Madame Chiasa stomped through the halls of the administration building with abandon. It wasn't long before the rich, pudgy woman would reach the clerk's desk, and, slamming a purse down on its surface would garner the attention of everybody in the room. The clerk, snapping out of his attentive filing, would look up at the woman's familiar face. She was well known for paying for ninjas to do petty jobs for her, most notably the constant capture of her poor cat. The cat in question had run away many times now, trying desperately to escape the outfits and crushing grip hugs. The clerk felt a little sorry, but had to do her job.

"My cat, I need another of your workers to catch my cat!" The Madame bellowed

"I'm sorry Madame, we don't have anyone around right at this minute but I can find someone for you if you--"

"NO!" Came the shrill cry from Chiasa as she slammed her palms against the desk "You get someone right now!"

The clerk, visibly shaken by this point, began thumbing through lists of Genin who hadn't been bogged down, or weren't away, or hadn't asked for some time off lately to enjoy the stretch of good weather. Growing more desperate by the minute, fearing the Madame's wrath, her face lit up as she had an idea. He could use the unofficial Genin, that boy Xiahou who had been picking up the slack while the Hokage was away and couldn't stop him from taking missions.

"I've got just the helper!"

--

Xiahou had been briefed on the details of the mission and had gladly accepted, it was just another opportunity to help out and cement his place in the village. He had prepared what he needed, and as the early afternoon rolled around, the young Shinobi set off to the surrounding woods to begin his search for the escaped cat which seemed to be causing one Madame Chiasa quite a lot of heart ache.

Donning his green guise, the Hidden Avenger would find this cat, rescuing it from the cold grip of nature and returning it to whence it came.

The forest loomed over him, the canopy casting a spotted, shadowy pattern around him as he stalked through the branches, his keen, watchful gaze keeping an eye out for any cat like shadows. It wasn't long before the Avenger came to a small break in the dense forest with several bushes encircling a central point, at the centre of which was his mark. A rather regal looking cat with a bell around its neck licking itself in the early afternoon sun.

Waiting for the perfect moment, the Avenger stood in the branches, poised to pounce on his target when everything aligned. It wasn't long before the cat bent its neck down to lick its hind leg. That was the opening he had been waiting for.

Like a streak of green lightning, the Avenger was off towards the cat with a powerful leap. Landing over top of the cat, the Shinobi would swipe down, hands coming to clasp over the cat's midsection, prompting an angry growl. Before long, the Avenger found himself in a life or death struggle, claws and teeth slashed against his flesh, rending his skin asunder as he rolled away to disengage.

Coming to his knee, he saw the cat dart away into the forest once again. Thinking quickly, Xiahou pulled a kunai from his belt and hurled it after the menace, substituting with it upon it reaching an acceptable distance. In hot pursuit now the two would end up breaking free of the dense forest and coming into a clearing, a waterfall, a stream, and a smattering of large boulders surrounded them. As Xiahou cleared the tree line he looked to and fro, unable to locate his feline nemesis.

"Meow"

Xiahou snapped to the direction of the sound. The cat was perched atop a boulder, licking his paw and looking down at the ninja with contempt.

"You know," the Avenger began "I was once like you,"

"Meow?"

"I ran away, never stopping, always trying to escape something," Pause "The past, pain, those who wished to oppress me,"

"Meeeeeeow"

"But I have found a new calling. In this city I have found the alluring horizon of peace and justice, it calls to me with its siren song and I am unable to escape!"

Tilting its head, the cat would move forward a little, intrigued by the heroic speech before him.

"I was once like you, but now, in justice I have found a new identity. I won't force you to come back to the city, that is a path you need to forge by yourself, but know this," Xiahou would put his hands on his hips, posing heroically "If you decide to leave, to run, you may not have a home to come back to when you regret it,"

--

Hours later, Xiahou found himself walking home, the setting sun bathing the city in an orange glow. Dragging his feet, knowing he had failed, he wondered how he could have been outmatched so easily by a cat. Truly there had been something special about that pet.

"Meow,"

Xiahou's ears perked up, he turned with an ear to ear grin and gazed up at the source of the sound. There, against the molten, orange, setting sun, was a cat, and on its back, a flowing cape.