The next chapter! Thank you all for the reviews so far, the support means a lot! And thanks to Ryu_no_me for the beta-reading!

Luka woke up suddenly, feeling a hand on her back. After the initial flinch and surprise, she woke to find that it was Miku. She was sitting up in her bed, leaning against the backboard, with a soft light turned on, letting Luka see the long blue hair.

"Oh, sorry Evie," Miku whispered, briefly lifting her hand. But Luka closed her eyes and let her head rest again, allowing the touch. When the technician pet her again, she melted, feeling the all-too-large digits work on the muscles of her back.

She was so tense, she hadn't realized. She'd fallen asleep feeling angry, that much she remembered. Or rather, upset. She was upset.

Being a cat was upsetting, but no longer to the point of making her want to scream and shut down. Now, all she could do was lie down and feel tremendously sad about it.

She heaved a sigh, feeling the hand lift to accommodate for the expanding of her tiny ribcage.

At least she wouldn't be crushed any longer.

"What a sigh," Miku said with a quiet chuckle. Her voice was hushed, but there was a renewed clarity to it. "Do you have big thoughts in that tiny brain of yours?"

"You have no idea," Luka chirped.

Miku didn't answer. The cat opened an eye to find that she was reading, a book open in her lap. Just when Luka thought to herself that the nearest books were in the living room, she saw the mug of tea in her other hand, the tag of the tea bag slowly spinning.

She was feeling well enough to get up and move around. That was good.

Luka gulped. Gumi had helped. It was good that she had visited. Miku had needed a friend. Someone that could actually do something. Do more than allow a hand to rest on her head.

She squeezed her eyes shut again. The hand was entirely too big. It no longer sparked immense fear when she thought about it. However, it was yet another reminder that she was tiny, that she was fuzzy, that she was in a body that was not her own.

Briefly, Luka wondered what she would do if she never turned human again. To never see color other than blue, to never go out, to never eat cake, to never hold another person, to never see her loved ones again. No adventure, no socializing, no research, no work. A full life in Miku's care, being fed and played with and pet. No financial burden, no concern over bills, but no conversations, no exchange, no mental challenge, no progress.

Living, watching. Meowing nonsense and having nobody understand. Depending on her ears of all things to communicate her feelings.

What an absolutely painful experience.

"Gosh, you sure can sigh for a cat," Miku said with a chuckle.

Luka blinked her eyes open again, looking up at the technician. Part of her wanted to escape her touch, be free of this reminder, but what would she have instead? No smiles directed her way, nobody talking to her. Isolation, loneliness at its purest.

Luka didn't know what to say. Knew that she wouldn't end up saying anything, only letting out a pitiful chirp or childish meow that would only get giggles and grins.

She stood. She couldn't bear feeling so lonely, so unable to be a part of anything, and running away only made the sadness swell to unbearable sizes, all-engulfing. So what was there to do other than approach until she stood in the crook of Miku's arm, pushing her cheek against her shoulder?

"Hold me," she meowed. She pawed at her, but her paw only found the pages of the book. "Please..."

Miku didn't understand right away, bending her arm until she cradled the feline, scratching at her ears, but Luka meowed again, taking another step forward.

"Evie...? You're demanding now aren't you."

She obliged nonetheless, putting the mug away, and finally closing the book. Once Luka heard the object rest on the nightstand, she stepped into Miku's lap, tucking her head against her neck.

Miku was warm. She still wasn't well, that much was obvious. She smelled of salt and stank of what Luka guessed was her sickness, but she didn't care. She sought refuge behind the veil of her hair, where it was so dark she couldn't see how colorless the world around her had become. She clung to the technician for dear life, her front paws at her shoulders, hoping to experience a hug, to experience closeness, humanity.

Miku didn't say anything as she wrapped her arms around her frame. One hand went for the back of her head, massaging the nerves there. She was holding her close, paying attention to nothing else in the world. Yet...

Nothing would distract Luka from how warped the embrace was. It wasn't how it should have been. Even when Miku kissed her shoulder, her nose deep in the thick fur, it was a far cry from the hug she wanted, from what she needed. The arms were too long, the hands too big, and Luka was just too small. She couldn't even begin to wrap her own arms around her in turn, to press her close.

Yet she stayed, she bathed in the attention, in the soft humming, the gentle affection, for it was the closest she was going to get. Until she would be human again, this was the most normal she was ever going to feel.

