Holidays

Holidays


“YEHAAA! We’re here!” Eve screamed at the top of her lungs as she jumped out of the car.

“Calm down kiddo.” A man had stepped out from the driver’s seat and eased his muscles in the warming afternoon sun. “We still have to drive down to the beach, you know?”

“Aww… but I don’t want to stay in the car anymore…” Eve grumbled.

“It’s not that long anymore, sis. Just a few minutes.” Ramona chuckled to herself. “Although those few minutes are the worst of the whole trip.”

“Nyaa? Why’s that?” Nyan-Chan asked curiously.

“You’ll see soon, sweetie.” Sarah answered while petting her ears.

“Nyaaa~”

“Well, it’ll take even longer, the longer you stay out of the car.” A second man said.

“I know, dad. But this spot is just too awesome!” Sarah answered. She took one last look over the dunes below, before turning back to the two cars. “Let’s get back in girls. Maybe we’ll make it to the beach while the sun’s still high.”

Everyone climbed back into the two big land rovers.

“Everyone in? Okay, let’s go!”

Quickly the cars sped off onto the small, bumpy dust road.

“OUCH! My head…” Eve yelled.

“Told you.” Ramona and Salina giggled.

“You’re mean…”

About ten minutes later the two cars wheeled into the small courtyard in front of their destination. “Alright, this time we’ve truly arrived.” Sarah announced.

Instantly Eve jumped out of the car, followed by her sister, Salina and the others.

“Ah, it’s good to be here again.” A woman said.

“It’s been too long, indeed.” A second woman added. “Especially since we were here with so many. I hope we can all fit into the house.” She sounded a tad worried.

“Calm down honey.” One of the men pulled her into a tight hug and softly kissed her. “I’m sure the kids won’t mind sharing some matrasses. They’re doing it all the time anyway.” He chuckled, before turning to his passengers. “Hey girls! No beachgoing, until both cars are fully unloaded!”

A groan of disappointment followed his words, but no one really complained. Eve did try to sneak away, but Ramona caught her and sent her back to work. All the time however, no one seemed to notice the young neko that was hiding under the first car, trying desperately to suppress her giggling.

“You know,” Sarah said to no one in particular. “I have a feeling as if that car is parked in the wrong spot. Maybe you should move it, dad!”

Catching her idea her dad plugged the keys in and revved the engine. “Might be a good plan, Sarah.”

“NYAAA!!”

Instantly a dark colored fur ball shot out from under the car and hid behind Sarah. “Oh hello Nyan-Chan. Would you mind lending me a hand?” Sarah said cheerfully, before joining in to the general laughter at the neko’s scared expression. “You didn’t really think you could let us do all the work, did you?”

Nyan-Chan’s ears twitched, when she grasped that Sarah and her dad just pranked her. “Nyor mean…” she murmured trying to keep her slightly angry expression. A few moments later however, she couldn’t hold it anymore and a grin spread out on her face.

Quickly they unloaded the cars and stored the luggage in the hallway.

“We’re done, dad!” Sarah said after everything was inside. “Can we go to the beach now?”

“Of course. Just make sure you get back here for dinner.”

“Wouldn’t want to miss that!” Sarah called, while already running to her room to change clothes. Within a few minutes all the girls had changed into their swimwear, waiting only for Nyan-Chan.

“U-uhm, Sarah-nya…”  

“What is it, sweetie?”

“I… I have nyo swimwear for…” she hesitated, blushing heavily.

Sarah smiled and ruffled her ears. “And you thought I didn’t know that?”

“Nya?”

Still smiling, Sarah rummaged through bag, until she found what she was looking for: A dark blue swimsuit, similar to the one she was wearing herself, albeit a few sizes smaller.

“Nyu… for… for me-nya…?” Nyan-Chan stuttered.

“Of course, how else do you suppose you could go swimming with us? Surely not nude!” She grinned at that last remark. “Although I suppose I wouldn’t really mind seeing that.” She chuckled softly when Nyan-Chan playfully hit her in the shoulder.

