We had kept pretty close to the hunting order. I had just turned 9 and I occasionally shifted from person to
person. As Syaoran had promised, he helped me with my English, which is getting abnormally better, and he has
become a good friend of mine. He's usually the only person I talk to when I have to talk, but sometimes I'll strike
up some small talk with Eriol, Or rather, he'll strike up the talking, I just nod and act like I'm listening, replying
with a 'Ahh' or 'hmm' every so often. Syaoran let me have a day off for my birthday, so I didn't have to go
hunting and he let me have the less tattered mattress the previous night. So naturally, I slept in. I had been
getting up with Syaoran before dawn most every day and that wears down a person eventually. By the time they
had gotten back from the breakfast hunt, Tomoyo and Eriol had the most haul, Syaoran and Takashi with a grand
total of zip. Takashi kept complaining that the area was too small or grubby. Or that he could never act like I
could and wound up sending himself on a lack of self-esteem onslaught. Which in turn made Syaoran grumpy.
That's where I woke up. Syaoran flopping down on the mattress and smashing my foot. I mumbled a quick curse
and drew myself out from under my blanket, quite unwillingly, I might add. "Its not my fault Sakura's your
Arttymus…." Takashi said angrily. "Why did you give her the day off anyways? We've been doin' just as much
work as she has." Takashi grumbled, crossing his arms. Syaoran sighed and threw a rock at Takashi's head.
"Because, one, it's Sakura's Birthday and I figured I'd let her stay here today cause she works about twice as
hard as any of us. And Two… Takashi, It's ARTIMIS. Not…whatever the heck you just said." Syaoran
corrected, pulling the bag of food over to his side with a stick. I sat up straighter and crossed my legs, wiping
eye gunk from the corners of my eye lids. Syaoran sighed and told Eriol to go grab what was left of our hoard of
food, Which wasn't exactly a hoard, more of a small pile stuffed under some cold rocks. Eriol pulled out some
week old bread and a salami log I had swiped yesterday. Hooray, more salami. I think that was the only source of
meat we have had for about two weeks now. I love the stuff, but I do grow tired of the same old, salty, dirt
encrusted meats. I watched as Syaoran began splitting up the foods, handing as little as he could to Takashi.
"Hey, what's with the jip, Syao?" He said sadly, holding up a small hunk of Salami shoved between some bread
and bacon.
"You didn't do anything but put yourself in a shoddy mood Takashi. We didn't get ANY food. So, you get a
food dock today." He muttered, handing me a fairly decent portion of Bread and most of the Bacon. Tomoyo was
a vegetarian since last week, when she walked past a butchers shop and saw him cutting up a cow, Takashi and
Eriol don't like bacon, the losers, and Syaoran was just giving me it cause he knows I love it to death. But so
does he. He once told me that if he could live on only two types of food and one type of drink, he said it would
be Bacon, Beef Jerky, and Cranberry juice. Which is a pretty odd combination, but hey, the boy likes his meat.
Can't blame him. "Sakura, would you mind filling in for Takashi?" He asked, biting into the bacon and bread
sandwich had had just fixed. I shook my head and chewed, Making sure I didn't end up like a gluttonous eater
like the others and talk while I'm chewing, and then laughing when somebody gets sprayed with mushed foods.
Yum.
"Plus… Takashi, You called my Syao. I hate that. It sounds stupid." He said, making sure Takashi knew his
place. I don't think he liked Takashi very much, but the guy was a notorious snitch, Syaoran worried that if he
kicked Takashi out, He would 'rat them out to the Fuzz and we'd all wind up at some smelly old orphanage with
ugly headmistresses with big hair'. I shuddered at this. Syaoran had never been to an orphanage and only knew
what I had told him. In which case that uglier than sin, big haired, devil of a headmistress was very true. After the
arguing was done, everyone had settled down and we were about to play poker, gambling for a bag of potato
chips and some old French fries, when there was an unusual noise coming from outside the tarp. Syaoran made
everyone get quiet and we sat very still. We knew that cops liked to check around here sometimes, once they
had found us and we said that we used this place as a hideout and that our parents are expecting us at five. It
worked, miraculously. However, this time was different. It wasn't the cops. Or anything human. The tarp shifted
and a small black kitten with a tattered blue ribbon and a bell stepped through and began sniffing around. I
smiled and began to click my tongue, holding my hand out slowly for it. It came. Well, he came I should say, he
had stunning green eyes and a small white tuft of fur on his chest, but was otherwise completely black.
After a severe amount of begging and convincing him that it would be a present, I got to keep the cat, and I
named it Spinel, or Suppi for short. He was cute, and not very demanding. I think even Syaoran liked him, a little ,
maybe…or maybe he just tolerated him, I don't really know, but he didn't seem to have a problem with him.
Suppi didn't ask for much. We normally just took whatever we didn't eat and mushed it up with some water, then
put it in a rock that was shaped like a bowl. He liked milk too, so sometimes I'd sneak around to the grocery store
and get a small thing of it. For some reason, he never tried to run. At night, he would either go to Syaoran or
come to me, and lie down on my chest, purring contently. And when we were out getting food, he'd sit
obediently by the tarp and wait for us, or he'd find a warm spot between my blanket and the mattress and sleep.
Syaoran got some kitty treats for him once from some old ladies bag of groceries, Suppi liked them. I think we still
have a few somewhere, though I'm not to sure. He comes in handy catching mice, which were a huge problem
before we found him, or rather, he found us. It grosses Tomoyo out a bit to see Suppi tearing around the place,
batting at the mouse like a toy. He usually catches it, then eats it. Which makes Tomoyo and Eriol sick. Takashi
laughs at it and Me and Syaoran congratulate him, somewhat like a child who had learned to go to the toilet
instead of messing his pants. After things had calmed down for the night, Takashi had gone out for a while, I
think it was because Syaoran had yelled at him again, Takashi had been exceedingly annoying and uptight
today, none of us really knew why. A couple hours later, we had all gotten up to go get dinner when Takashi
came back, plodding his way through the mud and flopping down on the mattress, sulking still. "I'm sorry" he
mumbled, staring at his feet.
"Sorry for what?" Tomoyo asked, looking up from the cat.
"I was an ass. I didn't mean to. Its just that, ever since she came here, I've been getting the downside of it all."
He said, sneering lightly at me. Wow. Pent up aggression in a 11 year old. Gotta love it. Syaoran snarled and
threw a rock, which he really liked doing I noticed, at Takashi.
"Don't blame Sakura, blame yourself for being a lazy oaf!" he said angrily. Takashi huffed and scooted into a
small corner of the bridge…Things were pretty quiet after that. Not much else happened. I was lucky to get the
worn down mattress that night, and other than that, nothing happened.
Okay, that was really uninteresting and somewhat boring, im sure, but I needed to put up a chapter, so there
ya go! But hey look! Its Suppi!! Hoorah! I love that cat…like thing…O.o. Okay, Until next time!
Ja!
Kirralle