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"Mixed Blessings a Cat Tail "Written By: Kaeru Shisho Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing
or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: AU, male/male pairings of a most ridiculous
nature; told from Quatre's point of view, so beware the fluff. Pairings: 1x2, 3x4 Summary: The GW boys are all cats finding their little paws in the big, bad world. For Dyna Dee. A/N: The author needs her head examined, as does
her friend and editor, Waterlily, who suggested it, but I wrote it
just the same in order to make you laugh and as an eleven chapter
gift to Dyna Dee! " Mixed Blessings a Cat Tail " Alter-cat-ion Make
that intruding, new cat respect you. Chapter 10 - Catatonic Copycat Catty Catalonia "Forget getting him to come help you. He's been gone all day. And you can forget mating with me; you aren't hardly more than a kitten!" That voice! The tenor of it may my skin crawl and fur bristle. "You are grossly misinformed," I said, feeling justly defensive. I'd been degraded by the touch of the humans and now insulted by a very pretty, but cross-looking feline. I'd had taken enough assault to my dignity for one day. "To begin with, I'm not a kitten! I have my complete Birman coloring!" There, I felt better already! Amid the catcalls to get my attention, I heard a few pitiful purrs, and mournful meows. "And in the second place, I have absolutely zero interest in mating with anyone. And for another thing, in particular, I wouldn't mate with any cat shackled by a waspish temperament like yours!" "Are you finished?" she asked, menace etched into her tone. I wasn't. I was just getting started, but then another human woman joined the firs,t and what they said caught my attention. "Lady, Une," said the new person, "that cat, um... 'Oh-four', is not ready to take on an aggressive cat like Dotty. Besides, he's not even a champion-" "That's only because he's never been shown, but then no Winner cat's been shown for years. They are all hidden away." "Why would we want to sully the Angoras with-?" "Miss Noin, I remind you of who it is that gives the orders, and it is not you." "Yes, Ma'am." "Remember, this is a coveted male Birman from the Winner breeders. No male has ever been available for sale. Even a female is a very rare find. We want to make use of him. Hundreds of kittens would be hundreds of priceless mixed blessings!" Hundreds! "Meee-oow!" I reared up, standing on my hind legs, determined to get out of that cage. As hard as I pressed my paws against the top, though, the lid didn't budge! "So, if Dotty isn't in a suitable mood today, get started with Sal—" The rest of her words were cut off by the rest of my outcry. That awful catmate of mine had clawed my belly fur! I saw the tuft of soft, pale fur float in the air. When I looked down at the stinging skin, there was a line of red and droplets of blood. "Meeeeeooooooow!" I howled in indignation as much as pain. Hands clutched at me, and I just saw red. I lashed out. I fought like crazy. I imagined myself as tough as Duo, as focused as Heero, as zealous as Wufei, and as wild as Trowa. "—demented cat!" "Claws?!" "Inject him NOW!" I felt a pinch and then all the fight drained from my body. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I couldn't stand. I-I didn't know what happened, but my escape attempt was over, I was sure of that, and then I slept. When I gained some level of awareness, I drew in a deep breath to further clear my mind. I wasn't home. I hadn't dreamed the entire nightmare of being caught, trapped, caged, and attacked by an irritating female cat. I detected other cats, exclusively male by the scent, so I knew I'd been moved. I heard movement, the clang of metal cage doors, so, I guessed, I was in a new cage. My head was cushioned. A towel. I decided not to move, and drifted back to sleep. "Mau." I mourned my condition, what I'd lost, my future, Trowa. I was awakened by hands. "You must eat and drink," the voice told me. "Why should I?" I shot back. Of course, the human wouldn't understand. "Mau." I ignored the food. It smelled repulsive. The water, well, try as I like, I was unable to not drink, but after a few sips, I returned to my tiny, dark world of denial. If I didn't acknowledge my surroundings, I could pretend I was still with him, napping. I curled up on the towel and closed my eyes. I would do this for the rest of my life, or, at least, as long as I possibly could. Alas, twenty hours of sleep a day was about it for me. Eventually, I had to stretch, drink, and open my eyes. Everything was white. The walls and the cats. Even my creamy fur seemed to bleach out under the false lights. At least I had those rosy points, I mused, soberly, looking at the coloring on the plume of my tail. Wakefulness was horrible. I had nothing to do but think, and, naturally, the only things I could think about brought me grief. Why hadn't I followed Heero's advice? When Heero was around, he could enforce those rules better. I'd really, really meant to follow them. I was a good cat. I guessed that I deserved to face the serious consequences that came from breaking his rules. I know time passed. The lights dimmed; I think the intention was to simulate nighttime. My water bowl and towel were changed. When I looked