“That’s nyat fun-nya!”

“Are you two coming, or do we have to go all alone?” Ramona called from downstairs.

Quickly Nyan-Chan changed into the swimsuit and together with Sarah she followed the others down to the beach. “I got you a second one too, should we need to wash this one.” Sarah remarked before leaving the house.

It took the girls a few minutes of walking down the dunes, before reaching the beach. Once they got there, they set up their towels in a quiet corner close to a large dune, before rushing off to the water.

“Brrr! So cold!” Eve shivered. “I think I’m going to-AAH!”

Ramona was standing behind her, splashing cold seawater all over her sister.

“STOP IT!” Eve yelled.

“Why should I?” Ramona answered and dodged the handful of water Eve had thrown back at her. “It’s not like you are able to do anything against it.”

“She might not,” Salina said. “But I surely can!” She splashed a huge load of water all over Ramona.

“WHAA!” Ramona exclaimed.

Within seconds a big water fight had broken out, with everyone trying to splash their opponent with the cold seawater.

Only Nyan-Chan stood at the side, watching.

“Don’t you want to join us?” Sarah asked and splashed water in her direction.

“NYAA!” Skillfully dodging back to dodge the attack, Nyan-Chan shook her head.

“Hmm? Is something wrong?” Salina asked. “Usually you’d be the one starting something like this.” She said referring to the many pillow fights Nyan-Chan had initiated.

Gradually the others drew closer, stopping their playful battle. Eve made another attempt to splash Nyan-Chan, but the young neko dodged it easily.

Sarah exited the water and walked back to the beach. “Come on, what’s wrong?” she asked, sounding worried. “You look distressed…”

“I… I…” Nyan-Chan stuttered, before continuing in a whisper: “I’m afraid to get wet-nya…”

For a second Sarah simply stared; then she broke out laughing. “God… and I thought it was something serious.” She smiled and held out her hand for Nyan-Chan. “Don’t worry, it’s not that cold.”

However, the neko shook her head and moved back a few steps. “I prefer watching nyu.”

For a moment it seemed as if Sarah would insist on getting Nyan-Chan into the water, but then she merely shrugged. “Whatever… though you’re missing out on all the fun.” She turned back to the others. “Alright, where were we? Oh yes, I remember!” She dived forward and grabbed Ramona. Together the two girls flew forward, right when a big wave came in.

With a huge splash it swallowed them, only to let them reappear a few seconds later, spitting out saltwater.

“SARAH!” Ramona yelled.

“What?” Sarah answered and playfully splashed her friend. “I remember you being the on starting with this.” She giggled when Ramona tried to jump her and failed, because she hadn’t seen the next wave come in.

“I’ll get you!”

“Come and try it!”

Back at the shore, sitting close to the water, Nyan-Chan watched her friends engage in their playful battle and smiled. Despite not wanting to take part in it, she enjoyed watching. Slowly her mind dazed off in the last rays of the sun, as she remembered the previous two weeks:

<<<>>>

Originally Nicko had planned to stay at home and play games all holiday, simply for the lack of having any friends to do something with. His mother had to work to pay rent, but at least they would have been able to eat dinner together.

He knew that Sarah and the other girls would leave for their holiday house together with Sarah’s and Ramona’s parents. During the time in school they ignored him, just like they used to before the incident at the party.

However, as soon as school had ended and they were out of sight of any of their classmates, they’d greet him warmly. Mostly Sarah instantly transformed him, simply so she could cuddle with him without having to fear to accidentally expose his secret. For a short while Nicko had wondered if she might be more in love with Nyan-Chan than with him, but he soon discarded that thought. It was completely unfair to assume that, especially after Sarah did so much to conceal his allergy.

Of course she had told her parents, but Nicko suspected that they would’ve found it out on their own anyway. After all it’s a little suspicious if a boy enters Sarah’s room and a young neko girl emerges. After Sarah explained everything, with the help of Nicko’s mother, who sacrificed a few hours off to make sure they understood her son’s situation completely, her parents agreed on helping Nicko out by pretending Nyan-Chan was Sarah’s cousin.

