Neko Monogatari

Chapter 7

She was very nervous

When she had been told an old friend of her father's was on a visit, she wished Maora had warned her that he wasn't a catnid; she had nearly run into him, but when he reached down to help her up, she nearly had a heart attack when she found herself face to face with a giant crocodile. He was very muscular, with a slim waist but a thick torso, the same in his arms and legs; the bends of his knees and elbows were not as detailed as the rest of his body. He had a long, scaly tail, and various scars across his body, the most notable one across his chest. His head was big and long, and sharp teeth stuck out from his mouth. Piercing green eyes stared curiously at her, slit pupils she felt could see through her very being. He had eye bone sockets, which made it look as if he had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. A great black cloak rested upon his shoulders, protecting his dark green scales from the sunlight: his chest and jaw were a contrasting pale ivory color.

"Vasilko!" her father's voice soothed her fear, "Long time no see! One sees you have already met Cloe!" King Tom chuckled upon seeing his daughter's expression.

The five year-old kitten quickly scurried away from the alligator to hide behind her father's stout body, trying to hide from Vasilko's view.

Vasilko snickered softly, "Looks like she doesn't like me at all, does he? Well, I'm not surprised at all," he looked down to see his reflection on one of the ponds of the throne room, "I kind of look scary."

King Tom looked down at his hiding child, "Come on, Cloe. Don't be shy, Vasilko is no more dangerous than one's red herring."

He gently shoved his daughter from behind his back. Cloe started trembling when Vasilko approached her, and started examining her closely.

"Don't take it badly, Tom, but Cloe takes more after her mother than you."

King Tom chuckled, "She does, doesn't she?"

"Let's hope she got her personality, otherwise we'll have a second, female version of you loafing around."

The two started to laugh, but Cloe didn't like how Vasilko spoke of her father. Maora had explained her earlier that when they apparently used 'insulting' words, they were never truly insulting, it was just some kind of game the grown-ups liked to play and that she would understand it when she was older.

"So, tell me, Vasilko! How's Colette doing?" Tom inquired, changing the subject, apparently guessing Cloe's thoughts.

Vasilko smiled warmly. "She's and the baby are okay. In fact, I can already feel the babe's kicking when I place my hand in Colette's belly."

"Yeah, I remember how it feels. My heart leapt with joy everytime I felt Cloe kicking when Cleopawtri was pregnant with her."

Cloe felt rather uncomfortable when they started speaking about babies. Luckily, she managed to sneak away from them without her father noticing. She didn't need to hear 'adult subjects', if they spoke about it at all.

But better safe than sorry.

Gladiataur was knocked backwards when a flash of green and black blurred between him and Cloe, standing protectively in front of her.

"Another monster?" Drippy cried out in dismay. "What's next? An army?"

When Gladiataur attempted to attack the cat princess, a wave of energy sent him plummeting against the worn down trees. Cloe and Oliver got a better look at their mysterious protector; Cloe immediately recognized him.

"Vasilko…" she whispered, before her terror and shock overwhelmed her and everything went black…

….

When Cloe regained consciousness, she realized everything around her was calm. The footsteps of Gladiataur were gone, and the fear she had felt mere… she didn't even how long ago, but the point, it had disappeared. She felt the danger had passed. Her vision was initially blurry, and all she could see were three shadows around her. But the voices she was hearing were clear.

"Crikey! She's waking up, Ollie-Boy!"

"Thank goodness! I was starting to worry!"

Cloe felt a large, scaly hand in her forehead. "She'll be fine. She just fainted, that's all."

Her ears twitched at the voices. It was Oliver, Drippy… and Vasilko who were speaking. Her vision cleared, and she found her friends well sitting around her with relieved expressions. Vasilko's hood was down, revealing a rather large scar on his forehead. Had he always had it, or had he received it not too long ago?

"What…? What happened to me?"

"You fainted like an old lady, Cat-Girl! You gave us a big scare!" Drippy explained

Oliver nodded. "We thought something had happened to you."

"I just…" Cloe's eyes widened. "What happened with the Gladiataur?!"

Vasilko placed a hand on her head, like she was a kitten. "Don't worry, girl. He is okay. We gave him a rather…" Vasilko sighed. "…. Harsh beating, but he will be fine. He is free of the Dark Djinn's influence, so he should go back to his duties."

