Catseye and the Kikuchis

[x-kaminari.livejournal.com]

As Noriko's family wander about they meet one of the mansion's more interesting residents...

Backdated to this afternoon



Nori had once again escaped from her parents, abandoning them to wander the halls, claiming she had class to get to. Now the Kikuchis were simply exploring the school a little farther, learning their way around, seeing as their daughter had neglected to give them a tour. Mr. Kikuchi, tall for a Japanese man, but still short by American standards, was thin and bookish looking, and also clearly distracted and withdrawn. His wife, on the other hand, was actually shorter than Nori herself and had the look of a housewife. She seemed more interested in their surroundings, occasionally pointing things out to her husband in rapid Japanese.

MiniSquid was getting away! Catseye barrelled down the hallway mindless of obstacles, her only focus being to catch her prey. When MiniSquid scooted around a corner between two visitors, the purple cat followed valiantly, but taking the corner too fast had her skidding a little and then overcompensating, sending her straight into the feet of a small dark-haired woman.

Kazue was startled when a small, robotic squid went skittering between her and her husband, but that was nothing compared to her surprise when a purple cat skidded into her feet. "Eh! Murasaki! Nan desuka?"

"Mrrt?" Catseye picked herself up, twitched her tail irritably, and pounced on the idling MiniSquid. When she'd captured it, her attention turned to the couple standing behind her. They sounded like Nori, and looked a little like her, as well. "Meep?" Curious, she shifted into girlform. "Do you know ShockyGirl?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ara!" Mrs. Kikuchi cried out, jerking backwards as the purple furred cat suddenly became a purple haired young woman. And a very tall one at that. Her already somewhat problematic English vanished entirely. Luckily, her husband still had a little bit of pressence of mind, although he was not much better off than his wife.

"Who are you? Who is ShockyGirl?" His accent was not nearly as heavy as Noriko's, although he did quite thouroughly mangle Catseye's nickname for his daughter.

"Catseye is Catseye," she said with what she hoped was a warm, welcoming smile. "This is MiniSquid," she added, holding the toy out to them. "ShockyGirl is Catseye's friend. ShockyGirl shocks humans-and cats. ShockyGirl comes from Tokyo, where they have yummy fish. ShockyGirl is going to make some for Catseye one day! Do you know ShockyGirl?" she repeated, tail swishing impatiently.

Mrs. Kikuchi gave MiniSquid a dubious look, which was then transferred to Catseye, but Mr. Kikuchi said, "Noriko is our daughter, yes," emphasizing her real name.

Catseye nodded emphatically. "ShockyGirl's parents! Did ShockyGirl's parents come all the way from YummyFishTown to visit ShockyGirl? Is it a surprise? Is it a surprise game for ShockyGirl?!" She was quivering with excitement over the possibility of their visit being a surprise. "Catseye is very good at playing surprise games!"

Nori's mother simply gaped at the crazy girl, before muttering to her husband, "Kanajou... kuru-kuru pa, kana?" and he nodded slightly.

"Please excuse me," he said, hoping not to anger the strange, purple haired girl. "Your English is very different..."

Nodding again, the catgirl bounced on the balls of her feet as she contemplated the pair of strange people. "Catseye learned English here! Before living at the mansion Catseye lived in alleys with other cats and with CatLady who didn't talk very much to Catseye. Catseye has even learned some of ShockyGirl's language! Catseye knows 'kuru-kuru pa'!" she exclaimed happily, butchering the pronounciation. "ShockyGirl calls Catseye that a lot. Well, Catseye doesn't know exactly what it means but Catseye thinks it means that Catseye is fun. Are ShockyGirl's parents here for a surprise?" she repeated anxiously.

Mrs. Kikuchi took a definite step back as the crazy girl began bouncing in place, and Mr. Kikuchi's eyebrows rose at the speed of the girl's extremely difficult English. He couldn't follow most of it, but was not terribly surprised to here his daughter also thought this girl was crazy. "No," he managed to answer after deciphering Catseye's last question. "Is not surprise. Noriko knows we are here," he said, then fell pensively silent. Nori probably even knew they were right here. Which would explain why she wasn't; there was no question she was avoiding them.

The purple-haired girl's face fell upon being told that Nori's parents' visit wasn't a surprise. "Are ShockyGirl's parents here because they think ShockyGirl did something bad at the mansion? ShockyGirl is VeryVeryGood, not bad," she told them matter-of-factly.

"Sou-ka?" Mrs. Kikuchi said, frowning slightly, putting aside her dislike of this strange cat-girl-person to jump on the chance at more informaiton. "Nori is good not what I am always to hear."

Catseye shook her head. "ShockyGirl is always good!"

"Maaaa," Noriko's mother said consideringly, then bowed slightly. "Noriko is very problem. But thank you for say."

"Problem? Problem how? ShockyGirl is nice and kind and veryverysmart and not very problem at all!"

At this, Kazue just arched an eyebrow. "This is not what teacher say."