(A/N) It's been a while, but it looks like it's time to return to an old shipping! :P
Back in December 2012, a gentleman by the name of Mr. War approached me with the request of a romance fic between Taokaka and Ragna. I was cautious at first, having never written a romance story before, but took him up on the offer. This continued into a 3 part series, which was rather well received if I do say so myself.
From this stemmed many more fics, ranging from Blazblue to League of Legends, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that my investment in the genre started thanks to the words of Mr War! :D
And it only makes sense that to commemorate the start of my romance writings around six months ago, I should return to where it all began: A cute and innocent story about a silly cat and a cynical bloke :P
Note: This story is separate from my other 3 Tao X Ragna fics: Pretend they never happened here :O
WARNING: Awkward dialogue, terrible attempts at cuteness, a lot of rambling, a naughty word at one point and a cat trying to explain her feelings.
À Mon Avis
It had always amazed Litchi how much paperwork was involved in her profession. Despite being a trained practical doctor, surgeon, and psychiatric counsellor, she seemed to spend more time with a pen in hand than a sharpened scalpel or a sobbing person's hand.
Still, she wasn't one to complain.
Bills, Prescriptions, love letters from Bang...
With a sigh, Litchi tossed the text onto her rapidly growing pile of love letters from the goofy ninja. While she did find his actions rather endearing, she truly wanted him to stop. She already had a lover, and nothing would change that.
He was perfect for her. True, he spent a lot of his time at work, but they were comfortable with each other. He was fair, sweet, and in her eyes?
Kind of cool.
Sifting through paper after paper autonomously, she eventually finished her paperwork for the day and stacked the neatly arranged pile next to bundles of other due letters and notes. She was feeling rather social today, and her boyfriend had promised to take her out to dinner in a few hours time.
She'd probably leave for home early, gussy up and wait there.
She'd always been obsessed with punctuality.
The clinic itself had been rather empty today. Save for a routine check-up on one of the local wise old men and a cut knee on one of the mischievous kids needing a plaster and a kiss, she'd been sitting pretty balancing a biro on her nose for a good eight hours.
She'd give anything for someone to talk to.
Expecting the oldest of clichés to come into play, she swung around in her desk chair and flicked her arms out at the door like a magnificent magician summoning a floating hanky.
Nothing.
Figures.
With that random spur-of-the-moment gone, Litchi started the arduous process of packing her small handbag with the entire contents of her gigantic ornate Eastern-style desk. Ranging from pens to notebooks to novels to a half-eaten buffalo chicken wrap her assistant Linhua dared her to partake in.
Hopefully that wouldn't ruin her appetite for her date.
She couldn't help being giddy about that: They rarely had time to go out together.
She rubbed her hands together deviously, plotting what she could do with him afterwards. The bedroom had been quiet for almost a month now, and she was certainly in the mood for some fun...
Shaking her head clear of such perverted thoughts, she pulled her coat on and grabbed the keys from the bottom draw of her desk. It was a habit of hers to put keys in peculiar places, ranging from under vases to inside fridges.
It kept her mind thinking, and the robbers confused.
Her fingers were practically tickling the chilly metal door-knob of the clinic's door when a high pitched whine suddenly drilled through the walls like an amateur screamo band practicing in the garage.
The whine eventually shifted into a vaguely girlish voice, "BOOOOOBIE LAAAADY!" it screeched, sounding sulky and uncomfortable. Only one person called her that embarrassing nickname, and she quickly threw the door open and pulled her in.
"Quiet down, Tao! Stop shouting such naughty things!" She berated, poking the door close with the tip of her toe as the cat girl observed the area curiously.
"Tao needs help, Boobie Lady!" She declared, jumping right to the point whilst pointing at her with an outstretched paw. "Boobie lady is smart, so Tao knows she can help!"
Litchi couldn't help but feel honoured by the girl's simple compliment, knowing full well that she looked up to her for advice. Sighing, Litchi motioned for her to take a seat in the clinic's waiting room as she lazily slipped her snug coat off.
