Nine Lives Away...

Chapter One - Home at Last

Kani grumbled. Looking around at the other cats in this cold, metal place, she got to her paws. The clear, protective plexiglass on the front of her little "cubby" space was the only thing allowing her to see the humans who roamed the shelter. It smelled sickeningly of cleaning supplies... and her "roommates" didn't smell much better. They were poorly cleaned, lazy creatures. A nasty, tabby tom-cat, whose fur was in matts, and a bad-breathed she-cat who refused to eat anything but sticky, smelly tuna. The gray bed she slept on was small, and she moved around a lot at night, causing her to often end up on the floor. She licked her smooth, sleek calico pelt until it was clean, and walked over to the glass. The place had opened, and people walked about, calling to the cats and getting their dirty, furless paw print smudges all over the plexiglass.
It was a normal day. Kani looked over at her favorite of the human caretakers, Roxie, who was approaching her cage. Kani stretched, and put a paw on the glass, meowing happily. If she was pleasant enough, she might be let out of her cage. Then, she realized, a teenage human, about fourteen, came out of the door and followed Roxie to the cage. Was this the day? She had never thought about what would happen if she was adopted. What if the boy wasn't nice? What if he didn't like her, and returned her to the shelter? What if he had other cats, like the nasty tabby and the she-cat in her enclosure? What if, what if, what if..?! Kani shook her head. This was no time for worrying.
She purred as Roxie removed her from the enclosure, bringing her outside to the cat park behind the building. She meowed a hello at the boy, but he didn't respond. Of course, Kani knew he didn't understand. It was still worth a shot, though! He cooed excitedly, stroking her ears. She liked him already. He seemed like the person to feed her extra, when she was pleasantly behaved. She flicked his nose with her tail, mewing happily. He leaned down to give her a small kiss on the forehead-the small flat spot between her ears-but she jumped up and put her paw on his nose. Ha! She had captured the human with her cuteness. He talked with Roxie, discussing how much he had to pay.

✿❀✿

Kani raised her head, blinking drowsily. She was in the back seat of a car. The car ride had been long, and she fell asleep quickly. As she recollected her thoughts, she gazed around her and rolled onto her back. The boy-earlier, she found out that his name was Mark-was sitting next to her. He looked over, and then pat her back.
"I see you're awake! Only five more minutes, and we'll be at home. We don't have any other pets, so you'll have the whole house to yourself while I'm at school and Mom is at work. And we have fluffy beds and-" Kani reached over with her paw and lightly prodded his leg. "Oh, just wait, you'll see when we get there."
The hum of the car's motor faded, and Kani shook her head, rising to her paws. She yawned, and stretched, her forepaws reaching far in front of her as she relaxed her muscles. Standing back up, she watched as Mark opened the door, and lept out of the car. As her pads hit the concrete sidewalk, she felt the warm sun hitting her fur, making it shine. Bees were buzzing around her, butterflies flitting over the flowers. Kani walked in circles, taking in the beautiful sight. Her new home was amazing-a great, big, white house, with a great, big lawn, surrounded by strawberry plants and white flower bushes. A bird house rested on the porch, beside two wooden rocking chairs. It was perfect.
Mark stood beside her, watching her roll over on the ground in excitement. He laughed, seeing her twitch her whiskers at the birds and flick her tail at the squirrels.
"Excited to be home, huh? Let's get you situated in here." He led Kani to the house, showing her the brand new cat door they had on the front door, allowing her to come and go as she pleased. It was a sweet little thing. How wonderful, she thought. The little round door had a frame with ears and whiskers, and a small wooden mockingbird sat perched atop the left ear. Kani quickly prodded the door with her muzzle, to make sure it wasn't locked, and slipped through into the house. Behind her, Mark opened the front door and followed her inside. It smelled like the sweet cakey stuff that the humans put in the oven, and decorated with icing; that was her favorite smell. She happily pranced around.
Seeing a large, white spiral staircase, Kani let her instincts take over, and she practically flew up the stairs. When she got up, she ran five laps around the top floor, which was decorated with plush couches and tall bookshelves. On each shelf, there were small little cushions scattered between the books. She would sleep on one of them that night, she decided. Eagerly, she raced back down the steps to find Mark. She was so lucky to be adopted by such a wealthy family, and with no other pets!
Upon finding her new friend, she rubbed affectionately at his pant legs, happy to be home, forever. He smiled again, and chuckled when Kani flopped over onto her back. Mark reached down and pat her head, as she purred excitedly.
"You wanna go outside, girl?" He suggested. Kani darted to her feet at the word outside, and went zooming to the cat door, Mark following closely behind. Slipping back out through the door, she flew across the concrete path that led to the house, and threw herself at the grass. A strong scent of flowers overtook her nose, and Kani plopped onto her side. Mark, who was now standing next to Kani, sat down on the lawn beside her.
"I'll let you do your thing out here, you know, cat stuff I guess...?" He declared after a while, getting to his feet again. Kani let out a purr-like 'mreow' of acknowledgement, watching him walk inside. Suddenly, the strong scent of a bird flooded her senses, and she instinctively dropped to her haunches, trying to spot the prey. She didn't like eating birds, just catching them as a game. She always let them go, carefully avoiding the fragile wings... Creeping forward, she scanned the yard. There it was, perched on the pink, blossoming cherry tree, pecking at the little under-ripened fruits.
Kani inched forward. Shhh...The grass made a shuffling sound, which alerted the little bird. It perked its small, brightly-colored head upwards, eyes darting back and forth. A bluejay. Kani froze in her tracks. The bird looked back down. Whiskers twitching and tail swooping, she approached the tiny creature. One... two... three... Kani counted her steps in her head. The bird was now only three tail-lengths away. She stopped short, putting all of her weight on her hind paws. Suddenly, she made a large jump towards the tree.
With her two forepaws, she grabbed onto the branch. Kani had caught the bird in her mouth, and it wriggled furiously. Carefully, Kani dropped onto the ground, and let the little thing onto the grass, watching it recover quickly, and fly away. Kani wished she could fly away, like the little bird.
Padding back towards the large house-she had to remind herself that that was her forever home, and couldn't help staring at it in awe-Kani jumped up onto the porch railing. Something caught her eye, and she realized that there was a vine-covered growth of flowers spread across the wall. She immediately leapt up onto a little green cluster, which she nearly tumbled off of. Regaining her balance, Kani hopped to another growth of vines, until she found a miniature patio-like platform made of vines and flowers. By now, the ground was far below her, and she glanced down at the yard. The vines at the bottom must have spread upward along the side of the house, creating this small area.
Settling down in the center of her tiny perch, Kani laid her head down. She had nearly closed her eyes and drifted off, when she heard sharp canine voices echoing in the distance.