KS: Katawa Kitten

I slept soundly last night.

Part of me is still reeling from that. I’m not too sure when the last time that had happened was. I was used to not sleeping the full eight hours. How could I spend time sleeping when I’d been handed an expiration date, you know? It was as if I’d been put on death row, only it would be more painful in the end.

Sometimes, I’d have nightmares about waking up and not being able to move. Not being able to even turn my head. Shadows would creep across the edges of my vision, and slowly a great weight would push down further and further upon my chest until I’d wake up in a cold sweat with tears in my eyes.

Last night, I dreamed about fishing.

I didn’t know why it was fishing. The pole felt almost alien in my hands. I’d only ever been once before, when my father had been closer with me. I looked down to see that I had the medical bag he’d used as a tackle box with me. I remember kicking my feet in the cool water, little splashes adding to the comforting atmosphere of the dream. It was a nice dream.

Which is likely why I smacked the snooze button on my alarm clock as hard as I had when it went off. The radio couldn’t even finish the opening line of ‘In the jungle’ before it was quickly canceled out by my hand smashing down on it. It clattered as it tumbled to the floor. I opened my eyes, vision blurred with sleep. I blinked twice. I hadn’t meant to hit it that hard. The soft blanket I was laying on was so comfy, and it covered just enough of my face to block out the morning sun.

I yawned, closed my eyes, and decided I could use a few more minutes before getting up. I had plenty of time before the school’s bus would arrive, and a few extra minutes of rest… I’d deserved them. The alarm was only a formality after all, it’s not like I’d be wearing anything other than the standard uniform so there was no need to pick out an outfit. I’d taken a shower last night too, so I didn’t even need to do that.

I tucked my head back into the crook of my arm, shut my eyes, and felt my breathing steady.
I swear, two minutes passed by before I was startled nearly out of my skin by a loud pounding on my bedroom door.

“Saki Enomoto!” Called my mother in a furious voice. “You get out here this instant! If you’ve snuck out again so help me God!”

I sat up, rubbing at the sleep in my eyes with the back of my hand. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” I called sleepily.

“Your bus has already left!” She said, and I could hear clicking as she unlocked the door with a key and began to open it. “Now I’ll have to drive you, and I am not changing out of my pa…jam…”

My mother is a very pretty woman. She runs a beautician saloon in the city, a high end one that gets away with charging extra because it doesn’t open till the crack of noon which makes it different and fancy. People frequently came to her because of her own beauty, though not many knew that the only makeup she wore was eyeliner.

It seemed like she hadn’t even made it that far as she pulled the door open and her mouth fell open in a large shriek. I winced backwards in surprise, raising my hands up to my shoulders and feeling my right ear twitch in fear as the hairs on my body reached for the ceiling.

After a moment I open my eyes, feeling a soft sensation on the front of my arms as I look at my robbed mother. She stares at me, shocked eyes as wide as dinner plates, her mouth working but no words coming out.

And then I notice what had been the sensation on my arms as a bunch of copper blonde hairs had wrapped around my front, encircling me. Slowly the long fine hairs swished from side to side, and I felt muscles in my back twitching. I slowly, very slowly, turned towards my desk and more importantly, the mirror above.

For a moment, my brain didn’t register what it was seeing. I felt my ear twitch again, and a tuft of hair that held itself up above my brow reacted, batting quickly downwards and then back up. My tail whipped from side to side.

I began to scream.

It took a couple of minutes for me to calm down, but the next thing I knew I was slumped to my knees with my hands curled tightly around my new grown tail. Mother had come over and rested a hand on top of my head and between my newly formed ears, and was stroking it telling me to calm down. Her strokes calmed me, they made me feel better, and before I knew it a deep soft hum was resonating from my throat. I was purring at her.

I felt myself blinking rapidly as she stopped, surprise and a little disappointment filled me. Surprise at myself, did I really just actually purr?

