“What the fuck was that?” Duncan Blacktooth jumped back as something small rustled in the underbrush then took off like a shot between his feet, “what the hell.” He and his little brother listened to the little creature scurrying away, Jimmy dropped the bone he’d been sniffing to give chase while Duncan shook his head, “Jimmy no! Stop.” Dunc had promised mom he wouldn’t let Jimmy get too far from him. “Jimmy! Whatever it is leave it.”
Duncan said nothing else then heard his little brother yelp and whimper, “hey, hey ow ow stop that. What’s wrong with you stop it.” Duncan barely heard the other voice, a soft high pitch noise “put me down! Don’t touch me I don’t know you.” Duncan plodded that way; he just hoped his brother wasn’t eating a small creature again. “Jimmy, whatever it is-” he stepped around a massive oak and his jaw dropped. Jimmy had a girl in his arms, a small brown girl who was whipping back and forth in his arms, kicking and trying to wiggle out of his grip.
“Hey don’t bite me.” Duncan watched the girl whip her head around to bite his bicep, “put me down I won’t bite.” She made a noise in her throat that made Duncan freeze in his tracks, the low vicious growl was “Jimmy! Put her down right now.” Jimmy looked up at his big brother and gently put the girl down, “look Dunc I found a kitty.” Duncan moved to stand between them, looking down at the girl. “I’m so sorry miss he isn’t used to seeing non wolves.”
The girl shook herself off and flattened one ear while she stared up at Jimmy. “Well he is lucky the non-wolf didn’t bite his balls off. Didn’t anyone teach you not to pick up strangers? What if I had rabies?” JImmy was grinning at her like a fool, “you don’t smell like you have rabies. You smell nice.” She moved around Duncan to look up at Jimmy her yellow eyes narrowed, “nice, like how?” Jimmy blushed, stammered and his shoulders came up. The girl looked up at Duncan, “is he okay?”
Duncan chuckled then put his arm around her to turn and guide her gently, “he’s fine. He gets a little woo” he wobbled his head as he said it, “when he talks to pretty girls. And he’s never met a neko before, he’s Jimmy I’m Duncan. What’s your name?” The girl had brown skin and yellow eyes, Duncan thought she was quite pretty for a feline. “I’m Tiwalade Onaga from the Yellow Eye Clan from the West.” Jimmy finally seemed to regain the power of speech.
“Hi Yellow Eye Tiwalade.” She glared up at Jimmy who was staring at her with open adoration on his face, she stayed just out of arms reach, “are you going to try and pet me?” Jimmy had his hands clasped under his chin, “not unless you say I can. Can I touch your ears?” She nodded and tipped her head towards his shaking fingers as he reached out. “Be gentle don’t pull my tail.” JImmy carefully rubbed her velvety ears, admiring how her little afro fluffed up around the base of her ears.
Duncan watched how she tilted her head just so to keep Jimmy’s fingers where she wanted them. Feline body language looked so weird to him. She leaned her body against Jimmy and stroked him with her tail, she wasn’t growling, and her ears weren’t pinned back so he was sure she wouldn’t beat his brother up.
Jimmy bent his head down to sniff the top of her head, “so soft. When your hair is down does it cover your ears?” Jimmy nosed the tiny curls at the base of her ear, and she tilted her head to glare at him with one eye, “it can if I want it to but usually, I don’t bother. I don’t visit the human world.” Jimmy was absolutely entranced by her, he’d seen images of neko and been told about them. He really wanted to pick her up and cuddle her, but she looked pointy and bitey.
“You are so cute.” Jimmy couldn’t help himself and he picked her up and cuddled her to his chest. He held her gently but tightly, rubbing his cheek against the top of her head. “Please don’t bite me, just tell me if you want me to put you down.” Tiwalade yawned hugely and laid her head on Jimmy’s shoulder, tucking her face against his neck and heaving a sigh. “I’m good.” He felt her weight solidify a little in his arms, she felt warm, and her fur was fluffy and silky.