Eventually the holidays had drawn closer and Nicko had become more and more depressed by the thought of not seeing Sarah for longer than a week.

Three days before her departure however, Sarah had invited him to come along on their trip. Provided that his mother would be okay with that.

Of course Nicko’s mother was more than happy to see that he and Sarah were getting along so well and she instantly agreed.

Together with Sarah Nicko, well, actually Nyan-Chan, had bought a few new clothes, sponsored by Sarah’s parents. It wasn’t much, but Nicko had cried tears of joy when Sarah had told him.

Three days later the two land rovers had halted in front of Nicko’s house and Sarah had gone inside to fetch him. It proved unnecessary, since Nicko had done nothing else than waiting in front of the window all day, waiting for Sarah to arrive.

Sarah helped him carry his bag to the second car, where he greeted Ramona's parents. Quickly they stowed the bag, before jumping into the car, joining the other girls. Sarah’s parents had taken most of the luggage into the first car, so they could have a quiet trip. Ramona’s parents had agreed on taking the girls into theirs.

When Nicko settled into his seat, he could already feel the tingling of his allergy, only hastened by the soft kiss Sarah pecked on his cheek.

What followed next was a complete surprise for Ramona’s parents. Sure they had been told what would happen, but none of them had really believed the story Sarah had told them the evening earlier. They had simply assumed that it was one of her pranks.

“So it was true after all…” was the only comment on Nicko’s transformation. A few minutes later it had been forgotten already, washed away by the giddiness and cuteness of Nyan-Chan.

<<<>>>

“NYAAA!!!” Nyan-Chan jumped awake when Sarah hugged her tightly, splashing cold water all over Nyan-Chan as she did so.

“Got ya.” Sarah giggled.

When she let go, the neko jumped backwards and shook herself to get rid of the water. It helped to some extent, but not a lot.

Sarah tossed her a towel and Nyan-Chan instantly wound it around her body. “Warn me nyext time…” she pouted.

“Aww, but then all the surprise would be gone.” Sarah smiled and pulled the neko close. “Let’s go back, shall we? Mum should be done with dinner in a few minutes.”

***

Time passed quickly at the small house in the dunes. Usually Nicko, Sarah and the other girls would sleep till late in the morning, before grabbing a quick brunch and heading down to the beach, while the adults went off to visit a city or things like that. Sarah always transformed Nicko right after waking up, so there was no problem with anyone outside the house noticing his allergy. It had taken some convincing, but after a while Nyan-Chan even joined her friends while playing in the water.

Provided that she’d get an ice from the vendor down the beach.

Of course nobody objected to that. After all the days were extremely hot and a cool ice did a lot against the heat. Naturally Nyan-Chan wouldn’t be the only one getting an ice.

During the hours after noon, the hottest hours of the day, the girls would retreat back to the house and relax below the palm trees near the small pool. Despite being so close to the ocean, Sarah’s parents had installed a pool in the garden behind the house. At first Nyan-Chan had doubted the logic behind this, but after her first time in the ocean, she was more than happy about the pool seeing that it was filled with freshwater instead of saltwater.

“Nyaaa… so hot…” Nyan-Chan was lying on one of the beach chairs on the veranda, breathing heavily from the heat.

Eve giggled. “You’re worse than my cat back home!”

Slightly annoyed Nyan-Chan tried to grab Eve, but her reflexes were slowed by the heat and the young girl evaded easily. “Too slow, kitty.” She teased her.

“Come on Eve. It’s enough. Just let her be for another hour.” Ramona said, lying down on the beach chair next to Nyan-Chan.

“Whatever…” Eve sighed dramatically and grinned. “I’ll go and get something to drink.”

“Me too.” Sarah said. “Anyone else want something?” Of course none of them refused her offer and Sarah went inside to the kitchen.

A few minutes later she returned carrying a tray with huge glasses on it. She stepped down the small step onto the veranda and for a split second one of the glasses seemed to topple over. Reacting lightning fast, Sarah rebalanced the tray, preventing the glass from spilling.

