Can't Feed Just One
"Mreow?"
At first it was just one. The cute critter was sitting outside the front door one evening, a gray kitten with black spots on its face and back. Thinking nothing of it, Tamao tossed the cute black spotted kitten some leftover eel, that might or might not have been Hana's dinner for the night. Purring contently, the cat moved away from her door step with a thankful mew and disappeared into the night.
Tamao didn't know the trouble she just caused.
"Mreow? Mreow?"
The next night, her little kitten friend was back, but this time it bought some friends, a pair of chocolate brown twins appeared by the gray ones side, the trio mewed cutely, tilting their heads and swishing their tails, causing Tamao to bend to their will and give them some more leftovers, that once again might or might not have been Hana's
A few nights later, more cats returned upon the doorstep, three turned into six and six turned into nine, by the end of the week, Tamao had a total of 12 cats mewling and pawing at her doorstep, also by the end of the week, Hana had gotten smart and decided to take his share of leftovers with him, due to Tamao giving it away to the cats every night, which usually left him irritated and hungry, this resulted in her taking away some of HoroHoro's meal instead, its not like the freeloader deserved her food anyway.
One night however, this all changed. Seated out on the front porch of their home, Tamao stared up at the glittery night sky, her legs folded beneath her as she gazed, the moon was full and the stars were bright, she inhaled then exhaled gently, the smell of crisp cool night air filled her senses, it was always such a pleasant past time, to sit and gaze at the stars "No wonder Yoh-kun liked it so much" her amber eyes crinkled slightly as she remembered that star gazing was one of the lazy shaman's favorite past times "I wonder how he and Anna-sama are doing. . ."
A gentle breeze picked up, wrapping around her, blowing her long pink strands about her face and fluttering her floral kimono briefly before it stopped, she noticed it had also blown a few of the Cherry Blossoms from the Sakura Trees, they floated gently around the yard, some even falling into the pond, it was indeed a pretty sight "Mreow?" Blinking Tamao glanced down and noticed the kitten seated before her, it was the same one from the first night, the all gray and black spotted one, her eyes warmed as the kitten pawed cutely at her knee and she picked the little one up, rubbing her nose gently against its bright pink one.
"Hey there little fella, I don't have any food for you tonight, where are your friends?"
The cat just blinked its large brown eyes up at her, ear flopping to the side slightly "Mreow?" Tamao grinned and let out a soft chuckle as she stared into the cat's blinking eyes "So this is where you've been running off to every night. I must say, I'm a bit jealous." Lowering the kitten onto her lap, it yawned cutely and curled up into a ball, Tamao glanced up to meet the amused cool gaze of the Spirit King, Asakura Hao, he was dressed in a royal blue floral patterned kimono "good evening Okami" nodding slightly, Tamao respectfully acknowledged him "good evening to you too Hao-sama, what brings you to the Funbari Inn at such a late hour? A nice soak in the hot springs perhaps?" Her amber eyes crinkled mirthfully at the boys cool stare "I've come to collect what's mine" he murmured pointing to the kitten, who had drifted to sleep comfortably in her lap "I see" she said, running her fingertips gently along the kittens back while it snuggled deeper into the folds of her kimono "but it would seem your cat happens to like my lap."
"It would seem so" he mumbled, eyes smoldering as they met her gentle stare "You can have him back when he awakes" she said softly before patting the empty spot beside her "But for now, would you care to join me in watching the stars? Or is such a task too mundane for a king like you?" A slight smirk appeared on his lips as he took a seat beside her, ignoring the mocking quip.
The two sat under the starry lit sky, staring for hours, enjoying each others company with no words spoken between them. It wasn't until later, when Tamao eventually dozed off, that Hao had left, taking his kitten with him. She would wake up the next morning to notice someone had pilfered their fridge. "This is what happens when I feed one. . ." she muttered dryly, a small smile etching on her face, while she ignored Hana and Meng's respective and questioning cry's of "Where's my eel/milk?"
Okami is a hostess at a hotsprings.
I was inspired by this after re-reading Hana's Epoch aka Shaman King – Flowers for like the fifth time. Hao and those cats were adorable and I loved the Hanagumi and Tamao of course XD C'mon lets face it Older Tamao is so awesome! She needs more love people! Not to mention I like the thought of Older!Tamao and Older!Hao. Review please! This is also my first Shaman King One-Shot! Hope I did good. Its pretty short though. . .