Aberrant: Infinite Earth - Cosmos Nova - [CN D0 Solo] Naomi - Thesis of a Nekojin

[Naomi Minami]

Note

This portion of the fiction takes place 1 day before Undernight

Morning, Department 0 Headquarters
Dr. Miyako Hitomi's office

The good doctor was sitting in her office, looking over her case notes on Naomi Minami. She was a complicated individual, but one who has been through an extraordinary circumstance. Naomi had many feline quirks that had to be dealt with one at a time so that she could interact with people In a more positive way. Also if she ever had to interrogate, she would have to start learning to recognize her tells with her body language. Would be key in negotiations as well to hide emotional quirks.

She also was worried that the woman who became "The Great Cat Detective" has lingering traumas over the disaster. In particular the loss of her Fiancee and the traumatic experience of her eruption. She understood most novas in Department 0 were more adjusted since they had been around for a while but Naomi was almost like the child of the group. She was 35, but Naomi has taken on some child-like behaviors after her eruption. Perhaps it was a defensive measure?

She straightened her labcoat, emblazoned with a gold badge showing her as a member of the Japan branch of Psi-Corps, and then adjusts her white rubber gloves as Naomi walked in.

"Doctor Hitomi... Nice to see you again." She said, seemingly semi serious as her tail flicked.

"Sit down, Minami-Sensei. I'm glad you arrived." She said, gesturing to her couch. "How has the journal been coming along?"

"I... I've not written in it yet."

"I understand it's been busy, Naomi, but there is reason for my asking you keep one."

Naomi sighed. "I'm... sorry."

"No need to be, all of my patients before I joined with the department had a hard time starting off... that was until I gave them this..." She hands over what looked like a thick diary-like journal. It's covers were synthetic leather, it also had a lock on the cover and inlaid in perfect Kanji was "Naomi's Journal", stenciled with gold leaf.

"I... Thank you... it's beautiful."

"It's a start... when you begin, you must remember this isn't to be judged. Instead this is to understand yourself as much as it is for me to understand you."

"What is there to understand, Doctor?"

"More than you realize. You still have those Feline tics that happen every once in a while?"

Naomi mewed. Her ears lowered.

"Ah... Shiro coming out again. What if I told you that there is the possibility that what got stamped on your otherwise human brain was the memories, behaviors, and instinct of Shiro? He's not a part of you, you placed that on your experience. You loved that cat so dearly that it perhaps altered your development as a Nova."

"Is there... anything wrong with loving something so innocent?"

"No... we all love our pets, Minami-Sensei. And is it so wrong to consider that possibly you loved Shiro so much you became a bit like him?"

Naomi blinked. "Naomi... you have to learn to let go of him... start coming to grips."

Naomi looked away, thinking of her next response.

"Naomi... what about Kyoji?"

Naomi hissed and lashed out verbally. "What about him?"

Dr. Hitomi nodded. "I see... Ever considered you hold on to Shiro in the belief you two merged as a coping mechanism?"

She growled like a scorned cat.

"I see I struck a nerve... Let me break this down..."

She turns to the window and opens the shade. "When we walk outside every day we choose a mask. A facade. Something that is like a shield between us and the strangers around us. You have a second facade. This character you created. The Nekojin. I don't blame you, your abilities and skill only re-enforces your primary barrier. It doesn't help that the so-called "Quantum Template" that you developed caused such a dramatic mutation."

She turns back to Naomi, her glasses glinting in the light while she was silhouetted by the light pouring in.

"If you want to come to terms with yourself, you must start coming to terms with what you have lost. I can't even begin to unravel the complexes you have from the destruction of your home town."

Naomi lowers her ears down, looking repentant.

"If you want to start down this road, Naomi... you are going to have to unlearn what you have learned about who you are... even before your eruption. This is the future you have to build for. We can do this together. One with out baggage."

She smiled and walked over putting a hand on Naomi's shoulder. "Let's travel this road, Naomi. We're both human."

