Kitten Love

Chapter 1

6918, 1826

Hibari's eyes opened slowly, as if his eyelids were weighed down by an unseen force. He stood, and stretched, then paused, feeling odd. Since when was the ceiling so high up? And had he suddenly gone colorblind? More importantly, why was his back end so... flexible? Hibari snorted, and moved on towards the door, only to find that it was much taller than normal. As he reached open to slide the door open, however, he discovered just what was wrong. Reaching out his hand revealed to him the fact that he no longer had a human hand... but a paw. A cat's paw. As in, a fur-covered, black paw, and no thumbs to be seen.

Stunned, the prefect sat down, and lifted both of his no-longer hands, gazing at the pads, and flexing his front toes to reveal the hidden claws. "Damn!" he cursed, but the only thing that left his mouth was a meow. "What the hell?" He flipped onto his back, and groaned as he saw the fluffy, white fur coating his stomach. "This is insane," he hissed. "I'm going bite whoever did this to death."

He pawed angrily at the door, and, after many failed attempts, reluctantly clawed down the shouji paper, making a hole just big enough for him to squeeze through. As he stepped out into the bright outside, he groaned, reaching up and covering his deep, gray eyes with his jet-black left paw. To his relief, however, his pupils quickly shrunk down to snake-like slits, and he started off towards Namimori. As he walked along, he was amused by the many different scents on the air, and as he headed forward, he suddenly smelled something that made his mouth water. The prefect stopped dead in his tracks and looked behind him, then gasped as a bird landed right in front of him. Such an easy catch, he thought, how perfect...

"Hibari, Hibari!"

The cat paused, then sat down, and instinctively cocked his head. Realization washed over him as he looked into the bird's beady, black eyes, though, and he purred quietly. "Hibird?" he meowed. "You... recognize me...?"

"Midori, tanamiku, Namimori no~," Hibird sang, fluttering his wings. "Dainaku shounaku, nami ga ii~!"

Acting on another impulse, Hibari came in and rasped his tongue over the bird's head, showing it that he was grateful for the company. However, Hibari soon stopped, for the song had reminded him that he needed to go over to Namimori and contact the baby. He turned, and started at a run, amazed by the speed and sleekness of his cat body. His sinewy muscles crawled beneath the skin like concealed machines, and as he ran, the drumming of his pads against the ground was a rhythmic noise. His long, white and black whiskers quivered as he felt the wind against them, but, even though he was enjoying himself, Hibari's thick, black tail stayed low.

He ran up to Namimori middle, and considered his best way inside. It was difficult, however, for someone with acute hearing and smell to focus, and Hibari soon decided that he needed to move on, or be haunted by the sounds of birds that were not his. The world was a lot scarier when you were no more than a foot tall, and Hibari had to navigate through a crowd- ugh, he hated crowds- of people in order to get to his destination. He dashed around legs, weaving under, between and around them, and fluffing with repulsion as the odor of heavy perfume and cologne clouded his delicate senses.

The feline soon made it to the Reception room, but, to his agony, the room was locked. He hissed with anger, and, although it hurt him to disrespect the school in any way whatsoever, he reached up, and clawed on the door, making sure not to actually leave any marks. Luckily, Kusakabe had been in there to hear, and as he opened the door, Hibari dashed inside and leapt up onto the couch, suprising himself with his agility. He walked over to his Disciplinary Committe jacket, which he had left at school the previous day, and leaned in, giving it a few shy sniffs. This was most certainly his. On a whim, the black cat lied down, and rolled about over the fabric, inhaling the aroma that he knew belonged to him. Just then, Kusakabe's deep voice spoke, "Now, little cat, you shouldn't play around there. That's not yours." Hibari glared at the man who reached in to pick him up, and swiped at the hand, before running up and unpinning the Head Prefect arm band from his jacket and letting the pin fall as he took the band between his teeth. He made sure that his hold on the badge was gentle, and leapt back down, then ran out of the room, leaving Kusakabe to stare at him in confusion.

The first bell rang.

