The chapter title speaks for itself. Enjoy! Do not own SC characters.

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Chapter 13: A Change of Destination

Taki was awakened by a blood curdling wail, startled she looked around herself to see Sophitia looking behind her. "What's the matter?" Taki asked in a tired voice as she rubbed it out of her eyes with her hand.

Sophitia didn't speak, she just slowly turned around holding something with the shock still I her face. She looked at Taki hoping for an explanation holding the long new part of her body that was covered in light-bronze fur. "You told me this thing wouldn't grow out completely until the middle of the day today!" She yelled shaking the tip of her tail at her.

Taki stared at it wide-eyed, then her eyes narrowed. "It grew out quicker probably because of all the screaming you did yesterday!" Taki scolded as she stood up. "I told you your rage would speed up the process."

"Well how do you suggest I stop it!? Should I just knock myself out so that I don't feel any emotion!?"

"STOP YELLING!!" Taki nearly screamed as her face portrayed frustration and even slight rage. "You're making it worse!" Taki looked down and sighed. "With the rate that this is going..." Taki rubbed her face with her hand. "I might have to take you to Egypt, seeing as to that is the place where this curse originated." Her hand moved down the side of her neck. 'This trip is going to be a long one.'

"Egypt... argh! I just want to go home." Sophitia sighed.

"Well you can't exactly go home looking like that can you?" Taki asked knowing she was right. Sophitia looked up with soft eyes then looked down closing her eyes and nodded to her idea reluctantly.

"How close are we to the docks?" Sophitia didn't open her eyes.

"Close. Only a few miles."

"Really? Hmm, I thought the trip to the docks would be longer." Sophitia raised and eyebrow.

"Me too, but I guess with so much going on things seem faster." Sophitia looked up to Taki, who just stared back.

"Erm, how much longer until my... um... fur... should grow in?" Sophitia asked hesitantly, she never thought she would say that. Taki thought for a minute.

"Two, maybe three days. That is if you behave yourself." Taki smirked.

"I might have a little difficulty doing that." Sophitia admitted trying not to smile.

"I know." Taki smiled for her.

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The walk to the docks was the most awkward thing to do for Sophitia. Feeling her tail wag behind her she trained with it a bit. She taught herself to make it sway more elegantly and to curl it beneath her skirt so that she could be ready to hide it when she got to the docks. The fun thing about it was whenever she had an itch on her back she would make her tail rub it for her.

"I see you're having fun with that thing." Taki suddenly spoke up, a small smile spread across her face. Sophitia sharply looked up with surprise.

'Was she watching me the entire time?' Sophitia thought nervously. "How did you know what I was doing?"

"It's hard not to notice when your skirt starts swaying in so many different directions." Taki stated plainly but still smiling.

"It's hard not to notice or hard to keep from watching?" Sophitia smirked and narrowed her eyes. She giggled as Taki's head shot up at the question then blushed deeply as she looked at Sophitia at the corner of her eye briefly then looked away.

'Maybe I should let that go, I was kidding anyway.' Sophitia looked down as she smirked. "Can I ask you a serious question Taki?"

"Uhh, sure." Taki responded hesitantly.

"I had a dream last night and you were in it...."

"I know. The one you had when you fell on top of me?"

"Yeah, and in my dream I asked you something."

Taki remembered the question and was afraid of where this was heading. She watched as Sophitia looked up.

"Why did you seduce me?" She asked in a soft voice as Taki gulped.

"Erm, are you sure you want to know?" Taki gave her one last chance to turn away from all this.

"You have no idea how sure I am." She lowered her voice. Taki took in a deep breath before she answered, she didn't want to lie to her.

"Well... I..." Taki stammered trying to think of a way of how to put this. "I wanted more of you, you came so close, I wanted to burn the feel of you onto me." Taki spoke softly, afraid of looking into Sophitia's eyes.

Sophitia's face was neutral for a second then grinned naughtily with narrowed eyes. She strode over to Taki and when behind her she grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close stopping them from their walk. "Sophitia what're you doing?"

Sophitia did nothing but smirk as she brought her lips close to Taki's ear. "If you wanted more of me why didn't you just say so?" She spoke in such a seductive voice that it sent shudders down Taki's back as she spoke into Taki's ear. After a few entrancing seconds of feeling Sophitia's chest against her back Taki ripped away.

"Cut that out Sophitia, you know that isn't going to help you. And I know that isn't really you it's just your cat-self speaking." Sophitia's grin faded and blinked.

"You're right, I-I haven't been myself ever since I've became... what I am." She rubbed the back of her head.

"I know. Lets just focus on nothing but getting to Egypt, alright?"

"Yeah... yeah sure." Sophitia said in a low obedient voice as she followed Taki's path to the docks.

