The wayward kitten – fanfiction by Refugnic

As she groveled in the dirt before him, her resolve to find the long lost lover again waned. The soft morning sunlight filtered through his golden hair, accentuating the—

“You know that’s not how it happened at all, Laura,” Kasper reprimanded his little sister as she attempted to ‘explain’ what all the commotion at the perimeter was all about.

Nina leaned forward ever so slightly and, rested her elbows on her knees and clasped her hands on the height of her face, her amber eyes sparkling. It as hard to get some actual entertainment in the camp, so the ruckus Kasper and Sofia had caused was the best thing to happen in weeks.

“So, what did happen then? Cause I have it on multiple accounts that there was a whole lot of tension in the air. And I mean the good kind. Some even said—”

Kasper waved off dismissively, “You really shouldn’t believe all that stuff the gossips are spreading. Especially not this one!”

With a swift grapple Kasper managed to catch Laura who was just a tad too slow to duck away, locked her in a headlock and tousled through the hair of his little sister with his clenched fist. Laura squealed and laughed and tried to squirm away, but despite everything that had happened, she still was no match for her big brother.

After letting go of her again, Kasper explained, “So, this numb skull over there stole my knife and took some of our gear and tried to leave the camp. Probably to look for Rob. You know, the wolf boy she’s been fawning over non-stop. I swear, one day that girl’s going to be the death of me.”

“But you sure look out for her, don’t you?” Nina asks, her tail wagging as she waited for the trap she had just laid out to spring on Kasper.

“I look out for everyone in the camp. I am, after all, in charge of keeping the lot of you safe. And spreading rumors about supposed ‘hot make out sessions beyond the treeline’ are not helping. Which brings me to the reason why I’ve crashed your little get together. To set this straight and to keep more rumors from spreading.”

Nina’s tail stopped wagging, but she wasn’t ready to give up quite yet and kept probing, “Alright, then what did happen, oh mighty protector?”

Kasper rolled his eyes and explained, “Fine, I’ll entertain you. So I caught her just before leaving the perimeter. Caught her off-guard by pulling on the backpack she was wearing. She lost her balance and landed on her butt. I gave her a stern lecture, took my knife back and told her to go back home. And wanna know what? That foolhardy kitten actually tries to wrestle the knife from my hands, claiming that ‘If I can use it, so can she’. I mean, hello? I’ve undergone military training, learned how to handle myself in hand to hand combat, where to aim to cause maximum damage and what has she got to show?”

“She can climb on poles without underpants on. Oh, and she can drive my dear brother up the wall.” Laura remarked, causing the other girls to giggle.

“Would you give that one a rest?!” Kasper shouted at her, only causing the girls to erupt into outright laughter at the red headed Kasper.

After calming down a little, Kasper proceeded, “Well, after a…somewhat heated argument…”

“During which Rose swears you were like two seconds away from kissing, if Tom had not shouted for the two of you to go get a room…”, Nina interjected.

“…I had no choice but to put Sofia under arrest until she has cooled down. And that’s all that happened. Nobody left the camp, nobody made out, nobody died.”

“Maybe she’d stop trying to run away if you finally started looking at her like an actual woman instead of only seeing ‘another little sister’ in her.”

“If she starts to behave like an actual woman, I’ll treat her that way. But as long as she behaves like a little kid, I’ll treat her like a little kid.”

Just then, one of the soldiers comes limping, yelling and shouting Kasper’s name. Kasper was on high alert within seconds and everyone in the group was caught by anxiety.

“What’s the situation? Is there an emergency? Are we being attacked?!”

“Sir, no, Sir, but…” the soldier reported.

“Wait a second…aren’t you one of the guys I put in charge of watching over Sofia’s arrest? Did something happen to her?”

“Not…exactly, Sir. Much rather…she happened to us.”

“…come again?”

“Yes well, this…is actually rather embarrassing, Sir. I would prefer to not speak of this in front of…well, the civilians.”

“…Sofia escaped, didn’t she?”

“…yes, Sir.”

“…I want a full report on how that happened later and until further notice you and your pal are in charge of cleaning the toilets, understand?! And now tell me where the hell she went!”

“Sir, sorry, Sir, but I don’t know. When I got back up, she was already gone!”

