Chapter Five: Basic Life
~Amaya's POV~
As a guardian of two small children, you'd think that with their unnatural stamina and energy they'd need to sleep more. But no… I'd had the bright idea of training them to wake up early. At the ungodly hour of 5:00 in the freaking morning.
"Maya... Maya..."
"Mmrgh..." I moaned moving my head to the other side. Something poked my arm.
"Maya..."
"What?" I groaned.
"It's time for school."
"I graduated. I don't have any more school." I mumbled. Something batted my nose. Something that was furry and, admittedly, nice. I cracked an eyelid open to stare at the white kitten with one eye and the black kitten.
Since I was a panther when I shifted into the feline category I could easily see the expressions on their faces. It translated into get up now or else. And considering what I'd done to the other kitten yesterday that took balls. So, I sighed and reluctantly rolled onto my back before sitting up.
"Ew!" Memphis cried, laughing. I looked down to see my grey sports bra.
"Oh, get used to it. Your girlfriend will probably be wearing nothing."
"Ewww..." Keira and Memphis cried. Ah little kids and their innocent minds. Let's hope they stayed that way otherwise there'd be hell to pay. I yawned throwing off the covers and stretching.
"Okay... M'up." I yawned again. Something at the edge of my vision caught my eye. I turned my head to see my closet door open. Who...?
"Keira. Memphis. Were you in my closet?" I asked calmly.
"No!" Memphis said.
"You always tell us not to go in there because you have a monster in there." Keira pointed out. I nodded. (I know, I can't believe they bought that too.)
"Did you two eat?" I asked distractedly, still staring at the closet and wondering who would go in there. The answer came when one of the blond kittens came running out with the red cat chasing him.
"No." Of course not. Well, can't let a child starve. I got my butt in gear. Who knows what their mother would do if she saw me lazing on the job? (Probably skin me alive).
"March minions. To the kitchen." I ordered. I smiled as, like good minions, they started marching. "I'll be down once I'm decent." I said.
"Okay!" I waited until they closed my door before I stalked to the door. The light didn't even have a chance to turn on fully before I was at the back of the closet looking at the rippling water. My eyes narrowed as a tentacle reached out. I grabbed one of my uglier high heels and stabbed the tentacle before I held up my arms.
"In the name of the Goddess I close this gateway to protect this world, I hereby send this opened portal to the netherworld!" In a flash and a short screech the portal melted away until it was merely a mirror again. One that had a rose levitating in the center. I turned my eyes to the door where Blackie and Scarecrow were watching me. "If you have any sense of morality you will never come in here again." I snarled. I flicked my hand sending the cats back a few paces before I closed the door.
"Did you feed your fuzzballs yet?" I asked when I finally reached the kitchen five minutes later in black leggings and a burnt orange tunic with black boots. (They might be a little overdone since I was 'retired' but it never hurt anyone to be prepared when it came to dealing out pain.)
"Oh!" Keira ran to get the, unnecessary meat, food for their cats. I snorted. Figures they'd forget. Ah well, that's what I was there for.
"Did you get your school things ready?" I asked.
"I don't know where my backpack is!" Keira called.
"I can't find my shoes or my jacket." Memphis. I mentally groaned. How did children have the tendency to lose something in plain sight? It was a mystery since I made sure they put their things away.
"Where did you last put them?" I asked already cracking eggs.
"I don't know!"
"Keira, when you got home from school where did you go? Memphis, check under your bed for your shoes. If you can't find your jacket then just wear the grey one." I ordered getting the bacon and hash browns cooked.
"But I don't like the grey one!" Memphis whined stomping his foot. I turned away from cooking to give him 'the look'. (Trust me if you've ever babysat or had kids then you know the look I'm talking about).
"If you can't find the jacket you're wearing the grey one."
"But-"
"Then go look for it." I sighed in exasperation. He took off knowing not to push it. "Keira please tell me you fed your cats."
"Yep." I mentally nodded.
"FOUND IT!" Memphis called coming in with his shoes on.
