Shortish Stories

Yokai 2

Immediately seeing the puzzled expressions on many of the owners faces, I decided I needed to play it up. I slipped back in my seat, and mistress turned to me. The anger in her eyes was evident, but for some reason she acted, just like me.
"Hello there Yokai!" She said, her voice higher than normal, like you would speak to a baby or a small animal. "Now where have you been?" She asked. Not waiting for a response, she grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and kissed me.
Her kisses are like torture for me. On the one hand, she is really very good at it, and I'm tempted to give in.
On the other hand, usually I can taste the blood in my mouth already from biting my lip to keep from screaming. This puts a damper on any pleasure I might experience.
So, like usual, I keep my mouth still and emotionless, so the kiss is brief. Like usual, the sigh she lets escape afterwards is not one of contentment, but of disappointment. She snakes her hand around my waist, and pulls me into her lap. I sit reluctantly, and she begins to play with my hair.
Again, I bemoan my small stature. I'm the perfect height to have sit on your lap, and be able to both play with my hair, and lean over and kiss my cheek. Which she does. A lot.
I squirm and blush, but unfortunately that makes the other people at the table smile at me, and some to even coo. Seriously. They coo. This makes me angry, but I try not to show it. Mistress stops playing with my hair and starts fiddling with my ears. Of course I start to purr.
Ugh I hate my purr. It's deep and low and rumbling, and I only ever make it when she touches my ears. Otherwise, I'm simply not happy enough. I'm not happy when she touches my ears, it's just that they're very sensitive, so I can't really help it.
I silence my purr as soon as I can, because I find it embarrassing. I hear the patter of a Nekos feet, and assume it's Crona. I don't turn to look, but I listen carefully. His scent wafts to my nostrils, but his steps are softer and faster. I then identify a second set of steps echoing the first.
Before I have time to wonder, a black cat rubs itself along the bottom of the chair, carefully avoiding Mistresses feet. My eyes widen as they meet his blue eyes, and he tail signals me to follow.
Of course I'm not fickle enough to follow him after storming out. So I ignore him and listen to what the male across the table has to say.
"We've been having the most awful weather! The rain is persistent, and the fog just keeps coming back." He says, obviously continuing an ongoing topic. His accent is funny, and I can't place it.
"Your weather is always like that Geoffrey! Where I live, there's suddenly thunderstorms! It scares poor Maddie to shreds!" A man says, much louder than the first. His accent is funny too, but nothing like the first's. A Neko I take to be Maddie hides her face shyly. Her eyes are a wonderful mix of green and brown and gold, and her ears are white with orange and cream. Her tail flicks into view for just a moment, and all I see is a blur of tan and white. She's gorgeous, and I wonder if she'd talk to me later.
A brush against my ankle reminds me of Crona. Glancing down, he signals 'I could teach you to do this'. I blink at him twice, a gesture of confusion. He flicks his tail and rolls his eyes in a gesture I know to mean annoyance. His tail forms an unfamiliar signal, one that looks similar to melt, but also slightly like butterfly. Intrigued, I flick my tail in assent.
I lean back into my mistress and whisper to her. "Where's the lavatory?" Fortunately for me, this ship is nice enough to have one.
"Down a level, 4th door on the left" she whispers back. She kisses my cheek once again and releases me. I pretend to stumble getting down off her lap, as though my foot is asleep, and I manage to pick up Crona.
As soon as we're out of the door, I feel him grow heavy in my arms. I try to let go, but he lets his claws touch my skin threateningly so I continue to hold his steadily larger form.
I close my eyes, trying not to drop him, but soon I realize the weight is gone, and he's holding me, not the other way around. I open my eyes to find his blue eyes very close to mine, and I hurriedly break out of his embrace.
"We should go somewhere else." He whispers, and he takes my hand. Like usual, my claws lengthen, but he doesn't know the right grip. He gasps and let's go, stopping in his tracks.
"Don't assume you can touch me." I say, hearing my voice sharp like ice.
"Sorry" he says timidly, and continues to walk. This time, he leads me to a room with a pool table. I'm grateful for that, because after that much physical contact, I'm not ready to be in his room.
"Judging from your reaction, you don't know how to shift." He says, all timidness gone. He says it as a statement, as though he dares me to contradict. So that's what that sign was. I think, wondering what else I'm missing out on.
"You said you could teach me. So teach." I say, shifting back on one hip and crossing my arms.
"First rule: never drop someone while they're shifting. Their bones are fragile, and you could literally break them." He says, giving me a look. I nod, and he continues. "Basically your tapping into your inner Neko, and becoming your more animalistic side. I've seen some people become tigers, leopards... But judging from your coloring, you'll be a tabby." He informs me, looking at my coloring. All I can think is damn, a leopard would've been so much better to take her down.
"So I just 'tap into my inner Neko'? And how am I supposed to do that?" I ask, still not understanding. He sighs, and gestures to his ears.
"Look at these. These are part of your Neko self. So is your tail. The first thing you should focus on is your hearing. Then your smell, and then your stealth. The rest should come naturally from there." He said, gesturing to each part in turn. Apparently it was meant to be an example when he transformed the second time.
His face was already getting a catlike nose by the time he started to shrink, and his (bare, which I now noticed) feet gained pads well before his arms became the same size as his legs. Transforming back, he went opposite, with legs first and face last.
I closed my eyes, and I focused on my hearing. I found I could hear his breathing, as well as the muffled slapping of the waves against the wall behind me.
For my nose, I smelled the ever present salty brine of the ocean, smelled his scent and that of the wood from the table and the floor and walls, then the little plastic balls and the tip to the poker.
Then for my stealth, I felt my toes against my socks, and shoes around that. I felt the way my arch was elevated for support, and how my heel was padded gently.
My fingers tingled, and my eyes blinked. I was suddenly much smaller than I had been. Sitting down with a thunk, I lifted my paw. White up to the joint, where it became gray with black spots and stripes. Twisting my head around, I found this pattern continued throughout my body. My chest was white, and this continued into my belly. Blinking up at Crona, I found his eyes glued onto me.
What? I tried to say, but it came out as a feeble meow. Angrily, I tail signaled. 'What are you staring at?' He blinked, and signaled back. 'Nothing'. I stood up, and awkwardly walked towards him. A small laugh escaped his lips, and a few seconds later his black form was next to mine.
He walked forward, and I watched the delicate way each of his paws moved in turn. I copied it, and found myself getting used to it. I turned around, to find he had sat down to watch. Surprisingly, his belly was a dark gray, and he had a white spot diagonally under his chin. I could only see part of it, until he turned his head to the side.
Walking up next to him, I internally sighed as I found I was still much smaller than him. My length was shorter, my legs were shorter... All around I was more delicate.
I flicked my tail at his, just barely brushing them. 'How do I turn back?' I signed, hoping I did the right movements.
He turned back much more slowly this time. "Basically focus on what makes you like a human- your hands, your size, your voice." He said, looking down at me.
Again, I closed my eyes. My hands are much larger than this, part of my size. They have 5 fingers, unlike my paws which have 4 toes, and my 5th finger is halfway up my leg. My voice isn't too high or low, although I suppose it's fairly low for a female. My singing range isn't very high either. I think of a song that my mother used to sing... My litter mates and I. The lyrics are mostly lost to me now, but I can still remember parts of the tune.
Hush now my baby
Be still now, don't cry
Sleep as your rocked by the stream
Sleep and remember
My last lullaby
And I'll be with you when you dream

