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The mission was like any other mission. Someone saw something weird, or someone went missing under strange circumstances, and she was called to handle it. And handle it she did. The freaky witch thing didn’t even have the regeneration ability she was used to demons having.
However, this demon had a trick up its sleeve. As not the minute Lady pulled the triggers on her guns and sent it back to hell, did it send some incantation her way that had her shrinking,
Shrinking? Lady nosed out from under the fabric of her shirt, jumping three feet in the air as her guns fell to the ground with a crash. She ran around on… All fours?
Lady looked down and saw two dark colored paws. She bristled as the curse hit her. The reason why she was so small, and furry was… she turned her head around and noticed her tail. She had been turned into a cat!
Lady had never heard of such a thing, but tried to think of what to do. She couldn’t talk, and with the demon dead, she wasn’t sure how to undo the curse. Before she could panic, a familiar voice called out, “I heard explosives… Lady, is that you?”
Dante walked onto the scene, continuing, “I hope you weren’t sniping my job… I sort of need it for the lights…”
Lady meowed in indignance, running over to draw Dante’s attention to her. He frowned at the demon corpse and then back at Lady. Lady tried to lead him to where her clothes and guns were, but Dante was more interested in the corpse.
“Huh, well, it looks dead… and Lady isn’t around…” Lady yowled in protest. No way was he taking her commision! She earned that. He smirked at her, “Chill out pussy cat, the demon is dead. You wouldn’t happen to know where the woman who killed it is, would you?”
Lady was about to lose her mind. He just needed to see the clothes, and then he’d know something was off.
He pretended like he could understand her, but then ultimately said to himself, “Look at you, talking to a cat. I need to get out more…”
Before she could motion in the direction of the clothes, the structure of the warehouse groaned, weakened in the battle. Dante moved faster than even her cat reflexes could handle, and got them both out of them before it collapsed. Dante let out a breath of relief, chuckling even as Lady had accidently sunk her claws into him. Most of the claws were in his jacket, but one caught his skin. “Hey now,” Dante started, “I know that was scary, but you can let go.”
Lady tried, but found one of her claws stuck.
She panicked and batted her paw, bristling when Dante tried to help her, which only made her panic more. He was just so much larger than her.
“On second thought, maybe I will let Lady have this one,” he said aloud. Lady jumped out of his arms and tried to think of what to do. Dante decided to return to his office, and Lady decided to follow him.
Dante noticed, but didn’t say anything. He entered his office with a swing of the door, but Lady wasn’t quick enough to get inside. She tried to open it, but couldn’t because she had no thumbs. Glancing around and noting the empty street, she scratched at the door. It opened abruptly, and she ran inside, hissing at Dante out of instinct.
“I know I’m charming, but I didn’t think it’d extend to cats,” he muttered, and sauntered over to sit at his desk. Lady followed him, jumping onto his desk after he sat down. He raised an eyebrow at her and asked, “Is this what they mean by a cat adopting you?”
He reached out to put her, but Lady hissed at him. He smiled and went for it anyways earning a--
Lady froze. The pets… they were actually pretty nice. Her hissing stopped and she started to purr. Unconsciously she leaned into his hand.
“Aww, so you were a big softy after all,” Dante said, “I knew it. I guess I could use a cat. I mean, you catch your own meals, right?”
Lady didn’t want to think about that, she wanted to be changed back! But how could she communicate that? Her paws were sort of useless except…
She started batting at his hand lightly, keeping her claws in her paws. She could communicate with morse code! She was so brilliant!
Except Dante just started petting her again. “You’re so needy! That’s okay though, I get it. If I could just bat at people until they paid attention to me I probably would.”
He looked at her more properly, smiling again. “You are a pretty cat… You got eyes just like my friend Lady. Scars like her too…wait, are you a lady cat?”
Lady tried to nod. She purred more aggressively, hoping he’d put it together. However, Dante just--- tried to look at her rear end? Lady hissed as he lifted her tail, hiding behind the picture of his mother.
“Chill out kitty,” Dante said, “I was just checking to see if you’re a girl… which I think you are. I didn’t see any balls. Although it does make me think you must have owners. Like, who would leave such a pretty cat to the streets.”
Lady wasn’t sure how to feel about the compliments. Dante made such comments, but he sort of made them at anything female. She figured he didn’t mean anything by them.
“I’ll go take you to the shelter and see if anyone is missing a cat,” Dante decided, “who knows, maybe there will be a reward…” Lady bristled. “Although I sort of hope I can keep you.”
She relaxed slightly.
The day passed and Dante mostly sat at his desk, reading a magazine about cars. This lasted until the phone started ringing. Lady jumped and swatted at the phone, knocking it off the receiver. Dante jumped, and then chuckled at her antics.
