"you absolute fool! How could you possibly think it would be a good idea to bring one of those things here?! We asked you to investigate them, not keep one as a pet!"

A girl, probably no older than 18, stood Infront of the head council members, a bored look on her face as she waited for this reprimanding to be over.

She rolled her eyes, stuffing her slightly cold hands into the pockets of her dress pants. This was the third time since she had returned with the Chimera Ant that she had been yelled at. Were they ever going to let it go?

She scoffed "look, I already told you old man. It was injured, almost on deaths door. You asked me to find out more about the creatures, so I thought that if we could heal it, we could study it. Don't get onto me for thinking ahead."

One of the men Infront of her looked like he was about to bust a vein.

"You insolent, irresponsible, ridiculous child! Are you aware just what these monsters can do?! They slaughtered villages, destroyed a whole city, and East Gorteau Palace is in shambles and ruin with no king because he was killed! And you brought one here! The one you brought was a royal guard to their king! It's not just some regular soldier ant! You act as if it isn't a problem, when you could've just potentially put our whole community at risk because you were stupid!" There was practically spit flying out of his mouth, making the girl cringe with disgust.

She let out an irritated groan "again with this? You've already told me about the whole 'you've doomed us all!' bit. It's getting annoying."

Head Council Man Niles was turning red in the face, veins popping from his forehead and neck.

"You foul-mouthed brat! You do not deserve to be part of this community! If your mother weren't one of few capable doctors, I'd have kicked you both onto the city streets years ago! You are a roach! A petulant, snot nosed insect! Get your ill-bred, impertinant, disgusting face out of my meeting hall!!" He was practically screeching with anger at this point, which made the girl amused.

She shrugged, turning on her heel and walking towards the large doors, making sure to stomp her shoes loud enough to echo throughout the whole building.

Pushing the large, mahogany doors open, she walked through and outside, being sure to slam them both shut with an evil-like grin on her face.

Walking through sidewalks and alleyways, she finally got to the housing area. She walked and walked until finally reaching her own, seeing a car parked out front.

"Huh, guess mom came home early today. Now there's a surprise." She mumbled.

Walking to the front door, she turned the knob, only to find it locked.

She let out an irritated groan "are you kidding me? Seriously?!"

Hearing a window open, she looked up, seeing her mom who had her head poked out, a smile on her face.

"Hey, why are you home so late? It's almost 8:00!" She asked, her head in her hands and she looked down from the window with a smug look.

The girl let out a string of curses under her breath before looking her mom in the eye.

"Got called in by the council again today! It went pretty well, in my opinion!" She sent her mom's wide, yet very openly mocking grin.

Her mom rose an eyebrow "what'd you do this time?"

The girl let out an offended gasp "how dare you, my own dear sweet mother, assume such the worst out of me?!"

Her mom stared at her for a few seconds before groaning "get inside, I'll unlock the door."

"Haha, success!"

~~~

"Come on, Y/N, don't scarf down your food." Her mom said, cutting into her chicken.

Y/N looked up at her mother, her mouth full of what looked to be mashed potatoes.

Livia, the name of the woman, gave her daughter an unimpressed look. "Real cute."

She swallowed the potatoes in her mouth and wiped the remaining bit on her lips away with the back of her hand "I know I am!"

Livia sighed, shaking her head, before setting her utensils down.

"Ok, real talk right now ok?"

Y/N, now seeming ready to listen, set her fork down and payed attention.

"They woke up today, the Chimera Ant." Her mom said, her voice holding a serious tone to it.

Y/N's eyebrows shot up in surprise "really? What's their condition?"

"They've healed almost completely thanks the Anita and her Nen, but they still can't move everywhere on their own. Their body is still going to need to do the rest of the healing itself."

Y/N nodded in understanding.

"It doesn't seem they mean any ill intent at the moment, but we can't let out guards down. I left Cloud over at the clinic since they seemed to have taken a liking to him. I'm hoping that having an animal similar to their own species will be comforting."

Y/N rose a brow "what do you mean 'similar to their own species'?"

Livia shrugged her shoulders "they're half cat/human and Chimera Ant, remember?"

Y/N made a face of realization "oh, yeah. What do you think is gonna be done with them?"

Her mom shrugged "no idea. They were a royal guard, a powerful one, but with their king and the rest of the guards dead, I don't know what they're going to do if the council decides to let them live."

Y/N placed her chin into her hand, thoughts swirling in her head. She had to think of something, other wise, the creature would die and all of her hard work would go to waste.

Standing up from her seat, she excused herself from the dinner table and made her way to her room to turn in early.

Once inside her room, she grabbed a random large T-shirt and a pair of pajama pants, changing into them before flopping down on her bed, making sure to plug in her cell phone before getting under the blankets.

Pulling a pillow over her head, she let out a muffled groan.

'it can't get worse than this' she thought before falling asleep.