"Did you find your jacket?" I asked dividing our breakfast.
"I found my backpack!" Keira called coming in.
"Good. Memphis?"
"I found it!" Memphis said distractedly tying his shoes. I nodded knowing that was a few complications out of the way. (Oh trust me, kids always bring more up before they're ready.)
"Maya, can we take the cats to school?" Keira asked digging in. I blinked before poking my head out of the fridge. What, the kids needed OJ.
"Excuse me? Would you repeat that again?" I asked.
"She said can we take the cats to school today?" Memphis clarified.
"I thought that was what you said." I muttered sitting down, finally relaxing again. Too much time spent as a cat usually left me with a few uh, quirks. Being that I liked being lazier than normal and I loved sitting in the sun to catnap, yeah, I could tone down my transformations more. Not that I would. "Why would you want to take the cats to school with you? You haven't even named them or given them a few health spells yet."
"You can do the spells quicker." Keira protested.
"I could, but then I'd need to be a registered Healer. And I don't exactly fit the budget since I never took the last test for Healing." I responded logically.
"Why not?" Memphis asked. I sighed.
"Let's just say I was an idiot when I was sixteen and leave it at that."
"But what happened-"
"We aren't talking about that." I snapped. My glass cup cracked slightly. Keira and Memphis instantly looked away. Sh*t. I sighed waving my hand and repairing my cup. "Look, you guys weren't really aware of my past and maybe one day I'll tell you okay? But today is not that day."
"Does it hurt?" Keira asked.
"Yeah. Let's go with that." I smiled gratefully. Oh how I hoped Keira went into the Healing profession. She was more Healer than Guardian anyway. Memphis on the other hand was too energetic to be anything but a Guardian. "I'll take the cats to the Healer today and get them checked over. You can take the cats tomorrow. After you name them of course."
"We named them already!" Keira announced happily. I snickered.
"Really? Do tell." They bounced out of their seats to be by their cats, who had stopped eating after I'd accidentally cracked my cup. (Was it just me or did those cats seem… weirder than most?)
"Keira you go first." Memphis said. She nodded before pointing at the brown 'stitched' cat. I held up a hand.
"Hold it!" I stared at the cats before frowning. The cats of course meowed as I stared at them. "When the hell did Keira get six cats?"
"Huh?" Me and the kids looked at the cats to see I was right. I had completely forgotten about the orange haired kitten when I hadn't seen him with his friends yesterday. (Well I feel stupid.)
"No fair!" Memphis was quick to call. Quickly I picked up one of the red cats.
"Five for Memphis and five for Keira now, forget your troubles and resume your naming with a bow!" I chanted quickly. I winced slightly as Keira and Memphis blinked a few times before Keira took a bow. I sighed in relief.
Having kids means learning how to keep the peace. They might be my siblings but when it came to them fighting I was always quick to neutralize whatever had caused their rift. If I wanted my morality to be kept safe then casting a quick spell was a quick and easy solution. (My aunt was a Wikka, but man could she trade with a Huntress in a heartbeat.)
I tuned back in when Keira started talking.
"I'm calling this one Beauty!" The stitched cat. "This one is Sparkle." His silver haired, red eyed demon friend. "Brittany." The blond kitten with the tuft of fur in one eye. "Chucky." The orange furred kitten with onyx eyes. "And Rose." The smaller of the two blue kittens.
"Uh, Keira you know I think Rose is the only girl." I said seeing the other kittens meowing. If I didn't know any better I'd say they were laughing and the blond wasn't liking it at all.
"Eh." She shrugged. "It was either that or Simba and I don't want a cat like that."
"So you chose Brittany because…"
"She's Alvin's girlfriend and she can sing." Keira said happily. I blinked. Oh I feel so sorry for that poor blond kitty.
"Uh-huh… Memphis, you're next."
"I'm calling this one Oreo." The bigger blue kitten. "Sleepy." The red haired kitten with brown eyes. "Pinky." Guess who? "Darknado" The smaller of the black kittens. "And Kit." The other blond cat. I nodded.