“Saki, you can’t miss class.” Mother said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but Yamaku’s attendance policy is strict enough. Your father can have a look at you tonight, but we really should be going.”

Father was a doctor, a surgeon that did his job very well. He’d know what to do, how this all-
The line of thought abandoned me as my instincts twirled me towards my open window. Cool Autumn wind gushed in from behind where a white cat was perched on the windowsill, staring at us with icy lavender eyes with a more than human sort of contempt.

I felt my body react, moving in front of my mother and my hands went wide as I flashed my fangs, my freaking fangs, in a threatening display.

I couldn’t be positive, but it seemed as if the cat rolled his eyes at me before leaping down and away from the window.

“S-saki?” My mother asked.

I blinked a few times, feeling my instincts give way to my reasoning mind. I felt a red twinge working it’s way into my cheeks as I turned to my mother.

“Y-your pants are halfway down. Your buttcrack is showing.”

******************************************************************************

The entire ride to school, I simply could not get comfortable. My tail was raised behind my back and wrapped around to my front. I found myself nervously brushing it. We were late, that I already knew, but it was getting to a point where I might miss my first class entirely.

Mother had suggested we try hiding the tail beneath my skirt, but it was far too bushy for that. Even then, the tail pushed uncomfortably against my butt. So now I was wearing a casual outfit with a hole cut out to a formal school, and planning to wrap the offending appendage around my waist like a belt.

This was one of my favorite outfits, and now I was forced to cut a hole in it. A green blouse tucked into a light brown skirt with a, thankfully matching, bushy brown belt wrapped around my middle. My mother had leant me a pair of her brown heels to accompany the ensemble.

After some quick practice, I’d determined I could control the positioning of my ears, but I wore a green headband to make sure they stayed down and hidden. I’d chosen emerald earrings to accentuate colors before I realized I had nowhere to hang them. It was more than a little shocking to raise my hand to where my ears had been and to find nothing there. I thanked God for my lengthy hair.

The flattened down ears made hearing a bit weird, almost directional, but it was better than the alternative…

“Now you tell them you have a job interview coming up,” my mother explained for the fourth time, “and that business casual was a requirement.” From the side she sounds slightly muffled, but I understand her well enough.

“And if anyone asks you anything, make sure you say you’re just not feeling well or that you’re feeling a bit under the weather, just like when you had food poisoning.”

I groaned. “Please don’t mention that right now. I’m nervous enough as it is.”

She pulled into the school’s side parking lot, her eyes searching for anyone who might see us. When nobody appeared, she reached over and coed, “I know you are honeypot, I know. I’ll call your father and visit him at the Clinique. We’ll get this all figured out.” She stroked my cheek and I let her.  It felt reassuring. It felt comforting. It felt good.

“S-saki?” She asked. I realized that I’d begun nuzzling her hand and coughed into my own.

“I-I’m okay. Sorry.” I felt my cheeks flush with heat, and some escaped into my voice. “I’ve suddenly turned into a cat. This is fine. Everything’s fine.”

I turned the doorknob and began to get out of the car when I felt my mother’s hand on my shoulder. I turned and looked into her own chestnut eyes. “We’ll get through this. I promise.”

I stared back before nodding my head, and felt the headband slip slightly. My hand went up and fixed it and I got out of the car, wrapping my newly grown tail around my waist as I bent down to retrieve my purse that held my school supplies and cane.

“It’s just one day,” I whispered to myself. “How weird can things get in just one day?”

My tail twitched.

I slung the purse over my shoulder and headed into the building.

I entered the door and nervously went into the front office. I greeted the secretary with a short bow, and she took my information as well as confirmed my lateness with my mother over the phone. I felt myself nervously plodding from side to side on the floor as they spoke, before the secretary was apparently satisfied and hung up.