“Thank you, Jimmy.”
Without discussing it they turned to head back to their village. Jimmy never ventured into the edges of wolf territory alone and they’d been out of the den since before dawn. He babbled softly to the cat girl in his arms, telling her about his mother and father, siblings and she relaxed against his chest more, when he noticed she was asleep he looked at his older brother. “Dunc, how do you think a neko even got out here?”
Duncan kept his voice low not wanting to wake her up, “someone chased her or dumped her out here. No way she got through The Broken Claw Tribe territory alone, one of those huge ass guards would have found her and-” he trailed off, but Jimmy knew, the Broken claw pack was notorious for how they treated outsiders and small creatures. “They would eat her or worse.” Jimmy frowned he knew well enough, there had just a few months prior been some poor little shifter girl who’d gotten lost in their territory and not made it out.
“Can we take her home? Mama will love her.” Duncan knew better than to try and explain to Jimmy that they couldn’t just keep the girl like a pet, he smiled a little. “Yeah, she will come on let’s go home.” It was only about ten miles home, it wouldn’t take too long, Tiwalade weighed almost nothing and barely slowed Jimmy down except when she woke up enough to stretch in his arms, grunt, sigh and go back to sleep.
She woke up a half hour away from their destination and Jimmy nibbled her ear, she tilted her head away and stared at him. “Why are you nibbling on me? You said you two aren’t gonna eat me.” Jimmy sniffed her ear and licked it, “I wasn’t tasting you or anything. Just a little cob.” He had started to nibble on her, Jimmy was still such a pup at heart. He nibbled and whined for his siblings constantly and the way he held the cat girl was no different. He was treating her like a cuddle toy of which he already had many but, she was warm and had a heartbeat.
She sniffed his cheek and laid her head back down. Jimmy looked over her head at his brother and grinned so big his eyes almost closed. He mouthed, “I love her.” Duncan chuckled and led them in through the southwest most gate at the village, as they headed home word spread quickly that Jimmy seemed to have caught himself a kitty cat. When Jimmy walked in through the backdoor of their parents place, she looked up from her place at the kitchen table where she was mending his younger siblings clothing.
“Jimmy baby what is that?”
Angela Blacktooth looked up, she knew Jimmy had a neko in his arms but given that he wasn’t being clawed and the girl wasn’t snarling at him or making that terrible feline scream they could make, he smiled back. “A neko, her name is Tiwalade she’s a neko.” His mother hid her amusement, “I can smell that much son. Tell me why you are carrying an unconscious neko girl?” He looked aghast, stammering for a few seconds.
“Mama, I found her I swear. I promised we wouldn’t eat her. She was down by the Broken Claw Tribe territory boundary, and I didn’t want to leave her down there alone, they’d eat her or touch her bad.” Her sweetest child always had brought home all kinds of things. Once a lost and crying shape shifter from the human world, another time he’d found a human child and bruoght it to her. She set her mending down and gestured, “come show her to me.”
Tiwalade started to wake up as Jimmy was trying to put hr down without doing just that. She opened one yellow eye and yawned, when she turned her head, she was being handed to a tall female wolf. “Hello little one, don’t be afraid. I’m Jimmy and Duncan’s mother, Angie. This is my home. Are you hungry dear?” Tiwalade was starving she hadn’t had a single bite since early that morning.
“Yes ma’am.” Angie gave her a look and she blushed a little, “uh I mean MIss Angie.” Angie reached over to rub under the kitty chin the way she did with her kids, Tiwalade tilted her head back and started to purr. Jimmy yelped, “Mom why is she making that sound?” Angie let the little cat girl crawl into her lap and kept petting her, she gave her son a sharp look. “James Harvey Blacktooth is that how we talk to or about guests in our house?”
