"Umji?"

  The girl twitched at the sound of her name, trying to press herself in closer to Sowon's chest. It was a cold morning and the warmth of the blonde's body was more than enough to make Umji want to go back to sleep.

"Umji."

Now a hand was rubbing at her back, gentle, but firm. Slowly, brown eyes opened, her vision blurry for a split second. 

"There you are." Sowon cooed, kissing her temple lovingly. Umji only yawned in response to the affection, rubbing at her eyes. 

"Aren't you going to help me wake the others?" The taller asked, helping Umji sit up in bed. 

"Why?" Umji mumbled, leaning against Sowon's shoulder. Going back under the warm blankets sounded way better than anything else right now.

"Did you forget?" Sowon let out a chuckle, smoothing back some stray strands of long black hair from Umji's face. "Today is the day of our group trip."

  Umji snapped awake at that sentence, memories of the scheduled date flooding back into her mind. She had been so excited when Sowon had suggested it a few weeks back. How could she have forgotten that quickly?

"It's today? Really?!" Umji's voice was full of energy, unlike her sleepy tone from a few seconds ago. "Today's the day?!"

  Sowon nodded, opening to speak again but Umji was already out of bed in a flash. Baffled, Sowon watched Umji dart off to the bed on the other side of the room that Yuju and Yerin were occupying. 

"Yerin! Yuju!" Umji called, jumping up and down on the bed. "It's today! It's today!"

  The motion was greeted by the sound of the duo groaning in irritation, Yerin's head pressed against Yuju's neck to try and hide away from the light of the early morning. Yuju was the first one to actually open her eyes, staring at the excited Umji for several moments before realizing what was going on. It was like a light switch had been flicked on in Yuju's head, the former gray kitten matching Umji's eagerness and trying to get Yerin to respond. 

"Yerin! Yerin, wake up! It's today!" Yuju pinched Yerin's cheek lightly, causing the brown haired girl to hiss out of habit. Sowon could only watch and laugh to herself, stretching to get rid of the soreness in her back. 

    It had been three weeks since Sowon started her job at the shelter and she was already becoming one of the best employees there. She was an expert with the cats now, learning all the brand new skills and instructions within days. Taking care of the dogs and other animals had been a bit more difficult but adjusting was getting easier. The only thing that bothered her was how far the commute was. Sure, it wasn't like it was a three hour drive or anything like that. But any distance between her and her girls was enough to make her uneasy. She had brought along Yerin a couple times but she couldn't have everyone there at once. Yerin had been nervous too, noting that even more cursed cats and kittens were being found and brought to the shelter. It wasn't a large number but it was enough to cause anxiety.  

   But that was something that could be forgotten for today. After all, it was going to be one of the best days for everyone and Sowon was sure of it. All the former kittens had fallen in love with all the different animals on the various nature shows on tv, so what could be possibly better than showing them the real thing? The older girl had requested a few days off from work, wanting to take the girls to both the zoo and aquarium for a fun day out. Her request had been granted and she had bought the tickets with her first paycheck that she had set aside. Buying it that way felt way more rewarding than asking her parents for it or simply taking the money out of her bank account.   

  The former kittens had exploded with excitement when Sowon had surprised them, Umji being the most impatient out of everyone for the promised date to arrive. But now it was here, and Sowon had never seen the former brown striped kitten so happy before.

   "Is it really today!?" Yerin was awake now, feeding off of Yuju and Umji's energy as her eyes glimmered with eagerness. Umji nodded, climbing over Yuju to hug Yerin tightly, surprising her with several pecks on the cheek. Yerin was giggling now, Yuju joining in with a few cheek kisses of her own. Sowon left the three to go wake up SinB and Eunha, the two girls who liked to sleep in the most. 

   Eunha was curled up in SinB's arms and the blankets, both girls sleeping the morning away. It was almost a shame to wake them up. They looked so cute and comfortable. Sowon snuck a few pictures with her phone before sitting down on the pair's bed. She was about to use her same gentle wake up motions that she used on Umji but Yerin had burst in the room, followed closely behind by Umji and Yuju. The blonde made a motion to stop Yerin but it was too late. Yerin took a running start and jumped on the bed, nearly taking Sowon down with her. 

"SinB! Eunha! Wake up!" Yerin yelled. Sowon moved off of the bed, not wanting to get involved in Yerin's personal, but less than comforting, wake up alarm. 

   "Yerinnnn....." Eunha's sleepy voice grumbled out, followed by SinB opening her eyes and glaring at the hyper girl on top of them. Yerin didn't stop, taking the chance to lean down and firmly bite Eunha's cheek. That woke her up. Yerin laughed and ran out the door, followed by Eunha who was determined to tackle Yerin so that she could return the motion with a frustrated bite of her own. SinB was still dazed, only watching the two run off with half open eyes. 

  "Morning!" Yuju joined SinB in bed, helping her up to a sitting position. SinB yawned, letting Yuju comb through her bedhead with her slender fingers. Umji took Sowon's hand in her own, bouncing up and down in place.

"What's everyone so excited about?" SinB asked, eyes staring up at Sowon.

