Sakuteki

[Kumiko]

Well, I had some internet-less time, and felt like writing something... so this took form. I actually meant to write more of her childhood, and elaborate further on it all (as it is now, it all feels mostly rushed), but I decided against it. Maybe some other day.

Anyway, here it is.... Saku's story... enjoy. ;D

Oh, and I know the ending sucks, sorry.

***

CHAPTER 1

The sun shone brightly, as it was a warm day in April. In the sun, a small kitten was lying. She was white as newfallen snow, and the contrast against the bright green grass was strong. She heard a sound nearby and opened an eye, the only thing in her face that really shifted in colour. Her eye was black, with an oblong pupil that shimmered in white. She blinked slowly and looked up at the two persons who were standing over her.

They were both in human shape, though it was quite obvious that they weren't, both because of the way they moved, with a feline grace, and because of some physical characteristics, such as cat-ears perched on top of their heads, whiskers, claws and tails. If a human had seen them, they would've been able to identify them in no time - youkai.

The female bent over and patted the kitten softly. Her skin was spotted - some gray, some white and some black, and she had bright green eyes. She talked slowly, in their own tongue.

"Sakuteki-chan, your father and I have to make a short trip, think you can make it on your own for a few days?"

The male kneeled as well and gathered the kitten into his lap. The familiarity between father and daughter was more obvious - he had white hair and pale skin, with just a few black spots on his ears, and his eyes were black as well, though the pupils shimmered more in yellow than Saku's did.

"Of course she can," he said with a small smile. "Saku-chan is a big neko now."

The kitten straightened a little in her father's lap, intent on making herself live up to her father's words.

Her mother spoke again. "We will just be gone for a day or two, Saku-chan... and if you stay here, you should be fine. There's food, and water, and if anything bad comes this way, you can head for the family of tiger youkai in the woods a while away, they'll help you."

The little kitten now spoke up for the first time. "Keh... I can defend m'self."

Her father laughed, and only stopped after his mate gave him a look. "There, now, Saku-chan, we know you can fight, but... your mother worries, and it would make us feel better if you promised you'd try to reach them in case of trouble."

Sakuteki sighed, but then gave an affirmative nod. "Yosh... If anything happens, I'll look for them." She stopped, a frown spreading over her fur-covered face. "Why are you going anyway, chichi?"

Now it was her father's turn to sigh. "There has been some rumours of a powerful new youkai a bit to the north of here, and your mother and I have decided it would be best to find out more about him for ourselves. As she said, we won't be gone long, just a day or two."

Raising a paw to her mouth and starting to lick slightly, Sakuteki nodded again. "Yosh. I'll stay here, and if you're not back in... four days, I'll come find you."

Her mother frowned a bit, but her father just smiled and ruffled the fur on top of her head. "Well, we'll try to get back here before then, then."

He stood up, still with Saku in his arms, and gave her a big hug. The kitten tried to look as if she was just suffering through it, though her purring kind of gave her away. Her mother stood up as well and joined in the hug.

"Take care Saku-chan," she said as they all hugged, "and remember, we love you. Also... keep away from dogs, youkai you don't know, monks and priestesses... we don't want you to get into trouble."

As she was put down again, Saku just nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I'll take care of m'self, you just go, take care."

Her parents nodded and began walking away, and Sakuteki looked after them for a while, before curling up in the sun again. It hadn't been the first time her parents had left her in a safe place while they went of to investigate something, and she was sure they'd come back within the time limit they had put up.

The day passed, and she caught her own dinner - mostly field rats that she ate raw - and drank from a little stream nearby. She stayed mostly in her kitten form, though sometimes she changed into looking more humanoid, like her parents had. She played around, without a care.

That night, the weather switched around completely, as it often does in April, and began raining. Sakuteki climbed into a tree and curled up on a branch, hoping to avoid the cold water splattering down all about her. A small voice in the back of her mind told her this would decrease her chances of finding her parents if need be, but she ignored it. They would come back within the timelimit, of course they would.