HIs ears dropped and he looked like she might bite him, “not like that is she okay?” She smiled at him, “remember I told you before cats purr.” Tiwalade was purring very hard; Angie had the good Mama smell. Milky and sweet, clean fur and everything safe in the universe. She opened her eyes and glared at Jimmy, “your middle name is Harvey?” Angie chuckled, “that’s right kitten. You don’t let these boys bother you okay?” Angie waited for the girl in her lap to make eye contact, “don’t let them bully you, you have my full permission to beat them up if they misbehave okay Tiwalade?”
Tiwalade smiled at Angie again, “yes ma’am.” Angie reached over to rub the girl under the chin, she was so adorable Angie easily changed her mind and didn’t immediately tell the boys to take her home. “Are you staying for dinner kitty?” Tiwalade’s eyes opened wide, “I could maybe eat with y’all?” The wolves were all notorious for the way they ate, Tiwalade’s older brothers loved to terrorize the kittens with gory tales of werewolf appetites.
Angie gestured, “our home is your home. You’re pack when you’re with my boys. We eat, you eat. Boys why don’t you show your new friend your hunting spot for those little deer you like?” Tiwalade turned to be nose to nose with Jimmy, she kissed his nose and he made a sound that made her smile, a cross between a little don’t bite me growl and puppyish whine of pleasure. “Are you even big enough to hunt deer by yourself?”
Tiwalade’s upper lip lifted and she nipped at his cheek. “Of course I am. I am big enough to hunt alone. You sound like my brother.” She wiggled to be let down, her little face screwed up in a cute expression of frustration, “I’m small but I’m not helpless. Just cause I can’t like tear out a bears throat or something doesn’t mean I’m helpless.” Jimmy stared at her, “did the bears from the western territory chase you? The big one, the old one used to chase me when we were little.” Duncan rolled his eyes, “we were little. He chased us three days ago because you were fishing in his stream without permission again. You’re lucky he didn’t eat you.”
Grumbling Jimmy picked Tiwalade up again and she settled against his chest with her head on his shoulder, he stroked her back and listened to her low purr. “I’m sorry Tiwa you’re not too little to hunt by yourself. I know you’re a predator too.” Their mother had warned them many times to stay out of the section of forest ruled by the felines. Jimmy carried Tiwalade outside, and Angie stopped Duncan, “don’t forget she might have relatives waiting. Cats are ambush predators, don’t let your brother get beat up again.”
Duncan smiled, he never just let Jimmy get beat up. “Yes mama.” He kissed her nose and she roughly fluttered her fingers across his ears the way he liked, he wanted to have a nap before dinner but, since they had company, he’d be up chaperoning. He followed outside and found his brother holding Tiwalade over the head of their neighbors’ youngest cubs, “kids this is a real neko.” The youngest of the cubs piped up loud as hell, “is it fully grown? Why is it so small?”
Jimmy put Tiwalade down and the cub was in fact bigger than her, she bared her teeth at him and he whimpered as he scampered to hide behind Duncan’s legs, “Tiwalade please don’t scare him, he’s just a baby. He’s never seen a neko.” She leaned over, “I am not an it. I am a female, mmy name is Tiwalade and yes I’m fully grown. I’m not small you’re small.”
The cub growled and Tiwalade growled back at him, moving slowly to her left, forcing the cub to move around Duncan’s legs, he watched and could see what she was doing. He tapped the cub on the top of the head and lightly grabbed his tail, “she’s a guest. You behave or I’m telling your sister.” The little wolf looked up at him, there was definately some fear in those big brown eyes, Duncan nudged him. “You can play with her if she wants to.” The little wolf looked at Tiwa, “do you want to play bite face chase?”
Tiwalade slid out of Jimmy’s arms and smiled at the cub. “Just don’t bite hard okay? My Mom will be mad if I come home with a bloody face.” The cub nodded and put out a paw, “My name is Howard, you’re Tiwalade? Did I say it right? Do all nekos have such cool names?” Howie peppered Tiwa with questions as he led her on a little merry round of chase, when she caught him he encouraged her chomp his furry cheek, his ear. “You can bite harder I won’t cry Tiwa.”
