The two girls retired to their own rooms. Each room was also equipped with its own bathroom, which Yuki let out a sigh of relief. The first thing Yuki did was strip her clothes off and head for the bathroom. As soon as she entered, she undid her disguise that was concealing her ears and tail and frowned upon seeing the condition of her poor fluffy tail. She turned the water on and cleaned herself up before getting into the bath, where she took her time slowly combing her fingers through her tail, getting rid of any tangles but making sure not to tear any hair out.

Whether she realized it or not, her lips finally arched up ever so slightly. It was the first time since everything had happened that a smile had actually formed on her lips, even if it was only a slight upturn. She sat in the hot bath, taking care of the only thing she had left, linking her to her parents and to the village full of kind hearted people. It was the only reminder she had that everything that she had gone through was real.

Some may try to toss such things away, but for Yuki, it was the thing that allowed her to continue forward. It allowed her to keep the anger she did not wish to let go of. She would find the people who took her family and kill every last one of them. She would rescue her clan members if they were still alive.

And to do that, she would need strength. That strength is what would allow her to achieve everything. She now had a better understanding of this world and knew that strength was everything. If she wanted to survive, she had to be as ruthless as the next person. She also had to make ties where she could in order to survive until she was able to reach that point. Stay low. Gain what power you can and then rise up. Rise up to achieve your goals. While she wished she could find her people and charge in and get them back right this moment she knew there was nothing she could do at this time.

Yuki continued to slowly clean her tail, not caring if the water was getting cold or not. She stayed in the bath for almost three hours before finally being satisfied with her grooming. She looked at the soft white fluff that was now soaking wet and shook her entire body, wringing her tail out before taking a towel that was at the side and drying off.

She spent another thirty minutes just drying her tail before she hugged it to her body and closed her eyes.  A few moments later, she looked into the mirror to take in her original appearance. She did not wish to ever forget what she truly looked like.

After staring for a while, she finally redid her disguise and got dressed. Elder Nishikawa had really gone all out and supplied them with everything they would need. Only after getting dressed did Yuki leave the bathroom and walk over to her bed, and lay face down.

As she did, a knock came at her door, causing Yuki to turn over and slowly get up before walking to the door and opening it. She saw Nana standing there with a pillow in her arms which confused Yuki.

“Sleep together?” Nana asked, slightly blushing. She had her head down slightly as she fiddled with her fingers and rubbed her toes together.

“Why?” Yuki asked bluntly. She did not understand why Nana wanted to sleep with her.

“I….” Nana’s face turned bright red as she turned around and began walking away, but Yuki grabbed her hand, stopping her. Nana turned to see Yuki motioning to the floor. Nana nodded and walked over to the floor, and laid down.

Scratching her head, Yuki decided to figure out what was actually going on. So no matter how much she hated it, she had to speak. In a low voice, she asked: “Why did you want to sleep with me?”

Nana turned away from Yuki as Yuki climbed onto her bed. But this only lasted a few minutes before she turned back over and sat up. “Your smell… Similar to mine….”

“Hmmm?” Yuki sniffed the air, and sure enough, it was not exactly the same, but Nana did have a scent to her now that she was paying attention to it. “Not human….”

“Mmmm. Neither are you….” Nana said as she undid the disguise technique she had on her body. Horns and a thick scaled tail. “I am a dragonkin….”

Yuki stared at the horns and tail. She did not know if this was some kind of trick or not, so she got up out of bed and squatted down next to Nana, reached out with her hand, grabbed one of the horns, and… “Ouch!”

“Ah…. Sorry. I was seeing if they were real….” Yuki scratched her head. She thought for a moment before looking around and was about to undo her disguise technique when Nana stopped her.

“It’s fine. You do not need to. Just knowing that I am not the only one is enough….” Nana lowered her head as she twiddled her fingers. “I have been alone all this time…. Surrounded by humans. Always hiding who I truly am.”

As Nana began to speak, she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. Tears began to form in her eyes as she continued: “I know it is dangerous to even reveal myself like this. But dragonkin have sharp noses. Much better than any race, so I can tell you are also not human. Just knowing I am not the only one is enough. It's enough to allow me to know I am not alone….”

Yuki looked at the tear filled eyes in front of her with a blank expression before reaching out and stroking the top of Nana’s head. “Come up. The floor will get cold.” Yuki had always had a strange feeling about Nana since they had met. She did not know why she felt that she did not need to be so guarded against this girl, but now she knew why….