[PRP] Little Treasures (Aiko, Mana, Hikari, Im) - FIN

[zephira738]

The cheetahess padded easily through the pride’s territories, her usual flowing gait slowed to allow little paws to keep up. It was one of the few outings she dared to bring her little ones on, but she didn’t wish for them to spend their lives cooped up in her den. They were growing up, and while she was loathe to let them out when she wasn’t about to keep an eye on them, she was free today. No one required her services at the moment, and since the important people now knew that she had the cubs…it hardly seemed to matter.

“Come on, not much further,” she coaxed, her eyes glimmering fondly as she looked at the little black and white cubs around her. They might scatter when they reached their destination, but they’d always be within her watchful view. Besides, it was fun for them to be out here, playing in the sunlight. It was healthy. And nice. And…stuff like that. But she worried for her little ones! She didn’t want anything to happen to them, not ever! She needed to find a way to make sure she’d be allowed to keep them…the idea of them being taken from her still made her stomach tie in knots. As for their being slaves…she knew what happened to cubs of entertainers usually. But she would be more than that. Aiko knew she did well, and the notion of a promotion was something she was digging her claws into. A geisha’s cubs would surely be treated with respect…right? She had to try at least. Anything that might give them a better start into the world.

Purring softly, the lithe black cheetah settled down on her haunches, letting the four of her precious treasures scatter to play and explore under the warm light of the early morning sun. As always, she’d placed herself in a position calculated to allow the subtle spots on her fur to be highlighted just so, but more importantly she could see almost the whole of the area from here. No chance a single cub would be out of her sight for even a minute… But with any luck she wouldn’t be here alone for long. Some company would be nice…especially from a certain cheetah she’d come to be particularly fond of.


Hikari padded after his mother, his clumsy childish steps tumbling over her slender paws as he practically walked on her heels. He liked going out with her, he was always upset when he got stuck in the den without her. He loved mama wanted to be with her always and always. He wanted to be just like her! She was so brave and strong and confident and graceful…and he…was not. Scrambling to his feet from the small stumble, the little white cub bolted to catch up again, though the cheetah would never leave him or his siblings behind like this. Not out here. Just in the den, where it was safe.

Mismatched eyes blinking in the sunlight, the eldest cub looked up at his mama for approval, and unspoken confirmation of permission, before wandering off a very short ways to investigate a brightly colored bug. She’d called it a ‘butterfly’ once. They were pretty, like flower petals that moved and fluttered about. It was fun to watch them, and being quiet was nice. Much nicer than being chewed on by his sister…Kanie had sharp teeths!
 

[Princess_Feylin]

Mana was not as practiced as Aiko was when it came to shortening his steps to allow the four cubs trailing after him to keep up. He would forget for long periods of time, and then he would remember and pause long enough for them to catch up. His offspring seemed to be thrilled by the prospect of spending time with their father, which mystified him, since he had sincere doubts about his own ability to entertain them as well as a nanny. It wasn't his job to entertain cubs, usually, and the few times when he'd found himself alone with cubs he had been quick to dispose of them.

Even now Mana was doing his best to relieve himself of the burden of spending time with his cubs. He wasn't sure, really, why he had even decided that one morning in ten would be spent with his cubs. Perhaps because Tesanya had seemed to have so little faith in his ability to raise the cubs. He didn't think she was wrong, but he didn't want her to be right. Nevertheless, he had been quick to seek Aiko out as his first day approached so that he could make arrangements to have someone who knew what they were doing on hand while he was with the cubs.

After pausing for the fourth time, Mana realized he would actually have to alter his gait to accommodate the cubs, which meant he either had to take small, mincing steps or walk painfully slowly. Neither was an appealing option. He wished they could just keep up. Thankfully, they had almost reached their destination, but he couldn't help calling back to his graceless offspring, "Hurry up!"






Imbra frowned in concentration as she worked hard to place her paws in their proper places in their proper order. This was much harder than Tomkrie and her father made it look. She took a deep breath and barreled forward, thinking that maybe if she went fast enough she would just automatically begin to walk properly. For the first few steps it seemed her method would actually work, but eventually her forward momentum became too great for her unpracticed paws to keep up with and she fell forward onto her chest with an irritated huff.