Jimmy watched nervously, he didn’t want his new friend or his little neighbor to get hurt or get in trouble. “Hey, hey Howie she doesn’t like to have her tail touched put it down. She’ll bite you hard.” Howie looked up wide eyed, “did she bite you?” He nodded, “she bites hard for such a little thing. Like your sister so don’t make her mad.” The little boy stared at Tiwalade, his sister was on the small side too but he knew from experience you couldn’t judge on size alone.
Jimmy and Duncan watched Tiwalade chase their young neighbor, both of them making a happy amount of noise. Jimmy marveled, “cats are really agile. Look how fast she can turn.” They watched Tiwalade leap over a bush easily and both clapped, Duncan called. “Show the kid how it’s done Tiwa.” Tiwalade was not used to such enthusiasm from her minders and just stared at them, then she looked at her playmate. “Are all wolves so excited all the time?” Howard looked at her then at Jimmy and Dunc, “what do you mean?”
Tiwa and Howie chuffed at each other, hers sounding more like a loud huhff his more of a nasal sigh. They ran around the yard after each other laughing, growling and leaping on each other. Duncan nodded when Tiwalade climbed a small tree and perched on a low branch, he murmured to his brother. “Ambush predator, that’s why you never see them when they are hunting.” They watched Tiwa tense, her bottom wiggled and she leapt from the tree onto Howie’s back. He howled and ran around with her hanging on to his back for dear life. “I win Howie.” Howie howled long and pitiful, “that don’t even count Tiwa you jumped on me.”
She bit the back of his neck and he grunted, “yeah I’m a cat that’s what we do. I can’t take you down with just brute strength. This is why wolves have to eat so much. You never just chill out a little.” Duncan turned to go back inside to help Mama with the last of dinner, watching the youngin’s running and making all that din made him hungry and tired. When he glanced back Tiwalade had picked up Howard and held him in front of her, his legs kicking uselessly.
“Ay, ay girl put me down what the hell.” She laughed and they sat down hard as he kicked. “Gosh Howie be still geeze I’m gonna drop you if you keep doing that.” She was tottering around with Howie held to her chest, Duncan laughed and walked inside, Mama looked up from the meat she was searing, brows lifted. “Everything okay Dunky?” He nodded and moved to nuzzle her cheek, “yes ma’am. Tiwalade is playin with Howie.” She snorted, “that boy, bless his heart. Did you see how sick he got after he got into that silo up north? Poor child got no damn sense just like his Daddy. Is Howie coming for dinner? Go tell his Mother.” Duncan was the goodest boy always and immediately sprinted out the backdoor to head for the neighbors house to make sure it was okay, he knew neither Jimmy nor Howie would think to check. And he always did what Mama said immediately.
When he came back inside Mama gestured, “get washed up honey. Dinner is about done. Help the little ones.” He nodded and whistled out the window, “come on y’all come and get washed up.” His Mother rolled her eyes but smiled, her husband called the kids inside the same way. Outside Jimmy and Howie led Tiwalade into the mudroom to clean up. Jimmy Sr had built a paw wash station years before and they showed her how to use it, “Mama don’t like it when we get mud inside.”
Jimmy took his time to ensure neither Howie nor Tiwa came in with muddy feet, and he even used his favorite brush to give Tiwalade a once over in case she was shedding. “Do you shed a lot Tiwa?” Jimmy had to try veyr hard not to yank the delicate tiny curls and coils at the base of her ears in her hair. “Um I guess it depends on what you think is a lot. I have sensitive skin so I shed all year but none of my siblings do.” Jimmy looked impressed, “I do too. Do you have allergies to flowers and stuff?”
