So this was written... in November (I had to go check the date) as a warm-up/practice using a prompt and giving myself an hour to write as much as I can. It was probably my favorite prompt I've written for and I would honestly love if anyone has one they want to share... I may consider starting a collection just dedicated to short-prompts that I work on as I continue with orchids and trinity (wink wink, nudge nudge, two books I have in progress that I want to post). I know I'm not a prolific writer or major like VB who are astounding but writing is fun and therapeutic for me so I try my best for myself and enjoy sharing. Anyways! Here's something lighter and fluffier as I ponder over my current edits of LHC :3

Prompt:  A little girl finds a wounded kitten and adopts it, not knowing that it’s a deadly shapeshifter that hides from hunters. The shapeshifter sees it as a good way to hide, but after some time, they start to like the full bowls of food and the warm bed near the fireplace.

Being a shapeshifter sounds cool if you’re not one. For Joohyun being a shapeshifter means a life of running and hiding from bounty hunters who like to sell captured shapeshifters or parts of them on the black market for massive profit. But being a shapeshifter by nature also means having plenty of options to hide. Over the centuries Joohyun has hidden with animals, in the oceans or rivers, amongst the trees, but as time has gone on and the human race has expanded, hiding amongst the humans and their pets has been a much better option. 

    Joohyun is running from another set of hunters. They’ve been on her tail for the past year; tracking her from one city to another, one country to the next. She’s getting tired of fleeing. Not only that but there is a limit to her capabilities. Joohyun’s energy is draining too quickly with her constant shifting. She’s reaching a very dangerous point.

    She rounds the corner of the city block. She noticed a duo of the hunters following her back in the grocery store and hurried herself along before they tried something funny. She walks as fast as possible without raising their suspicions and so she can shift and hopefully lose their tail. Joohyun ducks into an alley partway down the block, double-checking over her shoulder to make sure that the men haven’t rounded on her yet. In the clear, Joohyun drops her bags behind a dumpster and shifts into a street cat.

    Now a cat and without her food, Joohyun bounds away through the alley and into the residential district of the city three blocks away. Maintaining caution, Joohyun checks her surroundings as she goes. She stops in a residential alley with a large open field in the center to catch a breath. Her eyes flit around the open space, taking stock of her current predicament. It’s all well and good, getting a breath of air finally until the duo turns into the alley five houses down and with even more men. Joohyun looks around in a panic and bounds across the alley into the nearest yard with a human in it. 

    The human is gardening, tending to her various flowers and other Vegetables? Joohyun isn’t paying much attention, her life is more dependent on being swept away into the household and not what this human cares for. Joohyun puts on her best desperate cat act--she meows extra loud and rubs against the crouched human. The girl, bless her human soul, sets her tools down to give Joohyun attention. “Well hello there little guy,” she chirps. Joohyun meows back.

    “Are you lost? Do you have a home?”

    “No! But I need you to take me inside right now!” Joohyun says, but to the human, it comes out as a string of very insistent meows. 

    “Aww, poor thing, come here.” The human picks her up into her arms and her back. Joohyun, despite her better wishes and judgment, enjoys the attention and affection and presses closer to the human, even purring.  “Do you want to go inside?”

    “Yes!” Joohyun meows, again to the human’s complete lack of actual understanding, but it’s better to try. To send home her agreement, Joohyun the human’s face.

    The girl chuckles, “Okay, okay, we’ll go inside.” 

    The home is cozy. The back yard leads up a set of stairs to an empty wooden deck. The entrance from the deck leads to an open kitchen filled with an eclectic mash of chicken-themed wear and old rustic accents; hanging wooden utensils by the countertop, a bowl b with fruits. Joohyun can make out a hallway to the far left of the dining room as the human walks further in the house, and what looks like a dark tv room next to it. Joohyun thinks it’s the perfect place to lay low, stay safe, and recover until she can shift again and not both be found and kill herself. 

    “Well,” the girl sets her on the counter. “This is home, no shredding anything though. I’m Seungwan, by the way, but most people call me Wendy because my name is hard for them to say here.” 

