I Unintentionally Became Her Kitten

Chapter 10: Coffee

I tied the robe tightly around me before cracking the door open. The hall was clear, but I could hear Alisha and Tye discussing something around the corner. The robe was large enough I didn’t worry much about accidentally flashing somebody but it still felt strange to go out in the open with nothing else on. At the same time, I’d be trapped in the bathroom until I went upstairs to get some clothes.

I shrank away, making a few adjustments to the robe to be absolutely sure it was secure and crept into the hallway. I couldn’t quite tell what they were talking about, but Alisha had her boss-voice on again, so it was probably something I shouldn’t listen to.

It was unnervingly easy to sneak around the house. Nothing creaked and I was familiar with it enough by now to know the exact route to the second floor, avoiding the living area the others were in at the moment. The occupation Alisha had, I expected there to be more security against intruders, but I guessed if no one knew where she lived in the first place, the daytime guard and nighttime monitoring would be enough. And… she did seem capable of handling herself as well.

A shudder ran down my spine at the memories. I wouldn’t forget that, would I?

Once upstairs, I looked around, my clothes were as usual cleaned up but I didn’t see a fresh set anywhere so…

I looked around. Maybe they fell? I checked under the bed, to find the same kind of frame hotels used. Solid planks surrounded the base so nothing could fall under there.

Next I checked the bathroom, but there was nothing there either. I didn’t even have to go in as I could see through the glass door and her upstairs bathroom was quite simplistic.

Next was the closet, which also had a glass door but there were so many shelves and hangers and things I had to go in.

The air was warmer inside as I looked across the racks. Dresses, skirts, blouses, a dresser full of underwear and the like… Alisha had a lot of clothes,

I stopped at a pile haphazardly tossed to the floor. It didn’t feel like the kind of thing in her nature to do. The clothes rod directly above it was mostly bare except for a few T-shirts, leggings and jeans and a couple mini-skirts that seemed rather small for Alisha.

It clicked in my brain as I pulled one off to give it a closer look. These were my clothes. There were a few outfits’ worth here and I took the liberty to select one, and then looked around to find some under things on a shelf above it, also my size.

“You found your clothes,” Alisha’s voice startled me and I flinched. 

“Y-yeah,” I said. “Sorry if I was snooping.”

She shook her head. “I don’t keep work things here so you’re free to explore as you wish.”

I nodded.

She had gotten dressed in her usual style of business-like and feminine. And adjusted a mirror on the wall to examine herself, then leaned forward and adjusted her hair before reaching over and grabbing some lipstick from a shelf. She was very conservative with it and applied so little I wouldn’t know she had used it. But her lips were a shade or two brighter after.

“I have to go… discuss some things

with some of my associates,” she said. “I don’t think you’d enjoy going as it might be a little tense. Do you want me to have Tye or someone stay here with you?” she asked.I almost shook my head no, but then remembered everything that had happened just yesterday. I nodded.

“Okay, Kitty,” she agreed. She took a couple steps to ruffle my hair. “I’ll have Tye stay here, if that’s okay. I would trust him with my life and I’d trust him with yours. But I also understand if you’d rather me get a woman.”

“He’s okay,” I said. It was true, I wasn’t as quick to trust men as women, but I’d rather have a man I knew than a woman I didn’t. 

“Okay.” She leaned down to give me a quick kiss on my forehead before turning and walking out of the closet.

I waited until I heard the door close before pulling the robe off and getting changed.

I didn’t know what to do. Alisha said I was free to explore but I didn’t really want to go exploring with Tye staring down my back the entire time. 

On top of that, this was the first time I was starting to feel comfortable being out and about in the house. Before I had more or less treated it the same way as my patch of sidewalk: a place to exist and nothing more. But if this was going to be long term and Alisha really didn’t want me just for some nefarious deeds, it might be a good opportunity to start being me again. I went to her bathroom and stared in the mirror. My hair was back to being clean and groomed. I’d combed it out after the bath and it dried into a familiar wavy pattern that Stella frequently straightened out quite aggressively and then used some product to twist the tips together so they fell in ‘defined layers’ as she called them. I didn’t know if I wanted to keep a pixie cut forever, but it was definitely better than the matted mess from the streets. As for my skin, it was clear of dirt, and even looked softer than it had in a long time but… I still didn’t like it.

My brain started to swirl as the insecurities started to pile up rapidly. My skin had notable pores and hair follicles that good skin didn’t. My nails were too thick, rather than being thin and dainty like they should be. My very bones were wrong as my hips came out to the exact width of my ribcage so my torso was just a rectangle.