"One question, why Oreo?" I asked staring at the bigger blue kitten. "He seems more like a shark to me."
"He was trying to eat my Oreo's." Memphis said like it was obvious.
"Okay then." I nodded getting up to clear the table.
"Wait, what are your cat's names?" Keira asked. I looked down at my three wards.
"Uh, Red, Blackie, and Scarecrow."
"No!" Keira and Memphis cried.
"What? You got to call your cats whatever you wanted." I mock-whined.
"But those are so… boring!" Memphis cried.
"Yeah, don't you love your cats?"
"How can I love a cat I just met?" I asked. Oh the irony of that statement. At their disappointed looks I sighed putting the dishes down. "Fine I'll name them something adequate." I took a few seconds to look the cats over before flicking my eyes to Memphis. "I'm still calling this one Scarecrow no matter what." I warned.
"That's fine." Keira said.
"Dark Knight." I pointed to the black cat knowing Memphis' love for Batman.
"Oooh!" Yep.
"And Cutie." I dubbed the red kitten.
"Those are good!" Keira accepted.
"Good, now we really should get going unless you two want to explain to your teacher about why you were late."
"Ahh!" Keira screamed running to her room. Memphis and I looked at each other.
"You two should know that we leave after breakfast by now." I complained.
"I know huh?" Memphis said not helping his sister. I snickered seeing him put his jacket and backpack on. "I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready!"
"Dear Goddess if you start singing SpongeBob's theme I don't think I'm going to be claiming you as my brat." I warned putting the dishes in the dishwasher.
"What's wrong with SpongeBob?" Memphis asked.
"He's a sponge living under water in a pineapple next to a squid and a starfish." I pointed out.
"So?" Memphis asked.
"He cooks hamburgers called Krabby Patties and reports to a crab that has a whale for a daughter."
"Fair point." He nodded. Keira ran in looking out of breath.
"I'm ready!"
"Then come along fluffies, let's go." I said grabbing my keys. "Put your jackets on, it's cold outside."
"I need help." Keira asked. I held her bag before helping her put her buckskin jacket on. With her Eskimo features it went perfectly and still made her look cute.
"Are you going to the Healers after you drop Keira and me off at school?" Memphis asked.
"I knew I was forgetting something." I said snapping my fingers. I quickly located all the kittens before waving my hand. Yowls and meows sounded as the thirteen cats all zoomed into a box that had materialized in my arms. "Now we can go." I said.
We walked into the icebox known as our garage. I unlocked my all around 'safer' Jeep and started it once I got close.
"Keira turn on the heat." I said helping Memphis into the back seat along with the box of kittens. Keira, for this week, got shotgun.
"Turn on the music!" Memphis called once I'd buckled him into his car seat. (Just because we're witches didn't mean we were 'accident-proof'. Well maybe no one is ever accident proof.)
"Keira did you get your script for your play rehearsal today?" I asked once I was in the driver seat.
"Yeah. It's in my blue folder." I nodded.
"Memphis you have your bracelet?" His parents had gotten him and Keira a tracker in case we ever lost them. My aunt had almost lost my siblings when she'd been helping to raise us. She was being safe by just putting a tracker on her kids. Keira had a necklace but unlike her brother she never took it off.
"Yep." He called showing me the amethyst bracelet.
"Alright." And so my day began. I know I shouldn't complain about getting away from the phone today but the Healers always had a waiting room, especially with the animal Healers. And if there's one thing I hate about waiting rooms, other than the waiting, it was the 'magical restraints'. (I didn't say witches were mellower).
About fifteen minutes later I was parked in front of the three story School where many other children were taught. The big stone building was more gothic thanks to it being built during the Victorian Era by Eliches (1). The marble front was also much more filigreed with gold than any other school around. (Elitches had inherited their love of gaudiness from their Elven parents.)
"Have a good day." I said softly fixing Keira's hair. "And no fighting, Memphis."
"Okay!" Memphis muttered. Keira picked up her brother's hand before darting into the School with him. I watched them making sure they were safe before I turned around. Only to freeze in horror at the big purple eyes trained on me.
