SOUL CITY - Cat and Bunny

Hey readers, or new readers! Welcome to the first official chapter of SC, where the two main characters are introduced, I hope you enjoy! Please review, if you've got time? I'm also really sorry this is so long..


The ragged alley cat ran with a slight limp as it scampered away from the other, rather hostile, raggamuffin cats, trying not to paw at its now slashed at eye. Its previous white fur now had red blood splatters in some spots, losing vision in its left eye quickly, as it tried to find somewhere to hide. Other felines in the alley did not have a...spectacular relationship with this cat, but the cat stayed on its own path, and did not bother the other mammals often, though the other cats took it as a sign of hostility, the silly creatures.

This tomcat was fully white (aside from the blood spatter, of course) and had two stunning, powdered, baby blue eyes. Well, one of which, white was now slightly clouding over, as the cat now had the fact that he was going to be blind in that eye, slowly dawned on him. All he really wanted to do was climb up a tree-but of course, since the cat lived in the slums, there weren't any. So, the cat just kept running.

Just keep running, just keep running..The cat ushered himself on, he had to find shelter. It wasn't that great of a day, it was quite chilly, as it was January, and in the cold winter. Even if his coat was waterproof, double layered, and thick, he didn't exactly enjoy the rain pouring down on his run down coat, along with the blood on it. Sometimes the cat got little food scraps from some...alright humans, or some generous cats would give him some, on occasion, but usually he had to find it himself. The cat with no name didn't have much of a family, his mother died shortly after birth, leaving him to fend for himself, as his father had left them early.

No-Name Kitty had no idea that he had a cousin, though.

An older cousin, born a black cat, and was taken in by a Hunter, living in an average part of the City. His cousin was named Lae by this female Hunter, as she felt she needed a companion. She was good to the cat, the cat was just as well to her, playing around at times, a good pet. Still, the cat had something lurking inside of her. One day, the Hunter had taken a demon's soul, storing it in a magic bottle. Lae, being the clever cat she was, opened the bottle by tipping it over, the demon going to thank whoever freed him, then consume the poor chap's soul. Seeing as it was only a cat, the demon simply chuckled and let her be, though Lae had gathered the reminants of the bottle and chucked it at the demon's mouth with a wicked smile, not knowing that she now had consumed its soul.

In turn, she turned into a half demon, half neko, gaining small, red bat wings. The demon couldn't quite fill out all of Lae, therefore turning into a smaller version of himself, a demon cat. Leaving the apartment immediately, the companion was now the master, herself and Kina often wreaking havoc on the good souls of Earth, Kina despising his new form but dealing with it nevertheless. Lae hadn't found out about her cousin yet, but soon would.

The white Norweigan of the two cousins kept on running, starting to feel tired, but forcing himself to keep doing so, eventually going a bit past the slums from where he "lived". He found a skinny, slightly rotting tree, but rubbing himself against it anyway, to shed some of his accursed fur off, and to mark that he was sleeping there for a bit. Feeling much too tired to climb up, and seeing that the tree might have been too puny to hold his form anyway, he simply slept at the foot of the tree, hoping that no one would ambush him any further.

At this moment, a girl seven years old had been pestering her mother to get a new rabbit for her father, who's beloved pet Snowflake had died, recently. It was, in fact, she who had murdered her father's pet, whom he paid more attention to than herself. The rabbit was named Snowflake, who's spirit was released into the girl's plush, Powder. Powder could actually "talk" to this intelligent young telepathically, but Snowflake, aka Powder, had only done so when needed. Sometimes he would do so very very quietly, making her think that it was her own concience, but he knew, that she was getting suspicious. He was her only friend, he presumed, since she got ridiculed by every other child.

She was very sweet and loving, aside from the fact that she had killed him. The only reason she did was for her father, who was murdered, but she didn't know why, of course. Her name is Bonny, her father being murdered when she was around three, not understanding why he had to 'go to sleep' so early. Truth being that he was a horrid man, Bonny's mother Lauren only staying with him for financial purposes. His spirit walking the Earth, not going up into the City, being too terrible. Why hadn't a Hunter gotten him yet?

No one could find him.

