A/N: Hello, there. This fic is intended to be more light-hearted from my other stuff, and it's a plot bunny that has been bouncing around in my head for a while now. For those readers that know my other stuff, this fic is taken inspiration from Kung Jin and his cat scene from 'Survival of the Fittest' but it is own story as well.

Chapter 1
Lost and Found

Kung Jin actually never had a fondness for cats. Yet here he was looking down at five fluffy, malnourished faces that were squeaking at him from the cardboard box he was holding.

To be honest, the chorus of mewing was starting to get on his nerves. It was as constant and unrelenting as their feeble attempts to hurdle the edge of the box and try to escape.

He would constantly have to shove them back in, he didn't like cats, but he wasn't mean to them; all he did was shift the box back and forth to tumble them back in.

Eventually, he placed his leather jacket over the top of the box to cover it and muffle the sound at the same time. Jin was also tired of the stares from passerby's he was getting when they saw a Shaolin Monk wearing casual clothing, carrying a box of crying kittens at 10 o'clock at night.

He wasn't sure if the pet store he was heading in would even be open, but if he had made a valiant to rescue them, he would make sure he at least tried to feed them.

It was serendipity really, or cruel joke played on him by the Elder Gods, that just a couple of hours previous he was complaining how he didn't want any company.

Now he had all he could ask for...

Bull's-Eye Bar and Grill
A couple of Hours Earlier...

"Let's get out of here," Jin complained, eyeballing the western themed bar with an annoyed grimace. "This place reminds me of Cowboy Panda too much."

Cassie looked up from her giant fishbowl sized margarita with a raised eyebrow and slurped through the straw loudly to convey to Kung Jin she didn't care. Takeda and Jacqui sat across the table from them, Takeda had his arm wrapped around the latter's as he played absently with the fry on his empty plate; as if debating if he was full enough to eat it or not. Jacqui eyeballed the overly decorated bar with a shrug as if agreeing with Jin that it was the place the Outworld cowboy would love to dine at.

Jin was done before they had even walked in. He had no desire to come out and socialize, but the others had dragged him out of the confines of his comfortable room for 'Squad Bonding Time,' that Takeda had dubbed it.

The fact that they picked this place out of the million other places they could have taken him to was also an annoyance. He understood why, though; it was Friday night, and the family friendly joint was the only thing that had seating that didn't require them waiting an hour.

They swung in and ate in no time, but the atmosphere was still noisy with kid's screaming and steel guitar song after steel guitar song. For the love of the Gods, how many times did he have to hear about cowboys, beer, and tailgating? It was stereotypical and repetitive and it reminded him of Erron Black since his only experience with anything Spaghetti western related was the kohl painted asshole.

Cassie groaned in pain, drawing the other's attention to her, as she placed her fingers to her temples. "Fuck me, brain freeze." She shook her head, and Jin rolled his eyes at the almost empty margarita that was full seconds earlier.

"You wanna slow down there, girl? You're not at a keg party," Jacqui told her, offering her a sideways grin at her friend.

"Dudes, come on," Cassie slurred, looking around the glasses of water they each had with a disappointed scowl. "Why am I the only one drinking? It's Friday night! That automatically means we have to drink."

Jacqui frowned at her; reading her like a book, "Why didn't we just go to the bar if you wanted to get us drunk?"

"I wasn't trying to be obvious," Cassie said with the roll of her eyes before her lips went back to the fluorescent green straw.

"Another reason I didn't want you to bring me out," Jin growled, "You guys will get wasted, and you'll make the Shaolin the one to be your DD. Real nice."

Cassie slapped him on the shoulder and Jin's lip lifted up into a snarl at the show of her tipsy camaraderie.

"Nah, you're not just our chauffeur," Cassie sniggered, "You're gonna have fun tonight too."

Kung Jin narrowed his eyes at her remark, his eyes still glued to the empty plate in front of him at the same time.

