Ch2:『Cat Island』

"Come to think of it... This Island kinda looked like a cat..." Natsu murmured as she stood beside J4, also now known as Jakku by the rest of them, with her hands rested upon her knees as she was exhausted from pulling the float. The pack which was in the float was now on her back.

"You're not wrong, I think. Most cats did have a face like that..." Jakku recalled as he gazed over the tall standing walls that shadowed over them. Climbing in the dark would be dangerous, even though he could see the cliff far better than the fellow humans that now stood around him.

Natsu remained relatively close to him, feeling safe since he had been the first to not only dive in and save her but also ask if she had been alright. Her hand drifted over her jacket, which was now cold and wet. The water had been freezing, but J4 radiated far more heat than a regular human being, to the point that even as his clothes were cold, they were drying fast.

Aside from what was happening in the world around her, Natsu was thinking back to her parents, her family. Her mind was on her pet cat thanks to the shape of the island.

If this was after the meteors fell than what became of their family? How long had it been? An accelerated Ice Age... It could have been well over a hundred years, but at the same time, who knows how long it had been.

If ashes settled on the planet surface from massive eruptions that had taken place, should all life had ceased, wouldn't it have taken thousands of years for new life to emerge?

Natsu's big brown eyes centered on Jakku's back, looking over his glossy wings which were fading from view as if they were entering some sort of active camouflage.

Blinking up at him now, she was curious as to how much pain he had gone through. If he were to have been a regular human, to begin with, how much did it hurt to have those planted in him?

She didn't want to think about it, as the thought alone made her squirm in discomfort.

As they were observing the cliff faces that encircled them, sunlight from the sky above began to encompass the island. The rocks, green moss and various other forms of vegetation were becoming far more visible to everyone.

"This looks like a dead-end..." Botan sounded as Semimaru sat down by a rock, seemingly exhausted, looking over the ledges that stared right back down at them.

"You know what they say about dead-ends if you can't go through a wall, go over it." Jakku narrowed his gaze on the young man with orange hair before turning his attention to Natsu.

Snickering Semimaru cupped his chin with his index finger pointed outward, a smart-ass expression clear across his face, "If you can't go over it?"

"Go under it," Jakku stated without any hesitation as if he was expecting the young man to retort.

Semimaru shook his head and shrugged, still keeping a sly borderline smug look on his face as he spoke, "And if you can't go under it?"

"..." Jakku glared at Semimaru who was messing around, though he wore a grin as he did so. Judging by the way this was going, it was clear they could probably go on forever it was allowed to persevere, "Just climb over it."

Sighing, Botan just looked over the duo, before catching Natsu's worried gaze upon their new addition. They didn't know much about their new friend here, but she assumed he could be of use. Considering the fact they have no idea what they'll be running into.

Caressing the capsule of cyanide solution that hung around her neck, "I'll go see if we can get to the top from here. Stay put."

"Yes mum," Jakku responded in English, giving her a thumbs-up as he did so.

Botan simply stared at him for a few seconds before turning on her heel and closing in on the cliff face which was all around them. Arashi and Semimaru moved to join her as she touched the rock covered in moss and slime from rising and lowering sea levels.

Just then she grasped onto a protrusion and began to pull herself up, she felt a hand glide over her rear and her head turned to the side. Her eyes like that of a hawk's rested upon Semimaru.

"Nice ass, lady," Semimaru warily laughed as he waved with the hand that had touched her.

"Save that for later," Botan was virtually unfazed by his youthful form of sexual harassment.

Turning away from her as she continued climbing, Semimaru smugly closed his eyes in victory with a wide grin across his lips, "Dang... She is so mature. She brushed me off like it was nothing."

As Botan cleared the bottom, Natsu approached the wall. Her eyes timidly traced over the rocky surface before reaching forward and grasping the same rock Botan had earlier. She had a little trouble though, considering she was shorter than everyone else. Compared to them, she had to be at least five foot two inches.

Jakku alone was six feet tall, making him one of the tallest.

Biting her lower lip, she went to pull herself up. She got her feet off the ground and just when she was about to go a little higher, she felt someone's hand brush against her rear.

"What a flat ass~" Semimaru seemed to chime, grinning as if proud of himself, as he kept his hand in the air.

Squeaking in distress, her entire body tensed and she fell backward after losing her grasp on the rock wall. So, with her arms flailing in the air, her feet left the wall soon after. Unable to save herself, she was expecting to land on a sandbank and the rocks embedded within it.

Instead, she found herself in a pair of warm arms. Her legs resting on one and her back on the other. Dazed for a few seconds, her face turned a light red color as she felt the air breeze passed her face as Jakku stood up straight.

"Jakku-san...?" Natsu bleated questioningly.

