The work she did helping Master Huo scale down all the devices he had kept her busy and honed her skills at taking apart and putting things together. It left her little time for any mischief since she filled any free time she had practicing her shape shifting or working on puzzles. One night after finishing a grueling practice session after piecing together explosive devices for six hours straight, Dee collected up her things and headed for the open bathing pools.

Placing her robe and towel aside, she slipped into the waters that held a mist clinging just above the surface. The night was cool and the warmth of the bath was welcome to her stiff limbs. Her thoughts drifted and she found herself, as she usually did when she had time for her own thoughts, thinking about boys. Floating on her back, the mist slipping over her form, she suddenly realized the person she was thinking about was the carnival barker. Why was she letting someone she had spent barely any time talking to get to her this way?

Sighing, she closed her eyes and placed a picture of him in her head. Never mind that the carnival had been over and done with for months now. The glint of his eye when he winked at her, the surprised look on his face when she told him he was cheating, all were followed by an unearthly tingle that gave her goose bumps, even in the warm water.

Her mouth had just pulled into a small smile as she heard his voice whisper "Kitten" in her ear, when another noise caught her attention. Letting her feet sink to the bottom of the pool, she moved quietly to the edge of the pool. Once more she heard the noise, a kind of deep laughter followed by a hiss as someone tried to hush the noise. Noiselessly she pulled her body out of the water and wrapped her towel securely around herself. The noise was coming from the left and up, behind the bamboo screen.

{Shut up! We shouldn't even be here!} a familiar voice said in a raspy whisper.

Dee's eyes narrowed as she homed in on the exact location of the voices, a small overhanging on the roof. A pigmy cherry tree grew near the screen and Dee now shifted into a small cat and quickly climbed it. Balancing herself on the edge of the screen, she launched herself to the roof, ending up around the corner from where the voices were coming from.

{She won't hear us. She's too busy daydreaming!} There was a pause and a soft scraping noise. {Where'd she go?}

{Let's go, now! She probably heard you!} the first voice said.

A dark figure of a man was silhouette in front of her, his back to her. Just as she shifted into half feline form, a second figure appeared, his face just visible to her. Immediately he saw her glowing feline eyes, cringed, and took the other man by the arm.

{C'mon. This isn't a good idea,} he said trying to hurry the man forward.

Shaking the hand off, the man said, {What she doesn't know won't hurt her. Besides, you've probably seen her naked plenty of times, man. You're always hanging out in her room or her in your room! You said yourself that you two were nothing more than friends. Don't be so jealous and let a guy get a look at that hot body of hers!}

{You mean this body, Chun?} Dee said in a growl.

His body went stiff and he visibly flinched. Slowly he turned around and found himself face to face with a half feline Dee, cloaked in thick tiger fur. A nervous laugh bubbled out of his throat as he put an arm behind his head.

{Xiaohu, hi,} he began.

{Xiaohu, I had nothing to do with this,} Manchu said quickly.

She quieted him with a glare and he knew he was in for trouble later. Her smoldering gaze settled on Chun who was tugging at his collar, trying to find a way to escape. No one spoke as Dee watched them both with an unsettling stare. It was bad enough that Chun had come to spy on her in the bath. She realized she was angrier about the fact that they had interrupted her daydream.

{It isn't what it looks like, really,} Chun started.

Without a word, Dee balled her hand into a fist and punched him in the nose. Chun staggered back, clutching at his bleeding nose. Manchu caught him under his arms before he could lose balance and tumble off the roof. Sharply turning on her heel, Dee jumped from the roof, landing in a nearby tree. In a flash of fur she was gone, heading back to the pool to collect her robe.

It wasn't until she got back to her room that she realized she was still in feline form, the hair on the back of her neck raised and her tail lashing. Shifting back into human form, she tugged the towel off herself, rubbing down her trembling body. Never had she felt so betrayed before in her life! Climbing into bed, she pulled the covers over herself as a few warm tears slid down her face.

Why can't guys just treat me decently? she asked herself. Shivering at the thought of being watched like that, by someone she was supposed to trust even, she hugged a pillow to herself.

~ ~ ~ The following night Dee had guard duty with Chun. When the guard master asked Chun what happened to him, his story was that it had been an accident in training. Dee said nothing and was more than willing to let Chun keep that lie. What was curious to her was that he also had a black eye. She was completely embarrassed that a boy had been trying to see her naked. No male had ever seen her naked, and the thought horrified her.

Chun acted haughtily toward her. Should she see him looking her way, his look was always one of annoyed anger, as if she had been the one to do wrong. It infuriated her, but she let it slide for now. Earlier that day she had asked for the gap through which he had been looking to be patched. She was pleased to see that it had been and the view into the women's bathing pool was completely obscured now.

When her shift ended, she returned to her room to find Manchu waiting inside for her. She glared at him as she pulled her hair out of the braid it was in and kicked off her tabby shoes.

"What do you want?" she growled.

"I came to apologize since you've been avoiding me all day. Don't roll your eyes at me, ok? Just listen and stop being stubborn. I know you want to be mad at me right now, but I had nothing to do with Chun being up there. The guy told me to meet him up there at a certain time. Said he wanted me to see something with him. When I found out what he was doing, I tried to get him to leave. He thought I was mad because you and I were a couple."

Dee remained silent, but let him talk. She knew she was going to forgive him anyway, so it was best to let him have his say.

"I explained that we're just good friends. He doesn't understand that. Today he told me he thinks I was lying and that we actually are going out together. Said some stuff that really pissed me off." The usually placid Manchu looked angry now and she noticed his hands ball into fists.

"That's why he has a black eye," she laughed. "Manchu, I'm sorry I got mad at you. I know you wouldn't do anything like that. It's just..."

"I know. You don't have to say it. Friends again?"

In answer, she gave him a hug. "You should hear the story he told the guard master tonight," she said.

Sitting down on the bed together, Dee told Manchu the story Chun had made up as an excuse for the injuries he had received at the hands of the two.
The Ring Main / Triad Main /