"Seriously, I think that if you meet someone tonight, you won't be so much of uptight douche-stick," Cassie said with a lopsided smile. Kung Jin immediately flashed her an annoyed look, and he noticed Takeda and Jacqui grimacing in sympathy almost out of his peripheral vision.

It wasn't his first time Cassie had attempted him to help him get laid and apparently his request for her, in his words, 'to jump in front of a moving car' had obviously been ignored.

While he was pleased that they had accepted his sexual preference in their strides, he was not happy about their attempts to push him into getting his cherry popped. It was a decision he wanted to make for himself on his terms and Jin was fed up with them trying to coax him into it.

Takeda seemed to be the only one who understood and threw a pointed look in Cassie's direction: "Let it go already, Cassie. He doesn't want you as a wingman."

Jacqui didn't add anything, but Jin could tell she was also in agreement by the miniscule nod that almost went unnoticed by Kung Jin. Cassie surveyed them and gave them a frown as if they had betrayed her.

"Seriously?" Cassie blurted, "You guys are turning on me too? I thought we were friends. Whatever, I'll pull through... somehow."

The sergeant gave a forced childish pout that made Takeda rolled his eyes at, and Jacqui raise a speculative eyebrow. In Jin's opinion, it looked like the specialist was trying to judge how drunk Cassie was already.

"Girl, lay off the margaritas and lay off Jin," Jacqui insisted with a humorous smile but serious tone. "He doesn't want your help."

"I can defend myself, thanks," Kung Jin snapped with a scowl. The corner of Jacqui's lip pulled up with a resentful flicker before she chose to look at the collection of Eastwood movie posters on the wall while Takeda frowned at him.

"I think Cassie is just worried that you are always by yourself all the time," Takeda remarked. Jin groaned internally; he knew the opening lines of a pep talk when he heard it.

Always the voice of reason, aren't you Takeda?

"All you do is wake up, train and then head back to your room," Takeda began, his tone concerned. "I get you wanna be by yourself, but every night? It ain't healthy."

"I'm out now aren't I?" Jin debated bitterly.

"We forced you to come out — big difference," Cassie said, pointing her green straw in his direction before she began to smash it absently at the ice in her glass.

Kung Jin threw his hands up, "I like to be alone - big deal!" he huffed. "Seriously guys, lay off."

"It would just be nice to see you without a bug up your ass now and then," Cassie interjected. "And I'm thinkin' getting you a little cushion for the pushin' might be what you need."

"By the Gods!" Kung Jin groaned; now he was getting exasperated.

Takeda scratched the back of his neck, and friendly but awkward smile on his face. "Ignore Cassie. Have you at least, I don't know, try and meet anyone? I'm sure there're a couple of guys at the base that — "

Kung Jin had enough and shot up from his seat. The restaurant, the crappy greasy food and the conversation alone had worn out his patience, and now he wanted nothing more than to go home.

Jin stormed away even though he heard Cassie chastising him from behind for 'being a poor sport' and Takeda's pleading that they were sorry. He didn't care; he needed the air.

He vaguely heard the hostess at the front tell him to have a goodnight and for a moment he thought of flipping her off, but he knew she wasn't what he needed to direct his anger at.

The night air hit him when he pushed open the door and began to walk in the direction of the Special Forces Base. It was a ways away, but during his time as a thief he had trekked farther distances than 5 miles. 5 miles of angry striding was what he needed to calm his head.

It was aggravating that they still continued to pester him about the topic when he had told him to stop. After months of being patient, he had reached the end of his rope. It had been the icing on the cake of his already bad week, and he wanted nothing but to be left alone.

He knew the reason he hated the topic so much; it's was because of how alone it reminded him that he was. His friend's words were kind and thoughtful, even Cassie's under all the sarcastic remarks, but it still bothered him out of all of them, he still had no one. Takeda and Jacqui were a couple and Cassie... well she had her mirror.

Then there was Kung Jin. The solitary Shaolin Monk who had no idea where to begin when it came to relationships.

Jin still wanted all those things, but the scholarly Earthrealmer knew there wasn't a book that could help him out. He was hesitant about stepping into the pool in fear that as soon as he did, he would sink right to the bottom.

