Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Chapter 16: Wild at Heart, part X After escaping from Siria's laboratory, Niu had ran for hours. Since the way back up had been locked, she had been forced to take a different route. She quickly had gotten lost within the vast underground tunnel system. Some parts of it were dimly lit from above, others were almost completely dark. It were the ruins of the ancient city Narano on top of which Nargath had been built. The ruins merged with the city's sewer. Ancient roads had turned into rivers of sewage that stank so bad that Niu often felt close to fainting. In the sewage water Niu could see a lot of disgusting things floating. Not only people's trash and shit, but also body parts and even complete corpses of people that had been killed and disposed of in the sewers. At some point Niu just broke down. She was terribly exhausted and her bad leg hurt. Chii was still unconscious. The bleeding from her limbs had stopped. The little that was left of her limbs was already dead tissue. The blindfold Niu had put over her eyes was blood-drenched. Still, it was better than having to look at her sunken-in eyelids that didn't have an eyeball to support them anymore. Chii seemed to suffer from a fever. Her forehead was very hot and she was breathing heavily. Niu wished that there would've been something she could've done for her little friend. But she was way too tired herself. She just fell asleep beside her. When Niu woke up she had a vague feeling that something was wrong. She looked over to Chii. The girl was sleeping calmly now. But then Niu's eyes fell on the rats. It was a whole pack of big black sewer rats who were eating away at the remainders of Chii's dead limbs. These creatures, their fur still wet from swimming in the sewage water, were so disgusting that Niu almost screamed out in fear. She had to remind herself that she had to be brave now. Niu quickly got up and stomped her foot to scare the rats away. But these tough beasts didn't seem to be bothered by that at all. "Jeez! Get away from her you damn rats!" Niu was really angry but she was still afraid to kick the rats with her bare feet- they could've bitten her as well. If only she would've had something to hit them with... But she had left the ceremonial dagger behind in the confusion during their escape. When Niu looked up, she saw two bright green eyes in the darkness. Friend or enemy... there was no time to find out, because this one was charging right at them. At the first glance, this newcomer looked like a cute small girl with pink hair. But when she started to lash into the rats, Niu realized that this girl actually had claws on her fingers, a long fluffy tail and two cat-ears. No doubt about it, this was a genuine cat-girl. Now the rats were running, but most of them ended up being mangled by the cat's claws or having their neck snapped by her bite. The cat-girl's voice was surprisingly high-pitched and cutesy when she announced: "Aah... Keira finally found some food!" Then she started devouring the dead rats with relish. Only when she had eaten three of the rats and was just getting ready to bite off the fourth's head, she realized that Niu was staring at her. She gave Niu a curious look. "Eh... Is something wrong with Keira? This rats weren't your friends, were they?" That was not the question that Niu would've had expected. She gave Keira a weak smile. "No. Actually I'm glad that you drove them away." The cat-girl didn't seem to understand what Niu said very well. So she just took a bite out of the next rat. Niu couldn't help but continue watching this strange girl. Her ruffled hair, her ears and and also her tail had a cute pink color. The only clothes she wore were a very scanty bra and panties that were both made out of black fur. Maybe rats' fur, considering her diet... Niu was just thinking that this might have been the most shameless outfit see had seen on her journeys so far when she realized that she herself was still completely naked. She blushed and covered her private parts, but Keira didn't seem to be bothered at all by Niu's lack of clothing. With a broad smile on her face the cat asked Niu, "Do you also want some?" as if she was offering her delicious cookies. Niu had to politely decline. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't think I can eat that. My name is Niu by the way." The pink-haired girl looked at her as if she had just said something totally incomprehensible. "Ni... Niiuuu?" Niu nodded. "That's my name, yes. I... I don't know anyone here, so it would be great if we could become friends." Keira's green feline eyes became wide in surprise. "Friends? You really want to be Keira's friend?" Niu was unsure what Keira was getting at, but she nodded. Keira jumped in joy. "Yaaay! Keira has a new friend! Keira loves Niiuuu!" With these words, she suddenly hugged Niu. Niu was only lucky that the cat-girl had retracted her claws before suddenly embracing her. Before Niu knew what happened, Keira kissed her on the lips. She felt the cat's pointed fangs against her teeth and the warm tongue intruding her mouth. Keira's breath was so bad that it almost made Niu puke. No wonder, she had just eaten several sewer rats. When Keira also began to feel up her penis, Niu decided