”Why did I let you talk me into this,” Saiph murmured, half resentfully as she felt Cuan leap from her shoulder to a nearby tree branch. She hadn’t visited her homeworld in ages and might’ve been happy if that had remained the case. But Cuan had decreed that avoidance of one’s problems was a coward’s move.

Though the little cat hadn’t used those exact words.

Pacing restlessly, she watched as the lykoi kitten stalked along the branch and sniffed delicately at a large, green leaf. Wait, what. Shaken out of her gloomy thoughts, the chibi senshi hurried over to the tree and reached up to seize the leaf. It felt waxy and was bigger than her own hand. It was even warm from the sun…

“I don’t understand this,” she said. “It wasn’t like this before. Everything was dead.”

…

Magnificently ignoring her charge’s grumbling, after all, Saiph was simply being a Teen and Teens did not enjoy being forced to face things, Cuan Oilean studied her surroundings through bright, wondering eyes. When she made the jump from shoulder to tree branch, she flexed her paws, allowing her needle-like claws to sink into the bark of the branch. Didn’t feel like she’d expected given how Saiph had originally described her world. How very interesting.

In spite of her seemingly blase attitude, the kitten was close to vibrating out of her fur with excitement. She’d never been on any world other than Earth and this was her senshi’s world and it was amazing!

“You let me talk you into this because deep down you know I’m right,” she answered glibly before moving to inspect a large leaf. It smelled green and living and had an odd spiciness to it. She glanced up, intending to ask Saiph about it when she saw her senshi’s stricken face. She watched as Saiph grabbed the leaf to look at it and wasn’t at all sure how to respond to the girl’s words.

…

Still touching the leaf, Saiph looked around and forced herself to actually look. All around were little signs of life in the form of random leaves on the trees. There was even a bit of moss tucked into a crack within the treetrunk that felt squishy and not crumbly when she dared to poke at it.

“Cuan, none of this makes sense. It’s not a lot, but literally none of this stuff was here before. There wasn’t even a breeze…”

Her eyes closed as said breeze gently tugged at her hair and brought actual ******** factual smells with it. Feeling more than a little overcome, the chibi senshi dropped to the ground, legs outstretched as she stared helplessly around.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Cuan jump down and pad over to her. Felt the wee paws on her knee as the kitten half perched and smiled.

…


“This all seems like a positive to me,” Cuan began to speak, holding up one paw to forestall anything the chibi senshi would say. “Think about it, Saiph! Your ancient homeworld is somehow coming back to life. There are leaves and moss and who knows what else! I don’t know how or why it’s possible, but it is. It’s a miracle. And we are going to embrace it as a good omen for the future.”

Wrapping her tail tightly around her haunches, the kitten considered what she knew. Saiph was holding back out of fear, she knew that since the chibi had admitted as much, just in less elegant language. And that fear had started with something she saw here. Therefore, Saiph needed to face that fear. They could look on it as exposure therapy.

“Now, I know you’re afraid of seeing more terrible things, but there’s an equal likelihood that you’ll see nice things too. Things that can tell us more about you. So lean back, close your eyes and breathe, Saiph. I’m here now and forever. And I’ll help you however I can.”

Having had her say, the lykoi climbed up onto her senshi’s chest and draped herself over the girl, purring as hard as she could. Maybe a vision would come. Maybe it wouldn’t. All that mattered was her senshi would not have to face such things alone.

…

Blinking at the cat’s speech, Saiph sighed and finally gave in. Short of tearing Cuan from her chest and yeeting her into the trees, she couldn’t really storm off to sulk. Yes, she was afraid. Terrified actually. The last vision she’d had here had been confusing and filled with sadness and a sense of horror. She hadn’t seen anything specifically frightening, but the feeling had been there. Whoever or whatever Iya and Maijuku had been, there was some terrible fog around them that she was scared to death of penetrating. Still, she was here and Cuan was purring hard enough to rattle bones.

And the cat was right. Not every vision, statistically, could be bad. After a few more moments, Saiph gave in and did the breathing exercises that she’d been shown, closing her eyes and relaxing her body one bit of muscle at a time. Watch, she laughed silently to herself, all this stress and trouble and nothing’ll happen…

”Ahhh! M’dame and mam’selle Ivanovitch! Welcome! Please, come this way. The Master is waiting…”

She felt a tug at her hand and looked up into the face of a steely eyed and grim mouthed woman. But she wasn’t scared. Aunt Natasha only looked scary, but she was so nice! Her friends were all teachers like her and they were nice too. She smiled up, feeling her nose crinkle and held on tightly to her aunt’s hand. This house was much grander than their own and she didn’t want to risk breaking anything by accident!

“Come, Gabrielle,” her aunt whispered. “Morris will be delighted to see you again. Be sure to impress the old idiot with the new dinosaur names you’ve learned.”

The grim lips relaxed into a tiny smile before becoming stern again. Auntie never did show her soft side to just anyone, after all. Auntie was someone that she knew she could trust with anything. They were Ivanovitchs and Auntie always said Ivanovitchs were forces to be reckoned with…

…

Cuan felt Saiph’s breathing change and her body go limp. Watching closely, she saw the girl’s eyes moving rapidly under the eyelids. Heard a small, childlike giggle escape in a breathy whisper. The kitten wondered what on earth Saiph could be seeing. The girl’s fingers twitched as if grasping something. It was all terribly interesting. But the kitten stayed still and quiet, only her purr could be heard. They stood the greatest chance of getting information the longer Saiph could keep this vision going.