“Devil May Cry,” he said, and then added, “Sorry about that, I have a new receptionist, she’s a little shy I guess. Yup, Uh Huh. I’ll head right on over. Pay? Well… my current rate is…”
Lady tuned out the business deal, finding the sunlight pretty nice.
Dante left for the job, telling her to hold down the fort.
…
That night, Dante returned, rousing Lady from her nap on his couch. It was very nice to sleep there as a cat, she decided, much better than crashing there as a human. Dante looked slightly upset, but about what, Lady didn’t know. He threw his coat over the chair and went to take a shower. Lady got up to see what was the matter.
Dante emerged from the bathroom much cleaner in only a towel. His mood didn’t seem to have improved at all. He looked down at her and smiled. “Huh, so you are sticking around. You’re more like her than I thought.”
He went to get dressed, and Lady intended to leave, until the door shut, so she just stared out the window trying not to think about it. Dante wasn’t shy when it came to showing off his body, so she had seen more than her fair share of him. Still, it didn’t feel right to look when he thought she was just an animal.
Dante laid down for bed and Lady jumped up to sleep on the foot of the bed. It was better than the floor, and she wasn’t about to cozy up in his dirty clothes.
He smiled when he saw her, reaching out a hand to pet her. Lady allowed it.
“You’re so soft…” he murmured. Lady moved closer and meowed inquisitively. Usually he was so excited after a job.
“What?” he asked, “You hungry? I promise I’ll get some cat food in the morning… I just want to sleep right now.”
She head butted his hand.
“Fine… but I don’t think any stores are open this late…” he grumbled and made to get up. Lady didn’t want that, and did the one thing that came to mind. She jumped onto his lap. He froze when she did that, and laid back down. Lady walked up to stand on his chest and stare in his eyes. “Not food? Do you… want to hear about the job?”
She meowed again. Settling down on his chest. His body was so… warm. It was very nice. Her purr started up like a little motor.
“It sort of sucked honestly,” he said, breath tickling her whiskers. Her purrs increased. She wanted to comfort him in some way. “There was a missing kid… and I found him…” Dante sighed. “Found him alright.”
Lady knew that feeling. Dante had to know it wasn’t his fault. She craned her neck to press her nose to his cheek. He pet her gently, one of his hands basically covering her entire side. “Thanks kitty…” he murmured, smiling a little as sleep began to take hold. “This is really nice actually.”
Lady had to agree. She felt so warm and safe. Despite it all, she knew that Dante would protect her. He tilted his head slightly, so that he pressed a kiss to her face.
With that bit of affection, Lady fell asleep content.
…
The morning came and Lady wondered why she was in Dante’s room. On Dante’s bed. Correction, on Dante. Naked.
Dante was staring at her, an unreadable expression on his face.
Lady jumped up, pulling the blanket to cover herself. But that just revealed Dante in his underwear, because of course he didn’t have sheets.
“Hey Lady, if you wanted to--” he started, and Lady blinked.
“I was the cat!” she burst. “Not-- The demon turned me into a cat and now I’m back to normal!”
“You were the cat?” he asked, brows furrowing. “Really?”
“Really!” she burst.
He fell back to the bed and said, “Well, in that case I guess I don’t need to worry about saving you.”
“Right,” she said.
He made a grabby motion at her. “Now, can you give me my blanket back? It’s still early.”
“Give me a second,” Lady said, looking around at the piles on the floor. “I need to borrow some clothes. Do you have a clean pile?”
“What do you take me for?” he asked, “of course I do.”
With a groan, he rolled out of bed, and went to a pile to pull out a pair of boxers and a shirt. He handed them to her. Lady was going to put them on, but Dante was still looking at her.
“Excuse me?”
“You saw me change,” he said.
“I specifically didn’t,” she said.
“... Do you want to?”
She blushed, whether from embarrassment or anger, even she didn’t know. “Just turn around!”
Dante did as she said.
“And no peeking!”
“What was that?” he asked, and turned his head, as if to hear her better. Lady pressed her hands on his shoulders, pushing him to face the wall. He grinned and allowed himself to be manhandled.
Lady dressed, deciding she should stash some clothes at his place. He had the space, and if something like this ever happened again, she wouldn’t have to either trust him to go to her place and get a change, or walk back in his clothes.
When she was done, she threw the blanket back at him. He caught it and threw it on his bed, looking at her again with that strange look. Without saying anything he placed a hand on her side. Lady normally would recoil, but the strange cat-tinged memories lingered and forced her to remember how nice his touch had felt.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Just checking something,” he said, and then explained as he withdrew his hand, “You’re sort of tiny. I forgot.”
She didn’t question what nonsense he was going on about.
“What made you change back anyways?”
Lady tried to remember, but she had been so sleepy all that came to mind was how comfortable she had been. “I don’t remember, do you?”
“Nope,” Dante said, “although, you can sleep there anytime you want.”
Lady didn’t dignify that with a response.