I sighed. I didn’t understand what Alisha saw in me. Maybe it was just pity… at the same time she had sounded offended that I questioned her sense of beauty.

This thought process, I realized, wasn’t going to be productive. Alisha thought I was pretty and I would take that as a win. The rest didn’t matter right now.

What was more important was figuring out my place here. I wanted to be more that Alisha’s fling at night so it would be good to pick up something to do.

But that also meant I needed to go downstairs to explore.

I paced briefly. My instinct was to hide, to stay out of the way and out of sight so as few people as possible thought twice about me.

But I wanted Alisha to think twice about me. 

With a deep breath, I steeled myself. I would go downstairs, Tye or no Tye, and at least do something. Maybe watch TV– Alisha had a large TV in the living room downstairs. Or eat some food. Our usual routine had been disrupted this morning so I hadn’t even had any coffee. That might be contributing to a sense of malaise for me. Some caffeine would help.

I would do it for coffee.

Even with this resolve, every step was nerve racking until I forced myself to stop thinking about it. I went downstairs and to the kitchen area. Without Alisha, it felt wrong to start rummaging through things but I started anyway, looking for the coffee, and once I found the coffee, looking for a mug. I got things started, put some water and coffee grounds into the coffee maker and stared at the multitude of buttons on it. I didn’t see a start button but figured the one that was worn so much that it was illegible must be it and hit that one.

The machine started to make a buzzing noise as it heated.

With that accomplished, I could move on to the next part of my plan: getting milk.

I opened the fridge and crouched to look more intently inside. The shelves were mostly bare. Her almond milk she usually used was there, as well as a head of romaine and a couple avocados.

With a scooch of the almond milk, I found the regular milk and started to pull it out.

“If you’re hungry–” a man’s voice said from behind me.

I stood abruptly and my head smacked against the freezer door, making me crouch back down as I held back the pain.

“Are you okay?” the man asked.

I turned to look at Tye lurking in the doorway. I hadn’t heard him speak a lot, usually only from another room as he and Alisha discussed things. 

I nodded as the pain started to dull, though there were still tears welled up behind my eyes.

“If you’re hungry, I can get you food,” he explained. “I’m sorry I startled you.”

I shook my head. “I’m okay,” This time I stood slowly and put a hand on the bottom of the door so I didn’t hit it again. “I just want some coffee.”

He made an affirmative noise but didn’t move from the doorway. It was making that crawling feeling start on my skin again as I did my best to casually wait for the coffee to finish brewing.

“Are you comfortable here?” Tye asked, forcing me to acknowledge his presence in the doorway.

“I think so,” I managed, though it was awkward.

“I’m glad,” he said.

There was more silence after as the coffee continued to drip with some bursts of steam. The smell was calming my nerves somewhat but I thought I’d probably go upstairs once I had my mug. I didn’t expect Tye to strike up a conversation.

“Ms Takeno doesn’t warm up to people usually, but she already trusts you a great deal.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” I admitted. She had never given me the impression of an approachable type.

“I apologize if I was unnecessarily distrustful of you at first.”

I looked him over, trying to understand his goal here. Did he want to chat because he was bored or because he was fishing for information?

I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt especially since I didn't have much to hide.

“It's okay,” I told him. “It's understandable given Alisha’s … profession.”

His gaze waited on me. I was very glad when the coffee machine beeped, signaling its completion.

“How did you end up on the streets, if you don’t mind me asking?” he said. “Or at least, tell me if you were thrown out of a different family.”

“I… don’t want to talk about it. But I wasn’t ever associated with someone Alisha would need to worry about.”

“Understandable,” he agreed.

I poured my coffee, followed by topping it off with some milk.

“I’ll let you be,” he said finally. He pushed his weight off the door frame.

I took a breath, because now there was a question that was bothering me.

“Does she… have you do that a lot?” I asked.

“Do what?” he asked.

“C-castrate people.” It was unpleasant to say.

“No. That was the second time I’ve had to do it. It’s a punishment she reserves for people that do particularly heinous things.”

“But they hadn’t really done anything to me yet,” I pointed out.

“But they were going to. And Ms. Takeno is not the kind of person that will let a problem like that fester under her watch.”

I looked down at my coffee. “I see. So it wasn’t just for my sake.”

“No. But she definitely let that man live for your sake. So he will tell others to stay away from you.”

I nodded.

My coffee was finally complete and I started to look for an excuse to get away from here.

“I’ll be by the door if you need anything,” he said and slunk away.

Once he was gone, I released a breath. Letting myself relax a little. He did seem to care about me, at least as far as Alisha had told him to and he respected Alisha. But there was still wariness.

I couldn’t really blame him. I didn’t understand fully why I was here either.