out of my cage, eyes regarded me from the confines of other cages. None of them were Milliardo. It was that realization that finally made me give up. He'd been my last hope. A friend. I was alone and it was nobody's fault but my own. Eventually, I ate to avoid starvation. I heaved most of it up anyway. (o) I don't know how I'd slept through the handling and another cage move, but I woke up to different smells and sounds. "Hello, honey." What a nice voice! I opened my eyes to see another cat looking at me. She'd licked my face and was coming closer to do it again! To avoid the contact (not that it didn't feel nice, but I didn't know her at all and it was far too familiar contact for strangers) I hauled myself up off my towel. My legs wobbled a second, then held. "Hello! Who are you?" I said abruptly, for me. "I'm called Sally. You, though, need no introduction." "I don't?" I couldn't imagine having met her. "You are Oh-four," Sally said with a smug expression. "Who? Not me!" Remembering my manners, I started anew. "Pardon, me, Miss Sally, you must have heard wrong. My name is Quatre. That is French for the number four, though." "Quatre? Well, the people here refer to you as 'Oh-four'." She must have seem a look of despair on my face, because she added quickly, "Quatre it is!" "Thank you." "You are a polite cat, or should I say... Cra-tra?" She tried not to laugh; I gave her that much credit. "I don't much care anymore." I sighed and prepared to lie back down. "Oh, now, don't you go back to sleep, honey. I just got you to talking. It can be awfully lonely sitting in a cage day after day with nothing new to do." "They never let you out?" I asked, hoping it wasn't true. That would be just too terrible a way of life to contemplate, and I'd been contemplating some pretty bleak existences. "Not often. There's a regular schedule. Daily exercise in a pen. Free romp time around the estate is rare. Hmmm, talking to someone nice like you is a treat." I decided to like Sally and trust her a little with my plight. "I-I was wondering if you'd seen Milliardo lately?" "A few nights ago, when I was in the pen taking a run, he strolled past. Why?" "He's a... I've met him. We are, were, neighbors. I was just wondering—" "If he'd come help you out? Don't count on that cat for anything. He's so above it all. You'd think he was a prince and rest of us his minions." "He is very..." I hunted my wobbly brain for the right word and had to take what I got, "... grand." "A grand, pompous ass, you mean. He has the run of the house most of the time, so don't count on seeing him soon. Those that have placed in the shows get favorable treatment. You'll see." My heart plummeted. If Milliardo hadn't seen me come in, maybe he didn't even know I was incarcerated here? Mill had been my best chance at freedom. Without him, how could I escape? I could be in this dreadful place for a long time. "Oh. I'm sorry." "Why would you be sorry for me? You've done nothing." "I'm sorry you don't have the same freedom he gets." "Oh, I had more last year. I took ribbons." "You did? Well, that must have been... nice." "For a while being out, being in shows, was exciting, but then..." her voice trailed off and the faraway look in her eyes made me feel sad. "I had kittens." "Oh." I bet she missed them. I didn't ask. I didn't have to. "Champions end their careers as breeding stock for more. And here I am." Sally stared at me until I felt uncomfortable. "And here you are." "I'm sorry." I was and I couldn't even pin down the "for what" of it, there were so many reasons. "Am I so... unappealing?" she asked. "What? Oh, no! You are very nice and very pretty." She bumped me gently. "So are you." How embarrassing! "Kittens with your coloring and my lustrous fur would be even prettier, don't you think?" "I-I don't know. I hadn't thought... I mean... It hadn't occurred to me to consider—"I was so flustered I didn't know what to say. "You are a strange one," Sally purred. "Is this your first time?" Oh, dear. I knew what she was asking and never felt so off-kilter before, except when Trowa and I first met, and that was for an entirely different reason. "I'll make it easy for you. No fighting. I'll just hunker down and you can climb aboard." I could do absolutely no such thing! "You don't actually want me to... do that, do you?" "Not particularly, but... the nursery is very nice and any change is a welcome one." "I-I am sorry! I can't... I don't... want to..." I had backed into the corner of her cage as far as I could. She purred. "You don't feel desire for mating, do you?" "N-no." "Very odd. Milliardo claimed he could take it or leave it, as he put it. I'd never heard that other males were like that. Go figures, with a sweet-tempered cat like you." I didn't want that conversation to go on at all. "Can we just nap instead?" "Of course, dear. Come closer and I'll curl around you. I promise not to bite." I awoke some time later to being dragged from Sally's cage and carried to another sterile room with chemical smells and white walls. There I was held down in place on my belly so I couldn't move, and one by one my claws were trimmed short. Would I ever climb a tree again, I wondered, and then mourned some more for Trowa and everything Trowa-related that I was losing. My claws, my freedom, my