03

While I was saving Gray from being sent back to the Wheel of Sansara for rebirth, my siblings weren't idle either.

The redhead, having got out of the egg and having overcome the stage of disorientation that I had already passed, began to imitate me, kneading her bones and then scratching the soft walls of the egg with her claws with pleasure. And I could tell from her satisfied face that it was quite a pleasant process.

In the end she got so carried away that she did not notice my approach. I came and stopped behind her back and watched her actions with amusement. Gray kept up with me and watched her sister closely, except that she crouched a little farther behind me. She made sure that she had a clear view and that she would be protected by her older brother in case of any danger.

Red's warm-up couldn't last long. And now, having sharpened her claws, she twisted her long neck, looking around, and suddenly saw us. A moment and the kitty jumps up.

- Kshis-s-s-s-s-s-s-s! - I almost angry screamed in response to her angry hissing, directed mostly at me. The little one must have noticed something like that and, giving in to her feline nature, turned around in a leap, and also exposed her claws and ducked a little. She was showing us that she was ready to fight. To me, though, it was a killer cute!

Perhaps by her logic, I should have been scared to death and gone berserk, but contrary to her opinion, I just started laughing. The laughter itself in my new body sounded like something between a hiss, a purr, and a growl.

Stunned by my reaction, Red froze in a threatening pose until she realized that I wasn't going to attack her right now. And then she would have just backed off, but apparently the inherent pride and grace of a small predator did not allow her to retreat so easily.

Daringly straightening her back and emitting a short hiss, she froze for a moment, ready to reflect my attack, but still did not notice any aggressive actions from me. Apparently, having decided something for herself, Red decided to change her strategy, and moved her head to the side, as if she had found something more interesting than the black cat sitting opposite her, which was not interesting to her at all. I might have actually believed it, if it hadn't been for the frequent glances she cast in my direction, full of feline curiosity.

Snorting derisively at her childishness, I sat on my hind legs and wrapped my fluffy tail around myself in a surprisingly familiar circle. I involuntarily noted that I was very happy with the instincts built into this body, and those strange incubators that allowed me to skip the stage of "blind kittens" and not to be completely helpless right after birth.

And the body of the "cat" felt very familiar and did not cause any feeling of impropriety or strangeness, such as the tail, unusual scale of vision and, as it seems to me, the possibility to change the scale of the seen picture, increased sensitivity of the smell and sensitivity of the hearing apparatus, everything that is somehow inaccessible to a human without any additional tools.

Catching myself at this thought, I became embarrassed. For the umpteenth time, I began to look at humanity not as my fellow man, but as if it were an alien species. It seems that the truth was written in the books of fantastic genre, assuring the readers that body, soul and mind are interconnected with each other and the change of one thing necessarily entails the change of other components of the unified system.

Immersed in my own thoughts, I didn't notice that Redhead had once again paid for her inattention, failing to realize the life lesson of "constant vigilance!". Concentrating all her attention on me and Gray hiding behind my back, she seemed to have forgotten that there were other balls of cuteness wandering around us, which unlike me would be happy to play with her, using claws and teeth.

- Clank! - A fluffy reddish tail, remotely similar to a fox's, only without the white tip, was stealthily attacked by our brother, Brown.

- Kshris-s-s-s-s-s! - Pain, and in such a sensitive place, made Red forget about the stage before with a warning hiss and immediately direct the fury of her paws at the stupid head of our inordinately insolent brother.

Pooh! Pooh! Pow!

Three successive blows with a soft paw on Brown's forehead did not so much hurt him as stunned him and made him let go of his sister's tail. The redhead immediately seized the opportunity and jumped away from him. When she landed, she hissed furiously and rubbed her bitten and slobbered tail with her paw.

Brown, apparently not realizing what he had done and why he deserved such an attitude, only gave her an offended look.

In general, looking now at my brother, his behavior and different appearance from the others, I thought about our kinship. Still, if you look at Gray and Brown, it's very hard to find common ground between them.

Why?

Because he doesn't look like a cat, but like a natural brown bear cub. Not only does he have a very thick fur and an oblong nose, but he is also one and a half times bigger than each of us. However, it is saved by the fact that his pupils are not round, but oblong, and this is the only thing that prevents me from being mistaken that it is our fellow bear and not a visiting bear. But still a sneaky thought about experiments on animals creeps in.

Meanwhile, the confrontation that Brown had inadvertently started did not end there. The redhead, grinning evilly, began to circle her opponent in an arc, wanting to get behind his back.

He compared his size to his sister's, who was much smaller, and shook his head in bewilderment. Seeing his own size advantage, he stood up a little and gave his sister an arrogant look, as if to say to his opponent, "Try it if you dare!"

Red's pupils narrowed to the level of a fine needle, showing that she understood him. In the end, she didn't attack, but instead ducked down and retreated, showing her brother that he had won their confrontation.

I was standing to the side, so I could easily see that, despite her defeat, her eyes were glittering slyly. Was the redhead up to something? The kitty's next actions only confirmed my fears.

While Brown rejoiced at the illusory victory and chose the next target of his bullying, Red, quickly disappeared from his sight, with a playful grin went to the egg, which then bypassed and was behind the back of the recent winner, prepared to jump.

The brother at the same time waved his tail in a demonstrative and inviting way to challenge him, so I was not a bit surprised when the first object for revenge was his tail.

- Clang! - The familiar sound of biting was followed by an equally familiar hiss, but this time the roles were reversed. Brown, bending, wanted to caress the insolent, who suddenly attacked him with his paw, but only halfway through the maneuver got tangled in his own paws and fell on his side.