"You idiot swordsman! Why did you even come in here?"
"Hey! I was just wondering what you were doing, Miss Seashells. Next time I won't be so kind!"
"Good! Why would I want someone stupid like you in here?"
The door slammed open suddenly, and Sinbad walked in. "Hey, both of you, relax. What are you two fighting about now?" he asked, trying to placate them both. Everyone knew it was a pointless battle but still tried to stop them from being at each other's throats. As usual, the attempt did not succeed.
Yamuraiha, mad and pointing a finger towards Sharrkan, who was standing next to her, said defensively, "This moron decided to come in here and trample over all of my potions while I was talking to Ja'far about a new spell I was working on, and… Well…" The magician, obviously at a loss for words, picked up a cat Sin hadn't noticed from the floor and held it out. The purple-haired king grabbed the small animal carefully, held it up to his face, and studied it. The creature had silver fur, bright green eyes and looked angry to be held. It mewed in protest as it tried to escape the man's hands but failed.
"I don't see what's wrong, Yam," Sinbad replied, stroking the cat absentmindedly. It looked extremely irritated but seemed resigned to its place. In fact, it sort of reminded him of a certain freckled general… Wait.
"If you were explaining a spell to Ja'far, where did he go? And what does the cat have to do with anything?"
"See, that's the thing. Ja'far is… Umm…" Yamuraiha continued, looking tremendously nervous.
"Don't worry so much, Yam. What happened?"
"Ja'far's the cat," Sharrkan blurted out quickly before the woman could even open her mouth. "And it's not my fault, I swear!"
"Really? You're the one who—"
"This isn't the time to argue," Sinbad interrupted, examining the cat—sorry, Ja'far—more closely. "And I don't care who did what. The only thing that matters is how long this will last." Sin's worried voice caused the animal in his arms to purr involuntarily for a second and Yamuraiha to focus on the problem.
"Since it could either be one potion or multiple," she began with a not-so-subtle glare at Sharrkan, "I can't figure out the length of the magic easily. It'll most likely wear off tomorrow, but I'll get started on finding a cure immediately," the blue-haired general explained.
"Good." The king's mood was lighter once he knew this most likely wasn't a permanent situation. He played with Ja'far's whiskers and thought about how this day might be more fun than he originally anticipated.
"But the offices might be chaotic until Ja'far returns. What should we tell those working there?" Yamuraiha added anxiously.
"Just tell them he's sick. He'll have to let others run things today." Ja'far hissed bitterly at the words, his tail smacking against the man's chest.
"It seems like Ja'far doesn't like that idea," Sharrkan stated, foolishly reaching out to pet the cat's head before pulling his hand away rapidly as the usually calm Ja'far swiped the air with his paw, claws extended.
"He'll just have to live with it, then," Sin replied with a smirk. Ja'far meowed unhappily but was ignored.
"You all need to leave so I can work on this and clean up the mess someone left," Yamuraiha said as she pushed the others out of her laboratory. "I'll inform you as soon as I find something that might work, Sin," she continued as she pulled the door shut behind the two men.
Sharrkan looked suddenly uninterested and said, "I'm gonna go tell the offices not to expect Ja'far. Good luck with him!"
After waving a short goodbye to the receding figure of his subordinate, Sinbad looked to the cat in his arms. "Well, this could be fun."
If cats could groan, Ja'far managed it.
It was a completely degrading position, Ja'far decided. He was being held against his will on Sin's lap. He had given up trying to escape a while ago and admitted his defeat, as Sinbad somehow caught him every time. The cat sat stiffly in one spot, internally cursing his idiot of a king. A powerful idiot, but an idiot nonetheless.
Well, at least he's working, Ja'far thought, looking for a positive side. Though it was true that the known procrastinator was sitting at his desk and signing papers, he often became distracted. He would start to pet Ja'far's head (which would make Ja'far paw it away and mentally sigh), or doodle on the document he was supposed to write on, or simply lose his train of thought and stare blankly at the desk for a minute.
Unaware to what was actually happening, Ja'far had settled into his spot and yawned, purring sleepily. The warmth of Sin and the scratch of ink being traced onto paper was an extremely comforting combination. That, and the fact he was now a nocturnal pet, caused Ja'far to drift into slumber.
Sinbad wasn't sure when he noticed Ja'far was dozing. Once he did figure out, though, it was impossible to think of anything else. The man smiled brightly, dropping his writing utensil on the desk and scratching Ja'far softly behind the ears.
