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"Yeah, I know." Hitsu had nodded, "She's nice most of the time, though." She'd finished washing her hands, and reached for the nearest towel to dry them.

"No, no, no!" Gertrude called, prodding Neko on one shoulder with one of her bony fingers. "You need a bath." She made to try and tug him away from the kitchen and toward the washroom instead.

"Yes, bath." She replied sternly, leading him into the washroom where she began rummaging through the small cabinet and shelves to produce towels and soaps for him. She laid them out for him, his complaint falling on deaf ears. "Get to it, now." She demanded, "And don't forget to wash behind yer ears." She started out the door, giving one more instruction before closing it to leave him to his washing. "Don't put those filthy clothes back on either, I'll find you somethin' to wear."

Hitsu was sitting at the kitchen table when she returned, picking through the flowers in her basket and throwing away those that had gotten too wilted at this point. "Where'd you find him, in a cave?" The elderly woman asked, sounding horror stricken.

Hitsu shook her head, "He found me, out in the forest." Hadn't she already told her that?

"Either way, I think you should be careful around that boy. Can't put my finger on it, but there's somethin' not settling right with him." She instructed, before waddling off to rummage through some of Yuki's clean clothing to find something for Neko to change into.

"Wow, you look really different!" Hitsu had said. It was a fact, he was like an all new person without that caked on blood and dirt.

The babysitter, however, seemed not so impressed. "There's a child in this house, make yourself decent!" She howled, having followed the sound of his voice to find him in nothing but a towel. The old woman made a beeline for him and reached for an ear, seemingly one of the favorite places for the elderly to easily drag away disobedient children. Once she'd taken hold, she pulled him nearly down to her own level and started leading him out of the kitchen.

In a few agonizing moments, she'd led him into one of the bedrooms. She tossed the clothing she'd been carrying onto the bed, and pointed at them angrily. "Cover yourself!" She huffed, and exited. Apparently, she'd made a trip to the washroom again before returning to the kitchen, hastily grabbing up his old tattered clothing with full intentions to throw it in the garbage. On her way back past the room she'd left him in, she threw a hairbrush at him as well.

Gertrude disposed of the old clothing, then went about starting to prepare the vegetables. Just as soon as she'd set a pot of water over the stove to boil, she turned to see Neko.

"You clean up nicely, but you still need to brush those tangles out of your hair." She instructed, a bit calmer than her previous instructions had been. Apparently she figured he would obey, since she turned her back on him again and returned her attention to cleaning and cutting up the produce she'd laid out on the counter.

Hitsu had hopped down from her chair, meanwhile, looking Neko over strangely. "Those are Yuki's old clothes." She stated, needlessly.

"He won't miss them, I'm sure." Gertrude replied absently. "I made sure I pulled out something he hadn't worn in a long while."

"He'll be home soon." Hitsu assured, and strangely enough the answer to the following questions came fourth just as casually. "They're dead." Be it denial, youth, or generally being asked many times before, she didn't seem too bothered that he had asked. "Me and Yuki are the only ones who live here now."

Gertrude, only watched Hitsu quietly for a moment from her spot at the counter. She didn't offer any additional details, though after depositing her collection of vegetables into the pot of water she wiped her hands on her apron and returned her attention to Neko. Either she was trying her damnedest to change the subject, or else she was just continuing to be horribly persistent.

"Your hair is a mess, I told you to brush those knots out of it." She welcomed herself to comb through his hair with her fingers once she stepped up behind him. "Gracious, child. When's the last time your hair's had a good brushing?" She only pestered him a moment more, frowning to herself and hobbling off.

She was only gone for a moment, and when she came back she had a pair of clippers in hand. Without so much as a warning, she reached out for a knotted clump of Neko's hair and snipped it off just barely three inches from his skull.

Neko had flipped out, to say the least. Hitsu had seen Gertrude coming, and apparently had gathered what she had in mind. This, of course, was further suggested when she burst into laughter when Neko had flown from his seat like someone had lit a fire underneath him.

Gertrude looked at him with a smug grin, "I told you to brush it, didn't I?" She shook the sizable clump of hair in her fist. "If you wanted to keep it, you should have!" She motioned him forward with her scissor-filled hand, "No use in fighting with me now, it'll look ridiculous if you leave it that way. Come sit down so I can finish it."

Once the job was done, the old woman looked it over and nodded to herself. "That looks much better, doesn't it Hitsu?"

The girl gave a nod, and smiled. "I like it!" She leaned over the table and reached out to pat her palm gently against some of the ends that were sticking up. Just enough to touch the hair, not the scalp. She giggled, "It's kinda spiky now."

"If you don't want to tend to your hair past washing, best to keep it short." Gertrude commented, as she swept the fallen hair from the floor to dispose of it. Once she'd gotten to the trash bin, the door had opened accompanied by the laughter of two men.

What might have been funny wasn't addressed, since their laughter had died down as quickly as they'd crossed the threshold. One of the men looked to be at least in his early thirties, tall with short ginger hair, carrying what looked to be part of a deer carcass slung over one shoulder. The other was several years younger, with long dark hair. He wasn't carrying any meat, but it could be guessed that the other held the share for the both of them.

"Yuki!" Hitsu exclaimed, hopping out of her chair and running over to him.

"Hey!" He knelt down to her level and the girl flung her arms around him in a hug. He laughed lightly, and once she'd pulled away he tilted his head to gesture toward Neko. He'd noticed him there, but had assumed that it might have been someone that Gertrude had known. A grandchild or something, God knew he thought she'd be old enough. "Who's this?" He asked, rising to get a look at Neko's face. At least, as well as he could without taking Gertrude's route of invading personal space. He didn't look familiar, "Either you're not from around here, or I need to pay closer attention."