Soon enough the cat felt the skin on her back prickling (itchy as if covered in a rash) causing her to groggily open her eyes with displeasure.

Sure enough… That blasted sun had risen once more.

Turning her gaze upwards revealed that the roof of the little hut wasn’t very good at its job. The light from that damned sun pierced through several holes and “conveniently” landed upon her back leaving only her beautiful fur to protect her. It was better than if she was in the nude yet it was still unpleasant.

Fortunately it was manageable so she focused on stretching out her (not so) old bones; getting into the iconic pose that any cat lover would recognise. Letting out an extended mewl that caused the two girls below to look up in confusion. Obviously not expecting the cute noises of a kitten.

Both were already awake, however, it was clear that Rukia wasn’t a morning person as she was practically being steered around by Hisana. In turn Hisana was getting both of them ready for another day. Orphans like them couldn’t exactly be passive in their lives.

“Was that a cat?”

“Did mr.kitten come to help us!”

“Rukia… It was a young kitten so there is no way it managed to sneak into the city and specifically find our house out of all th-”

The older of the two sisters didn’t get to finish as the kitten in question leapt down to land atop her head with an amazing level of grace. Hisana almost didn’t notice the cat. She likely wouldn’t have if not for the excited squeals that came out Rukia who was practically ready to explode with her building up joy.

That girl practically screamed “kitten” repeatedly which caused an impressive level of smugness to form inside that tiny form. A golden halo of pride practically formed around that cat. Although the older sister certainly wasn’t as excited as her sister; even if just because of how loud Rukia was so early in the day.

|Egotist.|

|Egotist.|

Both of the spirits that shared her body finally seemed to agree on something - that something just so happened to be their diagnosis of the one who had their hands on the wheel of the body.

“Rukia…”

Her little sister froze at the dark tone in her sister's voice.

Meanwhile the kitten, who caused all this, jumped away from Hisana’s head as the girl attempted to take her into her own hands. Landing atop a scavenged table where she proudly stood. Her little floofy chest pushed out as she gazed between the two sisters without an ounce of guilt on her face.

Hisana could only rub her temples as she looked between her pouting little sister and the troublesome kitten who somehow made their way into their home. Her common sense was telling her it may have been another kitten and she’d be inclined to agree… If not for the obviously unique mutation of having two tails.

Narrowing her eyes as she looked at those fuzzy cheeks that looked very snuggable - quickly causing the girl to give up with a depressed sigh. How could she possibly be angry at such an adorable kitten? Even if she acted mature she still liked cute things and she was certain that few things could be cuter.

Just staring at that little “fella” caused her lips to slowly curl up.

“Can we keep them now?”

Although that question made her face instantly grow more sololum. She wished to say that they could definitely keep the kitten however she was also well aware that they were only living so “comfortably” due to there only being the two of them. Adding a pet on top of that may cause serious issues.

“Rukia, I have already told you that we can’t take care of another family member.”

Her voice obviously was soft but regretful.

“B-but…”

Tears began to form in the little girl's eyes as she clenched her hands so tightly that the whites of her little knuckles became clear.

“We only have enough food for the both of u-”

“Nyu!”

Suddenly she found herself interrupted once again by the kitten who seemed to snort at her words - a glance revealed it mocking the idea of two little girls needing to take care of her. A fact that made Hisana repeatedly blink in confusion. How could a newborn kitten be so openly making fun of her?

Of course she didn’t understand who that kitten was nor their aversion to the concept of food.

At the very least she managed to elevate the mood through her personality - neither of the little girls looking like they were about to cry.

|They’ll never get strong if you ba~by them; like two~ rooki~es pullin’ at the levers hoping for divine jackpo~t to let them leave even.|

|She is right that suffering brings true power.|

Unconsciously the little black kitten shivered as she felt that dark alter ego's cheshire grin grow to become even more crooked than Cheshire’s own.

|Quite the gamble.|

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As far as the cat was concerned; a few months went by with nothing of note (for her) really catching her attention leading to her getting quite used to her life.

That wasn’t the same for everyone, however.

For some their lives were about to change forever as they encountered something they would never be able to forget for the rest of their pitiful time on the earth. A time of great celebration & worry was what the well regarded Unmei family were experiencing. The harsh breaths of a woman keeping them on edge.

Within a simple room were the families pillars as well as a wetnurse who was helping a woman on her back with the sacred duty of childbirth. The two men & doctor meanwhile watched from a distance. All of them clearly tense as the head of the family kept his eyes closed.

He was a well aged man who showed the trifles of time with his wrinkled skin. A “beauty mark” sat atop the tip of his nose to make him stand out from a crowd - it was almost funny how serious he was with such an noticeable defect in such a place.Although he wasn’t the most tense of those there.

Beside him was a cold man constantly pacing. His thumb was placed in his mouth as he bit it so hard that it was surprising that blood wasn’t drawn; if he kept up his cycle there very well may be a new pathway burned into the floor of the room. Not that anyone appeared to be annoyed by his actions.

The doctor, meanwhile, just tried his best to calm the other two men down by constantly sharing useful information about how well the birth was going.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Even if it was hard to convince the pair when it had been going on for several hours now.

Fortunately that scene would soon stop as the sounds of a baby soon broke all those within the room out of their contemplation. That nurse turned around to reveal a freshly born baby in her arms. She already removed the placenta from the baby as she approached the doctor who willingly took the child.

