Black and royal blue

II. Kittens

I've been waiting for her patiently but she's been in the tub for hours. I got hungry so I went to the kitchen to make dinner for us. She looked sad, a warm soup might cheer her up.

By the time I got back, she was already sitting in my room. When I stepped in, she turned around. She was still gloomy.

'I made dinner.' I put the bowl down before her and sat down at the opposite side of the table. I was about to dig in when I looked at her. She was staring at the soup then raised her eyes to meet mine and tilted her head. 'What?'

'I just don't understand. A few days ago you pointed your sword at my throat and now you offer me a bath and make dinner. Why? Do you have an identical twin?' She narrowed her eyes with suspicion. I couldn't help but laugh. 'Am I not a spy or a possible enemy all of a sudden?' She was frowning.

'Haha, If you are one, you must be the cutest one.' I was still laughing. 'Now dig in before it goes cold!'

She started eating and after just one spoonful she closed her eyes tilted her head back and literally moaned: 'Damn, this is so delicious!' And slammed her tiny fist on the table.

'I thought the soup would warm you up but I didn't expect you to catch fire.' I burst out laughing. I laughed so hard, a drop of tear appeared in the corner of my eye.

She didn't answer. She was too occupied with shoving all the food in her mouth. I watched her in amusement. I've never seen a woman or anyone act like this over a bowl of soup. 'You really are an interesting change in life here.' I found it flattering that she liked my cooking this much. When she finished she leaned back casually.

'Mmmm! This was the best soup I've ever eaten!' She smiled at me for the first time. And what a smile that was! It was like when the sun comes out after several rainy days... When winter turns into spring.

Suddenly, I heard a growl and a flash of orange and black breaking through the shoji door. 'SHOGETSU!!!' I shouted at him. The tiger cub ran straight to Ana and pounced on her. 'NO!' She fell back and Shogetsu stood on top of her, licking her nose.

'Ahahahah!' She was laughing. What a relief, I thought she would be terrified.

'Well, that was unexpected.' She sat up and petted his head. 'So your name is Shogetsu, you little murderer. Why are you here?'

'He is my pet.' He was munching on Ana's hair. 'He is very cute and playful.'

'For now. He is going to grow into an apex predator soon. You won't find him so cute when he tears off your face.' This was a subtle scolding. 'But you really are a cutie pie, aren't you?' Shogetsu growled and put his paw on Ana's nose. In return, she growled back and playfully bit his ear like another cub would do. They wrestled like this for a while.

'Anyway, I think you should think about getting a less deadly pet. Like a kitten.' She gave the cub back to me.

'I think I just found one.' I was flirting with her. She rolled her eyes but smiled a little. I took Shogetsu out. It took me a while to lock him up in a room. Then I went back to Ana.

'I should go back to the castle. Thank you for everything Lord Masamune!' She formally bowed to me.

'Absolutely not. It is already dark and still raining. You'll spend the night here.' I flashed her a teasing grin. 'And don't call me Lord Masamune or I'll call you Lady Ana. I've heard you highly dislike that.'

'Fair enough. And what are we going to do? Making up plausible explanations so people won't gossip about us?' She had an unusual sense of humour but I found it entertaining.