Disclaimer: xxxHolic belongs to CLAMP and Warriors belong to the authors collectively known as Erin Hunter. I own absolutely nothing in relation to either works, except for the idea to mesh them together.


Chapter Three – White Day

"Let me get this straight," Whitestorm said after I finished explaining why I needed his help. "Twolegs in general are so superstitious that crossing paths with a black cat makes you believe yourselves as unlucky, and to counter this so-called curse you need to cross paths with a white cat that has to move in the same manner and at the same location where the black cat originally crossed your path?"

"Well… yeah," I said, painfully aware that a black cat's curse only affects humans, and probably only because humans are so superstitious in the first place. Like Yuuko-san said, humans are the strange creatures.

The white cat looked utterly confused (well, as confused as a cat can look to a human) but did not refuse to help. He accompanied me on the almost one hour walk to the street where the black cat first crossed my path, and during that time he talked about his home.

"In my world," Whitestorm said, "there are four Clans living in the same area, although we recently found another Tribe that lives in the mountains. Each clan is named after its original leaders: ThunderClan after Thunder, WindClan after Wind, RiverClan after River, and ShadowClan after Shadow."

"But wait," I interrupted, "why would there have to be four clans? Wouldn't it be easier to live if the whole community of cats lived together?"

Whitestorm shook his head. "There have always been four clans, and there will always be four clans. Each clan specialize in something different and lives in different conditions. RiverClan, for example, lives by the river and has much better swimmer cats than the other clans. As well, we become stronger when we have others to compete with. Look at your own world; if merging together as one was that easy, would there still be so many countries? We only help each other if we have to."

I nodded. It made sense. "Which Clan are you in, Whitestorm?"

"Which Clan I was in," Whitestorm corrected me. "I'm a spirit now, so I belong with StarClan, but I used to be in ThunderClan."

"So there's another Clan for the cat's spirits?"

"Yes, StarClan is made up of deceased cats from all four Clans. They – that is, my Clan mates and I – live up in the sky, and each star represents one fallen warrior."

I decided not to mention that each star was really just a ball of nuclear fusion, in case he would be offended.

"StarClan's duty is mainly to help those still living," Whitestorm continued, "by communicating the medicine cats and telling them of our knowledge. This is usually all we need to avoid a potential disaster, but now…"

His voice trailed off, and I suddenly knew.

"Now, there's a problem, or there's going to be a problem, that even StarClan can't solve," I completed, "so you asked the Dimensional Witch for help."

Whitestorm responded in an uneasy manner. "There's a legend in StarClan that we did not always have a voice, but the Dimensional Witch gave it to us. As well, the legend also states that we will need her help once again, and it turned out to be true."

"But how did you know where she was?"

"Apparently all I had to do was to follow the red butterfly, and that also turned out to be true."

Another thought struck me. "So it was her who told you to stay around the parking lot!" I fumed angrily. I could've saved myself a lot of pain in the form of walking if she –

"Actually, no. I asked her for directions to the closest den of monsters – I mean, cars, and came here myself."

"Oh." I frowned. "Why are you so fascinated with cars?"

"Because I really couldn't believe that a monster – sorry, a car, is not dangerous. After all, compared to a cat's size…"

I laughed. "Cars really are monsters."

"It's not just that," Whitestorm continued defensively. "A monster could kill a cat if it hits the cat."

I stopped laughing and winced. "A car could kill a human, too, if it hits the human," I said, "so I suppose cats must be smarter, to stay away from the cars."

Whitestorm let out an amused purr.

"By the way, how come you know so much about human society?"

Whitestorm responded, this time in an embarrassed manner. "Oh, well, I… was sort of interested. One of the cats in ThunderClan… he's the leader now, but he used to be a kittypet – excuse me, a cat owned by a human. I was wondering exactly how humans and cats interact, so… I started studying humans if I could spare the time, much to the dismay of my StarClan clan mates. We are supposed to be looking after our own Clans, after all, not doing whatever we please."

I started laughing again. "Well, it all turned out for the best, didn't it, since you were the one to come in contact with the Dimensional Witch."

"That's true. If any other StarClan cat came, I doubt they could stand being in the same room as your employer. Being confined in a Twoleg room is bad enough, talking with an eccentric…" Whitestorm shook his head. "Your employer is very interesting, I'll give you that much, Wata-nuki."

