AN: Whoops! Missed my update time by about twelve hours; I suppose this is what happens when I get out of the habit.

((()))

Tokyo is a big city. Now that I can actually move about, life is actually pretty good. Eating cat food isn't the greatest, but I've lived off of less-pleasant stuff. Maybe I'll try hunting some time while Ami and her mother are out; exploring the city is fun, and since my memory is just shy of perfect these days, I'm compiling a mental map of the city as I go.

I'm still trying to decide whether or not I should try to write with my paws or something in order to let Ami and her mother know I'm at a human level of sapience, but for now, I'm holding off until blatantly supernatural things become a part of her life.

((()))

Ami hadn't been so happy since her father had left her and her mother. She had a friend, albeit one who couldn't talk, but her new cat accompanied her everywhere she went; it sat with her when she read, sometimes looking over her shoulder at her textbooks, it puttered around the kitchen while she cooked, sat on windowsills outside the library while she was within, and walked with her to school. The second school day after its casts had come off, it had also started showing up at school when she left, and walking home with her as well, something that she found to be particularly endearing.

The only complaint she had sometimes, was that whenever she didn't have both hands occupied by a task, it would butt its head against her until she started petting it. It seemed unusually persistent from what her general understanding of cats was, so she decided to do some more detailed research into its particular breed.

((()))

Ami's taken up to reading about Maine Coon's lately, so I assume that is the breed I have taken the form of. It would make sense, given that the mechanics would have me be a large cat, and they're the largest breed I'm aware of. Unfortunately, it appears to be too early in the nineties for her to be using the internet as a meaningful research tool, but it's easy enough to read library books over her shoulder when she's at home.

I'm kind of surprised, given my augmented intellect and senses, that she still appears to be a faster reader than me. I've also decided it's time to pick up the Ki Abilities necessary to use Eyes of the Soul now, as there's no telling when I'll have the free time to acclimate myself to viewing the world in an entirely different way once the shit hits the fan.

And it will. It always does.

((()))

"I really need a name for you," Ami said as she looked back and forth between the book on show pets she'd found, and the cat curled up half on her lap, half on the couch, "I just can't find anything that quite seems to fit though."

It had taken her some time to find a book in the Juuban library that had information on Maine Coon's; they weren't exactly a local species, and it wasn't until she'd looked into material on show animals, rather than pets, that she'd found anything of detail.

"Maine Coon's are known as 'gentle giants,'" Ami read aloud, as the cat purred in response to her gentle stroking of its flank, "Are easy to train due to high intelligence," Ami paused curiously for a moment as the cat snorted, "And are known to be very loyal to their families. They tend to be cautious but not hostile around strangers, and are independent rather than clingy. Main Coon's are rarely lap-cats," Ami giggled for a moment as she glanced down at her large lap-warmer before continuing, "But their gentle disposition tends to suit them well towards socializing with other cats, other pets, and children. They are also well known for being a very vocal species, particularly 'talking back' to their owners."

Ami paused again to look down at the cat, and after she had been silent for a few seconds, it rolled over so that it was laying belly-up on her lap.

"Nryawr?" It said inquisitively, and Ami giggled, smiling down at it, starting to rub its belly with her free hand before turning a page in her book, and continuing.

"Physically," Ami said, "Maine Coons have a rectangular body shape, with a broad chest and solid musculature. Averaging in weight from seven to eleven kilograms for males and five to seven kilos for females, they are one of the largest breeds of domestic cat in the world. They can be anywhere from twenty-five to forty centimeters in height, and as long as one hundred and twenty centimeters."

Ami paused to look down at the large cat monopolizing much of her lap.

"I'm pretty sure you're bigger," Ami said thoughtfully, "I should have asked the vet to measure you, but now I suppose I'll have to do it myself."

((()))

This may be slightly awkward, but I must admit to being curious as to just how large I am myself. I know that in Anima characters that are human at base tops out somewhere around eight feet (~2.5 meters); I'd like to see how that translates into cat-size.

((()))

"One hundred and forty-one centimeters?" Ami said, staring at the cat stretched out alongside her measuring tape in disbelief, "That's a full fifteen percent larger than you're supposed to be! You probably hold some sort of record..."

((()))

Well, that answers that question. I am a big, powerful kitty; let's just hope that I can develop something more than mundane teeth before the first Youma shows up...

((()))

Time passed. Ami settled into a happy rhythm of life wherein she wasn't so alone as she had been before. It was nice to have 'someone' to talk to, even if what she had come to think of as her cat couldn't return the favor; it was far better than the wholly solitary existence she'd had before she had found the cat. As an added bonus, it didn't interfere with her reading time, content to either lay there and let her stroke it with her off hand, read alongside her, or both. She wasn't quite sure what the cat found so interesting about text on a page, but she certainly didn't mind the company.

