Master's Pet

[ Chapter 4 ]

Suddenly, I found myself falling, and I hit my ankle on the nob that controlled the water. I yelped as I felt a sharp pain in my ankle and the water started turning boiling hot.

Master quickly turned the water off and grabbed my shoulders to hold me still.

His expression worried, he asked, "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

I closed one eye and winced a little when I touched my ankle. He reached down and rubbed my ankle with a sympathetic look in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, kid... I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I honestly didn't expect that kind of reaction from you. You're just like a cat in the water."

I turned my eyes down to look at my feet.

He continued, "Speaking of which, I wonder if Hikari is back yet... Excuse me for a second."

He began to stand up, but I quickly reached up and grabbed his wrist.

"What is it?"

I pulled him back down to me and put his hand on my chest.

I attempted to speak, "H-hik... Hika..."

That's all I could manage, but by the look on his face, I think he understood what I meant. He looked confused for a moment and pulled his hand away from me.

"No.. That's not possible. You couldn't possibly be Hikari. Hikari is a cat."

I looked around trying to think of a way that I could explain to him what had happened. Then I had an idea.

I tried standing up, wincing when I put weight on my ankle. I fell forward, right into master's arms.

I grabbed onto his shirt, blushing and looking up at his face. His beautiful brown eyes were so mixed with emotions that I didn't really know what he was thinking or feeling.

I saw a hint of recognition in them as he looked into my eyes.

Master said, "I never realized how green your eyes were. It's such an unusually bright color. Hikari had green eyes like that too."

Then it dawned on him. A smiled creeped onto my face as he started to take a really good look at me.

He asked, "Are you really Hikari?"

I nodded happily and nuzzled his chest with my face like I'd done so many times as a cat.

He didn't seem to know what to say or think, but he questioned, "So... how did you turn from a cat into a human then?"

I made an 'Oh yeah!' face, turned, and ran into the other room.

Once inside master's study, I pulled out a paper and pen from next to the fax machine. I made a quick attempt to draw out what had happened.

I only ended up using the front of the paper, and my art skills were definitely hard to read.

What could I expect? I'd only been human for part of a day. I'd never used a pen before now.

Anyways, I ran back to my master with the paper in hand.

He looked at it for a long while, and then looked up at me. He seemed a little weary.

"So you're telling me that you were praying at that shrine I found you by? And the gods actually turned you into a human?"

I nodded.

"And I'm supposed to believe this?"

I nodded again, thought about it a bit, then shrugged.

He let out a huge sigh and set the paper on the counter.