Recovery

It was cold and pitch black, the feel of grass was damp and wet as each water droplet clung on to each step. Something was walking around, its silk white fur brushing against the tall grass and shaking away the cool feeling on her back and tail. She made sure to stay low into the ground, quietly observing the tall mansion from the side view, her eyes set on one of its more larger balconies.

Just then the balcony door slid open, the cat lowering its ears and pressing its belly into the ground below with her tail patting on the ground. Peeking out from her safe space was a lean woman with beautiful brunette hair that flowed down her back, the curve in her waist left an appealing imprint onto any who gazed her way. Out she walked in with a wooden bucket, tipping it lightly to let it flow down onto a row of plants she hung over the balcony rail. A sudden breeze of wind whistled through the woods and caused the woman to shiver immediately. Breathing out and hugging herself, she rubbed her arms before reaching for the now empty bucket and heading back inside.

The kitty felt its ears drop in disappointment as the woman retreated and slid the door close, the click being audible as the door had been locked. The curtains sealed away any viewing opportunity left, crushing the kittens hopes with an upsetting sigh. As she waved her tail around and sat up to recoil in disgust at the amount of mud stuck to her fur, a brief set of leaves rained upon her before a clearly audible giggle could be heard. Looking up and brushing the leaves off of her face, she frowned at the sight of her older sister perched on a tree branch waving with her paw. Looking back, she saw her mother rubbing her head before tapping her nose and walking back. She begrudgingly followed the two into the woods before settling down, clear and away from sight.

Each cat transformed into their Nekomata form with one of them bursting into semi-contained giggles. Emyri placed her paws to her waist as Syri groaned at the mocking behavior of her older sister.

"Syri has a girl crush! Syri has a girl crush!"

"Shut up, quit it!"

"Dimyri, please. Now is not the time, behave."

She stopped and crossed her arms with a silly smirk to her. "Just saying mom, she keeps going back to look at her. Probably likes her."

"I do not!" Syri pouted, "I'm just watching them, that's all. Has nothing to do with crushes."

"I hope not, now is not the time for silliness." Emyri glanced around with a hint of nervousness on her. "Where is Na'Vi?"

"I'm here." Na'Vi answered in a groggy tone, coming down from the top of a tree.

"You look tired, your eyes are all red."

"Yea. It's nothing."

Emyri checked on her before nodding. "Okay, no more running off for personal space or any excuse for that matter. You girls are old enough to make your own decisions, I shouldn't be holding your hand for minor things. We need clear communication and trust, am I clear?" Her daughters shuffled around and kicked at a small pebble. "Girls, am I clear?"

"Yes mother."

"I better be. Give us a bit of room, I need to have a word with Na'Vi here. And no fighting."

"Yes mother, whatever you say." Dimyri answered as she and her sister moved several feet away. Syri leaned against the rough bark of an oak tree with Dimyri holding herself under the cold of the breeze. "So, do you like her?"

"Huh? Give it a rest, you've teased me enough."

"Hey, I'm being honest here. Sorry if I was being mean but... well it helps to keep things light with how everything is. I don't like it when things get stressful, makes me itchy all over. it's just us though, you can tell me."

"I just go there to watch and see what they do, maybe help and figure out how we can save our sister from them."

"Right, but when I see that woman step out and I see the look in your eyes, that tells me something else. Your tail kind of says it really, you wave it around like a dog." She giggled as her sister blushed and turned away.

"Not funny and don't compare me to a dog, I'm not. I'm much more clean." She stated, sniffing under her arm for clarity.

"Says the girl with mud on her tits." Her sister pointed out, with Syri wincing at the reminder and brushing the wet slime off quickly. "Aha, they're pointing! So you do like her."

"N-no, it's just cold!"

Dimyri raised her paws up and smiled. "Fair, you got me. Okay then, I'm just being silly and seeing things that aren't there. But on the off chance you do like her, she is cute."

"Pfft."

"But try not to forget, she's one of them and we don't know if they're bad or not." She reminded her.

Syri dropped her head and sighed. "Mom says they are."

"I know, but... it doesn't feel right. A lot of what's happened hasn't felt right, like we're missing something. I think Na'Vi is just making up stories to feel better."

Syri gasped. "She wouldn't do that, she's honest!"

"I hope so, I really hope everyone is. I don't know, I guess I'm seeing things again that aren't real." Her sister exclaimed, walking past her and leaning beside another tree.

"Why are you telling me this, you know I can get you in trouble."

"I know. I don't know, I guess it's because I'm nervous. We don't know where are friends are, and now that we found our sister I just get this upsetting feeling in me. From what I see, those people aren't forcing her into anything."

"They could be controlling her, like Na'Vi says-"

Dimyri shook her head in dismissal, a look of thought in her face. "I saw her when she was under, she would have had those eyes. Plus I don't see her wearing anything besides those weird things on their bodies to keep warm. I don't know, I don't want to say anything I'm not confident of yet. But I hope I'm wrong on a lot of things."

Syri swallowed as she could hear the faint exchange of words the other two were having not too far away, the aggressive tone in Na'Vi indicating an argument. "She's been different since they found us, she used to be nicer."

"Really? She isn't any different to me." Dimyri replied. "Hey, about that woman in the house-"

Her sister sighed with Dimyri looking back at her. "Okay last thing I swear, then no more teasing. I don't know her but from what I see, she doesn't seem too bad. So for what it is, maybe."

Syri nodded as she could hear Dimyri plant her claws into the rough wood before climbing. "You think things will go back to normal someday?"

Dimyri paused, looking down to see the hopeful look in her little sisters eyes. "I... yea. Of course it will. Let's just focus on getting the family back first, one step at a time you know."

Syri looked up and watched her sister climb up the largest branch to sit and look up at the sky. Feeling another breeze pick up, Syri slid down and sat against the same tree, looking at the far lights at a distance.

"Hey." Syri groaned out to her.

"H-Hey." She giggled, the look on Janette's face made her eyes look so big and funny. However she winced and moaned in pain, it hurt to laugh. "Whoa, careful."

She placed her hand on her side, keeping the area warm with Syri looking back at her. The last time they spoke was before the Kershin Market, with Syri maintaining her cat form until sunrise when everything happened so fast. Looking down, she scanned her body and saw most of it was stained with a mossy green color from the herbs they rubbed onto her.

"You look like a druid." She commented before explaining when Syri showed a blank face. "As in a plant."

"Oh!" Syri smiled, "And you look like you're getting changed, did you soil your diaper or something?"

Janette blushed and buried her head as her partner giggled slightly in small waves, held back by her injuries from enjoying herself too much. "No, I got shot back there."

"Ouch. Did it hurt?" Janette glared back with Syri looking away quickly. "Sorry, dumb question."

"I'll be fine. How do you feel?"

"Awful, sick, hurt."

"I'm sorry. Your sister said something about that stuff healing fast but..."

"No, it will still hurt." She answered back, looking away. Janette sighed as she was aware of it and reached for her paw only for it to shuffle away from her fingers.

"So I... found out today that..." She glanced up to see Syri still looking the other way, staring at the wall. "That... I remembered something I guess. Something I forgot about."

Syri's chest rose up and down gently in sync with her calm breathing. Had she felt her chest, she would feel the quick rhythm of her heart then. If anything, the Nekomata was almost certain Janette could hear her heart from being so close then.

"I uh, forgot to tell you about a story! Do you... mind hearing about it to pass the time?" She asked, hearing no comment for what felt like the longest sixty seconds.

Eventually Syri exhaled through her nose and nodded. "Sure, stories sound nice."

"Okay, here it goes." She breathed in, feeling uncertain about how this would go.