~~~

Y/N walked through the park at the center of the community with her friend Anita. Anita was a year or two older than her, and was a doctor in training working for her mom.

Y/N tended to get into alot of fights, for reasons she'd rather not explain, which ended up with her going to the clinic quite often. Since her mother was always too busy dealing with people who had serious injuries, Anita was responsible for healing her up most of the time.

Over the course of these frequent visits, the two women became rather close friends. Infact, Y/N considered Anita her only friend, although she'd never tell the pink haired woman that to her face.

The girl always wondered how exactly Anita and her became friends. Anita was patient, level headed, and kind. While Y/N was easily angered, cocky, and mean -to other people, at least.

So why had they both clicked? Y/N had no idea. Guess the saying was true, opposites do attract.

It was rather warm today, so Y/N had just worn a T-shirt and a pair of thin jeans that were cuffed just above her ankles and shoes. Anita wore a pastel yellow sundress that reached her knees, along with a knitted pale salmon colored cardigan. Her black flats, along with ankle socks, couldn't have been too comfortable to be walking around in, but she was always one who preferred her beauty over her comfort.

Pocketing her hands into the back of her jeans, Y/N looked up at the sky, seeing both stratocumulus and stratus clouds covering the vast area of light blue. She stopped walking to take it in.

She often wondered what it'd be like to fly. Though, yes, it was a childish thought, she couldn't help but be curious. She felt jealous of bugs and birds, they had the privilege to go anywhere they wanted with no consequence, while she couldn't restrain herself from punching some loud mouthed jerk in the face daily.

She soon felt a tap on her arm, taking her out if her small day dream. She let out an annoyed grumble before looking forward, seeing Anita Infront of her, very close to her face.

Y/N jumped back, her face feeling a bit hot from the sudden lack of boundries.

Y/N made an irritated face "what did I say about personal space?"

Anita's pale cheeks turned pink as she backed away, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Ah, sorry! I was just making sure you were ok. You just spaced out for a minute there." She rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.

Y/N just sighed and continued her walk with Anita.

She wasn't blind or stupid, she knew of the small crush Anita had on her, but as much as she tried, she couldn't bring herself to like her back.

Anita was a cute girl, and would probably work out as a romantic partner with how her personality was, but Y/N just couldn't see herself with her.

Y/N felt like she'd only cause Anita problems, so she tended to distance herself when the other girl tried to make advances.

Y/N sighed softly under her breath. Maybe now wasn't the time to be going over stuff like that.

She then turned her focus to the peppy girl beside her.

"You got any info on the Chimera Ant? I feel like my mom hasn't told me everything."

Anita tapped her chin in thought "strangely enough, they've been rather compliant when we ask them stuff, although we haven't asked much. They still refuse to let go of your cat, saying that if he needs to eat, they'll feed him themself. I sensed a rather dark aura coming from them, but they haven't used any Nen as far as I know."

Y/N nodded "you think I could visit them? I am the one that found them after all."

Anita looked over at her, a look of confusion on her face. "Why? I don't think I've ever seen you visit someone in the hospital, much less be concerned about them."

The girl gave her pink haired friend an offended look before looking away.

"It's just that..." Y/N trailed off before looking at her friend again, a rather cocky smirk on her face.

Y/N pointed her thumb at herself "I wanna gloat in their face about how it was me who saved them, and that they should be thanking me!"

Anita sweat-dropped "you never change, do you? Always so full of yourself..."

Y/N slapped the back of her head "what's that supposed to mean, dammit?!"

"You know exactly what it means!"

~~~

Y/N walked through the halls of the hospital clinic, going to the room Anita told her the Chimera Ant was in, her hands behind her head as she whistled a song she had stuck in her head.

It was about 3:00 in the afternoon, and Anita said they should be up right now. Apparently they were being kept on a tight sleeping schedule to make sure their body healed itself properly, although it proved to be a bit troublesome since they were part cat, and cats were nocturnal.

Stooping infront of the door, Y/N ceased her whistling and dropped her arms to her side.

Slowly and hesitantly, she reached out and slid the sliding door open.

Gazing into the room, she saw them sitting up on the bed, their head facing the ground as the held out a piece of string in their hands, hovering it above the floor in hopes of getting Cloud to play with it.

Noticing the sound of the door being opened, their ears twitched and they looked up, meeting Y/N's eyes.

Their own ruby and yellow ones widened a fraction.

Y/N let a small, almost unnoticeable, smile gloss over her face.

"Hey, Pitou."