She did notice that it seemed to have an odd interest in one of the other students at her school, one Tsukino Usagi, but she supposed it might seem that way to her because the girl had a tendency to run in late, leave the school grounds as soon as possible, and just generally be a very... noticeable person. It was hard for Ami to miss the girl with the long blond ponytails herself.

And so the weeks marched on, and Ami was happy.

((()))

I am going to die of boredom. Exploration is only interesting for so long, and just about all of my other native interests have been scuttled. I can only really read what someone else is reading, computers aren't anything much to speak of yet, I can't really use arcade games, and most of the Japanese movies in theater frankly do not interest me. It's easy enough to slip into any of the theaters in the area, especially after I spent some DP on stealth skills, but there's too much cultural disconnect for me to find interest in most of them. Maybe if there was a Studio Ghibli title in theater, but even then, that'd only be good for so many hours before it got old, and it seems like it'd be such a shame to wear myself out on one of their productions.

I think I'm going to take up hunting after all, mostly just to pass the time.

((()))

Ami usually did not pay much attention to the gossip that ran through the school, but when word came around that one of her classmates had been attacked, she took notice. That the attack had happened in the girl, Osaka Naru's, home, outright frightened Ami, and when she left school that day, she found herself rather desperately clinging to her feline companion.

((()))

It's official. I've just realized that the pan-dimensional brain-smash has had more effects on me than I'd thought; I'm insane. I've been here for almost three months, knowing the basics of what kind of foes I would be fighting, and what preparation have I made for it?

I haven't tracked Naru, Youma-magnet extraordinaire, back to her home so I'll know where she lives.

I don't know where Usagi lives, though I do have her scent.

I purchased, but then didn't develop the Eyes of the Soul and attendant abilities.

I haven't meaningfully trained up either my attack or defense skills, and I haven't even toyed around with what I could buy with the rest of my MK, much less actually bought anything.

This is a Serious Problem.

((()))

I have refocused my attention on memory cohesion and regaining the ability to consistently focus on something. One of the first things I discovered is that I am wearing a collar with a nametag. I cannot describe adequately how disturbing it is to realize that someone has wrapped something around your neck, and you somehow did not even consciously notice it. As I cannot speak coherently, I do not even have the luxury of asking how long it has been there.

Joy.

((()))

Time continued to pass, and Ami noticed a few oddities about her cat's behavior. First, he always left the room when she started changing, and second, careful examination revealed that he wasn't just staring at the text of her books, his eyes were actually tracking through them as though he were reading them. She began to honestly wonder if his unusually large cranium held an unusually capable brain; she knew that some children with heads roughly his size were capable of reading, and he had in all ways shown himself to be an extremely intelligent cat.

Unfortunately, Ami didn't know of any way to tell if her cat had an unusual (beyond unusually large) brain without popping his skull open to have a look. She considered developing a series of intelligence tests designed to work on cats, then realized that if her suspicions were correct, her cat could read, so she could just jump straight to direct communication in the first place...

((()))

So I finally spent some DP on skills, and investing a little in Notice, helped me notice when my trains of thought would be derailed, and I'd miss out on important things. Useful; it makes my brain-cripplage manageable, even if I haven't overcome it. With that done, it's been difficult, but I've been able to actually work around some more complete rational structures, and I've come to a conclusion:

Ki Dominion is even worse than I thought. If you want a fully-developed tree of Ki techniques, you have to spend about eight levels learning them all, and then you've got about five total abilities. For eight levels. A dedicated level one Wizard can have seventy-fivespells. It's absolutely absurd. So, I've decided to look into the 'Impossible Weapons' instead; some of them should be usable with a non-humanoid body.

...Now what's this that Ami's trying to show me?

Oh. Oh my...

((()))

Ami had started with a fairly simple note; 'Can you read?'

Jaeger nodding slowly in response was more of a reaction than she had expected. Reading was one thing; written language was available literally everywhere in Tokyo, between street signs, store signs, newspapers, books, and text on television, it was nigh-omnipresent; understanding and utilizing human social cues was an entirely different thing. Not that it was necessarily any more difficult (more likely less) to understand, it simply implied that the cat had developed more than one understanding of human communication.

Or the gesture 'nodding' could simply have come about as a coincidence; Ami decided she needed to engage in more empirical testing.

'If you can read, please shake your head.'

Jaeger shook his head.

'If you understand the difference between shaking your head and nodding, please first shake your head, and then nod.'

Shake, nod.

'Can you understand spoken Japanese?'

Nod.

"Well then," Ami said, a small smile gracing her lips, "You are quite the unusual cat, aren't you."

Jaeger nodded again, and Ami's smile grew.

((()))

I suppose I should have expected this. Ami's a smart girl, and it would have been strange if she didn't eventually notice that I was reading, rather than just staring at the book because she was. I guess I'm too used to expecting people not to be willing to break outside of the understanding of the world that their culture has cast for them, and work with new ideas and concepts.

