice, I knew this wasn't her plan. Slowly, I inched around in a circle until I was again looking at the strange man. He looked back and forth between Vash and I, and Rin was now hiding behind Vash's back, looking terrified. Stupid me! I should have known he was trouble when my rambling started. I always talk a lot when I'm nervous.
"Well," he spoke in an even voice, "I didn't expect to be changed back in this manner." Now that I knew it wasn't Vash's doing, I was stuck in my spot, eyes slightly widened. Where did he come from…? People don't just appear! Suddenly, Vash grabbed a random fire extinguisher, that I didn't even know we owned, and sprayed it at the man. Not expecting it, he shielded his face with his arms and in that moment, unable to faint to get away from the situation, I sprinted to my room to hide.
Vash's POV
I saw Nicky make a run for it from the corner of my eye. Curse you Nicky!
"RIN, GET AWAY FROM THE CREEPY DUDE!" Without hesitation, I felt her body heat disappear, though I'm not sure where to. When the extinguisher became lighter, I threw it at him with all my strength and rushed to the living room, taking my phone from my pocket and dialing 911.
"Hello 911 what is your emergency?"
"I-" but before I could even get a word out, the man ripped it from my grip and held it to his ear.
"I'm sorry, wrong number. I must have sat on my phone."
There was a pause where he listened to the woman on the other line, placing a firm grip on my right shoulder as he did so.
"I assure you all is well, the call was accidental," he replied to the woman and flipped my phone shut, pocketing it into his cloak thing. My eyes followed him wearily while he inspected the room, probably looking for Rin and Nicky.
"Now, get your friends, or something bad will happen." I glared at him.
"You really think I'll just go gather my friends for you so you could…do bad things to them?" I hissed. "Like hell!" A swift knee to the groin and I'll be free to run! I gathered what little strength I hadbefore swinging my knee up hard…into nothing. The tight grip that had turned my shoulder numb quickly slid down to my wrist and twisted my arm up behind my back before I could so much as gasp. My breath stopped from both fear and pain. The damn bastard's going to rip my arm off!
"I told you something bad would happen." He breathed into my ear, annoyed…but surprisingly calm considering the situation. I stayed silent. I didn't want to piss him off and have him break my arm or dislocate my shoulder. Shit! What the hell am I supposed to do in a situation like this? If I could just—
"Wait! Wait! Don't hurt her!" Nicky practically screamed from the doorway that led into the bedroom. I managed to turn my head a few inches to see her standing there in a serious manner, Rin cowering behind her back. Damn
"Come here." The man's voice was stern and expectant. He was obviously used to being obeyed. No! You idiots! Run and call the police! I begged silently. I was still too afraid of getting hurt to actually say anything. Nicky took a few steps into the living room, Rin following close behind. I drew in a breath to finally yell at them, only to stumble forward a few steps when the man suddenly released my arm and pushed me over in their direction. "At least some of you can listen." He leveled a disapproving stare my way. I glared back at him and flipped him the bird. He ignored me.
Nicky's POV: Living Room Interrogation!
Once we were all standing in the room, the man called our attention, though Vash was the first to speak.
"Who are you? Why the hell are you here? What are you planning to do with us? Where's Nonny?" Vash asked bravely with only a slightly hysterical edge to her voice. I noticed too, that and the remaining kittens were watching the man with interest. The corner of the man's mouth twitched very slightly.
"I am "Nonny". My real name is Pein, but you will refer to me as Leader. Now, we're going to find out how you changed me back. All of you sit over there." He ignored the other questions and pointed to the couch. We quickly obliged, setting Rin between Vash and myself. Curse motherly instincts! I should be getting the hell outta here! Though, he looks like he could kill me with just a look if I tried to run. Who knows? He could be like Free from Soul Eater and have killed the Head Witch, stealing her eyes and her magic or something! We'd be doomed! Unless he was dumb like Free… then we'd be okay. Stop rambling stupid! Pay attention to the situation! My insides calmed down a bit while I tried to regulate my breathing. I could feel Rin shiver beside me when he spoke again.
"So… what exactly did you do that deactivated the jutsu?" We just sat there and looked at him blankly.