The next day was spent much as the first, as was the day after that. Finally, on the fourth day, the kitten waited until sunset, still without a sign from them. She looked down at the road, worry written all over her face, before looking up again, staring at the setting sun. She would find her parents herself, and save them if need be.

First, she waited one more night at the same spot, before setting out on the road, heading north, as that was the only clue she had to their location.


CHAPTER 2

The village was not big, nor was it really small. It was about average sized.

Some children were playing in the outskirts, when an odd traveller showed up. She had long, white hair, pale skin, and black eyes. On top of that, she had cat-ears on top of her head, whiskers, a long tail, and the nails on her hands (or should they be called paws, perhaps?) were like claws. She was dressed in a short yukata, much like the other children, though her seemed as if it had been much more expensive at the start, but was now quite worn and dusty. She stopped a bit from them and watched them play, a simple game of tag.

One of the older children, a boy of perhaps ten years, stopped and stared at her, taking in her full appearance. He stood in shock for a few moments, before he called out. Just one word, but it was enough.

"Youkai!"

The rest of the children stopped playing, and gathered together, afraid of what this girl could do to them.

"G-go away," one of the braver children said, and the girl took a step back, not having realised the children would be so afraid of her. "W-we don't want any youkai here..."

She took another step away, and as she did, some of the children found the courage to pick up a stone and throw at her. It was not really well aimed, but it still hit the top of her shoulder. The youkai stopped backing away, wondering for a moment if she should attack, but... these were just kittens, younger than herself... they didn't know better.

Soon stones and twigs were all around her, and she retreated further, ending up changing into her cat-shape and running away. Stopping well outside the village, she inspected herself. A few bruises, and a cut on her arm, but nothing that wouldn't heal in a day.

Sakuteki sighed. She hadn't meant to scare them, and although it was an interesting feeling to know she could scare them like that, to know that she hadn't just been making it up when she said she was a scary youkai, it still felt slightly sad, being excluded like that. She shrugged and decided to keep heading down the road. She didn't need their acceptance.

The young cat-girl was starting to get hungry, though. She hadn't taken much time hunting as of late, wanting just to find her parents as quickly as possible, and it was really starting to tire her. It also showed slightly in her appearance - when in cat-shape, her fur wasn't as shiny as it'd usually be, and this affected the way her clothes appeared, too.

She just wanted to find them and go home.

[Kumiko]

CHAPTER 3

A few more days had passed, and Sakuteki had become accustomed to getting driven out of any village she came by, but she still felt the need to enter them, to hear people's voices, and to gather information... she was sure that if they had seen her parents, the humans would say that they "didn't want any MORE of your sort here" instead of just "any of your sort". She was desperate to find them, so desperate that she was slipping up more and more.

She tried to hide among the stray cats once in a while, hoping someone would feed her, but these were hard times, and not many would give food to a bunch of strays, no matter how cute. Of course she could hunt, but... that took time, and... although she didn't want to admit it, she was used to getting taken care of.

One evening, she noticed a monk sitting a while away and sharing his food with the animals around him. Sakuteki was currently in her more human shape, and although her parents always had warned her about holy men and women, this man just seemed to emmanate a sense of peace and calm. Surely he wouldn't do anything to her?

She approached slowly, keeping her eyes at him as she did so, trying to read his body language.

The monk looked up to see her, and some emotion she couldn't identify flashed over his face, before he held out a piece of bread in her direction.

Quickly, she got closer and reached out to take the bread, when he grabbed her wrist and with his other hand reached out and slapped a piece of paper onto her shoulder.

A sharp pain spread from the spot where it touched her, and Sakuteki let out a shout, both in surprise and pain. She doubled over, clutching her hand over her shoulder, trying to tear it away, but this only did the pain worse.