to put a stop to it. She pulled back her head, unable to free herself from Keira's tight grip. "No, not friends like that..." Keira tilted her head. "No? You don't like Keira anymore?" Niu quickly shook her head. "No, no, it's not like that! I like Keira, but... ehm... I feel this is not a good place for doing things like... this." Keira still didn't understand, but she let go of Niu. Her eyes fell on Chii who was still sleeping on the cold floor. "By the way, who is this? Is she a friend of Niiuuu?" Niu nodded. "Her name is Chii." Keira curiously observed Chii from several different angles. Something seemed to be wrong with this human girl, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She looked up to Niu in confusion. "Chii? Why doesn't she move?" - "She's sleeping." - "Why does she have no arms and legs?" Niu sighed. "Chii was seriously injured." Keira slowly nodded as if she was trying to get her head around a really difficult subject. "Is Chii also a friend of Keira?" Niu was sure that Chii wouldn't have anything against it... "She will be your friend once she wakes up." "Really?" Keira couldn't believe how lucky she was. Two new friends in a single day. What was going on? She started hopping around in a silly dance of joy, but then suddenly froze in place when she realized something. "Oh! But then we should wake her up!" Niu's face darkened as she looked down on her maimed friend. "She won't wake up. Chii's condition is really bad. We need to find someone who can treat her wounds properly." Keira shouted out so suddenly that it startled Niu. "Ooooh! Keira knows someone like that! Let us go there!" Niu had no idea who that could've been, but she still picked up Chii and followed Keira. Keira was fast and loved to sprint ahead. Niu had to remind her several times that she couldn't walk so fast because of her limp. She had doubts that any normal human being would've been able to catch up with Keira. Maybe Fel could've done it, but except for her... Niu realized that she hadn't seen Fel in quite a while. She wondered what the red-haired rogue might have been doing at this moment. Probably killing someone... For now, Niu was just happy to have found someone who knew their way in this underground maze. Although Keira was smaller than her by a head, Niu still had a feeling that she could rely on this cat-girl. And Keira probably could defend herself very well with these razor-sharp claws. The place Keira led them to was one of the few parts of the ancient ruins that weren't flooded with sewage. It looked like it once had been a quite luxurious residence in the days of Narano. Nowadays, the mouldering walls had huge cracks in them and the windows that once had shown vast gardens were now blocked by black soil. But the candle-lit place still had its distinctive charm. The person who awaited them was an eighteen-year-old tomboyish girl who was sitting against a wall, chewing tobacco. Her short spiky black hair made her look even younger than she really was. She had an elaborate blue tattoo on the left half of her face that looked like an ornamented scythe. The hot pants around her waist were held in place by a pair of suspenders that constantly slipped out of position since her huge boobs were in the way. Right next to her there was an impressive bastard sword. "Keira is back!" The cat-girl proclaimed happily. "...and I see that she brought some new people with her." The black-haired girl added. She took a look at Niu and Chii without getting up. "Hm. Just normal human girls. How boring..." Niu didn't know what to do first. Introduce herself? Try to cover up her naked body? Ask the stranger if she could treat Chii's wounds? Keira was dancing around the room happily and replied to the tomboy's remark: "I think they are aaawesome though!" Niu finally put Chii down, covered her own crotch with her hands and slightly bowed in front of the black-haired stranger. "My name is Niu. Please pardon my intrusion... Keira told us that there was someone here who could tend to my friend's wounds..." The tomboy groaned, then she got up and picked up Chii from the ground. "Alright... Let's see what we can do for her. My name is Senria, by the way..." Then she carried Chii to a different room. Niu wanted to thank her and follow along, but then she noticed that Keira was tugging at her elbow. "Hey, Niiuuu! Do you want to see something reeeally cute?" Niu had a strange feeling about this, but she still decided to come along. Seeing something even remotely cute was probably better than having to look at Chii's amputation wounds. Keira led her by the hand to a different part of the residence. Niu wasn't prepared for what awaited her there. It was literally the cutest thing she had seen in her whole life. It was a small room whose floor was covered with old blankets and pillows. The inhabitants were five naked cat-girl children who were immediately clutching at Keira, meowing and affectionately calling her "Mama". The little girls' proportions were those of six-year-old human girls, but they were a lot smaller and also their behavior seemed way more infantile. Just like their mother, they all had fluffy cat-ears and tails. The colour of said parts ranged from bright pink like Keira's to dark violet. Keira removed her bra and took two