A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
B.S. Stands for…
"Kyoko is gone." The words gripped Ren's heard like ice, and he felt his lungs constrict. He remembered finding Lory on the floor with his head in his hands and the dots all seemed to connect. Taking a breath was suddenly too hard to contemplate. Unable to come up with another definition of the word 'gone,' the word 'dead' bounced around in his mind.
"Gone?" He managed to croak out the word, all thoughts of breathing gone, and Lory turned to him, his eyes wide with realization.
"Gone…on…an assignment." He said quickly, least Ren throw himself out the nearest window. "I sent her on a…a top-secret Love Me assignment!"
Ren narrowed his eyes, irritated at his boss's antics, but couldn't summon anything other than relief at the moment. "A Love Me assignment?"
"Yes. I have a task for her to accomplish, and…she is not to return until the task has been accomplished." Ren lifted an eyebrow.
"Where did you send her?"
"Um…I can't say. It's top secret."
"Is she alone? Is it safe?" Lory involuntarily glanced over at 'Princess' and smirked a little.
"She is being taken care of by someone who cares about her very much, so yes, she is safe. But she is not allowed to have contact with anyone inside of LME." Lory thanked the heavens for his ability to think quickly and smiled at Ren who was not looking happy.
Ren narrowed his eyes. "What about Box R?" Reality hit Lory like a brick.
"Well…uh…I was… really upset with something she did so…she can't go back to Box R… until she finishes her assignment." Ren's eyes widened incredulously.
"President! How could you do that to her? What did she do?" Ren felt pity for the poor girl. He knew how hard she had worked to find her Natsu and how much she loved working on Box R. 'She must be devastated.' Lory sighed tiredly.
"Look Ren, I've only been at the office since 8 and it's been a long…" He checked his watch. "…3 hours. I've got a lot to do, and you have a cat to take care of. Ren…I cannot stress this enough….take good care of Princess. Pretend that you are taking care of Kyoko…" He stress the girl's name, but there was no response from either the man or the sleeping cat. "…because if you don't you will most certainly regret it, okay?" Ren lifted an eyebrow but nodded.
"Of course I'll take care of her."
"I mean it Ren!" Lory gripped the man's shoulders. "Like you were in charge of Kyoko." Ren took a step back and smiled nervously.
"Okay. I'll treat her like a perfect gentleman." Lory looked into his eyes for a minute, then sighed in resignation.
"Great." He mumbled irritably. Ren watched in confusion as Lory slunk out of the room, hands in his pockets. Shaking his head, he cursed under his breath as he realized that he had agreed to take a mini vacation as he walked over to the little cat asleep on the chair. "Two days of work…" He muttered as he reached out to the tiny cat. 'What did he call her? Oh yea…' "Princess?" He whispered, stroking the cats head gently with his thumb. 'Kyoko would love that name…I wonder if she likes cats…'
Kyoko stirred slowly. The last thing she could remember was the little red fairy sprinkling her with a cloud of dust and then falling asleep. Someone was stroking her hair and it felt good. A strange sounds was penetrating her entire body. "Purrrrrrrrrr." 'What is that noise? Is there an engine running somewhere? Where am I?" She heard a quiet chuckle that sounded rather familiar. 'What? Who is…Tsuruga-san!" Her eyes flew open as she realized that she was still at LME. "Meow!" 'What? What was that noise?' She found that Tsuruga-san's face was very close to hers, and he seemed amused about something. Suddenly, she couldn't help rubbing her head against his hand. 'Oh! That feels so….good!' "Meow!" 'Wait!' She froze. 'What am I doing? I'm being so rude! I can't believe I fell asleep at work! He will be so angry at my unprofessional behavior!'
Ren watched in amusement as the kitten froze and began meowing frantically, staring at him with her giant golden eyes. 'Golden eyes huh?' "Just like Kyoko." He said softly, smiling when she purred louder and rub against his hand. 'Kyoko...I wonder where the President sent her. I hope she isn't gone long.'
'What do you mean just like Kyoko, Tsuruga-san?' Unfortunately she realized that everything she said sounded like a cat's meow. 'Tsuruga-san, why can't I talk?' She looked at him fearfully, but he only continued stroking her head. 'Tsuruga-san? What's going on!'
The little cat chirped at him, looking at him almost fearfully, and he frowned and pulled away. "What's wrong Princess? I'm not going to hurt you."
If cats could blush, Kyoko would be bright red. 'Tsu…Tsuruga-san, why are you calling me Princess?'
"Are you hungry? I wonder when Lory fed you last…here." He stood to his full height and Kyoko had a small heart attack as she realized how tall he was. Instinctively she tried to stand and take a step back, but she found that she had two too many legs…and a tail, and tripped over all three. He chuckled softly and reached down, capturing her with his suddenly larger than life hands. She squeaked, a sound that actually translated, and froze as he held her to his chest.
"Oh….what's going on!" She cried. "Tsuruga-san! Put me down! I'm scared! What's going on!" She squirmed in his hands and he tightened his hold on her.
"Calm down , Princess. I'm not going to hurt you." One hand stroked her back gently. She went stiff in his hands again. "I'm just going to take you home and find you something to eat. Okay?"
'Tsuruga-saaan! Stop calling me that! It's embarrassing! Why am I a cat! What's going on?" She groaned and went limp, pinning her ears back, and he looked down worriedly.
