Brought Together Chapter 35:
A New Friend
The meeting finally broke up, with the decision that the expeditionary force would check out Takashi's room the next day. Takashi's parents had reported that Umie and Shigeru were fine with them living there for a while, so the force wouldn't have any problems with them.
The next day, Kisshu, Ichigo and the rest of the expeditionary force went to Takashi's house. They went up to his room, and saw a complicated-looking lock on the doorknob. Suddenly they heard a scratching noise from the other side of the door. Everyone looked at one another, worried.
"Ichigo, do you think you can melt the lock with your attack?" Kisshu asked quietly.
"I'll try," Ichigo said. She called on her sword, and then pointed it at the lock. Then she sent a spark into the lock, and it melted. "Okay, it's done, but the doorknob is going to be pretty hot," she said. "I'll go see if Mikan keeps any potholders or towels around."
Kisshu nodded, and Ichigo went back downstairs. She went to the kitchen, and spotted a towel. She grabbed it, and went back upstairs. When she reached Takashi's room, she said, "Okay, I found a towel. Any more noises?"
"We heard what sounded like a snarl, and more scratching," Choji said.
"Okay, Ichigo, open the door. Everyone, keep your guard up," Kisshu ordered.
Ichigo wrapped the towel around her hand as the others nodded. Then she reached out and opened the door. Almost immediately, they all heard a snarl, and something leaped at Ichigo in a blur. Ichigo flew up as the others dodged. The blur stopped in the middle of them, and Ichigo and Kisshu gasped. It looked like the cat-thing that had wounded Kisshu, but it was much smaller.
Suddenly the cat-thing spoke! "Where is Takashi?" it growled. "What did you do with him?"
"We didn't do anything with him," Ichigo said. "He was accused of treason and ran away."
"Takashi abandoned me?" the cat-thing asked. It sounded a bit sad.
"Where did you come from? Did Takashi create you?" Kisshu asked.
"No, Takashi found me in the forest, and snuck me into his room at night," the cat-thing said. "My mother was killed by something, and Takashi took me in."
"Um… your mother wouldn't happen to be the thing that tried to kill Kisshu, would she?" Ichigo asked.
"Mother went out to stop the destruction of the forest and didn't come back," the cat-thing said sadly.
Kisshu and Ichigo exchanged glances. "I think your mother died trying to kill us," Ichigo said. "We were protecting a little girl that she tried to eat, and that's why we killed her."
"Mother tried to eat a little girl? Mother always said to me not to kill children," the cat-thing said.
"Um… what are you, exactly?" Choji asked.
"I'm a clarut," the cat said. "My name is Claw."
"It's nice to meet you, Claw," Ichigo said. Suddenly a thought occurred to her, and she said, "Would you like to help us? Takashi is becoming a danger to our people, and we need to take him down."
Except for Kisshu, everyone's jaws dropped.
"Do you have food?" Claw asked. "If there's food, I'll help. That's the only reason I went with Takashi; he said there was food. There wasn't much, though."
"What do you like to eat?" Kisshu asked.
"Tree bark," Claw replied. "The trees here taste nice."
"I'm sure there's plenty of tree bark around," Kisshu said. "We are on the edge of a forest, after all."
"Um… shouldn't we run this idea by Kuro-sama first?" Takoi asked.
"Good point," Kisshu said. He looked at Claw. "Can you come with us?" he asked. "We need to run this plan by our leader first."
"There's more of you creatures?" Claw asked.
"A lot more, and we're called Cyniclons," Ichigo said.
"A lot more?" Claw asked nervously.
"As long as you don't attack them, they won't do anything to you," Kisshu said. "They'll be more scared of you than you are of them."
"I don't like it when others are scared of me," Claw said.
"Well, you'll have all of us," Takoi said. "We're not scared."
"Takoi is right," Ichigo said. "We'll be your friends, Claw."
Claw made a strange sound, and walked to Ichigo. The others tensed, until he started rubbing his face against Ichigo's leg. Ichigo slowly reached down, and started scratching behind Claw's ear. Claw made the sound again, and Kisshu smiled. "I think Claw is purring," he said to the others, who were watching wide-eyed.
Finally Claw stopped rubbing Ichigo. "What's your name?" Claw asked.
"I'm Ichigo," Ichigo said.
"Takashi talked about you," Claw said. "He didn't seem to like you. Why? You seem very nice to me."
"Takashi didn't like that I was a female, and in charge of him," Ichigo said. "I think he believes that females are inferior to males."
"No they're not," Claw said. "Females of my kind are superior to males. I guess it's not the same with you though."
