Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the concepts of the Xenosaga games. I'm just playing with them, and then I'll put them back in their boxes, Mommy, I promise. I'm making no profit out of this story, and if you sue me, you'll only get a few lint balls. I wouldn't bother with it, really.
I do own this story, and plagurizing it would make you a sad, sad, creepy little person. It'd also make me angry, and I bite. So save yourself some rabies shots and don't even try to nick it, okay?
Currently unbeta-ed. If you'd like to volunteer for the position I'd love you forever.
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Chapter Three
I and this mystery, here we stand...
"Which one are you gonna pick?" Maki's normally brassy voice was an almost reverent whisper as the Foundation gang gathered around a basket full of squirming, mewling balls of fluff. Dom presided over the rabble, preening over being the center of attention without having to blow something up for once. The leopard spotted cat that had fathered the brood lay across Dom's lap, belly up and presented for scratching. It was the rough and tumble mouser that Shion and Momo had found for the laundry on one of the GS campaigns. It suited Dom to a tee.
"She can have whichever one she wants," Dom announced decisively. Simon smirked at him, and Dom blushed suddenly and looked away. "I mean, you know, 'cause she's a girl and all an' yer supposed to let girls go first..." Claudy looked up with a sudden frown. "Hey... Dom, my mom said I could have a kitten too. Why don't I get first pick?"
Dom snorted. "'Cause that rule only applies to cute girls."
Claudy let out an enraged squeak and socked Dom on the shoulder. "Jerk!"
MOMO blushed, keeping her eyes firmly on the kittens. "Ah... Claudy... you can go first if you want..."
"Ah," Claudy settled back into sitting beside MOMO, watching the other girl reach out hesitantly to let an amber and marmalade striped kitten sniff her fingers delicately. "Nah, Momo, first pick is yours. After all, you won't tell us when your birthday is, so we'll just give ya stuff all year long to make up for it."
MOMO shook her head firmly. "There's really no need, I mean birthdays don't really..."
Claudy tilted her head fractionally, only a slight narrowing of her eyes revealing the fact that she was actually listening very closely to the little Realian's words. Claudy wasn't an empath like Layla, but she was extremely bright and perceptive. There was extreme turmoil beneath the younger girl's cheerful facade, and Claudy was determined to find out just what had caused it, if only to make sure she could beat the person senseless the moment she saw them. "Aw, c'mon, Momo," she said cheerfully, hoping to pry more out of the most closemouthed of the gang. "No day is more cheerful than someone's birthday!"
"Not if you were born on Armageddon." MOMO murmured under her breath. Claudy's ears perked; the statement would have been too soft for a normal human's ears to hear, but Claudy's senses were enhanced. She hadn't picked up the whole thing, but she had heard enough.
Claudy had always known the peach-haired girl was different. She acted extremely mature, was exempt from the Foundation's schooling program, had inhumanly fast reflexes, and most telling, she healed unnaturally fast. The others had apparently ignored these subtle clues, but Claudy had pieced them together, and now she had something like a whole.
Momo was a Realian.
Claudy set her chin in her hand, watching the Realian and the kittens pensively. So Momo was different. The only question was what did that mean for her friendship with the girl?
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MOMO walked home unusually slowly that day, due to the slight furry bundle in her arms. The kitten was white spotted with small marmalade spots, like the holograms she had seen of the extinct species, the leopard. Unlike the other kittens, this one had been born deaf. However, that didn't seem to phase the tiny creature at all. It had climbed on MOMO fearlessly, jumping from child to child and thoroughly investigating each with a wet pale pink nose and wide bottle green eyes. MOMO had looked into the kitten's eyes as it had curiously sniffed her nose, and known, without a doubt, that this was her kitten. It was a bit too early to tell decisively what gender the kitten was, but MOMO knew it had to be a girl. As soon as she got home, she was going to start modifying the connections that Daddy had equipped her with to help Sakura-neesan...
A cold nose rubbed against her collarbone affectionately, and MOMO giggled, sighing happily. She really hoped that Mommy approved of her choice. The warm bundle of fur in her arms had awakened such new feelings. MOMO couldn't help but marvel at the sheer volume of trust that the tiny kitten seemed to have in her. To be the recipient of such obvious affection... it was something MOMO was completely unused to. MOMO paused on the porch of the home she shared with the woman who was legally listed as her mother. Smiling, MOMO buried her face in the kitten's soft fur. Breathing in, she laughed again as the kitten purred loudly.
"I see we have a new addition to our house."
MOMO's eyes opened wide, snapping without hesitation to the figure of Juli Mizrahi in the doorway. Juli extended her hand gracefully, and the kitten sniffed curiously, pink tongue darting out to lick as well. "Beautiful coat," Juli murmured, scratching behind the tiny cat's over sized ears delicately. "Have you chosen a name for it yet?"
MOMO caught her lip between her teeth thoughtfully. "...Cheri," she admitted softly. Juli's lips tilted in a bittersweet smile.
"Well, Cheri," she addressed the kitten safely ensconced in MOMO's arms, "welcome home."
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"Welcome home, Little Master," one of the staff at the Our Treasure Inn said, smiling. "Are you here to see Miss Layla to check on her? Or were you hoping to run into our little Miss Momo?" The older lady tilted her head, and Jr. remembered belatedly that this was the old biddy that was famous throughout the Foundation as being a horrible gossip. He resisted the urge to hunch his shoulders defensively against her prying gaze. "Ah--"
"Miss Momo is quite popular with Miss Layla and the other children on the Foundation, you know. Especially the boys. That little Dominic boy from the dry cleaner's, for example," the older lady continued, seemingly oblivious to Jr's steadily darkening expression. "She's the only one who can seem to keep him out of trouble. Personally, I think lately he's been trying to catch her eye. It's-- uh..."
Jr's glare had the woman stuttering for a moment before she managed to scrape together a coherent sentence. "It's, ah, none of my business I suppose. What did you say you needed, Little Master?"
"A room," Jr's reply was strained through his clenched teeth. "My help has been requested here, and I'm going to stay for a while."
"Oh!" the gossip-monger visibly perked, "Are you going to help us with the Christmas preparations, Little Master?"
Jr. blinked, surprised. He'd nearly forgotten that the Foundation had a tradition of celebrating a wide host of ancient holidays. The Foundation had provided refuge for so many, that it had inherited a conglomerate of old cultures. "Mm, yes..." Jr. replied thoughtfully. "I thought I'd have a personal hand in it this year, seeing as how I couldn't make it home for the last big celebration."
The nosy woman's expression softened slightly. "We did miss you, Little Master. Momo-chan looked quite disappointed that you couldn't make it. I think she was looking forward to showing you how well she's been doing here."
"Well, I'll just have to surprise her here soon, won't I?" Jr. put on a smarmy grin that he had learned by imitating Gaignun. "You'll keep the fact that I'm here a secret for me, right?"
The lady put a conspiratorial finger to her lips, handing Junior the key to his room. "I won't breathe a word of it."
Jr. started up the stairs to put away his things, knowing the news of his return would be all over the Foundation before he came back down.
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A/N: Sorry for the delay in releasing this chapter. Power outages and modem death are to blame. Hopefully the length of the chapter will help in saving me from getting anything chucked at my head? If anyone can't guess who "Cheri" is named after, shame on you! XD And things are going to start picking up soon.
Next chapter: Puberty is a pain. Not going through puberty is worse.