Chapter 2: White Cat

Kurumi was away at work at a cat Café while Marigold was at Shido's house with the other spirits. Shido wasn't home though, he had gotten himself a part time job.

Yoshino sat at the kitchen table, which was were Marigold was also sitting at. Both of them were eating a bowl of ice cream until Yoshinon brought up the spirit powers.

"So you still haven't found out what your powers are?" Yoshinon asked as the puppet moved it's arms up and down. "I thought Kotori was helping you figure that out?"

Marigold put her spoon down as she looked at Ysohinon. "No, I haven't figured it out yet. Auntie Kotori tried to help, but even she's stumped on it."

Origami was sitting on the couch with the twins and Tohka as she listened to the conversation. She had became a spirit herself, but she wasn't sure if Nightmare knew that she was. Someone who looked like Kurumi had helped Tobiichi become a spirit, but she never got the person's name. "Someone helped me find my spirit powers and Astral dress. But I didn't catch their name, if they're still around somewhere they could help you unlock yours."

Outside of the house, a white cat sat on the fence looking into the house. It had two different color eyes. One eye was red and the other was blue, normal a red eye in a cat would be the animals version of pink eye. But that didn't seem to be the case with this particular one. There was something special about this cat, Marigold locked eyes with the white cat as she tilts her head. The cat stretched and jumped off the fence disappearing out of sight.

"Marie?" Kaguya asked as she snaps her fingers in front of the half Grimm half spirit girls face. "Earth to Marigold Tokisaki."

Marigold blinks as she shakes her head, she looked over at Kaguya. "Hmm, yes?"

"You seemed to have dazed out there, you okay?" Kaguya asked.

Marigold nodded her head as she looks over to Yoshino and then over at the others. "Do you all know of a way I could get my powers?"

Natsumi tilted her head as she wondered why she was asking them that, she looked over at Kotori who shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. Origami was thinking of tracking down that person who helped her get her powers, but she still wasn't too sure if they were around still or not.

"Sorry Marigold, but we don't know of anyway to help you with it." Nia said as she summoned Rasiel. "I can't use Rasiel to see into the future, just the past and present. And I can even modify certain events to happen. But that would take a while for it to happen, even if I were to write down of a way for you to gain your powers. It won't just happen in a snap of a finger."

"Oh..." Marigold said as she seemed disappointed.

Reine looked at her as she closes her eyes. "Each spirit is born with a crystal inside of them. That's how they know they have powers. You on the other hand, Kotori told us you had a hard time in your spirit training with her the other day. Nothing clicked inside you to make you awaken your spirit power.."

Marigold raises an eyebrow up as she tilts her head, she didn't even see Renie walk in. But she kept her gaze on her wondering what she was saying. "So... you're saying that I was born with a crystal?"

"It's possible." Reine said as she crosses her arms. "You're not a full on spirit like us. You're only half, Origami has two personalities. Her normal self and another. Which is her spirit self, now we're not for sure if this person who helped her get her spirit powers was aiming for that to happen, or if they wanted to have it to where she felt more fit in with the spirits." Renie glanced over to Origami and then back to Marigold. "You're something different that no one within the realm of the spirits or our world have encountered before. Or even scratched the surface yet of what's hidden within."

Marigold sighs, she looked over at the window to see if that cat was back or not. "Yeah... I know, I'm not even a human either. I may look human, but I know I'm not a full on human, I'm a freak."