of her cute children on her arms. They immediately started sucking on their mother's nipples. Niu was baffled. So they really were still babies? "...they really ARE cute." Keira smiled proudly. "Didn't Keira tell you? Go on, you can pet them if you want." Niu kneeled down and cautiously approached one of Keira's babies. The tiny cat-girl with the magenta shock of hair watched her curiously. Slowly, Niu stretched out her hand and touched the fuzzy ears and hair of the girl. It felt just like a kitten's fur. The little girl purred contentedly. Niu wondered if she would have children herself one day and whether there was a chance that they would be this insanely cute. She gently fondled the girl's small head. The yellow eyes followed her fingers with fascination. Chomp! The tiny mouth had bitten into Niu's hand. Niu looked at her hand for a few moments, then she realized how much the kitten's teeth hurt. She quickly pulled back her hand. There were distinctive teeth marks on the back of her hand and it started to bleed pretty quickly. "Ouch!" It really stung. When Keira realized what had happened, Niu saw her getting angry for the first time. Without a warning she dropped the two children on her arms. Since they had a cat's instincts, they landed on their feet (and hands) of course. Then Keira turned to the little delinquent. "What did Mama told you about biting, Kia?" The kitten had tears in her eyes now that she realized what she had done. Even though Niu's hand hurt, she had to admit that the little cat-girl looked really adorable this way. But Keira had no intent of letting this one slide. She kneeled down and pulled the tiny girl over her knee. And then she started to spank her daughter's round butt with such vehemence that the slaps must have been audible in the whole residence. Niu wondered if Keira wasn't overdoing it a little. There was no doubt that the girl who had her ass slapped right now felt a lot more pain than Niu felt in her hand. The little girl let out high-pitched whimpers and childish pleads for forgiveness, but Keira knew no mercy and continued to hit the little red butt with the flat of her hand. Although it was pretty cute to watch and even a little alluring, Niu felt like she shouldn't intrude on this private moment for too long. As she had expected, she could still hear the spanks very well when she went to the next room. Finally, she ran into Senria. She had just finished bandaging Chii again. The white bandages on her stumps and over her empty eye sockets looked a lot better than the bloody rags before. Senria looked at Niu with a serious expression. "I think she will make it. I gave her a few sips of a healing potion. It won't restore the parts she lost, but she should at least be able to survive." Tears started flowing over Niu's cheeks when she heard these news. "Oh, thank you so much, Senria!" The tomboy stuffed some tobacco into her mouth. "It's alright. We all help out each other here." She picked up a somewhat clean blanket and threw it over to Niu. "Put that on for now. We'll look for some clothes for you later." Niu thanked her again and complied with a flushed head. For a while they both sat on the floor silently, leaned against the wall. Niu was covering herself with the blanket. The spanking had stopped a while ago, but now it started again. Slap, slap, slap... Keira sure liked to keep up discipline in her household. Niu took a surreptitious look at Senria. There was something she had wanted to ask her for a while. "May I ask... do you know a woman called Siria?" Senria noisily spat out her tobacco. "Yeah. She's my older sister." Niu's heart sank. She had had this suspicion for a while... if they were working together, than this was really bad. Senria didn't look at Niu when she asked: "So I take it you have met my sister. What's she up to nowadays?" Niu's heart was beating very quickly. She was shivering under the blanket from fear of what could happen next if she said the wrong thing. But was there anything she could gain from lying in this situation? "She... she is trying to impregnate a demon with the semen of children that she catches on the street... and afterwards, the demon kills them. It was this demon that ripped off Chii's limbs and her eyes... and ate them." Niu was choking back her tears. Senria nodded. "Yep. That sounds like something Siria would do. Don't worry, Niu. I'm not like my sister. Actually, it will be me who'll stop her one day and punish my wicked sister for all her evil deeds." Niu looked at Senria in awe. Was this person what Niu thought she was... a real heroine? Senria suddenly turned to Niu. "Oh, I just realized. I haven't introduced you to all of the inhabitants of this place yet. It's because that girl is sleeping even more than Keira's babies..." Niu was listening attentively. "There is another person here?" Senria nodded. "Yeah. It's funny, but I've been running into the strangest folks lately. You and your friend, the cat-girl Keira and then this other blue girl who sleeps all day long..." Niu jolted up. She even ignored her blanket falling off and exposing her naked body. "You said she's blue?" Senria confirmed. "As blue as it gets. Why, do you know her?" This had to be... Niu wrapped the blanked around her body. "Lead me to her, please!"