"Lord Takeyasu, save meow!"
As soon as Uchiha Takeyasu returned home with his two wives, a plump orange cat started wailing as though the clean, pale little hand stroking her were a scorching-hot iron.
"Lord Takeyasu, I can't handle Lady Hikari, and I was even—I was even..."
The pitiful meowing made Minamoto Kaori and Uchiha Naori hurry past Uchiha Takeyasu and look toward Uchiha Hikari. Beneath her messy hair, her little face was tense, and her eyes showed the flustered look of someone caught petting a cat. She hurriedly stood up.
After exchanging glances and realizing they were both cat lovers, the tension that had just begun to rise quickly dissipated.
Minamoto Kaori looked at Uchiha Hikari, who was a little shorter than her, and walked over with the air of a caring older sister. She took Hikari's little hand and placed it just beneath Tachibana's chin.
"Pet her here. Tachibana will love it."
"Huh? Thank you."
"My name is Minamoto Kaori. From now on, you can call me Big Sister Kaori."
News about Uchiha Hikari had spread through the clan yesterday. Minamoto Kaori knew more of the story, and her ruby-red eyes brimmed with heartfelt affection as she reached out to stroke Hikari's head.
She knew that being alone was terribly lonely.
Hikari didn't dodge or swat the hand away. When that warm, slender, utterly harmless palm stroked her head, she lowered her gaze. She hadn't felt this kind of warmth in a very, very long time—not since her parents died in the war and her clanmates treated her so brutally.
Gradually, Uchiha Hikari's tense little face relaxed, and the faintest smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. Tachibana seized her chance and slipped away in a flash.
But before Tachibana could celebrate her escape, another pair of