Hibari's ears lied flat as the loud bells tolled, for even such a pleasant sound was somewhat deafening. He ran along towards the room where he knew he'd find Sawada Tsunayoshi, who was possibly the only person who could help him. He slipped into the room just before the door closed, the red band still in his jaws, and he moved along up to Tsunayoshi, leaping up onto his desk.

"Hii! What's a cat doing here?" the boy cried, making Hibari roll his eyes, annoyed. The cat held up the prefect band, and stood up on his hind legs, giving his best attempt at pointing at it. "Wha...? Don't tell me that it's trying to tell me something?" Tsuna said. "What's up with that?"

"Tenth!" called Gokudera Hayato, dashing to the brown-haired male's side. "Don't be fooled! This must be some sort of alien cat!"

Hibari hissed, arching his back, and he set down the band, putting a forepaw over it as he snarled, "I'm not a freaking alien, Gokudera Hayato! Even an idiot like you must see who I am!"

"Woah, Gokudera, you need to be careful with animals!" said another familiar voice. Hibari squeaked with suprise as two hands took hold of his chest, and squirmed, angered, as he was turned over into 'the baby hold.' Naturally, he thought, it had to be Yamamoto who had done this to him. "Ahaha~ Look, he's a gentle little thing at heart," said Yamamoto, stroking the prefect's stomach. Hibari hissed, and, trusting the first instinct, came in and bit down on Yamamoto's arm, which caused him to be dropped. Hibari's body twisted around in mid-air, and he landed on his feet. Sending a final glare over his shoulder, the black cat leapt up, grabbing his prefect band, and ran off as quickly as he had came. As he left the classroom, he limped slightly, having never been handled in such a rough way before. He leapt up onto a window ledge, staring outside, the prefect band in his jaws once more, and he leaned against the frame, his gray eyes full of frustration.

The prefect knew much too well that the majority of children at Namimori were herbivorous dunderheads, but he had hoped that Tsunayoshi and his lot would be different. He sat down, curling his tail over his front paws, and thought hard, not quite sure where to go next. It was then that he was saved. A hand brushed over his back, and he turned, then purred as he saw Reborn. He nuzzled into the baby's hat, his band hanging from his jaws, threatening to fall out any moment should he continue to purr.

"Hibari?" the baby wondered aloud. "How did this happen?"

Hibari didn't care that he couldn't speak. He set down his prefect band, and began to pour out everything he knew, his paws kneading the ground in anticipation for some miracle solution that the Arcobaleno would have. "I woke up in the morning, and realized that I'd become a cat!" he yowled, closing his eyes tightly. "I don't know what the hell happened to me! It's like a curse or something, I don't know. Maybe some bastard decided to pull some insane trick on me- I'll bite the fool to death!"

A hand on his head soothed him, and the prefect eased his body down, relaxing. "I'm not quite sure how to explain this, but I do know that you should see Mukuro about it." Hibari's fur bristled at the name. "Look, do you want to turn back and face Mukuro? Or chicken out and stay a cat the rest of your life? It's your choice."

Hibari let a breath out through his nose, and sat back up, his gray eyes narrow. "I'll do it," he huffed. "But I won't like it."

"You just better hope this isn't one of those 'true love's kiss will break the curse' scenarios," Reborn snickered, a smirk playing on his lips. Hibari fluffed, apalled at the mere idea, and sat back.

"How do I get in? How do I fight?" he protested.

"Mukuro won't need to fight you to understand," Reborn replied in a casual tone. "Mukuro's Animal realm ability allows him to communicate with animals. Just like me." After saying so, the baby took Hibari's prefect arm band, and moved it around until it was around the cat's waist. "There. That'll assure that he knows who it is," Reborn said with a grin.

Hibari sighed, and leapt down from the window, meowing, "Fine. I'll go. Be here if I need you, baby."

The cat walked back through the halls, then broke into an uncomfortable bound, and soon exited the building. Hibird came down before him, a very familiar box and ring in his beak. Hibari stared at the objects for a moment, then hesitantly slid the ring onto his tail, and it burst into a brilliant, purple flame. If a cat could, he would smile.

There was strength left in him yet.

-End Chapter

... I love cats. I love Hibari, too. This is the only logical solution. XD Happy Birthday, my skyark! And happy Children's Day to Everyone else!

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