Cloe let out a sigh or relief. At least they had not severely hurt him. While she knew it had to be done, she had never liked the idea of hurting, or even killing, something.

"What happened to you, Cloe?" Oliver's concerned voice brought her out of her thoughts, but she was not sure what to say.

"I don't know…" the cat princess bent her ears back. "I just… I thought he was going to kill me, and I froze… Just to think the Gladiataur would bring that big club of his upon me paralyzed me, and I couldn't move."

"And that brings out my question." Vasilko added, his voice growing surprised. "What are you doing out of Ding Dong Dell, princess?!"

Cloe froze. "Well, I… It's a long story."

"She asked if she could come with us. She wants to see the world by herself." Oliver explained once more, but the gator's voice was rather intimidating, and he was afraid a wrong word could make him angry.

That's when Drippy decided to intervene. "Don't worry, Lizard-face! The next time we won't let Cat-Girl risk her life like that, right, Ollie-boy?"

"It's not just about Cloe risking her life!" Vasilko snapped his teeth. "It's about her father. Knowing him, he must be worried-sick about you, Cloe! What kind of friend would I be if I let you continue alone with those two!" Vasilko sighed. "I'm afraid I'll have to take you back-"

"WHAT?!"

Cloe immediately jumped back to her feet, startling the trio and stepping away from Vasilko. "No, you can't! Don't you get it?!"

Vasilko's expression did not change. "It's for the best, Cloe. You don't know how to fight, and you can't even stand being in presence of a monster!"

"Hey, Lizard-face! For your information, Cat-girl helped us in defeating that old mice in the well to save the King!" Drippy protested.

"It's not the same thing! Hickory Dock is nothing more than a wimp compared to Gladiataur! If I had not arrived in time, who knows what might have happened to the princess! And how would I answer to Tom for my carelessness?!"

Oliver snapped at the gator. "You can't take her back if she doesn't want to! Don't you think she should have the final word?"

But the look the alligator gave him made the young boy tremble at his shadow projecting over both him and Drippy. His pupils two thin slits, Vasilko snarled. "I do not wish to be rude, but you stay out of this, boy!"

That was the last straw.

"ENOUGH!" Cloe yelled at the top of her lungs, and she set her glaring blue eyes on Vasilko. "Vasilko, listen to me! I have never left Ding Dong Dell in my entire life! And the few times I did, daddy always had me surrounded by guards and I was never able to truly enjoy them! Now I get this only chance to know what I have been missing all there years, and you just want me to give it all up!" Her eyes were tearing up. "I know how much I must have hurt daddy when I left, I don't like the idea of him being so worried about me, but I'm not a kitten anymore!"

Vasilko was out of words. "Cloe, I-"

She interrupted him. "When Hickory Dock knock my father out cold, I feared for his life! I thought he was going to die, and I had no other choice but to fight to protect him!" Cloe had tears rolling down her cheeks by then. "That's the other reason I wanted to leave! I wanted to get stronger so that I would protect my father much better! But I won't be able to if you take me back to my cage!"

The cat princess panted to recover her breath. She didn't like of thinking of her home as a prison, but sometimes, when her father's overprotectiveness went too far, she felt like a prisoner in her own home. When she calmed down, she suppressed a giggle when she saw the look on Oliver, Drippy, but overall, Vasilko's face.

After a minute of silence, Vasilko let out a heavy sigh. "You inherited your mother's emotional outbursts as well, it seems." Vasilko managed to give the Cat princess a small smile. "I can see you're no longer a kitten, Cloe. I can see you need to go through this in order for you to mature. However…" his smile diminished. "Do not ask me not to tell your father that I encountered you, because I can't do that to him. We've been friends for a long time, and I can't lie to him about something very important to him."

"Hey, lizard-face! Could you at least not mention Ollie-Boy and me? I wouldn't want old cat-face to find out we 'abducted' his daughter after all he did for us!"

"Please, Mr. Vasilko!" Oliver finally found the courage to speak clearly to the crocodile with pleading eyes. "After all the kindness King Tom showed us, we wouldn't want him to think we kidnapped Cloe!"

Vasilko chuckled. "Don't worry, boy. I will only tell him about Cloe. I know him, right now he will not very interested about anything else than his daughter's whereabouts."

In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if he had sent the whole army to search for Cloe.

Maora was very worried now.