Miku shook her head. "No you're no freak, you have feelings. You have emotions, a freak wouldn't have anything like that. You're as much as a human as we are, sure we may come from a different world and are born differently from how Shido and the others are. But in the end, we're still human beings with feelings and emotions. And I betcha anything, if Shido was here and heard you say that, he'd say the same thing I said. Who cares if you're not a full blooded human, who cares if you're not a complete spirit with powers. You are who you are, and I'm sure both of your mothers still love you for who you are. Sure Scarlet may not show it, but I'm sure she cares about you as much as Kurumi does. You're a family, it doesn't matter to them that you're not a full on spirit or if you're not a human. You're their precious child." Miku smiled a little bit after saying all that.

~~~

The white cat from earlier was following Marigold, it seemed like she was going somewhere but since there was no one else around at the time. The cat stopped in it's tracks and meowed, Marigold turned around as she saw the cat from earlier. Something about the cat made her feel a bit off, was it because of the red eye?

"Shoo, go on. You need to get going." Marigold said shooing the cat off with her hands. "Go on, You can't follow me to where I'm going, it'll be dangerous."

The cat sat down as it meowed again, it rubbed it's face with it's left paw. Marigold backed up a bit to see if she could get away without the cat following her, sadly the cat took notice as it started to walk over after getting up. Marigold was confused as to why this cat was so determined on following her, then the spacial quake went off. The siren blared loudly as Marigold shook her head and ran off to the nearest shelter, luckily she found Danny's as it started to go under ground to the shelter.

"There's a spirit nearby, but I didn't see anything coming from the sky." Marigold mumbled to herself.

Outside, the Fraxinus flew over Tengu city. Kotori was sucking on her lollipop as she looked at the screen, the spirits were also onboard along with Shido. "Hmm, this is odd. The spacial quake went off, but I'm not seeing any damages to the city.."

"Maybe it was a false alarm?" Tohka asked as she looks over at Kotori. "Unless there's something entering the atmosphere?"

Kotori sucked on the lollipop a bit more before pulling it out of her mouth. "There is a spirit, but they're not within the city, they're in space." She looks over to Shido and smirks. "And it looks like you have a date in space with this spirit. Luckily we have a back up Fraxinus that can take us to space, but there's also another way for you to confront this new spirit. It's similar to VR, but the spirit will be able to see a hologram of you. And you will be able to see the spirit through your hologram."

"Whoa." Shido's jaw dropped as he was speechless. "Alright, let's do it then. Operation space date is underway."

Reine nodded as she got Shido all geared up and set. Once that was done, everyone adverted their eyes to the screen to watch. Kotori was right, there was a spirit in space. A blonde haired spirit floated in space, she looked like she was curled up, her knees up against her chest. Shido's hologram appeared before the spirit as the girl slowly opens her eyes.

"Time to find out who this new spirit is and why she's in space." Kotori said. "Good luck Shido, hopefully we can find out without any interruptions."

The spirit noticed Shido as she stayed silent for a moment. "What do you want with Muku?"

"Muku? So that's your name?" Shido asked as he extended his arm out. "My name is Shido Itsuka, I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help you, can you take my hand?"

Mukuro looked at Shido and didn't say anything as she summoned her angel, Michael. A key blade type weapon. She pointed it at Shido and looked at him with a stern look on her face. "Muku will not allow you to unlock her heart."

"Unlock her heart?" Kotori mumbled. "What does she mean by that?"

Before Shido could ask what Mukuro meant, a tear in time and space opened up in front of Michael as the key went into the tear and appeared behind the camera's Kotori was viewing through. Just like a key, Mukuro turned her key blade and the camera's were shut off. Shido glanced around as he noticed this, he looked back at Mukuro for a moment as the spirit looked back at him. "Please, you can trust me. I want to save you, just like I did with the others."

"Others? You can't save Muku. You will never unlock my heart, nor will you ever get the chance too. This is where we say our goodbye's Shido." Mukuro said as she touched Shido's hologram with Michael.

Mukuro turned the key as Shido's hologram vanished, Shido took the headset off as he looks at the others. "She's going to be a tough one to convince..."

~~~

After everything was back to normal, Marigold noticed that the white cat was no where to be seen. Sighing in relief she started to head home, it was getting late and she knew Kurumi would start to wonder where she was. However, something was following Marigold from the shadows.

Kurumi waited for Marigold to return home as she had prepared dinner for them both. The door opened as Marigold entered and closed the door behind her, she glanced around for a moment as she could smell cooked food waiting for her. Her eyes scanned over a picture frame of two unfamiliar people she had never met before, she picked it up and walked over to the kitchen.

"Hey mama, who are these two in this picture here?" Marigold asked as she looks at Kurumi.

Kurumi turned around as she had just finished fixing the plates, she cleaned her hands and then dried them as she tilts her head. "Ara. Those two are your mothers sisters... well somewhat, they never really acknowledged her to be their sister, but they still shared the same blood."

"What do you mean?" Marigold asked as she grabs her plate and goes sits at the table, she grabbed her fork and glances over at Kurumi. "Is there a reason why these two never did?"

Kurumi sat down as she closes her eyes for a moment. "Just like you Marigold. Your mother was only half human, you and her are part Grimm. Those two there, Yang and Ruby. They are half sisters, but when your mother came along. They never acknowledged her to be their sister, before you were born. She did terrible things, and I wouldn't bee too surprised if she's still getting into trouble."

