It took me four days to get back to the town. I had to stop multiple times to rest and eat.

  I paused at the edge of the forest, looking at the town in the distance as I considered what to tell Saki, after all I said I would be hunting and then just vanished for just over a week. She was probably very worried or confused.

  Too my surprise, Saki and Tera were standing outside the gate, talking to each other animatedly. I strained my ears and heard their conversation. “So, you think she will be back today?” Tera asked. “Definitely, I don’t know how to explain it but I can feel her, maybe its being her royal advisor or something but the closer she gets to me the stronger the feeling.

  I winced at the memory of making Saki my royal advisor, I had been panicking and had done the only thing I could think of, I had made the smartest person my advisor. It was a childish thing, I knew this. But… I just couldn’t do it. I needed Saki, and that need made me feel uncomfortable.

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, counting to ten before I allowed myself to fall forward. My tail caught the branch and I swung in an arc around the branch before using my momentum and the edge of the branch as an extra push to launch myself towards them.

  I sped towards them, feeling the wind in my hair and face. A moment of peace of the world blurred around me. Then I opened my eyes and blinked, a

  Appearing right next to Saki with a wide smile, I spoke. “Nya! Tama is back from hunting! It was crazy out there! Lots of crazy wolves and such! But now Tama is ready for goblins and purple parties!”

  Saki jolted and spun, not having noticed me appear, and Tera simply smiled sadly at me. Inwardly I once again winced at my actions.

  My rage had overcome me and I hadn’t been thinking clearly when I had verbally attacked Tera. I had almost killed her. The though made me feel horrible.

  My smile grew slightly wider and I danced on the balls of my feet. “Are we going or does Tama need to go hunting again? She is so bored!”

  “No! We are going very soon!” Saki said quickly, her tail waving back and forth quickly as she waved her hands in a stop motion.

  “Yes empr… I mean Tama, We will be leaving shortly.” Tera said in a calm and respectful tone. A smile on her face said she was happy, the look in her eyes made it clear she wasn’t.

  I felt as my tail curled around my leg, and my ears slightly droop at Tera’s clear sadness at not being able to call me empress. I really hated that title though, no matter how much she loved it.

  On one hand, She should be allowed to call me whatever she liked, but that word, it represented something I was not. I was a swordsman, I was a ninja, I was a nekojin, I was Tama.

  I was NOT an empress or royalty. No matter what my bloodline apparently seemed to be. I smiled at Tera and nodded enthusiastically “Tama can’t wait to kick goblin butt!”

  I ran around her excitedly as I imagined all the goblins I would take out. Keeping my mind from Tera’s sad eyes.

  “Say, Tama, Can.. can we talk?” Tera’s words sounded uncertain and she seemed to not be making eye contact.

  I considered for only a moment before responding. “Of course, Tama is always willing to listen to a friend!”

  I saw her smile become genuine and she nodded “Thank you Tama, I just want you to know, I am sorry for everything. I.. I became so obsessive. At first I just liked you, but when I learned… er… what I learned about you. I might have become too much. I want you to know, that it was not my intention to scare or upset you.” She sounded uncomfortable as she spoke, but she seemed determined to finish.

  I had not expected this, but I already knew what she was implying. I stepped forward and looked her in the eyes. “Tama forgives you, Tama was angry earlier and didn’t mean to say those horrible things, Tama loves you as a friend and is sorry too!” My tail wagged back and forth quickly and my ears perked up, doing my best to show my sincerity.

  I felt a wave of comfort from Serenity and embraced it. After all, this all felt awkward and my baby had helped me so much recently.

  Though I smiled, and Tera smiled back. I could clearly see she was still upset. I considered for a moment what to do, when an idea hit me. With a look of innocence on my face, I grabbed her breast again.

  Tera froze in shock and opened her mouth but I shook my head and let go before whispering quietly too her “Tama thinks it unfair yours are bigger” I held back my giggle as I watched Tera try and fail to react normally to the sudden act.

  I had a feeling that would make her stop pouting, and it had worked. My tail twitched and my ears wiggled in amusement.

  “Tama.. I..” Tera suddenly stepped forward and pushed her lips against mine. My mind went blank and I vanished, appearing over thirty feet away covering my mouth. What had she just done to me!?

