The young man laughed suddenly, turning his head to the side, making his hair fall forward overhis shoulder in order to hide his face. After a moment, he regained himself before turning to Chen, smiling gently. "Chen.... That is a very nice name.... I am...." He paused, hesitant on giving this new girl his real name. He was quite sure that people were looking for him, and he didn't want Chen getting caught up in it. "My name is Markus. I am sorry for worrying you. I'm a fast healer, so I won't be here for very much longer...."

Chen's left ear gave a light flick as she listened to her cats' protests. She, however, remained silent. If he had truly heard what Reimu said, at least so that he knew the cat's name, then she knew he would get the general idea of what the cats were saying in her stead. Chen's tail waved once as he spoke in the cats' language, the fact that she knew both human and cat all too well causing her not to realize what he was speaking in. "The cats certainly like you, so you can't be a bad person. I don't mind if you stay here, then!" she mewed back, before sitting down. Immediately the eight cats returned, climbing all over and around her to get in formation. There were two on either leg, and four in front of her body. "My name is Chen." she said, in the human language this time.

The young man smiled slightly as he stood to his feet. The girl was the kind that hated to see others in pain. He could tell because he just had that inate ability to sense other people's emotions. He let his eyes drift half-closed as a wave of fatigue hit him. He looked down and saw all the cats standing around him, looking up at him, mewing their protests at how he was acting. Reimu growled at him lightly and he smiled softly, sitting down on the ground. "Alright, alright..... I'll rest....." He smiled at Reimu, gently petting her as he looked up at Chen. He spoke in the language of the cats, somehow knowing that she would understand. "Do you mind.... If I stay here for a while?"

As Chen worked on healing the fallen elf, she couldn't help but notice that the cut down his back was getting smaller before her eyes. What kind of being was this man, with dark skin and pointed ears? This question ran through her curious mind again and again, as she finished up and pulled back to take a look at what she had done. Just as she was moving back, however, a hand shot out and took hold of her wrist.

"Thank you." he said. Now how was she expected to respond to that as a human again...? After a moment of thought, she opened her mouth to reply. "Good morning." she stated happily, cheerfully unaware of her mistake, as her tails waved behind her. Reimu gave a single meow, before returning to Chen and nuzzling against her leg. Chen heard him thank Reimu, but she thought nothing of it when she should have; there was no way he should have known her name, but of course Chen just left it as assumption that everyone could understand the cats.

She looked on with rising concern as he forced himself up at a dangerous speed. She could see that he was still hurt, but what could she do? It wasn't like she had the strength to keep him here against his will and treat him thoroughly, which was why it hurt her even more to see him in more pain as the remaining cut reopened. Letting out a sharp mew in surprise, Chen ran over to the elf, curious about what was hurting him so.

As being part elf, and dark elf at that, gave him the ability to heal fast. Within half an hour, the large wound in his stomach had closed up considerably, but there was still a small cut left, and if left un treated, would cause his a great deal of pain. He floated into and back out of awareness as Chen dressed the wounds on his back. Just as she finished, his awareness came back full swing as a cat stared him right into the eyes. He smiled weakly, before lifting one hand, grabbing a hold of Chen’s wrist.

“Thank you.” His voice was low and soft, and his eyes seemed to shine with his gratification at her helping him. “Now I will leave, so I don’t continue to be a burden to you….” He turned to look at Reimu. “And thank you, Reimu….” He replied before he slowly, and painfully, stood to his feet. As he walked towards the exit, a sharp pain shot through him and he landing on one knee, one hand over his stomach.

The instant he sat up, Chen immediately woke from the shock, the sudden noise causing her ears and tail to stand on end. Quickly and instinctively she curled up as deep into the sofa as she could, watching as he stroked the dark-furred Chartruex - Reimu was her name - before falling back down and turning to face her.

Chen's ears gave a light twitch as he asked her merely to stop the bleeding. She would be happy to do this, but first... pointed ears? Well, needless to say this caught her attention. Was this mysterious intruder... also a cat being? Despite her normal caution, she just had to make sure. Slowly she uncurled herself from the couch and crawled up to him, sniffing the side of his face a few times before grabbing the bottom of his shirt and lifting. Strange... he didn't seem to have a tail, but there were numerous cuts on his back. Since the carpeting had yet to become bloody, Chen presumed that only his back was injured.

First Aid... What did my parents always do for first aid...? she wondered, racking her brain in an obvious attempt to remember. First thing to do, would be to find some strips of cloth, preferably clean strips. Well, there were a few spare dress clothes in the attic where she and the cats slept, perhaps those would work. She stood up and made her way up the stairs quickly, returning with two shirts and one miniature dress. Grabbing the clothing to keep it taut, she used her index finger to cut strips away, the fabric easily giving way to her claw-like nails. She then began to wrap the makeshift bandages around the man's middle back, though she could not yet be sure just how tight it would end up.

