Her clover

(Originally short story! Happy Valentin’s day!)

Lady Kasumi was searching for food, she had been eating nothing but bugs, and maybe a bird or two. Lady Kasumi was feeling hungry for something more. She had no run-ins with humans, and all of the humans she had saw seemed friendly or had a family. Lady Kasumi hadn’t even ran into some demons she could quickly eat. She was feeling a bit weak and she really just wanted something more filling. As Lady Kasumi wondered she found herself by the ocean.

The salty sea breeze was dry. But this smell also made her feel like she wanted fish. She thought about the fish she wanted as she slowly approached a village. She used caution as she got closer. Fishermen were known to be very superstition.

She heard stories of fishing villages that would drown stray cats or villages torturing strays. She heard other tales of cats having there tails chopped off to make sure they couldn’t become a bakeneko. Ontop of those stories she had heard many more about the fishermen and what they believed in.

So she carefully found herself a good hiding spot in the village. A lot of villages also heard tales about bakeneko’s coming to villages and being very good looking people and wearing fur. She was afraid of causing problems in the village, or having angry villagers. So she thought her best chance would be to change into small cat. If she did run into any problems she could just transform into her ‘human’ like self and slaughter whatever was causing the problem.

She quickly took off of her clothes and hid them up in a truck of a tree. Then she transformed into her little cat form. She started to patrol the village in the shadows. She finally found what she was looking for. There was a few fishermen coming in, they had baskets full of fish, crabs, even some octopus. Her mouth started to water as she watched the fishermen carefully put the fish away.

After the fishermen finally cleaned up the boat, the fishermen left and went inside to what she assumed was probably their houses or fish slaughter houses. Neither way, Lady Kasumi just watched in the shadows, she had planned she would go and get some fish when everyone in the village was asleep.

Lady Kasumi doubled back and went back to her tree truck, she wanted to check on her belongings, As she wondered back she noticed a cat in the village. It seemed to have been a village cat. He seem to have been a cat the villagers knew. She watched as one of the villagers walked by and patted him on the head. The village cat was a calico, he was also rather well loved, and a bit pudgy. He had a little stump tail. It looked like he had been in a accident more then someone chopped his tail off. Lady Kasumi watched him as he started to chase a butterfly. She found this to be adorable.

Lady Kasumi remember back when she was just a cat, she had an owner, and she remember the care free life that this cat had.

As Lady Kasumi watched this care free cat play, She saw that he stopped being interested in the butterfly. He found something else to be interested in, and he stared up at Lady Kasumi. he made eye contact with her and his tail started to flick. He then started to walk in her direction. The cat wondered into the brush. Lady Kasumi was curious, and she stayed. The cat had walked up to her. His ears were down and he hissed as he approached her. She hissed back. As this happened the male cat came close to her. He jumped on her, and then he put one of his paws on her back and pushed her to the ground. He bit the back of her neck slightly, he started to sniff her. He quickly realize she was more then just a cat, He than stopped and started to lick her neck.

“Wise one, this cat is.” She thought to herself.

The male cat licked her gentle a few more times before backing off. He stared at her quietly. She wondered if he was able to understand human or not? She wasn’t able to tell, she was able to guess his age, and he still had a few years to go before he could become a bakeneko.

The cat still stared at her, and his tail wiggled a bit. But it seemed more like he was interested in playing. He flicked his tail up and down on the ground and stared at her. Each time his tail hit the ground it made a soft thud noise. She just watched. She hadn’t played with a real cat in years. She wondered to herself if she even knew how.

Lady Kasumi decided she would try at least. she was laying down on the ground, and she tucked her little feet under her belly, her tail was way up in the air as she started to wiggle. Inside Lady Kasumi was laughing to herself. She thought this was silly. But she deiced why not. She charged forward and attacked the village cat in a playful manner. He and her played for what felt like hours. She was able to forget that she was even hungry. Just as they snuggled the village cat then heard Lady Kasumi’s tummy rumble.

“Clover! Come home Clover! Its time for Dinner!” A little voice yelled. The calico cat that had became Kasumi’s friend got up, he then nodded at her before quickly leaving. She wondered what that nod even meant.

Lady Kasumi sat for the rest of her night outside in a tree. She was watching the house that the villagers went into. She was waiting until they went to bed before she could sneak in and get some fish at least.

Crack, she heard a noise from behind her. It was a sound of a stick breaking. When she turned around she saw the same calico cat that she played with. He had a piece of fish hanging from his mouth. He looked at her and carefully set the peace of fish on the ground. Lady Kasumi took a few steps forward before she finally spoke.

“Is this for me?” She asked. Her voice was soft. The cat looked at her, he nodded his head for yes. She looked at him. He wasn’t scared of her. She then asked “did you steal this?” the cat shook his head for no. He didn’t.

Truthfully Clover had taken the food from his food dish. The family he lived with, they always gave him left overs and if the little girl he lived with didn’t like food that was made, he would be given it.

Lady Kasumi of course didn’t know this, but she took the cats head nod for the truth. She put her head down and started to eat the fish. The fish was fresh and it wasn’t cook. It was so juice-y, it was a little bit warm but that didn’t matter. She enjoyed the fish. Clover happily watched.

When Lady Kasumi was done eating she thanked Clover. She felt full and she started to make her way to the tree that had her belongs. Clover had followed her, he was interested in seeing what was going to happen. She climbed up the tree and she picked out her kimono from the tree and brought it down with her teeth. She then signaled to Clover to follow her.

Lady Kasumi and Clover wondered to an wooded area. It wasn’t super far away from the village, but it was tucked away, and it didn’t seem like humans came to it. She then hoped on a rock and Clover stood at the bottom. He watched her. She placed her Kimono on rock ground. She then stood up on her hing legs. She started to change into her human form. She was no longer covered in fur, she just had a long tail. Her skin reflected in the moon light. He could see her green eyes and soft features and her long hair. She then picked up her kimono and wrapped it around her. She did it up and then her tail folded its self around her. She then looked down at clover.

Clover watched in aw. Clove was astounded by what he just saw. She then jumped down and picked up clover. She started to pet him. “Thank you, gentle creature.” She said to him. She felt thankful that he gave her fish and that she didn’t have to steal from the humans. She also felt thankful because she was able to have some fun and play with another cat.

Clover started to purr in her arms. She carefully made her way up a tree and pet Clover for the rest of the night. He rested in her lap. She spoke to him softly. It wasn’t often she found a cat that was so willing and interested in getting to know her. She felt at peace.

In the morning, just before everyone woke up she brought Clover back to his village. She smiled softly and then kissed him on the forehead. She then left like the wind.

Lady Kasumi did visit the village sometimes to see Clover, and after a few years she no longer could find him. He wasn’t dead, she check. It just seemed like he left, like the wind. She also did smell his scent before, mixed with a demon scent. So she always assumed he became a bakeneko.

Lady Kasumi wondered to herself if she would ever meet Clover again. She also wondered to herself what his name would be now.