Nyaaaaaaa~, they're getting loud again. Time to wake up.Within the branches of the sakura's trees lividly painted blossoms stirred the shape of a louging fat orange tabby cat. He had slipped amongst the branches who knows how many hours ago and the shade of the tree and the warmth of the air was simply too much for him to resist. It was like this every time he came to Kentaka, his home away from home. Not that the wandering feline had any true home, but if he did he might have called this tree his own personal castle. He spent a good deal of time as a cat, it was easier to bum food off the locals that way. His favorite activity was stealing fish from under Isano's shop, knocking over things from the shelves, and then getting out of trouble by acting cute in front of the children.
It was a pretty good racket he had going on. Of course, its even better with money and so he had pulled off his human trick more than once to appear as that dasterdly traveling minstrel and magician. He was planning to try and pull it again when the festival began, but laziness had overtaken him and now he was late. Not too late hopefully, the sounds of celebration danced in the air from not far away. He was slow to rise and spent a moment relaxing but awake upon his branch. Delicious smells wafted his way reminding him to eat before entertaining on an empty stomach, and some interesting sounds too. The gossiping women passing below revealed all sorts of things.
"I tell you, the graveyard is haunted! I heard that Ashitaka went to pay his respects to his dear grandpa, and you won't believe this, there were ghost lights already there at the grave. And shadowy figures! I even heard something tried to grab him.""You don't really believe that do you? He probably saw his own lantern reflecting on something shiny.""I don't know, but the boy was white as a ghost. I have heard things too, it sounded like someone groaning right outside my walls, but when I looked there was no one there."Now that was interesting. Usually when there was rumors he was the start of them. He just loved how a little tall tale could explode into something completely new around the gossiping sorts. But this one... he didn't start this rumor. How curious, has he gotten competition? Well, it's decided. He'll just have to make this ghost story scarier.
First thing first, a meal. He slipped gingerly out of the tree, landing safely in a patch of grass and cleaning himself off before proudly marching into the festival under the feet of others. Why, there's a
curious red-headed girl he's not seen before speaking to the old hag Gran-Gran. He'll just rub up on her leg and parley for some of her food. How can you resist this furry face?
"Mao~"