Sayuri rolled over with a groan, a thin line of drool slipping from her lips down her cheek. She tried to suck it back into her mouth with no real vigor or success. She lifted her hands to her face and licked the back of her palm absently before running her hand through her long white hair. It was Sunday afternoons she looked forward to the most.

The mornings were very hectic. She had to help with the muffins and cakes, which inevitably ended with her eating far more of them than she really should. The problem with that sort of thing is that once she started it was very difficult to stop. They were so tasty and sweet. Jaxxin wasn’t her favorite person, but the cakes she made were absolutely heavenly. Perhaps too heavenly, Sayuri thought ruefully.

Once the cakes were made, she had to help in the café. Given how much she usually ate, this generally ended up being very uncomfortable since she was bloated from sweets which made moving tiresome. Once the other girls relieved her it was off to the kitchen to do dishes and eat more sweets if she could manage it. Which only served to make her more bloated and lethargic than she already had been. However, once the dishes were done, she was free to retreat to her bedroom and roll around. Which was what she was currently doing and loving every moment of doing so.

“So full,” she sang softly, washing her ears with the back of her hand. “Full to the brim with cakey cakes is Sayuri. Cakey cakes I helped makey makes and… ” She paused in her song for a moment in thought before continuing on, “and nothing rhymes with Sayuri! Hehehe!” She burped and giggled. She stopped rolling for a moment as a soft knock came at her door.

“Come in!” Sayuri called gleefully. She began to roll on the bed again, spinning the opposite direction when she’d reached the wall. The door opened and Sora slipped through, closing it behind her. “Sora! I welcome you to my abode where it is never cold in the…end. That doesn’t sound good, but I love food!” Sayuri sang as she rolled. “That didn’t rhyme, either…weither! No, Sayuri doesn’t think that’s a real word.”

Sora made her way over to the bed and sat down quietly, gasping slightly as Sayuri reached her and wrapped her arms around the younger girl’s slender waist. Sayuri giggled again as she rubbed her cheek on the back of Sora’s plain cotton shirt.

“I’ve got you now! I’m not a cow! I have a…” Sayuri paused again in her singing, tongue slipping out of the side of her mouth in concentration. “…how? No. Now? Sow? No. Sayuri keeps finding very difficult words to rhyme. How are you Sora? Wait! Sora are you how? No. That doesn’t work, either. Aww. Butts.”

“I feel strange,” Sora whispered, locking, and interlocking her fingers as she sat on the bed, her tail and ears twitching nervously.

“Strange?” Sayuri cocked her head slightly. “Did you eat vegetables? Vegetables give Sayuri a belly ache and make her gassy. One-time Sayuri ate broccoli and had to leave her own home she was so stinky. She had to sleep on the roof, or she surely would have died!” Sayuri clenched her fist angrily, raising it skyward defiantly. “Curse you, broccoli!”

“I-It’s not that,” Sora whispered. “I’m hot and kind of itchy…down there.”

“Down there?” Sora gulped slightly and nodded; head lowered. Sayuri blinked at her for a moment before staring down at the younger cat girl seriously. Sayuri scratched Sora’s knee lightly. “Better?” Sayuri grinned helpfully.

“N-Not there,” Sora whispered, shaking her head. Sayuri peered intently at her for a moment before her eyes grew wide. She quickly took the younger girl’s hands in hers and peered at her with concern.

“Sora…Sayuri will not judge you. She hopes you know that she loves you more than chicken, beef, pork, and yummy shrimps all together. Sora knows this. Right?”

“Y-Yes,” Sora stammered, looking everywhere but at the white-haired cat girl now leaning in close to her.

“Does Sora have…” Sayuri clenched Sora’s hands tightly as she fought back a sob, the word almost too painful to utter. “Does Sora have…fleas?”

“Huh?” Sora stared at Sayuri in confusion. Sayuri dropped off the bed onto the floor. She raised her hind end into the air as she fell to her hands and knees and bent forward until her nose was nearly on the carpet, eyeing the light grey rug suspiciously.

