-Tsube-

Neko jerked around as Rico dragged himself to his feet, panting painfully and raising his hand as a sign of submission. Neko relaxed a little, then suddenly remembered he didn’t know how to turn back.

"I sorry. Blood… no con-control." Rico panted.

"What’s happening to me Rico?" Neko growled.

"You and I… must be same." Rico replied. Neko sat down heavily, confused. Despite the situation, I couldn’t help finding a huge cat with a confused expression funny. Thank God for my inappropriate sense of humour.

"So how… but why… and what… oh dammit I’m so… GAH!"

"Perhaps I can explain." A cool, collected voice spoke, making us all jump.

"And you are…?" I asked suspiciously.

"Dr S. Hiko, Geneticist." The man replied, with a hint of arrogance. "Neko… is it? Come with me, I’ll tell you what you want to know." I glared at him. He sounded convincing; just as the Serpent in the Garden of Eden had sounded convincing. Neko obviously didn’t trust him either; I heard claws grate against the floor as they extended from his paws. Dr S. Hiko smiled casually. "I expect you also want to know how to return to your normal form."

"Would be nice." Neko growled. Dr Hiko’s smile didn’t move.

"It’s obvious you two don’t trust me. What a shame. Your friend trusts me, now what was her name… Kirin?" I jumped at hearing her name.

"She’s alive?" I demanded.

"Oh yes, and as pleasant as ever." There was sarcasm in that voice somewhere, but exactly where I wasn’t sure. He turned back to Neko.

"The transformation gene in your DNA is controlled by your willpower. You simply have to want the change to happen for it to work, easy as that." The Doctor sounded almost bored, as if it was so obvious. Neko closed his eyes, obviously thinking, and slowly the big cat changed back into the little Neko I knew and loved to hate. He looked down at himself approvingly.

"Hey, it worked!"

"Well no duh, Mr State-The-Obvious." I snorted sarcastically.

"Oh shut up Tsube." He growled playfully.

"Ahem… shall we go Neko? We have much to discuss." Dr Hiko said pointedly. Neko gave me a look that said ‘I still don’t trust him entirely but this is something I wanna find out’, and followed him out. I turned cautiously to Rico.

"Hey, who is that guy?" I whispered.

"Dr Sora? He good person. He friend." Was the reply. As convinced as I wasn’t, I would have to go along with this.

-Neko-

I followed the weird Doctor guy through a door I hadn’t seen before. Turns out it was the bathroom. He sat down on the toilet seat and motioned for me to sit. I plonked on the side of the bath, feeling the cold of its surface seep into my butt. Ah, perfect, I may be about to hear something life changing and I had a chilled rear.

"So, what’re you gonna tell me?" I asked.

"First, what do you know about Gaari, Neko?" Hiko challenged, but he spoke softly, patronisingly.

"Only that they’re inhuman creatures created by scientists like you, and that you can’t control them without sticking microchips in their brains." I replied. I didn’t particularly like Hiko to begin with, but his tone of voice was the kind you’d use for a 5 year old. No one but Kirin (and maybe Sasuke and Tsube) got away with treating me like a little kid.

"Don’t make it sound like such a bad thing Neko. Anyway, you shouldn’t be criticising them for not being human, seeing as you aren’t either." He paused, letting this sink in. His face altered slightly when I didn’t seem surprised. I’m not stupid; I’d kind of already figured that out.

"So what the hell am I then?"

"You are one of our other experiments. One of a set of three; the Dog, the Cat and the Bird. You’ve met the Dog, you’re the Cat, and the Bird regrettably died a short time ago." No regret in his voice. "You three were meant to be a set of policing tools, for scouting out and apprehending dangerous criminals. It is ironic perhaps that you became affiliated with such people." He sighed. I felt my fists clench. He was winding me up. No, Neko, don’t take the bait! Don’t take the bait! Don’t take the-

"Kirin’s not a criminal!" I took the bait, me and my temper.

"Oh but she is, Neko. Let me see… everything from the Hair Length Legislation to Stealing Government Property to Assaulting Government Personnel, all things I could charge her with. Of course, that would be if she hadn’t officially died when she ran off 10 years ago."

"Why the hell are you badmouthing me if you want me to join you?"

"Whoever said that’s what I wanted? You simply deserve to know about your powers and where they come from, if you subsequently decide to work for the government that’s your choice."

I sighed. "Fine. Tell me about this then." And he did. He told me that I was originally a research project, that my existence had been commissioned by the police force. However, when I was born they had believed me to be a failure, and put me into the Home I remembered, before I ran off and joined up with Kirin and the others. Turns out, course, they had been wrong and the experiment was a complete success, but they hadn’t known that until I flipped out on Rico. My transformation was caused by a highly unusual gene that only existed naturally in one known person.

"And that person?" I asked hesitantly. Hiko smiled knowingly.

"I'm surprised you haven't worked it out for yourself. Perhaps you aren't as smart as I gave you credit for." I glared at him angrily, insulting me wasn't gonna get him anywhere. It suddenly hit me like a brick in the head.

"Kirin!" I smacked my forehead at the sheer obviousness of it.

"Oh good you finally worked it out." Hiko drawled, unimpressed. "You’ve known her for years; you are extremely loyal to her, that much is obvious. But if you think about it, in a way it’s her fault that you are an inhuman monster; it’s her blood that made you what you are." He sounded pretty convincing, but I already knew his game; he sounded persuasive to make you believe what he wanted, then he could make you do whatever he felt like, manipulative b******.

"I’m not that stupid. Okay, it’s her DNA, but it’s YOU, you and the other scientists here that made me into this. She would’ve been a little kid when I was born or made or whatever, she wouldn’t be able to say ‘yeah, sure, use my DNA and turn some poor little kid into a freak of nature’!" I said, standing as my voice rose to a shout. Hiko looked slightly scared; he kept glancing at my left hand. I held it up to my face and understood why he was frightened; the 2-inch claws were quite a big clue. I concentrated on my normal hand, watching as the talons retracted into my more normal (but still rather long) fingernails. "I don’t care what you say, I’m not working for you, and I won’t believe this is Kirin’s fault." I turned and stalked towards the door.

"Fine." Hiko was rising to follow me, his face contorted into a vicious glare "Fine then. Just don’t think you’ll be let go. If you had cooperated I could have secured your freedom. You and your friends." Hiko halted in front of me; he was much taller than I was and loomed over me menacingly. I glared into his eyes unafraid; he couldn’t do anything to me. "Your idea of freedom isn’t the same as mine, Doctor." I growled icily, sidestepping him and exiting the room.