happiness. (o) I leaped through a burning ring of fire just barely avoiding the gnashing teeth, sharp as knives, from the lion's maw. The roar of the crowd inspired me to spring off an invisible platform into the air and then fly. I really could fly. Down below, a pond of water appeared too small to possibly break my fall safely, and yet I just knew it would in spite of the fact that I hated water, not that the wandering thoughts were linking logically together at all. I simply accepted what was unfolding around me, pointed my little white tipped paws down, and fell. Faster and faster, I picked up speed as I fell and fell. In an unexpectedly sudden event, cold water splashed my face. I instantly awoke with a wet face and paws from overturning my water bowl, but there was more- I heard a disturbance. Faint at first, then louder as the noise drew closer. The other cats around me meowed concern. "Quatre? Are you awake? S-sssay!" hissed a voice near my ear. I jumped only to find I couldn't go far with another cat wrapped around me. "Remember me? Sally?" she purred wide-eyed, probably suppressing a chuckle. I must have looked pretty pathetic. Oddly, how I looked was only a passing thought at the moment. More interesting things were happening. "Yes," I answered her and shook the annoying droplets off my whiskers. I was not going to let myself be mortified by my unfortunate circumstances. Crash! "Oh!" I definitely made out the sound of breaking glass and the shouting of men from beyond our door. I looked over my shoulder to keep the door in view. "What's going on?" "I don't know any more than you," she said. Her eyes were ablaze with excitement and I could feel her pent up energy beside me. "No one else does either, from what I'm overhearing from the other cats. I've never heard such a racket before." I could not stop my heart from beating a little faster and I didn't attempt to suppress the upwelling of hope from inside. I felt the determination of Trowa, his desire, his whole being like a force of pure will homing in on me. "I'm here! Yes! Yes!" I beat upon the cage. There had to be a way out! "Sally! Help me! If we both try, I know we can force the cage door!" "All right!" She pushed and I kicked. The lid bent, but it didn't open. "With all you've got!" she cried out. "OH!" The cage rolled and there was that sickly feeling of not having all my paws firmly planted on the ground. We both twisted and turned, following the roll off the ledge, the final tip and lurch, and the thrilling fall. The hard landing wasn't bad, so we must not have fallen far. "Ugh! Are you all right?" I heard her call to me and shook my head to clear it. I was five cat-lengths away from her, the cage door hung off one hinge. "We're free!" "In a way. Oh, and I'm fine, too." Her tone was, as always, understanding and wry at the same time. "I'm sorry, I should have asked about you first. We must be ready to run the moment that outer door opens." "You are very sure of yourself, dear Quatre." She stepped closer to me, mincing around the tiny puddle of water split from the water bowl, the little I hadn't inadvertently bathed in, and booting the kibble bits out of her way. "I'm very, very sure of my friends. I feel they are near, Trowa especially." "I hope to meet these friends of yours. They must be terribly clever." "Oh, they are!" "So are you." "ME! ME, too!" I heard the horrible, shrill caterwaul first and then another cage propelled itself, it seemed, from on high. The flimsy wire cage broke apart on impact, leaving a wild-eyed and slightly-stunned cat free to walk away. "Dorothy!" I cringed, but Sally appeared to know and, unbelievably, like the other cat. Not so unbelievable, I guess. They'd been together in that awful place a long time, maybe even grown up together. I glanced at her and Dorothy stared back, and felt how keenly she wanted her freedom, too. And in spite of our earlier, unfriendly encounter, I couldn't wish her to remain in kitty-hell. "You must come with us, too. I just know Miss Iria will take good care of you, and Rashid... He's very wise and adores cats—" The rest of my opining had to be put on hold. The door latch slid back and the outer door sprung open. Trowa, long and lean on those incredible, long legs, stood on the other side. "The cavalry has arrived." "Trowa!" "Ah!" Dorothy howled in harmonical surprise. "It's all right; this is Trowa, my best friend and you can trust him with your life." Sally looked him over and must have liked what she saw; she accepted him immediately. "You rode in on a horse?" Cavalry, oh, of course. Mounted troops. "Sometimes. Sometimes a tiger." I was probably the only other one who knew he wasn't joking. Dorothy sniffed as if to dismiss him completely. Trowa didn't seem to care what they thought; his eyes were on me and me alone. "This way, ladies." "I hope you weren't including me under the title of females," I said by way of greeting him. He head-bumped me affectionately. "You smell like cat-in-heat." "I've been surrounded by... that... for days!" I caught him scanning the room, the walls lines with cages of cats, all upset. There's nothing we could do for them all. Not yet. And he recognized it. "We should go." And his expression told me he understood some of the horrors I'd been through. "What kind of creature are