From Nation to Cat- Ch5

Chapter 5- Of Mice and Thorns

  "So I was like, just about to take the last set of pink hair clips when this old hag comes and snatches them away! Totally un-fabulous. Then she's totally about to go checkout with the clips, and I was like, no way! So I tackled her to the ground," A pounce. "which, like, by the way, totally made me break a nail!"

  Lithuania chuckled as the pale yellow cat beside him lifted his paw, as if one of his claws were broken. "You know, Poland, it's not very... nice to tackle 'old hags' to the ground over some hair clips."

  "Yeah, but it was, like, 9:55 and the sale ended in five minutes!"

  "Okay, okay. So anyway, let's find somewhere to sleep for the night. The sun's about to set and I think I see a farm up ahead," the brown cat meowed, pointing his muzzle at a fairly small barn. "There should be a few mice in there that we can catch, too."

  Poland made a face. "Ew! Mice? Totally not cool, Liet!"

  Sighing, the other just began to pad towards the barn, and after a few seconds, Poland followed suit. They traveled for quite a while, since it had started raining twenty minutes later. Lithuania had insisted that they continue on, so that they would arrive before night fell.

  About an hour later, the two found themselves slipping into the old barn through a hole in the back. "Like, Liet! I'm drenched, and it's totally un-fabulous! My fur will get all matted and I'm fre-ee-zing!"

  "Come on, Poland. We're both drenched, let's dry off a little. Look, there's a pile of hay we can sleep in over there after we eat dinner."

  "Fine, but do we really have to eat mice?"

  Lithuania gently flicked the pale cat's ear with his tail. "Yes, what else is there? We're cats. I'll catch them, you can just go lay do over there."

  Grumbling about how utterly disgusting it was going to taste, Poland complied and slunk over to a pile of hay in the corner. The brown cat smiled warmly at him, heading towards the other side of the barn. Listening closely, he expected to hear the small squeak of a mouse. What he didn't expect to hear, however, was a loud yowl of surprise, followed by a hiss, and finally a shrill squeak!

  "Poland? Are you okay?" A wave of worry washed over the tom. He had always been a worrier. Lithuania rushed over to his friend, only to find him perfectly safe with a dead mouse sitting by his paw.

  "Like, Liet! This thing just came out of nowhere and attacked me!"

  Lithuania let out a sigh of relief, glad that Poland was okay. "Good job, Poland. You just caught our dinner."

  The blonde cat blinked. "Y-You mean we actually have to eat this? Ew!" He pushed the dead, and rather large, rodent to the other. "You eat it, I'd rather starve then eat that!"

  "Haha, you will starve if you don't eat, though. Here, we'll split it in half." Taking the brown furred mouse, Lithuania bit off its head and clawed its tail off. He wasn't too keen on eating those parts, and neither was Poland. Now left with the body itself, the tom began to strip the meat off, leaving the bones aside. The other watched as he did this, scrunching up his nose every so often.

  "There, all done. Now this doesn't look too bad, does it?" he asked, pushing some of the meat towards Poland, and taking a bite himself. He chewed thoughtfully, closing his green eyes, not expecting the delicious and savory taste as it washed over his taste buds. Swallowing, Lithuania opened his eyes to find the pale yellow cat staring at him intently.

  "So how was it?" Poland asked.

  The other thought for a moment. How should he describe it. In the end, he just settled for, "Good. Really good. You should try some."

  Poland tilted his head slightly, contemplating on whether his best friend was telling the truth or not. Sniffing cautiously at the mouse meat, he took a small bite. His eyes were screwed shut, expecting the worst. However, they slowly opened as he continued to chew. "Wow, this is good, Liet."

  "Told you so. Now let's finish eating, okay?"

  Unknown to the two, the owners of the farm were right outside the barn, about to come in.

xXxXx

Prussia laughed as he and Denmark ducked under another thicket of brambles. "Kesese, so you're saying that you beat Russia in a drinking contest? While only drinking vodka?"

  "Yeah!" The long furred Danish cat exclaimed, hissing in annoyance a second later as a bramble thorn got tangled in his long brown fur. He and Prussia had been wandering around aimlessly for the last few hours, too busy telling stories about past victories, nights out in bars, and whatever came to mind.

  The white cat next to him snickered as his friend tried to shake the thorn off, "Oh really?"

  "Mm-hm, but I didn't win."

  "Who did then?"

  ". . . Finland."

