(Fic) One Day Izumo Woke Up... (By Suz)
Suz wrote me a "Genma is a kitty" ficlet for my series! yay!
When you got a summons that was sealed with the Hokage's seal, you obeyed. Even if it meant hauling yourself and your partner out of a very warm and comfortable bed. Kotetsu yawned outrageously and shuffled Izumo out onto the floor. Izumo slept like a log, and was near impossible to wake up.
"Ow! Kotetsu, what the--"
"Summons. Get dressed," Kotetsu snapped, stretching extravagantly.
Izumo stretched just as easily and bonelessly, then got to his feet yawning.
He was sleepy and dazed but he realized that the ANBU standing there with the scroll was waiting for them. He got dressed as fast as he could, nearly beating Kotetsu out, and they followed the ANBU out the door. Izumo was still yawning when they followed the ANBU messanger down the street. The ANBU took them through rapid shortcuts, straight for Konoha's hospital. Izumo and Kotetsu exchanged wary looks.
Izumo was already nervous--he did not like the hospital--but he didn't start getting absolutely stressed until they went down a level and through a high-security door. Then things got familiar and he got very, very stressed. He had to actively think about breathing carefully and walking calmly. Beside him, Kotetsu gave him a worried look and shifted closer until their shoulders were touching.
Their masked guide led them to a larger room, well-lit, with chairs and a table and some very sad plants--a typical waiting room. There were four other people in the room--Iruka, Aoba, Suzume and Kurenai. Aoba was sprawled across a pair of chairs, and waved lazily at them. Very little stressed Aoba. Iruka was pacing, almost playing tag with Kurenai. Suzume was perched elegantly on a chair, and nodded to them.
Iruka came bounding over to greet them, exuberant and cheerful. "Hey! I wonder what this is all about?"
"I dunno." Kotetsu shrugged. "Pretty serious, since they sent ANBU to get us."
"Yeah, but I don't think we're in trouble. I wonder if they'll bring in Hayate?" Iruka asked, as he turned and bounded away.
"No telling," Izumo called after him. "C'mon, Kotetsu, let's go sit."
Kotetsu nodded, and they secured a pair of chairs. Izumo sat a little closer than usual, but he doubted Kotetsu minded--there was something very comforting about the body-heat. And he was still a little sleepy despite the nervy on-edge feeling the hospital always invoked in him.
They didn't wait for more than a minute before Iruka's question was answered and Hayate was ushered in. He blinked sleepily at them, and offered a tired smile for Iruka. He drifted over to sit nearer Kotetsu and Izumo than Aoba--Hayate and Aoba were uneasy friends at best.
"Well, we're all here," Kotetsu yawned.
"Wonder why?" Suzume asked.
"We'll find out," Aoba sighed. "Likely soon enough."
But it was a good five minutes before they found out why. Iruka had left off pacing with Kurenai and was antagonizing the very sleepy Hayate when the door opened. All in the room jumped to attention as the Sandaime walked in--trailed by a very upset-looking Genma.
A very upset-looking Genma with cat-slit amber eyes and CLAWS.
Izumo felt himself bristling and drawing closer to Kotetsu--they both were slinking lower in their seats, because something about Genma was just off and registering as a threat. The others in the room were also reacting with varying levels of hostility, and Iruka was coming out with ears and fangs. Izumo was trying to be calm, but it wasn't working and his ears were itching like they were showing, and when Genma turned a startled gaze on him, Izumo got that funny itching feeling all over and....
With a very strange itchy-shudder-ouch feeling, Izumo was a lot smaller and had a very odd new perspective on the world. He blinked, looked down at his new front paws, and let out a very terrified kitten wail of alarm.
"Well," said the Sandaime into the startled silence moment later, "Now we have a full transformation."
The words registered oddly, and through the faint haze of panic, Izumo realized that his hearing was much sharper, and he viewed the world in oddly-shaded colours. The light seemed brighter, and he was certainly picking up on things he never usually did--the stress in the room was shivering all his fur up, and tingling along his whiskers. Genma was new and big and threat and he was getting alarming agression from everyone even the queens, and every single instinct was insisting that Izumo find a safe place right now.
There was nothing higher than the chair he was perched on, but there was a nice safe-looking space between the nearest plant and the wall. Izumo launched himself off the chair, claws hanging unpleasantly in the cushion, and nipped down into the narrow hole between the pot and the wall. Panting a little, he settled his sweaty paws on the tile floor and peered out from behind his refuge anxiously.
He realized, with some bemusement, that he had no tail. Well, not a normal cat-tail, but a little bob of a thing that twitched and fluttered and betrayed his anxiety along with his ears, laid flat along the top of his head.
Kotetsu gaped, then leaped up, confronting Genma--slit-pupils blown, lips drawn back to expose very sharp canines. Kotetsu came out with teeth and slit-eyes when upset. "Look what you did!"
"Don't shout at me!" Genma snapped back, and took a sudden pouncing leap, popping Kotetsu across the face with a curled hand--no claws.
Kotetsu made a noise somewhere between a shriek and a howl--and with a wrenching shift in Izumo's altered vision, a startled calico kitten with a little bobbed tail stood in Kotetsu's place. With a second startled wail, the kitten scrambled right for Izumo's hidey-hole--it was closest.
Izumo hissed in alarm and puffed up--but it was Kotetsu and felt and smelled right--and let Kotetsu join him behind the plant. They peered out from opposite sides at Genma and the others, eyes wide, ears flat, little bobbed tails twitching.