Still, this bodes well for her future survival; if she can break out of a closed mentality, then bringing more effective tactics to bear against the Dark Kingdom and later foes will be that much easier.

((()))

"So, how did you learn to read?" Ami asked, then after a moment's thought, covered her mouth and giggled, "Of course you can't..."

She trailed off as Jaeger picked up the pencil she had been using to write notes with his tail, flipped over one of her notes with his paw, sat down, and began to write her a message.

((()))

Eleven Dexterity and Agility essentially means perfect control of my body. Something very useful when you're trying to compensate for a lack of opposable thumbs.

((()))

'I used to be human,' Jaeger wrote, 'Before I was cursed into this form.'

Ami's jaw dropped open, and she stared at 'her cat' with shock. The idea of a cat with an unusually large and complex brain stretched her understanding of the world; the idea of a curse that could force a creature into a different form, outright broke it. She sat there, twitching and blinking for long moments, until Jaeger hopped up to place one paw on her shoulder, and poke her in the nose with the other.

She fainted.

((()))

Well shit. That could have gone better; I'm going to have to be very careful about what happens when she wakes up.

((()))

When Ami woke up, there was a cat staring directly down into her face. Ami frowned in confusion for a moment; that wasn't the ceiling of her bedroom behind the cat. Then she gasped and curled inward on herself, looking at Jaeger in fear and worry.

Jaeger leaned down and gently butted his snout on her nose, purring softly. Ami closed her eyes, gulped, and began to tremble as the full import of what had happened just before she passed out began to sink in, instinctive fear of the unknown coming upon her. Jaeger lay himself down beside her, tucking his body flush against her side, and his purr lowered into a rumble while he slowly stroked her cheek with one soft paw. Warmth soaked into Ami's side, and as minutes passed while she fought panic and tears, 'her' cat continued to try to soothe her.

After a time, she rolled onto her side and impulsively seized Jaeger in a tight embrace, drawing comfort as she could, and slowly, gradually, the panic fled in the face of the familiar, and her rational mind began to override her instinctive fear response.

Unfortunately, the calming and recovery process was interrupted by Saeko getting home. Finding her daughter on the floor, wrapped around her cat and with tears streaking her face hit every maternal instinct she had with the force of an orbital bombardment, and the woman had thrown aside her purse and sprinted across the room before Ami realized she'd entered the apartment. The young bluenette had just enough time to look up and recognize her mother before she'd been swept off of the floor and into her mother's lap.

"What's wrong?" Saeko asked, worried, desperate, focused eyes gazing down at Ami as she carefully inspected the girl for signs of injury.

"Reality is broken!" Ami blurted out, thrown completely off-kilter by her mother's unexpected behavior.

"Broken?" Saeko asked, recoiling slightly in confusion, "What in the world are you talking about?"

"Jaeger's sapient!" Ami gasped out, a torrent of words pouring out, "He can read, he can understand human speech, he started writing with his tail when I asked him a question he's-"

"Ami!" Saeko said sharply, shaking her daughter gently, "You've been dreaming."

She was distracted by a cat paw politely nudging her in the shoulder, and looked down to see Jaeger's glowing eyes staring up at her from within her daughter's grasp. He stuck his other paw against Ami's shoulder, then started pushing the two of them apart; neither of the Mizuno women made particular effort to resist him, and he was able to slip out from between the two without much trouble. A few brisk steps took him over to where writing supplies were still scattered on the floor, and his tail deftly scooped up a pencil as he sat down.

Then Jaeger began to write, his tail gracefully tracing arcs as it put down a simple message for them.

'Yes, the cat can write.'

Saeko's jaw dropped, and she could feel her brain crash as her thoughts came to a screeching halt.

"Reality does not work that way!" She said in a dazed tone, her mouth half-running on autopilot.

"I said reality was broken," Ami said, a hint of pout in her voice, "Do you believe me now?"

"...Maybe," Saeko eventually managed to get out.

((()))

This is a lot worse. Adults tend to have much more closed states of mind, rigid and inflexible worldviews. Most of the time, the older someone is, the prouder they are, and the more unwilling to admit they were wrong, especially wrong about something big. This could go poorly, so I'll have to be ready to bring about the only 'big gun' I've got as far as persuading goes right now.

Anybody seen Dragonball Z?

((()))

"Somebody," Saeko decided with a frown, "Seems to be playing a very bad joke on us. I didn't think animatronics had come this far."

"Mother," Ami said quietly, "They haven't come this far. Jaeger breathes, he has a heartbeat, his body generates heat, and he bleeds. I know the vet would have noticed if he'd been some form of robot. Unless you're working on some secret government thing I don't know about, what motivation would someone have for using some sort of highly-advanced prototype to fool us?"

