Chapter 14: A day in the cat-girl's life

Disclaimer: I don't own Ragnarok Online, never was, never will

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

The time is approaching midday in Prontera where a certain assassin is still tucked under her sheet, obviously still asleep. A twitch of her cat-ears signaled the first sign of activity from her followed with a pair of hands that push the blanket out down to her waist as she lifts her upper body up although her eyes are still closed. Not being a morning person, it always takes her a few more minutes to become completely awake. She stretch her arms upward with a groan followed with a loud slap on both of her cheeks using her hands as her ears stands up straight for a while before going back flat against her hair and her eyes finally opened half-way as she lazily turn toward the alarm clock next to her bed absent-mindedly for a few minutes before her brain finally kicks in.

Melisa's eyes opened wide unceremoniously as she grab the item as she stare into the pair of clock needle in disbelief and immediately panicked.

"OH NO! I overslept! I have to meet Xiao Hu in 1 hour!"

Throwing the item unceremoniously over her shoulder, she immediately got up from the bed and rushes herself toward the bathroom nearly tripping on her own feet. Another few more minutes, the door to the bedroom opens once again as she hurriedly grab her assassin garb and rush back into the bathroom for a quick shower to start the day. After a much needed shower, the assassin finally emerges from the bathroom completely clothed with her assassin garb before she goes back into her bed to get her waist-length hair done.

Finally emerging from the bedroom is the one and only cat-girl assassin, Melisa Artemis with her cat ears safely hidden under the disguise as a hair ribbon while her tail tucked under her belt, safe from outside view. She takes another glance toward the clock hanging on the wall of the kitchen and her panic comes anew as she realizes she only have another 10 minutes to get to the meeting point: The statue of shaking hands behind the fountain of Odin. Grabbing her katars and safely tucked them into their place on her belt, she rush out of the house hurriedly and locked the door behind her before running at full speed toward the meeting point.

15 minutes later, she finally arrive at the agreed meeting point and immediately realize that the place is the hot spot for merchants and people who are also planning to meet others. Looking around for a few minutes, she finally spots a tall red-haired blacksmith with his hair tied in a ponytail waving his hand toward her in order to catch her attention. Smiling brightly as she waves her hand to reply before running toward the person and glomps him full force, making both of them lose their balance and falls unceremoniously to the pavement of the street, attracting much attention from the people around them.

Finally recollecting themselves and stands up straight once again, the blacksmith speaks in a gruff but warm and friendly voice with a big smile as he ruffle the assassin's hair affectionately.

"My, my, how you have grown? I can barely recognize you anymore. Its like yesterday that I was still helping you train as a novice."

Melisa let herself being pet as she replies while smiling brightly,

"On the other hand, you always look the same even after 5 years of not seeing you. How is sister Phoenix? Is she still trying to set you up with girls?"

The blacksmith, Xiao Hu laughs loudly as he takes the girl by the arm and led her to sit down on nearby bench before answering,

"Ah, she is fine alright. Believe it or not, she's becomes a teacher at Juno's elementary school… and become quite popular there too."

Melisa looks at the blacksmith in disbelief as she replies,

"Phoenix? An elementary teacher? Hope she's not teaching the kids to do bad things. She's notorious as a troublemaker back in the days, I remember once she tried to get me to drink beer when I was still 13 years old."

Xiao Hu laughs again heartily as he remembers the moment,

"Ah yeah, Maria scolds her all day long at that time for trying to corrupt her 'Innocent little sister', I rarely see her that angry and I've known her for ages."

Both of them laughs at the memory while in the faraway Juno elementary school, a certain white-haired priestess sneeze loudly while writing on the blackboard in front of her class.

After recollecting themselves, finally the blacksmith talks again in a much more serious note,

"So, I heard you got married."

Melisa catches the blacksmith's tone and realizes, it was not a question. She meekly nods silently as she draw her gaze downward toward her folded fingers on her lap while the blacksmith covers his eyes with his left hand as he look upward before replying,

"Does he know? About "that"?"

Again, Melisa caught the meaning of "that" as her cat ears and tail before nodding again silently before Xiao Hu visibly sighs loudly before replying,

"Have you taken him to meet "Her"?"

This time Melisa shakes her head side to side, meaning "no". Xiao Hu takes his hand off his eyes as he replies,

"She won't be pleased, you know? Did you even think of the risk you're putting him into by not telling him?"

Melisa stays silent as she also tries to look for an answer but comes out blank. Xiao Hu finally grab her by the shoulder and force her to look at him eyes to eyes as he speaks again,

"Do you love him?"

Melisa averts her gaze to the side as if trying to get away from the question but the blacksmith force her to keep eye contact as he repeats the question,

"Do not look away from me and answer me, little sister. Do you love him?"

Melisa close her eyes for a moment before opening them back with determined gaze before nodding strongly, her resolve is set. Xiao Hu finally released his grip with a sigh before smiling softly,

"Well, I don't know how much my word worth… but I'm on your side."

The blonde assassin look at him with shock evident on her face as the blacksmith look at her once again with a smile,

"I can't remember anytime that I ever see you as determined as you are now. If this is your choice, I will support your decision all the way."

Melisa's eyes are brimming with happiness as she immediately hugs the startled blacksmith tightly while saying "thank you" over and over when suddenly a familiar male voice heard next to them.

"I am Twin. Are you by chance is Wang Xiao Hu? I heard from General Yudha that you are skilled in crafting armor and…."

The knight's word is absurdly cut as his gaze met the familiar crystal blue eyes of his supposed "wife" who have just let go of the blacksmith from her affectionate hug.

A/N: Ok, I know what you guys (at least some of you… I hope?) are thinking: Long time of no update and this chapter is really short. Yeah, I suppose I have to apologize for this. Unfortunately, this is the best I can give for now. I hope you guys can understand that "time" is not something that I have in abundant anymore between Master degree subjects and work, it is almost a miracle for me to even be able to come and update this story. I appreciate those who are patiently waiting for this chapter and hope you guys enjoys it.

Review Responses:

Kaori Kuni: Thank you for the support, I will try to update ASAP and you can bet that topic is coming soon