“Phew, that was a close one.” She muttered to herself.

She continued walking towards her friends on the other side of the pool, taking extra care not to unbalance the tray again. However, she was so focused on the tray that she forgot to watch her step, swayed a little too close to one of the beach chairs and hit her foot against it.

“AAARGH!!”

The pain that shot up her leg caused her to lose balance and drop the tray. It fell from her hands and onto the ground, where most of the glasses shattered upon impact.

Instantly Nyan-Chan was completely awake.

“Sarah-nya!” she exclaimed, while jumping towards her friend.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” Sarah smiled. “I just have to be more careful in the future.” She tried to push herself up from the ground and instantly screamed again.

“FUCK!”

For a moment Nyan-Chan simply stared. She had never heard Sarah curse over anything ever before! Then she noticed the blood spilling from Sarah’s hand and dashed forward.

“Stay back!” Sarah shouted. “The glasses broke. There’s glass shards everywhere!”

Nyan-Chan took a look at the ground and noticed her friend was right. Carefully she made her way to Sarah.

“I’ll go and get something to clean them up.” Eve said, before turning around and rushing inside.

Meanwhile Nyan-Chan had reached Sarah. “Are nyu okay?” she asked worriedly.

“I think yes…” Sarah said and inspected her hand. Quite a huge gash had formed on her palm, although the two girls instantly saw that it wasn’t really deep. Still, a lot of blood flowed out and it did hurt.

Carefully Nyan-Chan took hold of Sarah’s hand and started licking the wound clean. Neither of them questioned the action, tough Sarah raised her eyebrow.

Together with Salina and her sister, Eve cleaned up the glass shards, before handing Sarah a first aid kit. “I found this in the closet, maybe you should bandage your hand.”

“Thanks a lot, Eve.” Sarah smiled. “Although I feel a lot better already, thanks to Nyan-Chan.” She gently ruffled the neko’s ears.

Ramona glanced at Eve, before remarking: “I guess you were right about her being like our cat.”

“Yep.” Eve giggled.

Sarah shot them an annoyed stare, which caused Eve to giggle even more. Nyan-Chan didn’t even bother to react. Sarah’s petting session was way too comfy for that.

“Nyaaa~”

The rest of the day passed rather unspectacular. The girls remained at the house instead of going down to the beach and Nyan-Chan stuck close to Sarah to make sure she was alright. Only when the adults came home there was a little bit of fuss, mainly from Sarah’s mother. However her father soon calmed his wife down again, seeing that Sarah had already applied first aid.

That evening, Sarah went to bed a little earlier than usual, followed by Nyan-Chan, who didn’t want to part from her.

***

“Morning, Sarah.” Nicko whispered when waking up again.

Slowly Sarah turned around and rubbed her eyes. “Hello, sweetie…” she whispered sleepily.

“How’s your hand doing?” Nicko asked slightly concerned.

“It’s fine, don’t worry.” Sarah answered. “Thanks to you…” she pulled him down and gave him a soft kiss. “My little kitty…”

Nicko giggled, his voice already changing.

For a few more minutes the two of them remained lying in bed, before getting up and going downstairs for breakfast.

“Morning you two.” Ramona greeted them when they entered the kitchen. “Finally slept long enough?”

“Long enough?” Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, it’s almost one o’clock.” Salina put in.

“That late already?” Sarah exclaimed.

“Nyu have slept quite long and we didn’t want to wake nyu up-nya.” Nyan-Chan said.

“You slept just as long as I did.” Sarah said, but Nyan-Chan shook her head. “Nyat really. I’ve already had breakfast-nya. I just wanted to make sure nyu are alright.”

“Aww, you’re so sweet.” Sarah smiled and turned towards the other girls. “I don’t feel like going down to the beach though. I’ll just stay here at the pool.”

“We already figured that.” Ramona said. “There’s still some scrambled eggs left, if you want them.” Then she left for the garden.

After eating breakfast, Sarah settled down on a beach chair and watched her friends play tag in the pool. However, after a while just watching became too boring and she decided to join in.