"Actually, we believe that males and females are equal," Kisshu said. "Takashi is breaking tradition in that respect; the rest of our people believe males and females are equal."
"That's a good belief," Claw said.
"I think that we should go to Kuro-sama soon," Ichigo said. "He's probably wondering what happened to us by now."
"Okay," Kisshu said. "Claw, you have to come too, okay?"
"Okay," Claw said.
Kisshu nodded to the others, and they all teleported out, Ichigo teleporting Claw with them. They arrived at the building where Kuro-sama and the other elders met in, and Kisshu knocked on the door. "Come in," they heard, and they obeyed.
Kuro-sama was waiting, and as he saw them, he said, "I'm glad you're all safe. We were getting worried. What did you find?"
"Well, we found out that Takashi wasn't creating Chimera Animas," Kisshu said. "Instead, he was hiding a clarut in his room."
"A 'clarut'?" Kuro-sama asked.
"Hai. Claw, you can come out," Kisshu said.
Claw hesitantly poked his head out from behind Ichigo. "This is Claw," Kisshu said. "Claw was locked in Takashi's room. Claw, this is Kuro-sama."
"Hello," Claw said shyly.
"Hello, Claw," Kuro-sama said.
Ichigo, noticing that Claw was still halfway behind her, said, "Claw, no one's going to hurt you here. It's okay."
Kuro-sama turned to Kisshu and asked, "Why have you brought Claw here, Kisshu?"
"Claw has agreed to help us with taking down Takashi, as long as we have food," Kisshu said.
"And what does Claw eat?" Kuro-sama asked.
"Tree bark," Ichigo replied. "I think there's plenty around, right?"
"Hai," Kuro-sama said. "That's easy enough to supply. Very well, Claw can stay, as long as he doesn't attack anyone."
"I won't attack anyone, I'm a vegetarian," Claw said. "Besides, I don't like fighting unless it's to protect someone."
"That's good," Kuro-sama said. "Now, where do you suggest Claw should live?"
"Might as well be with us," Kisshu said. "He seems to like Ichigo a lot."
"Alright, then you may take Claw to your home and explain this to your families," Kuro-sama said. "The rest of you may go home too."
"Thank you, Kuro-sama," the others said. Kuro-sama nodded, and everyone bowed, and teleported out.
Ichigo, Kisshu and Claw arrived in front of their house, and Kisshu opened the door. "We're back!" he called out.
The others came running, but stopped when they saw Claw. "We have a new housemate," Kisshu said. "This is Claw. We found him locked in Takashi's room, and he has offered to help us in return for food."
"Um… What does Claw eat?" Yuki asked.
"I eat tree bark," Claw said.
"You can talk?" Sakura asked, surprised.
"Is that unusual?" Claw asked.
"I just didn't expect it," Sakura said.
"Where is Claw staying?" Pai asked.
"Might as well be our room," Kisshu said. "I'm sure we can find some blankets to make a bed."
"I'll get on that," Sakura said, and left.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Ichigo answered it, and was tackled by Emi. "Hi Emi," Ichigo said. "What's up?"
Before Emi could answer, Hana came in and said, "Kuro-sama asked us to bring you this bag of tree bark. What's going on?"
"We've got a new friend," Kisshu said. "His name is Claw, and he eats tree bark." Claw hesitantly poked his head out from behind Kisshu, where he was hiding.
Emi whimpered. "Emi, this isn't the one that attacked you," Ichigo said. "This one is friendly." She stood up and picked Emi up too. Claw was hiding again, and Ichigo said, "This is Claw. He's kind of shy."
"Um… Claw eats tree bark?" Hana asked.
"That's what my large teeth are for," Claw said from behind Kisshu.
Emi asked Ichigo, "Is this one safe, Ichi?"
"Yes, Emi, this one is safe," Ichigo said. She put Emi down, and Emi hesitantly walked over to Kisshu, then peeked around him. Claw looked at her hesitantly, then slowly walked over and licked her cheek. Emi giggled.
Claw shook his head and said, "I'm not doing that again. You taste awful."
"Would you like some tree bark, Claw?" Ichigo asked.
"Yay!" Claw said. Ichigo took the bag from Hana, and walked over to Claw.
She took a piece of tree bark out of the bag, and held it out to Claw, who delicately took it in his mouth, and chomped it up. "Yum!" Claw said.
"Can I give Claw the tree bark too?" Emi asked.
"Sure," Ichigo said, handing the bag to Emi. Emi held out a piece of bark out to Claw, who ate it.
So for the rest of the evening, while the adults talked, Emi fed Claw, who happily ate up all the tree bark.
Okay, so it was more cute than exciting. But I liked it. Review and tell me what you thought!