  Prussia snorted, "As if! The guy who dresses up as Santa? Pfft!"

  Somewhere in the world, Finland's 'My Drinking Abilities are Being Doubted' senses were tingling.

  Denmark sighed, "Nah, he's actually a pretty heavy drinker. He downs vodka as if it were water. Finland actually drank more than me and Russia combined."

  And somewhere in the world, Finland's 'All is Right Again' senses were tingling.

  Snorting again, the albino cat just shook his head. Night was starting to fall and he needed to find a comfortable place to sleep. Preferably somewhere with lots of wurst and beer and potatoes. . .

  "Hey, uh, Prussia, you're bleeding."

  Prussia looked down, and sure enough, he was leaving behind a trail of bloody paw prints. "Wha- Why am I, the awesome Kingdom of Prussia, bleeding?"

  Denmark laughed, "Well 'Your Awesomeness', it seems that you have stepped on a thorn."

  The white cat began to sputter, "B-But I- Too awe- UGH! Just get it out!" he raised his paw, holding it towards the Danish cat.

  "Whatever you say!" The Dane exclaimed. Bending down, he gripped the thorn in between his teeth and started to pull, causing even more blood to gush out. Prussia, unaware of this, continued to hold out his paw. "Uh, I think we should go to one of those houses over there and get help..."

  "Kesese~ Why would the Awesome Me have to go there?"

  "Cause a lot of blood is starting to gush out. . ."

  Prussia blinked as he looked down. "Oh," he said. Gently licking his paw, he made sure that the surrounding fur was clean of the red sticky substance. "Let's go then!" the white cat exclaimed, dashing towards a small looking neighborhood.

  The Dane took off after his friend, though not as fast. "Hey, wait up!"

~*~

  "Ve~ Germany? Isn't that Prussia?" Italy asked. He was sprawled out on the window sill, yawning as he awoke from his siesta. All that walking he and Germany did before had made him tired, so he took an extra long one today.

  Germany sighed as he swiped his paw over his ear, cleaning it. Looking up at his Italian friend, he narrowed his eyes. "Italy, why in the world would my Bruder be here? He's highly indepen-"

  "Aw! Look at the kitties! They're so cute~" Marcello cooed from the doorway. "Especially the white one!"

  Germany's voice died in his throat as Marcello came into the living room, Prussia cradled in his arms and a certain Dane following behind. Blinking, he shook his head, hoping that all of this was just a dream.

  "Kesese~ Hallo, West! The Awesome Me just made your day a million times awesomer by being here!"

  Oh no, the German thought, Just when you think he's finally gone, he comes back. Mein Gott, he's persistent. Sighing, the blue-gray tom looked up, and sure enough, saw his brother sitting next to him. "Why are you here?" he asked, "I thought that you would rather die then admit you need help."

  Prussia flicked his little brother's ear with his tail as Marcello set him down. "You got that right! But Denny over here just couldn't brave the elements like yours truly, and I finally let him go to one of the houses out of pity!"

  "Wha- You wer- You! Paw! Blood! WHAT?" The Dane sputtered indignantly as he hopped off the couch. He started to make his way towards the Prussian, but was intercepted by Italy, who had jumped off the window sill and was giving his 'hopefully- soon- to- be- future- brother- in- law' a hug. Well, sort of hug. Since he was still a cat and all.

  Just then, Marcello came back into the room, bandages in one hand and a bottle of peroxide in the other. "Aw, so cute~! But it's time for me to take care of your paw," he said. Setting down the bandages and bottle on the couch, he picked up the albino cat and sat down. The Italian hummed happily as he poured the peroxide onto a cotton ball. He gently cleaned Prussia's paw, ignoring his hisses and attempts at scratching him.

  "Mein Gott! That stings! Let go of me before I kill you!" The Prussian swiped at Marcello, but missed again.

  Marcello smiled. "There, all done. Now I just have to bandage it."


  Later that night, the four cats were lounging about the house. Italy was sleeping in Marcello's office, nestled in between a rather large book on the floor and the old wooden desk. The small room was illuminated by a lavender scented candle on a shelf. Germany sat on the window sill in the living room where Italy had taken his siesta earlier. Once again, he was cleaning his fur (for Italy had gotten tomato sauce all over him during dinner). The other two felines could be found in the kitchen, sitting on the countertops, and reminiscing about the old days. None of them knew about the adventures that laid ahead.