  “Did.. did you just kiss Tama?!” Saki suddenly spoke up, her tail was erect and her ears perked in astonishment. “What on all of.. Why would you do that! One of these days she is going to kill you Tera!”

  “It’s not like that!” Tera said quickly, defending herself. “Tama clearly likes me! She said she likes my breast and even grabbed them! Right Tama?”

  I felt my face redden as the realization I might have made a horrible error in judgment. My tail stiffened and my ears curled.

  Saki sighed audibly before shaking her head. “Let’s just get to the bottom of this right now. Tama, Do you want to get naked with Tera and play with her body, would you rather do it to Rylan, Neither, or both” She raised an eyebrow and stared at me.

  My face felt really hot suddenly and I stepped back, almost instinctively and the question.

  On the surface, it was such a simple question. But Saki had told me such things were not allowed in public, only to break her own rule.

  It also didn’t help that imagining what Rylan looked naked actually made me feel weird in a way I both liked a lot and made me uncomfortable. I didn’t know what was under his boxers, but the idea excited me.

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  Tera on the other hand, was just another girl, I had seen her body already and it was a lot like my own. Nothing really special there. So I answered honestly, “Tama would want to see Rylan naked! I want to look under his underwear and see whats there!”

  Tera utterly deflated like she was a popped balloon and Saki nodded knowingly. “See Tera, I told you it wasn’t like that, Tama just doesn’t understand sexuality.”

  At that, Tera suddenly perked back up and smiled “You know Saki, you are right! She doesn’t understand sexuality. As her guide, it is in all of our best interest to…” Tera took a step forward only to trip over Saki’s outstretched foot.

  “Have you learned NOTHING in the last week Tera! We talked about this for hours!” Saki said indignantly.

  Tera climbed to her knees, after face planting in the dirt, and took a deep breath. After a moment she spoke “You are right, but I am not giving up that easily, I have a proposal for you Tama.” She looked completely serious directly at me and I felt my ears flatten in worry.

  “What’s a proposal!” I asked as I leaned in slightly, still over twenty-five feet away from her.

  Saki facepalmed but answered anyways “It means, she is willing to make a deal or a trade with you.”

  I looked between Saki and Tera. Saki was shaking her head at me saying don’t do it under her breath.

  Tera glared at her before looking back at me. “Come on Tama! It’s just an offer, and if you don’t want to, you can just say no after you hear it!”

  I was silent, uncertain, I looked over to Saki who was still shaking her head no. I opened my mouth to reject Tera but she spoke again.

  “Wait! Before you reject me, let me ask you this. I know you are smarter then Saki thinks you are. I get you are naive, but that doesn’t mean you are stupid. Saki is your best friend and she wants whats best for you. But you don’t even want to hear or make your own choices at all? That is rather immature Tama”

  Tera’s last word felt like a brick had hit me in the face, That is rather immature Tama. I spoke before I had time to think “Tama wants to hear you out!”

  Tera’s smile widened and her eyes lit up. “I am so glad you wish to hear me out! How very mature of you!”

  “Of course Tama is mature!” I snapped at her, angry that anyone would think me immature!

  She seemed unfazed by me snapping at her and spoke “See Tama, I know you like Rylan, and I mean he is..” She paused trying to find the right words “An.. interesting specimen of a man.”

  “You mean he is a pushover that you treat like dirt for fun and call him your boyfriend!” Saki said, her voice venomous. “I can’t believe your actually trying this, I thought we talked about this!”

  Tera flinched then turned to Saki “Oh, you want me to stop? Take something else away from me before I had a chance to earn it?!” Saki visibly looked like she had been struck and took a step back. She turned her head and looked away, refraining from saying anything else.

  Tera looked guiltily at Saki for a moment before looking back at me, I was now glaring at her and my hand was on my dagger. “Tama is going to…” Before I could finish Tera brought up both hands

  “It’s between me and her, its not your right to intervene Tama, you should know that if you cared about justice.” She said quickly. I froze as my hand began shaking slightly as my sensei’s dead eyes, my mothers dead eyes played in my mind. Slowly, I lowered my hand and nodded “continue” I said quietly.