"Hello Amaya!" Sh*t! The one person I really couldn't stand, stood beside me watching me closely.
"Hello Victor, nice to see you." I gritted out. His smile grew more predatory. I started walking back to my car knowing he was shadowing my footsteps. I felt the eyes on every other witch as they watched the first Black grandchild and the First Horne grandchild walked together. I'd always known Victor was a flirt and very expressive in his pursuit of me but this, this was a little too much.
"I heard that you're finally single. Is that true?" Oh, I was going to kill whoever had told him that.
"What's it to you Vic?" I asked coldly. "I'm done with boys. You're all too much work."
"You mean boys are. If you haven't noticed I am very much a man honey." I rolled my eyes.
"Spare me the lecture or whatever you have. I'm not interested." I said unlocking my door.
"Oh, come on Maya!" I opened the door only to stop as he held the door firmly making sure I could only get half my body in. "Just give me a chance!"
"Hell no. You've been saying the same thing since we were eleven. I'll say exactly what I said to you then, 'not on your life'." Victor leaned in, smirking like he knew something I didn't. Considering I was always preoccupied with my siblings, he did.
"What about this, if your siblings say 'yes' to me and my plans then you go on a date with me. If they say 'no' then I'll leave you alone and won't ever ask for another date again." I eyed him suspiciously.
"And if they said 'no' you would stop flirting with me?" I asked.
"Well, I might flirt with you but I will stop my pursuit of you." I smirked.
"Alright, deal." His answering grin dimmed at my next words. "If you can actually get all of my sibling's agreement then I'll go out with you. You have three days Vic. Good luck." I slipped into my car and hurriedly drove off before he could try and wiggle out of it. Nothing like unwanted flirting and attention from a boy you despise to mess up your day.
"Amaya Black?" The Healer's assistant called.
"Finally!" I stood up with the box of kittens and walked after the Healer.
"You're Healer will be Sera. She'll be in Room 7 today." The Healer said cheerfully. I just nodded feeling surprise at who my Healer was and about this one's attitude. It always surprised me at how, perky the younger Healers were. "Here you are." She tapped on the door before pushing me inside.
"Amaya Black?" Sera the Healer said. I grinned.
Hey Ser, how's life?" Sera whirled around from the computer she was typing in to stare at me in shock.
"AMAYA!" Sera cried jumping up and hugging me. Well after I had quickly put the box down of course. "Oh my goddess, it's been so long since I last saw you!"
"I know!" I smiled looking her over. "Hey, you got contacts." Sera had always been cute with her freckles and glasses along with her short haircuts but now I could say that she looked much more mature and beautiful. She blushed slightly.
"I got tired of the animals trying to take my glasses off so I finally broke. I've had contacts for two years now."
"Well, you look beautiful. Of course, you did when you had glasses but at least now you can see your eye color."
"Thanks." She smiled clearly showing off her grey eyes. "You've changed too. I remember you being a lot more boyish." I sighed looking down at my C cup.
"I know. They make things a lot more troublesome. Especially with the idiots we call males." Sera giggled.
"I like the change of clothes though. When we were in School you always wore baggy pants and those darn jackets. The only thing I was sure of was your face and hair." I smiled ruefully.
"I ended up with Analia and Ariel on my team. And since we're the Infiltration Guardians Ariel dragged me shopping for new clothes while Analia burnt my old ones."
"Then I suppose we should thank them." Sera giggled moving to the box. "So, what are you here for today?"
"My siblings, Memphis and Keira, got some cats." Sera's face turned to shock at the number of cats inside the box.
"Oh my goddess." She murmured.
"That's what I said. Although with much more cussing and arguing." I admitted. Sera chuckled tipping the box over slowly so the cats could stay on their feet.