“They get on the carpet first, you know,” Sayuri muttered suspiciously, her tail swishing back and forth in agitation. Sora’s eyes were inexorably drawn to Sayuri’s firm, plump rear and she gulped, desire racing through her like liquid fire. Sayuri closed one eye and looked closer.

“They hippity hop everywhere!” She shuddered with displeasure. “Then they bounce onto your legs. Then they climb up and live on your neck and your back and on your ears and they bite and itch itch itch!” Sayuri shook with barely contained anguish before jumping straight back onto her bed with a plaintive yowl, tail puffed out in alarm. “Gah! Fleas are everywhere!” She shrieked, rolling on the bed while scratching, and pawing at her skin and hair.

“No, no, I don’t have- “Sora began but Sayuri was quickly in her lap, staring at her seriously, her fingertips pressed against Sora’s lips. Sayuri’s legs wrapped around Sora’s waist, causing the younger girl’s heart to pound achingly.

“Did you know there are probably hundreds of fleas in the world?” Sayuri whispered conspiratorially, staring at Sora with a grave expression on her face.

“That many, huh?” Sora intoned, not sure whether Sayuri was serious or not but with a sinking suspicion she was.

“Yes,” Sayuri nodded seriously. “Some have been trained and I’ve read stories of them unionizing and starting circuses.”

“I…unionizing? What is that?” Sora was aware she was getting dragged further away from her point but seemed incapable of escaping the flow of Sayuri’s meandering river of thought. “And what is circuses?”

“Sayuri does not know,” she admitted with a shake of her head. “But it is very serious. Sayuri has shampoo which makes them flee. She bought it on the river place. Sayuri will help Sora.” Sora opened her mouth to protest before Sayuri began bouncing up and down excitedly. “Fleas flee free into the sea from Sayuri!”

“Huh?” Sora cocked her head slightly to the side.

“Sayuri rhymed wonderfully!” She took Sora’s hand and placed it on her head, rubbing it back and forth between her ears. “Praise me! Even more rhymes! Sayuri is a poess…poetesses? Poesseses? Sayuri can make rhymes!”

“Yoshi, yoshi,” Sora obliged, petting Sayuri’s head affectionately.

“Sayuri did well,” Sayuri nodded, plainly pleased with herself. “She will get the shampoo and evict all fleas!”

“I don’t have fleas, though,” Sora replied.

“No fleas?” Sayuri cocked her head to the side curiously. “Then where does it itch, friend Sora?” She placed her hand on Sora’s belly. “Did you eat too many cookies?”

“N-No…it itches lower,” Sora blushed fiercely. Sayuri’s head cocked even further as if trying to figure out the hardest math problem ever.

“Is it your kitten?” Sayuri finally asked a moment before the silence became awkward.

“My…kitten?” It was Sora’s turn to cock her head curiously, ears twitching slightly. Sayuri slipped her hand over Sora’s lower belly and between her thighs, causing her to jump slightly.

“Is it itchy and hot inside your kitten?” Sayuri stared at her intently, heterochromatic eyes blinking slowly in curiosity. Sora bit her lip as a wave of pleasure coursed through her from being touched so intimately and nodded. “Sora has the Heat.” Sayuri grinned broadly, her sharp canines glinting in the light thrown from the lamp beside her bed and the dying sunlight flickering in from the window.

“The Heat?”

“Mmm Hmm!” Sayuri nodded emphatically. “Your body wishes to mate so you get hot and excited, and your kitten gets wet and itchy became it needs attention!”

“But I don’t want to mate with anyone but Sayuri!” Sora yelped before realizing she’d just said her thoughts out loud. A blush spread over her cheeks as she stared in shock at the taller catgirl sitting on her lap.

“There are many things Sayuri does not know,” Sayuri began, fidgeting slightly and blushing. “She is not very smart and so she does not know why the sky gets cloudy or why it does not. She does not know why the wind blows or does not. She does not know why the Heat comes or why it does not except that it is there to make us want to mate.

