One in the Same

Chapter Eleven

One Month Later

   Cat smiled warmly as she watched Botan coming towards the hut with bundles under his arms. In the time she had been with him, she had learned much and more. There was a town not far from their home, but she wasn't allowed there. "Imadani," Botan would say. Not yet. Cat had come to accept that. She also was starting to learn the language better. It still wasn't easy to understand. But Botan had shown her some of the very few books he owned. She could read and write the language better than she could speak and understand it. Botan had also been showing her how to fight the way he did with both the sword and hand to hand. He refused to go easy on her. And Cat liked that the most. Every moment reminded her of water flowing through a river. Smooth and uninterrupted. At least that's what it looked like when he was doing it. Cat wasn't as graceful just yet but she was getting there. Slowly but surely she was getting there. When she wasn't doing chores around the house while he was out, she was practicing. When she wasn't practicing, she was talking with Botan or reading or being useful. Making different clothing, repairing simple things she knew how to fix. He didn't always allow her to cook. Botan felt like he should do it most of the time. But he seemed to enjoy it when she cooked. Especially when she made  Arán Manchet. He scarfed that down with any and everything when she made it. It made her feel good if truth be told. Botan was also starting to pick up on the fact that Cat couldn't eat anything without blood mixed into it. Cat was also starting to pick up on the fact that Botan was not like the other Madraí Shaggy she was used to. He was, in fact, the myth she had known from childhood. The stories the mothers and wet nurses told babes to keep them in line. Madraí Shaggy had been human at one point, but they weren't anymore. Botan was completely human, except for the nights of the full moon. But even then he could still think. He called it Ningen no ōkami. Cat he called Chi o nomu hito.
   The week leading to the full moon wasn't just rough for Botan to go through. It was rough for Cat as well. Botan had woken up that morning in a right foul mode. Or at least that's what Cat assumed. He was never in the house whenever she woke up, and his pallet was always put up as well. But when she had found him out in the small vegetable garden near the creak, he was more than just irritable. He growled and "hmmm"ed at everything regardless of what it was. Or who for that matter. It had been the one and only time Botan had raised his voice to Cat. And it wasn't even that he raised his voice really. A couple of days after that, he had bent over to pick up the next piece of clothing from the basket to put on the line. When he went to stand back up, he cried out in pain and there was a pop loud enough Cat heard it down at the creek where she was washing the clothes. She made him stay in bed but that didn't seem to help anything and in fact, just pissed him off even more than he already was. Shortly after his back went out, his limbs began to pop out of place. His fingers jammed, his spine curved, his jaw locked. With each new pop and creak his body gave, he did nothing more than grown to show his pain. Cat was amazed at how high his pain tolerance was. But she assumed he had been doing this since he was a wee babe so the pain was nothing new to him. The night of the moon, however. Nothing prepared her for that. She had taken care of everything earlier that evening. Including making dinner and bathing him herself. Ignoring all of his protests and irritation. And constantly calling her "baka" the whole time. "Shitsurei shinaide," Cat replied brokenly. But she got her point across.
   "Mōshiwakearimasen," he said dropping his head and allowing her to gently scrub him off the rest of the way.
   On the way back to the hut was when it happened. Botan had been leaning against her, letting her strength support his weight. He had stopped walking, his breathing labored, and beads of sweat dotted his brow.
   "Botan?"
   He shook his head and tried to take another step. A growl ripped through his chest and escaped through his clenched teeth. His grip on her shoulder tightened and his whole body began to shake.
   "Botan? Jikandesu ka?" She asked shakily.
   All he could do was nod before he shoved her away. He tried to be gentle about it, and she could tell that. But he had flung her a good ten feet or so. The panting grew louder as he closed his eyes against the pain. His whole body was wet from sweat and the shaking was much more pronounced. As he bowed his head forward, she saw that his ears were starting to turn more pointed at the top than they had originally been. The hair that covered his body seemed to be growing from every pore. Thicker, longer. His back made a snapping sound and he fell to the ground, landing on his hands with a loud moan. Cat sat watching with wide eyes as nearly every bone in his body seemed to break and shift beneath his skin. His jaw that had been locked for days dropped open in a silent howl of pain. His teeth were moving forward from the gums. Gums that were turning red and deeper red as if they were bleeding. At first, they were just long sharp teeth coming from a much to small mouth. He yelled out again as his mouth began pushing forward as well. His feet seemed to be stretching away from the ground and were elongating. His hands were shaking as the hair grew over them and his fingers curled in. At first, Cat thought he was just digging them into the