2 『Headpat Galore』

Jakarion stared ahead. The rain was hitting hard against the apartment's windows as he remained seated comfortably in Will's lap. Her dainty fingers combing through his fur and causing him to purr without end. 'Pat the head,' he thought eagerly, 'pat the heeeaaad~!'

Giggling, Will could see the eagerness in the pet for some good fluffy loving. She rushed her hand up to his back and began to softly pet his head. His purring was getting so loud that she swore he was going to start drooling on her.

"You really like being pet, don't you, Jack?" The girl let out a teasing tone as she toyed with his ears between her thumb and forefinger. "Jeez you're so soft and you smell good too... I've never met a cat that smelled like Shampoo."

"Miaow~!" Jack responded in kind as he closed his eyes at the feeling of her hands exploring his fuzzy face.

"You're such a chatterbox too," a grin remained across her face as she pulled him up onto her chest as she decided to lay her back onto the bed, her hoodie cupping her head as she continued to pet him some more.

Resting his head down on her collarbone, he stared at the girl as his eyes remained partially closed, his tips of his forked-tail wishing side to side contently. 'Yeah, but you're more of a chatterbox. You do realize you're talking to a cat right?' He continued to keep his dialogue to his thoughts, not really wanting to talk out loud just yet.

Part of this situation though was starting to remind him of a cartoon he watched before, as well as a cartoon adaption, of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Oddly enough he imagined himself being Salem, the talking cat.

"Will, dinner is almost ready~" Her mother Susan chimed as she passed by her bedroom, peering inside to see the two of them getting along. She smiled seeing how well behaved the cat was being with her daughter. One would have expected for a cat who was outside for a long period of time to be less tame and more inclined to scratch them... Yet this one seemed far too used to the contact of humans, and seemed to even be enjoying the physical company of a stranger.

"Thanks, mom," She held a hand up in a slight wave, smiling to herself as she could still feel the cat vibrating from the purr. "At least you're spared from eating my mom's food," she whispered quietly as her mother couldn't cook for the life of her. She very much wished for something else to eat, or to go out for dinner. The only problem with that is they had no money to do such a thing at this time, her father was using her mother for substantial financial support under threat of taking her away from her mother in a court battle. Thankfully, however, she knew that was all going to come to an end once she turned sixteen. At that age she could choose to stay with her mother and no court could tell her otherwise.

A small nod was apparent in response to her words.

"Haha, you understand me?" Will cocked her head of red hair to the side, gazing over his feline features. "Good thing I have someone to talk to then and I'm not going insane, talking to a cat... Or are you just nodding because you can?"

Jack rolled his eyes lightly at her question and glanced aside, to the window, at the grey dark skies above. He had been here for over an hour, that was for sure. It seemed to him that he had lost track of time, probably due to all the petting he was getting.

"Do... You want to go back outside?" Will frowned lightly as she shifted under him, caressing her forefinger under his chin, causing him to look back at her, his head swaying in response as he answered in a negative. "So you really can understand me?"

The cat simply stared through her now that she asked this question after he answered the previous one.

"Don't like questions do you?" A snicker left her lips as he rested his head on her collar once more.

'Depends on who is asking,' Jack leaned his head to the side as he flexed the muscles of his nostrils, flaring his nose as he subtly took in her scent.

"Ah... You stopped responding," Will shook her head with a muted chuckle, laying her arms out from her sides upon the bed as her gaze went to the off white ceiling.

Jack could feel her chest, her heart beating through her rib cages. She seemed anxious, likely wanting tomorrow to come so that she could go to school and do as she had planned earlier. To ask him for his contact information, or go a roundabout route and ask his 'sister' for his information.

He could only imagine how riled up Elyon was going to get from the request. Though he was definitely curious as to how Will was going to react when she did indeed find out who he really was, the cat she allowed to sit on her whilst she was only partially dressed.

Closing his eyes, the cat began to doze off on her, listening to the rhythmic beat of her heart and the delicate feeling of her hoodie beneath him.

"Someone's sleepy..." Will scanned his little face as she slowly sat up halfway, using her right elbow for support while her right arm remained under his rear as to keep him from sliding down her slender rectangular form.

"Dinner's ready~!" I called Susan from the kitchen down the hall from Will's room as she stood behind the breakfast counter overlooking the dining room. "I have some canned Tuna for the cat!"

"Oh boy..." Laughed Will quietly to herself, crying on the inside as she wasn't looking forward to the soup her mother had prepared. It was either going to taste too bland, or the spices will make it tasteless and too painfully spicy to eat. "I don't want to be stuck in the bathroom tonight," she willed herself off the bed, carrying Jack carefully out of her room, down the hall and into their dining room. A small square table awaited them with four empty chairs and plate mats.