He was simply unfindable, even some of the Royal's best were sent out, but alas, their efforts were moot. Why was she ridiculed by children she knew, you may be wondering..She wore sort of a "costume", moreover a poofy, somewhat lolita-styled dress, it went over her knees, the ends having fluffy ruffles, above that red stitches, and above that layer, red hearts going across. Six small ribbons in total, all red, her outfit was rather simple, aside from the complicated frills. Believe it or not, her hair was a mix of a bronze shade, along with reds and browns, her father being half Causian/Japanese, yet she considered herself full Japanese. Eyes a very dark brown, knees slightly scarred, white flats, many children her age called her the "Rabbit Oni", or, "Rabbit Demon".

Children are quite cruel nowadays.

Bonny lived a rather simple life, helping her now single mother out with chores and shopping, which wasn't too bad.

The cat continued to sleep on, his senses not as alert as they'd usually be, hearing the squeal of car brakes, waking him up. Sigh. Nap time was over. Time to keep moving, he supposed. Another human stopping to look at him, then drive away. They were all like that, weren't they?

Not this one, apparently. What the cat saw was a small, human girl bugging her mother, the older woman stopping, the girl getting out of the car, a few feet away from him.

"Neko-san*'s cold..why don't you come with us?"

The cat would've raised its eyebrows if it had any, its tail flickering lazily about, the girl putting her hand out as a sign of..what? Friendship, they called it? He stared at her with his light blue eyes, getting up and stretching his paws, the girl's eyes slightly brightening.

"Come on, Neko-san. This way."

She opened the passenger door to her car, the cat getting in and laying under the heater, only getting into the small vechicle on a whim. The human girls didn't seem too horrible compared to the other ones he had met. Plus, it was warm. He was slowly drying off, and fell asleep again. He could get used to this.

"Neko-san, Neko-san. We're here." The child stroked his damp fur slowly, waking up blissfully, though it was only twenty minutes, it felt like a beautiful enternity. He stretched, Bonny opening the car door, the cat walking out and waiting for her patiently, the girl's mother impressed. "Wow Bonny-chan, the cat really likes you. You know we can't keep him for long, though.."

"I know Kaachan**..But I want to keep him for as long as we can." Her mother smiled and got out of the car, thankful in her mind that they had found a cat instead of a rabbit.

Bonny's mother, Akemi, walked up to their small, one floor house, inserting the key, the cat putting a paw pad on their floor, the humans standing behind him ushering on and smiling, he taking the last few steps to be inside, in warmth. The two came inside, Akemi smiling and handing Bonny the keys to lock the door, her daughter handing them back, her mother putting them on the key rack.

Over the course of that week, the tomcat's trust began to grow for the two humans, they being the only ones he trusted. They cared for him, gave him baths, food..It was a very nice life. Bonny's mother never let him go as she said they would eventually have to, working extra hours at her job as a receptionist to support all of them. A year later, when the tomcat had been roaming outside with Bonny, around the same time of his "birthday", aka when they had found him. Her mother was still at work, when a man with light red hair, and a ponytail approached them.

Bonny immediately stepped back in caution, her cat stepping in front of her, yet keeping man stared at both of them, what looked to be a sword holster on his hip, and chains floating around his body. She scanned up and down his tall height, she guessed he was at least 5'10. Her height was 4'4, tall for her age of 8, the being who stood in front of her looked at least twenty, maybe older? He was certainly interesting looking, his eyes were the same shade of red as his hair.

"O-ne-chan***, would you mind directing me to the coffee shop nearby?" The man asked, Bonny looking at him cautiously.

"I am sorry, Ojisan****, but there are no coffee shops near here." Bonny responded carefully, ready to run if needed.

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled at her formal speech. She was raised well. "You were raised well.." The stranger glanced down at her cat, which was blatantly blocking him from walking towards her.

His chains floated around him, making Bonny wonder if he was a magician. "" She responded to him slowly, trying to comprehend what he was trying to do.

"Your cat..He's very protective of you."

"What are you trying to say about Neko-san? You can't buy him." The girl in the rabbit hood responded firmly, her dark brown eyes starting to stare at him with contempt.

He simply chuckled and smiled down at her, then walking away, Bonny staring after him blankly. "Hey! You can't just leave me here without explaining!"

