Solidarity

The river current carried a soothing nature, soft splashes crashing against several rocks large enough to break through the clear blue surface. A soft chirping of a nearby flock of birds, like little tweets accompanied with the occasional whisper of the wind passing through. It was a sunny day, but the clouds were growing larger day by day, and the shade shadowed over a group of Nekomata cat girls and their cursed friend.

Syri smiled, waving at the girl ahead to break the silent tension between them. "Look! It's the wolfy wolf, hey wolfy!"

Reta sighed before forming a subtle smile, waving back at the girls. It was KuliKuli who stepped forward first, closing the distance between them before sitting with her and dipping her paws into the water.

"Wait a minute, is this a way of getting us to take a bath? Are you calling me smelly?"

"No sis, if they thought you were smelly they would have said so... right?" Dimyri asked. Na'Vi rolled her eyes, opting to sit beside her friend with her legs criss-crossed, tails wagging cautiously in the air. The wolf may be KuliKuli's friend, but she was unfamiliar with her yet. She can be her friend, but not mine until I get a better feel of her, she thought to herself.

The central cat scooted closer to her friend, bumping thighs with her whilst maintaining a friendly atmosphere with her genuine smile. So much has happened in the past 24 hours, enough to put anyone's stress levels into overload. They found solace in having comfort in a friend to reduce her stress, besides stress on cats is no good for their fur according to Janette, and the last thing she wanted was to lose her precious fur coat. That stuff is super hard to keep clean you know, have you ever had fur covering your body before? Sure it looks beautiful when in the sun, but you're walking around through the dirt and trees and bushes all day, and it's so easy to get dirt or mud stuck in there nice and hidden, ugh! Don't even mention sand, I hate sand. It's rough, course and irritating, and it gets everywhere!

Mrr, anyhow. "Something on your mind, wolfy?" KuliKuli teased, bumping hips with her as she asked. She produced a slight nod with that crook at the end of her lip still raised, meaning she at least appreciated her presence. Maybe not the other kitties though, but that comes with time.

"You uh, mind if we can talk in private?" KuliKuli swallowed, hearing her heart begin to pick up speed. So something was bouncing around in her head after all, she felt as if she were troubled and was hoping that feeling was misplaced. She nodded, turning around to whisper in Na'Vi's ear. The cat girl shook her head in return, getting up and stretching her arms a bit. It was then KuliKuli noticed the light brown mark on her butt, somewhat hidden against the curve of her left cheek. Well, so what if that wasn't what she was looking for, she has a cute butt! Ugh, stupid hormones, KuliKuli scolded at herself as she faced the river stream.

"Syri, Dimyri, come." Na'vi spoke out, grabbing their attention. "Let's catch some fish or whatever."

Syri chirped and skipped to her with Dimyri less than amused at her horrible attempt at convincing them of wanting to fish. She was fine with the idea of letting those two have their personal time together, it would bother her to still be treated as if she didn't know any better. But well, that's the misfortune of being the middle child.

Reta looked back to see them at a good distance away, with the youngest one pawing at the stream sending splashes left and right. She reminded her of of someone at home then, someone close to her who enjoyed the little things like so. It was a touching thought for the second or two she had. Turning her focus back on her friend, she followed her stare into the current as the stream tickled their ankles, washing at their paws with several fish following the stream forward. From an angle, you could see a reflection of the two almost.

"Remember when we first came over here, the four of us?"

"Heh, I remember that. You hated it here that day because of me." KuliKuli smiled, remembering the thoughts of her dipping her paw into the water, waving it back and forth to catch a tasty treat.

"You're so primitive, you'll get no where doing that."

"Nyu! You'll see, I just need to reach a little more."

"Reach further, see how that turns out."

"Ish okay, as long as I can grab something to hold."

"Watch it, your tails' flexing on my-"

"Wahhh!"

"Ya-!"

SPLASH!

Just then Felix and Janette had returned carrying some firewood before realizing what happened to the other two. He approached the shore before hearing another break in the water, with a furious Reta gripping the sand and dragging a Nekomata behind her, seemingly coughing and laughing up a storm.

"Mindless brat, you could have drowned us!"

"Nuu, I knew you would save me. You like me."

"Says who?"

"Says you, you went and saved me and now Master and Jay-Jay saw." She replied, pointing at a smirking Felix and a giggling Janette. Flustered, Reta growled before storming off, leaving cute squishy wet noises as her sopping wet shoes left tiny puddles of footprints into the sand.

"Uh-oh, sand! Itchy itchy itchy!" KuliKuli squealed, rolling around to scratch away the sand.

"You're making it worse. Stop rolling in it if you hate it so much." Janette called out.

"Nyaaaa! Can't help it, so itchyyyyyy!" Felix shook his head, reaching for the bucket before heading towards his mate.

"Hold still, there we go. You're gunna need a bath to wash this off."

"Am I bad for doing that to her, Master?"

"Hm?" He blinked before realizing her question once she laid her head against his chest.

"She gets so angry, it's coot sometimes, but other times I don't know if she is super mad or super sad."

He frowned, it was an honest question and he certainly agreed with her to a point. "I can't say, kitty. But I hope we help her feel better soon."

"Mew, me too."

Reta huffed, looking back at that made her feel awkward. "Yea, you guys were easy to forget that my hearing is better than yours."

"Nuu." She looked over to her cat friend, messing around with her tail in the water. "I never forgot. I forget a lot of things, but not that."

"Speaking of, you don't seem so happy with your family coming back." True, though she was certain the smile wasn't all fake, she could also read that there was some tension in the kitty as well.

KuliKuli huffed. "Ish a lot, you know. I... it is bad to say, but I was happy when I couldn't remember. Anything I had or lost, I forgot, and the new memories with him were so much better. I was so scared, like a newborn waking up to find herself inside a weird house and a coot stranger laying in bed. You know I could have left then and there, and he would have let me."

"So why didn't you?"

Shrug. "He felt... nice. Something about him, he was so small and skinny too."

"Didn't seem like a threat to you then?"

"Not like that, everything was a threat to me. But he felt comfortable, he made me feel safe so I stayed. I was so happy, then we met Jay-Jay, and later a wolfy who we try so hard to make her smile because when she does she looks so so pretty and beautiful inside."

Reta scoffed, feeling a bit of a warm tickle inside. Comforting words. "You know you can leave anytime you want."

"Would you want me to?"

She paused, thinking it through before reaching over and placing her paw over her hand.

"Only if it makes you happy."

"Kuso. Am I that hard on you guys?"

KuliKuli smirked, "Like a pebble that thinks its a boulder hehe."

"Yaro." Both girls stay silent, listening to the other girls not too far off playing in the water somewhat.

"You know I envy that."

"Hm?"

"The whole forgetful thing. I wish I had that, maybe then I wouldn't be such an aho to you guys. None of us choose the means by which mercy will find us, I hope to find peace in mine when it comes."

She contemplated what she heard before returning with her own words.

"Being different isn't always bad. Now I have a family, some people to relate to and more Nekomatas around. I know Janette sure is excited with that!" She chuckled, before hugging her tightly.

She groaned. "Not a hugger."

"Not caring." She beamed, "You're our special special wolfy. Like me, because we are both the M-word."

"And like Master too cuz I'm human or something."

"Eep! You remembered, I knew you were listening!" She squealed, rocking side by side with her.

"Please stop."

"Nu!"

"You're making me lose balance."

"Then we splash!"

"Kuli..." She felt her butt lose its grip as KuliKuli giggled and hopped onto her lap.

"KULI!"

"WEEEEEEE!" She cheered as both their grips slipped.

SPLASH!