Sin happily sat still for a few minutes before his restless self took control. Trying to be as careful with Ja'far as possible and keep the cat asleep at the same time, he slowly stood and, with the now waking animal in his arms, began walking through the palace.
The cat meowed loudly in fear and confusion as he became aware of the disturbance, then once again in a tone that seemed to question what the man was doing.
"Don't worry," Sinbad murmured in response to the noise. Ja'far relaxed almost instantly. After all, Sin was a man he could trust, even if he did stupid things every once in awhile. Or every day.
After a few silent minutes, the two found themselves in Sinbad's bedroom. Ja'far tilted his head, unclear to the reason he was there. Sinbad chuckled and playfully messed with Ja'far's ears. "That makes you look even more adorable, you know." Ja'far scowled, somehow, and that only made the man grin. "Calm down. And as for why you're here, I figured you needed to sleep, since you're a cat for now. This seemed to be the best place to do so." He gently placed the cat onto the bed and walked out the door, saying "I'll see you in a hour or so, okay?" as he exited.
You know I could sleep in my own room, right? Ja'far wanted to shout. Unfortunately, all that came out was an angry growl. He sighed inwardly, wondering why, out of all people, he was the one with fluffy ears, whiskers, and a long tail. Life just wasn't fair.
Ja'far sat down, his tail flicking in annoyance, and decided to wait for Sinbad to return. But the room was boring and free of action, and he was a nocturnal animal. He was soon curled into a ball on one side of the mattress, quickly falling asleep.
A few hours later, Sinbad pushed open the door to his room quietly. What he saw was what he expected: a silver cat sleeping soundly. He smiled happily and silently joined Ja'far, lying down cautiously as to not wake the cat. Impossibly and unrealistically, Ja'far slept on, oblivious to what was going on. Sinbad drifted off after a few minutes, completely calm and tired from a day of actually most of his paperwork instead of ignoring it.
It was a surprising sight to wake up to. Closed eyelids and a pale face dusted with freckles greeted Sinbad when he opened his eyes drowsily. Who used to be a cat was now a man Sin knew quite well curved into himself and dressed in the green and cream-colored robes he always wore. Ja'far was totally tranquil in his sleep with a serene smile, so unlike the man who chased his king around with documents to sign and stayed up all night for all the wrong reasons: to write papers and calculate costs.
Sinbad wrapped his arm around the sleeping figure and squeezed him tightly, very pleased with the situation.
Ja'far opened his eyes slowly in reaction to the sudden touch, blinking off sleep. He found himself smashed against his king's chest and in a firm embrace. "Sin, what are you doing?"
"So you're finally awake."
"Can you please let go of me?"
"Nope."
"Fine," Ja'far said, wiggling out of the hold."I'll do it myself."
"Fine," Sinbad sighed, letting his general go and pouting.
Ja'far had just sat up when he suddenly realized, "I'm not a cat anymore." The temporarily forgotten events of yesterday came rushing back to him, and he was overwhelmed with immense joy. He grabbed Sinbad in a hug, which was gladly returned.
"What's this for?" Sin asked in a quiet voice.
"Thank you," Ja'far responded, muffled against Sinbad.
"For what?"
"For being kind when I was a cat. I could've stayed like that forever." Ja'far paused before continuing, "I know I don't say this enough, but thank you. I love you, Sin."
"I love you, too, Ja'far."
Ja'far backed out of the cuddle, and Sin added with a laugh, "It's a shame, though. You made a cute cat."
"Really?" Ja'far questioned lightheartedly, a playful light shining in his eyes.
"Definitely," Sin said with a grin before beginning to play with Ja'far's hair. "But I'm glad you're you again. Who else would make sure the paperwork is done?"
Ja'far couldn't stop himself from smiling largely in return. "Speaking of paperwork, did you—"
He was interrupted by the door banging open to let in Yamuraiha. "Sinbad, do you know where…" She trailed off and began fidgeting uncomfortably. Sin removed his hands from Ja'far's hair awkwardly, and Ja'far looked to floor bashfully. "So, I guess you know where Ja'far is. And you're not a cat anymore, so you won't need this…" She held up a bottle full of bubbling green liquid for a second and stared at the ceiling as she spoke, refusing to meet anyone's eyes as her face became a bright red color. "So… bye." She turned, and as quick as she entered the room, she left.
Sinbad looked to Ja'far. He was flustered, a dark blush covering his face. The purple-haired man began laughing loudly.
"This isn't funny, Sin!"
"It kind of is."
"No, it is not."
"Just a little."
"... Maybe."