Immediately she climbed to her feet and looked back at her siblings disdainfully. They weren't doing as well at keeping up as she was, but she wasn't doing so well either. She wanted to be bigger and more coordinated. Tomkrie promised it would come, but it wasn't coming fast enough. Even so, Imbra was precocious, sometimes managing to pounce successfully on purpose. She was proud of that. She would be the best at everything, ever.

But that was the future. Now she was going to meet other cubs. Tomkrie had said so when she was preparing them for this day. Imbra had been looking forward to it for days and days. She'd get to meet her father and other cubs all at once. That would be just the most wonderful thing ever, she knew. Peering ahead, she thought she saw another small figure beside a very large dark figure and she made another effort to move more quickly. She wanted to be the first to greet them.  

[zephira738]

Aiko's purr never ceased as she watched her little ones wander around on clumsy paws, the sunlight warm and dappled on their spotty fur. Every second she spent with them was more precious than any other, and she relished the chances to be with her young. They seemed to be growing so fast! And they were all so different. Jiro was so steady, Kanie so silent, Satomei so honeyed, and Hikari so sweet...

"Mana!" she called brightly, her indigo eyes lighting on a familiar fiery pelt as he emerged into the sunlight. The dark cheetah rose smoothly, her slender tail twining lightly around her delicate paws as she turned to greet him. Perhaps she would grow to learn how her cubs watched her sinewy sensual motions and would attempt to imitate them in time, but for now she was unaware of the effects her way of moving would have upon her impressionable younglings.

"Good morning," Aiko continued, her voice dropping into a sultry purr before her eyes dropped to the little ones trailing in behind him and around his paws. "Are these your cubs?" she crooned, "So sweet...like little sparks of sunshine~" Not that they could compare with her precious babies. But that didn't mean his offspring weren't cute too. Just not as cute. Naturally.


Hikari blinked his mismatched eyes in surprise as the flower-bug, the butterfly, touched upon his nose. Instantly the little cub went stock still, his mouth hanging open in wonderment before the tickling of its tiny feet made him sneeze violently. When he blinked his eyes open again, it was gone, and his pink-tipped ears lowered slightly. He hadn't meant to scare the pretty thing...

The ears came up again when he heard his mother speak, and he turned himself, toddling back to where she stood and peeking shyly out from behind her paws as the stranger he'd met the first time he left the den approached them. He stared at the adult for a long time before he dropped his gaze to the other cubs. Who were they? They looked a little bit like the stranger... Well, mama wasn't upset by them. She seemed happy. So happy was good, it meant everything was okay.

"M-morning...mmm...Mmmana," he tried, before looking up at his mother anxiously for approval. A delighted smile spread across his features when she smiled and nodded at him, and he rubbed happily against her dark leg.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

"Hello, Aiko," Mana greeted the dark cheetah, his tone warm with pleasure at seeing her, and also tinged with relief. "I'm glad you were able to make it."

He had not appreciated how difficult it was to care for cubs up until now, and Aiko had been doing it with more cubs, and for longer, all while balancing her career as an entertainer. The fact that he only had to look after the cubs for the morning and that it had been his own idea was insignificant. At the moment, he was feeling distinctly overwhelmed by the four little creatures following him in an indistinct line.

He was more or less oblivious to the struggles of the cubs behind him as they vied to be first. The paternal instinct was not really very strong in this cheetah. His idea of responsibility meant his responsibilities within the pride, and his duty to Nyoka. As far as his cubs went, he saw his responsibility to them limited to how they could best be raised to serve admirably and in a manner pleasing to Nyoka, who had been distinctly displeased by the mere fact of their existence.

"Good morning, Hikari," he greeted Aiko's son belatedly, pleased with himself for remembering the cub's name. It wasn't that they were so difficult to tell apart, but he didn't honestly care much about the lives of pre-adolescents.

_____

Imbra was the winner! She surged ahead of her siblings just in time to see a bulky cub rubbing his head against the foreleg of a cheetah with a darker coat than her father's. Her eyes widened as she looked at this cheetah, who she thought was prettier than her nanny, Tomkrie. There was more warmth in her father's tone as he greeted her than there had been when he'd come to collect Imbra and her siblings. She was too young to be consciously slighted by that, but she would quickly learn to be jealous of her father's other interests, friends, and acquaintances.