"...Ami," Saeko said sadly, "Your highly logical mind is ruining my attempt to salvage my rational understanding of the world."

"Sorry, mother," Ami said, looking down slightly and blushing.

"Don't apologize," Saeko said, giving her daughter a reassuring squeeze, "It's a good thing, even if it's hard sometimes. Now, what all had you been saying about the cat?"

"He's sapient," Ami said, "He can understand written and spoken Japanese, he can write with his tail, all of which he has now demonstrated, and he said he used to be human, before he was cursed into the form of a cat."

"Ah," Saeko said, sighing tiredly, "And now magic. I don't know if I can buy that mu..."

Saeko trailed off as she turned to see that Jaeger was staring at her, while a visible aura began to coalesce around it. The aura was multi-colored, though red and blue were predominant, and as it intensified, the pieces of paper lying on the floor around it began to slowly lift off of the ground, its hair stood on end, and furniture began to shake.

"Okay, okay!" Saeko shouted, "You're a damn magical cat, enough with the light shows."

The display of power ended abruptly, and Jaeger's lips rolled back, showing off a toothy grin, as it chittered at her in amusement.

((()))

I'd like to think I handled that reasonably well.

...Apparently whatever mechanism or 'ROB' that runs this mechanism agrees; I just got enough RP experience to level me up, apparently. Yayifications!

((()))

...Leveling and raising my saves appears to have made me mildly more resistant to distorted-mentality effects. This is good; if I could raise those saves higher somehow, that would be even better. I've invested more DP in Notice, as well as finally placing some in Attack and Defense. I don't expect to be particularly effective against Youma in combat, but if I can catch them by surprise, I may be able to crit them.

In the meantime, after some further thought, I've decided upon my path to power, though I will require a few resources from the Mizuno's to get started. Naru's been attacked though, which means the first assault on Ami will come far too soon for my tastes...

((()))

"You want work space?" Saeko said when Jaeger held a note up to her during dinner, "What for?"

'Wood carving,' Jaeger wrote on a piece of paper, 'It's something I should be able to do as a cat.'

"...I suppose that's true," Saeko said after a few moment's thought, "Is there any particular reason you can't just use the dinner table when we're not eating?"

'We' and the dinner table included Jaeger; during their first meal after the 'broken reality' conversation (the night prior), he had picked his food dish up with his teeth, placed it on the table, and joined the Mizunos for the meal. Neither of them had seen fit to protest; something that was not unrelated to them still being of less-than-normal state of mind.

'I can,' Jaeger wrote, 'but it is polite to ask.'

"Well," Saeko said, "Your courtesy is appreciated. What kind of wood will you need?"

'I'll collect deadwood from parks,' Jaeger replied, 'I intend to start small.'

"I suppose that's a good place to start," Saeko said with a nod, then her eyes narrowed, "Now I've got a few questions for you mister kitty. You say you used to be human, you're male, and you've been sleeping in my daughter's bedroom."

'I'm male,' the cat wrote back as Ami began to blush, 'And if you care to recall, I've never been in a bedroom or bathroom when either of you have changed. Beyond that, my physiology is currently wired to find female cats sexually attractive; you and your daughter are no more appealing to me than a pretty flower. And besides, Ami wears very modest pajamas, I have not seen anything inappropriate. If you wish for me to begin sleeping in the living room, however, I will understand.'

Jaeger was forced to collect a new piece of paper after his lengthy response, and Saeko realized with some surprise, that he was writing faster with his tail than she could with her hands.

"...I suppose that's fair enough," Saeko admitted reluctantly, "I'll let Ami decide whether or not she's comfortable enough to let your basket stay in her bedroom. My next question, is why are you here?"

'I'm here,' Jaeger wrote back, 'Because your daughter saved my life and then brought me home with her. I've still not fully recovered mentally from the attack that nearly killed me, and I am thankful for you sheltering me while I recover.'

"Okay," Saeko said, "I can't really argue about that, I saw the condition you were in when Ami brought you home. Why were you attacked?"

'I destroyed a powerful magical artifact at the center of a ritual which could have caused near-apocalyptic conditions,' Jaeger swiftly scrawled out, 'Apparently a powerful Dragon was using the ritual to try to purify the artifact over time. He was displeased with me, and lay a three-fold curse on me before banishing me from that plane of existence.'

Saeko sat back for a while as she soaked in the cat's words, trying to fit them into her general understanding of the world. In the end, she largely decided that trying to force what had happened on another plane into her understanding of the world she did live in was not immediately necessary.

"I don't really have any way to confirm that's true," Saeko said, "But given that you could have continued posing as a cat by simply not answering Ami's questions, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt regarding your personal integrity. What were the three aspects of this curse?"