  "Today we're going to the zoo and aquarium, remember?" Sowon replied, Yuju still fixated on making sure SinB's hair was settled down. SinB was calmer than the others but Sowon could still see the familiar sparkle of excitement in her tired eyes. 

  "You three get dressed in something warm. It's going to be a bit cold out today." Sowon instructed, letting go of Umji's hand so that she could join the two. "I'll take care of Yerin and Eunha."

  "If Yerin is even still alive after waking up Eunha like that." SinB said, laughing to herself as Yuju continued to 'groom' her messy hair. Sowon responded with a laugh of her own before leaving the three so that she could attempt to stop Eunha and Yerin from hurting each other too much.

   It was quite a sight waiting for her, Yerin was on the floor, pushing at Eunha's head to try and squirm free from her body that was on top of her. Eunha had a solid grip on Yerin's arm with her teeth, the bobbed haired girl growling loudly in pure irritation. The fact that the former kittens all still had kitten-like tendencies after transforming back to humans was endearing to Sowon, even though it could still cause some problems like right now.

"What have I told you about waking her up like that?" Sowon sighed, sitting down next to the two to try and help get Eunha to let go of Yerin. Eunha continued to growl, making no move to stop her biting. Yerin looked like she regretted her actions, squirming frantically.

"Eunha. Come on, girl. Let go of Yerin." Sowon said, ruffling Eunha's hair gently. The former white kitten softened a bit, her growl lowering more into a whine. 

"I'm sorry, Eunha." Yerin said, placing a hand on Eunha's cheek, trying to stop her biting. "I just wanted you to get up so we can get ready to go on our trip. Don't you want to see the tigers and stingrays?"

That broke Eunha out of it. The short haired girl stopped her biting and leaned her head back, gripping at Yerin with her hands instead.

"It's today?!" Eunha yelled before leaning in and kissing at Yerin's cheeks, a complete turn around from what she had been doing only moments ago. 

"It's today!" Yerin repeated, enjoying the affection that Eunha was smothering her with now. Sowon could only shake her head, a smile on her lips. 

"Let's go get dressed." Sowon interrupted, helping the duo to their feet. Eunha was still clinging to Yerin, the former ginger kitten picking her up into her arms. Eunha giggled loudly, kicking her feet back and forth in the air while Yerin carried her. 

"Lets go! Lets go!" Umji was jumping up and down in front of the apartment door, dressed in blue overalls and a purple long sleeved shirt underneath. Sowon made her way to the happy former kitten's side, turning Umji around to face opposite of her so she could tie Umji's hair back in a low ponytail. 

"We have to wait for the others first, Umji." Sowon said, finishing off the loose ponytail with a purple hair tie to match her shirt. Sowon had chosen a long brown coat to wear, a black button up under it and paired with her favorite pair of jeans. 

  "Wow! You look so cute!" Yerin squealed, running forward to scoop Umji up in her arms while the younger girl let out a happy laugh. Yerin looked beautiful, her light brown hair combed out and falling over her shoulders. She was wearing the cardigan that Sowon had gifted her when she had first transformed back, the rest of the outfit consisting of a simple black shirt and gray sweatpants. 

  "You're gonna crush her one of these days." SinB pointed out, walking out of the bedroom with Eunha and Yuju. SinB looked like the cool, well dressed student you would see hanging out in front of a school. Her favorite clothing of choice recently was her collection of various hoodies and jackets that she would beg Sowon to buy her any chance she got. The one she was wearing now was the one she tended to wear the most, a red flannel-like hoodie that was perfect for the cold weather. She had also chosen a white shirt with the name of a old school band on it in a badass looking font, a pair of black jeans completing the look. 

  Eunha, on the other hand, preferred something simple and loose. She had decided on wearing a red sweatshirt that she had grown fond of. She had tried wearing a pair of shorts out with it but Sowon had scolded her, not wanting to risk her legs getting cold at any point during the trip. So she had settled with some dark colored jeans instead. Yuju's outfit was closer to what Yerin was wearing, a black hoodie with a blue shirt that had a cartoon style heart printed on it, some black sweatpants to match. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, highlighting her striking features while also showing off the length of her beautiful long hair. 

  Within moments, they were all packed into the SUV and heading off. Yuju had taken the front seat with Sowon this time, eager to play Sunrise's music on the way to their destination. Umji was almost unable to sit still, bouncing her legs up and down against her seat. Her eagerness was rubbing off on Yerin, who had decided to sit in the back with Umji this time. 

"What kind of cool animals do you think we'll see?" Yerin asked, joining Umji in kicking her legs against her seat. The noise seemed to irritate SinB, the former black kitten reaching back to grab Yerin's leg to get her to stop.

"I want to see the giraffes!" Eunha replied, eyes full of wonder at the thought of seeing such a huge animal in real life. 

"Does the aquarium have penguins?" Umji asked, trying to remember all the different animals she had seen on the nature program back home.

"I want to hug one of the bears." SinB said with a completely serious tone, still holding onto Yerin's leg. 