  Tera nodded “Saki and I had a long chat while you were gone and some stuff came up. She can tell you if she wants. I will leave that up to her. But she promised to leave me alone as long I didn’t go to far. I haven’t done anything except a light kiss and talking!”

  I looked at Saki who nodded and mouthed I promise I will explain later. I nodded at her, we all had secrets, I didn’t hate her for it, she had been trying to protect me and I had fallen for it.

  Tera fully stood, now looking excited. “Please Tama, see reason in this. You know I like you, its clear you don’t like me.. as much. Because you haven’t gotten to know me! But I believe that we can go into an arrangement that will make us both very happy.”

  Saki glared at Tera, but said nothing. I looked at Tera suspiciously but nodded. She grinned, “thank you!” She said excitedly. “So, here is my idea, you clearly really like Rylan right? What if I could make it so Rylan would be your boyfriend, You two would date, and he would be very good friends with you and want to be with you!”

  I paused at that, despite my best efforts to appear uninterested, her words had struck a chord. Rylan was so cute, and spending more time with him.. maybe alone.. I felt my cheeks begin to heat up again as I imagined Rylan holding me and giving me head pats.

  Clearly Tera saw my obvious look and her she seemed giddy now. “So, the thing is Tama, Rylan is my boyfriend, so normally, you could never have him. Tera made a sad face at me, it angered me.

  “Nya! Isn’t that Rylan’s choice!” I said in frustration, but Tera simply smiled at me and nodded. “And he already picked me Tama.”

  I felt a sharp pain in my chest like I had been stabbed, I looked down but there was nothing there. Yet the pain was horrible. I looked back up at Tera who smiled sadly at me. “But Tama, not all is lost, Rylan and I would love to be with you as a couple! The three of us. You would have Rylan and all his wonderfulness, and all you would have to do is spend some time with me too, maybe let us play a little sometimes without those restrictive clothes.”

  I felt anxiety, uncertainty, it seemed too good to be true. I looked over to Saki but she just looked at me and pursed her lips. She wasn’t going to guide me, I had to make a decision myself.

  Saki suddenly opened her mouth to speak but Tera quickly cut her off “IT was only an offer Saki, I have done nothing, don’t you dare!” Saki slowly closed her mouth again, her face neutral, but the way she looked at Tera made me think there were many choice words Saki wanted to say.

  It caused me to pause as I considered why Saki would be against this. I wasn’t as smart as her, but she had been clearly against this from the beginning. I shifted uncomfortably as I looked at Tera who was looking back and me with a sweet smile and an almost beckoning look.

  As if to make matters more complicated a voice came from the town “Hey guys, are we finally heading out! Sorry I slept in!” Rylan’s voice sounded wonderful, I turned to watch him jogging towards us, his belly jiggled as he ran and I felt my cheeks reddening further.

  I had one last shot at this, I needed to know from Rylan himself. “Rylan!” I called out, he had stopped and was panting about a dozen feet form us, the way he panted causes me to close my legs closer and I tried to hold myself still. I couldn’t help myself.

  “Yea Tama?” He called back as I stood and began slowly walking towards us.

  “Are you Tera’s boyfriend? And if so, is it true that if I agreed to Tera’s deal, you would spend time with me in private?” My voice quavered as I spoke, but I forced it out.

  “What?!” He yelled back, he started jogging again, only making me turn slightly away as I felt my nipples start to hurt. What was wrong with me!?

  He finally arrived, and for some reason I was so sad he had stopped jogging. “What were you asking Tama, sorry I couldn’t hear you.”

  I opened my mouth to speak but Tera cut me off “She was wondering if she were to date us both if you would give her love and head-pats.” Tera said quickly.

  Rylan looked at Tera, then me, then nodded “Of course Tama, we are always open to new people. I’d love to spend some time and give you head pats if you wanted.”

  I crumbled instantly “Tama accepts this offer!” I looked at Rylan and said “Head pats please!”

  “I can’t.. I just.. for head pats Tama, really?!” Saki said with actually disbelief.

  Tera on the other hand sounded jubilant “How wonderful! I am so glad we came to the agreement Tama! I promise you won’t regret it. Give her head pats Rylan, she clearly needs them!”

  Rylan stepped forward and began petting me. I felt myself start to drool and smiled blankly as he did so. I was in heaven.