27 Chapter Twenty Six: Catching A Cat, Multiple Actually, Money Problems

Fumiko had finally found the cat on her side of the search area.

And right now she was looking directly at it. And the cat was looking at her as well, one paw raised mid step, with a big fish hanging out of its mouth.

They were in the middle of the street in the shopping district, but Fumiko didn't care and slowly advanced on the cat, getting lower as she did so. "Come here, kitty. Come on." She said lowly, with a forceful tone behind it.

The cat only started to arch its back, making it look bigger in size then it actually was, hissing at Fumiko as she came closer.

But then the cat ran away, going in between the legs of people on the street to get away from Fumiko.

Fumiko clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Fucking cat."

She then jogged after the cat as it ran. She wasn't going to lose the cat after she had found it now, but she saw no reason to run after it. Instead Fumiko would let it run to wherever it was going, maybe it would go back to wherever it was staying all this time.

Fumiko kept the cat in her sights as it ran, as she dodged in between people as she kept up with it.

The cat then turned down an alleyway between two shops.

Fumiko went there as well, only to see the cat crawl through a small hole in a wooden fence.

Fumiko just sighed before running towards one wall and kicking off it to hop over the fence.

Fumiko saw the cat turning around a pile of trash that took up most of the blocked off alleyway.

The only way in or out for the cat was through the fence.

The smell was putrid, and Fumiko was honestly surprised the cat would be willing to stay here. She knew cats were stupid, or at least not as smart as dogs, but this was just on another level.

After all, why would a cat choose to stay here?

"Oh." Fumiko let out, making the cat in front of her aware that she was here.

Making it arch its back protectively its kittens and the mother cat that was laying down on its side as the kittens got their milk from the mother.

Clearly the kittens were only a few weeks old, probably just over a week.

"Well, this just makes things complicated, doesn't it?" Fumiko muttered.

Fumiko stared at them for a moment, as the male cat relaxed a little seeing that Fumiko wasn't doing anything to harm them.

"Ah, screw it." Fumiko said. Leaving and hoping back over the fence in a fluid motion.

The male cat could only look at where the female human left in confusion, before making its way over to his mate, nudging the fish towards her as she took bites out of it.

While he waited beside her looking at his kittens, but also cautiously waiting for that human to come back. He didn't want to be taken off guard if they attacked.

When the female human did finally come back over the wooden wall, he wasn't expecting her to be carrying something which he saw his human use to carry food. A basket, if he was remembering correctly. And he certainly didn't like what she did next.

And that's how Fumiko was now in the shopping district with a basket of kittens and a female cat, while the cat she was looking for, the male one, now sat on her head scratching at her to put back down his family.

It didn't hurt Fumiko at all, but the sensation of the scratching from the cat was annoying by itself, while the attention it was drawing to her was just adding fuel to the fire. That fire being Fumiko's annoyance.

Fumiko didnt want to deal with this any more than she had to, so she decided to leave Nariko behind in the shopping district while she returned the cats to the owner.

Realistically, she could leave the kittens and the female cat. But, if she did that the male cat would just escape again, and Fumiko didnt half ass things. If she was going to do something, she would go all the way.

Plus, even though she had a dislike for cats. She wasnt cruel enough to separate parents from children. Even if they were cats.

So, with a cat attacking her from her head, she carried the basket full of newborn kittens and the mother cat.

It took around five minutes to get back to the house of the woman who put up the quest. And during this time, the cat on her head had transitioned from one place to another to try and stop her from taking away its family, which she wasn't doing.

And now that they were close to the cat's house, Fumiko was starting to feel her annoyance leaving her as this quest was almost done.

So instead of her holding the cat out by the scruff infront of her so it couldn't scratch her, she put it on her shoulder, where it patched onto before trying one more time to scratch her before giving up and just watching his kittens and the female cat.

Fumiko silently appreciated that the cat wasn't scratching her, although it did help in some ways with it getting an itch that appeared on her head which it unknowingly got rid of.

Fumiko knocked on the door loudly, just to make sure that old woman knew she was here.

And after a few seconds the door opened with the old woman on the other side. "Oh! Masa, come here!" The old woman cooed, putting her hands up to the cat on Fumiko's shoulder, Masa.

Masa meowed at the sight of the woman, jumping down to the floor and circling around the woman's feet.

"Thank you, dear, I wouldn't have been able to find him without you and your friends' help." The woman said thankfully to Fumiko.

Although Fumiko wanted to say she did it all by herself, she held back in favour of just accepting it. "No problem." Fumiko then looked down at the basket, before just handing it to the woman. "Here you go."

"Eh?" The woman looked down in the basket to see the kittens and the weak female cat. "...These aren't my cats…" The woman pointed out.