As hard as tried to put on a hardened exterior that none of this bothered him, he knew that the other's could see under the veil as well.

Kung Jin wanted to have someone to talk to, to laugh, to share a bond with that went beyond the parameters of friendship. He sighed knowing how difficult those things were even in the 21st century to find for someone; heterosexual or not.

He was starting to doubt he would ever find it at all...

Jin was passing by an alley when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. It was dark, but he found a large, overweight white man in his forties with balding hair throwing a garbage bag into a nearby dumpster. Before he placed the bag harshly in the dumpster, Jin could barely make out something —alive — prodding against the plastic of the trash bag.

Kung Jin felt a warning flag immediately rise.

It was painfully obvious that the man knew he was doing something morally wrong because as soon as he saw Jin standing there, he jumped in surprise before he took off in the other direction.

"Hey!"

The man ignored him, and Kung Jin could hear the pitter-patter of his tubby feet splash in the puddles in the dark alley and for a moment, Jin thought of chasing him down but he was more interested in what he had discarded.

He wasn't sure exactly what he would find, but as soon as he heard the tiny mewing and saw the movement, he knew what he had thrown away.

Kittens.

Jin shook his head in disgust as he looked in the direction of where the man had fled.

It was such a cowardly and unnecessary way to get rid of them — the tub of Crisco couldn't just drop them off at a pet store or shelter? Seriously?

Kung Jin wouldn't call himself an animal lover, he had his favorite animals, sure, but cats were not too high on the list. Top 20, because he only had experience with feral cats; and they were nasty and mean.

He understood that nature had it's order and things like this happened every day, but it didn't mean he found it ok. Everything deserved a fighting chance, and this was disgusting.

Jin reached in and grabbed the knotted top of the bag to lift it from the dumpster. As he pulled them up, he felt the kittens tumble to the bottom and land on top of each other, and he grimaced; fearing that he might be hurting them.

As soon as the bag was free, he used his other hand to cup the bottom gently and set the bag gently on the ground. He could feel their tiny little claws through the plastic when he pulled his hand from the bottom and set them on the pavement.

The bag wobbled, the little creatures clamoring around the edges for an escape. Kung Jin pulled apart the knot with little effort despite the fat man had tied it tight. He unraveled the plastic and looked down to see 5 little faces of different color varieties meowing at him from inside. Jin immediately frowned at the 2 that lay motionless at the bottom of the bag, its siblings stepping over him and its mother; ignorant to both of their passing.

Jin threw an angry glance in the direction of where the fat tub of lard went; now he really wished he had chased him down and threw him in the dumpster —given him a taste of his own medicine.

He sighed down at the little fluff-balls that were trying to jump out of the bag, all of them seeking his attention the more the minutes dragged. Jin had to admit, even in their disheveled states, they were stinking cute.

They were all different shades which confused him. You figure that they would all be alike, but they all had their own defining characteristics. The ones that lay dead at the bottom was gray with white markings, same as his mother, but she was black and white.

He felt a claw scratch across the top of his fingers, and he glared down at the culprit; a jet black kitten with short hair and green eyes the color of jade.

"You little dirtbag, that hurt you know," Jin smirked, even though he didn't appreciate the skinny red cuts over the top of his ring finger.

All of a sudden, he heard a long, demanding cry come from the orange tabby with blue eyes. It did it once more, and Jin couldn't help but compare it to a tiny lion cub trying to grow into his adult roar.

Kung Jin chuckled at the kitten, "Giving me sass, tough guy?"

The other two, he noticed, although different in color, stuck together like two peas in a pod. Not once had the left each other's side. Like the others, they were adorable with their patterns. One was a mixture of orange, black and dark brown that meshed together like a smudged painting, with blue eyes that stared up at him in curiosity. The other was gray with a white spot on his nose and white 'socks' on both of the front of his feet, and unlike his friend, screamed at him.

