Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nine was falling. Well, at least he assumed he was falling. His stomach had this weird tingly feeling in it, so it wasn’t a bad assumption. He just couldn’t check with his eyes because they were refusing to open.

It was quite bothersome, really. All his senses were bothering him. He couldn’t hear anything, his eyes were refusing to open, his tongue felt too heavy, and his nose was feeling weird while not smelling anything. What the heck?

Well, focus on one thing, Nine. You can deal with other things later if you manage to survive.

So, logically, the first problem he had to deal with was opening his eyes. A normally easy task for him that was now as if he was a baby trying to lift a car.

Suck it up baby and start bench pressing. Nine pushed against the weight pressing down his eye lids. Come on…

Slowly, he could feel his eyes opening. Relief flooded through him. One step closer to survival.

He managed to open them halfway and started blinking rapidly to clear the blur. He could make out a weird mixture of soothing black and an irritatingly light environment. He wasn’t even going to try and lift his hands to rub his eyes. Once he could see, he wished he could just close them again and forget everything.

Before him, he could see Earth, blue and green, just like last time he saw it. The difference was that last time he had seen it through the screen of his phone.

So, just like any other person falling through space towards a world a million times your size, he cried.

Wait what? I’m crying? I never was one to cry quickly. It appears my situation is worse than I first thought. I guess this could be considered a traumatic experience.

Deciding that crying wouldn’t help in this situation, he concentrated on other things. Starting to think of ways to survive this fall. He still had some time, considering how far away from the planet he still was.

I’m quite literally in space right now. How did I get here? I’m moving forwards -can this be considered forwards? – so something must have moved me. Also, how am I still alive? Do I not need to breathe? It feels like I’m breathing. What happened to me to end up here?

Before he could fall into that rabbit hole, he shook his head, which was more like a twitch as he still felt sluggish.

Watch your surroundings. Find anything that could help you. Memorize details.

So again, he focused on his surroundings. For some reason, he couldn’t move his eyes, so he twitched his head to look around. Around him was dark. In front of him, there was Earth. Or what he assumed to be Earth. The entrée he had read online stated that Earth was a globe. A ball made out of rock and water. The picture in front of him looked quite different.

Nine could see the continents he had learned about on the Internet. But they weren’t on the globe, they were on a flat surface made of water. It looked like they were embedded in a lake, a lake so massive it still reached thousands of kilometers past the continents.

He was falling from above down towards the lake and he could see land surrounding it. The land looked similar to a desert with volcanoes and craters.

He could not see an end. It was as if this whole land, including Earth, was the floor of the universe and above was the infinite black of space.

More than anything though, there were the monsters inhabiting the space around the lake. Beings that he could see from space, so large they could eat a continent as a snack.

This was the first time that Nine felt it. His heartbeat was suddenly loud in his ears. But it wasn’t fast, no. It was calm and it was beating with a purpose. It was beating with a feeling of belonging.

Nine could only gape. His whole life he was trying to find a place where he belonged, trying to find a family or even just friends. And this was the first time he could feel with certainty that these creatures were like him. The creatures that could eat Jappon for breakfast? Something was seriously wrong with him.

Do I deep down also have a craving for some crunchy country cereal? Nice, Alliteration.

Nine was amazed at the sight and he could feel a smile tugging at his lips. Surprisingly, he could actually move them. Wait, he could move himself quite a bit more than last time he checked.

The unknown land before him forgotten, he started squirming, trying to get into a more upright position so he wasn’t curled into a ball anymore. He only managed to lift his head out of the embrace of his arms before he could feel a gaze on him.

Nine froze. Slowly, he glanced towards the big land again. And sure enough, there was a creature looking at him. It had six legs, red, burgundy fur and cat-like features. And did he mention? It was like five thousand kilometers tall.

Forget about surviving the fall, I’m never gonna make it when there are creatures like THAT.

Luckily, the creature didn’t seem hostile. At least not at the moment. For now, it just seemed content to watch his fall. He really should start to think about how to survive that one.

Deciding to ignore the big cat, he went back to uncurling himself. After getting his head out from between his arms he glanced down to try and stretch his arms. Sadly, he didn’t see arms when he locked down.

Instead, there was a pair of furry legs. Nine froze again. Then, he started stretching his body and watched as his front legs stretched out with his toe beans – he had toe beans now?!- spreading. Slowly turning his head, he saw a pair of back legs and a tail. He had a tail.

