Hello again! VitametavegaminGirl here (I have got to shorten my name a bit...how does VitaGirl sound?). I hope anyone who read the first chapter enjoyed it and I hope they enjoy this one too! Btw: Thank you so much, Salt_the_Catgirl, for your review and mention in your 9th ShiKarneval: Fighting in the Center Ring chapter. I really appreciate the review and I'm glad my review made you feel a bit better! Also, thank you to any and all of the people who have read my first chapter and are waiting for more!
Now, once again, without further ado...I present Chapter 2: I'm No Kitten!
Once both Ms. Cat-girl and Yogi had calmed down enough to think straight, Gareki began questioning the unusual child on various topics: name, age, family, the reason for the Varuga chasing her, and so on. At first the girl was a little overwhelmed but she was used to giving out her personal information to strangers, so she answered the way she would in an interview her Master had set up to get some work for her.
"My name is Yuki. I'm 14 years old. I have no last name or family. I'm skilled a-," she stopped abruptly forgetting that this wasn't a job interview and the dark haired boy in front of her hadn't asked about her skill set but rather why the Varuga had been chasing her, "That…thing…was chasing me because I angered its puppeteer." Again she paused, waiting for another question from Gareki.
Gareki, however, wasn't even considering asking another question just yet. He was still puzzled about why the girl, or rather Yuki, had sounded so calm talking about herself and why she had started, but never finished, describing the abilities she possessed. He frowned at her in confusion. Yuki, understanding that he was confused but unwilling to explain just yet, simply stared back, forcing her face into an expression of innocent naiveté. Her purposeful disinclination to assist Gareki by explaining her words sent him into an unrivaled fury that not even Yogi, with his total disregard for the younger male's personal space, could hold a candle to. The dark haired boy nearly burst a gasket when she blinked innocently at him.
Noticing that Gareki was very angry, sweet little Nai tried his best to change the subject by asking if Yuki would like to come back to the Second Ship with the two Circus fighters and himself.
"Are you sure you want me to come?" Yuki asked tilting her head and flicking her tail at the albino child.
Nai looked slightly taken aback at her unexpected response. He replied, hesitantly, with, "Umm…y-yes?" Poor Nai-chan. He was beyond confused and had been anticipating an excited yes or a scared no (at which he would have insisted that she come; the young boy was really starting to take a liking to the cat-girl). Yuki's inner sadistic side was screaming at her to start laughing maniacally at his quavering 'answer' to her 'question,' just to scare him off a little. She held back however, choosing to raise an eyebrow and give an almost unnoticeable smirk. Her tail once again flicked, this time in amusement, while she giggled a cavity inducing, "I would be happy to come if you want me to…um…" she glanced at him inquisitively, eyes asking for a name.
"I'm Nai!" the boy replied cheerily. Happy to have gotten a more natural answer, he proceeded to tell her his companions' names as well, "The one you were strangling is Yogi, and Gareki is the one who stopped you." Nai smiled brilliantly, ignoring the slightly uneasy feeling he felt coming from the cat-girl (it was similar to the feeling he felt when Silver Yogi made an appearance).
While Nai was introducing his friends to Yuki, she was silently assessing the possibility of her own escape from these…for lack of a better word, strange, people who seemed determined to find out more about her. She sighed internally. Why did Master have to give me the job of ticking off that stupid Karoku? Now I can't even go home…well at least not until Master figures out how to get me out of this mess. Man…I guess that rules out my escape even if I do get a chance. Well, maybe if I go with them I'll end up running into Master and he can tell me what to do. *sigh* I wanna go home…
"Um…Nai…-san, -kun?" Yuki blinked at Nai wondering which honorific to use.
"Just Nai, actually…call me Nai-chan, like Yogi!" the niji-boy urged.
"O-okay…er…Nai…-chan," she had only ever called her two brothers tha-…actually…never mind…let's just say Yuki wasn't used to calling strangers in such an endearing way (A/N: MUAHAHAHA). She composed herself for a bit before continuing, "Are you sure it's okay if I come with you? I'm not exactly someone you have known your entire life. Do you really trust me enough to take me back to your home?" This particular comment was answered by Gareki, who by now had calmed down enough to look at Yuki without feeling like exploding in a flurry of curses.
"If you really were a danger, and/or a threat, you shouldn't have saved Nai from being hit by the Varuga; plus if you were going to do something untrustworthy you would have kept your mouth shut about betraying us in the first place. Saying something like that will make us believe you are innocent and can be trusted. Unless of course you were planning on using some kind of reverse psychology by saying that, making us believe you, then betraying us when we least expect it; or you could be doing this whole thing in complete innocence, which would mean I'd simply be confusing you. But the same scenario could apply to that as well. You could act confused at my little explanation but still betray us in the end." With that he stopped. While waiting for her reply, he smirked, he knew he had won this war and was simply waiting for conformation.