I slowly open my eyes, reluctant to leave the fond memory. When I do open my eyes, reality comes back far too fast. Crona, as large as he was before and twice as slack jawed.
"What are you looking at?" I ask flatly, my natural defensiveness coming through.
"Who taught you to sing like that?" He asks, his voice full of wonder.
"Nobody." I end the conversation right there. I have no desire to share my memories of my mother. I glance at him, and find he looks like a chastened child. Serves him right, he shouldn't pry into my business.
I twitch my tail, and when he still doesn't look at me, I speak. "What did you want. Obviously you weren't just motivated by the wonders of educating others." I say, putting as much of that opposite tone in my voice as I can.
"Tone down the sarcasm, would you? Like I said before, we need to know how bad she's been to you." He says, unintentionally informing me.
"Oh, so you want to see more scars? Here." I say angrily, rolling up my sleeve. Numerous nicks, scratches, and 5 downright slashes decorate my skin.
A sharp intake of breath lets me know he gets it. Any spot on my body has scars. The back is the worst, followed by the arms, then legs, then torso, then hands and feet. My head and neck are relatively unscathed, they just have overlap scars. She didn't want to mar my face though.. This way she can still take me out in public.
"She needs to pay." He says, his voice shaking in rage, or fear, or maybe even sympathy? I don't care. He didn't feel them, he didn't inflict them with his own hands. He didn't feel the rage I felt every passing minute in her company.
"You think I don't know that?" I sneer, not letting him see the hurt that came bubbling up from inside. "She will die on this ship, even if I have to go down with her." I say, feeling my words ring with cold, and finality.
"You won't go down. Every Neko on this ship will support you, and she'll fall from the inside." He said, offering me his- and everyone else's -help.
I nod, and accept his assistance. I don't care how it ends, as long as I get the change to see her bleed like she did to my littermate.