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 Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 3:51 pm
Hadaya wondered if Camelot would get mad at him for visiting a book store instead of the library. It was not like he had a reason to think Camelot would take it personally, he was just... nervous around the Royal Knight. He was bigger, and much more powerful, and clearly the alpha of the house... which was intimidating.
So the fact that Camelot owned the library and took a lot of pride in it meant he probably did not want Hadaya reading other books, right?
It made sense in the mind of a nervous little cat.
Still, he could not help but want to investigate this little book shop. It looked so cute, and he knew that the nicest kinds of people were usually found in shops like this. It was night, and the place was probably about to close, but he was hoping he might be able to catch someone as they were on their way to dinner... or something pleasant and fortuitous like that!
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:13 pm
Books. There were so many books! Chizuru had been in the small store for hours now, having easily lost track of time in her search for rare manga. She had done some on line digging and heard that occasionally this shop would have some of the more rare editions or hard to find volumes, so naturally it was exactly where she decided to spend her hours after school.
Sitting on her knees and leaning forward on her hands, backpack on the floor beside her, Chizu scoped the very bottom shelf. She would occasionally pull a book or two out of place to see if anything had gotten wedged behind the books in front, as had happened on the odd occasion with her own bookshelf at home. But still, nothing was found so far that she had wanted. There were three different exclusive volumes of her favorite series, but she had already gotten those a while back.
"...maybe it's time to resort to online shopping then..."
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:31 pm
Sneaking in was not as easy as one might think, Hadaya himself found out. He had been sitting by the door for some time, and when someone did come out, they spotted him immediately and made sure to bar his path in with their legs while say things like 'hey!' and 'shoo!'
Clearly cats were not the kind of patrons this place catered to.
So Hadaya had to find another way in, which meant a little more work. A lot more work, as it turned out. His legs were not exactly long, and his stomach was not exactly flat. Climbing up to a window that looked just open enough for him to slip through was profoundly difficult, and by the time he got up to the window sill he was huffing and puffing for air.
And that wasn't even the hardest part. Squeezing all his tubby, fluffy gut in through the barely ajar window that refused to open further despite how hard he pushed against it was the hardest part.
He got about a third of the way in, his head and one front paw, before he got caught up. Oh God. This was it. He could not pull himself backwards, his stumpy back legs barely long enough to get purchase against the window sill, let alone offer any kind of pulling force. Even when he did manage to get a good tug backwards, he got caught on his paw, and his head refused to fit back where it had gotten in.
He was going to die here!
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp!" he let out a long meow for aid, the word mostly hidden under a natural cat sound of misery.
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:49 pm
Heaving a heavy sigh of defeat, Chizu shook her head and made sure her mess of book hunting was cleaned up before grabbing her bag and standing. It had gotten quite late out and she was sure her brother was going to freak out on her as to why she didn't text or call to say she would be late.
Half way turned around, the sound of a cat meowing made her stop, brow furrowing. "A.... cat?" Turning back around, Chizu surveyed her surroundings to try and find the source of the noise. "Heeeere kitty kitty," she called quietly.
A few moments of searching, and climbing up on part of a bookshelf, rewarded the young girl with a face to face meeting with the tubby little furball. "Heeeey there," she murmured, hoping to soothe it and calm it enough that she might be able to help it. "It's okay little guy, I'll help you." She smiled softly and gently stroked his forehead before starting to work on the window.
Despite being in a few activities, Chizuru had muscles for a dancer's body, not so much for heaving heavy things or unsticking very stuck windows. However, after roughly five minutes of careful yanking, the window finally gave and popped open the rest of the way, causing Chizu to lose her balance and land on her butt below.
Standing quickly, she moved back over to see if the cat was still there. "You okay there little buddy?" Naturally, she didn't expect any sort of response.
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 5:06 pm
He heard someone approaching and began to panic. What if it was the shop owner, coming to chase him out? He would be stuck here, and they could get a broom or something worse to smack him with! He did not want that at all! He kicked his feet, waving the one little paw that was stuck inside the store with his head, but he could not dislodge himself from the window.
If anything, he was just making things worse in his panic.
And it was really starting to hurt!