"What's that?" Vash questioned bluntly. It sounded familiar to me, but I was far too scatter-brained at the moment to put the pieces together. The man frowned a bit, bringing his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose and pinching it.
"Well… the last thing that happened was when I tripped… right? So… -Hey wait a second, you're a cat? A cat… you were a cat. You were a cat that's been living at our house for almost three weeks. Does that mean these cats are also people? You're all real people who were disguised as cats living in our house for three weeks?" Things started connecting randomly in my head and I just kept talking, trying to sort out the logic in what was happening, but there was none. Pein… I mean Leader glared at me, looking somewhat irked.
"Just shut up. We are the Akatsuki, a criminal organization from another dimension. For some reason we ended up here and now you're going to turn the rest of us back to normal. Understood? I didn't eat any of the confectionaries you made, small girl, so it couldn't have been that. Now you…" he looked back into my eyes and now realizing how swirly and cool-looking they were I didn't answer at first, until he narrowed them dangerously. I gulped and sat up straight.
"Y-yes Leader guy?"
"You said the word "pain". My name is Pein. Perhaps the jutsu only required someone's name to be undone…" Again he pinched the bridge of his nose, "No wonder. No one else would know our names outside the organization so it's perfect. And such a simple solution too. Oh well. Itachi, Konan return to your human forms." He looked to Izaya and Lila but… nothing happened. "Itachi, Konan, now." Still nothing. I almost giggled until he looked back at us. "One of you, try saying their names."
"Uh… Konan?" I asked quietly, and watched in amazement as Lila was replaced by a cloud of smoke and a girl wearing a similar cloak, with sky blue hair held up by a paper flower. "Wow…" Now that I look at them… our kittens were beautiful people and kitties! At least so far. Pein nodded his head in acceptance.
"Now try Itachi." I glanced at Vash, signaling her that we'd take turns.
"Itachi." Again, more smoke and a man with long hair and red eyes appeared. Wait red eyes? These people must be possessed! Oh my god, if this turns into something like the Grudge I'll kill myself. The two newly transformed members moved to the opposite side of Leader, leaving the remaining kitten/people in their group.
"Next do Kisame and Tobi." Before Vash could say one I picked Tobi. I didn't want to mess up pronouncing the other one.
"Tobi."
"Kisame."
Two poofs revealed two men. One was extremely tall and actually had his head hitting the ceiling. Honestly, he looked like a strange version of a human shark creature. Terrifying. His skin was even blue! He must have had too much fish in his childhood… heheheh… ugh, that didn't even make sense! It wasn't even somewhat funny! Terrible terrible attempt at a joke, Nicky. No wait! I can save it. It's called Fishy! Ya know, 'cause that was his cat name, and because he ate too much fish, and it's like Scurvy except Fishy! Yeah? Yeah? …Sigh. I know.
"Next, Zetsu, Sasori, Kakuzu, Hidan and Deidara."
"Okay I'll do... Zetsu, Hidan and Sasori."
"Kakuzu and Deidara."
More poofs and the rest of the kittens were now men. Each of them took time to move their joints, testing to see if their forms would stay. Some of these guys look crazy! How are they living? Once satisfied, they returned their attention to us. I swallowed and tried to shrink myself away from their gaze. It's scary now that their people, even though they've probably seen me do more embarrassing things than any other boy… oh my god. Suddenly my whole body warmed up, and I assumed, turned deep red. How embarrassing! I was talking to them and everything! I even danced and sung terribly to them! This is awful! And even though their criminals, for some reason all I can think of is how they were kitties! But wait...
"So what do you want from us now? If you're from a different universe have you found a way back? Are you just going to kill us off?" Vash questioned from her spot on the couch. Don't put ideas in their brains, you twit! Inside of my head I was having a mental breakdown, but I'm pretty sure on the outside, it looked like I was just staring off into space, making weird facial expressions.