  "Absolutely not." Sowon responded to that, her eyes focused on the road. Yuju was singing along to the music playing on the car stereo, not paying much attention to the conversation. The ride continued fairly uneventfully, the girls discussing what they wanted to see first at both locations. It wasn't long until they reached the promised destination. It was a fairly large zoo, with an aquarium a few blocks down the road. Sowon had never visited but from what she had researched online before hand, it looked like it was going to be an impressive place to explore. 

"I need you all to keep your phones on at all times." Sowon instructed once she had parked and gotten everyone out of the car, handing each girl their individual ticket to the zoo. She would keep the aquarium tickets safe in her purse until the time came. "And if you want to go somewhere different than the others want to go, make sure someone is with you. It's a large place so I don't want anyone getting lost."

"Okay!" All the girls responded, Umji being the loudest voice among them for once. Sowon smiled, feeling the rush of excitement hit her finally. What a fantastic day this was going to be. And she was more than ready to spoil all of her girls with various things throughout the trip.

The second they had given their tickets to the workers and entered the zoo gates, Umji was practically jumping up and down before holding her hand out to Sowon, wanting the taller to stay by her side even though she wanted to run off. Sowon happily took it, intertwining their fingers together. 

"So, where should we go first?" Sowon asked, not sure where to even start herself. The park was busy but not enough to cause too much discomfort. It was chilly, but a beautiful day even so. The zoo was full of happy children and parents and Sowon couldn't help but realize that she looked exactly like them today with all the former stray kittens by her side. 

"The tigers!" Yerin called out, pointing at the sign that showed all the different areas of the zoo to visit. 

"I wanna see the giraffes!" Eunha whined, tugging at Yuju's arm. 

"What about the bears?" SinB huffed. "It's after the giraffe exhibit anyways." 

"Alright, alright." Sowon laughed. Clearly staying together for everything would be difficult. "How about we split into groups? Everyone pick who they want to go with and then we can all meet up to see the rest of the park together before going to the aquarium." 

"I want to go with Yerin. I want to see the tigers too" Yuju said with a grin. Yerin was more than happy to hear that, kissing Yuju's cheek affectionately. 

"I'll go with SinB then!" Eunha called out, eager to get to SinB's side. SinB smiled, placing an arm protectively around Eunha's shoulders.

"I guess its settled." Sowon nodded, swinging her and Umji's connected hands back and forth in the air. "We'll meet back at the gift shop in two hours, okay? I'll text all of you when its almost time."

Everyone agreed and went their separate ways. Sowon felt nervous about letting them leave her side but she knew that she could trust them all now. They all had phones on them. It would be fine. The blonde glanced down at the eager Umji, looking forward to spending a few hours alone with her for once. 

"Where do you want to go first?" Sowon asked as she tightened Umji's ponytail slightly with her free hand.

"Uh...." Umji seemed a bit overwhelmed with all the choices in front of her on the map, her eyes darting back and forth from each listed exhibit. 

"What about the koalas?" Sowon pointed to a spot on the map, mentally charting out a path to get there in her head. 

"Koalas?" Umji tilted her head, curious on what sort of animal that name belonged to. 

  "They're super cute. Didn't you see them on TV that one time? You'll love them. I'm sure of it." Sowon said, gently leading Umji by hand to the correct walkway, passing by a small fenced off lake with a group of flamingos inside. Umji was instantly distracted, pulling Sowon to the edge of the wooden gate to inspect them more closely. Umji continued to stare, not speaking a word. Sowon was about to say something until Umji lifted one foot off the ground, imitating the pink birds in front of her. It was one of the cutest things Sowon had ever seen Umji do, the taller chuckling softly under her breath. 

She let Umji do that a few more times before escorting her along, wanting to see the koalas in person herself for the first time. A small gasp left Umji's mouth once they arrived in front of the enclosure, staring at the sleeping, gray fluffy creatures in the trees of the exhibit. Sowon was amazed too. Finding a viewing bench nearby, the pair sat down, both girls not taking their eyes off of the koalas. 

In another part of the zoo, Yerin and Yuju were taking in the sights of the smaller animals on the way to the wild cats section of the park. 

"Whoa! Yuju, look! It's so weird looking!" Yerin yelled as she pressed up against the display glass, her eyes landing on a colorful snake inside. The snake flicked its tongue out and Yerin stepped back, surprised at the motion. Yuju, on the other hand, imitated the snake, flicking her tongue out as the snake did it again. It was like she was communicating with it and the sight made Yerin laugh, the former ginger kitten flicking her tongue out too at Yuju instead of the snake. The pair did this a few more times before they both broke out into happy laughter, leaving the snake exhibit to head back on the path to the lions and tigers. 

Since it was early morning, the tigers were more active than they would be later in the day. One of the tigers was pacing back in forth in its enclosure, looking powerful with its fierce teeth and sharp claws. Yerin's mouth dropped open, hypnotized by the sight of the large cat.  

"Wow...." Yuju whispered, taking in the details of the tiger's vibrant orange coat and black stripes. Before she could move again, Yerin was up against the exhibit's glass wall that showed into the giant tiger habitat, her eyes glistening with amazement. The tiger stomped past the area that Yerin was standing in front of, giving the girl a full look at just how big the animal was. Yuju figured that Yerin wasn'