Luka wished she could cry, wished she could sob, because she couldn't find it in herself to purr.

"Even cats have moments of sadness, huh," Miku whispered.

Luka didn't meow, tried instead to hold her closer, but that desire only got her clawed paws pulling at her shirt. Wrong, it was all wrong.

"It's ok, Evie. I'm here for you, too."

"Please... Don't let me go."

"I'm here..."

Miku whispered to her on loop, almost like a little lullaby, until she fell asleep, sadness filling her from the deepest depths of her being.

But at least she wasn't alone.

What ensued was a series of cat-naps. Luka woke up often, but never bothered to stay conscious long enough to think, to let herself sink into the horrible situation of her reality. It helped that Miku didn't let her go, not once, greeting her back to consciousness with a low humming, a slow stroke down her back, a caress at her neck. Half-asleep, those moments were familiar enough to soothe the ache, letting Luka believe for all of half a second that it had all been a horrible dream, that she had gone out that night, had found a particularly cuddly companion who held onto her throughout the night. A fragile belief, barely a hope, a shadow of a dream, see-through almost instantaneously, but Luka clung to it nonetheless, her fingers ripping through it like silk paper, her brain drifting between states of consciousness for what felt like days.

It didn't help that she had slept entirely too much since Miku had gotten sick. She couldn't force herself to rest more, yet the sadness tugged her back to sleep nonetheless. A strange battle of wills, mediated by boredom, that Luka didn't want to witness, letting herself sleep more and more, dreaming just a little more, dreaming that she could rest a kiss on Miku's shoulder in return, run a hand through her hair, feel her whole body against hers.

There was something unhealthy about these indulgences, Luka knew, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. Anything but accepting her state, her reality. The saddest of one-sided fantasies were better than that.

It couldn't last forever though. Morning arrived inevitably, the sunlight peering from under the curtains. When she woke up once, Miku was no longer holding her, gone, leaving her on the pillow, the blanket pulled up to cover her. But at least she slumbered in a bed, even if she couldn't feel the sheets on her bare skin, even if there was nobody with her.

A lonely memory of her past life was better, plunging her back to sleep. She did wake when Miku returned, wearing clean clothes, a towel wrapped around her head, and Luka wasn't above meowing plaintively until she was once again the center of her attention.

"You're really a huge cuddlebug, aren't you," Miku said with a laugh as she sat down on the side of the bed. Luka rushed to her lap, wanting nothing more than to be with her once again, but instead she was picked up.

That was the opposite of her escapist fantasies. As a human, those who would pick her up were very tall, very strong, and usually did so despite her protests. She simply never got picked up.

And now she could be, because she was a cat. And so easily!

She desperately wriggled in Miku's grip for all of a second until she was placed on the floor.

"Ok, picking up isn't your thing," Miku said, a happy note in her voice. "I can't blame you."

Luka meowed, prepared to jump on the bed once again.

"Sorry Evie, but I need to change the sheets. I've been sick in them for far too long. It's like a swamp in there."

Ah, that made sense. Luka opened her mouth to offer help, only to watch Miku go about changing the sheets on her own from her too-low point of view from the floor. She couldn't carry any of the things, except perhaps an empty pillowcase.

She was a stupid, tiny cat. She wasn't of any help. So she watched and waited as Miku put the old sheets in the laundry, and put new ones on the bed. Once she was done, Luka leapt onto the blanket, but the technician laughed.

"It's breakfast time, Evie."

Luka pouted, feeling her tail flick to and fro, but she didn't complain, following her to the kitchen. She ate when Miku did, noting that she did seem to be faring a whole lot better than before.

What day was it, right then...? Friday? She wasn't sure any longer. Time fled when it was spent sleeping.

But Miku was feeling better. She was on her phone for most of the meal, typing and scrolling, surely getting caught up on things.

Luka wondered. She wouldn't be able to ask. Until someone would come in, she would get no news. She sulked, lapping at her water until she felt like a water balloon.

Without warning, Miku put the phone down, got up, then did the dishes. Luka followed her every move, trailing her heels, hoping that she'd go back to bed so she could join her, escaping reality in a warm embrace. When Miku's movements turned slow, sluggish, absent-minded, she meowed, bringing her back to reality.

"Pff, I know, I'm still a bit out of it, aren't I?" Miku said, casting her a small smile. "But I should be ok to work soon."

"Do you work weekends?"