The man didn't look back and continued to walk away, his chains clinking, the cat tensing up, but his defensive stance no longer up. Bonny rubbed her eyes a few times, staring at the empty space in front of her. He was gone. Was he there in the first place? Or was she just hallucinating, somehow? She poked around in the bushes, still dewy from yesterday's rain, attempting to decipher where the stranger had gone. The cat had went only a little ways away, trying to see if he had gone anywhere near.

He didn't.

The cat felt someone grab him.

That wasn't Akemi or Bonny. He yowled and squirmed, the man from before holding him in his arms, Bonny hearing and whipping around, running towards the man, tackling him to the ground.

Right at that second, he pressed a button, transporting all of them into a place unknown.

It looked quite a bit like 18th century London, yet there was no Big Ben, the streets cleaner, the people dressed in modern fashion. Some wore ears and tails of different animals, some were floating around, a few holding huge weapons on their backs, some people didn't even attempt to hide the guns they held on the holsters they had on them! A huge castle was in view, people of all ethinicities and classes walking around, murder and thievery openly taking place in the streets. The sky was dark as little drops of rain started to fall from the angry clouds, the man face palming and grabbing Bonny's hand roughly, her cat following along suspiciously, Bonny immediately questioning him. "Where are we? Who are you? Why are people being murdered? The buildings here look old, is this a different time? But the clothes don''d we get here?"

He rolled his eyes at her, staring at the cat at her feet, exhaling air from his nose, the chains clinking together loudly. "I can't explain now. But we have to get to someone I know so that cat of yours isn't running around naked when he.."

"When he what?"

"There's no time to explain this all right now." The man replied simply, grabbing her hand and touching her cat's head, getting a finger free to press the button in his pocket once again.

He and Bonny were in the room of an apartment, but her cat had been somewhere else..


The cat had somehow been lulled to sleep during the short trip of being transported, waking up on a cold, white floor, in a blank room with no windows. He had woken up very slowly, flexing his...


Scrambling on the tile, he shivered, creamy skin becoming goose flesh. Sitting up slowly, he made a fist, staring at his skin, running a hand over his arm. He didn't have fur anymore.

Ears twitching..wait, ears? Putting hands on top of his head, he twitched his ears again. Hold on a second..he still had his cat ears? He felt something moving on the lower half of his human body, reaching behind him to grab it.

His tail. It was still there. Why was this happening? Where was Bonny? And why was'd the humans call it...naked? Crawling over to the wall and putting an arm out to steady himself, he stood up, eyes alarmed at how tall he was now compared to how he was. The height of the strange man who brought them here, he was. Grabbing a strand of his hair, he stroked it with his hand. It went right above his neck, a pale white. He blinked. Humans saw in color? Cats didn't. Though he couldn't see out of his left eye, everything was still vivid. It was so new to him. Turning around, he saw a scroll with an old styled ink pen next to it, floating up in the air. Was he supposed to write? Bonny read her books with him, so he understood what writing and reading was, but he had never done it.

Apparently not, the scroll began writing on itself.

Hello there, cat.

He pointed to himself, eyebrows raised.

Yes, you. Who else is in here?

He looked around, shaking his head, as if to say, "No one."

Why aren't you saying anything? Just because you were a cat doesn't mean you can't speak. Speak! The bossy piece of parchment ordered, the former cat looking at him puzzled, before opening his mouth, trying to comprehend words.

"..Speak?" He even surprised himself, looking down to his mouth. His voice was somewhat deep, but not a scary type of deep, It was more of the cool, silent, calming deep. The scroll writing in response, Good, good. You can speak now. What's your name?

"...Name? ...I..don'" His mouth slowly spoke, trying to get used to speaking, standing a lengths away from the piece of old looking paper.

What, the person who owned you didn't give you a name?

"..Bonny called me Neko-san.."

That isn't a real name, cat. What do you want to be named?

He thought for a moment. What did humans name themselves? A word he thought was interesting was "ghost", Bonny read a scary story with these.."ghosts". The cat would name himself that.

"...Ghost," He answered, the scroll not writing anything for a moment.

...Whatever you say, cat. Do you know where you are?

"...No." Ghost answered, his tail flicking about behind his head, scratching his ears.

You are in Soul City. People and animals come here when they die. You died somehow, yes?

Didn't Bonny's mother blab about something else, when people died? ...Heaven, was it called? Ghost decided to play along anyway. He had a feeling that "living" people weren't exactly welcome, since the City had been technically full of dead people. But, he had felt his..heart beating in his chest. Was he really dead? He couldn't have died. He knew he was alive, but the parchment didn't. Maybe it could explain this place. Putting his hand to his chest, he stared back at it, puzzled.