'First,' Jaeger replied, 'I was cursed to lose access to my own magical abilities. Second, I was cursed to lose access to my Psionic capabilities. Third, I was cursed into the form of a cat, though it appears that my augmented physique transferred to my new form.'

"If your magic was cursed away," Saeko pressed, "Then what was with your little light-show yesterday?"

'There are three paths of power I am aware of in this world,' Jaeger wrote, 'Magic, Psionics, and the Dominion of Ki. The Dragon did not see Ki as being substantial enough to be worth it sealing off, and thus that is all that is left to me.'

"Magic, Psionics, and Ki?" Saeko asked drily, "What were you, some kind of superhero?"

'Yes,' Jaeger replied, 'A superhero is exactly what I was.'

((()))

Things changed after that conversation. Ami is a veritable explosion of curiosity, and has dedicated almost every single spare moment she has to questioning me about all three branches of supernatural power, what the world I came from was like, how different quadrupedal locomotion is from bipedal, and how I manage to control my tail so well. I've been happy to try to work out the body mechanics of being a cat with her, and I've shared some of my stories of growing up with the middle east with her, but I've not shared any supernatural abilities with her yet.

Mostly, because I'm not entirely sure how to. I feel I should also note that Ami grinned the rest of the day after finding out that yes, I am an American, by nationality as well as breed.

Progress on carving is going decently well, I just hope things will be finished soon enough to deal with the first Youma we run into. Of course, I wasn't that lucky...

((()))

Wood, at least of size and quality for my 'starter' project, isn't too hard to come by. I'd say I was getting a few 'odd looks' for carrying around half-carved pieces of wood in my mouth, but I already get those looks for being a ridiculously huge cat, so I'm not really seeing much difference myself. I can chew or claw on the things pretty much anywhere, and when I'm sitting down my tail serves as adequate fine manipulation; this is actually easier than I expected it to be.

The first Youma Ami ran into in the Sailor Moon series, was making a halfway reasonable attempt to be subtle (for the spawn of an eldritch horror with no real familiarity with human society), and had infiltrated her after-school school. I've heard such things referred to as 'Juku,' 'Cram School,' and 'Prep School' depending on the source, and I can tell you this much, based on my knowledge of child psychology, education/learning techniques, and social psychology: For 90+% of students, institutions like that are a bad idea. Overloading your students with rote learning is asking for trouble; burnouts, students incapable of creative thought, and rebellion from those dissatisfied with their life being nothing more than a glorified progression of rote memorization.

Ami is not part of that 90+%. She soaks up knowledge like a sponge, if said sponge had the absorptive qualities of a black hole, and I'm beginning to suspect she may have a legitimately eidetic memory. She's building up a 'jack of all trades' knowledge set, and is planning on specializing in medicine once she reaches college. In America, someone of her ability would be fast-tracked out of high school and start college by 16; in Japan, they just heap more schoolwork on her. I've started talking with her about the advantages and disadvantages of the two different approaches, and I've gathered that part of the reason she hasn't tried to advance more quickly herself, is because she doesn't want to be away from her mother any more than she already is.

Ah. I'm doing that 'losing train of thought' thing again. Anyways, we ran into our first Youma at Crystal Seminar (her cram school), but first, Usagi and Luna had a little run-in with us.

((()))

"Uwah," Tsukino Usagi said as she stared up at the modern building Crystal Seminar was in, "It must be really expensive to study there!"

"Stop standing around and gawking!" Luna growled, poking Usagi in the cheek as she did so, "I think that the Mizuno girl might be one of the Senshi, and besides, those Compact Discs that have been getting handed out from here reek of Dark Kingdom magic."

"Ohhh, I hope she can help me get my grades up!" Usagi said as she slowly walked towards the school, "Mama's so mean when I get bad scores on tests!"

"Get closer to the entrance," Luna said quietly, "I'll need to touch her in order to tell if she's a Senshi or not."

"Mmhm," Usagi said, nodding as she walked towards the entrance, nearly running into a few pedestrians as the lion's share of her attention was spent staring up at the building.

It was early evening, and (with some difficulty) Luna had managed to herd Usagi into arriving at the school just before it let out. A few minutes after she arrived at the primary entrance, the Crystal Seminar students began to flow out, and Usagi turned to one of her favorite pass-times; people-watching. She looked at cute boys, beautiful girls, and anybody who seemed to have anything unusual and interesting about them; Luna focused on trying to spot girls with short blue hair, something that wasn't easy from her seat on the short Tsukino's shoulders.

So, Luna decided to move up to the wall around the base of Crystal Seminar, hopping with appropriate cat-like grace up onto the concrete surface, whereat she perched herself, and watched the tide of humanity below here. She could smell the scent of other cats on the wall, but that was hardly uncommon in Tokyo, and if one of the scents was unusually fresh, she paid it no mind, focused as she was on her task. Soon enough, the flow of students began to taper off, and Mizuno Ami trailed out at the tail end of the horde, her nose in a book. Luna curled herself up, aiming carefully towards the appropriate point in Ami's path, then leapt.