"Yeah, volunteering might still be too much. Everybody is telling me to take it easy, even my boss." She scoffed. "But he just wants me to get my act together..."

"Please don't start thinking about that now."

"I think I was most surprised to get an email from Luka's parents," Miku went on, which sent the cat into a stunned silence. "I guess the search organizer must have told them, since we all spoke the other day. I..." She trailed off. "They're such nice people. Their daughter is missing, which is like going through hell on earth, but I get a little fever and they tell me to take it easy. I hope they're doing the same..."

"I hope so, too..."

"It's been ages. But we're no closer to finding any of them. Our best suspect was released the other day. No real evidence, you know? In the meantime, another missing person was announced this morning. Can you imagine? Another family, another circle of friends to join the search... It's so depressing."

"Miku... We're safe."

"Hey, the more people looking, the better our odds I guess. I just hope that they're alive, and not..."

"We're alive."

"God. I can't imagine them all... Dead? It's happened before... Serial murderers never go away for good... There's always another maniac."

Luka leapt up to the counter. "If it's Gakupo, they're all alive."

Miku looked up at her, and despite her gloomy eyes, she cracked a smile. "I really should be teaching you that the countertop is off-limits, huh."

"I'll do this a thousand times if this means getting your head out of a dark place."

Miku shook her head, then dried her hands. "If Luka died because I turned my back, I don't think I would ever be able to forgive myself."

"I'm not dead."

"Yeah, yeah. I need sleep. You want to play a little before I go to bed?"

Luka replied by jumping down from the counter and making a beeline for the bed. This got a laugh from the technician, who followed without making her wait.

"Ok, ok. Back to bed. Let me just take some medication, I'll be right with you."

"Don't take too long," she chirped, already on the bed, wishing she could feel the blissful feeling of clean sheets. It wasn't entirely wasted: she could smell them, soapy and vaguely floral. She paced in circles for a few moments, delighting in the softness of the comforter, how her paws sunk into the material. Finally, Miku arrived, but instead of lying down, she propped up the pillows so she could sit against the headboard again.

Luka didn't complain, returning to her lap with a happy chirp. Miku chuckled as Luka leaned against her once again, tucking her face into the crook of her neck. This time, she too smelled of soap and flowers, skin and clean laundry.

"I have to admit, I'm a bit happy that you ended up being so cuddly."

She had no reply, wondering if she would try to wrap her paws around Miku's neck again, or if she would be content with the lean. Miku scratched behind her ears regardless, holding her close, so Luka would probably be happy without trying and being confronted with the ensuing failure.

"You're warm," she said with a meow, letting it dissolve into a purr.

"You're just a big fluffy baby," Miku giggled, running her fingers down her back. "Hm. I wonder if you'd let me bathe you. Your fur is a little matted."

Luka wanted to curse. Try as she might, she just couldn't get used to having so much hair.

"Fine. But mind your manners."

"You're really a social little lady," Miku said with a chuckle. "I have to wonder what happened to you to make you so scared at first."

Luka sighed, leaning against her and closing her eyes. "I'll tell you all about it someday."

"I'm glad you trust me, though."

"...So am I."

Luka was ready to slumber, leaning against Miku's chest, but the technician didn't relax under her, reaching over to the nightstand, her body rocked by minute movements. After a few minutes, Luka opened her eyes to find the tealette on her phone.

She put her paw on it, pushing away the bright screen.

"Tsk, Evie," Miku playfully scolded her. "I know it's not exactly your fault that my old MP3 player drove you absolutely nuts, but you can at least let me try to find a new one."

"Oh?"

"I had to work that morning without music and I'm pretty sure I was going to go crazy, fever or no fever." She scrolled a bit more, and Luka watched, only able to see the pictures as they moved. "But as you can probably guess, the player I had was totally archaic. Battery must have been on its last legs."

"That would explain the sound."

"But I also kept it for so long for a reason, you know? There's nothing else quite like it. I'll do it for you though."

Luka took her eyes off the device to glance up at Miku. So close, she was so blurry: Luka could only tell where she was exactly thanks to her whiskers, pushed by the edges of her frame. But it was impossible to see if she was looking back at her, or looking at the phone.

She let the purr roll a little louder, leaning against her once again.

"I'm sorry for making you throw out the old one," she trilled lowly.

"Pff, I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying. I can't just choose a new one in a second, you know?"

"Take your time."

"If you're going to keep complaining, you can help me choose one," Miku said, before pressing a small kiss to the top of her head.