    Joohyun her head to the side. She’s never known of a human who talks to a cat-like a fellow human. Dogs, sure, dogs are “man’s” best friend, but cats are like the tough love uncle or something. 

    “I’ll call you Irene, how does that sound?” Seungwan asks her. Joohyun eyes Seungwan, not sure if she actually approves of such a name, but there is little she can do so she remains seated watching the human. “I’ll take that as a yes!”

    Living with a human is comfortable. She is fed twice a day and has a bowl of dry food for snacking on. Seungwan keeps a bowl of water that is regularly checked and filled. Joohyun learns that Seungwan watches her tv in the evenings and over time, takes to sleeping on her lap. Joohyun also spends her time pacing and checking her surroundings at night, playing silent guard in case the hunters do away with their rules and decide to barge in and take her forcefully. After a week with no sign of the hunters, Joohyun starts to settle for sleeping at the foot of the bed or on the pillow by Seungwan’s head. It’s a comfy and peaceful life. The best she has had with any human or being in her lifetime and a part of her thinks she could get used to this. 

    Three months of bliss. That’s what her life is. But after three months Joohyun knows she is fully recovered—that she should leave. She’s grown fond of the human. Seungwan is out for the day giving Joohyun plenty of room to pace and ponder her options without having a human to interrupt her or sway her objective opinion. Joohyun huffs, even now she can’t bring herself to willingly leave Seungwan.

    Seungwan returns mid-afternoon with a bag of groceries and bright smiles. “Hello Irene, didn’t miss me too much did you?” 

    Joohyun hops onto the counter and rubs up against Seungwan. She receives a few pets as welcome before Seungwan is back to focusing on the groceries. Joohyun watches her. She has to tell Seungwan, show her that she is a shapeshifter, turn into a human, and maybe explain everything to her. Whatever happens, Seungwan deserves the truth. 

    Later that evening as Seungwan settles in for Netflix, Joohyun sits in the middle of the room. She meows to demand attention. She is loud and insistent until Seungwan finally gets it, “What? What is it? Is there something wrong?” Seungwan watches her.

    Joohyun looks around and then takes a deep breath. She closes her eyes and thinks of her human form. When she opens her eyes again, she’s standing somewhere in the five-foot range, human and very . Seungwans’ expression is blank and Joohyun starts to worry.

    “I, well, I didn’t exactly plan for the ness, but I thought you should know,” Joohyun starts off. “I know it will sound crazy but I hope you listen, you at least deserve it.” Joohyun watches for any change in Seungwans’ but there is none so she continues, “I’m… I’m a shapeshifter. I came to you because I was being tailed by a group of hunters and was close to expending all my energy. If that happened I would have…” thinking about death and how close it was is unsettling still. “I would have died. You were kind of my last hope. A- anyway, I had to recover and so I stayed with you. I was going to leave, I swear I didn’t mean to use you, but I kind of… I don’t know... but I feel something and- and didn’t want to leave. If you’re angry I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

    Seungwan looks at her thoughtfully and then chuckles. Her chuckles grow into full laughs and Joohyun is unsure what to do. Seungwan stands up and walks over to Joohyun, “I know.”

    “You know?”

    “I know you are a shapeshifter.”

    “H-How?”

    Seungwan brings a hand up to Joohyuns cheek and lets it trail down her neck and rest of her shoulder along with the other hand. It ground Joohyun. “I’m a witch, I knew as soon as I saw you jump up on the post.”

    “T-This whole time you knew?”

    “Honestly, I expected you to just leave, but here we are,” Seungwan says with a chuckle. “I’ll be honest, seeing you now, I’ve seen you around and always thought you were very pretty human. I had a sense you were more… I was right and here we are!” Seungwan smiles at Joohyun. Joohyun is speechless. 

    Seungwan traces Joohyuns features with her eyes and for a second looks troubled, “I should be more honest…”

    “Honest? Oh-” realization hits Joohyun. “Oh god, Oh no…” Panic sets into Joohyun as her worst fears seem to manifest before her eyes. “Y-You’re a hunter. Oh my gods, Oh. Please, please let me go, please.” Joohyun grips at the sleeves of Seungwan’s shirt. She collapses to the ground as she continues to beg for her life.

