"God dammit."

Wiping the sleep from eyes, Maka reached for her phone to hit the blaring alarm that wouldn't stop ringing. She planned to get an early start to the morning on her first day watching the energetic and mischievous kitten. Maka wasn't typically one for watching other people's pets but it had come up at work on numerous occasions as a way to squeeze out some extra cash here and there. There was an argument to be had for why one would board at a facility versus finding a friend to do what she got suckered into. The money surely wasn't worth complaining about, but changing up her normal routine would suck the life outta that pleasure.

On a normal work day Maka would set her alarm for an hour before she had to clock in. That would give her just enough time to get up and get dressed, do her hair, eat a quick breakfast and bike to work with a few minutes to spare as long as there wasn't any construction going on. Maka was a creature of habit in every part of her life. From her school work to home life, everything had a set schedule and a very specific way in which tasks had to be completed. Homework was given a certain time to be finished before she allotted herself a short half hour to check her socials and any bit of local news she should be caught up on before bed. 7 hours of sleep was what she would aim for. In bed by 11 and asleep by midnight.

Sometimes someone, or something, throws a wrench in your plans and you have to just go with the flow. Watching an acquaintance's new cat, not a big deal, that much is manageable. Sleeping at said person's house though, that would present Maka with a set of issues she was not prepared to weather. She was used to sleeping on her somewhat soft, kind of older mattress that was probably due to be replaced, with her heavy blankets and 4 pillows. She had blackout curtains over her windows so the sun wouldn't wake her up before her alarm set off.

Ms. Bright Eyes wasn't prepared for lightly colored shades covering a obscenely large window that let the sunlight peak in at juuuuuuuust the right angle that it hit her eyes at sunrise. This was either a sick joke or just the way boys set their rooms. It was unfortunate because she could argue that this was the comfiest bed she had ever slept in. It was like resting her head on a sheet of clouds. She couldn't remember what time she fell asleep, but that was probably for the best. No point in getting upset over spilt milk, or broken glass. Hopefully neither.

"It's just a kitten. She can't destroy a whole house in one night. Everything's going to be ok."

Maka took a deep breath before throwing the blankets off and hopping out of bed. There was no way the cat was able to do too much, she was only so big, she could barely push over a picture frame if she tried.

Shoes were probably a good idea just in case. Better safe than sorry. She was probably overpreparing, but this was a new experience. Maka herself had never owned a pet herself. Not including picking up after Star, she for most part just had to take care of herself and in some cases her father.

Maka flicked the lights on just enough to see but dim enough to not burn her retina so early in the morning. Soul's house wasn't too hard to figure out. The short tour was enough to know how to not get lost. Peeking her head around a corner, she stood in her nightgown looking for the baby of the house.

"Pss pss pss. Oh Blair. You hungry mama?"

The bathroom was empty. The master bedroom was locked so she couldn't have been in there. Maka half expected the kitten to jump out at her or to at least come running at the sound of her name. Blair had to be somewhere in the house, she wasn't concerned about that. It was more-so that Maka was concerned that Blair had gotten into some shenanigans in the middle of the night and broken something. Maka never realized just how energetic a cat could be until last night. It sounded like the kitten had run a marathon, knocking into doors and scratching on the walls.

Maybe she was hiding? Maka wasn't a stranger to the little gremlin, but she certainly wasn't her favourite person just yet. No sign of the brat in the hallway or living room. She was probably hanging out in the kitchen where her food bowl sat.

"Ah, figures. Well the house is still in one piece so far, that's good I guess." What could three pounds possibly do anyways. Come now. Time to eat ya little monster."

Maka opened the cabinet which housed several different brands of food to feed the mewling kitten. Blair swiveled between Maka's legs whilst rubbing her small head up against Maka's ankles. She was still so tiny, how she had so much energy was astounding.

Maka poured some of the dry kibble into Blair's dish and cleaned out her water bowl with some fresh water from the sink. Soul had some surprisingly specific feeding instructions left for Blair. Maka was kind of proud of him for that. He was turning out to be a pretty good owner from the look of things.

Covering her mouth to yawn, Maka took a glance at the clock on the stove-top. 7:15. Plenty of time to get dressed and get ready for work. Turning the coffee maker on, Maka reached for her phone, checking to make sure she didn't have any missed calls or any unread text messages. Waking up to 'Emergency Messages' in the morning was always a great way to start a day. There was always someone calling out for one reason or another. Nothing today though. She could relax and enjoy her coffee at her own pace.

"You're probably good to be here on your own all day, right? Just promise me you won't break anything while I'm gone, cool?"