…

The grand foyer slipped away and she was walking down a humbler looking set of stairs. It was safe and familiar and she was looking at the picture lines walls with a sense of having traveled long and far to return. Which was silly since she hadn’t been in a coma all that long… She forced the thought away. She wasn’t going to think about weird comas right now. Instead, she wandered into the living room and settled down on the couch to wait. Auntie would be home soon. She always tried to have dinner with her niece before leaving for a lecture…

The living room seemed to swirl and fade before reforming. Now she was standing in front of her aunt and moving towards the curtain, intent on shutting them. On keeping the outside world from seeing what they shouldn’t.

“Gabrielle, is someone stalking you? Did someone threaten to hurt you?”

She felt a need to apologize for the flicker of fear that crossed her aunt’s face. She also kind of wanted to laugh at the idea of feeling afraid of a mere, mortal stalker after the things she’d already experienced. Instead of laughing and making her aunt worry more, she turned from the window, hand dipping into her pocket and withdrawing her henshin pen. Before Nastasha could question that, she raised it into the air and murmured, “Saiph Star Power, Make Up!”

She felt the soft, warm familiar power envelope her, closing her eyes briefly as the soft thump of her aunt collapsing into her chair in shock caused her to open them again. Rushing over, she pulled the older woman into a tight hug and wondered how she looked to those eyes that had loved and protected her since she was a baby. She could only hope that the various bits of tooth and claw that decorated her fuku weren’t stabbing her aunt.

“Auntie? Please don’t faint on me. It’s all right, I’m still me. It’s just… I’m Saiph too. And I’m not a terrorist, Auntie. Will you listen? Please? You have to know…”

She said other things, wanting to reassure, to placate. She gripped her aunt’s hands and held on, afraid to let go for a moment. But those steely eyes softened briefly and the grey head nodded, inviting her to speak. And that released the flood gates. Saiph talked and talked and talked. She felt hours passing as her throat went scratchy and her eyes filled with tears. She felt her aunt’s arms envelop and hold her…

Saiph let out a startled squawk and sat bolt upright, feeling Cuan’s claws hook her skin as the cat tried to keep from being flung off.

“I told her,” she blurted. “I mean, she told her! She told her everything! Why was she allowed to tell her everything?”

…

Cuan had barely had the warning of Saiph’s heartbeat becoming more rapid. Then, her charge was sitting up rather violently and Cuan’s claws locked into skin instinctively. Saiph seemed to ignore this and was talking, voice confused and agitated.

“Saiph,” she said as calmly as she could, forcing her paws to relax. “Saiph, slow down and talk to me. What did you see? Tell me as much as you can.”

The little lykoi listened carefully, absently tearing a bit of Saiph’s bow off in her mouth to dab at the pinpricks of blood her claws had left behind. She fancied that she’d been able to control her own reactions pretty well. She finished daubing at the swiftly drying blood and sat on the girl’s stomach, head tilting this way and that.

The tale came slowly, in odd, confused little spurts. Saiph told her what names she could remember and Cuan felt a thrill along her spine. Mentally filing names away for later, she began to purr again.

“My word,” she murmured after spitting out the bit of cloth. “Saiph, sweetie, what you saw, was any of it frightening? Can you describe the person you saw? My word, I’d always heard that these visions were of past selves and this seems to prove it. Unless you have an aunt you haven’t mentioned yet.”

The kitten allowed a hint of friendly laughter to creep into her voice. She needed Saiph to calm down and realize that she’d had a past vision and it hadn’t been bad.

…

Speaking rapidly, Saiph wasn’t paying attention to her own words. She just wanted to get them out so she could think about things later. And Cuan would help her with that since the kitten’s memory was better than average. And as the words drained from her, she felt a tired sense of calm. She wasn’t so immediately in the vision anymore and it was easier to think and answer Cuan’s gentle questions.

“No, it wasn’t scary at all. A little sad. The old lady I saw, she loved me, I mean her. I mean whoever’s eyes I was looking through. She loved her so much, Cuan! I could feel it in that hug…”

She didn’t really register Cuan’s last words. The relief that the vision had been so normal was strong enough to drown out any other concerns. Yes, she’d think about things later, but right now? She was just happy to not deal with feelings of trauma lurking at the edges of what she’d seen.

“Cuan,” she said, “can we go back home now? I promise we’ll come back up soon, but I really would like to take a shower and relax now.”

…

Cuan looked as if she could have kept hashing everything out then and there, but the exhaustion in Saiph’s voice cut through and made her heart melt a bit. She felt a swelling of pride in her senshi for doing what needed to be done and even promising to come back and face the past again. She’d done so good. And Cuan wasn’t one to withhold praise.

“Of course, we can,” she purred warmly. “When we get back, take your shower and then watch your cartoons for a while. We can talk about all of this later.”

She watched Saiph visibly brighten and nodded before leaping onto the girl’s shoulder as she stood up. There was an idea percolating within Cuan’s mind and she wanted time to consider it from all angles.

“Let’s go home, love.”


Saiph Word Count = 1294
Cuan Word Count = 894