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"Do you know which ship goes to Egypt?" Sophitia's eyes widened at the mass of ships in the distance. The town, or better called a city, was flooding with people, either her to board a ship or to buy items from the thousands of money hungry merchants. She would always remember the walk as being long and awkward, but it was much better than having a sudden flash of rage or lust, they both were like a strong addiction to her.

"I asked, it's the medium sized one over there, with the larger center mast and three wind sails." Taki explained as Sophitia looked for a match.

"The one with the red flag?"

"Yep." Sophitia looked at the ship that seemed pretty well built. "When is it leaving?"

"In exactly sixteen minutes. Oh! And don't forget to hide your tail." Sophitia looked down to find her tail poking out from underneath her skirt, she immediately pulled it back underneath. "I need to pick up something from one of the merchants so we need to weave through all the people I'm afraid."

Sophitia raised an eyebrow. "What do you need to get?"

"Um, you'll see." Taki tried to avoid the subject, what she needed to get might not make Sophitia feel any better.

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Going through the crowd of people was actually easier than Sophitia thought it would be. It was easy for Taki being the slippery ninja that she is, and for Sophitia she slipped right between the people which she was sometimes good at in her own town, but now she seemed even better at it. Perhaps the reason being what she was now? Having the swiftness of a cat. 'I hope not, I like being faster through the crowds than before.'

"Here's the stand!" Taki shouted to Sophitia through the noise of the crowd. She pointed at the merchant's stand, which held different clothing, mostly cloaks. Taki bought a long, brown, baggy coat with a large hood from the eager merchant.

"A cloak? Why do you need a cloak?" Sophitia asked raising an eyebrow. 'And how is she going to wear that and stand it in the desert?'

Taki turned to her but didn't look her in the eye. "You might need it." Sophitia just stared at her, then her eyes suddenly widened.

"I'm not going to wear that thing!" Sophitia protested as she pointed at it. "I'm not going to hide underneath it like any mysterious evil man or demon would!" Taki suddenly jolted towards her and stopped when she was so close that they could hear each other breathing. Taki looked at her straight in eye never wavering.

"We are going to be on a semi-full ship for three months at the most, do you want people to stare at you!? I'm sure you don't want that kind of attention!" Taki tried to whisper through gritted teeth, her eyes fixed on Sophitia's.

Sophitia sighed and took the cloak, she was right; it'll only make the trip more difficult if she didn't wear it. She hung it on her arm and held it close as she headed for the ship, letting Taki lead.

Getting on the ship and letting all men, brute and frail, walk passed, Taki was prevented from actually stepping foot on the ship itself by who appeared to be the first mate.

The towering figure asked Taki what seemed to be a question by the tone of his voice it was hard for Sophitia to tell because it was in Japanese. She listened to Taki speak to the first mate.

'I love listening to her speak in her own language, it fast and complex but I love hearing her speak it; it's so interesting to listen to.' Sophitia thought as she smiled at their conversation, but it faded at she watched Taki grab the first mate's collar and pull him down and close to her face and whispered something through gritted teeth.

The first mate just stared at her, unmoved, then said something which made Taki thrust him back, clearly showing her frustration by her snarl. She grabbed her sack of coins and threw them in his hand and said something viciously. He stepped aside to let the two pass onto the ship. Sophitia just followed the angered figure before her until they reached one end of the ship and looked over the horizon.

"What happened?" Sophitia asked as she placed a hand on Taki's tensing shoulder.

"He was just being an ass. He said that we weren't signed up to come aboard this ship and threw an insult at you saying that he would let me on if I give you to him, that's when I grabbed him by the collar." Sophitia just stared at her then smiled at her for caring about her so much.

"Thank you." Sophitia said in a sincere tone as she rubbed Taki's shoulder with the hand that was already upon it. "How did you get us on? Did you bribe him?"

"Yeah, with the money I gave him. I'm surprised he didn't notice your eyes."

"I'm surprised no one else has." Sophitia noted as she leaned onto the side of the ship, crossing her arms and looking into the water of the bay.

"That's because you keep your head down most of the time, the rest of the time people noticed but probably don't have the time to take a second look." Taki explained as she looked to the sky over the ocean. She hoped that Sophitia's tactic of keeping her head down stayed that way, they were on a ship full or rowdy men who do anything to get into bed with either of them, especially Sophitia. Should any of them notice, they could end up dead before they even reach shores of Egypt!

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You can already tell that this is going to be a long one. The next chapter should be interesting I can assure you. I hope you liked this one :)

To PriestessLennoue: The thing about the cat, that is freaky! Felt like Sophitia just walked out of my fic eh? Yeah, I'm afraid that the other fanfic of mine is over with, I might be adding more to the chapters later on, but yeah, it's over... sorry --

I noticed you like the Pope-cicles bit, thought somebody would, especially you since you down a bag of sugar per day!

To El loco: I would add Astaroth, he would be a nice addition to show off Sophitia's coming strength, but I already had him in Meeting of the Dirty Minded and it would seem repetitive if I had her beat the crap out of him again.