Nine breathed in slowly. At least now he knew why his nose had been feeling so weird.

But… How the heck am I a cat?

Because that’s what he undoubtedly was. A cat. He glanced back towards the giant cat monster that had noticed him. It seemed to be bored, not really paying close attention to him.

Was that why it had been paying attention to me? Wait. Is that why I felt a sense of kinship with the beasts? Because I’m an animal, too? Can they even be considered animals? Can I even be considered an animal?

Nine’s head was swirling with questions.

Whatever. I have to deal with all of that later. Focus on surviving the fall.

Nine started examining his body, trying to get a feel for it.

There was a myth that cats could fall out of great heights, right? Cats always land on four feet and all. Or did that just mean they landed on all their feet before becoming a pancake?

Actually, I don’t think that matters right now anyway as I’m pretty sure any normal cat would get absolutely obliterated from this height.

He flexed his legs and toes -toe beans? – and wondered about how weak they felt.

He remembered that his hearing was quite subdued, and he felt for his ears. His paws came up to his head and he felt two small bumps on either side of his head.

Are they curled up or something?

He focused on trying to uncurl them but then paused.

Should I be doing that? Aren’t they curled in for a reason?

The most logical thing Nine could think of why his ears as a cat were curled up and his eyes were closed and unwilling to open was that he was a newborn.

Nine let that sink in.

Great I’m a catnnon ball hurling through space on a collision course with earth. Amazing.

Does this mean that I died and got reborn as a cat? I guess my price for keeping my memories is that I got turned into a meowteroid. Or are normal cats born like that?

Whatever, enough stupawd cat puns, back to opening my eyes and ears.

Nine didn’t regret opening his eyes early, he needed the information and if he hadn’t, he might have done something stupid like falling asleep. But with his ears it was a different thing. He knew that he didn’t necessarily need his ears open right now.

It’s probably bad enough I opened my eyes, they are hurting like crazy when I’m not looking into the blackness of space.

Closing his eyes again, he starts to brainstorm. How to survive this fall?

When he opened his eyes again, he could now clearly see that he was heading towards earth and not the weird land. Good. He also couldn’t see the cat monster. Which was absolutely terrifying. It hadn’t been long, and he hadn’t noticed anything. How could a thousands of kilometers big creature just disappear? How big was that weird land to make it possible for a being as enormous as that to move out of view? Is it really infinite?

Nine closed his eyes again. The only thing he could think of to survive this was this weird power he had heard of around a year before dying. Oh yeah, his mind was adjusting and giving his memories back it had been holding hostage beforehand. Quite nice, but sadly he wasn’t a genius, so this power, Nen, wouldn’t be of much help. He just didn’t have the time nor the right headspace to learn it right now.

A different body, a scrambled mind trying to understand it died and falling to your doom after getting your perspective of the world changed can do that to you apparently.

Bummer.

Nine opened his eyes one last time. He had gotten really close to Earth now and he hoped he wouldn’t kill too many people with his landing.

He wasn’t sure if it was his newborn body or because his mind was just exhausted, but he fell asleep.

RIP Nine. He had some beautiful few minutes.

Were the last words he thought before succumbing to sleep.

Chapter Text

It was a night just like any other. Children in their beds, playing on their hidden devices, parents patrolling their children’s room just out of spite and hunters roaming and doing whatever it is hunters are doing.

It was a night just like any other. Until every hunter that can say something about themselves perked up, feeling something approach. Hunters all around the planet went outside to look up into the night sky. Most weren’t sure what they were feeling, some were scared, some were cautious, some were excited.

No matter the feelings, for all of them, the same picture bore. A night sky, pierced by a golden streak of light. It looked like a meteor was enlightening the world. Not all the hunters around the world could see it, but the closer it got, the more they could feel it.

“I hope that lands somewhere far away. I can study that meteor after it landed and is not so fast it could obliterate my grandma.”

“Quite literally anything could obliterate your grandma, Doug. Also, once a meteor lands, it’s called a meteorite.”

“…Smartass”

Needless to say, people were absolutely terrified of the for-now-meteor and were fearing their life, not talking about grandmas getting obliterated.