It was a bit strange as (after the initial sound) the baby didn’t proceed to make more which obviously made him quite worried. What was stranger was… It almost sounded like the baby yawned in impatience rather than cried. Still, he had a job to do so began to check the baby for any deformities.

“It’s a boy.”

“Our family is blessed once more!”

His words brought jubilation while the nurse brought some water and a cloth to help clean the child up while that child already seemed to have hair.

Although it was when the nurse wiped the newborn boys hair that the doctor truly thought something was out of place. What welcomed his eyes wasn’t the black hair he’d been expecting. Neither was it brown or even a rare but normal hair colour like blonde.

Instead he was met with blue.

Not just one shade as the boy's hair seemed to split down the middle as a more purplish & darker blue made up the two sides of his hair. When his eyes opened it got even stranger. Normally a baby couldn’t even open their eyes after being born yet this boy did just that; with his eyes matching his hair’s anomaly.

Stranger still was the fact that they looked at him with the gaze of a wolf studying it’s prayer - a smug smirk forming on his little lips.

Before the doctor could get his thoughts together something stranger happened as those two little hands came up to rest on his cheeks. The family thought it was just a cute scene until the heat of the room began to rapidly increase followed by the inhuman screams. Looking quickly revealed the cause.

That new mother was being consumed by viscous crimson flames that burst out from her blood vessels despite seeming weak due to a lack of density. Her screams of pain only seemed to infuse those flames with more power. A fact that brought a cute little giggle that revealed how beautiful the voice behind was.

With the source being the child.

The doctor looked down only to see crimson wisps (far denser than those coming from the mother) were escaping from a single eye as well as the side of his lip. Burning his flawless flesh with those flames falling out as if a single tear mark falling down his face. Those from his mouth made a small frown.

Despite that… The child continued to laugh.

“WHAT IS HAPPENING!”

His voice boomed out as he stormed over to the doctor and nurse who were understandably frozen in shock over the demonic scene in front of them. They still couldn’t answer. How could they give any response when they too could not make any sense out of what was happening.

Suddenly the doctor felt something leave his body through those little hands - not being able to understand what was happening as his body shrivelled up in front of everyone. In his place the child quickly grew larger & larger. Eventually he turned to dust as the nurse screamed in fear.

“That’s rather strange… Their soul seems to be transforming rather than moving on; well that ain’t my problem either way.” <”Child”>

Her screams cut short as that now post-toddler fell to the floor only to kick off the floor to hug her leg while looking up with the cutest smile he could manage. Only for his eyes to open with an obvious malevolent sadistic light to be clear. The fear she felt caused her to freeze up which meant…

She couldn’t do anything before she withered until just dust in the wind.

“Ah~ the vitality of the young ones is always the best~!”

That voice was truly beautiful as the now pre-teen rested a hand on their neck to crack it - turning to look towards the younger of the two remaining men. A big smile on his face as those crimson flames continued to marr one side of his flesh. Stretching out his arms as if calling the man to embrace him.

“Show that you love me; hug me pappy~!”

His voice was wistful like a scorned child who desperately just wanted attention yet neither of them knew what to do as they could only silently watch. At least until the old man began to slowly back up. Soon making a break for it as he rushed to the door in a pitiful attempt to escape.

This only made the smile on that monster’s face turn equally monstrous - curling up with a sadistic glee causing the father to collapse.

The boy suddenly jumped to the table with the ashes that was once a beautiful young mother. Grabbing the scissors used to remove the placenta. Snapping them into two blades then throwing one of them up into the air before catching them so the bladesrested between his fingers as he reeled his arm back.

Expertly throwing that scissor blade so that they pierced right into the back of the old man causing him to immediately lose all control of his lower body. Crashing into the ground with a groan. Fear overwhelmed him as he wretched the blade out yet that didn’t do anything to help his legs work.

He did everything he could think of to get the feeling back which just caused the boy to laugh as he headed over to his would-be father.

“I severed a very important bit of your spine so you won’t be standing up anytime soon thus you better hurry up and crawl if you want to escape the big bad wolf~.”

Not even taking the scene seriously as he skipped over before slamming his palm into the face of the young man only to repeat a now familiar scene. That boy grows at a visible rate only to finally appear as a late-teen to early twenties. Slowly stretching as the old man could only try to crawl away pathetically.

Just when he was about to reach the door he felt a hand grab his ankle only to drag him back into the room and through the handful of ash piles. He screamed in unwilling terror. Desperately clawing at the wooden ground to slow himself down yet all that did was cause splinters to pierce his finger.

Soon finding himself flipped over as the boy sat on his chest with the remaining scissor blade resting in his right hand as he drew it across his finger.

“Now what do w- *cough* *cough* *cough*”

That boy suddenly brought his hand over his mouth as big puffs of crimson flame escaped from betwixt his fingers much to his obvious displeasure. Frowning as he moved his hand in front of his face. Tensing it and untensing it while mumbling to himself.

“Rushing maturity seems to have only made this worse…”

Moving his hand to his breast as if to grab something only for realisation to overcome him.

“I don’t have my gum…”

He let out a sigh before turning his gaze back to the man below him.

“Ah~ look at you, no need to worry, I don’t need anymore energy so I’ll be taking it nice and slow as I get to know everything about you~.”

Clapping his hands together while tilting his head to the side.

“Say…”

The scissor blade came to rest on the side of the old man’s face.

“You don’t need that face, do yo~u~?”