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It is interesting, really, the way the human body works. When it decides to wake up, when it decides that it is time for bed, when it is time for food, when it is time to abstain…things like that. It’s just nature, running its course.
Hmm.
The morning is as still as ever, and Hua wakes at six, just like usual. It is still dark outside – the curtains are drawn – and when she rolls over to hug Senti—
She’s not there?
Momentary panic sends Hua into overdrive, her eyes flicking around the room, fingers already curling into fists. Then she hears the sound of the tap from the closed bathroom. On closer inspection, her slippers are also missing from where she leaves them by the side of the bed.
So she just got up early to use the bathroom. Hua lets out a sigh of relief and stretches. Senti was already asleep last night when she returned from a last-minute team meeting with the recruits, and she didn’t even get the opportunity to kiss her goodnight.
Hua yawns as she gets up and shuffles towards the bathroom.
“Senti? Are you—”
“Stop! Stop, don’t come in.”
Hua stops in her tracks. Senti’s voice, muffled by the door, is unusually frantic, frenzied even. This is not like her. She blinks and takes another step, hand reaching for the doorknob.
“Sen—”
“Stay—stay right where you are! Please.”
“Senti, it’s just me.”
Hua sighs and removes her hand from the doorknob. She knows it’s just Senti in the bathroom, so what could have made her wife so troubled? It is almost as if she’s hiding secrets from her.
Could she be…seeing someone else?
No. No, no, no.
Hua shakes her head, the offending thought immediately being banished from her mind. Senti is many things – confident, upbeat, brash, caring and loving. But disloyal is not what she is.
Then what?
“Senti?”
“Y-yeah, Hua?”
“Are you…hurt? Injured?”
“Me? I-injured? Of course not! Why would you ever think of that?”
Hua sinks down to the floor and leans against the bathroom door. Her sharp ears pick up Senti also sinking to the floor, on the other side.
“What’re you hiding from me?”
“Um, it’s nothing, Hua. I promise.”
“If it is so trivial, then open up.”
Silence. Then a small theatrical cough.
“Hua, do you love me?”
Despite herself, Hua smiles and leans her head back against the bathroom door.
“You know the answer as well as I do, dear.”
“Okay…will you love me even if I show you…what the fuck has happened to me?”
Hua blinks.
“What…what did you do, Senti?”
“I’ll show you in a bit. But you’ve gotta stop blocking the door.”
Hua rises to her feet, and takes a deep breath in. Scattered thoughts run wild through her head, but she squares her shoulders and grins.
“Alright, Senti. I’m ready.”
“Just don’t freak out, okay?”
“I will try…”
The sound of the door unlocking, and then it swings open, revealing Senti standing there. She’s just wearing the T-shirt and shorts she slept in. Nothing out of the ordinary except for…
Hua recoils, despite everything.
If Senti was still a Herrscher, she would have written this whole thing off as a trick of the mind, an illusion planted by her clever little head. But this is reality, and both are just ordinary women now.
Hua blinks, whispering the Taixuan blade mantra. Still, the sight of the two cat ears sprouting out of Senti’s head doesn’t disappear, doesn’t fade.
Her wife wears a bashful, slightly amused expression, and she cocks her head slightly.
“Well, what do you think?”
“Sen…I…first of all, what the hell are those?”
“These?”
Senti reaches to caress the cat ears apparently growing out of her skull, and shrugs.
“Looks like I just grew cat ears overnight.”
Hua takes in yet another deep breath and takes one small tentative step forwards. In the light of the bathroom, she can now see these new ears properly. Grey they are, and they flicker slightly as Hua tilts her head to the other side.
“My wife is now…a catgirl.”
“No. Not really. See, I don’t have a tail. Just these ears.”
Hua shakes her head, stifling a chuckle as she opens her arms.
“Well, you could have told me straight away.”
Senti gives a little coo as she wraps her arms around Hua’s waist and buries her cheek in her chest. Her cat ears wiggle a little, and she sighs as Hua pulls her in to cradle her tight.
“You know, I’ve always wondered what you’d look like with cat ears.”
“Really?”
Hua nods and frees one hand to hesitantly, carefully touch the tip of Senti’s left cat ear. When Senti simply sighs in response, she strokes it, and her wife’s breath hitches. She tries again, and Senti mewls, nuzzling her cheek against Hua’s collar.
“So…they actually are real.”
“Y-yeah, it wouldn’t be so serious if I—nhh—”
Hua grins and caresses the other ear, then presses her lips to Senti’s forehead.
“What shall I do with this cute little kitten?”
Senti draws away slightly to lean her head against Hua’s shoulder. Her cat ears twitch as Hua sneaks another kiss to her temple.
“The first thing you should ask, Hua, is what everyone will say about this.”
Hua tilts her head and slowly leads Senti back to the bedroom where she sinks back down on the bed, her wife’s head in her lap.
“I…I had never considered this.”
“Knew it.”
Senti lets out a purr and nuzzles her cheek against Hua’s hand, which had been idly caressing her face. Despite herself, Hua lets out a chuckle and allows Senti to continue rubbing against her hand.
“Looks like you became a cat in more than one way.”
“Did not!”
Hua scratches behind Senti’s cat ears, and she shivers, a deep convulsion running through her entire body. Her grip on Hua’s waist tightens.
“Hua…what if people coddle me because of these new ears? I mean, these are obviously a novelty. People will be wanting to pet them, stroke them, all that stuff.”
“I’ll take care of it. From now on, Senti, your ears are off-limits to everyone except me.”
Senti blushes at that, and Hua bends to press her lips against hers’, and giving her cat ears one final caress.
“With or without cat ears, you are still my lovely wife. Let nothing change that, okay?”
Senti nods and nuzzles against Hua’s hand as she pulls her closer.