Kasper groaned, “You are two trained soldiers and can’t even watch one little girl?!”

“Sir, calling her ‘a little girl’ is hardly—“

“Can it! Which direction?!”

“I-I don’t know, Sir.”

“Argh, you’re useless!” Kasper cried out in frustration and ran off to find someone who had seen Sofia.

Fortunately Sofia was pretty good at running, but terrible at hiding her tracks, so when the furious Kasper came running, everyone who had seen her only silently pointed him into the right direction. Eventually he found her as she wandered towards the forest, a merry song on her lips and a gun strapped onto her back.

Kasper jumped over the barrier and ran after her, shouting for her to come back before the demons found her. Sofia however had no intention to do any of the sort and fumbled the gun from her back.

“Stay back!”, she shouted, turning her back to the forest.

Kasper froze on the spot. Did she turn the safety off? Does she even know there is one? Would she pull the trigger? Where did she even get a bloody gun? All of these thoughts ran through Kasper’s mind at the same time, when a man-sized shadow approached from within the woods.

‘Screw this shit!’ Kasper thought and charged forward, while Sofia kept yelling at him to stay back. He dove forward as Sofia pulled the trigger in her panic and the gunshots ran out, tearing the silence apart. Completely caught off guard by the recoil, Sofia was thrown back, directly against the shadow who was now standing directly behind her.

“Easy there, Miss. What’cha doing out here?”

“Dr. Stefen…thank goodness it’s just you…” Kasper groaned, trying to get back to his feet.

“Yeah well, good for you indeed. Cause just 10 meters in that direction there’s a demon twice the size of the little miss. Good for you it’s dead.”

“You…you killed it? How?” Sofia asked, her hands still shaking.

“Eh, even demons die if you squash their heads, didn’t ye know that? That rifle though? Not gonna do a thing. Way too little damage. They heal right around the bullet holes. If you wanna end them, you either need one of them magic swords or explosive force. ‘Sides, you sure this is the right place and time to be talking ‘bout this?”

“…why?”

“Cause you shot our brave lil’ soldier boy over there.”

Only now Sofia looked at Kasper, who was still struggling to hold himself on his bleeding left leg, where two bullets had passed right through.

She clasped her hands over her mouth and shouted, “Oh my God, Kasper!”, running over to him.

“I-I’m so sorry! I-I really didn’t mean this to happen! Does it hurt?! Can I help?! What should I do?!”

“You can start by getting him back inside and to mah tent, Missy. Wouldn’t want him to keel over from blood loss, would we?”

Kasper merely muttered, “If I catch the guy that gave you a gun, he’s going to wish the demons had killed him instead…”

“I really, really didn’t want this to happen! Please, can you forgive me?! Please?!” Sofia pleaded, while Stefen raised the yellow tape to allow Kasper to pass. Other soldiers were now coming, attracted by the gunfire, their own weapons ready to engage.

“Sir, what happened?” one of them asked, obviously confused.

“Figure out whose weapon that is. I want his ass on the flagpole by the morning!” Kasper mumbled.

Stefen reassured them, “Belay that order, he’s just grumpy cause he got shot by…’a little girl’ I believe you called her?”

“Could you just can it…?” Kasper whimpered, the pain slowly getting unbearable.

Two weeks later, Kasper showed up to the regular checkups with Stefen, who looked at the wound and said, “Would you look at it. It’s healing just splendidly. Seems like your house guest has been taking good care of you.”

Kasper scratched his stubble and replied, “Yeah, she felt so guilty about the whole thing, she swore me every oath in the book that she wouldn’t try running away again. If she lives up to that, I’ll just say ‘getting shot’ was worth it.”

“And…her obsession with Robert?”

“Yeah, that’s gotten better, actually. She’s been so preoccupied with nursing me and acting as my messenger, she’s barely had any time to chase his tail.”

“Ain’t that nice…” Stefen muttered, staring out the tent, where Sofia was busying around, filling out Kasper’s role the best she could.

Kasper followed his look and said, “Y’know? If she keeps this up, I just might be able to treat her like a grown woman after all. Sooner, rather than later.”

Stefen chuckled lightly and said, “I think that’d be good for the both of you.”

 

Author: Refugnic
See this short story on Deviantart.