soft earth beneath him. They weren't. It took her a few moments still to realize it wasn't hair that was growing over him but in fact fur. His back arched then he straightened. It wasn't a scream from his mouth next. But the deep howl of a wounded animal. The fur now completely covered his body, but she could still see the bones arranging themselves beneath his skin. Setting into new places. She had no doubt his organs were moving as well and relocating. Everything in her wanted to turn and run, never looking back. But Cat didn't move. She watched every painful second of it. Listened to every sound he made in pain. Finally, Botan simply stood there, whimpering. Where a man had been just moments before, there was now the beast she had met in the woods. Slowly, Cat stood as Botan shook his head and stretched. The shake continued all the way down his body and through the tale. When he heard her moving, he opened his eyes and looked at her. Cat held her hand out towards him. Again he whimpered and laid his hand into her palm. An immense pain ripped through her body. One she had never felt before. Then in the same instance, it was gone. She didn't need to push out with her mind to know what he had just done. Tears filled her eyes as she looked into his. She had to look up slightly now due to his new size. "Maikai?" She asked.
   Botan blinked and nodded back to her.
   Cat ran her hand up his nose as she had once done for another animal. Her horse? That seemed like a whole other lifetime ago at this moment. The tears spilled and she could feel them sliding down her cheek. She leaned her forehead into the bridge of his muzzle and sobbed there for a moment. He whimpered back and pressed his head against her. There was a comforting feeling in the gesture. Finally, he pulled back and she whipped at her cheeks then blinked up at him again. "Imanani?" She asked.
   A serious look flashed in his eyes and he threw his head back and gave a deep and loud howl. After a moment several other howls filled the clearing. Cat looked around in surprise. "Others?" She asked looking back at him. He looked back at her and nodded. Cat looked back out once again. She couldn't smell any of them. At least there weren't any new smells she wasn't used to at their home. That gave Cat solace for a moment. What they react the same way as Botan had if they found out she was here? She honestly doubted it.
   Botan watched her for a moment then nudged her gently. She turned to him. Botan winked at her then tilted his head in the opposite direction the other howls had come from. Cat looked at him confused. He made the deep chuckling sound in his chest and turned and began padding towards the waterfall. She rubbed at her cheek once more before following.
   Cat almost had to jog to keep up with his long strides. That wasn't the issue. The issue was, every time he looked back at her, he got faster and faster. She was full-on sprinting now. And that when it hit her. He's looking for a race! Cat took the bait. She no longer felt the ground beneath her feet as she pumped her arms out in front of her. She was even gaining on him now. Instead of being just slightly behind him, she was no up to his stomach. Faster. His shoulders and chest. Faster. His neck joint. Botan looked back and chuckled yet again then looked ahead and put on more speed. Cat ducked her head towards her chest and kept pace with him. Not only was she watching the ground beneath her so she wouldn't trip over anything, but she also kept an eye on him. Every jump or leap he made, she imitated. They were moving through the forest at a speed that a mortal wouldn't have been able to completely register. Cat's hair was flying violently behind her. She had missed that feeling so much. Tears were leaking from her eyes once again. Both from the wind and from her own pleasure. A laugh, wild and warm escaped her next. Botan looked over at her and his eyes held the smile that had warmed her heart in the first place. They looked back ahead in just enough time to see they were coming up on a deep canyon in the ground with a another stretch of the forest on the other side. Cat pushed herself harder and faster and lept as soon as Botan had. Flying through the air. Weightless. She couldn't help but twist her body in the air so if someone had up been looking up, they would have seen her back. As she moved, she saw the underside of Botan go over her. He had jumped at an angle so he would be running on her left. Or would I be running on his right? The thought alone filled her up. As she felt she was halfway across the ravine, she turned her body and prepared for the landing. She straightened her body with all of her might and her feet hit the ground just a split second before Botan's front paws landed. They didn't miss a beat. They used the motivation of the landing to propel them forward and continued running and racing side by side. Barely missing trees. Jumping over low bushes. Cat leaped into the trees and was running and jumping from branch to branch before landing gently next to Botan. She could hear the growl/chuckle in his chest and smiled proudly to herself. To show off himself, he launched himself back into the air and landed perfectly on her right side once again. Their childish race seemed to continue for hours into the night. A few animals looked up to see what it was that had gone by but there was nothing to see. Nothing was truly there. Cat had never felt so free. She never wanted it to end. She never wanted to stop running through that forest with this man right beside her the whole time.