The Cat Who Could Climb [Solo]

[Takamura Natsumi]

Why was it so damn hard to climb a tree?

Natsumi glared at the stupid oversized plant in front of her, arms folded over her chest, and ears flat against her skull. Claw tipped bare feet tapped against the grass beneath her in a show of agitated impatience. This was supposed to be easy. This was supposed to be a piece of cake the likes of which even a baby shinobi could do in their sleep and yet she couldn’t even manage to do it right.

Tail lashing angrily behind her, Natsumi took a series of steps back, sized up her target, and raced forward. Control the breathing, reach for the wellspring of power within her body and shove it down to the soles of her feet and imagine it sticking to the bark of the tree. That was it. That was all she needed to do and just had to believe it was going to work this time rather than resulting in an absolutely humiliating series of failed attempts as it had thus far this day and the last three she’d been practicing this.

The bottom of one foot hit the bark of the tree, claws digging into the bark as she stubbornly propelled herself upwards towards her goal; a
favored branch she loved to lounge on top of and watch the going ons of the neighborhood. The bottoms of her feet felt warmer than usual as she kept going. Up. And up. And up…!

Her hand wrapped around the branch and held on tight. Swung herself nimbly up and into a crouch on the branch with a huff of effort and her tongue poked out between her teeth.

Victory!

“Next time,” Natsumi muttered to herself. “We’re gonna try smaller spaces and water walking.”
--
WC: 301

 

[Takamura Natsumi]

She was a ninja of her word; water walking and smaller spaces were next on her list to conquer.

Which was why the black haired feline eared student was in her bathroom and staring intently at the deep bathtub full of steaming hot water. Rubber duck in place and everything, her perfect set up was prepared and she was one hundred and fifty percent certain she had this.

Amber eyes narrowed, black tail lashing mysterious symbols in the air behind her with quick, sharp movements. Trees and rocks were one thing, and she was about ninety-nine percent sure it applied to walls and other stationary solid objects too. But water?

Water was not a solid. Water was a liquid and thus ever changing.

Unless they put that funny white powder used for cooking in there, anyway. Then it turned into some weird mix of both and Natsumi was still baffled about that even some months later after. Solid as long as you ran/moved/jumped on it, and then if you stood still? Blop. Right into the weird now chunky water.

But this was not weird chunky water that didn't behave as it should; this was bath water and thus perfectly suited for her needs.

She started off with something simple; wall walking. One foot on the wall, then the next, and just walk. Couldn't keep the grin from her face as she stood perfectly above the steamy water and glanced down into the hazy reflection of herself below. This was going to be awesome. She was gonna somersault over and land in a crouch on top of the water. She could see it in her mind's eye, replayed over and over and over and over again. There was absolutely no way this could fail or go anything but right in the very end.

--

Okay.

This time she'd be absolutely sure to get it ri-

"Natsumi, dear? Why is there water flooding out into the hall?" Her mother's concerned voice came, slightly muffled, from the other side of the door. The handle to the door jiggling and turning to admit the worried woman into the room.

Her concentration broke just as the pads of her feet touched the water. What might have been an all time success turned into an absolutely and needlessly dramatic failure of the most humiliating type. With a shriek of surprise and indignation, Natsumi's feet sank beneath the surface, and all her weight followed in a sort of messed up improvised cannonball. Said feet and rear end thumped painfully against the bottom of the tub and sent a massive wave of water splashing up and out of its confines.

Across the floor, soaking the already saturated towels, and rushed past her mother's feet, the water soaked her white house slippers and then her ankles on the way out of the bathroom, into the hall, and heading for the stairway.

Her mother turned her gaze from the water lapping at her slippers to the awkward looking almost teenager staring at her with dinner plate sized eyes that held a touch of defiance beneath the guilt. Her dark hair was plastered against her skull, water dripping steadily off her ears as they flicked back and perked back up, trying to shed the excess off.

Looked upward at the ceiling as though it could give her the answers she needed.

"Natsumi, dear."

"Yes, Mama?" Not quite eager but not quite sulking either.

"Why is the bathroom flooded?"

Little splashes. The rubber duck floated on past on a small wave. Natsumi's eyes lingered on it, followed its path around the tub's edge. "Um... I was practicing?"

"Is that a question or an answer?"

"Yes." A quick reply.

Kiyomi Takamura blew a strand of fair hair out of her face and looked at her young daughter. Really looked at her. "Uh-huh."

Fair skinned shoulder bunched up and the tall girl's body sank a little further into what remained of the water in the tub.

"Natsumi."

"Yes, Mama?" A little meeker. Much better.

"Bathrooms are for washing and personal hygiene only."

"Yes, Mama."

"I'm glad we understand one another. Don't forget to wash behind your ears before you get out and clean up your mess."