"Little girls are so lame," he went on to declare with a chortle of his own. "I was hoping for an 'Eeek!' or a 'No!' So disappointing."

"Stop touching people's butts before I shove my foot up your smart-ass," Jakku warned after giving her a once over, his eyes threateningly drifting to Semimaru as he spoke.

Semimaru just blatantly stared at him in return, letting out a short snicker, before his gaze drifted down to Natsu. She seemed rather comfortable in those arms of his, a frown appearing across his lips as he turned his attention to the wall. "Tch, stealing my prey..." He uttered under his breath, before beginning to climb.

"Sorry... You... You can put me down now," Natsu sounded almost painfully timid in Jakku's arms, as her eyes rested on his face. Her legs loosely kicked.

"Hm. I can bring you to the top without the use of my hands, holding you just like this," he replied letting out a soft chuckle, Jakku's gaze engulfing her on her. His face seemed to be cheerful in the respect that he smiled at her, though his eyes were glossed over in emotions he hid behind those dark hues.

In a way, Natsu was empathic. She could understand the hurt behind his eyes as she had the same look on her own. Bullied at school, she became shut-in and away from the world.

Arashi raised a brow seeing this, he somewhat saw himself in Jakku. His thoughts going back to when he protected his girlfriend, the woman he loved. Defending her from the boys at school.

The young Japanese male sighed quietly watching as Semimaru went up the wall, only to walk over and look over at Jakku and Natsu. "Are you two okay? He wasn't giving the best of impressions."

"I'm fine," Jakku's eyes flickered over to the male who spoke and nodded his head.

"I'm... I am okay..." Natsu murmured wondering what he was planning on doing in order to get to the top without his hands.

"Meet you at the top, Arashi-Kun," Jakku closed one eye as he looked over the athlete before his wings began to reverberate. Crouching slightly as his wings continued to drone on, he then jumped, launching himself into the air.

"Uwaaaah!" Natsu immediately wrapped her arms around Jakku's neck, clinging to him as they rocketed well over the cliff by several meters.

For a brief second, it felt as if they were floating in the air, being able to see over the treetops. As she looked down, however, the air began blasting in her face as they came falling back down in a decently controlled manner by routinely beating his wings behind him.

The three below them stared up at the duo who were high in the air and slowly descending in little bouts of speed.

"...Eeek!" Natsu squeaked as she clung harder around J4's neck as every time they dropped her arms would coil around him even more. She was like a tiny boa constrictor with her scrawny fragile arms.

"You're hanging on a bit tight," Chuckled Jakku.

"Gomenasai!" Natsu squealed as she squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to look down despite feeling the warmth on the sun on her face. Though from what she had seen prior the sight was divine.

"No need to apologize!" Jakku clearly not minding the fact she was clinging to him, leaned his face down slightly to get it closer to hers. "Though if you keep your eyes closed any longer, I might just steal a bite from those unguarded lips of yours."

Her eyes popped open like miniature explosives, "Ueeeeeeeeeeh!?" She was more surprised than panicked, but all the same, her hands sprang from his neck as their fall continued.

"Now that is pretty high!" Laughed Semimaru, shielding his eyes from the rising sun that was coming from over the mountainous regions of the cat-shaped island. He then walked over to the ledge and glanced down towards Arashi who was making his way up. "Haha, I'd like to see you jump that high!"

"Very funny, Semimaru," chuckled Arashi as he pulled himself up a few seconds later, pulling himself over the edge and onto the leveled ground overlooking the shore.

Looking up, Semimaru's eyes widened seeing Natsu practically going airborne from Jakku's arms, having fallen from his hold. Yet it was a short-lived fall, as the Human Mantis grabbed her by the ankle the moment she began to nose dive.

"You should avoid letting go at such crucial moments," J4 uttered calmly with a reserved tone as he swung her upper body into the air, resting her in his arms as their descent continued.

Her eyes as big as saucers, filled with panic and regret, she mumbled with a faded voice that only he was likely to hear at their current height. "..Gomenasai..."

J4 was pretty sure he could feel her heart beating through his forearm. It was a feeling he was not used to, having someone in his arms in such away. Her face, from what he could see, was turning a faint tinge of red.

"That was a quick catch..." Muttered Semimaru, remembering a circus he had gone to as a child as the short incident seemed to remind him of acrobats. "Does he juggle often?"

"Is that a serious question, Semimaru?" The older woman asked as she turned to look at him, before looking at the two who were a couple dozen feet in the air now. Glancing away though, not seeing any signs of civilization amongst the trees. "This place doesn't seem to be inhabited," Botan muttered to herself.

"Observation: From what has been seen, I will have to concur with your statement, Meatbag," J4 spoke as he landed on his own two feet, in a superficially robotic monotone voice, which sounded almost stupidly prejudice and extreme at the same time.