Fumiko shrugged as she explained, or what she could guess. "It seems like Masa has trouble keeping to himself, so he got a lady friend and got busy." Fumiko said bluntly, and the old woman let out a sound in understanding. "And this is the result."

The old woman took the basket out of her hands then as she put it on the ground near Masa as she saw him staring intently at the basket. "Well, I guess that just means more company for me. Just one minute." The woman then went back in doors before coming back out with the quest sheet, since Nariko decided it would be a good idea to leave it here in case it got blown away in the wind, even though it wasn't windy.

On the sheet was signed by the woman, which wasn't there before, which meant that the quest was completed. It also meant that Fumiko and Nariko could get their rewards for the quest that they had completed when they handed in the sheet.

"There you go." The old woman said. "Thank you for getting my Masa back, I don't know what I would've done if something had happened to him." Fumiko could only nod, unsure of how to reply to that. The old woman just smiled kindly with a small chuckle. "You go now, don't let this old lady be keeping you from something else."

Fumiko nodded and turned to leave, but as she reached the gate of the house, she turned to look at the woman for a second looking like she was going to say something before she decided against it and left.

…

Nariko had just left the orphanage that she had dropped Rekka off at.

She hadn't just left him asleep and left, as much as she knew he needed it, leaving without saying anything would be cruel and could freak Rekka out when he woke up.

She also checked what the other children there were like, if they were happy, being fed, and were being treated right. And Nariko could tell Rekka would be okay there, he would make friends.

She had promised him once again that she would visit him tomorrow, although she had no idea how. Fumiko seemed to be solely focused on ranking up, so she probably wouldn't appreciate a break just to visit a child.

So either she would have to figure something out, or find a quest that was posted by the orphanage or was near enough to it that she would go there without any suspicion.

But Nariko would figure out something.

As she entered back into the shopping district she noticed Fumiko coming towards her, probably finished searching her side. Damn! Nariko realised she hadn't searched her side at all after finding Rekka.

"Did you find the cat?" Nariko asked, hopeful.

Fumiko nodded her head in affirmation. "Yeah, caught it without trouble." Fumiko said confidently. "Turns out the little shit couldn't keep to himself and got another cat pregnant. The kittens were already born and I brought them back to the old lady."

Nariko had a nostalgic smile at that, she remembered when her cat was only a kitten. Ah, good times. "It's getting late now." Nariko pointed out, looking at the darkening sky.

Fumiko saw that as well, but it was more of a hassle for her. She probably didn't have enough for a room in an Inn. She could just stay the night in a back alley if she had to, but would try and find a place within her limited price range.

"Yeah…" Fumiko muttered, before turning around walking away, hoping to find a place before nightfall. "See ya!"

"Wait! Where are you staying?" Fumiko hears Nariko's voice ask.

Fumiko looks at her as she answers. "Don't know. I'll find somewhere."

"How much money do you have?" Nariko asks, Fumiko scowls at the question because she knew she didn't have much and found it insulting for someone of her power to be sleeping in the streets. "Because the minimum Inn costs one hundred bronze to stay one night, even in the cheapest places from what I've heard."

Fumiko blanches at the price. That was ridiculous! And, unfortunately, she did not have enough money.

Nariko of course noticed the look on Fumiko's face and the mention of how much it cost. "We can go to the place I was going to stay in and I can pay for a room for you."

"No need. I don't want to be in debt to anyone." Fumiko stated.

"You won't be in debt." Nariko said reassuringly, but at the look Fumiko was giving her she knew she needed a better reason than just out of the kindness of her heart. "Umm… it would be beneficial to me… because if you have a place to stay… Umm," Nariko didn't know what else to say, and Fumiko clearly knew that, but then she thought of something, "it would be beneficial to both of us if you had a place to stay, so that you would be well rested for the next day, so that you wouldn't hinder either us from ranking up faster. So, this is for both of us. What do you say?"

Even though Fumiko knew that Nariko just thought of that just now, it was actually a good point. If she wasn't well rested she couldn't fulfill Lord Zerads mission properly. And she couldn't afford to fail him again. "Fine. Since it's mutually beneficial."

Nariko smiled brightly at Fumiko's acceptance of her offer, before going to where Fumiko was and grabbing her hand, still in the mindset that she was talking to a child because of her time with Rekka. "Come on."

Fumiko could only gape as she was pulled along by Nariko. She could get out of the grip, but didn't… Why didn't she? Fumiko couldn't answer that question. But she didn't let go of Nariko's hand, even after Nariko noticed what she had done and had given an opportunity to Fumiko to get out of her grip, but she didn't.

Even if that was the case, that didn't mean that she wouldn't glare, which wasn't even a glare, at Nariko when they reached their destination for a second before stopping.