Purrdon the Puns [NK]

Ryūka was making his way downtown, walking fast. Faces passed him, he was homebound. Evenings were the most boring time of day for him. He would often be unsure of what to do, and end up not being able to find anything to do, having wasted another few hours of his life. Today wasn't much different. He was walking through the streets, unsure of what to do.

He soon came across a cat. On a tree. Classic. In his short career as a ninja, he must have come across hundreds of these. Trees. They were monsters... Not only did they keep bullying zombies in their off time, they also kept kidnapping cats and putting them on high branches so they couldn't return. Monsters.

Alas, it always was Ryūka's responsibility to save all victims of Tree Crimes. He approached the tree from the opposite side of Natsume. He didn't see her, and she probably wouldn't have seen him. Ryūka climbed the tree, simply walking on the side, sticking his toes to the tree and using the Tree Climbing Technique to walk up the side as if there were stairs. A few seconds later, his head popped out from behind the branch, finally coming into Natsume's view. His nose would barely be in the level of the cat's nose. The cat turned back, and started looking at Ryūka from up close. Ryūka would stand like that for a few seconds, until the cat finally stepped on to Ryūka's head. Ryūka and the cat descended in a slow, steady pace, once again disappearing from view.

Ryūka got down from the tree. Was that... Natsume? Weird. What was she doing there sitting all sat, with her drawing supplies in her hands- Oh no. It couldn't be. Ryūka, the cat still on his head walked over to her, with an apologetic expression on his face. "Hey..." he said in a silent, calm voice. He tried to glimpse over to the drawing if Natsume didn't cover it up.

"Oh..." he said upon seeing the half-finished drawing. It couldn't be. Ryūka couldn't have stood between someone and their art. This was a blasphemy. Smokeperf's mind went into overdrive, trying to think of ways to correct his mistake. First he thought of putting the cat back. He realized the cat wouldn't be very happy about that. Another idea popped into Ryūka's head. He looked at the drawing once again, carving the pose and the look into the back of his mind. He then looked at the cat one last time, taking in the details on its fur, face, tail, and the shape of its body. He let the cat go.

A second later, Ryūka formed handseals that must have been familiar to Natsume. Dog. Boar. Ram. In a puff of smoke, Ryūka was now a replica of the cat that just ran away. He climbed the tree, and posed exactly as Natsume had drawn the cat to pose. The cat winked.

Before the puff of smoke cleared, Ryūka noticed the mistake he made, as his size refused to change. He instantly let go of the transformation, turning his body into a weapon, activating his speed boost to perform that at speeds Natsume's mind wouldn't register. A split second after, he used the Split Second tech to catch up to the cat he just let go, and then use the Bull Rush to get back to the tree. All Natsume would plausibly see would be him disappearing and reappearing in the puff of smoke with the cat again, which he would put back onto the branch.

Since the cat didn't sense Ryūka's movement, it didn't even noticed itself moving. For all it knew, it was teleported. But it wasn't even aware of that as of yet, still chilling with its eyes closed, its pose not changing a bit. Ryūka moved its paws and head just a tiny bit to move it to the position it was sitting in when Natsume started to draw her. "Another day saved." Ryūka thought, as he landed on the ground once again, looking back at Natsume proudly.

Ryūka waited for Natsume to finish her painting, and then brought the cat back down without waking it up. He was however, put into a situation where he had to face a question he was scared of. "Yeah, um...". Quick Ryūka, think. "That's... A different technique...". Genius. Nobody would have thought of that. "There are only a handful of seals, some Jutsu are bound to share the same ones, even in order.".

Ryūka smiled. "I fixed what I disturbed myself. You shouldn't treat me for that. But I guess I can join you.". He would follow Natsume if she led him to a food place. "So Natsume..." he would ask on the way, "How's the ninja life? Is it everything that you had hoped for?".

"What? What's impressive? What technique?". Ryūka wasn't very experienced in telling lies. He had no idea that lies usually needed to be followed up with more. "Oh... The technique... Right... The thing is...". Fortunately, he had a very good escape route. He turned his hand into smoke, "It's not something that can be taught to everyone... I... Guess this is something that comes from my heritage, though I don't know what family I belong to...".

Ryūka liked Natsume's choice for the restaurant. He was scared she would have brought them to a vegan place or something. When they sat down, he didn't even look at the menu. "Can I have a Ryūka Special please?". The waitress nodded. "Ninja life?" Ryūka said, "Well to be honest... There's much less action then I had expected... I also unfortunately can't find as much time to dedicate to art any more. Is it the same way for you or... Did you find a way to seperate your artist life from your job?".