I blinked my eyes several times. My chest was wet, my shirt soaked completely, and the sounds of sniffling and crying was all I could hear. I looked down at my chest, and I got a face full of fur as two fluffy ears poked me in the face. A mane full of white hair was draped over my chest, falling to my sides, and the now human sized lump on my chest shook with her sobs. Despite all of this, I knew that fur. I would never forget it. It was impossible, and yet...
"Cici?" I asked, and the fluffy eared girl twitched before looking up at me, and once I seen those green slitted eyes, even with a human like face, I knew it was her.
"Eli!" She yelled, and began to nuzzle into my chin, her movements making me wince, as she was a lot heavier now than before, yet not overly so. Just heavier than when she was a cat.
"Woah, woah. Be careful." I said, as I reached down and began to run my hand over and through her incredibly soft hair. Even looking more human than cat, she purred softly.
Not gonna be lie, I was pretty fucking shocked, but reacting like a confused idiot wasn't going to help matters. Plus, knowing it was my Cici did help matters a great deal. She was still so loving, and so cute, that I couldn't help the soft smile on my face despite everything.
I then noticed her impressively full chest that was mashing into mine, and I had to stiffle a cough. From what I could tell, Cici was a fully grown woman, early 20s if I had to guess. Not to mention, she was completely naked. I looked down even further to see not just a fluffy white tail whipping around emphatically, but the round bubble butt she had practically stared back at me, and my mouth suddenly went a tad dry. The tail whipping around emphatically and the twitching ears atop her head brought me back to the unreal situation.
"Cici... what the hell is this? I knew you weren't a normal cat... but... what?" I asked, and now the confusion was definitely catching up to me.
"Please don't leave me, Eli! Please! I finally found someone who I want to be with... you're the man I want to be my mate, and I can't lose you... please..." She said, tapering off into sobs at the end.
I began to tear up despite the odd situation. No one has ever shed tears for me like this... no one except my mother... someone who truly cared about me. Her words struck me then like nothing really had before. Then, after a moment, one thing she said caught up to me and it made me pause.
"Mate?" I asked, and she looked at me, tears flowing from her eyes like waterfalls.
She rubbed at her eyes with her arm. She tried to give me a smile, but it looked forced given her current state. I began to pet her head, and while it felt strange at first, she reacted to it the same way, a low rumbling purr emitting from her throat as she laid her head on my chest. After a minute or two of that, which honestly eased my mind a great deal, she spoke against me.
"I'm sorry, Eli, you must be so confused." She admitted and I chuckled.
"You could definitely say that. Are you going to tell me that I've been living in a fantasy world this whole time without even realizing it?" I asked, and she paused a moment, before shaking her head against me.
She got off of me, and laid next to me, hugging my arm tightly against her very nice breasts. I did my best to respect her modesty as best I could, but man... it was a difficult task. My cute little kitty was this beautiful woman the whole time? I mean, she was still incredibly cute and little, but in a different way now. She looked into my eyes, a soft smile on her lips.
"I didn't know if I would ever show myself to you... at least not who I really am. But this past month... has been wonderful. You showed me that humans can be kind and caring, and even back then when we first met, you weren't angry or upset with me, even when I hurt you." She said, her voice small.
I reached down and brushed some hair out of her face, allowing me a perfect view of it as well as her gorgeous green slitted eyes. She had a flawless structure to her face, with high cheekbones and a curvature to her jawbone and chin that made her more attractive than any model I'd ever seen. Framed with her stark white hair as well as her furry ears and tail, and she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. She smiled at me, allowing me a particularly adorable view of her slightly longer than normal canines.
"Of course I'm not angry at you. I could never been angry at you, Cici. Even if you are... much different than I thought you were. Will you tell me where you are from?" I asked, and she teared up, and rubbed her nose against my face. I chuckled softly, as she still behaved like a cat in many regards.
"Okay... you see Eli... the thing is, I'm not from this world." She said, and that made me blink.
"You mean like some isekai type shit?" I asked, and now it was her turn to blink at me.
"Ise... what?" She asked, perplexed.
"Right... you see, that's like... when you get teleported to another world from yours? You didn't die, did you?" I asked, some concern in my voice, and that made her smile.
"No, nothing that bad. I... used a portal travel from Nagalise to here." She said, and that both answered many questions and left me with so many more.
"A portal that connects your world to Earth... and Nagalise? Is that the name of your world?" I asked, and she nodded.
"Yes. I was running away from... well..." She said, her eyes misting at the edges, and out of pure instinct, I wrapped my arms around her head and pulled her to me.
She buried her face into my neck, taking deep breaths, and I felt wet tears soak my shirt again.
"Shh. It's okay, just breathe. If it's too painful, don't worry about it." I said, but she shook her head against my chest as she steadied her emotions, and turned her head to look up at me.
"I'd never taken the portal before you met me. We weren't allowed, but my family has guarded it and kept it hidden for a long time, or at least that's what my mom told me. She assumes there has to be more than the one we know of, but even she doesn't really know." She said, her eyes growing sad as she continued, "My village was attacked by slave traders... they captured so many people, and killed many as as well... and they laughed the entire time. I've lived there with my parents for 20 years... and nothing like this ever happened... why did it happen to us?"
Tears began pouring from her eyes again, and I did what I could for her, but how the hell do you heal a wound like that? I waited patiently for her to continue, gently stroking her hair, and telling her how brave she was.
