500th Time Reborn, A World Only Known By Women: The Karma System

I walked carefully through the tents, and small fires, listening to what some of the people were talking about, but most of them seemed to be bitter. I could see why, but I found a few that were off in a section that didn't really have many people. I walked over to the fire and smelled cooking meat, and my stomach grumbled.

"Look at that pretty kitty. Did you hear the sound its stomach just made? Come here, little snowball, and I will give you some treats," One of the women said, dragging out her words slightly with her accent.

"Can we eat it?" One of the much bigger women with puffy cheeks asked, and the smaller one beside her gave her a shove, pushing the big woman off her stool to fall to the ground.

"Don't be stupid, Tingting. Do you now see that white fur? We should take it to Chi. She will read the leaves. The night is setting, and a cat white as snow arrives. Look how it watches us. This must be an omen," the smaller pretty looking woman with oval eyes said. They were more closed than what I had seen in the humans so far, and her face was more round but still a beauty.

This made my life much easier, as long as they weren't going to take me to the chef. From the sounds of it, this Chi was a clairvoyant, and it might be interesting to see if she was the real thing. A nice break from all the saving the world for a bit. The Cat God was going to go get it fortune read!

"Meow," I said, and it came out much more human than I had expected, making everyone flinch back. I cringed internally since the sound had been a deep manly meow. Now, these women were going to think I was a bad omen and just throw me in the cooking pot for sure!

"That is a very strange sounding cat, Sakura. I think we should kill it and burn it. Anything like that is sure to bring catastrophe to us all. You heard that demonic noise that just came from its mouth! I don't even want to eat it anymore!" Tingting said, and I put a paw to my face, unable to hold back the facepalm. "Look! What cat puts its hand on its cute little demon face like that?!"

"Tingting, go get hot water so we can get the leaves to read. If you don't, I will send you there on a gust of wind to help you along, okay?" Sakura asked, and Tingting put up her hands.

"Fine, fine, as long as I don't have to get the curse you will get when you touch that demon!" Tingting declared, and I shook my head.

[This one really doesn't think much of Demons, does she?] Xieus asked, and I laughed internally.

"You are right about the first part. This one doesn't really think much. Don't worry; I will get to the demons at some point, and you are going to help pave the way for them at my side. I just hope that they are all as loveable as you,' I replied as the girl called Sakura slowly walked over to me.

"Hello, cat. I am not here to hurt you," Sakura said to me as she came over and reached down to pick me up, but I jumped up. I landed on her and walked up her shoulder, brushing my body against the back of her neck.

Once I was on her far shoulder, I tipped over to fall in front of Sakura, forcing her to catch me. I looked up at her with my cutest eye.

"Take me to your leader," I said, but it came out in a deep voice again.

p Sakura screamed and dropped me, but I landed softly on my feet as she hopped back from me. I really had to work on this voice thing. Why couldn't I just shut the fuck up and act cute? The look Sakura was giving me made it seem like she was rethinking what Tingting had suggested.

"What are you?" Sakura demanded, but her friend turned from the fire.

"This one is probably one of their spirits or something, you know. They are one of the entities that inhabit the bodies of animals, or something," a woman with extremely dark skin and black dreadlocks tied back said.

She was wearing a back robe with thick blue lines running down it in lighting bolt patterns. There were also lighting bolts that looked like tattoos in solid blue ink that stood out starkly under her eyes.

"That is a lot of probably or something," Sakura said, and the woman shrugged and then took a bite out of an apple.

"Cat, what do you want?" The dark-skinned woman asked.

"I just told her, but she dropped me. Those lightning bolts say that you might zap me if I ask you," I said as I sat and licked my paw to slick some hair above my eye that was irritating me.

"It really talked!" Sakura exclaimed, and The dark-skinned woman and I shook our heads.

"So you what to go see Chi? She is not really a leader, but she is the one to give you answers if that is what you might be seeking," The woman said, but she sounded like a pirate. Intriguing.

"What is your name? And are you Peekaan by chance?" I asked, and the woman narrowed her eyes at me.

"You know, for a cat that talks, you don't seem to know very much. You know what else? I heard that there was a new cat god that was walking in the city. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you know, Galio, I think it was?" The woman said. "And just so we are clear, only a Peekaan would have skin as dark as mine. My name is Mishal, and I am very interested in talking to you if you have the time, Cat God."

You know, I was becoming too well known, but the talking cat was just asking for trouble. Still, this was like a double whammy for me.

I was going to get both sides of the story, but I was also interested to learn about the bolts on Mishal's face. More interesting magic!