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Lol, I'll forgive you as long as you get the next chapter up soon. If I get up to 5000 words in my story before you post your next chapter, I will come over to where ever you live and kick your a**. xp

EDIT: *Checks* USA huh? Hmm, that's a long way from Canada... xd

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Chapter 002-Family

"Quick! Hide under the beanbag chair!" Rai hissed, lifting up the edge. Removing remarkably fast, Mina did as she was told, and Rai managed to get her completely covered right before his cousins burst into the closet. "Hey, brats. What's up?"
"Who were you talking to?" one of the two asked.
"The game. It was bugging me." Rai replied nonchalantly, lying quite well.
"Uh-huh." the older one said, seeing right through the lie. "You're hiding something from us."
"And if I am, it's okay, because this is my room." Rai replied, with VERY heavy emphasis on the 'my'. "My room, my rules."
"That's no fair. You're hiding someone or something, now tell us what it is." the older one said stubbornly. Rai got up and pushed his two cousins out of the closet.
"I'm hiding nothing, but both of you are really bugging me." Rai told them. "Now go play downstairs. This is supposed to be a family reunion, I'm sure there's other people you can talk to." After making sure the two were out of his room, Rai went back into the closet, shut the door, and pulled up his beanbag chair so Mina could come out of it. She looked no worse from the experience. On the contrary, she looked like she had enjoyed it.
"That was fun!!" she said happily, almost bouncing up and down. A moment later, she lay back down and watched the TV as the show came back on. "I sort of like this. Just the two of us here, nothing really to do." Mina added, purring happily. Rai made a poor attempt to conceal his grin, failed, and contented himself with petting Mina, just as he would a cat. The girl obviously enjoyed the attention, judging from the way she purred louder and her tail started going crazy. "Mmm..."
"Like it, huh?" Rai asked, smiling. Mina nodded happily. And that's when the closet door opened to reveal Rai's cousins. Again.
"Hah! I knew it!" the older one said, rushing towards Mina. Rai casually stuck out his leg to trip the boy, who hit the floor. He wasn't seriously injured, though.
"Bad boy." Rai said. "You may not drag Mina off because she's a cat-girl. Go away."
"What do you mean, go away!?" the younger one yelled, while Mina got on the far side of Rai, nervously.
"Exactly what it sounds like, brat." Rai replied, scowling.
"You've got a Cat-Girl and you want us to just walk away!?" the elder one said indignantly.
"Mina is not owned by anybody." Rai said sharply. "She is living here. Get it straight."
"Sorry." the older of Rai's cousins said meekly.
"Besides..." Rai added, on a sudden flash of inspiration. "She's got long, very sharp claws. It's not a good idea to make her mad."
"G-got it!! Just... Will you bring her down later?" the younger one asked.
"Maybe." Rai replied, glaring. His cousins got the message and left.
"...I don't have claws. You know that, they were taken off." Mina said, confused. She held up one of her hands, which was a cross of a cat's and a humans. It was human enough that she could hold things and even type with no trouble, but cat enough that she could walk silently on all fours if she wanted to.
"But they don't know that, now, do they?" Rai replied, grinning. Mina laughed and curled up, watching the TV again.

A good amount of time later, Lunch rolled around.
"Ready to eat?" Rai asked Mina, smiling.
"Yup!" she replied happily. "Tuna?"
"Sure." Rai replied, leading her downstairs. Evidently, the relatives had been informed about Mina, and took great care to not stare at her. Working quickly, Rai opened a can of Tuna for Mina, which she devoured at an alarming rate. Shrugging, Rai gave her seconds, made himself a sandwich, and sat down on a large couch. Mina curled up next to him, smiling contentedly.
"Rai is so lucky..." one of the Anime-fanatic cousins whispered.
"I heard that." Rai said, not bothering to look at said cousin. A moment later, the light's dimmed... "Movie." Rai whispered to Mina. "You'll probably like it."
"'Kay." Mina said, snuggling up to Rai. The boy stifled a laugh and soon the movie was on...
"Popcorn?" somebody asked, holding up two bags. Rai nodded, took them, and handed one to Mina. Five seconds later the boy found out that she liked it, very much. The movie went on, with people gasping or cheering at the appropriate parts. All in all, it was quite enjoyable for all, except for the Anime-fanatic cousins, whose hands would hurt for some time after the twentieth time they'd tried to feel Mina's ears or her tail. Rai was sort of sure they'd learned their lesson. But he wasn't absolutely sure yet, because he was far from trusting when it came to those two. Mina, on the other hand, had almost instantly found a soft spot in his heart. A large amount of thoughts brought Rai to the conclusion that it was probably her eyes more then anything else that did it, though the tail and the ears were interesting, no one could deny that.

