Chapter 5: A Test

"The Heart of Ài sounds most exciting!" Omi exclaimed as he held tightly to Dojo's scales.
"All it does is let you know who a person cares the most about, "Raimundo grumbled, "Other than that, it's not worth anything in battle."
"I dunno, Rai," Clay looked over to him, "knowing what the most important thing in their life is could play a big part in finding their weakness."
"Clay's right," Kimiko agreed, "You never know when something could come in handy one day!"

"Jack! Jack! Get up!" an all too familiar voice called out from the other room.
The red-haired boy was awake, but he didn't want to open his eyes. He stretched his arms and legs out, lightly groaning as the tension released. He attempted to pull the sheets back over himself, but they caught something and dragged it into his arms. He opened his eyes now, expecting to see a pillow or a cushion of some sort, but it was far from it. The cat-girl was curled up in his embrace. She naturally looked cute, but while sleeping she was absolutely adorable. Alert by Jack's sudden movement, she softly sighed. "Mew…"
He reached over her to get to the other side of the bed. As he attempted to crawl over her and avoid waking her, he felt something grab his leg. One of her tails was suspending his limb to the spot. He tried to pry it loose as quietly as he could, but he was a weak little kid going up against a strong, bone-supported tail. He tried to pull the tail away, but out of nowhere, she sneezed. It sounded more like a short scream than a sneeze. Shocked, Jack fell forward with a yelp. The girl awoke and the two lay face to face.
"Jack, what in the name of Dashi was that?" Wuya shouted as she entered the room. "Who just screa-"
Jack looked up, wondering why Wuya had stopped so suddenly. When he looked down, he knew. "There's a new Sheng Gong Wu that has revealed itself. I'm just gonna wait on the ship." She said and hovered away.
"W-Wait! Wuya, you've got it all wrong!" Jack shouted, trying to convince the witch that this was not what she thought it was.
"Mew?" the girl said, innocently.
"A great big load of 'mew'…" Jack sighed and sat up.
Sensing his grief, the girl reached up and lightly stroked the side of his face. "Mew…" she purred as he watched her.
What Wuya said played back in his mind. A new Sheng Gong Wu… That's it! he thought. He knew what subject her test would be over, nabbing Sheng Gong Wu.
She followed him up into the ship and watched out the windshield as he started it up and left. "Where's it at, Wuya?" he asked.
"The Eiffel Tower…" she said, slowly, "Say, Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"…Jack, are you aware that… well… Most boys, at your age, have certain instincts that kick in…" Wuya attempted to explain, thankful that a blush wouldn't show on her mask face.
Jack sighed. "What happened back there was by chance. It was an accident and that was not the case, alright?" he blushed when he tried to explain his side as well.
"If you say so, Jack." Wuya sighed.
"Jack?" a small voice squeaked.
The two of them turned around in disbelief. "Jack?" the girl said and pointed a finger at the boy. "Jack?"
"Y-Yes," Jack said and pointed to himself, "Jack."
The girl smiled, proud of her new word. Jack pointed at Wuya. "Wuya." he said, slowly.
"Wuuuuuuya?" she struggled with the word. "Wuuuuuuya…"
"Good job!" he said and rubbed her head.
She watched as he carefully petted the top of her head between her ears. Wuya caught a glimpse of red spreading on the girl's face. Her eyes sparkled as she looked into Jack's, their amber color shining like gold. It was a cute sight, softening the old hag's heart a tad.
Jack resumed piloting the ship, leaving the girl under Wuya's watch. She toyed with a button that had fallen off of one of Jack's jackets, studying every detail of the round object. With such an unfathomable expression, it was hard to tell what she was thinking. Wuya looked over. Jack wasn't looking, maybe she could do some… exploring. Carefully, as not to alert the girl, she crept into the cat-child's mind.