"What kind of terrible things?" Marigold asked confused.

Kurumi giggled a bit as she shook her head a little. "That's something you'll know when you're older sweetie, now eat up. Or else your food is going to get cold."

Marigold pouts as she does so. "So, Yang and Ruby.... are they aware of me being their niece?"

Kurumi seemed puzzled for a moment as she gave a small shrug. "I honestly couldn't tell you... I don't think your mother told them, or she did tell them but they're trying to process it all."

"Aw, but I would love to meet them some day." Marigold said as she pouted again, but remembers something. "Mama... Origami's a spirit, did you know that? Auntie Kotori and the others already know and I was told about it the other day. I was wondering if you knew as well?"

"I'm sure yo...wait, you said Origami is a spirit right?" Kurumi asked as she blinks out of confusion. "How? I wasn't aware of Tobiichi being one."

Marigold looks at her with confusion, she wondered why she didn't know about it. "Origami said that someone helped her become a spirit, but she never got their name. And said that if the person who helped her became one, they could help me get my spirit powers."

"No." Kurumi said. "I'm not going to let some strange person help you get powers. Did she say how they looked?"

Marigold shook her head as she was wondering why Kurumi was against the idea. "But mama, I thought you wanted me to unlock my spirit powers? Reine said that every spirit is born with a crystal, but I wasn't born with one. So maybe this person who helped Origami, can help me get mine."

"No means no Marigold. I don't care if they helped Origami become a spirit, if she doesn't know their name or have any details on their appearance then it's out of the question." Kurumi spoke as slammed her knife into the food. "I don't want you getting abducted by some stranger. They might not allow you to leave, or worse. They might kill you."

Marigold was going to protest, but she closed her mouth. She looked down at her food as she twirls her fork around in it. "Yes mama..."

Kurumi sighed a bit as she took the knife out and placed it down. "I'm sorry if I said all that, but it's just my motherly instinct kicking in, I'm totally fine with you hanging out with Kotori and the other spirits, since we know them. This random person who helped Origami get her spirit powers. If I don't know who they are, and if she's even not certain on their appearance and name, then it's a big no. Your mother would say the same thing if she was here, just because you were born without a crystal doesn't mean you need to be power hungry like I was. For all we know, you could have the same powers as I do. Or you could have a healing factor just like Scarlet."

"But what if I don't have any?" Marigold asked. "Then what?"

Kurumi tilts her head. "Are you thinking that if you don't end up with any powers and aren't capable of having an astral dress that you'll not be loved anymore?"

Marigold hesitated a bit as she slowly nodded her head.

"Aw, sweet-pea." Kurumi cooed as she shakes her head. "We won't stop loving you because of that, you're our daughter.. our precious little girl." She smiled as she stood up from her chair and walked over to where Marigold was sitting and hugged her. "Even if you don't have any powers, you're still special to us both." She then kissed Mairgold on the forehead as she brushes her hair away from her face.

"S-Stop it." Marigold blushed as she tried pushing Kurumi away. "Mama, stop. It's embarrassing."

Kurumi grins as she rubs her face against hers. "Aw, what's wrong? Is my little pumpkin getting embarrassed from the attention she's getting?" Kurumi giggled a bit as she lets go.

~~~

Marigold went to her room after she had her shower and was in her pajamas, she noticed the window was opened and figured Kurumi had went in there to open it. She walked over to the opened window as she closed it tight and locked it. "I don't know why mama opened the window for."

With a stretch and a yawn, Marigold flopped onto her bed as she grabbed one of her stuffed animals. Which was oddly a Beowulf, she looked at for a moment as she held it close. "When will you come home mom?" It was clear that she missed Scarlet dearly. She wondered at times what she was up to and why she never kept in touch with her or Kurumi.

Once Marigold had gotten under the covers of her bed, she could hear Kurumi washing the dishes in the kitchen, her eyes started to feel droopy as another yawn escaped her mouth. She slowly drifted off to sleep as she held the Beowulf plushie close before turning over on her right side. It started to rain outside as a dark cloud was over head, thunder boomed loudly and lightning flashed brightly. A shadow of a figure appeared over Marigold's bed, there in the middle of the room stood White Queen, she loomed over the sleeping girl as she grinned widely.