Work Text:
With a gasp, her eyes snapped open.
It took Tazusa some time to realize she was looking at the ceiling of her room. Her breaths were harsh, ragged and loud, piercing the silence. Gradually, she calmed herself, and took stock of the situation. She’d had a nightmare.
After a prolonged moment of hesitation, she turned her head to the morning light that tickled her eyes. The window had a frame. It wasn’t one of bare concrete, crisscrossed by steel bars. The pillow beneath her head was soft, the bed long enough to stretch her legs.
Just a nightmare. That was what it had been.
Tazusa clambered reluctantly out of her welcoming bed, and went to answer the incessant knocking at the door of her room.
“Mai-sama—” she began loudly, annoyance in her voice.
The door flew open, and Tazusa blinked; for a moment, she was lost for words. “...Oh,” she muttered. She tilted her head back to meet the other girl’s eyes, trying not to let her embarrassment color her cheeks. “Yuyu-sama. What brings you here?”
Given how Yuyu looked, Tazusa wasn’t sure whether she needed to be concerned about how presentable she herself was. The dark-haired Lily’s face was blotchy, her eyes red from crying. The notion that she ought to be alarmed tried to push through the sleepy fog that was still clouding Tazusa’s mind, but was making slow headway at best.
Wordlessly, Yuyu lifted her arms and thrust a cat at Tazusa.
The cat had fluffy fur of a bright pink hue that Tazusa had never seen—not on a cat. A green ornament, familiar to her from somewhere, adorned its neck. It blinked at her, slowly, with wide eyes of a darker red hue.
Oh my gosh, it’s SO CUTE—
Abruptly, the cat flailed in Yuyu’s hands, causing the older girl to drop it. It darted between Tazusa’s legs, disappearing into her room behind her. Tazusa realized she had been, quite unconsciously, reaching for the cat. Her outstretched arms were nearly touching Yuyu’s.
Yuyu sniffled, making no move to lower her own arms. Tazusa decided, after a moment’s deliberation with herself, that the least awkward thing to do was to clasp the other girl’s hands. “Yuyu-sama, what’s the matter?” she asked, trying her best to put on a soothing voice. “That kitty… is there something wrong with it?”
“Her,” Yuyu replied. “That’s Riri.”
Tazusa blinked again. Suddenly overcome by the urge to massage her temples, she tried to pull her hands back, but found that Yuyu wouldn’t let go of them. “Um,” she said. “It… she did look like Riri, yes. But…” She paused. “How?” she managed, unable to think of anything else to say.
Yuyu merely shook her head.
The gears in Tazusa’s head started to turn, crushing the remnants of her sanity between them. “I know you know I love cats, Yuyu-sama, but wouldn’t someone else be better?” she asked the older Lily. “Like, er, Moyu-sama. To figure out what’s happened. I can see this is terribly upsetting for you, but—”
“It’s not upsetting!” Yuyu interrupted, shaking her head again and giving Tazusa a glare that, despite her words, appeared quite upset indeed. “I’m just… I’m… a…” An odd look came over the dark-haired Lily’s face as her grip on Tazusa’s hands finally loosened.
“You’re a what, Yuyu-sama?” asked Tazusa, thoroughly bewildered.
“AH-CHOO!” Yuyu sneezed so violently that she stumbled backwards, though she quickly regained her balance. She reached out and grabbed the handle of Tazusa’s door, slamming it shut between them. “I’m allergic to her, okay?!” came the Lily’s muffled voice. “Watch Riri for a little while, Tazusa! I don’t want Moyu poking and prodding her… haah… not until I’m sure she’s not just going to turn back on her own!”
“I… I can do that, Yuyu-sama,” Tazusa replied. “What will you—”
She heard another sneeze, and a loud thump; she was pretty sure Yuyu had lost her balance that time. “I have to go see… hah, ah... the Yurigaoka medics!” shouted Yuyu, the sound of her footsteps rapidly receding into the distance.
Tazusa stared blankly at her door for a few moments longer.
She turned away. Even though it was bright out, and she had class at some point—Tazusa never missed classes if she could help it; she’d missed far too many of them for reasons beyond her control—her bed was every bit as inviting as if she’d just gotten back from an exhausting combat mission. And she never had gotten changed. Tazusa didn’t resist as her body shuffled in the direction of her bed, seemingly of its own accord.
She flopped face-first on her blanket, and it shifted beneath her with a yowl. Her instincts took over. Tazusa leapt up, grabbing with one hand for the CHARM handle that she kept within arm’s reach as she slept, and throwing back her blanket with the other.
A wide-eyed ball of pink fur stared up at her.
SO CUTE— Tazusa bit her lip hard enough that she wouldn’t be surprised were it bleeding. “I’m sorry, Riri,” she said. “I didn’t know you were there.” Letting go of the Tyrfing, she crouched down, and reached out a hand to the fluffy creature, who shied away.
“Is it really you, Riri?” Tazusa asked. With some difficulty, she averted her eyes. Mai had told her once that cats didn’t like being stared at.
Riri replied with a soft mew. She felt the cat gently bump the back of her hand, then nuzzle it.
I—I can’t…
Losing control of herself, Tazusa pounced. “NyanyaNYAA—” she heard herself shout. Riri leapt out of the way of her arms, and Tazusa’s head slammed into the wall behind her bed. Pain exploded in her skull, her vision going black. “—AAAAH!!!”
I… guess I deserved that…
Tazusa lay there, her front awkwardly crumpled over her bed. She heard another mew, and felt the touch of a rough, wet tongue licking her cheek. The throbbing in her head kept her from going cat-crazy again, or from doing much of anything at all.