While Taokaka was as jumpy as she usually was, there was a strange feeling of conflict in the air. Her usual grin had been replaced by a neutral pout, and her blood-red eyes seemed duller than usual. She took a seat on the cheap, beaten chairs that lined the walls of the lounge, holding her legs close and letting her tail lay limply across two other seats.
"Meow..." She sighed, her shoulders sinking low. Openly concerned by her display, Litchi took a seat next to her and rested a delicate hand on her back.
"What's wrong, Tao?" Litchi began, approaching her as a mother would approach their young daughter. "Are you ill? Do you need medicine?"
She sat there silently for a bit, staring at her toes intently as if searching for a lost valuable. "Tao doesn't know..." She grumpily whined, knocking her knees together rhythmically as she fidgeted on the spot.
"You don't know?" She repeated, smiling warmly. "Well, how do you feel?"
"Tao feels all tingly... And Tao's head feels bigger and heavier than normal! Meowch!" The cat growled, shaking her head in annoyance and agony. "It doesn't feel nice!"
Looking her in the eye and patting her back, Litchi leant closer to her. "I can get you some medicine if you need any. Do you think that'll help?"
With no provocation, Tao quickly wrapped her arms around the Doctor and buried her head into her rather substantial cleavage. While many would be rather embarrassed by this gesture, Litchi had grown rather accustomed by it over her years of friendship with Tao. The girl found it comforting, and comforting her was her task right now.
So she didn't protest.
"No..." She started, her voice nervous. "Is Tao ill, Boobie Lady?"
"I doubt it, Tao." She giggled, patting her head reassuringly. Reluctantly releasing Litchi from her grip, Tao scooted a foot away from the Doctor and turned to look away.
"... What happened? When did you start feeling these symptoms?" Litchi asked, using her hands to pull herself across the seat and close the distance.
"Simpy-tomes?" Tao started, her limited lexicon strained by Litchi's terminology.
"When did you start feeling sick?" Litchi mumbled, simplifying her question into bitesized chunks. Tao fidgeted uncomfortably, her long feline tail stirring to life and snaking to her lap.
"U-Ummm..." She pondered, using all of her (Admittedly limited) brain power to scour through her memories. Unfortunately, the only thing she really remembered was to eat and sleep whenever she could, and play with the kittens when she couldn't eat or sleep anymore.
"Ah! Tao remembers!" She cheered, clapping her paws together in celebration. "Tao was with Good Guy eating meatbuns!"
"Good Guy?" Litchi repeated, trying to recall who Tao attributed that nickname to. ""Do you mean Ragna?"
"Rawgnya, yeah!" Tao smirked, her usual grin finally remerging from under her shadowy visage. "When Tao was with him, Tao started to feel really dizzy!"
"Well then." Litchi muttered, finding Ragna to be a sketchy and untrustworthy character. "Do you think he did anything to you?"
"Rawgnya gave Tao tasty meatbuns, and said nice things! And then..." Tao chuckled, only to stop abruptly at that last moment. She tensed up uncomfortably, as if trying to hide her form from the Doctor's eyes. "... T-Then Tao started to feel all tingly..."
"And your head started hurting?" Litchi smiled, having already deciphered exactly what the problem was. Tao nodded furiously, uncertain sounds emerging from her mouth.
"And Tao felt really warm! Rawgnya even said Tao's cheeks went red, and she was sick!" She cried, her paws grabbing onto her tail tightly for comfort. "S-So Tao came here, so Boobie Lady could help! W-What's wrong?"
"Tao..." Litchi began, rising from her seat and standing in front of her. She placed her hands on her shoulders, continuing to stare into her eyes to keep her attention. "You're not ill, don't worry."
"Tao's not sick?" She gasped, fiddling with the end of her tail. "Meow! T-Then what's wrong with Tao!?"
"You're in love."
Tao froze in her place, staring deeply into Litchi's eyes in shock. She flushed red, flinching from the weight of the words that had been slung at her like the boulders of a trebuchet.
"... T-Tao's in love?" She whispered, having not even blinked since Litchi set loose this revelation.