"It's all right guys, I won't hurt you. I just need you to do a few things for me all right?" Sera spoke softly and calmly. That voice reminded me of the first time I'd ever met Sera. We were both in the same class, but I hadn't noticed her until we were in Junior year of High School. Some of Bianca's friends had started picking on her because she'd been the first to help an injured pigeon. With my sense of righteousness, I hadn't been able to stand aside and watch. I'd started the fight that had led to Sera becoming one of my friends. After Graduation though, in true Witch style, we'd been grouped into our Healer/ Guardian roles and then split into the ABC's groups. I'd lost touch with everyone who wasn't in 'A' group (2).
"You know, this coloring is very unique." Sera's voice called me back to earth. "If I didn't know any better I'd be accusing you of animal cruelty and dying their fur."
"I noticed that but with everything else in my life I just figured it was another weird thing on my list." I spoke.
"Well, I can check them over right now and give them their shots if you'd like?" Sera asked.
"Please!" I begged. "It's not that I don't want to say 'good-bye' forever after this, but I really hate the waiting rooms here." Sera laughed.
"I know what you mean. I avoid the waiting room as much as I can." She started to move around to get the necessary things. I think, I'm not sure. I'd never really investigated Animal Healing before. Though with horses and cats I supposed it was time to look. "So, what are their names?" I grinned.
"Trust me, you're going to laugh." I promised telling Sera what names my brats had produced.
"B-But this one is a boy." She protested holding up the blond cat she was currently examining. I chuckled.
"I know. After I told Keira she just shrugged and said 'whatever'."
"Oh, you poor dear." Sera sighed. She put Brittany back before holding up her hands. A light purple mist enveloped the cats. It didn't look like it was hurting them, so I let it slid. If anything happened to those furballs Keira would no doubt yell at me as if it was my fault. The purple mist turned golden after a few seconds. Although, around Dark Knight and Cutie the mist turned red. Sera frowned.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"The other cats are all right. They're healthy but these two…" She picked them up before putting them on a different table and gave them a more thorough examination.
After ten minutes of waiting Sera finally spoke up.
"Dark Night looks like he has a disease that's been growing for a few years. It looks like it's been healed before but it's making a comeback. I'm not sure what he's been doing with his eyes and if it were something in a human I'd say it would most certainly cause him pain and his eyesight to fail. Cutie has the same thing only it's… much more severe. Whatever energy is affecting his body weight he puts to his eyes. If he doesn't get treated soon he might end up as a bag of bones. Literally. Whatever disease is in them is progressing and could very well be the end of them."
"Is there something you can do?" I asked feeling an odd urge to protect. What? I don't like the thought of innocent animals suffering. No matter what Analia and Ariel say that one deranged bat deserved to die.
"It's a good thing you came in today." Sera said smiling. "I can treat them today, right now in fact, but I'm going to need your help."
"What do you want me to do? I'm not a Healer." I pointed out. Sera moved to open a random drawer and removed two pieces of crystals. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
"Nope. You asked and you are the strongest Guardian. Well, you were before you retired anyway." I groaned.
"When will people stop making it sound like I quit at the first opportunity?"
"Sorry if it came out like that." I waved her apology off.
"It's fine." I took off my jacket and folded it over the chair I'd been sitting in. "So, what do you need Doc?"
"I'm going to need you to direct your magic into these crystals. Not a lot mind you. Just a tiny trickle. I don't want them to end up as energizer bunnies."
"Alright." I said wishing the same thing. Sera somehow managed to get the two cats onto their side and to remain there while the Healing processed. At her signal I gently touched the two kittens and the crystals before letting a tiny bit of my magic out.
As my magic flowed into the kittens, I got some feedback, which was strange since I'd never really gotten any Healing feedback from anything except a human before. From Dark Knight the feelings I got were surprising. He didn't want to do this in front of his brother but if he had to then he would. The urge to move away from the feeling of my magic made him uncomfortable but he could deal with it. He could trust me to not let anything happen to him. From Cutie the response was the same, only he was a bit more untrusting.