Luka opened her eyes at that, felt her tail flick from side to side. It didn't take long for her to decide, turning her attention to the screen and resting a paw on Miku's wrist.

"I can't see a thing," she meowed. "Talk to me."

"So demanding," Miku joked.

"Let me help."

The woman chuckled again, still scrolling through the options. "It's hard to choose because I have to choose either battery life, memory size, or compatibility with the library software I use."

"You really have to pick just one?" Luka meowed skeptically.

"I guess battery life is most important: I listen to music all the time, you know. I can live with porting my library to another software. But anything with a bigger memory immediately costs a fortune, you know?"

"If you use it every day, it would be worth splurging a little."

"Hm. It doesn't help that some of them are just an eyesore."

Luka's tail wagged, the closest expression she could make to a laugh. "Is it an accessory or a utility? It doesn't have to be pretty."

"I guess it's function over form, in the end..."

Miku scrolled a little more, opening new windows. "Ok. Either this one, which is compatible with what I have, but costs way too much for what it is, or this other one, which has a longer battery life, the same memory, and might need a few frustrating hours of work to get my music onto it. It's cheaper and bulkier but..."

"You said battery life is what you care about most. Go for the second one."

Miku didn't answer, thinking to herself.

"It might be annoying at first, but it'll be worth the effort, I think," Luka insisted, pawing at the device.

"The second one, huh."

"Yeah. Go for the second one."

Miku chuckled. "Ok sweetheart. I'll get that one."

The cat watched as she filled in her details to purchase it, vaguely recognizing the layout of a checkout window, but unable to read anything ranging from name to address.

She sighed, leaning against her once again.

"There we go. Thanks for the help, Evie."

She got another kiss on the head, and Luka purred louder than she thought she could.

After buying the MP3 player, they napped for a little more, before waking up in the middle of the afternoon. Luka woke up first, but she didn't move, preferring to stay curled up against the person who held her, who spoke with her, who she could help. They were all small illusions. Being held still meant being reminded that she was a cat. Conversations were obviously one-sided. And the help only went so far.

But it was the most human she had felt, and she owed it to all the love and care the technician showed her.

When Miku woke up as well, they watched a little bit of television together, surfing from the news to a movie that had started quite a while prior. That didn't stop them from watching it, or at least Luka from listening to it: she kept her ear on the dialogue while Miku watched with rapt attention, never quite forgetting to gently stroke her down the length of her whole back. When the movie inevitably got to the romance part, Luka felt the technician choke up a little. She tried purring to distract her, which worked: she got more cuddles and another kiss to the top of her head.

"You don't have to watch if you don't like it," she gently meowed, knowing that no words would reach Miku's ear, but she hoped that she'd understand.

"I'm ok, Evie."

That was what mattered. When the movie ended, Miku turned the television off, and took a moment just to hold Luka close. The embrace was firm, warm, and safe. Luka almost fell right back asleep, but Miku cleared her throat, became more present, as if snapped out of her thoughts.

"How about we try the bath now?"

Luka meowed, unsure what to expect. It had been ages since she had been bathed, but she's already admitted that her hair was more than she could control. After a brief moment of thought, she stood, hopping from the bed.

"Smart girl. Follow me to the bathroom?"

She obliged, not even pretending she didn't understand. Once there, Miku closed the door, then laid a few towels on the floor.

"Ok, uhm... I have no idea if you'll like this."

"It's fine," she meowed, waiting by the foot of the tub. "At least it should be."

"Oh! Ok, the shampoo..." While Miku searched, eventually returning with a bottle that still had the plastic tamper-protection on it, she said, "I guess your old family must have trained you to recognize bathtime, huh? Maybe that has to do with other things..."

Luka sat and waited patiently as she pried off the plastic layer, then filled the tub with a shallow puddle of water. When she would be human again, it would all make sense, but Luka was done with playing dumb in the meantime.

"Ok, it's all ready, I guess... I know you don't like being carried. Do you want to jump in?"

"I can barely see the edge of the tub," Luka admitted with a sad chirp.

Miku tapped the edge, almost as if it was because she somehow understood her, but Luka was willing to bet she remembered how it had helped her find the top of the table. Once she could see it, she could better calculate her leap, so she easily soared over the edge and landed right into the puddle within.

She had no idea why water made cats freak out: she didn't mind it that much at all. The temperature was nice, too. As she laid down in the puddle, she did note that the feeling of her fur sticking to her was unpleasant, but it was nothing to run around the room for.