Poor Jimmy did in fact sneeze his way from late February usually until October, Tiwa nodded. “Yeah flowers a lot and some other plants and lots of stuff in the forest. I have to be real careful about what I eat , sometimes I eat stuff and throw up.” Jimmy gave her the saddest look, any type of upchucking made him so sad. “Cats throw up? A lot?” Duncan looked down at little Howie who looked like he wanted to be taking notes, instead he was staring at Tiwalade. While she and Jimmy talked and brushed themselves he reached out every now and then to touch her fur lightly as if he wasn’t sure she was really there. Eventually he sidled up next to Duncan.
“Unky Dunky, are all nekos pretty like her?” Duncan looked down and smiled at Howie, “not all? I don’t know she’s only the third one I’ve ever seen.” Howie looked up at him wide eyed, “really? Are there only a few of them left?” Duncan shrugged, “at least around here. I heard a lot of them moved away when the humans started showing up. Humans like to take them when they are babies and keep them.” Howie looked horrified, “you mean like pets? Oh no.”
Once clean up was done Angie got the kids all settled at her enormous diningroom table, even the neko girl looked excited to eat. Angie hadn’t had a cat in her home in years since way before either of her sons was born and she liked to feel like she could welcome any creature into her home easily and it made her happy to see.
Tiwalade was a good houseguest, she had nice manners. Her own mother had drilled into her time and again to always behave especially in the den of another predator. She appreciated the meat they ate and tasty tea Mrs. Blacktooth made, wolf food was good she liked it. They ate more green stuff than she did but she was certain to even eat the salad and the leaves served with the main course.
By nightfall Jimmy had Tiwa cradled against his chest, he like how warm and pliable she seemed. Once she was full he let her lay on him and he brushed her as she allowed, then she curled up against him and fell asleep purring. He got why a body might like a cat, when she wasn’t biting, staring or scratching he found her very pleasant, he was going to ask his mother for a kitty cuddle toy for his next birthday. Jimmy loved other creatures, especially the smaller ones that allowed his aggressive cuddling.
“Tiwalade, do we need to send a bird to your parents?” She blinked her big yellow eyes slowly at Duncan, “no I don’t usually get home until moon rise anyway. I told my Mom I was gonna go out venturing today so she isn’t expecting me at a particular time.” She put her head back down, her face against Jimmy’s neck. as she purred his eyes got heavy, he mumbled while playing with her fluffy tail, “that’s nice.” Before she was out he was, his head tipped back against the wall and he started snoring. Howie laughed while he was still shoving food down his gullet.
“Jimmy always goes to sleep after dinner. Just like my Dad and my sister. Mama say they got the itis.” Angie chuckled, she knew that about Howie’s dad and sister. “Jimmy gets that too it might be cause he eats too much at one time.” Howie looked up at her, “too much? You can eat too much?” Howie looked horrified Duncan nodded seriously, “yeah sometimes you can throw up too.” Howie shook his head, “no way I am never doing that.”
Angie couldn’t tell herself not to worry. the appearance of humans in the forest maybe a decade before had foretold that more of the beast species would meet, her own parents had lived in terror of the day but, as she watched her too friendly huge baby Jimmy play with the neko she just smiled. She could have stayed upset but didn’t, she didn’t see a point. If someone in her family was going to meet a neko it would be her baby.
After a bit and a lot more noise Howie’s mother barked and he turned to run home. “Bye you guys! Tiwalade I hope you can come meet my mom too sometime.” Howie sprinted home when his mom switched from barking to howling, his signal to get inside immediately. Tiwalade’s ears moved following the sound, she turned to look up at Duncan. “Is that what that sound means? Come home? You don’t do it because you’re upset?”
He listened and it took him a moment to get what she was saying, “oh uh, that’s howling we do it for a lot of reasons. Sometimes cause we’re upset. Like how the light brown cats that live in the mountains over there do that big scream you can hear in summer.” She thought about it then nodded a little, “that’s kind of a battle call and a warning to our prey. Sometimes to each other, I can do it.” Dunc shook his head at his brother who he knew was about to ask her to do it, he just nodded at her. “So that’s just a cat noise?” She nodded and then yawned hugely. “I have had so much fun I think I am going to go to my spot in the forest for a nap.”