NekoMentals!

Chapter Eight

Startled, Sachiko looked up. "What was that?" she asked. There was only silence, except for the small squeaks coming from outside of the bunker.

Curiosity is going to kill the cat, she thought.

After climbing the ladder and punching in the number on the keypad to unlock the bunker door, Sachiko lifted the door up with her arms.

"Oh," she said aloud. "It's a ferret." Sachiko grabbed the ferret and nestled it between her chest and arm. She closed the hatch and climbed back down the ladder, the metal rungs cold beneath her hands.

Sachiko wanted to get the others' attention and tell them the news, but first, she decided to look and see if it was male or female. Following that decision, she wanted to name it based on its personality.

She peeked at its area and concluded that it was a male. Sachiko let him down from the safety of her arms and let him run around, trying to see what he was like.

~

Diana poked her head up from Yurika's side, sniffing the air. She leapt down from the bed and trotted into the living area, spotting the ferret. Diana mewed softly and sat on her hind legs, ready to pounce.

The ferret saw Diana about to attack and hid behind Sachiko, brushing his soft fur against her leg.

"Diana, leave him alone, please," Sachiko scolded the cat. Diana mewed in response.

Suddenly, an idea came to Sachiko. I should name the ferret Bubbles! It's such a cute name, she thought. Sachiko decided she would introduce Bubbles to the other two when it was time for breakfast the next morning.

"Squeak squeak," Bubbles honked.

Sachiko picked him up and gave him a squeeze. "I suppose I need to feed you; you're probably hungry right now," she put him back down.

She grabbed her soup bowl from the sink and set it down on the floor for Bubbles to lick clean. "That's all I have for you at the moment. I hope it's enough."

Diana narrowed her eyes at Bubbles, silently judging him. She walked away into the bedroom and snuggled back in with Yurika.

~

Damion and Yurika were now facing each other, helping the other come up with ways to overcome the creature that destroyed Yurika's house or, at the very least, make their way out of the bunker safely, without ending up like the house did.

They whispered, partly because Yurika didn't want Sachiko to hear Damion call her 'love' and partly because they thought she was concentrating on her plan. Their faces were mere inches apart; the bed was tiny.

"You should get some sleep, Miss Yurika," Damion breathed.

"I'm not going to sleep until you go to sleep."

Damion chuckled softly. "Then go to bed I will."

Yurika changed in the bathroom, into the pajamas that she brought along with her. Damion was stuck wearing the bunker's spare pajamas.

Now that Yurika and Damion could feel that they had gotten closer over the past couple of days, they were practically inseparable. They agreed that they would sleep in the same bed together, even if it's just for one night. Yurika wanted to have someone to feel safe around when she had nightmares about her aunt and her parents, while Damion didn't want to pass up the option to be physically and emotionally closer to her.

After both of them were finished changing, they plopped into bed, Yurika on the side that was closest to the wall. Damion insisted that he sleep on the outside so that she didn't fall off in the middle of the night.