Getting better

"Careful, careful! Ow!"

"One sec."

"Easy, eeeeeasy, you’re hurting me!"

Reta was busy tying the horses and settling them down, listening to the noise from outside the parted window. She scoffed and patted one of the mares, brushing her fur and glancing up at the sight of the crescent moon. No, she tilted her head to correct herself. It wasn't a crescent moon, it was the opposite or a waning gibbous moon.

This made her frown and look back to her hand brushing the horse's neck, feeling a bit of guilt and pain within. With a heavy sigh, she patted the mare's head and put the brush aside, clapping her hands to rid of any dust stuck to them before lighing up a nearby torch.

"Why the long face?" She asked the two horses before spitting on the groung and entering the house. The sound of the owner's screams and pleads echoed dowm the halls and began to annoy her.

"You're doing it wrong. Ow! Careful!"

Emyri spanked her on her left cheek drawing a sharp yelp from an angry Janette, laying on the bed pantless. Felix sat beside her with a small tray and a roll of paper, a ball of cotton in his hand. He leaned back as Janette hissed through the pain, elliciting a low growl from mother kitty.

"Pipe down you, suck it up and use the pillow unless you prefer we stuff your mouth for this. Time to be a big girl and work through the pain."

She groaned yet nodded back. "Fine."

"Good girl." Emyri looked up to Felix as he readied himself and reached for the messy bowl she held.

"You're sure this works?"

"For Nekomatas yes. It's an old healing recipe we would use for cuts or broken tails. Helps speed up the recovery and numbs the area you rub it in."

"That works." He remarked, turning around to see how Syri was doing. She was sleeping next to Janette, sharing the bed and snoozing with the softest sighs. Her cuts had been cleaned up and she had plenty of green paste around her thights, forehead and tail. All areas where they realized she was hurt the most.

"But you said this works for Nekomatas, no?"

"Usually." Emyri glanced over to the remedy mix they were working with, the contents being only enough to manage a fill a tablespoon. "But I think it should work on you and her as well. You're both mates after all."

"Mates." Felix repeated. "That means we're becoming more like you guys, right? That priest said something about that, mentioned something about sharing a gene I think."

"It's called the demon gene." Janette muttered over her pillow. She sighed, "It's what gave you your new phsyque. You probably feel a lot better today then you did before you met KuliKuli. There's a theory that people are given the demon gene upon sexual contact with a monster girl."

"So then you had it as soon as KuliKuli and I-"

"Daahhh-we don't need to mention that! But no, that's more or less why I was asking KuliKuli questions."

Emyri tilted her head. "You were using my daughter for experiments?"

"No! Just asking her questions, I want to know more about you girls. I wanted to understand you better. I'd never experiment on her without her permission." She lamented through those final words. "Not when we ended up being closer than I thought."

"Well now you can ask all the questions you'd like by going to a mirror." Felix held a puzzled look as Emyri cleared her throat. "Mind explaining to him what you haven't said yet, young lady?"

Janette groaned. "I think Syri chose me to be her mate. Ow!" She winced at the soft slap of her ass by a large paw.

"There's no thought to it, look at her neck." Felix leaned in and pulled some of her hair out of the way, stretching his neck until he caught sight of a hickey with a faint pink glow to it. "That's the mark of a mate signaling that their other is hurt."

"So I have one too?"

"On your neck as well, yes." She confirmed. "But it only appears when your mate is hurting. We feel it too when our other half is hurting or doing something that threatens that mark."

"Can you... erase it?" He asked.

Emyri sighed. "Only if the feeling is mutual, but it takes a toll. It feels like something in your heart is missing afterwards, and there's the fear that you won't find it ever again. It's why we are picky with our markings, though sometimes we can be careless and do rash decisions." She stated, scowling at the woman laying face down between them.

"I get it, no need to rub it in yeesh."

Felix ran his fingers through his hair as he began to reflect. "So you and Syri... this mean you'll become a Nekomata now?"

"I... don't know." She wondered, turning her head to glance at Emyri.

"No, you won't. But you'll gain some characteristics to be more compatible with us."

"Makes sense, pass me that notebook and cup of ink Felix." She asked before receiving it and opening the book to jot it down. She closed it as well as her eyes before hanging her head and putting it away. "Okay just... I'm ready. Just... put more of that stuff on me before and after, please?"

"Of course, dear." Emyri replied, rubbing some more of the herbal paste around the lodged arrow wound.

Felix breathed in and gripped the arrow by the small shaft, his palm pressed against her cheek. "Okay, so this is gunna be ugly. Cover your mouth okay?"

Emyri placed the bowl aside and wrapped her tails around the arrow, leaving Felix to hold her wound with both hands. It was going to be ugly, they knew that. It would feel worse then it looks, Janette knew this as well. She reached for her notebook and bit into its hard case, giving them the thunbs up once her butt felt tingly and slightly numb.

"Okay, on three." Exchanging a knowing look, he nodded and spread her wound. "Three!"

Janette gripped the book with her teeth hard, fists pounding into the bed. Her lungs were letting out the strongest squeal of her life as her eyes grew watery in record time. Her face went red, her body ached, and she did everything she could not to kick or shake them off.

"There, it's done." She heard Emyri say as Felix was quick to rub the remains of that paste onto her skin. She heard a faint thud before seeing the metal tray with a blood tipped arrow on top. "Ta-da, it's an arrow. You must be so proud."

Janette whimpered and buried her head with Emyri feeling bad and leaning in to kiss her cheek. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. Get some rest, you were brave this morning in rescuing my little girl. I'm sorry for being mean to you dear, it was out of line."

"I deserved it." She muttered in response. "I felt like shit after I did that. The first girl to want me in a long time and I break her heart." Her voice cracked.

Felix put the stuff away and kneeled down to face her. "We're not perfect, we mess up more than we do good. Just do better okay? Get some rest, let us know if you need anything. I'll check every hour okay?"

He stood up on his feet and reached for the tray. "I'll put this away I guess. Be checking on the girls downstairs to see how they're doing."

"I'll stay here, be sure to keep this one company." Emyri smiled, waving him goodbye before turning her head to her. "Hey, try to relax. We got the arrow out, you’re fine now."

"It's not that." She answered, turning to look at Syri sleeping next to her. "She did that because of me."

"What?"

"She knew she would get hurt but she didn't care, because she was already hurting."

"That's..." She held back and kept quiet, reaching in to hold Janette's hand. "That's nonsense, she was trying to prove herself to be strong."

"What?"

She smiled. "My little girl feels a need to prove herself sometimes, being the baby isn't easy. So she puts on a mean face and does something stupid to show she can contribute. It's silly and really this was my fault to begin with. I wasn't thinking for her, only for her sister then. If anything I should have known better, I should be better."

"We should be better." Janette added, resting her head onto the pillow.

Emyri smiled and stroked her hair. "We will be."