[Naomi Minami]

Naomi opened her Diary... it was still blank. She hadn't placed an entry in at all. And she was feeling more and more pressure by the second. Until she received a VIOP message from her Doctor.

Once Naomi got out of her head what she felt like, eventually she realized what the problem was. "Naomi... remember this isn't a school assignment. There is no pressure here. Trust me, one of my clients took a whole year to get their first entry in."

Naomi nodded as the conversation concluded. Then she sat back down staring at her diary. Then she grabbed her pen, twirling it around in her fingers.

"Alright, Naomi... it's time."

Opening her diary, after brushing off the synthetic leather, she looks at her pen. "Alright... I guess blue ink won't get me on a federal charge..."

She sighs and starts writing in English. She preferred to write in English, since it was far more easier in her point of view to express her feelings in English than Japanese.

April 22nd, 2012

I have finally decided to place my first Entry in this Diary. I've been having quite the interesting life. Tangling with squids from the greatest depth of hell, meeting with new Novas, dealing with a international intrigue that... well I shouldn't go into it with this diary.

I am Naomi Minami. 35, of Ukedo. My hometown no longer exists. Well, I am putting my efforts to rise it from the ashes of it's destruction. But that isn't the subject of my first entry.

My doctor suggested that my first entry should be my first "surface thoughts". I believe that starting with my thoughts on who I have met on my travels should be where I should start first.

Ryu Hideyoshi

I have to be honest Ryu is the first person after Kyoji that I have ever loved. Something about him feels right, but I am trying to understand exactly why he feels like he does. We are both who we are. I call myself Nekojin, but I do not feel that I have properly understood who I have become. Thus I have made the mistake of forgetting who I really am. I... am Human. And so is Ryu. Ryu has to remember that as well. We have lost nothing...

Naomi trembles, dropping her pen as tears fill her eyes. She realized for the first time what she has been missing. She picks her pen up and speaks her next portion of her entry.

"No... from all I have been through... what we have been through... we have lost nothing. What belongs to us is lost but can be found, friends long gone we never lose their memory..."

She takes a deep breath, then she feels something change within her. The air seemed for a moment cooler. She stands up, and walks into the bathroom to have a drink of water, her mouth was dry. When she looks into the mirror...

"I... I'm..."

She sees her old self in the mirror... her human self. The haze of quantum in her head that all Novas seem to live in seemed to disappear, except for a little kernel in the back of her thoughts. Like a beacon that still shined to welcome her home to friendly shores like a lighthouse in the night.

She stroked her face free if fur. "YATTAH!!!"

She smiled and stared releasing in her mind her thoughts and remembering who she was. Dai Neko Keji... When she opened her eyes again, she was once again the cat... After a couple more changes she heard a familiar, instinctual voice.

Good work, Naomi. You've finally learned... now... find your way. And use my last gift to you... As you have used it until now. Thank you, Mistress.

She sighed. "Thank you... Shiro... Rest in peace, beloved."

Smiling she walked over to a picture of her and her cat as a kitten. She stayed as the dormant human form as she sat on her bed.

"I won't show anyone that I can do this yet..." She knew this now provided a vulnerability... but... perhaps Ryu should see this first. She will sleep tonight as Naomi once more, but when she awakes... Dai Neko Keji will awake as well.

[Naomi Minami]

May 1st, 2012

It's night now... a few hours from morning.

I sit here stroking the head of one of the strays of Jinbocho. I myself now feel like a stray. I'm not under Ryu's roof. Breathing in his pheromones, sharing his scent with mine and listening to his deep breaths as I lay next to him and let him share my purr.

I'm at my other home. And office. This is my nest. Where I love to be.

Yet...

Something about Ryu, something about what is swirling about us...

I felt uncomfortable being intimate with Ryu. In a way the ghost of Kyoji still haunts me. But I have to know. Do i love Ryu for more than being just a fellow fel~

like a fellow...

My god... what are we really? Are we cats? Human hybrids? Superhuman mutants? What?