!Strawberry Kisses!
Word Count: 2,213
Nana giggled at her son as he ploughed through his breakfast, small body able to take in a fearsome amount when given the time. She didn't seem to experience the same disgust I felt while watching him stuff his face, a whistle of reprimand leaving me as I perched on the chair back beside the mother.
Little fleshy, stop that.
Tsuna paused his piggery and glanced at me, pouting when he saw my flat expression.
"Strawberry, don't look at me like that!" He whined, cleaning off his mouth.
I hissed at him and hopped onto the table, bouncing over to Nana's hand to nestle next to it, cooing as she pet at my feathers, combing them backwards softly. Closing my eyes, I listened to Tsuna scoff about favourites, a small chirp leaving me that clarified that, yes, Nana was my favourite.
The boy pouted around his utensils before standing up and putting his dishes in the sink. He glanced to the clock and announced that he should start leaving if he wanted to get to school on time.
Nana urged me onto her shoulder before walking over to the door, cooing at her offspring as she ran her hand through his hair.
"Be good at school, okay?" She hummed, getting a giggle from the boy.
"Yes, Mama."
Tsuna huffed as he was kissed quickly, the parental affection making his cheeks a soft pink.
Nana giggled softly and pet his hair, before holding her arm out expectantly.
"Go on, Strawberry," She urged. "Come on, Tsu-kun."
"Strawberry~!" Tsuna whistled, making me huff. "Strawberry~!"
I fluffed myself but hopped down the outstretched arm, holding onto the mother's hand as I leant forwards and chirped the response.
"Strawberry~!" I sung, before pressing my beak to his lips, making a kissy noise before pulling back.
There, affection.
Tsuna giggled before waving and running out the door, his mother gently closing it behind him.
Nana locked the door before turning to me with a smile, a soft coo letting me push off her elbow and fly over to the back sliding door. I bounced on the handle as the woman walked over with a fond laugh, her words warning as she reminded me not to fly off and to ring the bell when I wanted to come back in. Tweeting a positive, I flapped and tread air as she pulled the door aside and let me out, warm air wafting over me in an instant as a breeze came through.
Flapping my wings, I made my way to a high perch in the tree of the yard, making a noise of satisfaction as I surveyed my kingdom of uniform houses. Settling down on the thick branch, I began grooming out my feathers, their grain not sitting quite right. Giving a quiet mutter, I curled on myself and nestled down happily, enjoying the warm climate.
"Hey, lookie there!"
I beg your bloody pardon?
Lifting my head, I glanced around in confusion, before squawking and tumbling backwards as a huge black mass dropped down in front of me. The figure stumbled as well, their wings flapping clumsily, awkward laughter escaping them as they set their feathers back, my glare obvious as I rocked on my back, wings spread across the branch to stop myself from falling.
"Sorry! Sorry!" The crow laughed, cawing as I flipped myself back onto my feet with a grunt.
"Ugh, what are you doing?" I hissed, straightening feathers that had been distilled.
He bounced and turned his head to eye me in interest, looking my lower form up and down, making me bristle in dislike.
"You're not from around here are you? I've never seen one of your kind before."
"This is my garden, mate." I scoffed, "I can't say I've seen you around either."
"First time flying!" He pronounced, holding his head up high. "Kinda the reason I nearly took you out just then."
"Mm." I cawed softly, before jumping off the branch and gliding down to the deck, happily finding a food and water bowl left out for me, little sparrows making way for me easily.
"Hey, wait up!" The crow called, before crash landing against the wooden panelling, sending the sparrows and the seed bowl flying. "Meant to do that."
"Of course." I murmured, half gargling the response into my drink. "Who are you anyway?"
"Uh..."He started, awkwardly getting to his feet, flipping the seed bowl off his back as he did, summoning forth the sparrows again. "This human lady calls me Tori."
Tori...How creative.
"She calls you 'bird'." I crooned, watching a rather small sparrow hop over to take a drink.
"What do the humans call you?" Tori asked, bouncing over to get right up near me, obviously never having learnt about personal space.
"My fleshies call me 'Strawberry'."
"Strawberry?" He repeated tilting his head.
"Strawberry~!" I whistled.
"Oh, my feathers! You can speak human!"
I reared my head back into my body as the crow scrambled up to me, black beady eyes wide as they gaped down at me, beak fallen open as his wings flapped in excitement.
"I've never met someone that can speak human!" Tori squawked, bouncing on the spot. "Say something else!"
"Um...What're ya doin'~?!"
"Wow!"
I backed up as he flapped enough to lift himself slightly, obviously giddy with his new discovery.
"Strawberry!"
My head snapped up and I bounced as the Sawada matron opened the door with a basketful of laundry, her eyes widened with startle as she took in the dark ave beside me.
"Oh dear!" She yelped, backing off quickly as the crow rounded on her.
Flapping my wings, I lifted off the ground and landed softly on her shoulder, a quiet coo and caw working to calm the woman down, muscles loosening under my talons as I continued to groom at her hair. Gently tugging at her earrings, I ruffled my feathers before settling down, her dainty little fingers rising to softly pet at the red of my breast.
"Is this your new friend?" Nana asked, looking at the crow as he eyed her with a side on head.
I stood for a moment, before rotating myself so that I faced away from the ave, pointedly looking in the other direction. Tori gave a squawk of indignation, wings slapping audibly as he tried to get my attention back, but I stubbornly groomed at my own colours.