Somewhere, in a nook in a faraway place on Earth, a green-haired hunter breathed in the air. Feeling his Nen resonating with whatever was approaching Earth.

“This promises to become interesting.”

Nine had never had a headache worse than the one he was having right now. Seriously, what the heck? It felt as if he had smashed into a wall with Mach speed.

Oh. Wait.

Whatever. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep somewhere in space, so he opened his eyes, trying to get a grasp of his surroundings.

He could feel his eyes straining and he hissed in pain.

Is hissing natural for me now?

His eyes were clearly underdeveloped, and the dim light of the forest was still too bright for him. The blinding blur he was seeing made him want to close his eyes again.

He wondered if it was unethical to go to sleep again, but he had been rudely awoken by smashing into Earth.

Sigh. I at least have to get away from the crime scene first. I do not wanna be held accountable for any property damage. I’m broke. Maybe I can argue that human laws shouldn’t apply to me?

Nine looked down at his cat body, absently noting how he still had to turn his whole head, unable to move his eyes.

Maybe I shouldn’t interact with any humans at all. One more reason to get away as fast and as far as possible.

Nine squinted into the light. He turned his head from right to left and without him noticing he managed to turn his head around 180 degrees. It looked like Nine had landed on a meadow of some kind. Tall grass was surrounding him, and, in the distance, he could see a mountain. To his right, there seemed to be the start of a forest.

He looked towards his feet -sorry, paws-, marveling at the dirt underneath them. It felt different with his toe beans compared to his human feet. He could feel vibrations of some bugs moving nearby and it felt like he could sense the stability of the ground beneath him.

Perks of being a cat:

1. Being able to judge dirt.

Amazing.

Shaking his head he concentrated again. Around him there was nothing. Well, obviously there was nature and plants and some bugs and all, but what he meant was that there was no crater.

So, cats are light after all. Second perk of being a cat: Leaving no trace of having been launched to Earth from space.

Nine sighed and maybe he let out a small whine, but that was between him and the ants.

His whiskers were twitching, and he slowly opened his mouth, breathing in the air around him. He closed his eyes, too, partly because it might help strengthen his smell and partly because they were hurting like a witch. Yes, witch, we don’t do swear words in this household. Maybe later.

He felt a strange kind of aura surrounding his landing spot. He reached out for it and for a second it seemed to respond, but then his whole body suddenly spasmed.

He coughed and let out a yowl.

Okay, stupid energy. I didn’t want to learn more about you anyway.

Turning around, huffing, he started trotting away.

First things first, I gotta get out of here. Then, I’ll need a safe place and food. And water.

Having something resembling a plan, Nine started jogging. Or well, he tried to. His body was weak, and he wasn’t used to having a tail, four legs and four overstimulating senses. Okay, three, his taste wasn’t bothering him too much. Hold on, am I gonna like eating mice now?

He stopped in his tracks and slowly breathed in. One thing after another. First, get used to your body and get away. You have been here too long already. Who knows if anyone saw your fall and wants to investigate.

He started walking again, focusing on his legs and trying to get the hang of it.

Once I’ve checked off my bucket list of necessities, I am so gonna find a way to turn back human.

Nine didn’t necessarily hate being a cat, he did however hate being weak and young. Vulnerable.

After 10 minutes or so, Nine was finally able to walk at a semi fast speed without constantly tripping over his legs. The trick was using his tail to balance and moving his legs in two pairs.

Left hind leg moving forwards, shortly before touching left front leg, move it forwards. Now the right side. Keep your tail up, you’re leaning towards the right, move your tail slightly towards the left.

Nine sniffed, unhappy about his predicament. He felt stiff, not at all like a cat with how smoothly they could walk, but at least he could move. He deemed that impressive for a newborn.

Is that the perk of being young and learning fast? If only everyone could see the advantages of learning how to walk early. Kitten: 1, Human Baby: 0.

Maybe he was being a tiny bit partial.

How old was he even now? Half an hour? More or less? Technically, he was twelve if you added his past life.

Suddenly, he could feel something approaching. It felt similar to the gaze of the cat-like creature he had felt on him earlier. Something or someone was watching him. And that thing or person was coming closer.

Panicking, he looked around. He could see grass and only a mile or so in front of him the forest he had been trying to reach. Knowing he had no other choice, he scrambled forward, breaking out into a sprint towards the forest.