"So," Susan began as her daughter entered the room, "Have you thought of what you wanted to name him?"

"I think I'll name him Jack," Will flushed red lightly as she said the name out loud.

"Like one of the boys I heard you talking about some time ago?" A smug look took over Susan's motherly features as she watched her daughter become as red as an erupting volcano, like her reaction to the eavesdropping.

"Moooom~! That is none of your business... That information is strictly between me and this cat," she pointed to Jack's face who was completely asleep, practically snoring, in her arm as she went to sit down at the table. "Stop listening in on my cat-talk," the teen added with a heavy huff of air.

"Mmmm~ No promises," she teased her daughter before walking around the breakfast counter and into the dining room. In her hands were two hot bowls of soup with mushy overcooked vegetables and broth.

"Mooooom~!" Will murmured as she lulled her head back with puffy cheeks.

As she sat down, Susan placed one of the bowls in front of her daughter before plucking a spoon up into her grasp she had left at the table in advance. "Fine, fine..." Chuckled the woman before she took a sip of soup from her spoon after scooping up a good portion of vegetables.

Staring down at the soup, Will frowned a bit before hesitantly taking hold of her spoon with her free hand and doing the same. Slowly though she lowered the spoon into the bowl and let it go, her gaze dropping down to Jack as he was still asleep in her grasp.

"Are you ready for school tomorrow? Did you finish your Algebra homework?" Susan asked as she raised a brow, pointing her spoon towards her daughter, in the curiosity about her worst subject.

"Y-yes," Will replied flustered at the question, smiling nervously as she did.

"I see..." A small smirk remained on her mother's lips as she looked at her daughter up and down, "Good."

Letting out a sharp breath, she slowly sank into her seat as she thought on her homework, dreading the red marks she'll see tomorrow after it was checked by her teacher. In her mind what she had been learning was not math, but complicated literature or a completely different language. And she knew as she went through her years in high school, she would inevitably find herself doing even more complicated problems in geometry, statistics, and calculus.

Her mother's question, aside from the bland taste of the soup, had ultimately ended her appetite.

"If you have that kind of reaction towards Math, why don't you see if your CRUSH can tutor you?" Susan asked as she twirled her spoon through the air, liking the idea of playing matchmaker with her daughter and rather curious of the boy she liked to begin with.

"W-well... He is an honor student..." She pinched her right brow between her thumb and forefinger, her eyes traveling down to the cat before narrowing her gaze. Snapping to attention, her sights settled on her mother in scrutiny, "You're trying to meet the boy I like, aren't you!?"

"Guiltyyyy~" Susan chimed as she waved a hand in dismissal.

Yawning, Jack opened his eyes again as he yawned widely having heard the latest part of the conversation. Tutoring? Sounds like an okay idea, it would allow him to get closer to a Guardian who just happened to be the girl with blood-red hair. Was this Destiny?

"If he agrees, you better not call me your Pink-Perky-Poopy-Pumpkin when he is around!" She pointed her finger at her mother, "I don't want you to embarrass me in front of him..."

An indistinguishable and devious smug grin appeared across the cat's face, as it was already too late. Her mother had completely and utterly embarrassed her in front of her crush without her even knowing!

"I'll try my best, but I don't think I can make such a promise to my Pink-Perky-Poopy-Pumpkiiiin~" Susan put her index, middle, and ring fingers over her lower lip as she smiled insidiously.

"Hmph..." Crossing her arms over Jack's back, she sunk into her seat and rested her lips on the top of his head.

There was no feasible reason for Jack to object, as he remained in her arms, not moving an inch as he savored the closeness to the girl. She smelled good too, like roses.

'Is she wearing perfume?' He wondered quietly to himself, pondering alone in his mind.

"So, what does he look like?" Susan pushed some of her soup around in the bowl, eying her daughter, trying to coax information out of her rather blatantly.

"Jack has pale skin and black hair. At first glance, it looks like he has a short style, but really he has a braid in the back that reaches to his mid-back. There is even a colored bow at the end of it, pretty sure the color changes every day... He looks tough, has romantic dark blue eyes..." Will smiled lightly as she nuzzled her chin against the cat as she was imagining one of her crushes through her own words.

Blinking at the description, Susan studied her daughter, "Does he braid his own hair?"

"I think so," Will slowly sat up as she replied, "I think he also braids his sister's hair too."

"Or it could be the other way around," Susan rested her cheek in her hand as she watched her daughter toy with the cat's ears. "What kind of clothes does he wear?"

"Hmmm... Turtlenecks, jackets, cargo pants, the usual?" She raised a brow looking to her mom as she questioned her mentally why she was asking so much about him.

