Hello and sorry for not being able to post on my usual time yesterday, but now it is up and ready to read. And as always I hope you will enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha.
Pizza.
Without looking back, Kirara jumped to hide behind a heap of boxes close to the wall, hoping that whoever walked out hadn't seen her. Heavy footsteps walked past and Kirara stuck her head out to see a huge human carrying a first aid kit similar to the one Kagome had in her backpack. He stopped at one of the doors and more or less kicked it open.
"Hey, Renji" the man grunted, "What did you do to get that slash on your back, it looks like a bear has trying to give you a hug."
The man went inside and Kirara tiptoed after to have a look. On a fragile wooden chair sat the very man that had came to Eri's house, he sat bent over a table while the other guy picked something up from the kit and started tending the wound with very little care.
"I won't tell you because you are never going to believe me."
"And I couldn't care less about your misadventures Renji," he spat, "the only thing of importance is the girl. Did you talk to her as you were supposed to?"
The man on the chair, Renji, hissed as something liquid was poured on the gash. "Yes, or maybe… that was when I got this," Renji said and stared angry at the man behind him.
"What! Did those also have a demon dog like the three fools claim to have seen?" The man snorted in disbelief, "There are no such thing, if they had a dog you should have shot it, you have a gun, or did you suddenly forgot how to use it? Did you tell them or not?"
Renji gritted his teeth, "Shut up. You can see what's on my back. No dog is large enough to have made those and yes, I did tell them but I do not know if the will obey. Something attacked me from behind before I manage to finish properly, but the message was delivered!"
"Let's hope they did, and if not, well… it will be bad for them. But then again, that will be bad for you too, especially when the boss finds out. He doesn't like failure," he said and finished by cleaning away the blood.
"Nor does he like blood. I think." Renji continued, breathing heavily. "He always get that strange look in his eyes whenever he sees it. Almost creepy you know."
"Not my business. Straighten up so I can bandage you. Then I hope for your sake you still can prove your worth for him, I knew a few people who didn't and who disappeared a little later," he said and put on a bandage, tightening it far more than necessary. "And I hope for the both of us that none did follow you back here. That wound on your back is bound to attract attention."
The ugly man on the chair shook his head, "Some people looked but I didn't see anyone who followed me. Get the bandaging done and give me something to eat, we still got the boy."
"Humph, taking a five year old who even can't stand or walk on his own doesn't impress anyone. Nevertheless, as long as we got him the judge will judge in our favor if he knows what's best for the little brat." He then took up his phone and dialed a number;
"Hello, I would like to speak with you about some business I don't want left unfinished…" he said to the strange device.
Kirara decided she had heard enough and retreated into the corridor again. Now she knew for certain the little human boy had been taken by the same guys and she hoped Kentaro would be somewhere in this building. The door to the two thugs were still half-open, making her able to hear what they said, she just hoped they wouldn't discover her by accident. Not that they would care much for her anyway, to them she probably looked close enough to a normal cat to make them think she only was looking for mice to catch, but why take any chances? The nekomata could see light shining from cracks under other doors too, she therefore walked up to each and one of them, listening for any signs from the kid. If the reaction from the child's mother was any proof, it couldn't have been so very long ago the boy had been taken away, and children who had been taken from their parents tended to make much noise. If only those two could keep their voices down so she could listen properly.
Kirara searched the entire floor but found no traces of him, not even a smell, could they be hiding him somewhere else? She was about to walk up to the next floor when the sound of footsteps approached her from behind, making Kirara jump for cover under a smelling old jacked.
The man that had tended Renji's wounds walked past in his heavy boots, carrying something that smelled of food in his hands. She let him pass before she crawled out from her hiding place and followed him close behind, curious to see where he was going.
He went into the stair room and walked up a floor and into a badly lit corridor which was eerie similar to the other ones below. She saw him stop at the last door, put a key into the lock, turned it around, opened the door and went inside. Kirara of course followed unseen right between his legs. Once more she took advantage of her tiny form and crawled under a cupboard that stood on three sort legs. Then she turned around to look into the room and she immediately noticed that the man was staring down at someone who laid on a dirty old bed.
