Author's Note: Thought or Emphasis; Flashback or English; Thought or Emphasis in Flashback
I don't own K-ON!. If I did, Mugi would get more screen time, and a few more chances for her Mugi-Goggles to activate—there may not be actual pairings, but it would be kinda amusing to see how she sees in short bursts.
It's not like some viewers don't have this yuri-vision anyway; otherwise, we probably wouldn't have this much fanfiction!
Read and review.
K-ON!: Howl!
Part II: That Night
Her face was wet.
Sitting up and touching her cheek, that was the first thing Mio noticed as she reentered the living world.
The second thing she noticed was the darkness. Shadows pervaded the hallway where she revived, but stopped short at the soft light in front of her, pooling in from the bedroom's window.
The third was the shape with glowing amber eyes, lying in front of the bed.
"AAAH!" The gray-eyed girl scrambled as far back as her limbs could take her, which was unfortunately not very far. The shape seemed to wince and whine at the scream, before making a sound of its own.
Bark!
"Huh?" Mio reacted in turn with a sudden recollection, touching her face again before quickly jerking her hand away. "Oh." She sighed. "So it wasn't a dream, then."
Standing, the bassist found that Ritsu had indeed transformed into the creature in front of her, minutes before her encounter with blackness. Now conscious, however, Mio's head took the opportunity to flood with questions, such as: When did this start happening? Can she change back? Why Ritsu? What in the universe decided to play this joke?
And what do I do with a... what is she exactly, a dog-person? No, wait... a-
!
She may have watched anime with her on occasion (never expecting she'd keep a marginal interest in Naruto), but Mio never watched Ritsu's horror movies—at least, not without closing her eyes most of the time. While having blocked out some sights and sounds (and Ritsu's reviews), however, she found that the concept of this had not completely eluded her.
She knew that full moons were important—though if that information were ever in doubt before, she surely knew it now.
More important at present, however, she knew that this beast was a bloodthirsty one. The screams in those movies were not welcoming its rampage, after all. Hence, the newest words to break through the house's quiet:
"Why aren't you attacking me?"
The words passed her lips before she could stop them, and Ritsu stood up on her four limbs.
Mio slapped a palm over her traitorous mouth, holding back a scared squeak. She jinxed herself. The girl who sucked down a bag of popcorn this afternoon would devour her too before morning...
Or not, as the beast simply scratched an itch on her back with one of her "hind legs."
Part of Mio was impressed with the flexibility, but another part chided herself. "Stupid! What am I doing!? She's still Ritsu, I know it! I..." She recalled something before the blackout. "...I saw it!"
Ritsu stared the mumbling human with what appeared to be curiosity.
Equally curious, Mio tried something, speaking slowly. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
An unchanged gaze, and silence.
"I guess not." With a huff, the girl tried to figure out what to do next, her finger absently twirling a lock of hair. The ex-human seemed to sense the ravenette's annoyed mood, and stepped closer, nudging into her unoccupied hand. "Hmm? What is it, Ritsu?"
Her head jerked up. Bark!
"You... recognize your name?" She took the chance. "Ritsu."
Bark!
"Well, at least there's that. Now... do you know me?"
Silence again.
"It's me, Mio." She gestured to herself, a hand tapping her chest. "Mio."
Faced with another stroke of silence, the girl would have called it a failure, but then she thought about it. As she already told herself, the beast was still Ritsu; if she did not know her at all, she would probably would have been dead minutes ago. "Ritsu." Another bark was released, with another nudge into Mio's hand.
Starting to get the message, she tentatively reached up to pet the spiky top of Ritsu's head, never thinking she would ever say this to her best friend: "G-good girl." She then rubbed it slowly, passively noting the hair's texture—softest at its ends, despite their appearance.
She was almost distracted by the sensation, until the beast's head tilted up once more. Eyes once lidded in a moment of comfort now opened wide, seeming to shine a bit more once they locked onto Mio's. Something about them looked familiar as her fanged mouth... grinned?
What is she-
!?
Over a hundred pounds of weight pressed the brunette back to the wall. Unlucky dark strands of hair were matted to the victim of Ritsu's appreciation; her question was answered with a wet tongue.
"..." A shudder, and then, "L-l-let's find you something to do."
"Why did I find her something to do?"
Wiping her wet hand in the kitchen, Mio hoped Satoshi would forgive her for the ball torn apart in Ritsu's fangs... and that the Tainakas would forgive her for the lamp that got knocked over.