Thankfully, he was greeted by a very gentle voice, and it was followed by a very warm feeling. He looked at her, eyes wide, fearful, and the moment he locked his gaze with hers he felt a pull toward her. This was someone he could trust, and he calmed down in his wiggling as she said he could trust her, as if understanding her.
Of course, he definitely did, but since most folks thought of him as a normal cat, he could understand why it might be weird.
He waited patiently as she moved the window, paw waving at her listlessly as she worked. Finally he was freed, and he immediately flopped out of the window, following her to the floor and landing in her lap and sliding out of it gently when she stood. It all happened so quickly, he doubted she even saw him fall down from the window.
It was like he had just disappeared.
"Down here!"
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 5:10 pm
As her eyes darted around, trying to figure out where in the world the cat went to, a voice made her jump half out of her skin. Turning around quickly, Chizu tried to figure out where it came from, only to find the cat by her feet. "Did you just-? No... no that's silly. Cat's don't talk. That's only in books and movies. Get a grip, Chizu."
She shook her head and crouched down, checking to see if the animal had gotten cut or otherwise visibly injured. Very carefully, she lifted the paw that had been stuck in the window and felt around, lightly rubbing her thumb over it. "You're so soft....wish I had a cat like you." She smiled softly and stroked his fur. "Friendly little guy too, aren't you?" Because of course, cats don't talk and she imagined the voice completely in her tired state.
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 7:50 pm
Hadaya looked up at her patiently. This was the reaction of someone who was not used to talking cats, and quite rightly so. He probably should not have said anything, but it just slipped out of his little mouth and he could hardly stop himself. He just wanted to thank her for her help!
She seemed to have convinced herself it wasn't him, though, and he frowned thoughtfully. As best a kitty could, anyway.
That feeling. That pull. He knew it without having to ask or to see anything more: this was one of the senshi he was meant to help. She had it sleeping inside her, and it was his duty, as a Guardian, to awaken it.
"Thank you for helping me! Now let me do something for you, okay?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 8:01 pm
That cat..... there was no way. Aaaand then it spoke again. Chizu stared hard at Hadaya. "You... you really ARE speaking! How is that possible!? This only happens in stories!"
Gently, she scooped the cat up and seemed to be checking him for wires or anything of the sort. "Well you certainly are a real cat... and I don't see any wires or anything so it isn't something Ren would do to me." She held the animal in her arms, idly stroking his fur.
As he spoke, she watched his mouth, utterly baffled. "Y-you don't have to do anything for me, kitty! I just... didn't want you to be hurt or anything! You.. do you have a name?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 8:08 pm
Hadaya let out a little squeaky mew as she picked him up, wiggling a bit as she turned him around to make sure he was not a robot. He was not quite sure what she was doing, but he let her do it while purring all the while. She did not seem to be posing him a threat, after all, and if she threw him he was pretty sure he could land on his feet.
Probably? Well, at least he had plenty of natural cushioning anyway.
"Of course I'm a real cat! I'm just not the kind of cat you know! My name is Hadaya. And guess what? You're not the kind of person you think you are, either! See, I can tell that you're a senshi!"
He was whispering, because this was a bookstore and that was required, and also because he did not want to draw anyone's attention. This place was empty, though, so he wiggled a bit in her grasp so she could put him back down.
Calling Henshin Pens took a bit of focus for him, as he was not the most adept at this stuff. This was only the second time he had ever tried it, after all!
"There's power in you, and if you'd like me to, as a way of uhm. You know, thanking you for not leaving me in the window, and because I know you will awaken some time anyway, I can bring it out for you! Here, look!"
He closed his eyes, as he had done the last time he tried this, and called on the Henshin Pen he knew was destined for her. He pictured it in his head, though he absolutely never got the colors or symbols right (in the one other time he did this, that statistic was very true). In a flash of light, he opened his eyes and the little pen was sitting on the floor in front of him. He bent close and picked it up, holding it up to her happily.
"Tape thif!"
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 8:23 pm
"I-I'm Chizuru Akiyama. Call me Chizu." Introducing herself to a cat was possibly the strangest thing she had ever done. So far at least.