Up here, your life force is restored. The heart starts beating again. You are basically dead down on the Human Realm, but you are alive up here. If you go back down there, you will be alive. You are alive again, restored. Your life down on Earth is finished. You may have children up here, but you must send them down to Earth, so they may live their actual lives before coming up here when they die.

"...But..what if...You don't want to live again..." He questioned slowly. This was a strange place. Much still needed to be explained.

If you just want to permanently die, if you feel that your life has been fulfilled...You get three lives. Technically, four, when you die on Earth, you come here and have three. Convicts and criminals get the full death penality, or lose a life or two. If you just want to permanently die, you can pay and pick your own funeral in advance, or pick how you want to die. Or just kill yourself three times.

"Why.." He picked at his ears and tail, looking back at the magical piece of paper.

If you're orginally an animal, you get human parts. Turn into half human, half whatever you were. You can have them removed if you want, but it costs money.

"..Angels...Demons?" Ghost asked, the parchment scribbling down its letters faster, obviously getting fed up with his questions.

Angels and demons. They still exist, here. Angels are forms of good energy. Demons are forms of bad energy. Most of them have wings. There are fire demons, plain demons with horns and wings, maybe a tail...If you're wondering if there are any pets, there are spirits. Some are demons. They take over animals' bodies and reside there. Some spirits were just originally spirits. Most of them look human. Anything else?

Towards the end, the scroll wrote it with an angry scribble under it, Ghost nodding a "no".

Good..Let's get you some clothes.

The formerly blank room opened up abruptly to reveal a huge closet, clothes from thrift stores in various colors were spread across the room, Ghost going up and picking things that didn't hurt his new eye. Choosing a dark gray hoodie and jeans, along with combat boots and an eyepatch, he put the patch over his blind eye and slowly started to put on the hoodie, before the parchment poked him with its pen and stopped him.


Ghost gave it a blank look.


An imaginary lightbulb went over his head as he chose some random briefs and putting them on, putting the hoodie over his head slowly, as well as the pants. He prepared to put the boots on backwards, the pen poking him, drawing a diagram of how they were supposed to be worn, Ghost nodding and putting them on. The black boots with gold adornments and buckles, along with spikes on the bottom, took him a minute or so to put on. Getting used to his fingers still, buckling and buttoning things was a small challenge.

Well? How are they? Are you trying to be a pirate?

"...Fine." Ghost answered, ignoring the last part, wobbling towards where he thought the door would be, knocking on it and turning back.

What? You want to leave? You don't even know how to survive here.

Ghost sighed and sat down, sinking down the wall achingly slow.

It's a soul eat soul world. You must either take souls or buy them. Since you are an animal, you don't need to get a detector. You naturally see them. Dark, black souls are bad. The light colored ones are good. Light taste good, but belong to good people. Dark souls taste bad depending on what kind they are. You must eat at least part of one everyday. If you can't get any, you have to eat a certain amount of real food.

"How do you get these..."

Either by killing people or distracting them for long enough that you can take it.

"What happens when you take it.."

If you take all of it, they can die. Or their soul can come back..Pick a weapon.

The clothes in the room switched out with weapons, Ghost picking a simple knife with a long handle, "Hunter" etched into the blade messily, a bit of red at the tip.

Anything else you want to know? Because now..You can leave.

He thought for a moment. There wasn't anything he needed to know..except...

"What happens to people who are still alive, from the Human Realm..?"

They get thrown into a dungeon for eternity.

Controlling the color that was going to leave his new face, he nodded, as a door appeared, walking out of it, into the City, knife in his pocket.

He was going to find his Bunny.


*Neko-san: Childish way of referring to animals. In this case, a cat.

**Kaachan: Mother.

***O-ne-chan: Form of a address for a little girl, under 10.

****Ojisan: General term for a middle-aged man.

Again, I am sorry this chapter is so long compared to the last. I would've put that part about Ghost in the next thought *some* of the explanations would fit better here. Have a nice day/night/whatever the hell you're having, and review, if you've got time? Thank you for reading!

(Pssst, if you want to ask any of the characters questions...go to their tumblr! It's on my profile.)