The Kitten

by Star Mirage

Disclaimer - Slam Dunk belongs to Takehiko Inoue and etc.
Author's note: Very big "thanks" to Patty Nixon for correcting my "not so good" english gramma. ^_~ Any comments are welcome!


Part Two

15 minutes later, Hanamichi recovered. Lying on his back, he tried to remember what had happened before . . . Feeling easy dizziness, he opened his eyes and gave a fearful cry. There was VERY big head of the strange girl -Miamoor- looming above of him.

"Wow, what weak nerve you have!" she said,  picking him up in her hands.

Hanamichi came to life instantly. Hissing and growling, he tried to escape from her grasp.

'*Hissing* and *growling*? Eh?' Hanamichi threw a distrustful glance at himself and almost fainted again.

Red kitten. Yes, now he was a red kitten about half a year old. Totally red to the tip of his tail . . .

"Don't worry," as if having read his mind, the girl said. "I changed you into a cat form not, not for a whole life, but only for three days. It's all for you to learn what kind of life we have."

The kitten mewed angrily. 'It's easy to her to say *don't worry*. But what about my parents? They will go creazy about my absence!'

"Oh, I forgot about your family! Sorry!" The girl exclaimed, having understood his anger. "Wait a second, I'll take care of the situation."

She put the kitten onto the grass and took a cell-phone from her pocket. After dialing someone's number, the girl cleared her throat and, excellently simulating Hanamichi's voice, she said, "Yes, mom, it's me . . . No, I'm fine..."

Very shocked, Hanamichi stared as the girl speaks to HIS mother, using HIS voice.

"Yeah, all is well . . . I'm just gooing stay at my friend's house for the next three days . . . What? Yeah, we need to finish a school project by the end of this weekend . . . Thanks, mom . . . Bye!"

With a contented smile, she hid the cell-phone in her pocket.

"Well, now everything is all right. They will not be worried about you. So for these next three days, you can devote your time to research a cat's life. Well, that's all. Bye!"

The girl turned and took a step away from him, then she stopped and added over her shoulder, "And don't forget to came here in three days, if you wish to be a human again."

She waved her hand and . . . disappeared. There was a black cat in her place. The cat waved its tail and quickly run away into the night.

Hanamichi, now in the form of a red kitten, thoughtfully sat on the grass and considered where he should go and what he should do now . . .

*  *  *   *

His stomach growled, in want of food. Hanamichi hadn't had dinner yet, and the sounds from his belly reminded to him of that.

A hungry kitten. Alone in the middle of night park . . .

After some time, he headed where his feet took him. And although he perfectly saw in darkness, due to the cat night sight, that did not help him much. The point is that everything around was big. No, rather VERY big as compared with his current height. But Hanamichi persistently went forward. In his condition it was difficult to be guided in any environment, because his point of view as a kitten differed very much from the point of view of a tall boy . . .

Hanamichi sighed. There were so many sounds around him. The kitten's instinct told him, that some of them can be dangerous to a kitten. And still, Hanamichi went forward.

'What should I do now? Where shall I go? I can't go home because my mother don't like cats . . . Youhei? No. As I remember he's allergic to cats . . . Shit . . .'

Some time after, Hanamichi heard a sound. This sound came from the same park he was in. So with curiosity, the red kitten moved in the direction of that sound.

"It sounds very similar to--"

Hanamichi had no time to finish his thought, because the grass had moved before him, and then a huge ball stopped near his nose. The huge basketball. The red kitten's hair rose upright. Hissing with fear, Hanamichi stared at this obstacle, which had suddenly appeared in his way.

Some hands reached after the ball and their owner arose in Hanamichi's field of vision.

Rukawa Kaede . . .

~ TBC ~


© Star Mirage, 2000