Maka didn't expect an answer from the fur ball, but what if? Blair ignored her words and kept her face in the food bowl until there were just a few crumbs left. She jumped up onto the seat across from her caretaker and laid with her nails stretched out from the edge of the seat.

"Guess you eat pretty well. One less thing I gotta worry about this weekend."

Maka finished up her cup of coffee and stood to get ready for work. As nice as it would have been to call out of work on this lovely Saturday, she knew all too well what kind of day happens when they're short staffed. She didn't have it in her to do that to her friends.

With her hair tied up and her scrubs tucked nice and tight, Maka took one last look around the house to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything. Blair would be by herself for the majority of the day before Maka would get back to feed her again.

"Ok see ya later Blair. Don't make a mess."

Maka locked the door behind her and kicked up the break on her bike. She caught a glimpse of a covered up vehicle just outside the door. No doubt Soul had the keys with him. No way he would leave them behind for someone to joyride.

'Maybe one day.'

~!~

"Good morning."

Maka walked in to work at 8:15 am and so far everything was as it should have been. In-hospital patients were already taken care of and fed, any medications that needed to be administered had been done already and the floor had been swept. She clocked in mentally prepared herself to look at the day's schedule of appointments and possible procedures.

Saturday's thankfully weren't very long days as the hospital closed early in the afternoon. A normal Saturday would usually consist of a handful of annual exams with vaccines and maybe a few walk-in appointments. The schedule didn't look horribly busy but no one would dare say so lest they be smacked for speaking such taboo.

Setting her water tumbler down on the countertop, Maka mentally prepared herself for what was seeming to be a somewhat chaotic day. There were a couple regulars scheduled to come in, about a half-dozen grooming appointments and some new patients exams towards the end. Nothing out of the ordinary. She had a good team surrounding her today, they would make it through one way or another.

Maka hadn't been working there as long as some of the other employees but she was smart enough to pick up on the dos and don'ts of veterinary medicine. Keep your food and other snacks away from test samples. Pretty simple. Label EVERYTHING lest you want it to get lost. But most importantly, don't ever comment on how busy or slow a day may seem to be. It's like the big red button that must never be pushed. The moment the words are spoken you're soon to hear…

"Emergency up front. I've got an emergency up front."

~!~

Not that Maka disliked working to pay her bills, but sometimes she would see people out in public wearing their designer clothes and expensive accessories and she would think that was a better way to pay for college. Sometimes it was a day, and other times it was A DAY. It was only lunch break and it seemed like a whole 12 hour shift had passed her by. The morning was a non-stop cluster fuck of stupidity and just overall lack of communication.

It wasn't every client that came in from waking up on the wrong side of the pillow, but it's the one or two that try to ruin your day. The "emergency" ended up just being a young canine with a mild upper respiratory attached to an owner who demanded they be seen right away because Fluffy "was dying and couldn't breathe. She'd been coughing for a couple of days"

That wasn't enough to ruin a day, but thrown in some torrential weather that backed up traffic and caused a handful of appointments to be late and you have yourself a fun time.

Extreme weather was nothing new in Death City though. Living in the desert came with its own uniqueness, citizens included. One most notably being a recently new cat owner. He'd been texting Maka throughout the morning asking how "The little shit" was doing and if the house was still standing. She wouldn't see these messages until hours later. Maka never kept her phone on her person while at work, there were too many hazards to be wary of. Considering the day she'd had so far, her scrubs were in pretty good condition. Hair wasn't too much of a mess, and she was only urinated on twice. An average Saturday.

Maka responded to his inquiries with a few pictures she was able to snap of Blair while she was still home. Blair wasn't the easiest cat to photograph because she wasn't often standing in one spot for very long before darting to another room. There was one decent photo she was able to capture of the kitten laying on her side on top of her scratching tree. But besides that, most of the pictures she took were either blurry or you couldn't see her face clear enough. Maka wasn't a professional photographer but she wasn't going to send Soul any bad pictures.

'Aww, she sat still long enough to take a picture. Nice. How's she getting along?'

Maka never took Soul for the doting parent type but owning a pet must have changed him already. Blair wasn't trying to bite or slash at Maka with her nails, so that's a win. So far, she was acting pretty well considering the circumstances. The real test though is how she does when alone all day. What kind of chaos could 3 pounds of terror possibly cause though?

'She's pretty good. No problems so far. Everything's good over here.'

Keep it short and simple. As well as Maka sort of knew Soul, not really, but he was friends with Star; she intended to keep it as professional as possible. At the moment, Soul was a customer, not an acquaintance she could be so casual with. Watching Blair and keeping his house in check was a job first and foremost. Maka didn't foresee any issues with the cat, not at the moment at least.