The last one was the only one that had remained quiet for most of the time, only absently meowing when he could get a word in over it's siblings. Like his brothers and sisters, he was short haired, but he was a dirty shade of white with sapphire colored eyes. Out of all of them, he seemed to be the most mature of the bunch, which was strange for such a tiny little thing.

For some reason, it reminded him of Raiden. He felt it had a lot to do with the eyes since most of his white hair was dirty. "You're freaking me out cat."

The white haired kitten meowed at him, almost as if it was a response to his statement.

As he watched them wandering around the bag, and he began to feel the dirty water of the alley start soak through the fabric of his dark jeans, he started to wonder what he was going to do now. He rescued them, they would be ok, but what the heck was he going to do with 5 kittens?

He heard them all squeak at him, almost as if they were asking him the same question.

"Quit yelling at me," Jin told them.

Another set of mewing.

Jin nodded his head in playful agreement, "Yup. I hear you alright."

They all squeaked again in unison, and he laughed as it dragged on for a good while until it ended

"Tell me about it," Jin smiled. "No, really I wanna know."

The orange one yelled at him once more; the others quiet.

"You're the bossy one, aren't ya?" Jin said, raising an eyebrow at him. "I can tell."

Another ferocious kitten cry from the orange lion, almost as if he was annoyed by him.

Kung Jin stopped himself, realizing what he was doing and frowned deeply as he narrowed his eyes in thought.

Why was he having a conversation with kittens?

Get a grip, Jin.

Jin looked around the alley, knowing full well that he couldn't carry them around in the plastic bag. He saw something sticking out from behind the dumpster, and he smiled at how perfect it was.

Quickly he ran over to retrieve the box, and as he unfolded it, he noticed the kittens make their daring escape from the bag. They meowed and stumbled away, going in different directions as Jin raced over to grab them.

He laughed as he plucked the orange one from the ground, "Nope, you guys can't get away that easily."

Finally, he had all 5 of them bunched together like a tiny, smelly bouquet, and he grimaced when he could feel their rib cages through their matted fur. Carefully, he placed all of them in the large, cardboard box and watched as they investigated it. Their little claws scraped against the sides of the box while Jin went over to make sure he didn't truly forget anyone.

Gingerly, he placed two fingers on the mother and 6th kitten's body and frowned when he felt how stiff and cold they were; they had been dead long before going in the dumpster. He wrapped up the bag and covered it before he picked it up and set it gently to the side with a solemn sigh.

Jin looked back to see the black one making an attempt to escape.

"Oh no, you don't," Kung Jin said, pushing the black one back in the box. As Jin picked up the box and carried it, he found himself nudging them in the box as they tried to get out. Almost like a game of Whack-a-Mole, without the mallet.

They balanced uncoordinated in the box, and Jin couldn't help but laugh softly as they fell from the movements of him walking with them and tried with little success to stand back up again.

"You all look like little drunks," Jin chuckled, "That's it; I'm cutting you all off."

The meowed at him and at the new environment they were in, almost like a bunch of kids asking him questions on a road trip.

Who are you?

Where are we going?

What's this?

What's that?

I can count to potato!

As Jin continued to push them back in the box for about a mile or so, he began to feel a slight headache form from a combination of the constant meowing and his inner thoughts. Now that the novelty of them wore off, what was he going to do with them?

Yes, they were cute, but he didn't have any use for them and sadly didn't want any of them. He just wanted to do his good deed and save them.

Now that he was thinking about it, he realized they were probably meowing so much was because they were starving. He grumbled at the fact that he would have to take care of them for at least one night.

Jin could sneak them into the base no problem, but finding them something to eat at this time of night, would be the tricky part.

At least it was better than hanging out with a hammered Cassie Cage.

A/N: Some kittens can have different father's, which is why they are so different in color and not the same. This fic serves as a reprieve when I need it from my other fic that I have going, so just a small warning the updates may be sporadic.

Hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully, I got the Kombat Kids in character. Let me know your thoughts if you like to see more.

Thank you for reading. :)