Playing for fifteen minutes straight was starting to make the black-haired bassist's arm tired, but pleading, glowing eyes forced her on—and knowing how a human Ritsu sometimes occupied her time, she did not want to find out how a monster version combated boredom.
Mio hurled overhand this time, and surprised herself with the ball's distance. "Now bring it back."
The beast simply stood in place, ball in mouth at the end of the hallway, until the human houseguest attempted a "come here" gesture, opening her arms and scooping inward. "Um... here, Ritsu."
The bestial best friend understood... and burst into a run...
"Well, I tried, right? Dogs like catching balls, right?" She shook her head at the assumption. "No, don't say that! Ritsu isn't a dog, she's a..." Mio took the moment to stare at her feral friend, fangs tearing into her brother's baseball—or rather, its remains. "Oh, Ritsu..."
She was starting to feel regret. "Hmm, maybe I should have played with her outside... No, what if someone sees? How do I expla-" Her thought stopped upon a more pressing inquiry:
"AND WHEN DID I START TALKING TO MYSELF!? UGH!"
A low, sudden growl caused the ravenette to cool down, and it wasn't from the furry female in the room.
"I haven't eaten since I got here, have I?"
Ritsu began to walk around, sniffing the floor and air. "You're probably hungry too." At the sight of claws starting to tear into the refrigerator door, Mio figured she was right.
The noirette headed to the freezer half of the refrigerator; her host claimed earlier that some microwave pizzas were waiting in case they got hungry. She noted the brunette's current condition, however, and had to ask, "Can she eat that?" Judging by the teeth she saw earlier before Ritsu's... affectionate greeting, Mio figured she could probably eat anything.
She seemed to try, at least; the minute the human opened the freezer door, the beast dove in and searched for its own food. Mio could only step back and watch as a frozen chicken was ripped from its storage and taken to the same corner as Satoshi's ball once was. She grabbed the flattened pizza boxes and hopelessly threw them away, deciding that a good show could get her mind off of hunger.
It worked, to an extent:
The newest game show she walked into partway, something about knowing old kanji, managed to get her mind off of her own eating.
Ritsu's eating, however, became a new topic forcing its way into her mind, thanks to the sounds.
Cracking, crunching, wetness, tearing... all Mio knew was that something in that corner was being destroyed. She turned up the volume to the television; at this point, she did not care what the program was, as long as she did not sink into her old coping mechanism.
"I can't hear it, I can't hear it, I can't hear it..."
The cacophony eventually stopped, as did Mio's mantra. Leaning over the couch, she dared to look, hoping what she saw would not send her screaming out of the front door, or vomiting where she sat.
To her disbelief... there was nothing there. Ritsu ate the entire thing: no meat, no fat, no bones; only some some red bits of ice anyone could miss at first glance. Gray eyes pulled away from the sight (or lack thereof) and turned back around, where the bassist released a breath she did not know she held.
Then came, of all feelings, relief: "At least there isn't a mess to clean up." Mio shook her head of the odd thought; she was taking this situation a little too well.
"I wonder if I've gone insane from all this." She huffed. "Well, I am talking to myself again." Gray eyes sternly glared to the beast walking to the couch. "This is your fault, you know."
The beast in rags slumped inward and whimpered in response, a literal puppy-dog pout melting the steel gaze against her. Is it possible she can actually be... cute like this?
Yes, she was definitely taking this too well.
Mio just gave in before the oddity of it all. "I can't stay mad at you. Even when you're like this. Even when you're not... quite... you." The noirette brushed her hand across the former human's hair again, somehow not paying mind to what the latter just did; it helped that Ritsu's head faced the TV screen, not showing the leftovers that could be on her mouth. And even like this, you're still distracted by television. I get the feeling I'll need to know that later.
In time, the screen grew hazy before her gray eyes, the hand moving across Ritsu's head becoming more and more sluggish. Combining the horrible anime on her television right then, the lateness of the hour, and the newest development of her young life, the night had taken its toll on Mio Akiyama. Her hand lazily pressed the remote's off button, darkness seizing the room and its inhabitants.
It soon clutched onto her mind, but she still had one last thought before morning.
Please change back, Ritsu.
To be continued...
Some earlier readers may be wondering, "what the heck happened to chapter 2?" Well, while I was working on fixing up chapter 1, it just didn't feel right to me to leave the first night unaddressed. Never fear, the original chapter 2 is just next chapter, some minor tweaks added in.