Life was certainly going to be interesting after this.
When you got a summons that was sealed with the Hokage's seal, you obeyed. Even if it meant hauling yourself and your partner out of a very warm and comfortable bed. Kotetsu yawned outrageously and shuffled Izumo out onto the floor. Izumo slept like a log, and was near impossible to wake up.
"Ow! Kotetsu, what the--"
"Summons. Get dressed," Kotetsu snapped, stretching extravagantly.
Izumo stretched just as easily and bonelessly, then got to his feet yawning.
He was sleepy and dazed but he realized that the ANBU standing there with the scroll was waiting for them. He got dressed as fast as he could, nearly beating Kotetsu out, and they followed the ANBU out the door. Izumo was still yawning when they followed the ANBU messanger down the street. The ANBU took them through rapid shortcuts, straight for Konoha's hospital. Izumo and Kotetsu exchanged wary looks.
Izumo was already nervous--he did not like the hospital--but he didn't start getting absolutely stressed until they went down a level and through a high-security door. Then things got familiar and he got very, very stressed. He had to actively think about breathing carefully and walking calmly. Beside him, Kotetsu gave him a worried look and shifted closer until their shoulders were touching.
Their masked guide led them to a larger room, well-lit, with chairs and a table and some very sad plants--a typical waiting room. There were four other people in the room--Iruka, Aoba, Suzume and Kurenai. Aoba was sprawled across a pair of chairs, and waved lazily at them. Very little stressed Aoba. Iruka was pacing, almost playing tag with Kurenai. Suzume was perched elegantly on a chair, and nodded to them.
Iruka came bounding over to greet them, exuberant and cheerful. "Hey! I wonder what this is all about?"
"I dunno." Kotetsu shrugged. "Pretty serious, since they sent ANBU to get us."
"Yeah, but I don't think we're in trouble. I wonder if they'll bring in Hayate?" Iruka asked, as he turned and bounded away.
"No telling," Izumo called after him. "C'mon, Kotetsu, let's go sit."
Kotetsu nodded, and they secured a pair of chairs. Izumo sat a little closer than usual, but he doubted Kotetsu minded--there was something very comforting about the body-heat. And he was still a little sleepy despite the nervy on-edge feeling the hospital always invoked in him.
They didn't wait for more than a minute before Iruka's question was answered and Hayate was ushered in. He blinked sleepily at them, and offered a tired smile for Iruka. He drifted over to sit nearer Kotetsu and Izumo than Aoba--Hayate and Aoba were uneasy friends at best.
"Well, we're all here," Kotetsu yawned.
"Wonder why?" Suzume asked.
"We'll find out," Aoba sighed. "Likely soon enough."
But it was a good five minutes before they found out why. Iruka had left off pacing with Kurenai and was antagonizing the very sleepy Hayate when the door opened. All in the room jumped to attention as the Sandaime walked in--trailed by a very upset-looking Genma.
A very upset-looking Genma with cat-slit amber eyes and CLAWS.
Izumo felt himself bristling and drawing closer to Kotetsu--they both were slinking lower in their seats, because something about Genma was just off and registering as a threat. The others in the room were also reacting with varying levels of hostility, and Iruka was coming out with ears and fangs. Izumo was trying to be calm, but it wasn't working and his ears were itching like they were showing, and when Genma turned a startled gaze on him, Izumo got that funny itching feeling all over and....
With a very strange itchy-shudder-ouch feeling, Izumo was a lot smaller and had a very odd new perspective on the world. He blinked, looked down at his new front paws, and let out a very terrified kitten wail of alarm.
"Well," said the Sandaime into the startled silence moment later, "Now we have a full transformation."
The words registered oddly, and through the faint haze of panic, Izumo realized that his hearing was much sharper, and he viewed the world in oddly-shaded colours. The light seemed brighter, and he was certainly picking up on things he never usually did--the stress in the room was shivering all his fur up, and tingling along his whiskers. Genma was new and big and threat and he was getting alarming agression from everyone even the queens, and every single instinct was insisting that Izumo find a safe place right now.
There was nothing higher than the chair he was perched on, but there was a nice safe-looking space between the nearest plant and the wall. Izumo launched himself off the chair, claws hanging unpleasantly in the cushion, and nipped down into the narrow hole between the pot and the wall. Panting a little, he settled his sweaty paws on the tile floor and peered out from behind his refuge anxiously.
He realized, with some bemusement, that he had no tail. Well, not a normal cat-tail, but a little bob of a thing that twitched and fluttered and betrayed his anxiety along with his ears, laid flat along the top of his head.
Kotetsu gaped, then leaped up, confronting Genma--slit-pupils blown, lips drawn back to expose very sharp canines. Kotetsu came out with teeth and slit-eyes when upset. "Look what you did!"
"Don't shout at me!" Genma snapped back, and took a sudden pouncing leap, popping Kotetsu across the face with a curled hand--no claws.
Kotetsu made a noise somewhere between a shriek and a howl--and with a wrenching shift in Izumo's altered vision, a startled calico kitten with a little bobbed tail stood in Kotetsu's place. With a second startled wail, the kitten scrambled right for Izumo's hidey-hole--it was closest.
Izumo hissed in alarm and puffed up--but it was Kotetsu and felt and smelled right--and let Kotetsu join him behind the plant. They peered out from opposite sides at Genma and the others, eyes wide, ears flat, little bobbed tails twitching.
Life was certainly going to be interesting after this.