A sharp pain behind my eyes made me flinch but I stayed still so Sera could do whatever she was doing. My right eye, Dark Knight's side, was going fuzzy as everything started to bleed red. My left eye, Cutie's side, turned everything… clear. I could see the magic in the air. Especially my magic. It was a curious experience as Dark Knight and Cutie looked around. What they saw I saw, but the pain behind my eyes started to throb.
"Sera," I warned.
"Almost done…" She spoke. Sera's magic combined with mine as she made Dark Knight and Cutie drink something that they identified as sweet with a slight tang. "Alright, you can stop." I instantly dropped my hands and moved away as tears came out of my right eyes.
"Ow…" I groaned pressing my eyes shut. It helped.
"Here." Sera's hands curled mine around a smooth bottle. "Drink it." I didn't ask or question it before doing as told.
"Please tell me I don't have to do that again." I asked. Sera laughed.
"You don't have to do that again. At the level you adsorbed the pain and disease from them, you should be healed in an hour. Maybe two."
"So, I'm blind in my right eye and clear in the left, awesome." I drawled sarcastically. "Is that blood?" I asked wiping away what I had thought were tears.
"Yeah they should stop soon enough. I suggest putting your head back and concentrating your magic to your eyes to speed up the healing." I nodded before leaning my head back.
"Are the cats alright?"
"Yep. All thirteen cats are now perfectly healthy. You might want to feed Cutie and Dark Knight extra though. They're going to need it after the crash."
"Oh joy, just what I need." I groaned. "Hyper kittens." Sera laughed.
An hour later I was finally feeling better enough to get myself and the damn fuzzballs home.
"Oh, Maya, can I talk to you before you go?" Sera called as I was headed out the door.
"Yeah, just let me…" A young Healer came up.
"Would you like me to put them in your car? I can wait with them."
"Thanks." I breathed. "The Silver Jeep. The one that's running." I spoke. On cue my car turned on. Oh, I just loved technology.
"Come along kitties." The young Healer giggled. I turned to Sera.
"Something on your mind?" I asked seeing her frown.
"I probably should have asked when you came in, but where did you get those cats?" I frowned in confusion.
"Keira and Memphis found them. They said they were in a box in some shrubs on the forest border behind our house. Why?" I asked seeing Sera's eyes flash.
"There's something wrong with those kittens."
"You just said they were healthy-"
"They are, but that's not what concerns me." Sera said firmly brushing aside my other arguments.
"Okay, I'm just plain confused right now." I said hoisting my bag over my head. "What's wrong with those cats other than their fur color?"
"You know that Animal Healers can talk to any animal they come in contact with right?" Sera asked. I stared at her as if she was an idiot.
"Yeah I knew that. What, were my cats talking about how they wanted to destroy the world?" I joked. Sera shook her head.
"No, it's just…" She took a deep breath. "I couldn't understand them at all. But they understood me fine."
"So?" I asked not getting it.
"They weren't talking in any animal language I could understand. Yet they understood me when I talked to them in English." Oh. Sera saw the realization on my face. "Are you sure your cats aren't cursed or someone just pretending to be a cat?"
"I'm not sure." I murmured. "But I'll have an answer when I get home. You can bet on that."
(1) Eliches- They're the offspring of Witches and Elves. They tend to end up as Healers more than Guardians but they're basically hippies but with a very fierce overprotective tendency.
(2) After graduating Witches end up getting separated based on what letter their name starts with. Hence, Amaya, Analia, Ariel, etc. They get separated into teams of three but they usually end up solo after a year.
If you have bad memory like me than don't worry. Here are the names of the cats!
Keira's~
Kakuzu- Beauty
Hidan- Sparkle
Deidera- Brittany
Yahiko- Chucky
Konan- Rose
Memphis'~
Kisame- Oreo
Sasori- Sleepy
Sakura- Pinky
Sasuke- Darknado
Naruto- Kit
Amaya's~
Itachi- Dark Knight
Nagato- Cutie
Kakashi- Scarecrow
Fun fact: I didn't name them myself, I showed a picture of the Acatsuki to my cousins and they named them themselves. It's been so long now but I'm happy to say, I have converted them and other generations of cousins to the anime causes.