Yuki frowned, then she blinked. She tried to come up with a snappy retort, but her mind was still whirling and couldn't formulate a proper response to his too quick explanation. Eventually, she flicked her tail and twitched her ears furiously. Her cat-like eyes narrowed and she began growling under her breath at the smirking boy. Gareki's confident look faltered for a split second before reverting back. D-did she j-just growl at me?! Yogi raised an eyebrow at Yuki's…interesting behavior. He wondered if she was pretending to be frustrated simply to watch Gareki squirm. The cat-girl he was observing felt his stare and flicked her gaze over to him; she slightly tilted her head, gave a small, barely visible smile, and slowly blinked her eyes at him. At Yogi's responding look of surprise she looked back at Gareki while sighing softly. Yuki was beginning to wish she had never met these people; Gareki was slightly suspicious of her, Yogi was way too happy-go-lucky for her taste, and Nai…well she was okay with Nai, mostly she thought he was a cutie with a sweet personality (she wouldn't have minded meeting him under more normal circumstances, actually). The others, though, she could have lived a wonderful life without ever having met.
When a short silence had passed without anyone speaking, Yogi, unable to stand the tension in the air, shouted, "Well either way you should still come with us, if only to see if you got hurt by the Varuga that was chasing you." He clasped his hands behind his back and leaned forward like a child begging a parent to go to a candy store; he opened his beautiful purple eyes as large as he could while giving the cat-girl his most stunning smile (one even Akari-sensei would melt over). Yuki just blinked at the handsome young blonde. Seeing that his plan was beginning to fail, Yogi turned up the charm by adding the perfect amount of tears to make his look absolutely irresistible (something not even the coldest, criminal killer could stand up to). At this he got his desired effect. She blushed slightly, quickly looked away, and nodded shortly at the blonde's unspoken questioning. Internally, Yogi leapt for joy and giggled like a child; externally, he gave a small laugh, swooped her up, bridal style, and, ignoring her shrieking and struggling, jumped nimbly back on to the aircraft, Gareki and Nai following closely behind.
Ω
A few hours after the events in the forest, the group reached a very large air ship that looked like a cross between a bat and a beetle; it had big bat wings, a long spear like rudder of sorts, an underbelly akin to the inner workings of a glowing computer, and a shape that looked like a carapace. Yuki thought it was literally the strangest thing she had ever seen (and seeing as how she had seen some seriously crazy stuff in her lifetime, her thoughts held more weight than most). After the smaller aircraft had landed on the bigger one, the group disembarked, Gareki picked up Nai while Yogi scooped up Yuki, much to her chagrin, and the two Children of the Second Ship flew through a 'doorway' on the bottom of the oval like air ship. When Yogi and Gareki landed, now in the strange ship, they were met with a large group of small sheep-like creatures, carrying long spears, and repeating over and over, "Welcome home. Welcome home."
"I'm back," all three boys said at the same time, Gareki's voice being the most noticeable due to lack of enthusiasm in his tone. Yuki raised an eyebrow at the…interesting phrase; she wasn't too sure about the reason, but to be honest she wasn't thinking about their words as much as she was attempting to figure out how to escape Yogi's tight grip on her.
When she was just about to put her plan into action (it involved lots of struggling, kicking, smacking, punching, and tail swatting), Yogi let her down, much to her relief, and whispered, "You have to say it too. They'll attack anyone who doesn't." The cat-girl blinked and looked quickly at him. He looked at her in all seriousness and nodded, urging her on.
She hesitated, before muttering (in a tone similar to Gareki's first utterance of the words), "I-I'm home." Saying that in front of someone other than her family (A/N: Can anyone guess who they are? One hint: they are characters from the original series and their race is Post-Human) made her feel uncomfortable, but she tried not to show it.
The sheep whirred for a bit before replying with a robotic, "Voice recognition registration is completed."
Yuki jumped a little when they turned around quickly and dashed off to do whatever other duties they were given. She sighed. I really need to get out of here. My nerves are about to make me snap! As soon as she finished thinking this, she felt an aura oozing with a thick blood lust, focused entirely on her, appear when a tall, handsome, dark haired man entered her line of sight. She froze instantaneously. This man will kill me if I make a wrong move, She thought, in fear. Nai, who had moved so that he could stand as close to her as possible without inciting a riot, began to feel her anxiety and, in an attempt to comfort her, gently took her hand in his; she started a bit and glanced at him in curiosity. He gave her a small, yet sweet, smile, while rubbing his thumb gently on the back of her hand in a reassuring way. Yuki relaxed; feeling his hand entwined with hers made her feel safe, not to mention much calmer than how she usually felt. Nai noticed the change in her demeanor and happily snuggled closer to her.
The dark haired man Yuki had freaked out over was, of course, the wonderful Captain of the Second Ship, Hirato. Yogi was the first to talk to him, saying, "Hello, Hirato-san. We're back!" in a happy tone of voice (it seemed to Yuki that 'happy' was the only tone of voice the older blonde possessed).
Hirato smiled quietly, never taking his eyes off Yuki, "Welcome back everyone. Yogi I expect a full report later. For the time being, however, I want to know what that is," indicating to Yuki, "There was nothing about a…kitten in the description of your mission."
At the 'kitten' comment Yuki exploded, "I AM NOT A KITTEN!"
Thank you for reading Chapter 2. I hope you liked it! I'll try to release the next chapter soon.
Later!