Above her, Miku chuckled incredulously. "And here I was thinking this would be a chore."

Luka considered the shallow puddle, wondering how she would get water on her back. "As long as you don't expect me to roll over like a dog, it should be fine."

That was when Miku summoned a cup to help her thoroughly soak her whole body. On one hand, it meant she no longer had to roll over, but she was still being bathed like a child.

Suffice to say, it wasn't the most fun she'd had in the past few days. When Miku started lathering in the cold shampoo, she was even more unhappy: not because full-body massages were unpleasant, but because being bathed in such a manner only reminded her that her bodily autonomy was bordering on nonexistent. She'd just barely accepted being touched, held, but if Miku were to pull and push her like the vet had, squishing and crushing to bend her to her will, putting her hands where Luka preferred she wouldn't, then the bath would indeed become a very unpleasant experience for them both. She hissed a few times when Miku almost crossed the line, much to the technician's confusion, but she did understand and didn't push much further.

A relief.

Once she was all soaped up, Miku brought out a comb and gently started tugging at the knots. The longer it went on for, the more embarrassed Luka got. She didn't know she'd let it get that bad, but had to admit she couldn't solve the issue herself. So she let Miku lift her arms to get to her armpits, held on to the offered towel until her belly was fully combed out.

It took a long time, but eventually it was all sorted. The cup was returned to wash away the suds.

"There we go," Miku said with a sigh, running her fingers through the fur to make sure all the shampoo was gone. "That wasn't so bad, I think."

"Could have gone worse."

"It could have been worse, I guess. I was ready for you to turn this place into a water park."

Luka felt her tail swing slowly, slowed by the water, entertained by the thought. "I bet you were ready to get absolutely soaked, too."

"I could have been scratched up in a thousand different ways," Miku said with a laugh, putting the cup down. A second later, she pulled the plug out of the tub, and the water quickly receded. "I had my first aid kit ready and everything."

"I'm not above attacking you," Luka said, her tail swinging wide.

"I had no idea what to expect at all, actu—" she stopped mid-sentence when Luka lightly swatted her on the nose. She laughed. "Oh, now you decide to act up!"

"You call that acting up?" Luka meowed in return, playfully swatting in her direction. "I can make it worse!"

"We can play after, silly. Now be a good girl while I dry you. You're like a sponge."

Luka trilled, letting the technician cover her in a large, fluffy towel. For all of a second, she was picked up, but before she could complain, she was once again resting on Miku's knees.

"You don't need the burrito treatment right now, I hope," Miku said as she worked the towel over her face.

"Hm, no. This is alright."

"Such a conversationalist."

Luka purred as she was slowly dried, the towel moving from her face to her head to her neck. It was a much better massage than in the wet tub, plus she felt wonderfully clean and warm, her physical state better than it had been since she first got transformed.

"I missed baths," she admitted, the meow long and drawn out.

"The towel isn't so bad, is it?"

She purred deeply, letting the tealette dry her back and upper chest, then her legs. It had been a long time since she'd shared such a moment with anyone: one-night flings usually didn't go in that direction. This was a more special, slow-paced kind of intimacy, that involved far more trust and connection, with lights on and no pleasure blinding. Just a quiet moment for two, where the world can melt away.

She leaned against the technician once her upper body was mostly dry, wishing to once again disappear into the crook of her neck.

"I'm almost done, Evie."

"Hold me..."

"Tsk. You're just a little diva aren't you."

Luka heaved a sigh, clinging to Miku with her free paws weakly wrapped around her neck.

It was getting unhealthier. Miku thought she had a cuddly cat. If she knew... Would she ever tell her? Tell her that she'd clung to her while thinking of better days, better times? That she had used her as a means of escapism?

Luka didn't know, yet she couldn't find the strength within her to stop. As Miku wrung the water out of her legs and tail, it only reminded her of her reality, so she dove into the dreams deeper, wondering how insulted Miku would feel if she'd tell her. If it would break the crush she had on her, if it would irreparably change things between them.

Or...

Miku hummed to herself as she worked, shifting the towel to get to a dryer spot so she could finish drying her paws. Luka listened to the song, momentarily swept away. Perhaps Miku, the sweetheart she was, wouldn't hold it against her. She might understand. She might believe it was the small cat brain that had made her do these things.

It terrified Luka how much she wanted that.