“Are nyu sure that is a good idea-nya?” Nyan-Chan asked.

“A little bit of water won’t hurt. It’s not even saltwater.”

“Whatever…” Eve said, before dashing forward and poking Sarah. “Tag, you’re it!”

“Why you little…!” Sarah grinned and charged after Eve, who evaded her by jumping into the pool.

The game continued for several minutes, with everybody getting tagged at least once. Eventually Ramona tagged Sarah again, who instantly looked around for her next target. Her gaze settled onto Nyan-Chan, the most elusive of all.

Slowly she walked around the pool, pretending to focus on Salina, all the while getting closer to Nyan-Chan. The neko eyed her with interest, though she did not attempt to run just yet.

Suddenly Sarah surged forward and tried to grab her, but Nyan-Chan proved way too fast and rolled away to the side. Sarah wasn’t able to follow her fast reflexes and instead got carried forward by her own momentum… right into the pool.

She barely had time to express her surprise, before she hit the water and broke through the surface.

“Better be careful nyext time-nya!” Nyan-Chan giggled, before noticing that Sarah still hadn’t reappeared. “Sarah…?” she asked and peered over the edge of the pool.

Suddenly a dark shape burst through the surface and shook itself. “Brrr… I should take care where I ru-nyext time…” Slowly she climbed out of the pool.

“S-Sarah…?” Ramona stuttered. “I-is that you…?”

“Of course it’s me-nya. Or do nyu knyow someone else that just fell into the pool-nya?”

“Wha-what…?” Eve burst out. “B-but…?”

Sarah crooked her head and looked at her. “Is something wrong-nya?”

“Nyu… nyu look like m-me…?” Nyan-Chan whispered from behind, causing Sarah to spin around instantly.

“Huh…? What are nyu talki-nyabout?” She looked at Nyan-Chan. “Did nyu grow…? Last time I checked I was half a head larger tha-nyu…”

Nyan-Chan shook her head. “It’s nyat me… it’s nyu!” she grabbed something on Sarah’s head and softly tugged at it.

“OUTCH!” Sarah exclaimed. “Stop that!” She made a confused face. “What did nyu do anyaway?”

Instead of answering Nyan-Chan pulled her down and indicated her reflection in the pool.

A younger version of herself stared back up. It had the same long hair as Sarah, though the color was light purple instead of blonde. It wore the same swimsuit as Sarah, though it was slightly too big for her frailer figure. The same confused and shocked expression had settled onto its face, with only the pink eyes as a difference to Sarah’s formerly brown ones. The biggest change however were the two furry triangles poking out of her hair.

Sarah felt something brushing against her back and turned around to see what it was. When she saw the long purple cat-tail, she yelped in surprise and fell over backwards into the pool. A second later she resurfaced again, completely confused. “What... but… why…?” she stuttered, while crawling out of the pool. “Why am I…” she got no further and instead broke down sobbing.

Ramona, Nyan-Chan, Eve and Salina gathered around her, unsure how to react to this.

“Somehow…” Eve said to herself. “Somehow this reminds me a lot of what happens to Nicko, when Sarah kisses him…”

Instantly Sarah’s head shot up. “What did nyu say?”

“I said that… this is somehow similar to what happens to Nicko, when-“ she got no further.

“NYU!” Sarah spun around to Nyan-Chan, causing her to flinch. “DID NYU DO THIS-NYA?!?” she demanded to know and advanced on the scared neko. “ANSWER ME-NYA!” she screamed.

“I… I did nyothing…” Nyan-Chan whispered and backed away.

“OF COURSE NYAT! THAT’S WHY I LOOK JUST LIKE NYU!” Sarah threw her arm forward in an attempt to hit Nyan-Chan.

Too shocked by Sarah’s reaction the neko didn’t even try to evade hit and Sarah’s fist hit her dead center on the nose, causing blood to gush out.

Instantly Sarah’s rage was gone and tears began welling out of her eyes when she realized what she had done. “I… I… I’m sorry-nya… c-ca-nyu forgive me…?”