He couldn’t afford to make mistakes. For all he knew, he was running for his life.

Yet, he was still only in the body of a newborn cat and neither his body nor he himself were able to sprint. He just didn’t have enough time to practice.

Before he could get further than a meter or so, he tripped over his paws and fell to the ground. He yelped and quickly tried to scramble to his feet. But it was too late. The predator had arrived.

It reached out for him, aiming for his neck and picked him up by his scruff.

Spikey black hair under a blue cap filled Nine’s vision.

“What do we have here? Did you by chance crawl out of a meteorite?” an annoyingly warm and cheeky voice called.

Nine could only let out a tiny growl.

Chapter Text

Nine could only stare at the man he was being held hostage by. Well, that and growl, but after a few seconds he realized the man seemed only amused by that, so he resorted to glaring at the man.

How the heck can I even hear him? I can’t hear my surroundings, but his voice is crystal clear in my head. Do I have selective hearing or something? Can someone get the manager? I wanna file a complaint.

He had been hanging from the man’s hand for a minute by now and the man was still watching him with a grin and intrigue in his eyes.

Motherfluffer I’m gonna end you. Once I am grown, I will gouge out your eyes and once I had the time to learn Nen I’ll wipe that cheeky grin off your stupid face, I’ll-

Before Nine could continue spewing insults, the man frowned slightly.

“You’re still a newborn right? Normally you should be calling out for your mother…” he trailed off tilting his head. “I guess you don’t have one, hm?”

Nine felt like ice was rushing through his veins.

“No family. Maybe he is from a lab. Would explain why the other children hate him. He is the odd one out.”

Laughter echoing through a hallway.

Flashes of blood. Crying children. More blood. A knife in his back. Alone. Death.

Nine started twisting around in the grip of his captor’s hold. He hissed and started clawing at the man’s arm and to his surprise his claws, no matter how tiny, managed to draw tiny spills of blood.

Nine glanced at the red liquid, nearly freezing again.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay buddy. I’m not gonna harm you, see?”

Nine was put down and he jumped back, trying to put some distance between him and the man, but not daring to try and run away.

Don’t turn your back to anyone. Not even to people you trust.

Right now, it wouldn’t matter anyway, I’m too slow. Too weak.

The man squatted down in front of Nine’s shivering form. His hands were lifted placatingly.

“You see little one? Not gonna hurt you. My name is Ging by the way.”

The man – Ging - was smiling at him, hands still up in the air.

Nine felt his fur bristling and he was hissing, his back arched. He really felt pathetic. His ears, still curled up, – a sign of weakness – were pressed against his head even more tightly and his tail was looming behind him.

Nine wanted the man to go away.

“Leave,” he tried to say, but only a hiss came out.

Ging didn’t leave. But he sat down, his back turned towards Nine. Nine could only blink in response.

He turned his back to me. He doesn’t even see me as a threat.

Nine didn’t let his guard down. He did, however, turn his head slightly, glancing at his escape route. Can it still be considered glancing if I have to turn my whole head?

“Listen buddy. Normally, I would give you some space to calm down, but there are lots of hunters on their way here and they will probably stress you more.”

Nine’s nose twitched, scenting the air. He did think that he could faintly smell sweat and chemicals like deodorant. Not something that could be found in nature, normally.

This is bad. A hunter – a freaking hunter- found me and more are coming. I guess my fall was more noticeable than I had hoped. What the heck am I supposed to do now? I can’t run and who knows what that guy wants from me. Even if I somehow managed to book it to the forest and escape him, others are bound to find me. What the heck am I supposed to do?

Nine had never actually seen a hunter before. He had lived… erm… secluded. Yeah, secluded, so he never got to see what they were capable of, but he had heard stories about the hunter exam. Stories about betrayal, fights and monsters.

Also, most hunters could use Nen. Nine could not. Hunters were strong. Nine wasn’t.

So yeah. I’m screwed.

“Hey, kitty, I’m gonna turn around now, okay?”

Nine focused back on Ging who was slowly turning towards him again.

Despite knowing it would be a futile attempt anyway, Nine turned his head again, to check his escape route hadn’t left him alone, too.

Ging smiled at that. “You have to move your whole head to look around?” It was more of an excited statement than a question.

Why the frick are you asking me that? Even if I knew, I couldn’t tell you, you prick.

