Hiroto glanced up at the tops of the tree, where a cat was perched. It glared at him with its yellow, slitted eyes, hissing occasionally, some times even with a swipe of its claw, as if telling Hiroto to stay away. The cat's owner stood by Hiroto's side at the base of the tree, looking stricken with worry, as if something bad were about to happen to the little kitty.

Hiroto observed the cat. It wasn't in particularly good condition. There was a small scar running down its right eye, and several scratches on its left hind leg, as well as a missing patch of fur on its back. Its tail was also prematurely short, most probably the result of it being cut off. The owner seemed not to take care of it well, so Hiroto wouldn't have been surprised that it ran away.

“Can you get him down?” the owner asked worriedly.

“Yeah, yeah, gimme a moment,” Hiroto replied, before using chakra to stick to the surface of the tree and walking up. He almost made it to the cat's level when a swipe caused him to lose his focus and drop to the ground. “Ow...”

“Do something!” the owner urged.

Hiroto rubbed his head in annoyance more than pain. The owner was starting to really bug him the wrong way. Since he had arrived half an hour ago thinking of ways he could possible retrieve the cat without injuring it, the owner had been urging him to hurry up. Had Hiroto been a sadist, he would've thrown the man up to the cat just to be rid of him, and so the owner could be with his beloved pet, cat be damned.

“I'm thinking,” Hiroto said as he got up. “Sort of.”

“You better get him down here or I'm tempted to throw you up there so you can get him myself!” the man shouted.

“Oi, stop bothering me,” Hiroto said lazily. “I'll get him down. Just wait a moment.”

Ignoring the fuming man beside him, Hiroto stood deep in thought, eyes locked onto those of the feline perched several metres above him. Making up his mind and forgoing his earlier decision to ensure no harm to the cat, since it was already littered with cuts and bruises, so extra wouldn't be too much, Hiroto picked up a nearby pebble and threw it at the cat.

It hit the cat spot on the forehead, causing the owner to shriek in fear. The cat wobbled on the branch a little, before falling backwards. Hiroto was about to rush to the point of impact when the cat grabbed onto the branch and dragged itself into an upright position, glaring down at Hiroto again.

“Ah, this is going to be a real pain in the ass,” Hiroto said.

The man beside him bonked him on the head for taking so long to come up with a stupid plan that had a hundred percent chance of injuring his beloved fluffy kitten (not too fluffy in Hiroto's opinion, given the missing patches of fur). Hiroto would have stopped him had it not actually been his fault for giving up and throwing a rock at the cat's forehead.

“Hey, mister, you still want this tree?” Hiroto asked.

“Don't you dare knock it down, me boy!” the old man snapped back. “There are houses nearby, and I don't want my little kitty-poo's room to be destroyed by you!”

“But you don't want this tree anymore, right?”

“I just told you I'm not going to let you knock it down!”

“But do you want this tree?”

“Boy, what did I-”

“Just answer the question already,” Hiroto asked, bored of the banter.

“N-no?”

“Very well then,” Hiroto responded with a grin.

He put his finger to his lip and breathed in, before exhaling a blob of lava. It landed at the base of the tree, slowly consuming it. It was sort of interesting to Hiroto, staring at the tree slowly decrease in height as the lava melted its base and consumed whatever came close.

The owner was first horrified at the fact that there was a blob of lava in his garden, only to realise it was working. Then, another thought struck him and he realised his cat would be burned along with the rest of the tree if Hiroto didn't do anything fast. And it didn't seem like Hiroto was in any sort of hurrt, if sticking his hands into his pockets were any sign.

“Grab my cat!”

“On it!”

Hiroto pumped a miniscule amount of chakra into his feet and leapt forward, catching the cat with his hands and landing on the other side of the tree.

“Got your cat, mister.”

Only for the cat to start trying to shred his clothes.

Word Count: 818

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