After the three hour movie, Rai and Mina returned to Rai's room, and Rai himself paused before the door. Sometime earlier, his mom had hammered a sign below the nameplate, signaling that it was their room now, to be shared.
"Interesting." Rai said, shrugging as he opened the door.
"So we're sharing the room now?" Mina asked, jumping onto the beanbag chair.
"Apparently." Rai replied, shrugging. Mina grinned and relaxed while Rai dug through a large box.
"What're you looking for?" Mina asked curiously.
"This." Rai said, holding up a pillow and a blanket. "Where do you want to sleep?"
"Um... Right here?" Mina said, indicating the beanbag chair. Rai shrugged, and set the two things next to the beanbag chair, and flopped onto the bed. "Thanks."
"No problem." Rai said. After several minutes, he turned on the computer and opened his e-mail. Sure enough, there was a message sent from Tor, he who had dropped Mina off on Rai's porch. Or his house's porch, anyways. "Oh, good. Tor finally responded. Five minute's ago. Now THAT is skill."
"What'd he say?" Mina asked, looking over.
"Let's see..." Rai muttered, opening the e-mail. "'Dear Rai. Made it okay. One of the engines burned out, but we landed safely. On the plus side, though, our tickets got refunded for the 'scare', and my mom let me keep the money from mine. A free three hundred dollars. Not bad for riding a plane for a few hours, if I do say so myself. Anyways, that plane was one of those new ones with Internet access, so I did some research on Mina. I found absolutely nothing about her being lost from a labratory, so that's no worry. Actually, there's nothing ot worry about at all, except for keeping a large stock of tuna around for her to eat. Anything interesting happen yet? Tor.'"
"Hee hee hee... He knows what he's talking about, that's for sure." Mina said, grinning. "I'll never tire of Tuna."
"I don't doubt it." Rai replied. He started typing up a response. "Let's see... 'Tor, it's all fine. You may want to add to your notes that she likes Popcorn. I know you're taking notes, don't bother denying it. I know you too well. Also, my family's over, including the cousins. Yes, THOSE cousins, the ones obsessed with Anime. Their hands'll be hurting for awhile, since they kept wanting to touch Mina's cat parts. It was amusing at first, but got old very fast. But you're lucky, you got to be in a plane that was basically missing an engine... Rai.' Works for me." Smiling, Rai sent the e-mail and leaned back in his chair. "Done."

Some time later, dinner came along. As per regulations with a Family Reunion, it was really more of a feast. A huge feast, to be exact. By the end, everybody, and I MEAN everybody was full. Including Mina and Fred, who was thought to never get full, just less hungry. Some time after dinner, Mina sort of tugged Rai aside, being too nervous to pull.
"Um... Uh..." she began, embarrassed.
"Yes?" Rai prompted.
"It's just... I can't say how thankful I am..." the girl muttered. "All day, you've really made me feel like I belong here."
"You DO belong here." Rai replied, a smile tugging on the edge of his mouth. "You live here now, don't you?"
"I-I know... It's just... You've done so much..." Mina said. She smiled a moment later and hugged Rai, blushing furiously. "Things could have been horrible, but now I really feel like I'm a normal person."
"No problem." Rai replied. Mina let go of him and they returned to the main area, chatting animatedly. Mina even let the anime-loving cousins touch her ears, to their delight.

While the cat-girl was busy, Rai's mom managed to corner the boy.
"You seem... Very fond of our new housemate." Rai's mom said matter-of-factly.
"What's not to like?" Rai replied. "She's fun to be around, is willing to help when it's needed, good to talk to..."
"Yes... That may be the problem." Rai's mom replied. Rai, understandably, was confused.
"Would you terribly mind explaining?" Rai asked blankly. As a response, Rai's mom pointed out to a vehicle that was driving up.
"You know that in Noble houses such as ours there is a certain custom--" Rai's mom began. However, she halted as Rai fell backward, having blacked out, now that he understood what his mom was talking about. "...Oops. Maybe that wasn't a good way to tell him." she said, looking down. Mina heard the thump, saw Rai on the floor, and scrambled over, scared. "It's okay, Mina, he just fell unconscious. He just needs to be put onto a bed or something for a bit."
"O-okay." Mina said, nodding as she struggled to pick up Rai. She failed spectacularly, until one of the older but still teenage relatives gave her a hand, saying that 'Rai was my favorite cousin, so why wouldn't I help?' when Mina asked him about it.

Back out in the main room, the new guests were mingling with Rai's family, having been invited over. Except for one girl, who quickly cornered Rai's mom.
"Oh, there you are!" said mom exclaimed. "I was looking all over for you!"
"I heard something about somebody blacking out." the girl said, a tad worried. She had shoulder length dark red hair, and her eyes were the same color. Her clothes were kind of formal, but not overly so. The girl's skin was pretty pale, as if she rarely got outside wherever she lived.
"Well... Rai was just surprised by some news I told him. Very, very surprised. Or perhaps shocked is a better word." the mom mused.
"Is he okay?" the girl asked.
"Oh, yes, he'll be fine." Rai's mom said reassuringly. "He should be awake shortly, no worries."
"Oh... Okay." the girl said, going back into the crowd.
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Yes, that is definitely on purpose. I just KNOW that some of you are going to yell at me for leaving you hanging about what the news was, the name of this new girl(since she's been described and all...), and so . As a practiced author, I found that's the best way to keep you reading forth. Look forward to the third chapter, people!

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"Practiced author" Huh? stare Don't let these reviews go to your head. *headlock and noogie rednal* Wait till you see my 50000 words of rushed half-breed dystopia. 3nodding

I could put you in my NaNo novel. Although you would probably be a slave for most of the book. sweatdrop

In one month...

Come on, people, comments make me write more!!!

^_^ What can I say? All but 2 or so of my stories have huge intros.

One of my favorites had an Exposition of 20 chapters or so. ^_^ This story is probably going to just go wherever it does, with nothing really set beforehand. Much more interesting that way, in my opinion. blaugh