“But Sayuri and Sora are not cats,” Sayuri continued with a shake of her head. “Sayuri does not think cats have a choice. It is the Heat, and they have to listen to what their body tells them. Sora and Sayuri are not just cats. We are people as well. We have feelings and stuff and things we want and things we will do and do not wish to do. We cannot stop the Heat, I do not think, but we do not have to mate because we wish to have babies.”

“I don’t understand,” Sora admitted.

“Sayuri can help Sora with the Heat,” Sayuri fluttered her eyelashes. “Sayuri has had to help herself before. But maybe the Heat is not the only thing we can help each other with. Maybe we can be…” Sayuri paused as if trying to find the right word.

“Girlfriends?” Sora whispered trying to help her.

“Maybe…more?” Sayuri asked hopefully.

“More?”

“Will you be my life mate?” Sayuri asked, taking Sora’s hands in hers.

“Do you need to even ask?” Sora giggled. She giggled again seeing the confused look on Sayuri’s face. “From the moment you saved me in Arkbridge I knew you were the only. I was very young, but I knew I had to be yours and you mine. I waited for you. For years I held on to the hope you would some day find me because I knew you of all people could do it. You say you’re not smart, but I don’t believe that. I believe you are very smart.”

“Sora thinks Sayuri is smart?” Sayuri whispered breathlessly, tears swimming in her eyes. “Really?”

“Really, really,” Sora nodded.

“So you will be my life mate?” Sayuri circled back to her earlier question, not entirely sure Sora had answered affirmatively.

“Of course, silly kitty!” Sora threw her arms around Sayuri and kissed her lips fiercely. Sayuri hesitated for a moment before flicking her tongue out exploratively. Sora opened her mouth and their tongues danced together in an electric ballet which sent shocks down Sayuri’s spine to the end of her fluffy tail. Their kiss deepened and lengthened until they were finally forced to stop because they were out of air.

“Sora is a very good kisser,” Sayuri whispered dreamily, her nipples hard and her belly and tail tingling in excitement. “Sayuri is smart, now, so she knows these things.”

“So is Sayuri,” Sora planted kisses along Sayuri’s lips, following her instincts as best as she could.

“That was Sayuri’s first kiss,” she admitted.

“Are you sure?” Sora pulled back slightly and eyed her suspiciously.

“Yes!” Sayuri declared, fists clenched at her side for emphasis. “Sayuri does not lie! She learned from watching movies!”

“It was mine as well,” Sora giggled. “I want you to have all of my firsts, Sayuri.”

“Sayuri wants that, too!” Sayuri nodded. “You are Sayuri’s life mate! We have many firsts to have, yes?”

“We do!” Sora bounced excitedly on the bed, clapping her hands excitedly.

“What should we do first?” Sayuri asked, the wheels in her head turning as she tried to think of all the firsts she could think of. “Should we find a giant bird and use it to fly all over the world and right wrongs? Should we make costumes and become heroes of the night? Should we become asstonauts and fly to new worlds? Oh! Oh! I know! We should become Prime Ministers and make Midnight Dinner and baths the law!”

“Those all sound like fun, but I think there’s something else we need to do, first,” Sora whispered as seductively as she could manage.

“What’s that life mate Sora?” Sayuri stared at her excitedly, her brain filled with potential firsts.

“You need to help me with the Heat,” Sora purred.

“Oh! Oh! You are right!” Sayuri bonked herself on the head. “Sayuri forgot because she was excited.”

“Well, I’m excited,” Sora whispered, feeling more wanton and desperate for Sayuri’s touch by the moment. “Do you want to see how excited I am?” Sayuri gulped, the fire in her belly, momentarily forgotten in the rush of new things she wanted to do with Sora, returning ferociously.

“Yes, Sayuri wants to see,” she nodded, her white hair bobbing back and forth.