“Go on and head in, Miss Enomoto. Good luck on your interview. I love your nails.” She said. I looked down to my nails as I walked out of the office into the building just as the bell sounded, ending first period. I begrudgingly walked up the two flights of stairs to the third floor and into my class room as out first instructor left. She gave me a look as she passed me, and I could tell that I’d not made a good impression with my lateness.

I felt so nervous walking into class. I stroked my face with the back of my hand like a nervous tick before proceeding into the room.

The class stared at me in silence when I did, obviously assuming I had been the other teacher. When it was revealed to be just me, a few students heads turned and they resumed their between class discussions. More than a few kept looking at me though. I fought down the feeling of sickness that was working its way up my stomach and hurried to my desk feeling astoundingly miserable.

I sat down, tucking a thumb between my belt and my tail, hoping beyond hope nobody noticed me.

“Psst.” Came a whisper from behind me. A light tap on my shoulder made it obvious that I couldn’t simply ignore the person.

I turned around to face an albino girl that I would usually partnered up with name Rika. Every day, weather allowing, Rika and I would go and have lunch outside near the school’s small pond. Today, her snow-white hair was pulled into a braid that lay over her shoulder, and her glowing red eyes looked dimmer today than they usually did. She looked tired.

Rika forked a thumb over to behind her and to the right, where another classmate of ours sat. Emi Ibarasaki gave a small wave before whispering. I couldn’t make out the words, so I adjusted myself and looked questioning to her. “You okay?” She whispered a little louder.

I nodded, feeling the headband slide on top of my ears.

Emi grinned, and gave me a thumbs up. “You look super cute.” She hissed.

I blushed, and before I could stop myself I reflexively let out a soft “Mynah.” The blush deepened and I felt my eyes go wide. Sharply, I nodded and mouthed my thanks before turning back to the front, the heat on my face still burning.

I was relieved of any further embarrassment by the English teacher that soon came into the room. Over the next hour, I began to feel my worries slipping away as I focused on school work. We were reading a book written by the American novelist Ernest Hemingway about the Spanish Civil War. For a little while I even felt myself forgetting that I was wearing my literal tail as an accessory, but every time it began to unfurl it would brush against my arms and I’d tighten it again.

And then the lunch bell rang. I felt my ears flatten even further against my head and beneath my combed hair from the sudden surprise, nervousness flooding into me like a sudden surge.

Rika stood up from her seat and looked at me expectantly. I could not place why, but something about the girl’s mannerism simply spelled doom. Instinctively I knew, if I were to go and have lunch with Rika, I would be exposed.

“I-I-I was thinking of the cafeteria today…” I mumble lamely. “I… I forgot my lunch.”

She raises a snow-covered eyebrow at me before shrugging and turning to leave. I watched her go, breathing out a low sigh of relief.

“Trouble in paradise?” Asked a small voice from behind me.

“Nyah!” I screamed, flinching backwards. My tail caught against the seat, thankfully keeping it from unraveling in fear, though my headband wasn’t so lucky. It slid off the back of my head and went clattering to the ground, though my ears managed to remain pressed to my head.

“Oh sorry sorry,” said Emi Ibarazaki, bending down to pick up the band. She held it out. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I blinked at her, my tongue flicking around the inside of my mouth and over spikey fanged teeth. I open my mouth and mutter, “It’s okay… just… on edge.” I reach out and take the headband from her.

“Was it something about what happened over the weekend?” Emi asked.

I blinked at her. “What do you mean?”

She tilted her head and pursed her lips before realization dawned on it. “That’s riiight, you don’t live on campus.” Her voice took on a conspiratorial tone as she whispered. “Apparently, there was a big thing that happened on campus the other day, but this is your first day back so…”

“What happened?” I asked curiously.

Emi shrugged. “It was right down the hall from me, day after Halloween, when suddenly there was the sound of some dude screaming.”

I felt my brow knit in worry, and Emi continued.