Suddenly, the young man sat up, his white hair coming forward to hide the fact that one eye was emerald-green, the other an icy, Husky-like blue. "Lailyn!" His hand slowly came up shakily, to run through his damp hair. He looked down to his right to see a cat nudging his hand. He smiled weakly and lifted his hand slightly in order to lightly pet the cat. "Hmm..... I used to have a cat Familiar.... Roxie, was her name, but then..... then....."

His words haulted as his vision began to swim. He fell back onto his back, and his strange mix matched gaze on Chen. He smelled blood, and slowly his eyes closed. "Please..... Stop the..... bleeding...." were his last words before he slipped back into a sleep due to blood loss. His head fell off to the side, the hair covering his left ear moving to reveal the fact that his ears were elegantly pointed, like those of a elf's.

(Work and School)

While Chen was busy preparing dinner for the kittens, she was alerted by a sudden meowing from the cats. Distracted by their calls, and able to understand what they were trying to say due to her heritage, she looked down off the balcony, and her eyes widened in shock. A human! A human, of all people, had found his way here!

Her first thought was to just sit back and let him die. After all the humans had put her through, it wouldn't be a surprise if he deserved it somehow. But the longer she waited - and the more her cats meowed in protest, the more she began to feel obliged to save him despite everything.

Looking up, she saw the clouds forming, and knew that it would rain soon. At this, her fangs bared, and her fists clenched. Why now...? she thought, turning around and going down the stairs, down to the first floor. Reaching into the basket beside the door to draw out a conveniently placed parasol that had been left here by the previous owners, she opened the door and walked out to him.

I'm all right... I'm all right... she reassured herself as the rain continued to pour. I just can't let it touch my skin. Slowly, struggling every step of the way, Chen tugged away at the mysterious being, making sure to position her umbrella perfectly so that neither her head nor her hands were splashed. At last they got inside, and no sooner had Chen dragged him into the center of the living room did she curl up in the couch, exhausted. As she rested, she watched lazily, as the cats in turn walked up to his head and began poking their noses around him, catching his scent. Occasionally one gave a soft meow that basically translated to a "Wake Up".

[I'll try to get a picture up soon, k?. And sorry if it's kinda suckish. I'm at school right now. >.<]

White hair lay plastered to the young man's back as he struggled to his feet, leaning heavily on his staff, his breaths coming out in ragged gasps. Unable to go on any farther, he collapsed right under the balcony where Chen was with her cats, blood continuing to flowing slowly from the wound in his stomach. A playback of his recent 'accident' ran over and over in his mind as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

The knight that stood in front of him wielded a sword, one the likes of which had never been seen before. The blade was made of an iridescent-blue color, and the blade curved like that of a dragon’s wing.

The dark-elf dodged out of the way of the blade. He took a second to look up into the knight face, and the look of emptiness in the knight’s face was enough to make him pause, and that pause gave the knight the opening he needed to plunge the sword into the dark elf’s stomach.

The dark elf stepped back and stumbled backwards, the knight’s name escaping his lips as a whisper. “Lailyn….”

Just as the young man slipped into unconsciousness, he flipped over onto his back, the rain giving his black skin a slightly purple-ish tinge. As his eyes closed, he sent out a mental shout that the cats could hear. Why, Lailyn?! Why did you do it!

Chen was born in a small rural home, where the fact that she had ears and a tail was an easily kept secret. Unlike most humans, her mother actually thought the ears and tail were cute, not even aware that her own daughter was truthfully a nekomata.

Chen grew up to be a very active girl around the farm, but when she first went to the town marketplace when she was four, a nearby priest panicked and called her a demon. Of course she wasn't old enough to know what a "demon" was, but her mother knew full well what he was saying, and although she defended her daughter then, he was able to plant the seeds of doubt in her mind. What if her own daughter really was a monster...?

That question was answered the very first time she happened to be outside when it was raining. For as long as she could remember, Chen had hated the rain, and getting wet in general, but never before had she actually been out when it started. It was a freak rainstorm that literally came out of nowhere, but the very moment that first raindrop hit her forehead, she flew into a rage, completely losing control of herself and going on a destructive rampage.

When she woke up, she was atop a small balcony, and there were no less than eight cats staring at her intently. After about two minutes worth of staredown, one of the cats walked over to her and nuzzled against her leg. Ever since that day, they have been her only family, and their home the abandoned building that the balcony was a part of.