"Yes!" The Doctor giggled, finding this to be one of the cutest things she had ever seen. To think that the childish and jumpy Taokaka could be in love with someone? She felt like a mother having their daughter fall in love for the first time, the feeling of pride overflowing her heart li-
"What's a love?"
Oh.
Forgot about that detail.
Litchi rubbed her eyes irritably, feeling like all of the progress she had made over the past few minutes had just been swept away. As she did this, Tao simply sat dumbfounded with her head propped up on her paw.
"Well..." Litchi sighed, trying her best to think of a simple explanation for something so complex. Slowly retreating back and slumping into the chair alongside the childish girl, she made sure to keep Tao's eyes on her.
"Love is... Love is when you like someone very much." She concluded, unsatisfied with her answer but hoping it was acceptable. Taokaka's expression said it all, her pout growing and her metaphorical eyebrow rising.
"Like with Tao and meatbuns? B-But Tao doesn't want to eat Rawgnya!" She moaned, scared by her own bizarre conclusion. "Tao just wants Rawgnya to be happy!"
The forced laugh by Litchi was faker than a Taiwanese Rolex, but thankfully Tao was too busy worrying to really notice.
"That's it! You want Ragna to be happy because you love him!"
"But Tao wants everyone to be happy..." Tao sighed, a low purr sounding more like an irritated growl. "Meow! And Tao only feels tingly near Rawgnya!"
Litchi was about to make a point, before she realised that she'd just make the situation more complex. Completely lost for ways to develop this little discussion of theirs, she crossed her legs and began casually twirling her hair between her fingertips.
It'd been a long time since she her last counselling session, her most recent case being back before she didn't even own the clinic with a man named Gerald. He was having suicidal thoughts and she managed to diffuse that situation rather easily, but trying to solve the love life of someone who didn't even know what love was?
It was beyond her.
"Well... There are two different kinds of love, you see." Litchi revealed, deciding to go with her original idea but reducing the word "Thousands" to "Two". A sound of interest came from Tao resembling a long "Oooooo.", prompting her to continue.
"You can love someone as a friend or love something you like, me and your meatbuns for example..." Litchi mumbled, making it all up as she went along. "And you also have a special kind of love you can only ever have for one person."
"Tao loves lots of things, but there's one type Tao can only give to one person? Is that why Tao is so tingly?" Tao inquired, trying her best to understand the drivel that the Doctor spouted.
"Sort of." Litchi grinned, patting the girl's shoulder more to reassure herself rather than Tao. "You see Tao, you feel like this because you want Ragna to be your second kind of love. It's a hard decision, and it's just confusing you."
"So Tao loves Ragna?" Tao asked, her voice sounding less confused and more confident with each and every exchange. "And Tao feels like this because she's... Unsure?"
"Yeah...!" Litchi cheered.
Silence.
"... So what should Tao do for Rawgnya?" Tao asked curiously, filling the long and awkward silence that Litchi had brought in to the mix.
"If you love him like that... If you ask me, the only thing you can do is tell him." The Doctor sighed, a tad bit worried about telling Tao so much. It's not that she didn't trust her, it's just that Tao could be rather... Direct... With her approaches.
"How?" Tao whined, grabbing the Doctor's hand as if begging her.
"Just go to him and tell him how you feel. I'm sure he'll feel the same way for you." Litchi answered, her voice showing her uncertainty plain as day.
"Boobie Lady doesn't sound very happy..." Tao began, analysing the Doctor with frightful logic. "W-What if Rawgnya doesn't love Tao?"
Litchi was caught completely off guard by this. In one way she was unhappy, not wanting to explain the darker part of relationships to such an innocent girl. On the other hand, it at least gave her a reason to try and get the weight off of her chest.
"There's no way you can know for sure without telling him!" She shouted, trying her best to fill the girl with confidence. Tao mewed quietly, shrinking back as Litchi continued.
"There's nothing to lose Tao! You can either sit back and feel like this forever, or reveal how you feel to him and find out if he feels the same way."
"What happens if he does love Tao? What will Tao and Rawgnya feel?"
"The best feeling ever." Litchi answered adamantly, recalling her own confession to her lover so many years ago.
Candle-lit dinner, hands in hand.