Slowly, using one hand to stop the blood from flowing out, Nyan-Chan leaned forward and embraced Sarah tightly. “Nyu knyow I always will.” She whispered.

Sarah pulled herself close to Nyan-Chan and cried on her shoulder. Salina, Eve and Ramona just watched, unsure what to do now.

It took Sarah a long time to actually calm down. The two neko’s cuddled close together on one of the beach chairs, while the other girls sat opposite of them. “And now what?” Ramona asked, breaking the silence. “I mean, how did this happen at all? I get why Nicko transforms every morning, it’s because of his allergy, but now Sarah too…?”

“Not to mention that it’s a rather strange allergy.” Eve said. “I’ve never heard of something similar before…”

“Could it be…” Salina wondered, causing everyone to look at her. “Could it be that Nicko’s allergy is contagious?”

A stunned silence filled the air. “C-contagious-nya?” Nyan-Chan whispered.

“I mean… it could be, right…?” Salina said a little nervous. “It’s the only explanation I have for what happened to Sarah.”

“B-but…” Eve said. “How?”

“She’s right, how’s an allergy supposed to be contagious? I mean it’s supposed to be fastened in ones genes, right?” Ramona continued.

“That’s not what I meant.” Eve shook her head. “I meant how did it spread…? Assuming that it can.” She pondered for a few moments, before her face suddenly lit up. “I know how!”

“What?” Four heads turned expectantly towards her. “Yesterday, the glass! Sarah you cut your hand and Nyan-Chan licked it clean, remember?”

Salina nodded slowly. “That could be it… the question is… what to do now?”

“I don’t knyow…” Sarah whispered, before noticing that Nyan-Chan was crying. “Hey… you okay…?”

“I-it’s all my fault-nya…” Nyan-Chan sniffed. “I’m responsible for nyor… nyor situation…” a crying fit shook her.

Gently Sarah embraced the crying neko, just like Nyan-Chan had done with her a few hours earlier. “Don’t cry-nya… we’ll figure something out… just don’t cry. Nyu are making me sad too…”

“B-but I…”

“Somehow nyu did this, nya. But that’s the same as what I do to nyu every morning-nya!”

“That… that’s different!” Nyan-Chan sobbed.

“It’s nyat.” Sarah said.

“Well… I’m glad that you two forgave each other. Still, the original question remains: What to do now?” Salina interrupted them.

Neither neko had any ideas.

***

Several hours later Ramona’s parents called to ask what they wanted from the takeaway in town. After collecting the orders and passing them through, Ramona hung up with a worried expression. “They’ll be here in about half an hour.”

Nyan-Chan flinched and started crying again.

“There, there. We’ll figure something out to explain it to them.” Sarah reassuringly patted her back.

However, this time her words were not enough to soothe Nyan-Chan’s crying. “It’s all my fault-nya! All my fault…” she threw herself in Sarah’s arms and cried on her shoulder.

Sarah reached out to pet her ears, but that didn’t help either. Helplessly she watched her friend cry, completely unable to do anything against it.

Suddenly a bolt of energy surged through her body, instantly making her hair stand on edge. Her ears twitched a few times, before slowly receding back into her head. Just like her tail receded back into her body. Sarah’s hair turned back to its usual blonde color and her eyes became deep brown once more. After a few more seconds her height had adjusted as well.

Nyan-Chan had noticed a similar bolt of energy, although it was a lot less strong than the one Sarah felt. “Wha-what…?” she whispered, while witnessing Sarah’s reverse-transformation. “B-but…”

Sarah looked puzzled at first, but then she smiled. “Looks like however this was caused, you reversed it again, sweetie.” She ruffled the neko’s ears and this time Nyan-Chan could enjoy the feeling.

“I have absolutely no clue how and why you became yourself again, Sarah.” Ramona said. “But let’s agree all to keep this secret from our parents.”

All four girls nodded and Nyan-Chan cuddled into Sarah’s lap, wondering what was going on. A second later her doubts were washed away by Sarah’s petting.