"What's wrong, Princess?" He nearly sighed at the range of emotions that passed across the strange cat's face. 'Where did Lory find her, anyway?'
As the door to LME slid open, the sound was suddenly unbearable and Kyoko began looking around frantically. She felt Ren's grip tighten, but something shiny caught her eye. "Let me down Tsuruga-san!" She whined. "I wanna see what that is!" She squirmed, then tensed when a loud honk hurt her delicate ears. She pinned them back and burrowed into his arms, unconsciously extending her claws.
"Ouch! Stop!" He carefully shifted her so that her needle claws were digging into his arm and she meowed pitifully. "Sorry." He said gently, stroking her again and holding her firmly. "I don't want you to run off. It's dangerous." He said softly, wondering why he felt the need to talk to the cat in his arms. It must of worked because she calmed down and retracted her claws.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" She cried, distraught. She tried to touch the hand that she had injured but he was holding her still, so she reached her nose out and touched his arm. He chuckled softly and gently smoothed her fur back with his thumb.
"It's fine." He assured the apparently distraught kitten and adjusted her again. "Just try not to claw me again." He glanced around, hoping that no one caught the Tsuruga Ren talking to a cat as he made his way to his car, and climbed into the driver's seat, placing the kitten on the passenger seat.
Kyoko looked around curiously, trying to work out what had happened. 'The fairy? Did she do this? But why? Why turn me into a cat? She said she was doing someone a favor…who would want to make me a cat?' She saw something out of the corner of her eye and turned her head. 'Oh! I have a tail.' She watched in fascination as it whipped back and forth. 'Hm…can I move it…oh!' She smiled when it tapped her on the nose and she shrunk back a little as it followed her. A giggle escaped her throat as she batted at it, but it died when she heard a chuckle. She jumped and turned to face the giant sitting next to her. He hand his hand over his mouth and was laughing softly as he watched her. Annoyance crept through her and she felt her ears pin against her head. Her tail whipped back and forth in irritation with no effort on her part. "Tsuruga-san! Don't laugh at me! How would you feel if you suddenly had a tail!"
"Meow Meow Meeooow Meoooooww!" He laughed louder, pressing the gas pedal as the light turned green and the cat somehow managed to scold him.
"Sorry. Sorry." He apologized lightly as she fell back against the seat. Pulling into the parking lot, he started to open the door. "I'm just going to go inside and get you a couple of things. I'll be right back." She watched him with eyes wide.
"Hey! Wait! Don't leave me alone in the car." He smiled a little and petted her head.
"You know I can't understand you right?" He laughed a little at his own silliness in talking to a cat. "I'll be right back."
"Meow!" She screamed after him as he shut the door. Sadly she flattened her ears and sat down. Standing up again, she tried to coordinate the movement between her two extra legs.
A few minutes into the exercise, she realized that the car was getting hot. "Where's Tsuruga-san?" She meowed, walking over to the driver's seat. Opening her mouth, she realized that by sticking out her tongue, she could cool off a little, but the sun was shining brightly. 'Why did he leave me in the car? It's hot in here!' She looked over at the passenger side door and, balancing on her hind legs, placed her front paw on the door lock button. A loud click sounded through the car, and she tried to pull the door handle. "I can't pull it! I don't have thumbs!" She meowed loudly, cursing her bad luck, when her sensitive ears caught a voice outside the window.
"Hi kitty." She looked up at the older woman outside staring down at her. "Why are you alone in the car?" She asked, her voice muffled. Kyoko mewed pitifully and suddenly the door was pulled open and a rush of air hit Kyoko on the face, cooling her fur. The woman reached down and pulled her into her arms. "Are you okay, sweetie?" She looked around. "Where's your…"
"Hey!" Looking up, the woman found Tsuruga Ren, her granddaughter's favorite actor, strolling up to her, his eyes sharp. "What are you doing with my cat?" His bright, gentlemanly smile caught her of guard, but the anger in his voice was obvious.
"I'm sorry…but you left your cat in the car, and she was going to overheat." She handed the limp, panting cat to the worried man who stroked her gently.
"Is she okay?" He asked, looking up at the woman fearfully.
She took a nervous half step back. "Um…I'm sure she'll be fine. She's just a little hot. Don't worry." The woman slipped away and headed for the pet shop, pulling out her cellphone to call her granddaughter.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled, holding her closely. "Come on. You can come in with me." Now recovered from the heat of the car, Kyoko reached her paw up to his shoulder and pulled herself up, climbing onto his shoulder. He laughed a little as she perched here.
"There. That's better. Now you don't have to hold me." He smiled as she meowed in his ear, petting her as he walked toward the store.
Kyoko's eyes widened as Ren threw things into his basket. Earlier, while searching the internet for things a cat would need, he had come across the warning that you should never leave a cat in the car, so he had dropped his basket and gone to check on her, praying that he hadn't hurt his boss's beloved cat, and now he needed to start over. The little cat seemed happy to sit on his shoulder as he shopped, but as soon as he began throwing food, a bed, and toys into the basket, she had begun meowing loudly in his ear, her paw patting him on the side of his face.
He caught her paw with a soft laugh. "What? Do you want more toys? I don't know how long you're staying with me…oh! I need a litter box."
"Meow?"
A/N: Thanks for all the readers and reviewers! Um….this should be the last short chapter, and this story will not be all that long…I think. Anyway, I'm tired so I'm going to bed. I hope you enjoyed it.
