We were getting ready to leave, but it wasn't for school, in fact, it was for a Romance Writer's Convention. (1) Strangely, an invitation came in the mail one day addressed to the dog. Shigure was ecstatic and offered us to come as his guests. I openly refused of course. Who would want to attend a boring and stupid convention anyway?
"Kagura's watching the house for us," Shigure added in a sing-songy voice. My skin began to crawl at the mention of the brunette's name. There was no way I'd stay alone with her for two whole days!
I looked up to see Shigure with a crazy smirk and a gleam in his eyes that dared me to decline his offer.
"Fine, I'll go," I gave in with a sigh. Tohru was happy at my decision, but the rat just scoffed, calling me a scaredy-cat. I couldn't argue with him there for once. After all, I was mortified by Kagura's split personality and for the fact that I'm the cursed cat zodiac. It made sense to be called such a cowardly thing.
-x-
The next day in the early hours of the morning, I lugged my bags down the stairs. Just as I walked out of the door, I called behind me,
"Hurry up, you stupid rat! Stop putting on your make-up . . ." I trailed off when I realized that a pair of brown eyes looked up at me. I jumped back as the Ox righted himself up to a sitting position in the backseat of Hatori's car.
"Wh-What are you doing here?" I stammered.
"Not surprised to see me, kitten? Should I be hurt?" the cow smiled. I clenched my hands into fists and growled at the cow's smug face,
"If it weren't for the fact that this car belongs to Hatori, you'd be through the cushions right about now."
"Oh? Big words for a tiny kitten," the cow taunted me.
"Hatsuharu . . . what are you doing here?" a calm and collected voice replied behind me. It was Yuki.
"Yuki . . ." the cow replied, pushing past me as he got out of the car and clung onto the rat's shirt. I watched the scene with shock.
"I was invited," Haru answered. I gaped. He answers to Yuki but not me? Why was that?
"Get in the car, it's time to go," Hatori stated when he spotted the dog walking out and giving the keys to the brunette girl.
"Bye Kyou, my love! I'll be here waiting for your return!" Kagura cried with a wave of her hand. I cringed, hastily clambered into the backseat and taking the left window seat.
-x-
Minutes later as I sat with my arms about my chest, I heard a small commotion outside about the sitting arrangement.
"Well, it wouldn't be a problem if Kyou would change himself into a cat and have him sit on Tohru's lap," the dog stated. My ears perked up at the mention of my name. Did I hear right? Why was I supposed to change? It wasn't fair at all.
"Why me? Why not Yuki or Shigure?" I cried.
"Because, Kyou," Hatori explained exasperatedly, "You're the most normal house pet out of all of us."
Everyone looked at me, waiting. I grumbled as I got out of the car unwillingly and waited while Tohru timidly walked up to me and hugged me quickly. In an instant, all I saw was pink smoke surrounding me and my body had shrunk from its normal size. In the next second, I was picked up and placed on a lap before the other members of the zodiac got in the car and we headed off.
-x-
When we arrived, we headed up to our designated hotel room. The room itself was grand and spacious; enough to fit all six of us.
"I'm hungry . . ." the cow stated out of the blue.
"Then order something to eat," I grumbled.
"No, you will not order room service. If you want to eat, order something from a nearby store or restaurant. Just staying in this hotel has already costed us some money due to the nagging of the dog and his fear of being alone," Hatori stated with a grimace.
"Okay," Haru replied getting up from the bed where he was currently resting. I was just on my way to the remote control when the rat's voice disturbed the silence,
"Kyou, go with him."
I snapped my attention to the rat who was sitting in a small chair by the door leading to the balcony.
"Why me? Why can't you go? This is more tortuous than being in Kagura's presence! First the dog practically forces me to go on this trip, and then Hatori wants me to change into a cat so that we can all fit into his car and now you. You want me to go with this directionally challenged cow to find some food for him to eat? I should have stayed with Kagura. I should have -" I began to mumble incoherently with rage.
"You've been taking Haru around since you were little. A few years later, is no different. Now go and bring back some food for us," Yuki cut in. I stopped my mumbling by glaring heatedly at the rat. Hatori gave the cow some money and we both headed out the door. Hatori stopped me and handed me the keys to his car,
"Kyou, could you go down and get my laptop for me? I have to get ready to go in with Shigure."
I almost snapped. Didn't he hear me earlier? I was tired of being asked for everything!
But instead of shouting what was on my mind, I just growled, snatching the car keys from his grasp and finally left without any more interruptions.
-x-
"So what do you want to eat?" the cow asked when a moment of silence began to nag at him. I look disinterested with my hands in my pockets,
"I don't know. Just buy something that everyone will like. I don't mind as long as there are no green onions."
"Okay, Pho (2) it is." the cow finalized and I stopped suddenly,
"Um, not to burst your train of thought or anything, but you do know that Pho has beef in it, right?"
"Oh . . ." Haru stated with a mumble, "so that's what the delicious meat was."
"Haru . . ." my eye twitched, "don't tell me you ate without knowing what was in it?"
"It smelled good," the cow shrugged. I sighed,
"Well, we can't very well carry six bowls of Pho. We'll be wasting soup that way. Let's buy something else that we can carry easily and with all the ingredients intact."
After a few minutes of arguing of what we're going to eat, we ended up buying six containers of steamed meat buns from a nearby Chinese restaurant. Thankfully, the meat that was stuffed in the bun was chicken.
"Looks like it's going to rain," the cow monotone standing beside me. I looked up at the darkened sky and a scowl appeared on my lips,
"Great, just great. We won't be able to make it back to the building."
"We can try if we head out now," Haru offered. Weighing my chances, we both headed out with the six containers of meat buns and halfway to the hotel, the rain came pouring down. We spotted Hatori's car and hurriedly decided to camp out in there until the storm passed.
GROWWWLL . . .
I let out a soft chuckle, "I guess all that arguing and running has made you even hungrier. Here, eat."
"Oh, you too," Haru held out a meat bun for me and I took it out of his grasp and we ate hungrily.
-x-
I didn't realize how long we had stayed inside Hatori's car, but it probably was quite long since a knock came from outside the car. Hatsuharu opened the door to see Yuki and Tohru standing there. The rain must've stopped.
"Just what are you two doing inside here? And why are the windows fogged up?" Yuki wondered with a slight glare in my direction. I just scoffed,
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Were you two perhaps doing something you shouldn't be doing?"
"Why do you ask?" I replied at the accusation that was laced in the rat's voice.
"The car was rocking a bit . . ." Tohru answered innocently. I froze and realize that it must've been that little tidbit that had that rat on edge. He thought we were . . . I laughed,
"Don't worry; I didn't steal the cow's chastity. We were just killing a bug."
"Chastity?" Tohru wondered. I noticed that Yuki's glare hardened,
"Stupid cat, watch what you say around Miss Honda."
"Huh?" the brunette replied.
"The kitten is right, Yuki. He didn't steal my chastity. In fact, I stole his," Haru stated with a surprise kiss to my jaw and then he ran for it. It took me a moment to register what had just happened and I too sprinted after the cow, yelling obscenities that had passerby's shaking their heads in displeasure. The cow was so dead.
-x-
(1) There's actually a real Romance Writer's Convention! I had to look it up just so that it's legit. I don't want to go around writing about something that's not real.
(2) Pho is a Vietnamese beef-broth rice noodle dish.