Eighteen

Another couple of months passed. With the party from her eighteenth birthday officially over, Miwa sits on the back porch watching as the sun begins to set. Kazumi lies next to her happily napping. Mila comes and sits next to her. She scratches the kitty behind the ears as she settles in. The cat happily mews.
Miwa: Hi Mila.
Mila: You seem a bit down for someone who just turned eighteen.
Miwa: (Sighs) I guess I am a little bit.
Mila: You were all happy during the party.
Miwa: But I was surrounded by people then.
Mila: You’re going to have Tokori and Kiyoko when you go, so you won’t be alone. So I can’t really think of much anything you would prefer to have.
Miwa: Wondering what Kazumi is going to do when I’m gone…
Mila: (Confused) You weren’t think of taking her with you?
Miwa: But would she be okay?
Mila: Miwa, the cat showed up and basically glued herself to you. If you left, I think the cat would find some way of following you.
Miwa looks down at Kazumi. She simply does nothing but mew in response.
Miwa: Kazumi, would you follow me if I left?
Kazumi mews again.
Miwa: Take that as a yes.
Kazumi rubs herself against Miwa as she purrs.
Mila: Yeah I seriously doubt she’d stick around with us.
Miwa picks up and holds Kazumi in her arms.
Miwa: Yeah I guess I’ll find a way to bring you with me huh?
Mila: Hopefully that picks your spirits up a bit?
Miwa: Just a bit yeah, thanks Mila.
Mila gets up and leaves the back porch to Miwa and Kazumi. Akiko meets her in the kitchen.
Akiko: She alright?
Mila: She’s just fine Akiko. She just wasn’t sure what she was going to do with Kazumi. I encouraged her to take her with her.
Akiko: Wouldn’t the cat be safer here?
Mila: You really want to take care of that furball? Besides, Kazumi would follow her to the ends of the earth if she had too.
Akiko: You make a good point.
Mila: (Realizing something) When the hell did I become the sane one around here?!
Akiko: (Surprised) Well, uh…
Mila: I’m going out. Going to go find a nice bar.
Akiko: Don’t be out too late.
With that, Mila leaves quietly. Tokori joins her in the kitchen.
Tokori: Tomorrow’s the day.
Akiko: Yeah.
Tokori: We’ve got all of our things packed.
Akiko: Good.
Tokori: We’ll head out once we’re all good to go tomorrow morning.
Akiko: Knowing Kiyoko that may take a while.
Tokori: (Confused) Kiyoko?
Akiko: Believe it or not, keeping your tail groomed and looking nice takes a lot of work.
Tokori: Oh.
Akiko: But don’t worry, I’m sure the three of you can handle yourselves.
Tokori: We will. I won’t let anything happen to Kiyoko or Miwa.
Akiko: I know you won’t.
Tokori quietly leaves the room.
Akiko: (Thinking) Its not you or Kiyoko I’m worried about though. Its Miwa. Sure she’s trained and she’ll be able to defend herself, but there’s so many questions I wanted to have answered about her before she left, and I’m still nowhere close. I wanted to piece together if anything could be done about her memory, but nothing could.
She hears a mewing sound at her feet. Kazumi had joined her at the kitchen table.
Akiko: (Looking down) Oh hello. What are you doing here?
Kazumi mews again.
Akiko: Are you hungry? There’s food in your bowl.
Kazumi leaps on to a nearby chair and then the table. She nimbly walks her way over to Akiko, sits, then mews again. Akiko, quietly laughing to herself, starts to pet her. Kazumi purrs quietly.
Akiko: Just wanted some attention huh? What happened to Miwa huh?
Akiko looked over to Miwa who had seemingly fallen asleep on the back porch.
Akiko: Ah, I get it. The fun of the day probably exhausted her.
Akiko quietly gets up from the chair as Kazumi watches. Akiko fetches a blanket from the hall closet and places it over Miwa. The evening air would bring cooler temperatures soon. Akiko didn’t want to see Miwa shivering. She then returns to the chair she was sitting at. She doesn’t seem surprised that Kazumi is no longer sitting on the table. Instead, Kazumi had returned to Miwa’s lap, sitting on top of the blanket. Akiko quietly laughs to herself.
Akiko: I swear. That cat is like her little guardian angel.
Akiko remembered several different moments where Kazumi had seemingly done odd things for Miwa’s sake. She remembered the day Miwa got sick. Kazumi sat in front of the door. Kiyoko tried to go in, but Kazumi wouldn’t let her get close. It wasn’t until Akiko came with medicine, water, and some soup, that Kazumi moved from in front of the door to allow others into the room. Another time, while Miwa slept on the couch, Akiko noted Kazumi was seemingly keeping an eye on her from the top of the couch. Kazumi would watch them as they passed by. It was almost as if Kazumi was purposely keeping an eye on her. It wasn’t as if Kazumi was a threatening cat either. Kazumi would simply just watch and observe. Kazumi seemed comfortable enough around Akiko that Kazumi would come up to her and basically almost ‘instruct’ her that she needed to do something for Miwa. It was all through subtle motions though. Of course the cat couldn’t talk, but she had a way of getting her point across. When it came to Kiyoko, the cat would simply get in her way. Whenever Kiyoko would approach Miwa, the cat would simply stare at her, and even go so far as to get in her way specifically. Kiyoko wasn’t too fond of her. Akiko and Miwa couldn’t help but laugh when Kiyoko would purposely go a different way just to avoid her.
Akiko: Kazumi really is like a member of the family. (Laughing)
Kiyoko came into the room and Akiko could only watch. Kiyoko took notice of Miwa sitting on the back porch only for Kazumi to leap from Miwa’s lap and walk around and sit in front of her back. Kiyoko simply stared at Kazumi.
Kiyoko: Alright cat, I’m going to sit with Miwa, whether you like it or not.
Kazumi simply mews in response. The scene was almost straight out of a western.
Akiko: (Thinking, Smiling) Get used to it Kiyoko. You won’t be getting rid of her anytime soon.
Category:The Strands of Fate
Category:Anime Episode