"Sounds honest," Susan knew a person could learn a lot about others from how they dress. That was one thing she quickly learned from her husband, or soon to be ex-husband. If someone dressed in a suit and nice shoes all the time, they were likely people who wanted to get others to easily trust them or they were simply a metrosexual, not that it mattered now.

"You think so?" Will perked up hearing her mother seemingly approve.

"Indeed," she raised a spoon from her soup and sighed, "Maybe we should order some Chinese."

Jack licked his nose with his dry tongue at the idea, before leaning up towards Will's jawbone and giving her little cat kisses. His head jolted a bit though from her sudden burst of giggling, feeling his nose against her skin.

"I think Jack would like some Chinese too~" Will sniggered to herself.

"He has Tuna," Susa shook her head.

"What if he doesn't like Tuna?" Will pursed her lips at her mother.

"Meow~" Jack agreed with Will.

"Now I'm being overruled by both of youuu~!?" The woman sighed as she once more shook her head at the fact that both of them were strangely in sync with one another.

Jack literally didn't like Tuna from a can, though he quite enjoyed Tuna Steaks. Personally, though, he ultimately liked swordfish more than Tuna. Even more so though, Salmon was his favorite, especially if it was served with short-grain sticky rice.

Getting up from the table, the woman made her way over to the kitchen counter, picking a menu out of the stack of bills that were piled by the refrigerator. "How does food from the Silver Dragon sound?"

Smiling wide hearing about the place her mother wanted to order from, Will nodded, "Sounds great mom!" Getting up from the table while cradling Jack close, she padded her way back towards her room, "I'll wait in my room. Maybe... Take a shower."

Jack's eyes widened a bit when she had said she was thinking of taking a shower. 'Is she going to change out of her clothes in front of me!?'

"Your purring wildly now," Will blinked down at Jack as his tails were oddly tensed and his ears were perked up in a surprising manner. "Hmm..."

"How about if you take a shower, we just go there? I'll get the car ready once you're done." Susan called out to her daughter as she wandered into her room. "That way we can see how he does alone in the house."

"Don't you dare pee on my frogs," Will muttered as she put him down on the bed.

Dancing around in a circle, Jack turned to face her and sat down, his tails resting on the bed, their tips lightly rising and lowering from the comforter. His head slowly cocked to the side as she stared right back down at him.

"You want me to pick you back up...?"

"Meow~"

"I have to take a shower," her fingers trailed along with the trim of her hoodie, scrunching up her lips in a conflicted expression. She wanted to go back to petting him, sure, but she also wanted food.

Curling up on the bed, his tail flicking about, Jack closed his eyes partially as she began to pull her hoodie up and over her head. Tossing it aside, she pulled off her shirt and then her bra.

Though partially open, his eyes were on her computer screen, seeing her reflection quite easily without looking directly at her. It wasn't his first time seeing a girl naked, as Elyon's supposed older brother he had seen his little sister plenty of times when they were younger. Though he couldn't say he hadn't seen her recently either since they live in the same house.

Tucking her thumb under the trim of her panties, she paused and looked at the cat which wasn't even looking at her. A small smile formed over her lips as she tilted her head to the side.

"Such a noble cat," Will pointed out as she slid her cotton undergarments down her legs and stepped out of them. "Not even watching me while I undress, hehe..."

"Meowrr~" Jack replied as his eyes drifted away from the computer screen to the nearby window once more. He could see her nude silhouette along the wall. Licking his nose, he closed his eyes once more and listened to her hopping around on one foot attempting to remove her socks.

"For a cat, you're being rather thoughtful, aren't you?" Will abruptly sat back onto the bed, her hand running along with his fur. There were no other males in the house, it was just her and her mother. Though she would obviously be embarrassed if her mother saw her without clothes, there was no real need for a higher sense of self-security.

Purring quietly, he nervously smiled internally at the feeling of her hand. Letting his eyes slide over to her, his teenage heart nearly exploded as he noted her dainty form and paler skin tone.

As their eyes met, she stared deep into his gaze as if she was challenging him to a fight. Likely testing the whole cat-language as a whole, or maybe trying to dominate him.

Neither of their gazes faltered, they just stared at one another for what felt like hours, but truthfully it was only a few minutes. This was finally ended when the mother called out, "Will! Are you in your shower yet!?"

"N-no!" Will bounced a few times before she shot up off of the bed, "Don't go anywhereee~!" She waved to him, wiggling her fingers before running off to the shower.

Jack took in a deep breath, before sharply releasing it, "Oh boy..." He uttered quietly to himself as he rolled onto his side, pressing his nose into her comforter as his gaze traveled the room.