"Before everyone was captured, mom told me to run towards the portal, that I'd be safe hidden in the portal room, and then her and my dad distracted them while I ran. I wanted to stay, but I was so scared... Once I got into the portal room, I just kept running. I even shifted into my smaller form so I could move faster, and be less likely to be seen. I was so afraid that they'd still find me, so I ran through the portal. I was too terrified to stop, so I just kept running. I opened and sealed the entrance here, and ran. I heard the sounds of this city from a distance, so I just followed it. I wanted to see if I could find help... but when I got here, I saw only humans... and I was scared. I just ran and looked for shelter, and that's when I ended up where you found me, surrounded by those terrifying animals. I was too scared to even try and fight back... but then you came." She said, and smiled at me, before her face became sad once more, and tears fell from her eyes, "But... I have no idea what happened, Eli! My mom, my dad, my brother, and everyone else... I have no idea what those people did to them... I don't even know if they are still alive!"
As Cici buried her face into my chest and cried, I felt the biggest spike of anger I'd ever felt before come over me just then. What happened to her... what those people did to her, her family, her people... it was fucking disgusting. The feeling of wanting to rip someone's throat out was just as strong as when my dad hurt my mother. Cici started, and looked at me with wide eyes.
"I can feel your anger Eli... it's like... an aura." She said, and I looked at her quizzically.
"Those exist in your world?" I asked her, and she nodded.
"You can feel someone's power and intent through their aura. Yours is weak, and yet... it's not." She said, not looking puzzled herself, "I guess humans can have that feeling to them as well?"
"Well, that definitely helps." I said, and she frowned at me, "I'm sorry Cici... I'm just trying to help you feel better."
She rubbed her face against mine, and I kept rubbing her head and naked back as she did. She gave me a pained smile.
"The people that attacked us were humans from the closest human settlement, based on the things I heard them saying. A lot of them mentioned the Baron, and to make sure they captured most of us for this Baron. According to what they said, we're just animals, and beasts... but the humans have never done anything like this before. Still, I was always told to be wary of humans, and after that day, I became terrified of them... until I met you. No matter how much I hurt you trying to get away, you were so kind and gentle with me." She said as I kept rubbing her head affectionately.
"You were smart to be wary." I said, before I frowned, "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Cici. You looked so scared Cici, and I knew you only hurt me trying to protect yourself. How could I be mad at you for that?" I said, her eyes watering as she nuzzled my chin.
Inside, I was boiling. I wished I could do something for her. She told me that she loved me, and the best I could do was hold her, and tell her everything would be okay, but it was far from okay. Her family was taken from her, as well as probably many of her friends. Just because she was different now didn't mean I loved her any less, and I wanted to fucking help her... but I didn't know what I could do.
"Eli, you might be the last person I have left, and soon... even you'll leave me..." She choked out, and now my eyes flowed like rivers again.
I held her close to me.
"I know, Cici, I know... I don't want to leave you. I don't want to die. I want to be there for you, to protect you, and to learn more about you. There's so much more about you than I knew." I said.
Cici was a literal cat girl. I could actually speak to her properly, and yet, for how long? How much longer can I even last? Why was life such a cruel son of a bitch? To put something so wonderful in my life knowing that my time was limited? Thankfully, Cici drew me out my negative thoughts as she began speaking.
"I was content to stay here and let you care for me, and to just be around you. You are so nice, and so warm. I only had enough mana to transform back to this form once because this place doesn't have any mana to regenerate, and I did use some while escaping. I didn't think I would but... I could also feel my mana being ever so slowly drained from me. I think it's this world..." She said, and looked at me with shimmering eyes of emerald, "So, I made the decision to transform back. I can feel that I barely have any mana left now, but... I don't care. I had to tell you how I felt. I wanted you to know that I love you. For everything you've done, and the person I've found you to be. Whenever you spoke to me, I could feel you were being truthful with me. I can see it in your kind eyes, and that's when I knew you were my mate. Someone who cares about me, just for being me."
She surprised me then, as she leaned up to me, closed her eyes, and kissed my lips softly. I wanted to pull away, as getting even closer to me was not in her best interests given that I very well might be dead soon, but... I couldn't. It was such a soft and gentle kiss that it made me feel more loved and wanted than I ever had in my life. Yes, this was the cat I had taken care of for the better part of a month, and yet... this didn't feel as weird as it should.
Cici looked into my eyes after she broke the kiss, and there was a level of love in her gaze that I haven't seen someone give me in a long time. I... I wanted to stay with her. The cat that I rescued had turned out to hold many qualities I loved in a woman, even more so than Rachel, yet she was so much more.
Cici was not a pet, but I never treated her as such. She was my friend, first and foremost, but now I knew her to be a gorgeous woman, and wonderful person. One that experienced a lifetime's worth of trauma in a single day, yet I couldn't help her, because I'm weak, and dying. I didn't want to leave her.
As I thought that, a thought went through my head, almost a shot in the dark, but she was from another world, and she mentioned mana and magic, so there's always a chance...
"I don't suppose you know any healing magic or something, do you?" I asked, not really sure what to expect... especially since she mentioned her mana or whatever was low, but I was desperate to not die now.
My words made Cici pause, and her head snapped up as she looked at me sharply, and instead of just tears now, there was hope in her eyes.
"I can't believe I didn't think of it... everything's so jumbled in my head right now, but... no, I don't know any healing magic," She said, causing a little of my hope to fall, but she continued, "But we could still go back, Eli. There's still a chance. Even though I can't help you, maybe the Framework can."