you?!" Leave it Dorothy to question her rescuer as if he were an alien dropped from the sky. "Hero for hire," he chirped. "C'mon!" We rounded a corner, hearing the shouts of humans, but not encountering any, and there under a window I spied Relena sitting and washing her face. She appeared perfectly at ease, while two men were coming at her from opposite sides. "Shouldn't we help her?" I asked Trowa. "Not if we don't have to." What was wrong with Trowa? "There must be something... a way to help!" "There's always a way," he said with a hint of burr in his purr, suggesting to me that he wasn't being totally serious, "and it usually doesn't work." "But-!" "Hold on! Watch Duo and Heero working as a team." The men exchanged words and then stepped toward her. Duo sprang from the floor to a chair and from there onto the back of one of the men. His claws must have sunk in, because the man screamed in pain and thrashed about. This action provided just enough distraction for Heero to launch himself at the other man, biting and clawing at a leg. Relena dashed toward us. "The door's this way!" I opened my mouth to tell her I wasn't leaving without my friends, but it was Sally and Dorothy who reacted. "Where did you come from?" Dorothy demanded. "Where's Milliardo? He went looking for you." I guess she had seen Mill wandering the halls or overheard the people talking about him. Of course, that had been several weeks ago since we'd all met over the fence and Relena was staying in my shed. An age ago, it seemed. "By the stairs!" Relena cried out. "The door's not far from there," she directed that comment at Trowa. As reluctant as I was to leave Duo and Heero, Trowa urged me ahead. "They'll be fine, but not if you get caught again and make all this a waste of time." "Fine. I'm moving." I hadn't gone far when I heard the wailing whine of Wufei's call. Where was that coming from, I wondered? Trowa skittered to a halt in front of me, just as we reached the stairway Relena had mentioned. "Up," Trowa said and I looked up at the top of the stairs. Standing with his back mostly to us was Treize Khushrenada. Looking through the space between his legs we could see Wufei crouched on the floor. In his mouth was a slender black plastic object. "Put that down!" the man roared at my friend. Poor Wufei! "What does he have?" I asked aloud. Sally heard me. "It opens doors," she whispered, "The thing the Siamese cat is holding." If Heero were here he'd know all about a device like that, I thought. I cast about for Heero and Duo, but they hadn't joined us. I hoped they'd already run out the door. At Trowa's warning growl, I turned back to the drama playing out at the top of the staircase. Khushrenada slowly removed his jacket. As I wondered at that, Trowa chirped, "Watch out! He's going to throw the coat and trap you under it!" Wufei didn't move, though. "Didn't he hear?" I cried out. He could be trapped! I could save him! I tensed my back and readied to leap, but Trowa pushed me back. "Stay put. Mill's there," he said. "Let him prove his worth." I saw the flash of white and heard purrs from the lady cats around me, and then Mill skirted around us and raced up the stairs, meowing all the way. "Milliardo?" Khushrenada called out, his voice raspy. "Is that you-?" I watched the man turn our way, looking for the cat he clearly heard and possibly recognized. Wufei must have been waiting for the man's attention to be distracted elsewhere, because he moved like a dog was on his tail. Forgotten for the moment, Wufei dashed for his freedom, bumping the man's legs as he slipped between them and headed down the stairway. As much as I hated the man, it was horrible to watch him take that wobbly, disastrous step backwards. In that split second, I could tell he wasn't going to make it. With arms flapping like a bird's to regain his balance, it wasn't possible for him to stop his momentum; people aren't cats. My only hope was that both Wufei and Mill would outstrip the man as he missed the stair step and fell to his fate. He could crush them both! "Get moving!" I heard Trowa howl over all the other caterwauling and shouting going on. Suddenly a woman I recognized, Noin, loomed in front of me. I thought she was there to scoop me up, but her hands flew to her mouth as she screamed, "Treize! Oh, no!" Wufei and Mill skittered past, running full tilt. Trowa went one way and I the other, circling Noin, and then headed for the door. At least three white cats were in the lead, and then from the left thundered the men covered in bleeding scratches who'd we'd left with Duo and Heero. Don't let them stop us, I whimpered! But they turned to go to the aid of their fallen master, I assumed, because they didn't slow down to look at us. Duo and Heero streaked out the door, Duo's massive tail knocking over a bronze statue of the cat goddess Bastet. The ringing gong-like noise reverberated throughout the hall. I caught a glimpse of Wufei's tail as he rocketed over the statuary, followed by a white froth of white cats, then Trowa and I. Out the door, over the stone entry, across the pavement and onto the grass cats scampered at top speed. The garden, just clear that and we'd be home! I just had to out run the voices coming up from behind! TBC
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