As soon as he was done reading Cloe's letter, Tom sent every guard on duty to search far and wide for her, and bring her back against her will if necessary, but he was not willing to let anything happen to his daughter. No matter the cost, he would bring her back. She tried speaking to him, but he would not listen. When it was Cloe's safety they were talking about, Tom lost his… she did not recall how it was called among the townspeople, but the point was, Tom would go at great lengths to have his little girl back. But on the meanwhile, he was pacing around his cambers, Maora's attempts to calm him down completely futile.

"Tom, calm down!" She scolded him tenderly.

"How's one supposed to calm down, Maora?!" he yelled, his voice shaky and disturbed. "Cloe's out there by herself, she may be hurt and hungry and cold!"

"Come on, Tom! Cloe's not that defenseless! May I remind you that she saved you from Hickory Dock?"

"But the fairy and the pure-hearted boy helped her! I can't imagine Cloe fighting all by herself!"

"Tom Tildrum! You should know your own daughter better than anyone here! True, she may not be that strong to fend by herself, but she has always been quick to adapt to situations! How do you think she managed to outsmart Hickory when she was only two? Or how to you think she learned how to control a familiar in such a short period of time just to save you?"

Tom said nothing to that rather smart reply. She had a point there, his daughter was smart, he had to admit, she always found her way out of dangerous situations, not matter how hard or difficult they were. Still, she was his only child, his little girl, his baby. And she was the only heir to the throne, the first catwoman who would raise up to the throne despite her gender. If something happened to her, what would become of the kingdom? He didn't like putting the kingdom before his daughter, but such was the weight of the crown he wore.

But the most important thing of all, Cloe was the only memento he had of his beloved Cleopawtri. She resembled Cleopawtri strikingly, except for the stripes. HE would never forgive himself if something were to happen.

Maora sighed. There was no reasoning with Tom right now, perhaps it was best she waited for him to calm down a bit before she spoke with him again. Besides, nothing she did would change his mind.

He was determined to bring Cloe back.

Cloe panted heavily, wiping cold sweat from her fur, struggling to remain on her feet. Not too long ago she, Oliver and Drippy had gone out of the forest, parting ways with Vasilko and repairing the Spring, bringing it back to its former glory. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her entire life. After Vasilko went on his way back home, he gave Cloe one last piece of advice.

Beware of him.

"Crikey! It feels like we walked into an oven!" Drippy's voice rung in her ears with a tone of both exhaustion and heat. "I wish we had brought some ice cubes!"

"They would have melted in five seconds." Cloe replied as she struggled to lift her legs off the sand. "I can't believe how hot it is here!"

"It wasn't so hot when your father brought you the last time?" Oliver inquired.

"No. I remember we came on a carriage, and Maora brought her fan." Cloe giggled as she recalled how her father and Maora were in constant bickering for possession of the fan that day.

"Anyway, Cat-girl, we should get to Al-Mamoon soon, so there's no need to worry! Once we get there, we could get out hand on a cold, sweet, tasty babana split!"

"Don't say that, Mr. Drippy, I'm getting hungry." Oliver protested. He may not know what a babana is, but the mere mention of ice cream alone was making his mouth water.

Cloe rolled her eyes with a grin. Seriously, men and their silly talks. For a while, there was nothing but sand, sky and the mountains in the distance; what caught her attention was the giant volcano whose smoke and rising ash was so thick that it nearly covered up the parts of the land around the volcano. However, everywhere else had a beautiful blue sky, with pale clouds slowly travelling an endless distance.

When the trio came to the top of the sand hill, she spotted it. In the middle of a lush, green oasis, was the glorious city of Al-Mamoon, with its teal-colored towers and roofs, and the golden paintings adorning the walls of the homes. It was still a long way to get there, but the most important thing was that this time, she would be able to freely explore around town. The last time, her father didn't let her out of the palace gates when she wanted to play with other children, but this time it would be different.

Even magical, perhaps.

"Come on, you two! If I don't get out of this heat, my lamp will be nothing but melted wax in a few minutes!"

Drippy rushed towards the sight of Al-Mamoon, Oliver in hot pursuit. Cloe, however, had trouble keeping up with them, mostly due to her rather low stamina. Due to her sheltered upbringing, she never had made that much exercise.

Oliver looked back and noticed the cat princess was getting left behind. "Cloe, are you alright?"

Cloe nodded. "Don't worry about me, it' just I'm not used to walking for so much time, that's all."

With another breath of the hot desert air, the cat princess continued on her way.