Taokaka walked along the streets of Orient Town while the sun was setting. She stopped a second to take in all the wonderful smells of food around her. For a second she was tempted to just stop what she was doing and go and eat. But she shook her head no. "No, have to go see Booby Lady."
Tao opened the door to Litchi Faye-Ling's medical clinic. This was a place where she often visited; not because she was sick, just because she enjoys the visits. It was empty accept for Litchi who was sorting out some medicine.
She turned when she heard Tao enter. "Oh hey Tao," She smiled as she walked towards her. "What brings you up here?" But Litchi noticed something odd about the young cat girl. She noticed sweat coming off her exposed legs and she was panting. Litchi got worried. "What's wrong Tao?"
"Tao was fighting Squiggly," Tao explained. "When one of Squiggly's gross bugs got up Tao's cloths and bit her. Tao squashed it. But now the bite is a weird color and she keeps getting sick." Tao vomited on the floor. "And nothing Tao eats will stay in her stomach, meow. So that's why Tao came up here. If anyone can help Tao you can Booby Lady."
"You did the right thing coming here Tao," Litchi said. "Come on, have a seat here and let me have a look at that bite." Tao came up and sat down on the examination table. "So where is the bite?"
"Right here Booby Lady," Tao unzipped her cat jacket and opened it up to show a huge, purple spot on her stomach. "Tao doesn't like that color, meow."
"Neither do I," Litchi muttered. "Tao this doesn't look good at all," She ran over and got some medicines from the cabinet. "Here Tao drink some of this. It might help with the vomiting problem."
Tao took the medicine and drunk it. "YUCK! That tasted horrible Booby Lady."
"It's supposed to taste bad Tao," Litchi said. "That's how you know it's working." Litchi took a tube of crème and rubbed it on the bite. Litchi looked at her face and thought she saw a tint of red from Tao's shadowy face. "Is anything wrong Tao?"
"Oh it's just…this cream is cold, meow." Tao said.
"Well it's gonna make you feel better Tao. I use this for most infectious bug bites. With any luck it'll help yours."
A smile shaped like a sideways number 3 made its way onto Tao's face as she hugged Litchi. "Thanks Booby Lady, you're the best meow!" She coughed a little.
Litchi blushed and hugged back. "That's very nice of you to say Tao. Come on in the back and get some rest for me."
"You mean go to sleep?" Tao asked. "Sure Tao can do that meow!" And with that Tao fell asleep.
"Wait!" Litchi shouted. "I didn't mean right here! There's a bed in the…" But Tao was already in deep-sleep mode. Litchi sighed as she zipped up Tao's Kaka jacket, picked her up, and took her to the back room where she left a bed for her patients to sleep on. Litchi sat down beside her and patted Tao's head. She looked at Tao's hidden face and wondered what it actually looked like. She had asked Tao before about her face, but always she avoids the subject and says she's shy about showing her face to anyone. Litchi though about pulling Tao's hood back and having a quick peek at her face; but she decided that it would be wrong to do that to Tao.
Litchi went into her room and went to sleep. During her sleep she dreamed of Tao and her running along the beach.
"Rawr!" Tao said playfully. "Tao's gonna get ya Booby Lady!"
"Oh no!" Litchi said laughing.
Tao leaped at Litchi and pinned her down to the ground. "Tao got ya!" She snuggled up against Litchi while purring affectionately. "You know what that means."
"Tao what are you…" but Litchi stopped talking as soon as Tao held her face above her own. Litchi turned bright red as she moved closer towards Tao's…
Litchi awoke with a jump. She had been having a lot of dreams like that about Tao lately. Litchi didn't understand why though. She was straight; or at least she was. Litchi concluded these dreams came about by spending too much time with Tao. After all, she had been going to the Kaka Village a lot lately to teach the kittens. And Tao had been with her a lot.
Yeah, Litchi thought. I've just been spending too much time with Tao.
She was about to go to sleep when she heard groaning coming from the overnight room. She rushed into the room and saw that Tao was twitching and grunting in pain.
"Owie!" She said. "Booby Lady help! Tao's body is hurting all over neow!"
Litchi unzipped Tao's jacket and saw that the bug bite had spread a purple rash across her stomach. "This isn't good!" Litchi said.
"I-Is Tao gonna be alright?" Tao asked nervously.
"I don't…" But Litchi didn't finish the sentence. She didn't want to say that to the poor girl. Tao was so innocent, Litchi couldn't say that to her. "I mean of course you are." Litchi said instead with a fake smile. "I promise I'm gonna make you all better." Litchi ran and picked up a herb from her medicine cabinet. "Here Tao eat this. It'll make the pain go away."
Tao snatched it and swallowed the leaf in one gulp. "OWIE!" Tao shouted. "TAO'S STILL…" then she fell back on the bed and passed out.
Litchi ran to her medicine lab. That herb would keep Tao knocked out for at least 6 hours. She had to come up with a way to cure Arakune's venom; because it looked like Tao's life depended on it.