"Haha! She doesn't mean it." Nana assured the young crow, waving her hand. "She's always been a bit of a primadonna."
I huffed loudly before jumping off her shoulder and soaring to the clothesline, allowing myself to hang upside down and watch as the woman made a bit of an arc around the pitch black bird before joining me. Hissing at Nana in a huffy manner, I ran up and down the line, bringing back brightly coloured pegs for the woman, before pausing, and staring blankly as Tori scampered past me, three blue pegs in his beak.
"Aw! Thank you!" She laughed carefully taking the dropped items. "Strawberry, you have such a nice boyfriend!"
The peg in my beak dropped onto the grass.
I beg your pardon? You...You wanna run that one by me again?
Tori cocked his head at me innocently.
I pushed him off the clothesline.
It was a weekend morning and I was just chilling out on my giant panda pillow, minding my own business while I watched some weird kid anime with Tsuna splayed out on the carpet in front of the television. It was pretty peaceful, the sounds of 1990's anime mecha explosions only so loud with a forcibly lowered volume - and then Nana came in to ruin it all.
"Tsu-kun, we've gotta take Strawberry to the vet."
I looked up from grooming my wing.
Nope.
Taking off, I swooped between the mother's hands and streaked up the stairs, flinging myself into the bathroom and flapping until the door was shut, gnawing at the lock with my beak until it finally turned and kept the little fleshy out as he pawed at the other side with a whine.
"Strawberry! C'mon, Mama says we gotta go!"
You try getting grabbed by the back of your neck so that they can prod you!
I huffed and perched myself on the shower head, stubbornly ignoring the pleas of the fleshy.
"Fine, I'll try and get Mama to cancel. You gotta let me in though afterwards!" He shouted, before his footsteps faded down the hall.
…
Tsuna, you are a traitor.
The young boy had the sense to look guilty as he fiddled with his fingers, feeling me stare at him from behind the bars of my carrier cage, refusing to look away even when he squeaked apologies. An angry hiss was my chosen response for whenever someone tried to talk to me, Nana sighing at my nature as her son shuffled behind.
"Come on, Strawberry, it's just a vet visit." She chided, setting me down beside her as we came to the reception room. "It's just to make sure you're healthy."
I whistled angrily before turning my back to her, looking into the dark of my carrier.
"They're here!"
I groaned as the familiar sound of the vet rung out, her voice chipper with impending domesticated animals.
The veterinarian giggled as she peered into my cage, long brown hair still clinging to her glasses from the near dead sprint she had taken to get to the reception. You'd think that a person would get used to seeing animals every day when poking them with needles was their job, but no, this weird lady never seemed to get any less excited about a critter big or small.
"Heya Strawberry! It's me! Your vet, Amanda!" She cooed trying to get my attention.
My eye twitched, and I ruffled my feathers.
"Aw, you're always so grumpy when you come visit me!"
It had struck me as odd first, that a lady in Namimori of all places was called 'Amanda', a Western name, but in her ramblings with Nana, I had gotten the basics of her American origins and childhood.
"Hmph," The lady vet huffed before standing straight and looking to my fleshies. "Well, let's get her into the office and check her out. Is there any specific reason for today's appointment?"
I clutched the beam in the cage as Nana lifted me from the floor, Tsuna watching me from behind her skirt as we walked on in.
"She's made a friend with a wild bird recently and I just want to make sure she hasn't got any ticks or illnesses, it'd break my heart if she got anything bad." The mother explained settling my cage down on the linoleum tabletop.
Ugh, no! Don't make me feel guilty for resisting!
I cawed in aggravation as the Sawada woman looked at me with soft eyes, making me throw my head back in rebellion.
"If Strawberry got sick, I'd be really sad!" Tsuna agreed, a shine coming to his eyes at the thought alone.
Noooooooooooooooooo!
The vet unlatched my cage and I hopped out with a grunt of reluctance, before bouncing over to the towering fleshies with a flat expression. The tiny one sniffed, and I deflated, before fluffing myself and flexing my larynx, creating a familiar tune.
Tsuna's eyes lit up as the Adam's Family theme began bouncing out of my beak, talons tapping against the table as I jumped to create the snaps. He giggled as I jumped again, making pathetic little attempts at clicking his fingers, the soundless 'shwip' of skin on skin being the only result, but the little fleshy tried his damnedest anyway.
Nana squealed and brought me up for strawberry kisses, whistling my name as I tugged on her hair.
Damn you both.
Amanda aw-ed loudly and snapped pictures on her phone for the growing collage of her patients on her reception wall.
And damn you too.
My chirps echoed in the bathroom as I perched on the edge of the sink, eyeing Tsuna as he splashed in the bath. While I had spent a lot of my own time around water much deeper than the near 15cm high depths of the tub, I still had my reservations about having Tsuna near a body of water any larger than a drinking cup.
Drowning had struck a chord in me, a sharp one, and while I may have been able to once dive in without regard before, the water that lapped at the porcelain sides were a bit of a dig to the ribs.
It made me...stress when Tsuna was in water, and Nana's seemingly apathetic opinion of the situation didn't help. So I had taken it upon myself, the grievous duty, of watching the little skin creature as he created currents and whirlpools. At times like this, I almost wished I was human again, then I might just have shown the kid how to squirt water from your palms.
Instead, I ruffle my feathers and cawed softly, pointlessly asking if he was done yet.
The fleshy glanced at me and smiled, waving his hands, covered in soap suds and water.
I twitched as a stray drop plopped on my head.
Stop that fleshy.