Her leap was cut painfully short as something slammed down on her tail, and she was jerked to a halt, smacking back into the concrete top of the wall as her momentum was swung around by whatever had her by the tail. Dazed and shocked, Luna made no move to resist as something seized her by the scruff of her neck like a kitten, then leapt down alongside the Mizuno girl, and began purring.

"Ohayo Jaeger-kun," Ami said as she turned her attention away from her book for a moment, then did a double-take when she saw the smaller cat that Jaeger was carrying, "Is that a friend of yours?"

Jaeger's tail twitched, tossing a small lump of half-carved wood that it had been holding up to Ami, who managed to catch it after a bit of fumbling, then waggled in the way that it usually did when the cat was trying to indicate that it desired writing utensils to communicate with.

"Ack!" Usagi gasped as she saw Ami and the cats, and ran towards them, waving her arms frantically, "Luna, what's happened to you?"

"Oh, excuse me," Ami said politely, gesturing down towards the black cat that Jaeger was carrying, "Is this your cat?"

"Ahhh!" Usagi said, beginning to panic as she stared down at the dazed moon cat, "Luna, are you alright? Say something!"

Ami blinked at Usagi's words, then glanced down at Jaeger, who dropped Luna, and signalled for writing materials again. Nodding, Ami swiftly dug a pencil and a sheet of paper out of her school bag, and set them down on the sidewalk. Jaeger's tail snapped up the pencil, and the large cat immediately began to write.

'This,' one of Jaeger's paws flashed out to pin Luna's tail in place as she had begun to try to creep away, 'Is a Moon Cat. She can talk; you should speak with her and her owner.'

"Ahhhhhh!" Usagi wailed as she stared down at Jaeger, "Your raccoon is trying to kidnap my cat!"

"...Jaeger-kun is a cat," Ami said slowly, before her etiquette instincts kicked in, "I'm Mizuno Ami, and Jaeger wouldn't try to kidnap anyone miss...?"

"A cat!?" Usagi said, turning to stare up at Ami, eyes wide with disbelief, "But he's so big!"

"He's American," Ami said simply.

"Ohhh," Usagi said with a nod, before her entire demeanor shifted to 'perky,' "Hi! I'm Tsukino Usagi, it's nice to meet you, I hope we can be friends!"

Luna, meanwhile, had finally recovered somewhat, and turned to look at what had 'kidnapped' her; she saw an enormous cat, holding a piece of paper up with its tail, and pointing to her with one paw.

"That," Luna said as she stared up at Jaeger, "Is not a Moon Cat."

((()))

I hate this. Luna is a pretty kitty, it's like being around a woman wearing a party dress that is not modestly cut; distracting. I don't care if she's actually sapient, I don't want to find a cat attractive. Fortunately, I have plenty of practice with 'don't look below the neck, look at the eyes.' That dumb look on her face helps too; I've always been attracted to intelligent women, blatant stupefaction helps the mind shut down the body.

It's still kind of squicking me out that it's an issue in the first place.

((()))

Luna blinked and shook her head. She was quite certain that the last she had checked, no earth-cats were sapient, and she was also fairly certain that 'domestic' cats didn't come in that size. Or the next two sizes smaller, for that matter. Her predator's instincts were torn between wanting to lash out at him for cat-handling her, and...

That was something she hadn't felt in a long time; best not to think about it. Luna compromised, and retreated up on to Usagi's shoulders.

"Aww, did the big cat scare you Luna?" Usagi asked teasingly.

"That is not a Moon Cat!" Luna said again, thrusting her paw out to point down at the much larger feline, "No moon emblem on his forehead, he can't talk, and he's way too big! Not a moon cat!"

"Okay!" Usagi said, before turning her attention back to Ami, "What kind of cat is he?"

"He's a Mainuh Kun," Ami said, smiling at the cheerful blonde, "They're native to the northeastern seaboard of North America, and are particularly known for their intelligence and gentle disposition."

"Uwah!" Usagi burst out, crouching down to look more closely at Jaeger, "I didn't know that normal cats could be smart enough to read!"

"They can't," Ami said, "Jaeger used to be human, before he was cursed."

Luna went stiff at that, staring at the larger feline with renewed interest. Jaeger took advantage of holding everyone's attention to write another note, and then gestured for all of them to read it.

'Ami, there is an item of tainted energy in your bag, were you given anything unusual in school today?'

Ami's eyes went wide, and she quickly opened her book bag and extracted a small CD in a clear case, then laid it on the ground in front of Jaeger.

"That's tainted with energy from the Dark Kingdom!" Luna gasped, "We must destroy it at once!"

Jaeger pinned the disk in place with one fore-paw, then extended the claws of the other, and slashed the disk, his claws slicing directly through the plastic case to shred the CD.