    “What!?” Seungwan moves her hands to grab Joohyun by her biceps and join her on the ground. “No, no,” Seungwan uses a hand to brush hair out of Joohyun’s face. “Hey, come here,” Seungwan pulls Joohyun into her embrace, cooing over the girl who seems so small in her arms. Seungwan coaxes her into calming down. “I’ve been looking for you for a very long time, my Joohyunnie,” Seungwan says with a hint of sadness.

    Joohyun gasps, her eyes growing wide as she sits up to look up at Seungwan. It’s been over a thousand years since she had last heard that name. The human who stole her heart all those years ago when she was found bleeding out from hunters. “S-s-Seungwannie,” Joohyun whispers in awe. She brings her hand up to trace Seungwan cheek, nose, lips--jaw. It had been so long, she believed Seugnwan was dead, long dead, swept away with the rest of her people during the war. “B-but how? You’re- your village?”

    Seungwan looks away from Joohyun’s questioning gaze. “I-” Seungwan takes a deep breath. “I did… die, that is. With my mother, father, and sister. They invaded, burned everything to the ground. I watched them kill my family in front of me as punishment for trying to fight them. I- eventually they killed me.”

    Joohyun sits back on her heels, “Then how? I don’t understand.”

    “I made a deal.”

    Joohyun’s gaze hardens, “Seungwan…”

    Seungwan pulls up her shirt and turns around. On her back is an intricate tangle of branches down the column of her spine. Joohyun traces them up to the base of Seungwan’s neck where it branches out like the roots of a tree. “My life is not my own.”

    “How did, you were pure! How did?”

    “I left, I asked to. In fact, I liked it more. I had more freedom to do what I wanted down there. The Gods of the underworld are quite fun actually. I learned a lot. They welcomed me like a child of their own. Eventually, they gave me my wish, claimed my soul, and made me an angel of the underworld. I’m allowed to come and go. I’ve waited and looked for you for so long. I knew if I waited long enough, I would find you.” Seungwan smiles at Joohyun.

    “You,” Joohyun feels tears start to roll down her cheeks. “You idiot,” she barks out with a hollow laugh. Joohyun places her hands on both of Seungwans cheeks and pulls her close so their foreheads touch. “You stupid, stupid idiot.”

    “An idiot for you,” Seungwan responds. Joohyun barks out another laugh. They fall silent, listening to each other’s breathing. Joohyun locks eyes with Seungwan, drinks in the emotions swirling around in her stormy grey irises then her eyes drop to Seungwan lips. Joohyun’s eyes flicker back up to Seugnwans as she starts to lean in. Their noses brush first, gentle and tentative. Unsure if the other is actually real, and then Joohyun tilts her head and closes her eyes, and kisses Seungwan. It’s salty from shared tears, but Joohyun can taste the sweet raspberry of Seungwan, and the honey, and even the purity despite her deal. It’s Seungwan, her Seungwan. 

    They pull back from the kiss both out of breath. “I missed you so much,” Seungwan whispers.

    “I missed you too.”

    Seungwans gaze drops down to Joohyun’s body and then back up, “we should, uhm, get you some… uh… clothes.” 

    Joohyun looks down. She had forgotten she is . Her eyes widen and she jumps back trying to cover herself. 

    “Oh, come here silly,” Seungwan chuckles with open arms. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.” Joohyun flushes but leans into Seungwan. 

    “How did you not recognize me?” Seungwan asks.

    “I-” Truth be told, Joohyun herself is unsure.”I just, I didn’t imagine I would find you. You, you--ever again.”

    “Good enough,” Seungwan shrugs. Seungwan sweeps Joohyun off the ground eliciting a shriek from the shapeshifter. She carries Joohyun upstairs bridal style, giving small kisses every few steps the whole way. Joohyun can live with this. With Seungwan, her Seungwan. She’ll never have to leave, have to run again now that she has her very own angel by her side. Again.