She wasn’t sure how long she laid there, like that, before the second knock came at the door.
The cadence of the knock was unfamiliar—not that she’d recognized Yuyu’s earlier. Tazusa tried to will herself to answer it with little success, in large part because Riri had nestled up against her side and was purring softly.
She heard the door open.
Ugh. I must have forgotten to lock it again after Yuyu came by.
Tazusa pushed herself up from the bed. “Mai-sama—” she began, turning towards the noises. She blinked. Mai’s hair wasn’t nearly that long. Yuyu’s hair wasn’t nearly that pink.
“Sorry to disappoint, but your very special guest’s from the new Alfheim,” remarked Araya, her voice nonchalant. Stepping into Tazusa’s room, she nudged the door closed behind her with her heel. “I heard there was an adorable kitten to be found here,” murmured the Lily as she strode forward. “I do wonder which one they meant.” Tazusa glanced down at Riri, who was frozen atop the bed in apprehension.
Despite being pretty certain that it wasn’t the appropriate reaction to have when someone walked into your room uninvited, Tazusa’s curiosity got the better of her. “Who even told you that?” she asked. Pain shot through her skull again, and she pressed her hand to her forehead, grimacing.
Araya giggled. “A girl has her secrets,” she replied unhelpfully, as she crouched down and reached for Riri’s chin with curled fingers. With a yowl, Riri unfroze. She leapt wildly into the air and vanished from Tazusa’s sight, much too fast for her eyes to track.
The pink-haired Lily shrugged. She turned towards Tazusa, cupping her chin instead with a smooth sideways movement of her arm. “Well, you’ll do too. I’m not normally one for pajamas, but the look’s perfect on you, kitten,” she remarked, her smile widening. “You’re a Boosted Lily, aren’t you? I know how to make girls like you feel—”
Tazusa’s questing hand finally found the handle of her Tyrfing. Lifting it up with a deft flip, she slammed the CHARM into the floor by Araya’s side, its bladed edge only a hair’s breath from the other Lily. “Get out of my room,” she hissed. From underneath her bed, she heard another hiss, somewhat more feline in nature.
“Fine,” Araya said with a sigh. She stood up, whirling on her heel and striding away just as casually as she’d entered. “But if either of you change your mind, you know who I am and where to find me. Just make that sure you knock… or meow, if you can’t knock. Tatsuki hates unexpected visitors.” With a final flip of that long pink hair, the other Lily closed the door behind her, this time with her on the outside of it.
Tazusa forced herself to her feet, made her way to the lock, and twisted it firmly closed. Then she turned around and rested her back against the door just in case the lock didn’t do its job. “Hypocrite,” she muttered, slumping down onto her knees.
She cast her gaze at the window on the other side of the room. Outside it, the sun was already setting, painting the sky the brilliant orange of twilight. Tazusa had a vague notion that it didn’t make sense that so much time had passed, but she was in no state of mind to pursue the thought further.
She heard a soft mew near her.
Tazusa glanced downwards, and saw Riri by her side, looking up at her. She slowly reached out to the pink feline with curled fingers, in a manner not so different from how Araya had done earlier. Riri stood still as Tazusa touched her chin, and stroked it gently. She began to purr.
The throbbing in Tazusa’s head finally faded away. She found herself smiling.
“What happened to you, Riri?” Tazusa asked as she shifted her hand to stroke Riri along the back, feeling the cat’s body lightly vibrate beneath it with her purring. “Will you stay like this forever? You’re adorable… I don’t mind you like this, not at all… but I want you to be happy.” She shook her head. “Yuyu-sama must miss you. I’m sure that you want to be human again. For her.”
“Don’t worry, Tazusa-chan,” Riri said.
Tazusa blinked. She looked at Riri, who was clearly still a cat, but had spoken in the voice of the Riri she knew. Lifting her other hand, she rubbed her head, hoping the headache wouldn’t come back. She couldn’t stand headaches.
“Why can you talk, Riri?” Tazusa asked. “You’re a cat.” She paused. “Cats can’t talk,” she added, just in case it wasn’t obvious to the cat in question.
“Because this is a dream, Tazusa-chan,” Riri explained. “I could tell—could feel—that you were dreaming of something terrible, so I had to do something about it.” She shifted off her hind paws and stepped daintily forward, nestling against the side of Tazusa’s leg. “You probably won’t remember any of this. But you don’t remember what you were dreaming of before now either, do you?”
Tazusa considered Riri’s question. “I don’t,” she admitted.
“Then we’ve spent long enough together like this,” Riri said. Tazusa felt her warmth, the rumble of her purring, against her skin. “So wake up, Tazusa-chan. Let’s cherish our day together.”
“And if there’s a single thing that you’re able to remember…” The cat’s voice paused, but her purring did not. “Please remember that I’ll save you. Always. No matter how far away you are, or even if it’s in a dream, Tazusa-chan. I promise.”
“I know,” Tazusa said. She closed her eyes, lest tears start flowing from them. “...I know, Riri.” Taking a deep breath, she stroked the fur of Riri’s back, softer than any fur she’d ever felt before, for one last time. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Her eyes were closed, but slowly, her vision grew brighter, as if it were filling with pure white light. She felt the exhaustion melt away from her. She felt the memories, of the agony in her head and her unwelcome visitor and her friends as she’d never seen them, lose their form and leave only a deep warmth inside of her.
When the brightness grew to be too much to bear, Tazusa slowly opened her eyes to the morning.