"Hm. On one hand, we could just kill you and stay here but… I suppose we owe you in a way for keeping us safe when we were… indisposed. You have not wronged us in any way, so it's only fair. So then, you will help us try to find a portal that may have transported us here. If we are unable to find such a thing, we'll have to research a new jutsu… or if worse-case scenario, you'll have to teach us more of your world and we'll have to find a more… permanent arrangement. If you don't cooperate with our plans though, we will kill you," He held a hand out to Vash. "Do we agree on these terms? We cannot touch you, unless you are interfering with our plans."
Vash looked at me and Rin before turning her head towards Pein. "Fine, we accept. It's not like we have much of a choice anyway." They shook hands before he backed away, his arms crossed in front of him.
"We have learned some things about your world from watching the television shows and going out occasionally. In the mean-time when we aren't searching for portals, I want you to teach us more of this world, incase worse comes to worse." I nodded my head, thinking it sounded reasonable enough but, my mind could only come back to one thing.
"What about food?"
"Hm… we don't have money that will work here. And apparently there are no longer ninjas in this world so there is no where we could make money. I will send a few people to steal food from those market places you've shown us." I nearly had a heart attack when I heard that. Stealing? I'd feel terrible, but what else could we do? Mista' tummy's gotta eat! Nomnom!
"Wait, did you say ninjas? Like Ninja Warrior ninjas?" Some of the men facepalmed at my question. Probably something they learned from me or Vash. Pein sighed.
"We are real ninjas, not people who call themselves such and participate in childlike obstacle courses. Our organization stands for-" but before he could finish, something clicked in my mind, so of course I had to say it out loud.
"Oh! I know why you sound so familiar! Here look!" I walked over to my desktop and woke it up, hyper aware of the group gathering behind me. Letting out a shaky breath, I continued my objective and pulled up Google, typing "Naruto" in the image search bar to see what would come up. And of course, in a matter of seconds the page was filled with images from the anime Naruto. I heard some gasps from behind me so I turned around to see a few of them looking wide-eyed.
"That's the Kyuubi. Where did you find this, girl?" I frowned at that.
"It's on the internet. Naruto, or Kyuubi whatever, is a television show like the ones you've watched and… I think you guys are the lead antagonists. I've only ever watched the first few episodes so… I don't know much about it. Here let me try something else." I typed "Akatsuki" in the search bar and this time, images of them came up. Thank god I have the blocker on. Otherwise we might see something nasty. By this point, we were all shocked to see that they were indeed special ninja cats from another dimension. And that dimension was actually fictional.
"How the hell does this stuff happen? You guys are a television show! Next thing you know Black Star will come falling through the ceiling yelling "Welcome to my really big show!" and that would be terrible! Just awful! I'm so glad you guys aren't Black Star. So glad… And what if it would have been Excalibur?" And cue nervous driveling from Nicky, not many of them were paying attention though, still mesmerized by the images on the screen.
"So… people from this universe can watch our lives through this television for entertainment? How disgusting," Spirit muttered under his breath. Argh… I'm gonna have to learn their names all over again! I don't even remember half of them! Only Pein and Konan.
"Does that mean random people will know our future too, yeah?" I looked to see a person who had hair that resembled Foofy talking, a hand placed thoughtfully to his chin. Some of the others visibly tensed. I guess it would be pretty messed up to have people watching your lives in another place, knowing how you will die and what not. Wow that's actually really terrible. I'm glad my life isn't like that… or is it? It's like real life Sims!
"Tobi wants to know what happens!" My eyes shifted to a short haired fellow with an orange swirly mask, hopping up and down excitedly. I think that's Ghast… I think. Foofy smacked him on the head and smirked when Ghast held his head complaining about how "Deidara-sempai" hated him.
"Shut up Tobi, un! Why would you want to learn when you die, yeah?" Pein cleared his throat to get the group's attention.
"Well, knowing this information, from this moment on none of us are allowed to research our future or our world. We wouldn't want to alter anything important in our plans, would we?" A few of them shook their heads. "Very well. Itachi, destroy these computer devices." Itachi walked to the front of the computer before I jumped in front of him waving my arms.
"Hang on a second! I need this for homework and stuff! Let me just put a password on it so no one can get on but me, is that okay?" Itachi looked to Pein who nodded slowly.