 “I saw your eyes twitch a little, but they’re mostly fixed, aren’t they?” the green prick reached out, as if wanting to cup his head. Nine hissed at him, reminding him that he was a very dangerous wild space animal that had never been seen before. Probably.

Ging withdrew his hand, still smiling. “Okay, sorry buddy, I’ll wait until I’ve earned your trust. You’re just intriguing, that’s all.”

Nine just huffed, teeth still bared. You can wait until hell has frozen over and heaven has fallen until I trust you enough to let you touch me.

That was partly because Ging was a stranger and partly because he had a bad track record of trusting people.

Ging looked around, scanning the area. While he was busy doing that, Nine tried to move his eyes again, careful not to let the man see it.

Wait, I really can move my eyes a little. They’re barely twitching, but they’re not completely fixed.

How in the mother loving fluff did that stupid grass head figure that out before me?

Ging turned back to Nine, frowning. “Listen buddy, I really don’t like doing this, but I’ll have to move you away from here. Sorry.”

And with that, Nine was yeeted through space at Mach speed again. At least this time he wasn’t alone.

Am I sure that’s a good thing though?

Also, Nine was being held by his scruff. Again. Like, seriously, can you not? I know I look like a kitten right now, but for me, with the mind of a twelve-year-old, this is ducking embarrassing.

For Nine, this was all in all a zero out of five stars for his Uber driver so far.

Too much wind noise, no music and NO PERSONAL SPACE. I’m not only demanding my money back, I will take the tips of the day, too.

Embarrassingly, Nine had to close his eyes. For one, they were already straining just because they were open and for another, the wind stung like needles in his eyes. Another thing to add to his list of complaints.

After a while, he felt some faint vibrations and his stomach settled. Did we land?

He pried one eye open and sure enough, he could see the ground only a meter or so under his dangling paws.

Who is this guy? I barely felt anything from that landing and I know we were high up and moving fast. 

He tried turning his head, but he was kinda locked up by the hand at his neck. Which, by the way, was not okay.

No touching. Nine started growling and tried to squirm his way out of the man’s grip.

Your job’s done. You kittennapped me so now you can let go, you bamboo stick.

“You alright there? I’ll let go of you soon, I’ll just need to get you to my place.”

If you were talking to a normal animal, they wouldn’t understand crap. And I, as someone who understands what you are saying, am not calmed down either. I bet you would be horrible as a parent.

Also, who said I’m alright with you taking me to your ‘place’?

Alas, there was little Nine could do except growl at the man and think of new insults.

Oh yeah, I could check my surroundings.

Scolding himself for getting distracted, he looked around, seeing green land with lush forests and flowing rivers. Even if he couldn’t hear anything, he could smell so much. Too much, in fact.

There were plants everywhere. Some smelled invitingly sweet and others bitter and rotten. He could smell so many nuances of different spices that if he had to name each of them in colors, he would start naming sentence long colors.

The scent of a flower to his left? A raspberry soft shine mixed with petals of a rose with a darker hue of blood red and burgundy.

And that was only the plants. He could smell beasts with scales, fur, feathers, hide, spikes and so much more with their different defense or attracting mechanisms. Some smelled venomous, others like they would combust. He could swear he smelled something akin to a small lizard that would just explode if caught by a predator.

And above all of that, there was magic. It was in the air. It wavered over the whole area like an invisible fog. But Nine could smell it. It was the smell of fires burning in the distance, with a hint of cinnamon.

Is that Nen? But I thought Nen was the aura – the life force- of humans? I have so many questions. The outside world is amazing.

Nine wondered if he could have smelled even a hint of the world he was experiencing now in his prior body.

While Nine was gaping and breathing in the air with blown pupils, – technically his pupils were always enormous, but whatever – Ging was grinning at his reaction.

So, his nose is really good, huh? I wonder if he can feel the magic. This little guy sure is interesting. And my Nen has been reacting to him, too. This is going to be fun.

And with that thought he set off into the forest, wandering towards his territory.

I wonder if he can help me conquer this land once he is older.

Ging’s grin widened at the thought.

I don’t even know how fast he will grow, nor what he will grow into. He has the body of a cat, but his pupils are enormous and his eyes are fixed, just like an owl’s. And yet, he growls like a wolf.

Ging, still grinning, looked down at Nine.

You are really interesting, little kitten.