Tainted Feathers
Chapter 3-Babysitting
Kuja:
Zoë didn't speak to me on the ride home and I knew she was upset about the whole Michael thing. I didn't mean to almost kill him, it was just a reflex. Yeah…it just proves that I was a monster, pure and simple. My adventure at the mall made me what to write so I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. Hmm…handwriting was such a trivial thing, but I loved it.
"How do you do that?"
I snorted and glared at Zoë.
"Oh…now your speaking to me."
Zoë smiled softly.
"Don't be an asshole, Kuja. I guess I'm still mad, but I couldn't blame you for what he did."
I rubbed my jaw and pretended not to listen.
"How is your glass jaw anyways?"
I blinked.
"Glass jaw?"
"It's a metaphor. It means your jaw is easy to break, or something like that."
I rolled my eyes.
"It was a very lucky shot. I didn't see it coming."
"But aren't you from another world? Don't you have powers?"
"Yes, I do. But remember, it's been two days since you've rescued me. All of my magic hasn't come back in full."
Zoë wrinkled her nose.
"Magic?"
"That's what I used on Michael. It was more of a weak thunder spell, though."
"Weak? You almost killed him."
I smirked.
"I am aware of that. I think my body might have drawn too much energy from its pool."
Zoë gave me a glare that would have melted cities. I think she saw the lie for what it was.
"That's some excellent handwriting there. When did you learn how to perfect it?" She asked, changing the subject.
"When I was younger, that's when I learned. I know two languages by heart."
Zoë settled down in the chair beside me and took my tail into her lap. It was hard to ignore the sensations I got from this motion and my expression showed it. There were reasons why I didn't let anyone touch my tail. One of them was due to the fact that it had a lot of nerves in it, so it was very sensitive. Second, it was an intimate sign of affection for me. And third, most people yanked it…a lot. So I had learned to not let people near it. Zoë noticed my expression and giggled softly. At this point, I knew I was blushing.
"I guess your tail is pretty sensitive, huh?" She asked as she rubbed her hand over the fur.
I couldn't help but cover my face for the horror that was soon to come: purring. Sure enough, I began to purr softly at first, growing louder by the second. Zoë blushed and took her hands away. (A/N: Let me just say that this is not a sex scene. That may come next chapter.)
"Um…sorry," She whispered.
It took me a while to recover from the pleasure and shock of that moment, but when I did speak, my voice was sincere and quiet.
"Why did you stop?"
Zoë flinched.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"
I placed my finger on her lips, signaling for her to be quiet.
"You should never apologize for good things," I whispered, ending my sentence with a kiss on her lips.
I moved away quickly after that, not wanting to offend her. Zoë sat there in shock for a second or two and blushed harder.
"Kuja, thank you," She whispered, taking up the rubbing of my tail again.
6:21 P.M.
Zoë:
The ringing of the phone woke me up suddenly from my 'nap'. I grabbed the phone off of the side table and pressed the 'talk' button, being careful not to wake up a very, tired, yet purring Kuja.
"Hello?"
"Oh, Zoë, how are you?"
That was the voice of my sister Lena.
"I'm fine. What's going on?"
"Can you babysit for me?"
Kuja stirred and let out a throaty purr/yawn and snuggled in closer.
"Um…yeah. What time?" I asked, beginning to wonder how Kuja deals with children.
"I'll bring her over in thirty minutes."
"Ok, good."
I hung up the phone and touched Kuja's face. It was cool and just as pale as usual.
"What is it?" Kuja asked sleepily.
"How good are you with children?"
He glanced at me with his pale blue eyes and yawned.
"I'm fair with them. Why what's going on?"
His voice lost all sleepiness in it and the slight purr in it was completely gone.
"My sister is going to bring her little one-year-old daughter for us to watch."
"Watch? But aren't we doing more than that?"
"Another word for it is babysitting."
"Ah."
Kuja sounded a little unsure at that realization. Once again, I began to worry for him. His behavior was of definite concern to me, since he seemed to never stay the same. Yes…who knows what Kuja could do? I rubbed his tail softly, trying to ease his tension. This time, he didn't react. I knew something was bothering him, but what? It was then that I caught sight of a red feather hiding amongst his stark white ones. That's strange. I thought Kuja's hair was naturally white. So…what was going on here?
"Kuja?"
"Please excuse me," He said gruffly.
What was with the voice change?
"Kuja, what's wrong?" I asked as he got up and walked out of the room.
As he did so, I caught the sight of blood on his fingers. I chose not to comment and listened to the chiming of my doorbell. Enough for him for now, I thought as I went to open the door. Lena greeted me with a warm smile as I ushered her in.
"What's wrong, sis? You look worried."
You would be worried too if you had someone like Kuja around in your house. I shrugged and took a bag off of her hands.
"Oh, I'm always like that nowadays," I said cheerfully as I could.
Lena gave me a look that said 'yeah right' and settled down onto my couch with the car seat.
"You need to stop wasting your time on Michael. He's a tramp, I tell you," She commented.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of Kuja's tattletale silver locks in the doorway of my room. He was listening in…why?
"I'm not wasting my time on Michael, Lena."
There was the gleam of those blue eyes of his.
"Well, anyway, watch Alexi for me. I'll be back in two hours."
"She will be well taken care of," I muttered.
Lena smiled and walked out of my house.
"Is she gone?"
Kuja walked into the room and approached the car seat holding Alex with a strange gleam in his eyes. He leaned in further to inspect the baby's features cautiously.
"So this is the baby. Looks harmless enough," He commented.
I couldn't help but laugh.
"You were afraid of Alexi?"
I watched in surprise as Kuja plucked a feather out from his hair and placed it in Alexi's hands.
"Of course not."
Heh, Kuja is full of surprises. Kuja smirked and took Alexi out of her car seat and lifted her up into the air.
"Be careful," I warned.
"She's fine. See?"
Kuja let Alexi go calmly. I watched in confusion as the child began to float on her own.
"What did you do?" I asked.
"I used what is commonly known as Float. It's a harmless spell."
I blinked. Maybe Kuja would be ok with Alexi after all. Hmm…and maybe I would get some cooking due.
"She's all yours."
Kuja:
She's all yours. Were those words the bringer of…perhaps doom? Probably not. I floated up to the ceiling with Alexi, watching her maul my feather to death. She was so cute…she reminded me of how Zidane was when he was younger. Ah childhood…the time of innocence. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a child, but those days were far-gone. I touched Alexi's chin with my index finger softly, drawing a smile from the able infant.
"Do you want to hear a tale, little one?" I asked.
She laughed and flailed about slowly.
"When I was a little boy, I used to cast my gaze at the stars in the Terran sky. Every time I did so, I would say the phrase: 'Ikaga ryoukin temae shan ranpu site sono sora (How fare you, beautiful light in the sky)?'"
I smiled, reveling in the old memories.
"You see, it's an old greeting to the stars. I used to bless the stars everyday…and you should too. It's not much of a tale, but it's something to remember."
Whoa…did I get all soft and mushy just now? Gods above, I'm out of it. But Alexi seemed to enjoy it. I guess that's what I wanted. Children…linage…wasn't that something I wanted? I wasn't exactly sure. No one had ever loved me like that before. But what about Zoë? Did she like me like that or did she want Michael? I wouldn't blame her if she did, although I hated to see someone like her abused.
"Patience…silver one."