“I heard the shouting, but my legs weren’t on and I’d sorta spent the night before watching scary movies with Rin so I maybe panicked a little. Then there was the sound of breaking glass and the shouting vanished. I finally looked out and saw a couple other girls staring towards the end of the hall. A couple of doors were open, one looked like it’d been ripped off its hinges, and there was red blood on the shattered glass of the window.”

“Do you know who was screaming?” I asked.

Emi shook her head. “I went to the window and looked outside, there was nothing out there though. Leaves were all over the place from the trees, but I didn’t see anything. The worst part is that a few girls seem to have gone missing.”

“Missing!?” I asked, putting a shocked hand to my face and covered my open mouth.

Emi nodded gravely. “Lilly Satou and Hanako Ikezawa just seemed to vanish. Another girl, someone said her name was Suzu Suzuki but that sounds made up, hers was the door that was torn open. At first one of the other girls thought she might be sleeping, but she started freaking out when she wasn’t in her room. Nobody knows what happened.”

“This sounds very frightening…” I whispered. “I hope they’re all okay.”

Emi kicked at the ground. “Yeah, it’s been hard to sleep the past few days. Kinda terrifying to think of something attacking you in your room.”
That’s when a memory flashed in my mind. The white cat with lavender eyes coldly starring at us from my bedroom windowsill.

“Are the rooms still like that?” I asked Emi.

“Yeah. The police are trying to investigate.” She said.

“May you show me, please?”

She looked at me, tilting her head before shrugging. “I guess. I gotta get mine and Rin’s lunches out of my room anyways. Come on.”
She waved a hand and I got up to follow her out of the building and over to the door rooms. I felt myself sniffing the air, short little movements with my head tilted just the slightest bit upwards. There were so many sharp smells in the air around us as we swam through the student body.

Before long, we finally reached the girls dorms. The security desk had a severe looking woman at it, who nodded to us as we walked into the stairway and up towards the rooms. “They’ve had someone there 24/7 since Saturday. Don’t know what good it’s supposed to do, they’re obviously not going to come back.”

I contemplated that. “Do you feel more secure?” I asked.

“I guess.” She replied.

We entered the hallway and instantly I started coughing. Tears filled my eyes as the sickly-sweet smell entered my unprepared nostrils, and I leaned against the door frame. “Hey, are you okay?” Emi asked, coming over to me.

She put a hand on my back and my stomach growled loudly.

I fought embarrassment as the girl giggled. “Hey if you’re hungry we can always share lunch. Hope you like tuna.”

My eyes went wide and I practically started salivating, but not at her words. I began walking on the balls of my feet towards the end of the hallway and towards the smashed window. The three rooms were all roped off with police tape, as was the windows edge. I felt my eyes dilating as I stepped closer and closer to the area. Flashes of wet green spots filled the hallway in my mind, mixing with the reality of the hall with an almost ghostly visage.

“Saki!” Emi hissed. “Enomoto what are you doing?”
I’d be disturbed if I wasn’t so on edge.

This area was dangerous. Every sense I had was extending around me as I stalked forwards. The window only had a bit of blood on it, but to me it was as if it were flashing with importance.

I carefully padded forwards towards the rooms, and saw that the door that had been smashed open. ‘Beware’, my senses seemed to be screaming at me. ‘Beware.’

I felt myself twitching as I examined the room over the police tape, my ears moving back and forth scanning for-

A clatter on the ground behind me and I whipped around barring my teeth and flicked a clawed wrist back at the threatening green headband.

I froze. My belt had suddenly vanished, and out of the corner of my eye my tail was waving uncertainly. Slowly I looked up towards Emi, who stood as still as a statue, wide eyed and mouth open from shock. Beneath the shock I was aware of my senses telling me to get ready to spring, and I felt my legs tense before I understood why.

Numbly, Emi’s hand reached sideways, gripping for the door to what must be her room. That’s when I became aware of the hissing.

“No don’t!” I yowled, too late as her hand turned the door and started to pull it.