The monk looked slightly surprised at her reaction, though why she didn't know, nor was she able to figure it out right now. He was staring at the paper he had put on her shoulder. The ofuda.

Tears welled up in Sakuteki's eyes as she fought to rid herself of it. The monk was trying to attack again, but she rolled out of the way. Eventually, though, he managed to get another ofuda onto her, and she blacked out.

When she woke again, it was night, and her shoulder and hip was throbbing with pain. She slowly sat up, looking around, wondering why the monk had just left, when she heard a voice nearby. The scent carried over to her by the wind told her it was the same monk as before, accompanied by another man.

"She just came up to me," the voice of the monk could be heard, "so I slapped an ofuda on her. Somehow, though... she was either a very strong youkai, or my ofuda weren't quite as powerful as I thought they were... which is why I brought you here, to take care of the problem fully."

The girl had heard enough, and started to run away. Run anywhere. Her parents had been right, holy people were evil... killers.

She got away a long bit that night, before curling up a bit from the road and passing out, oblivious to the light rain that was falling.


CHAPTER 4

Eventually, the kitten had found a way to rid herself of the ofuda, and was once again on her way. It was a nice day, but she was hungry, and tired, and she longed for someone to talk to - not that she would admit to the last one.

She entered another village, but no calls could be heard this time, something she was quite happy for.

As she was almost out of the village, a dog came out of nowhere, though. She could sense that there was something odd about its' smell, but right now, she didn't really care.

She told the dog time and again to stay away, to keep back, or else.

It kept yipping friendly.

She told it she would eat it if it didn't leave her alone, and her tummy growled lowly in response.

It kept following her.

She thought about kicking it, but decided not to. After all, what was the point?

It barked at her.

A bit away, someone stood up, shouting. "I'm trying to pray!"

She swiped her claws at the dog, then looked the way the voice had come from, freezing for a moment, preparing to run away as she saw that it was another monk.

As she didn't want to seem scared, though, she just shouted back at him; "Well, then, if you could just get this inu no baka away from me, maybe I would be able to stop shouting."

The monk came closer, and she felt like running away. Sakuteki was scared, but she didn't want to admit it to herself. Also... she could fight, couldn't she? This guy didn't look that strong anyway, with his long, girly hair.

As he made the dog go away, and still made no move of attacking her, the kitten felt more and more safe with him. Still, she was slightly at her edge with him.

"We seem to be overrun with youkai today," he commented.

She brushed away a strand of her from her face and glared at him. "Just because I have ears, claws and a tail doesn't automatically mean I'm a youkai."

"Really?" he asked. "What does it mean, then?"

"Well..." she trailed off, trying to think of an answer. "I could've been a hanyou..."

"Most hanyou I know would rather be confused for a youkai than a human... I took a chance."

"Just because you were RIGHT doesn't mean you have to rub it in," she kept glaring at him, in a way wishing he'd stop smiling like that, so calm and friendly.

"Did I hear you say you were hungry?"

She cursed inwardly. He had heard her... was he going to offer her food? Was it a trap? Would he put ofuda on her that would hurt like those the other priest did?

"...maybe," she finally answered, still doing her best to glare at him.

"Too weak, to young, or too squeamish to feed on humans?" he asked, a small glint appearing in his eye.

Sakuteki looked away. She knew, in a way, that she was all three. "None of your business."

"Well, whichever it is, this human appreciates it."

She looked back up at him, and, although still wary, she realised he had already had a chance to put an ofuda on her, and hadn't. When he also gave her food - fish, of all things! - and still didn't try anything, she decided that he was probably ok.

The young monk presented himself as Gyoshoku, and offered to take her in. In a way, she just wanted to be on her way, but she was tired, and sleeping in a warm house again sounded very nice. Maybe she could stay just for one night, and then keep going.

Maybe she could get some more of that good fish...

But she would find her parents still, and she would keep going. Just because this human was different didn't mean that much.