After lunch break the rest of the day went without a hitch and the staff was able to clean up and leave work on time. Maka said her goodbyes to her friends and made empty promises to make plans with them in a couple days once she had a day off. Overall, it wasn't a bad day. Maka checked in with Black*Star to make sure that her own home was falling apart without her being there. She texted Tsubaki as well because God only knew that Star was more than likely playing video games and wouldn't see her messages. Bless Tsubaki. Maka had no idea how those two ever happened but she's thankful for that woman coming into Star's life. No one else could possibly deal with all of whatever he was.

From the responses she got, everything was fine. They weren't eating frozen food for every meal and they got out of the house for most of the day. Maka had to make time over the weekend to make sure everything was as she was being told.

Pulling up to the hill upon which Soul's house sat, Maka let out a sigh. It was finally time to let her body relax and kick her shoes off. She was looking forward to setting a nice warm bath and washing the gunk of the day off of her. Cooking dinner was going to be an odd challenge. She was so used to cooking with her pots and pan on her own stove top, but Soul had a bit of a fancier set-up with a digitally powered stove and oven combination.

Opening the door slowly, Maka made sure that Blair wasn't sneaking around readying to run through the front. She was essentially a house cat at this point but she wasn't going to be casual about a cat she wasn't comfortable with.

To Maka's surprise, the little princess happily approached her, tail swaying with each step. What was the runt up to today, she wondered. Never owning a pet before, Maka's imagination on what kind of trouble cats could get into at home was limited to what she was told by clients at work. She half expected ripped up walls or broken glass somewhere, somehow. Maybe she even destroyed a toy or two.

"Looking good Blair. Good girl."

The house was as she left it that morning. Maka was worrying more than she needed to. This was going to be an easy, boring weekend.

Taking her shoes off and setting her things down on the kitchen counter, Maka started preparing for dinner. While she waited for water to boil she checked up on all things Blair.

Clean water bowl? Check. Full food bowl. Also check. She scooped the litter pan this morning so she wasn't going to bother checking again today. Everything was going well.

After a few minutes, Maka set her plate down and turned off the kitchen appliances. A simple pasta was good enough after a long day of work. It was going to take some getting used to before she felt comfortable using his kitchen. The water started boiling way quicker than when she would cook at home.

Maka took her time eating, just watching Blair mess around with her squeaky toys. She would wrangle them like she was fighting them in the ring, locking her legs around the whole of it. It was amusing to watch. And as quickly as she was having fun with that one, she jumped up and ran to the next one. This continued for a few minutes until she settled on joining Maka at the dinner table.

Maka knew she had a habit of jumping up to the table, so at this point she wasn't going to correct any behaviors. Blair tip-toed her way up to Maka's glass of water and took a peek inside. She took a quick sniff and looked up to Maka, phone in one hand, fork in the other.

"What? That's my water, not yours."

Blair circled her way around to the other side of the table before coming back to Maka's glass. She slowly lifted a paw to it and hesitantly pawed at it.

"Hey! Don't do it."

She paused and stared back at Maka before stepping off from the table and walking away. The rest of dinner was uneventful. Maka took her time hand washing each dish and utensil she used so as not to pile up dirty dishes for Soul to clean when he got home. She would leave his house as he left it.

House sitting wasn't that difficult as long as she didn't overcomplicate matters. She was in her own head too much, thinking up overcomplicated situations that had a very minimal possibility of happening. There wasn't any way that Blair was going to completely ruin the house. She wasn't going to break the grand piano, nor was she going to find a way into his closet to tear up his clothes while Soul was gone.

Once she was finally able to relax with a nice warm bath, a glass of wine and a book, was Maka finally able to shut her brain off. It was the perfect way for her to end a day. She kept the bathroom door slightly ajar just in case she had to jump out and stop Blair from doing something stupid.

A few minutes would pass and eventually the cat would waltz in and join Maka in the steamy washroom. She skittered her way up to the toilet and hopped up to get on eye level with Maka. She stared down Maka who had her face buried in her book. Maka continued ignoring her until she was tip toeing on the very edge of the tub.

"Don't be stupid now."

Maka warned. It was obviously a wet and slippery surface and the little kitten was too young to be very balanced just yet.

"Don't."

Blair must have this curiosity for anything containing liquids because just like at dinner, she had her face in Maka's glass of wine. Very quickly though she pulled away and cringed her nose as if she didn't enjoy the smell. She made a quick turn to jump away but didn't take into account that the tub filled with water was in fact a wet surface. Maka didn't have enough time to react.

"Oh god dammit Blair."

If you have made it this far, your patience is appreciated. The timing between this and the previous chapter is a very long time so you'll notice a bit of change in storytelling. If you enjoy this story, thank you.