"Thank you. I think we're here."

The scene of the road was almost the exact same as how it looked in my memory. I noticed with some amusement and embarrassment that the "cursed" house I had seen before now had the voices of several children playing.

"The first black cat was sitting around… here," I said, pointing to a spot on the road. "I came around the corner like this –" I demonstrated – "and then I took a step forward, and then the black cat just sort of darted forward, and I tripped over it."

"Darted out – like this?" Whitestorm asked, neatly jumping forward (or, in my case, to the right).

"Yeah, like that." I frowned. "It can't possibly be that easy, is it?"

"Can you tell if the curse is lifted?"

"I don't think so."

"Tell me, do Twolegs in general consider it unlucky if bird droppings hit your head?"

"What? Well, some people think it's supposed to be lucky, but I'm not so…" and then I got the hint. I hurled myself to the left, hitting my head again on the stone wall while bird droppings hit the spot where I was only a few seconds ago.

"I believe we can assume we did not follow the proper procedure, then," Whitestorm remarked calmly.

"Yep," I agreed, massaging my head.

"Can you tell me exactly how the first incident happened?"

Hey, I like this guy – or, cat. He was authoritative, but dependable, thoughtful, and definitely not bossy, unlike a certain witch that I know. "The first time I came through this section, like I told you, I turned this corner and took one step. The black cat just jumped like it was frightened, and then I trip –"

"Wait a minute," Whitestorm interrupted. "Do you think that the fact that the first cat jumped away frightened is an important part of removing the curse?"

Now I'm impressed. He asks for his partner's opinions and takes them into consideration, much unlike my current employer. "That's possible. But if that's true, then how are we supposed to make you jump away in a frightened manner?"

Even as I said it, I suddenly felt a breeze on the back of my back. So faint, so faint, that I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been thinking about it.

I turned.

The blinding headlights. The roar of the engines. And the driver, asleep behind the wheel.

Behind me, Whitestorm gave a caterwaul and immediately sprang off to the side of the road. "Watanuki!" he screeched. "Move!"

I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't hear. I could only see, and feel.

This was actually a good thing, because I felt the curse breaking.

I finally gave an involuntary gasp and flung myself sideways to Whitestorm, hitting my whole body this time on the wall. The driver, luckily, woke up and stomped on the brakes. The car screeched to a halt just before it could crash. When he completely stopped, he started driving again much more slowly down the road.

He didn't see me.

"Watanuki?" Whitestorm asked in a worried tone. "Are you all right? Any injuries?"

I gave him a shaky smile and a thumbs-up, completely forgetting he wouldn't know what it meant. "Oh, just fine," I said giddily, dimly aware that I was in shock. "Whitestorm, do you know what day it is today?"

I think he looked confused, but went along with it. "No, what day is it?"

"White Day," I babbled, "when men and boys gives chocolates to women and girls as a sign of love. There's this girl I really like," I droned on, "her name's Himawari-chan and she's really, really cute. I even made some chocolate for her today, want to see?"

Before Whitestorm could respond I brought out a small packet of chocolates that I left in my pockets. An infinitesimal part of me that was still thinking remembered I actually had made it earlier as a snack, and this wasn't the chocolate I meant to give to Himawari-chan, but the my idiot side was dominant right now.

My face fell. "Oh, no, it's crushed."

"I'm… sorry?" Whitestorm said hesitantly, probably totally confused about what was happening.

I didn't respond for several seconds, and then brightened up. "I know! You can have it!"

For the third time since I met him, he lost his composure. "E-excuse me?" he sputtered in surprise.

Well, the side that was still thinking thought, White Day is meant to give presents to girls. Did he just took offence right here? I don't even know.

And: Does he even know what chocolate is? Can he even eat it?

My idiot side said, "It's a thank-you gift!" Beaming, I also added, "and I'm sure you can eat it. It's very sweet, like honey. You might not be able to chew it but just leave it in you mouth for a while and it'll melt and give you the taste."

Wow. My idiot side was smarter than I thought.

Whitestorm hesitated for a moment, and then accepted my gift. "Thank you," he said awkwardly around the bag in his mouth. Probably, no other cat had ever been put into a situation like this. But I'm sure he was happy, and so was I.

"You're a good friend, Whitestorm," I said, now sleepy, "I hope you'll come back and see me again after this…"

I gave a huge yawn and closed my eyes.