"...Good job?" Luna hazarded, rather startled by the prompt response; it would have taken her at least five minutes to talk Usagi into destroying the disk without trying to play music from it first.

'I have the scent of the one that gave this to you,' Jaeger wrote out, turning to look at the school as he did so, 'I must go and confront her before these cause harm to the other students.'

((()))

Stealth is easy, when nobody's looking for you. Crystal Seminar, Ami's cram school, was a pretty big place, and the scent of the person I was looking for was scattered all over it. If I'd had more experience (or maybe skill points) in tracking, I probably could have tracked the freshest scent effectively, but as it was, I could only tell if a scent was relatively new, or really old. Fortunately, I was not limited to purely mundane senses.

The Youma reeked of twisted, wrong energy. Tracking her up to her office on the third floor wasn't at all difficult; deciding what to do once I'd found her was. On the one hand, I had no idea what the practical threat level of a Youma would be; on the other hand, my 'backup' if I needed to call for it was a pair of fourteen year old girls and an intelligent talking cat. The only reason I even hesitated in my decision, was out of fear that I would make things worse if I attacked, but failed to take the creature down.

Lack of confidence has not, generally speaking been a problem for me; I used my claws to climb up the wall outside of 'her' office, then lay in wait. My body was literally the apex of what was physically possible for a cat, but even then, waiting in such an awkward position for so long was somewhat taxing. Still, she eventually left her office, walking out the door underneath me.

For an instant, I hesitated. Despite my out of context knowledge, despite the intense wrongness I could sense from her, I was still striking from ambush, and killing a sentient being. If I had been the me that was first cast between worlds, I would not have struck, but I had been through more than one battle since then, and I knew the price of indecision.

I struck. Dropping down from above, I sunk my teeth between her third and fourth cervical vertebrae, an injury that would have been instantly fatal to a normal human.

It wasn't fatal to her.

((()))

"Wretched creature!" The Youma screamed as it stared down at the cat, calling dark power to her hand, "I shall feast upon your flesh!"

The cat, however, had other plans, leaping directly upwards towards her throat, and she was forced to divert the energy of her spell into a shield, a shadowy construct that appeared out of thin air directly in front of the cat. It hissed, bouncing off of the shield and into the wall, from which it attempted another attack. Unprepared for such a swift attack from a second angle, the Youma was barely able to keep the cat's jaws from closing upon her throat; she wasn't able to keep the cat's claws from reaching what its jaws failed to.

A gurgled cry emerged from the Youma as she glared murderously at the cat, backpedaling as she attempted to marshal power for another spell, but unable to do so before the cat pushed its offense again. This time, the creature of darkness was better prepared for the cat's mobility, and deflected the creature's attempts to attack her throat again, and was then able to cast her spell, sending a wash of shadow down the corridor towards the cat.

The cat just snarled, apparently untouched by the spell's effects; the Youma's eyes widened in panic, and she continued to gather energy, retreating desperately as she attempted to buy more time for a second, more powerful casting. Her desperation lent it a strength of sorts, and she was able to deflect the cat into the wall at too short a range for it to recover, and the feline's defense was stymied temporarily, allowing the second, more powerful iteration of the spell to be cast.

A deeper, harsher wave of shadow swept over the cat, and it shivered, visibly trembling under the effects of the spell. The life-force draining attack failed to stop the cat however, and desperation drove it to harsher measures; and a change of tactics resulted in the Youma being almost hamstrung by a tearing slash at her ankle. Despite the distraction the Youma forced herself to gather energies for a third spell, though she lacked the energy for a fourth.

It was not to be, however; the Youma's balance was fouled by her torn ankle, and the cat was able to slip into its guard, and finish with its teeth, the job upon her neck that it had started with her claws. Seconds later, the cat was alone in the school corridor, standing atop a pile of ash.

((()))

That shouldn't have been so difficult. She clearly had no idea how to defend herself physically, and was wholly dependent upon her magic. I had her by surprise, at point blank range, and even though she tried to retreat, I'm faster than her by far, and she couldn't get away. I need to spend more time on battle-readiness if this is how fights are going to go...

Shit. Apparently I also need to work on my situational awareness, because there are two schoolgirls and a cat staring at me from around the corner...

((()))

Part of Ami was horrified by the violence she had just witnessed. Part of her was horrified by the fact that her cat had just killed someone (something? Humans didn't turn to dust when they died). Part of her was horrified by the danger her cat was in, and how the woman (thing)'s spell had seemed to wound him, even if no blood was drawn. In all, she was very, very horrified.

Usagi was afraid. She had fought a Youma herself before, she knew what she had just seen, and she was desperately grateful, both that she had not needed to fight it, and that nobody else had been hurt before it ended.

