AN: I just want to thank SnowSwan for being the only person to review. Sheesh guys, all feeling lazy on a Thursday? Hopefully this new chapter will get you guys motivated, yeah!
"Kiba, you put that cute kitten down right now!"
My captor just held me higher, giving me a better look into the clearing that he brought me to. Eight kids were arranged around, some chatting, and one or two were practicing martial arts moves. Now, however, all eyes were on me, the blond one, and the dog boy.
"Kiba! What are you going to do to the poor thing?" A girl with pastel pink hair down to her waist walked over and attempted to snatch me away. "Give him to me!"
The other girl fixed Pink-haired with a beady eye.
"Who says that it's your cat, Forehead?"
"Well, I wouldn't let an adorable kitten go to an ugly person like you, Ino-pig!"
The one called Ino bristled and started shouting at the other one. In all truth, I didn't particularly like these girls. They looked like they wouldn't think twice about stuffing an "adorable" kitten in a doll dress and bonnet, like my neighbor's twin sisters.
I glanced up at the face of the boy who was almost strangling me. He had red triangles on his cheeks and shaggy brown hair. Worse, he stank like dogs. My nose twitched upwards in disgust as I decided to free myself at all costs. I twisted my head to the left, and brought my teensy tiny little baby teeth to bear on this huge monster. What really surprised me though, was that he actually let go.
"Meeeeewwww!" I cried as I fell about a hundred feet straight down. I hit the ground hard, but bounced right up again and started running towards the nearest shelter that wasn't blonde, pink, or smelled like dogs.
Unfortunately, I had never run on all fours before, and it was closer to a controlled fall than a run. I dived (more like face-planted) into a random lap and buried my face in their T-shirt. I hid there until the talking started up again, and the two girls had stopped fighting.
"Y-you can c-come out now, Kitten." I looked up to see the kind face of a young girl looking down at me. She had short dark hair that held hint of blue. Compassionate eyes the color of pearls held my attention. I was pretty sure that when people had eyes like that they were blind, but this girl's soft eyes told me that she could see perfectly fine.
I suddenly realized that the girl was talking to me, probably trying to get me to calm down.
"And the one who was h-holding you is Kiba. Don't worry, I wont let him or Akamaru hurt you. My o-other teammate is Shino. He is over by the edge of the c-clearing near the trees, wearing a high-collared white T-shirt. I don't r-really know him that well, he never really talks unless it's n-necessary."
I meowed and nodded at a rambunctious blonde boy who seemed slightly familiar. She looked slightly weirded out at my behavior, but answered anyway. I was slightly surprised to see a dark blush spread over her cheeks.
"O-oh, th-that's N-N-Naruto-kun" Awww, how cute... wait what? Naruto, as in the anime my nerdy neighbor was obsessed with? My head snapped up as I looked at the scene in the clearing with new eyes.
The emo kid by the fire is Sauske, the pink-hair is Sakura, Naruto, there's Shikamaru talking to Choji, Ino, Kiba... grrr he will totally pay..., Shino's there leaning on one of the trees, and that leaves only one person. I looked up at the young girl whose knee I was sitting on. Hinata.
"Okay kids, we should start heading back now. I'm sure you all want to get back to your training." Kakashi started walking toward us with that half-smile of his, and my mind went blank. This can't be happening, I must be dreaming. Yes, dreaming, that was it. This is just some horrible nightmare, and I would wake up in my bed, get ready for school, and be completely ignored the entire day. I never said it was a good life, but it was my life, and at least I knew what was going to happen. I laid my head down on my crossed paws as the events of the day caught up with me.
I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew I was in a backpack. I scrambled up and out of the pack to perch on Hinata's shoulder as we landed in front of Konoha's gates. Wow, Konoha. It's all so real when I'm actually seeing it. I stared around me as all the Genin started heading home. I was so absorbed, I hardly noticed Hinata walking towards Shino.
"Sh-Shino, could y-you, that is, c-could I, um I mean..." I looked quickly at her to see what was wrong. "Sh-Shino could... could you keep my kitten until I can find a home for it?" she said the last part in a rush of words and looked toward the silent nin hopefully.
"Sorry Hinata, my father doesn't like cats." his emotionless voice sent shivers down my fur as he turned to walk away. He must have seen or sensed Hinata's crushed expression because he called over his shoulder, "Maybe someone else will."
Dusk was settling over the silent village as Hinata walked over to the little park and gently set me down in the plastic tunnel that led to the slide. She had asked every one of the Rookie Nine (except for my three tormentors from this morning), even Naruto, though I doubted whether he understood what she was saying due to all the stuttering.
"R-remember to stay up here, and m-make sure that a dog doesn't see you. I'll see you in the m-morning." she looked so worried about me that I looked straight in her pale lavender eyes and meowed reassuringly. She didn't need to worry about me, I would be fine. After all, hadn't I fought off a middle school bully using only my trombone case? Of course, I doubted whether or not that applied to me here, but I still had my spunky spirit to fight off the evil dogs! I curled up, expecting sleep to bring peace and my Hinata.
I woke up in the middle of the night, the cold breeze making my silver fur fluff up. My sensitive ears pricked as I heard the sounds of a dogfight up some distant alley. Dumb dogs... I thought to myself as I tried to settle down again on the hard cold plastic.
I was starting to get worried that the fight wasn't going away. In fact, it seemed to be getting nearer. Suddenly the sound of the fight broke off quickly as the sound of running feet and panting were almost to the playground. A long howl rose over the sleepy town, soaring through the crisp night air.
I could see the shadow of the small dog running flat out towards what he mistook as an exit. The tiny puppy turned around sharply at the dead end to face his opponents. I looked quickly at the entrance of the playground, and saw what he was running from. Four long slinking shadows stalked toward the pup, the fur on their shoulders raised, giving them a feral, wild look.
"So, so, little one, I see you've run away only to be caught again." his voice dripped venom and dark humor. The rest of his pack laughed snarlingly and cornered the small off-white pup. Some unknown force brought me to my feet as I stared down at the scene unfolding before my eyes.
My paws itched to leap down and to punish the dogs for bullying the weak. I got as near as the lip of the tunnel before better judgment took over. I was roughly one fifteenth their size, minus the long yellow fangs. I was clearly no match for them.
But. But there was something as I watched the small puppy cower as the larger dogs closed in on him. That something pulled me forward off the lip of the tunnel, right smack into the middle of the circle of snarling salivating wolves.
AN: Muhahaha! Cliff hanger! What will happen to our dear heroine next? The only way to find out is to review my dear readers! Same cat time, same cat channel.