Soshika stepped into the girl's bathroom at Reiwou School, looking around curiously. She'd never been to a public washroom before- the ones for the Pagan Army were usually used in such haste that no one had time to enjoy themselves. Not to mention there was no running water.

But here, Soshika could smell the hot water in the air, rolling against her in dense puffy clouds. Backing her ears and closing her eyes with a soft smile, she stepped dreamily into the shower area. With tired hands scratched and bloodied from her fight with the Humans and Lonish only hours before, she shucked the cloths Yego had lent her and left them in a pile on the floor. It barely took her a second to turn on the water and let it run over her body.

It felt so soft, so sensual! The feeling of civilized running water, Soshika thought, wasn't something you could appriciate fully until it'd been taken away from you for quite a long time. The feline brushed her paws back through her hair, letting the water stream over her fur and down her front. It swept away fatigue, mud and blood and left her feeling clean and heavy with the added weight. Placing both paws on the wall, the feline arched her back against the shower, feeling the beating sensation of droplets on her back. Soshika purred as the water caressed her, cleaned her.

Snatching up a cake of soap someone had left on the floor, the feline began to scrub her fur. Some of the blood from the Humans she'd had to kill had caked on her fur and itched- she was determined to be lost of them. As the soap suds began to froth up on her fur, she found herself thinking something about hot springs....I haven't been able to wash my fur for ages, She thought cheerfully, scrubbing her long ears. It feels so nice!

"Not bad, eh Hellcat?" A voice piped up from next to her. Soshika hadn't been paying attention and didn't realize someone had snuck up on her. Looking around, she noticed Misuka was also showering, scrubbing her hair with a shampoo that smelled something like strawberries. The Ranec smiled and flicked suds at the cat, turning back to the shower and poiting her face up into it's jet.

"You've got no idea!" Soshika shook her head, droplets from her hair spraying in all directions. Misuka rolled her eyes and went back to scrubbing, turning around too look across the room. A few others had joined them by now, the hiss of shower heads was filling the room.

"Um...Misuka?" Soshika's voice was some sort of hybrid between a laugh and shocked amazement. The feline pointed to the Ranec's bottom where a stubby, fuzzy tail was protruding where a Human's tailbone would end. "You've got a TAIL?"

The didn't look the least bit surprised and wiggled the tail to flick off some water. It resembled that of a rabbit's, the feline thought. "Oh, that? Of course!" Misuka rinsed the shampoo from her hair with a few systematic movements, seeming to regard the feline with some sense of idiocy now. "You've got one."

Soshika didn't quite know what to make of this, and bent her tail so she could hold it in her paw. The leathery flat skin on the end was slick with the water, and the feline rubbed it against her face softly. "Well, yeah...But Hekshanians don't hide our tails!"

"HA!" The Ranec was suddenly standing up straight as a board, the shower still pouring water down over her. "OUR tails are evolutionary left overs, they serve no true purpose! Therefore it's perfectly okay to hide them!"

"But..." Soshika looked at the fluffy tail again. "They're fuzzy!"

The Ranec seemed to both seethe and pale at the same time. "They. Are. Not. Fuzzy."

"Sure they are!" Soshika lunged and pulled Misuka's tail, which slipped out of her grip imidiately, the fur slick like butter from the water. "See? Fuzzy!" The feline exclaimed.

"WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO PULL MY TAIL!!" The Ranec lunged at the Hekshanian, knocking them both to the shower floor. Screaming curses and rants, Misuka proceeded to alternetly punch and kick the feline as Soshika simply tried to cover her head both to ward off some of the blows and keep the Ranec from seeing how hard she was laughing.

"HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF I PULLED YOUR TAIL, HELLCAT?" The Ranec took hold of Soshika's tail and stood up, ready to give it a firm yank. Soshika yelped and tried to scramble away, but the floor was slippery and her feet slid, the Hekshanian hit the floor with a splash. "No! Misuka!"

A crash and a scream suddenly stopped the Ranec from de-tailing the feline. Her previous project forgotten, Misuka's wings flared out and her handgun was suddenly clutched firmly in her grip. With slitted eyes, she looked deathly serious. "Goddamnit! That's the fourth time this week!"

"You bring your GUN in the SHOWER?" Soshika sat up, looking frightened. She hadn't been here more than a day. "What's going on?"

"Sure, don't you bring your katana?" Misuka cocked the hammer on the handgun, watching as the water beaded affectionitly on its surface. Dripping wet, she began to walk towards the bathroom door. "It's Jet. He's been in here all week, sneaking looks, stealing towels. This time, I'm gonna put a stop to it."

Indeed, outside the bathroom door, it was Jet trying to sneek a look at the showering female Pagans. With a grin, he was preparing to sneak around the corner and get a glimpse of some eye-candy. He was completely unaware of the Ranec pressed against the wall on the other side, gun held firmly under her nose.

C'mon, Misuka thought coaxingly. Five, four, three, two...

With a smirk, Jet rounded the corner. Misuka whipped about to face him, the barrel of the handgun pressed to the tip of his nose. Normally being stopped by a naked lady would have made Jet happy, but at gunpoint, it was far less pleasing.

Misuka's voice was close to a roar. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

"Uh, I just..." Jet looked around franticly for help.

Padding in from the shower area, claws barred, Soshika grinned evilly. "Lemme help, Misuka. We had a few perverts in the Pagan Army too."

The Ranec snickered and glared down the gun at Jet. "Gladly."

Kyotoshi, who was waiting around the corner from the bathroom for his sister, idoly smoked his cigerette. He was planning to show her the control center of the building in a moment, as soon as she washed the mud and blood from her fur. He didn't blame her, but he himself could wait a while yet. The smoke from his cigerette curled lazily towards the ceiling and he looked up to watch it, just as Jet's severely bruised and bloodied body came careening from the girl's bathroom. Kyotoshi wasn't at all surprised.

Misuka and his sister's angry voices snapped across the hallway. "AND STAY OUT, YOU NASTY PERVERT!"

Kyotoshi glanced where Jet lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling in pain. "You know better than to walk in on a showering mercinary."

Jet just lay there, bleeding. But, he mentally decided, despite all the pain, it was worth it.