"Senshi?" She frowned, unused to hearing her native tongue mixed among english words. "That means warrior in Japanese." She had set him down carefully and was crouched, petting him as he spoke. There was something about cats that made her always want to pet them. Perhaps one of these days she would convince her parents to let her have one.
"Power? Like what? I'm just a high school kid." However, when the pen materialized, Chizu's eyes widened and she gently took it from his mouth. "What.... what is this?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 8:43 pm
"That is your henshin pen! If you hold it and say 'Inari Power, Make Up', you'll transform into a senshi! It's uhm. Actually. Really hard to explain... uh. Have you ever heard news stories about people protecting other people? Or monsters that were there but then went away? Or have you ever wondered about all the weird stuff that happens around this place?"
Hadaya was not the best at teaching, bumbling over his words and searching for a good way to describe these things. He knew the best way was for her to just power up, and all the weird stuff he said would then have to make sense, because she saw some magic really happen.
As if a talking cat that could magically make things appear was not enough.
"But we should go somewhere that's private so no one sees! It's a secret, this new power! You don't want anyone finding out about it! Most people don't understand: not everyone has this inside them! Oh, I hope I didn't mess up already, doing that here!"
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 8:53 pm
The cat's rambling made Chizu smile a little, reminding her of herself whenever she had to give any sort of a presentation. As confident as she was, public speaking was nooooot always her forte.
Laughing softly, she ruffled his fur on his head. "It's okay. You're doing fine." Henshin. That was another Japanese word. She was definitely going to have to look into some of the things going on apparently and find out the origins. "Should I follow you? Or would you like me to carry you? I walk pretty fast usually."
In truth, Chizu was quite used to jogging or walking quickly everywhere she went. Slow paced was not in her nature in the least. Howerver, the tubby cat's stubby little legs made her worried he might not keep up. Especially after having been stuck in the window. She was certain his paw must hurt.
"Um... i-is your paw feeling okay, by the way? The way you were stuck... it looked kinda painful."
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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 12:25 pm
Hadaya smiled at her as she reassured him, nodding his head and purring a bit in response. He was always a very nervous and high strung little guy, though being around senshi (and those destined to be senshi) often comforted him.
"If you don't mind carrying me!"
When one had legs as stumpy as Hadaya's, one never turned away an offer of a ride. Hadaya also loved being held and cuddled, so it was often a win win situation for him if he got to be carried. People could not help but cuddle him, once they had him in their arms!
Moving to rub against her leg affectionately while he had the chance, to thank her before she picked him up, he blinked up at her.
"Oh, my paw is fine! I'm used to uhm. Being stuck in things. And falling off stuff. We can go behind the store, I think! There's an alley back there and I don't think anyone will see you. Don't forget the henshin pen!"
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 2:12 pm
Chizu laughed softly and gently scooped Hadaya up, carrying him in one arm and slinging her bag over her shoulder on the other side, her free hand gingerly holding the henshin pen. This was by far the most interesting and strange trip to a book store by far.
"I don't mind at all. You're soft and adorable." She grinned and kissed his nose. There was something about cats that always brought a smile to Chi's face. She wasn't sure if it was the fluffy fur, the adorable little toe beans on their paws, their cute noses, or their soothing purr. Or maybe it was just all of the cat in general.
"I'm glad your paw is okay, Hadaya." At the mention of being used to getting stuck in things, she giggled. "I thought cats were supposed to be good at being coordinated though." A teasing wink was given to let him know she was only joking. "Okay sounds good. Just tell me where to turn then." She idly stroked his fur as she slipped out of the store and onto the street.
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 5:49 pm
"yeah... cats are supposed to be good at it."
There was not much more of an explanation to be offered. Most cats were graceful and well balanced and... good at things. Hadaya was, unfortunately, not among those cats. He was generally terrible at all things that required even the slightest amount of skill or coordination.
He led her to a back alley, away from where he knew cameras and most people were. Once he was sure they were alone, he wiggled out of her grip and bounced in front of her, turning and looking up at her with a bright, wide eyed look on his face.
"Okay! I need you to hold that pen I gave you up, and say 'Inari Power, Make Up!' Then you'll see the power that's inside you, and I can help explain what it all means and... please don't freak out okay!"
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