"How rude," Botan blinked hearing the word 'Meatbag' he had used to describe her.

"Don't take any offense to it, Lady. He's just referencing modern culture," Semimaru chuckled as Arashi nodded along with him, knowing Star Wars.

Natsu just remained in his arms with her legs loosely hanging off his forearm. "C-cant you put me down now...?" She'd ask as she shallow swallowed the saliva in her mouth, she didn't take her eyes off of him. The fact that he had threatened to steal a kiss from her was fresh in her mind.

For the longest time, in her past life before coming here, she never thought a person on Earth would be into her. Yet the moment she lands in a world unknown to her, this young man blatantly falls for her. He was nice, he saved her and he carried her.

How far would he take her, she wondered. For all she knew he had no attachments to the previous world they inhabited, he unlike her, was a blank slate completely untainted by life.

"Do you want to be let down?" J4 simpered smugly.

Semimaru just reached over and placed a hand on Jakku's shoulder, "Ah. You must have fallen in love with the first girl you've ever seen outside the laboratory. I don't think that's how I work out here."

"There were fifteen female subjects within the 'J' and 'I' series." Jakku pointed out with a blatant tone as he turned his head to the side in order to match Semimaru's gaze with the corner of his eye.

As he did that, his arm slowly lowered as to allow her to drop onto her feet upon her own terms.

Natsu as she stood up straight on her own, checked the pack on her back, sighing with relief as she found it didn't open. "...Arigatou..." She thanked Jakku quietly as his eyes flickered to her.

"No problem," Closing one eye, he looked over her she was blushing profusely.

"How old is everyone?" Botan asked as she crossed her arms as if she wanted to set up either boundaries or a hierarchy of some kind. Though it was clear from a glance that she was physically older, and mentally she was far more mature than all of them.

"Sixteen," Natsu timidly lifted her hand slowly as she had gone to answer.

Semimaru chuckled, "Eighteen."

Arashi nodded towards the others, "Eighteen."

The three, as well as Botan, all looked to Jakku who was standing there gazing back at them.

From their appearances, he had to be between the ages of sixteen. Of course, despite there being many things that kept the subjects entertained and distracted, there were no celebrated birthdays. "Uh... Eighteen," Jakku figured he'd go with the majority, though he was tempted to go with seventeen. He couldn't be older than the group of teens within the team, that was all he knew.

"I am the oldest, so that puts me in charge," placing her hands on her hips, Botan looked over the four teens for a few seconds then to the forest that engulfed much of the island. "Let's start by finding water!"

As she announced that, the other two males collected their bags, swinging them over their shoulders.

"We'll split into two groups," She declared as she looked over the three males in the party, then to the single other females. Deciding in her mind that it was probably best to put the smallest with the visibly most capable, she nodded to herself. Turning her gaze to Semimaru, she raised a brow, "You're coming with me."

"Eh?" Semimaru let out a brief sigh of irritation before turning away and walking off.

"Make sure you three don't get lost," Botan advised whilst turning to face Jakku, Natsu and Arashi. "We'll meet back here later." With that, she turned on her heel and began walking after the man she had paired herself with. She felt like a little toy soldier as she walked, letting her arms remain strict at her sides.

Jakku nodded his head as the others did the same, before returning his gaze to the three forest-covered mountainous hills that dotted the horizon hugging the sun.

"So which way do you want to go?" Arashi asked as he turned towards Jakku, his fingers brushing against his jaw in thought.

"Sunward," Jakku pointed towards the mountains. From what he could tell, the water surrounding the Island was fresh. It was likely there hadn't been any volcanic eruptions in the area, and there were vast mineral deposits within the body of water.

Though at the same time, he figured that would quickly change if something did occur. There had been evidence in the past world in which the ocean consisted of both Salt Water and Fresh Water, as there was either a large expanse under the Atlantic Ocean or just freshwater pockets.

Natsu looked up at Jakku for a few seconds, silently, before following the two males as they wandered into the forests soon after they lost sight of Semimaru and Botan.

Soon after entering, they were quick to find that there was a mix of plants currently present, including tropical ferns. There were plenty of fruit trees, but there was one thing that Jakku kept smelling.

Carnivorous plants were just about everywhere, hidden amongst the treacherous terrain. Arashi was in the front pushing plants aside, while Jakku covered them both from behind, leaving Natsu in the middle.

"You know, you're pretty strong Iwashimizu-san," Arashi chose to call Natsu by her surname. It was rather polite, but it wasn't something that didn't match his demeanor. It was probably only Semimaru's demeanor that would ignore someone's surname.

Though that did make him come off as a bit more friendly, but at the same time, his tone seemed to mock just about everyone they talked to. Judging by the way he carried himself, however, Jakku could only assume that was his normal persona.