Kiss.
Somehow she thought it'd be simpler for Tao.
"Tao doesn't know..." She whimpered, cradling her face in her paws cowardly. "T-Tao's scared! Meow!"
"I felt scared when I fell in love too, Taokaka!" Litchi argued. Tao flinched at this, shocked that a figure of bravery and strength in her eyes could possibly be afraid of something.
"Boobie Lady was... Scared?"
"Terrified; I didn't know how he'd react! I thought he would hate me forever if I told him how I felt, but I still tried!"
"D-Did it work...?" Tao whispered, her face flushing red. Litchi couldn't help but blush herself, reminiscing in the romantic days she spent with her lover.
Staying at home or journeying in the meadows, just he and her.
"We've been in love with each other for years." She smiled.
"S-So... Tao should tell Rawgnya that Tao loves him lots?" Tao whispered, finally understanding what Litchi was trying to tell her. She nodded, patting the girl's ears lovingly.
"Exactly."
"Rawgnya should still be in town! Should Tao find him?" Tao asked energetically, fidgeting on the spot with barely bottled-up impatience. Litchi motioned to the door like a military commander, granting her permission to commence her mission.
If she chose to accept it of course.
"Good luck!"
"Yay!" Tao cheered, leaping out of the chair with renewed vigour. Charging out of the door, her sing-song voice echoed throughout the town. "Tao loves Rawgnya, Tao loves Rawgnya, Tao loves Rawgnya!"
As her voice became more and more distant, Litchi sat back and sighed in relief. It'd been difficult, but she'd managed to succeed somehow.
I'm glad that you're happy, Tao.
She still had her worries for the poor young girl's future, but she was certain that Ragna would feel the same. Taokaka may be childish, but she was beautiful and kind in the Doctor's eyes. If Ragna somehow turned down her advances?
She'd be more than surprised.
Idly checking her watch, she was pleased to note that she still had a good few hours until her date began.
More than enough time to get home and slap on a cute dress.
Hauling herself out of her worn-out chair, she commenced her usual ritual of leaving the clinic once more. She grabbed the keys, pulled on her coat, and reached out for the doorknob.
*Knock knock*
Typical.
Pausing from this sudden intrusion, Litchi took her coat off before opening the door, not wanting to look like she was about to leave to whoever this visitor was. Shrugging her bare shouders, she twisted and pulled the knob to be met with a rather interesting figure.
"Hey. I hear you do counselling or some other crap like that?" The man asked, his towering height giving him a rather intimidating stature. Litchi didn't react to this, unlike the few bystanders on the early morning street who looked at him with a mixture of fascination and fear plastered onto their faces.
"I do, yes." She answered simply. "Why, are you having any troubles?"
"Why else would I be here?" He growled aggressively in response, shouldering past her impolitely and entering the clinic. Litchi's motherly smile quickly shifted into a devious one, as she worked out exactly why this man was here.
"Can I get you anything, sir?" She asked mockingly, prompting him to scoff.
"You know I don't want to be here, let's just cut the chatter and get straight to business." He muttered, plopping himself unceremoniously onto one of the many vacant seats. Litchi slowly went to join him, staring him in the eye as she approached.
"Well then, what's the problem?" She asked, taking a seat and crossing her legs. The man broke eye contact with her, his facade of bravery shattering with ease.
"I... I think I'm in love with someone."
"Hmm? Who could it be?"
The man looked left and right, as if searching the room for anyone who could be listening in. "... P-Promise you won't tell anyone, would you?"
"Of course, Ragna." Litchi replied, dropping in the name of the tall snow-haired swordsman in an attempt to comfort him. Satisfied that no one else was listening, he leant in close and kept his voice low.
"... You know who Taokaka is, right?"
"Well..." Litchi began, exhaling loudly as her foxy grin grew, "I've certainly heard of the name."
X
(A/N): That turned into nonsense quickly, terribly sorry! .
Kind of a strange story, considering that it is a romance story where the main character isn't even involved in the romance xD
Still, I hope that you enjoyed reading. As strange as the fic is, I certainly enjoyed writing it :P