"Fine. As long as no one can use it besides you it's okay. But if I ever see someone else on, I will have it destroyed." I nodded and released a breath of anxiety. That was wayyyyy too close.
"Now that we're fucking human I need a damn sacrifice for Jashin-sama. How about you bitch," the white-haired guy growled menacingly, pointing a finger towards me. "For putting me in that shitty drawer! I'll kill you, you fucking bitch!" Oh god it's happened! I knew my dislike towards Marshmallow would come back to get me one day, and it turns out he's a complete psycho! I heard a gasp somewhere to my left, probably Vash, before backing up against the desk as much as I could. But before he could take another step in my direction, someone grabbed Marshmallow by the collar, pulling him back roughly enough for him to fall backwards. Professor Layton looked down at him tiredly before sighing out loud.
"Idiot. You can't kill them, remember?" They continued their argument and I took this moment to look around at the other members, who were also looking around at things in a new light. And then I realized something.
"Hey, you guys are gonna need new clothes, unless you're planning on staying inside all day. Someone will be bound to recognize you if you're wearing those outfits since you wear them in the anime." A few of them nodded and started talking about ways they could fix that. I started to tune them out, not out of boredom, but out of pure shock.
It's strange how only twenty minutes ago, I thought I might die at the hands of a magical assassin kitty and now I've relaxed enough that I'm able to think somewhat normally. Perhaps it's because they also seem relatively calm. Would it be different if we had accidentally changed them earlier? Well of course it would have! We would probably be dead, just like Pein said. We're lucky that we helped them out. Thank goodness for our extreme love of kitties. Oh my gosh, what if they had been gerbils? I would have never taken them in! And then they'd come back to kill me and Vash would die too just for being there!
I started to hyperventilate from my over-imaginative mind until I felt a weight on my shoulder. My breath caught in my throat and I looked behind me to see Ghast patting me reassuringly.
"Stop worrying Nicky-chan! Tobi will play games with you now that he has thumbs, so don't worry about that! Deidara-sempai said he'd play too!" I blinked at him.
"Hey! I didn't say that, yeah! Those games are stupid, hm!"
"Shush sempai! Don't say that in front of Nicky-chan! She loves her games!" Tobi tried to cover Foofy's (who shall remain Foofy since I can't roll my "r's") mouth with a gloved hand, but that just made Foofy even more mad.
"I'm gonna blow you up Tobi, un!" He grabbed for the side of his hip, but stopped when he didn't feel anything there. Confused he looked around him. "Hey, what happened to my clay, yeah?" Marshy also glanced around with an angry glare.
"Where the fuck is my damn scythe?"
"And my puppets," Spirits added. The other members started arguing over who took what when Pein silenced them. Vash cleared her throat loudly from behind the crowd.
"I didn't see any weapons with you when you changed back. You must have left them behind, so be quiet. What if Jen gets home? You'll be thrown out like that," Vash snapped her fingers to emphasize the fastness of Jen's wrath. They shook their heads keeping silent, except for the stupid albino guy (whose real name I can't remember), until Professor Layton quieted him down with a hard punch. "Also, we're going to have to make some rules here, for the rest of the more… challenged members." There were some grumbles, but Pein nodded his head.
"If it is reasonable, we will accept your rules since it's your house." Vash gave him a random thumbs-up sign. I'm so glad she's the diplomatic one here. I probably would have been too scared to actually assert myself in front of them.
"No loud noises, especially when Jen is home. If she finds out about you guys, there's nothing we can do. No fighting or breaking things in this house. No killing people. No-"
"Hell no! I have to have my fucking sacrifices-!"
"No. You don't even have a weapon and they don't just hand them out around here. You'll just have to deal with sacrificing gross rats or something. But you have to always clean up your mess or someone will get suspicious and send cops over here. Also, if you guys are going to be stealing clothes, food and whatever else, you'll have to be very careful about it. If someone finds out then we'll all get in trouble. And all of you are grown men, or women in Konan's case, so I expect you to clean up after yourself, okay?" Pein looked to the group.
"Be responsible for your messes, and don't do anything to jeopardize our stay here. If any of you break the rules, I will dismember you in the most painful way possible."