Luna was suffering from a mixture of relief and shock. Relief someone had survived to pass on the duty of defending the Moon Kingdom beside herself, and shock that a Mau (because what else could Jaeger really be?) had managed to defeat a Youma in close combat without magic. Granted, he was an unusually large Mau, but it was still very impressive, and Luna found her posture instinctively shifting to one submissive towards the alpha-male.

Unsurprisingly, it was Usagi, of the three, who first worked up the courage to speak; not that she was any less afraid than Ami, she simply needed less courage to speak.

"Uwah!" Usagi said, eyes wide with awe and fear, "That was amazing Jaeger-kun!"

The cat, who had been staring silently at them, closed his eyes, before lowering his head and shaking it.

"...Are you okay, Jaeger?" Ami asked quietly, her voice barely more than a whisper as she cautiously moved around the corner and approached her cat.

The cat nodded its head tiredly, and began to slowly walk towards the three females, opening its eyes and carefully studying them as it closed.

"...Are you sure?" Ami asked again, kneeling down to gently lay a hand on the cat's back as it reached her, a hint of emotional strain showing in her voice, "I saw that spell hit you, I don't know what it did, but I could see it hurt you somehow!"

The cat twitched his tail, twisting the tip of it into a loop, and Ami nodded, hastily pulling paper and pencil out of her book bag and setting it down in front of Jaeger.

'The spell drained my Ki,' The cat wrote, 'Effectively fatiguing me heavily. Since I prevented it from repeating the effect, I'll be recovered in a few minutes.'

"A few minutes!" Luna burst out, "It usually takes days to come from a life-force draining attack! What were you before you were sent forward? A Knight? A Duelist?"

Jaeger's head reared back slightly at her outburst, and Luna's instincts reminded her rather forcefully that pissing off the Alpha was a bad plan.

'I was a heavily augmented hybrid warrior,' Jaeger replied, 'Before I was cursed into this form, I was capable of shape-shifting, all of my forms had supernaturally-enhanced capabilities, and I could make limited use of Psionics, Spells, and Ki-abilities. The three-fold curse laid upon me before I was thrown across the planes stripped me of most of these abilities, restricting me to being the physical apex of what is possible for a cat, and Ki-abilities, which I have been forced to re-learn from scratch.'

"...So you were a part of a super-soldier program?" Luna asked cautiously, "I doubt your memory is any more intact than mine, but I vaguely recall the Jovians working on something like that. Do you remember which world you were from?"

Jaeger stared at her for a long moment before he answered her second question.

'...My memories were mashed up pretty thoroughly when I passed out of the dimensional cross-roads, but I do not recall answering to any particular monarch or Senshi.'

"Drat," Luna said, sagging sadly, "I was hoping you might remember more details than I do. Do you at least know if any other Mau reincarnated?"

Jaeger canted his head towards her, and Luna had the brief impression that she was being laughed at, before the larger cat's attention returned to writing out an answer to her question.

'You are the first Mau I have met since I awoke in this world,' Jaeger wrote.

"Too bad," Luna said, shaking her head, before turning a narrowed gaze on the larger cat, "But what were you thinking engaging without help from the Senshi! You could have-"

Jaeger lunged forward, snarling furiously, and Luna yelped, darting back to hide behind Usagi, sudden terror driving her temporarily witless. The larger cat stood where his lunge had ended, fangs bared, ears flat and muscles tensed, growling at the smaller cat with violence in his eyes. Both of the human girls stared at the cat with wide eyes, fresh memories of the cat tearing apart a full-grown woman prominent in their minds as watched the Maine Coon gradually calm himself down, then return to his writing utensils.

'I did not,' the cat scrawled out, anger making its writing sloppy, 'Fight my way through three wars, face off against literal living legends, and endure the wrath of a Prismatic Dragon just to turn around and put children on the line of battle!'

"Children?" Luna asked incredulously, though her posture was still submissive as she peaked out from behind Usagi, "The Senshi have been-"

A loud snarl cut her off, and Jaeger began writing again.

'The Senshi were,' Jaeger put down as he glared at Luna, 'The Senshi are a pair of terrified fourteen-year-old girls who are just beginning to become adults, and have no idea how to fight a schoolyard bully, much less an army of evil bent on conquering the world. You, miss Royal Advisor, need to do two things. First, learn what the present is like, rather than relying upon the past, and second, realize that while you may have been closer to the Queen, I am the warrior here. When politicians attempt to wage wars rather than generals, wars are lost.'

Jaeger began to hurl the pencil aside, before visibly restraining his anger, and carefully dropping the writing utensil into Ami's limp hand, then bounding swiftly out of the hallway towards the stairs. None of the three females said anything for long minutes, until Usagi broke the silence.

"...I think you poked something really important to him," Usagi said softly, "You should be more careful what you say around him, Luna."

((()))

AN: And the plot sickens...