My legs reacted, springing out towards the small girl who screamed and ducked in surprise. I leapt over her though, a clawed hand grabbing wildly for her shoulder and sinking into soft flesh. I felt blood well up around my fingers as she screamed, falling backwards with me, and barely avoiding the giant serpent that sprang through her open door and slammed into the door of the room across the hall fangs first. The door crumpled like wet paper.

I flipped over, landing on my feet in a crouch. Unfortunately, my brain hadn’t received the full message, and instead of catching my weight with my hands, I caught it with my face. I was lucky that the hall had been carpeted, and quickly reared up onto my clawed hands. I noticed then that I’d apparently leapt straight out of my shoes, as my bare feet were pressed into the carpeting as I let out a sharp hiss, moving over the stunned Emi protectively.

The serpent hissed back at me, it’s long cylindrical body slithering rapidly into the hallway and tensing itself against the ground. It sprang forwards as I leapt above it, alerted by some predatory instinct when to move, and raked a clawed hand across its yellow eye. Pride filled me, and it probably would have been a very graceful maneuver if I hadn’t then landed on the back of its head.

Within moments I found myself being constrained, the snakes wide form wrapped around me. I stared up at it’s wide open mouth, it’s long dripping fangs, and I felt my breath catch before I could scream.

A piece of wood the size of my arm suddenly imbedded itself in the creature’s skin, right behind the now scared left eye, with Emi attached to it. She was screaming, but from her expression I couldn’t tell if it was in fear or anger. The snake  released a throaty screech and turned, sharply slamming the girl against the wall. She fell limply to the ground.

I took the moment I could as he loosened his grip, using clawed toes to scrape off of the things scales and launched myself towards its face. It dodged me, uncoiling rapidly and retreating down the hall. It smashed into the broken window and simply bordered though the frame, taking part of the wall with it as it dashed out into open space and down the building.

I blinked to realize I was positioned defensively over Emi, who was groaning in pain from beneath me. Blood trickled down the side of her head, and she blinked concussed eyes. I heard sounds coming from the stairwell and scooped the girl up in my arms, retreating us into her room.

I closed the door, placing her on her bead. She was hurt, she was bleeding, and I had no idea what to do. So, I let the instinct take over.

I started licking the side of Emi’s head, lapping at the cut that had sliced above her left brow. It was smaller than I’d thought it was, and before long it seemed to stop bleeding. I shuddered in pleasure, the taste appeasing this strange need I had developed, even as the more humane side of me cringed. I felt my tail swishing around, leaning against the girl’s small frame.

Slowly she began coming to. She slowly started moving more as I licked her, and I could tell she was still in pain. I lowered myself to her, my body pressed against her as I continued licking her.

“W-what happened?” She asked. I backed away to look at her. Her eyes were half lidded, as if darkened with sleep. She dazed, stretching her neck.
I mewled at her, not caring. “Don’t move. No moving. You might be hurt.”

She didn’t stop so I let myself drop on top of her. She let out a grunt as the air left her lungs. I raised my head, hands intertwined with her holding her down.

“No moving.” I repeated, blinking.

She looked at me dazedly, before slowly nodding. “Yeah. Okay.”

We laid like that for a while. I tucked my head into the crook of her neck, rubbing myself against her. As I did, the fear that had overtaken me and driven me to reactionary slowly ebbed away. I began to analyze the events that had just happened. I’d given over to whatever had affected me, let it drive and control my actions, but they were still my actions. Graceful was something I strived for, but anyone who knew me knew just how clumsy I could be.

And now I’m laying here nuzzling a classmate in order to feel better after being attacked by a giant snake, mind you after I was apparently turned into a cat-girl. I didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened if the snake had clamped down and…

I froze, a realization coming to me as Emi’s hand rose up to my head and began to stroke me between my ears.

The snake hadn’t been waiting for me. It probably didn’t even know I was ever going to be there. The snake had been waiting in ambush her.

“Saki?” Emi asked. “Why are you a kitty?”