"Yes, Mama."

Damn.

Well, maybe next time wouldn't be so bad-- she'd just have to wait until her parents left for the weekend or something.

--

WC: 744

 

[Takamura Natsumi]

"What on earth are those?" Her mother's startled exclaimation drew both her husband's attention along with Natsumi's own as the youngest member of the Takamura family continued maintenance on her newly acquired weapon.

"It's, um, my 'Talon'." She explained awkwardly with an uncomfortable shrug, heat building in her cheeks and ears at the impromptu name. Once named, you couldn't take it back, so now the formerly nameless weapons had a name and no matter how stupid it sounded, that name was Talon. "My weapon from class, we got to pick them out the other day and have to practice with them and keep them combat ready."

Man, that phrase sounded cool and totally grown up! Combat ready...

Her father's bushy brow furrowed low, one hand reaching up to scratch a dark skinned but light colored stubble peppered cheek. "Looks a little, err, complicated, honey. How do they work, exactly? And why not a nice staff or sword?"

"Dear!" His wife scolded him.

"What? Both of those are nice simple weapons." He defended himself and his question.

"They're weapons, that's the problem!" She countered angrily. "She's a child; children should be playing and educating themselves, not handling weapons."

Natsumi rolled her eyes at her mother's insistance she was a child. Didn't she know Academy Students weren't children anymore? They were on their way to being real adults with real responsibilities and everything; of course they'd have to have weapons. She looked to her father, hope daring to spring up just a little bit. "I can show you if you'd like, we can go in the backyard, I should practice anyway."

"Absol-" Her mother began.

"Sure kiddo, show me what those things can do."

They both felt the dagger-like stare on their back as they headed for the backyard. "So, why those?" He asked curiously. "Why not a simpler weapon?"

Natsumi's cheeks burned. "I didn't know what to pick and I panicked." She admitted after a long moment of deliberation. Hefted the weapons up and studied them. "I always knew I'd have to learn how to use a weapon or three or four, but not that I'd be choosing one all on my own."

She grinned at him, ears flicking back to hear the huff of disapproval from her mother. "But they're really cool, there's lots of ways I can use 'em, like this, watch!"

Natsumi looped the metal ring of one spike around her wrist. Took the chain and lengthened it carefully out until it lay at her feet, and hurled one of the two lethal looking lengths of metal at the tree roughly four or so feet away. With a hearty thunk of impact, the spike sank deep into the wood and held even against a not too sharp tug from its wielder.

She raced forward, the vision of her next move clear as she twirled the length of chain from the second spike and threw it high, watched it arc up and up and up and wrap itself twice around the branch she'd aimed at. Feet smacking against the bark, Natsumi bolted up the tree, gathering the dangling chain of the spike stuck in the trunk as she went. With one swift motion, the young woman used the embedded spike as a launch pad and jumped, catching the freely swinging chain in her free hand, and swung herself up to the branch like it was nothing.

She grinned down in triumph at her father and mother, both of them looking surprised and not a little impressed at the acrobatics.

"So..." Her father said slowly. "Is it a weapon or a new toy that you're trying to turn into a weapon?"

"A weapon." Natsumi told him sternly, climbing down the chain until her foot found the loop and stepped into it. A makeshift swing, if a more dangerous one than any she'd ever been on, and she spun around idly, having fun being off the ground. "But I can kinda see why you think it's a toy; but the pointy end will hurt someone."

"Why such a long chain?" Her mother asked, frowning.

"Distance!" Natsumi replied happily. "Think of it as kind of a modified and less likely to hurt the wielder type of kusarigama."

"Kusarigama?" Confusion in her mother's voice.

"Chain and sickle," she explained. "Used to attack but also in defense. You can either keep your distance and mess someone up in a fight, or you can disarm them, trip them, or any number of things! Lots of possibilities."

Her mother actually got it before her father did. "A defensive weapon, you mean? So you won't be attacking directly, but more as a supportive role while someone else does the rest?"

Natsumi frowned. Now that she put it that way, maybe Talon wasn't a good weapon choice for her. "Well..." she began.

"Well, that's an excellent weapon then." Her father interrupted her with a cheerful grin. "Don't you think, dear? It keeps her out of harm's way, she can play tricks with it, and it'll keep her busy and active all the while."

Her mother hesitated but nodded. "I still don't like it being a weapon, but it's not a terribly dangerous one, nor will it get her into many dangerous situations that I can see."

Natsumi listened to her parents debate and agree on the qualities of her weapon with annoyance, glared at the chain she dangled from as though it had betrayed her. "I will be in the middle of the fight," she told the weapon sternly. "we're gonna figure out how, because I'm not being a stupid back row fighter. I'm gonna be someone they fear when they see me coming."

--
WC: 959