"Here is some food for you boy," the huge male grunted uncaring and sat down the box he was carrying on a sideboard. "You better eat it while it's still warm. It is pizza and I won't hear any complain about what's on top of it, actually I don't want to hear a sound from you at all so no more yelling or crying like you did earlier today. Neither I or the boss like it so you better shut up or else…" Kirara growled silently at the unspecified threat while the man leave without anymore fuss, leaving a terrified child with watery eyes alone in the dark.
The little kid breathed heavily, trying to hold back a sob he was too frightened to let go of while glaring at the door. Kirara noticed this and crawled out again and looked around. The room was very tiny and beside from the cupboard she had been hiding under, the only other pieces of furniture was the bed and the sideboard with the pizza food on. On the floor was a rotting piece of dark green carpet and on the wall was a window that had been barricaded shut, leaving the only source of light coming from a naked but very dim light bulb in the ceiling.
Kirara went over to the bed and sat down beside it.
"Mew," she said friendly and wagged her twin tails.
The boy would have jumped if he had been able doing so and immediately searched the room for the source of the sound until he found it.
"Kitty!" he shouted surprised before he covered his mouth with a hand, staring and listening intensely at the door for a couple of seconds. Seeing that on one was coming, he turned back to Kirara. "Did you come all the way here to find me? Can you help me escape from here; I want to get back to mom and dad!" he sobbed with a shaky voice.
Kirara mewed positively, jumped up on his bed, made herself comfortable on his lap and gave him another cheerful mew.
A happy smile spread across his face "Oh, thank you kitty, thank you. I didn't believe anyone could find me here, I am so glad I am not alone any longer. The man who took me was very scary you know, I was playing in the garden when he just turned up behind me. He held his hand over my mouth so I couldn't shout for help and then he lifted me up and threw me in a car and said that if I ever wanted to see mom and dad again I had to do what they said."
The feline demon watched Kentaro dry his eyes when an unexpected sound groaned from within his stomach. "I am afraid I didn't eat before I came here," he said. "Perhaps I should eat the pizza before we leave, if you just leave my lap for a moment then I can roll over and try to reach the pizza box."
Kirara took a quick glance at the box on the sideboard; it was placed out of reach for Kentaro who couldn't walk so he had to pull himself to the end of the bed to reach it. Seeing this, Kirara immediately jogged to the bed end and jumped up to the box from which she pushed it down onto the bed, allowing Kentaro to reach it.
"Thank you kitty," Kentaro smiled and opened the box, "Come and have some pizza!" Then he took out a slice for himself and another one he laid out on the bed for Kirara. Said creature stared at the strange piece of food, she could recognize some meat on it while most of the other parts, red, green and yellow, were foreign to her. She sniffed and wondered if it was supposed to be warm, but then she remembered that humans tended to like warm food, she looked up again and saw Kentaro eagerly gulping down the triangular food before he found another slice. Curious, Kirara decided to try some of the meat balls, she rolled one out and began eating on it. Sure, it tasted different from what she was used to but the taste wasn't bad at all so she ate all on her share while Kentaro picked off some of his and gave them to her.
Kentaro had probably eaten three slices when he began yawning heavily, several times. Kirara looked up at him and suddenly felt very tired herself as if she had been awake for several days. The boy yawned a few more times before he laid down on the mattress and closed his eyes, "I feel so tired kitty, do you think we leave a little later, I just want to rest a bit first…"
Kirara looked worryingly at him, something was wrong. How could he become so sleepy all of sudden and why did she abruptly feel so tired herself? The answer struck her when she saw the half-eaten slice lying in his hand, the food had been drugged with some sort of sleeping potion, and she had eaten of it as well!
Walking on week legs, Kirara hurried to find a place to hide before sleep claimed her. There was no place to hide on the bed, instead she let herself more or less fall down on the floor and from there she wagged to hide under the bed instead. Just a moment later she fell over and closed her heavy eyes.