No one said anything for a minute, but the silence was soon broken by a small whimper. I leaned out of my chair so I could peak around the blob of ninjas, only to see Rin crying on the couch. Oh man… I forgot about her. I guess even though she does seem older, she's still a little kid. Feeling guilty, I stood up and walked over to her, pulling her into an awkward hug and rubbing her back.
"I'm going to take her home. Her parents should be back anyway," I told no one in particular, and grabbed Rin's hand after putting my shoes on, tugging her out the door into the cool evening air.
Vash's POV
Even though I didn't like the kid that much, I still felt bad that she got caught up in this kind of situation. I mean, I was surprised how well Nicky and I were taking it, not to mention having a child witness it. One moment my heart was racing and I felt like I'd have to fight for my life and the next we're all sitting around talking somewhat normally.
"Unless you gentleman want to sleep in your cloaks tonight, you might want to go get some "shopping" done. And you'll probably have to get food sometime tomorrow. I guess we have enough sweets for you guys to snack on for tonight." Pein looked to the group of ninja and chose Konan, Kakuzu, Sasori and Itachi to go get the clothes. Before he sent them off I gave them a warning. "Be careful of the security cameras. You've seen on those "World's Dumbest Criminals" shows how easily people can get caught and tracked down if they're spotted on those things." They just nodded in understanding and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Wow… I guess they really are ninja. What a strange day.
"Can Tobi eat this cake now? Its smells delicious!" I gave him a flat look for his childish demeanor. I guess we'll have to deal with more than one child from now on. At least for a while. I wonder how old he really is. How old are any of these guys for that matter? How is this going to work out?
"Yeah go for it. Just don't eat it all or Nicky will be sad." He clapped his hands happily and walked over to the table, serving himself a piece of cake. I glanced back to the remaining ninja who just stood there somewhat awkwardly. "Well? Why don't you take a seat and have some celebration food. It was kinda for you guys anyway." Slowly, a few of them made their way over to the table while I took a seat on the couch, switching the TV on to House. I wasn't really hungry anymore. Not that I was that big of a fan of sweets anyway, I just liked to make them and watch other people enjoy them. Some weight shifted on the couch and from the corner of my eye I could see Pein sit down, a plate of brownies in his hands. It seems really strange for criminal ninja to be eating sweets. The weirdness of the moment made me let out a soft chuckle. Pein looked over at me with his ever neutral expression.
"Why are you laughing?" I gave a small grin.
"It's weird to me to think that you guys are supposed to be dangerous ninjas, and here you are sitting on my couch, watching House and eating brownies. It's pretty unbelievable." He was quiet for a second, staring at the television screen.
"Yes. It is."
"AHHHHH IT'S PETEY PIRAHNA! HE CAME TO LIFE TOO AND HE'S GONNA EAT ME OR BEAT ME AT TENNIS!" I switched my gaze to the door to see Nicky come busting in, out of breath. "Vash! Petey… Piranha! He's alive!" From behind Nicky I saw the shadow of a man whose body was half black and half white. The stranger part was it appeared as though his entire upper half was being engulfed by a venus flytrap. I glanced over at Pein. He was just watching the spectacle with a wry… almost grin on his face. That was close enough to convince me that the plant guy was just another part of the gang that I happened to not notice. Damn that's a scary looking ninja. "Wahh! He's behind me!" Nicky leaped from her position by the door and faceplanted on the floor in a heap. "Unnngh… he's wum uv da ninda, iddn't he?" Though I could barely understand what she said, I nodded anyway and patted her head.
"Very good Nicky. Now go eat some cake before it's all gone." Immediately she shot up from her position and ran to the kitchen, instantly turning shy when she realized the other members were in there. Just then, the plant man walked into the living room looking confused.
"Who is Petey Piranha?"
Foosha: Now go my friends! Vote for Vash's pairing!
Nicky: *flies into the sunset* Weee!
Vash: *facepalm* You drank the super sugar Mountain Dew again, didn't you?
Foosha: Hehehe… noooo. Also, if you guys ever wanna talk to me about the story or whatever, add me on msn! flogangoogle hotmail .com ! Without the random spaces of course and the "at" symbol in there.