Moving with much more confidence than before, Imbra went right for the cub she'd seen first, the one who had said something, and pounced on him with a squeaking battle cry. It wasn't a very good pounce, but even if she missed him completely it should have gotten his attention if nothing else. She landed in an awkward sprawl.

"I'm Imbra," she said. "You're too big."  

[zephira738]

"Of course I made it. It's always a pleasure to spend time with you," Aiko purred, her indigo eyes sparkling with delight when he returned her son's greeting. So he remembered Hikari's name! And she'd only told him once...or maybe twice. He hadn't seemed particularly fond of cubs when she'd caught him with her young son, but then again she'd not been acting particularly fond of Mana herself at that moment. Slender and graceful and fantasy made flesh she might be to most, but Aiko was well aware of how utterly terror-inducing she could be under the right, or perhaps 'wrong' would be more accurate, circumstances.

Her eyes drifted to the wobbling line of little cubs following him again, and she laughed quietly to herself as she watched them race to be the first to their father. Something hurt, just a tiny bit, at the sight. Maybe it was because Hikari had been asking about daddies again that morning. She never really knew what to tell him... well. Maybe it was selfish of her, but in a way she was glad Mana was a father without a mother to go with him. At least with him her precious little ones wouldn't feel so very out of place.

She watched as one of the little girls darted towards her, her ears flattening for a moment when the youngster pounced on her son. Her hackles smoothed so quickly that it was almost as though she'd not bristled in preperation to defend her offspring, but she knew Mana had sharp eyes. Her ears still low, though in a more apologetic fashion now, she offered him another of her smiles. Surely he could understand worrying for her children, he was a parent himself now after all.

"So, how have you been? It's been a while since we had time with one another." Time where she wasn't hissing and spitting and threatening his life over a small misunderstanding. He seemed to have forgiven her for it though, certainly this little playdate he'd asked for was proof enough of that, right?


The little cub made a squeaky purring sort of croon when Mana greeted him in reply, and ducked shyly behind his mother's leg again. He peeked out again soon enough, curiosity and the comfort of being so close to his mother making him a bit bold. He'd met Mana before after all, and it hadn't been so bad. Mama was even being happy to see him now, unlike last time.

Last time had been scary.

But this time there were other cubs! He hadn't played with other cubs for a while, the last time his mama had gotten upset with their parents, or nannies?, and brought him and his siblings home. She hadn't been happy with his questions, so he'd tried to stop asking, but he couldn't help it really. He was just curious was all... why was it that asking if he had a daddy made mama sad?

Hikari squealed in alarm when the dark cub in the lead pounced at him, and before he could even try to escape she'd flattened him. He tensed, his ears splayed awkwardly as he tried to twist around to see her from where he'd tumbled. "I'm Hikari," he said in reply, albeit a bit uncertainly. "An'...an' mama always says no bite." She was dark, like his sister was, and she had pounced him like his sister always seemed to. He didn't like it when Kanie chewed on his ears. It hurt. He had no doubts that Imbra chewing them would hurt too.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

"Such flattery," Mana demurred, making little of Aiko's words.

It hadn't occurred to him for an instant that if so many people claimed to enjoy his company, some of them might actually be telling the truth. He did make an effort to keep his true position in the pride a secret, but some people still knew. Aiko was one of them, which led him to wonder how much of her professed pleasure was feigned, in spite of the fact he genuinely enjoyed seeing her.

He turned his head to follow Aiko's gaze and was a little startled to see his offspring strung out behind him like that. His firstborn, Imbra, seemed determined to be first in everything, and barreled past him. He didn't stop her as she darted toward Hikari. Either Aiko would or she wouldn't, but Mana would let Imbra learn her lessons for herself. He might have to speak to Tomkrie about the manners his cubs were learning, however, if that was how they greeted people. Some might find it endearing in cubs, but Mana was not among the, and they would eventually grow too large for it to be considered endearing by anyone.

"Apparently they're heathens like their father," he observed, making light of it, though he had not missed the momentary warning signs that Aiko wanted to defend Hikari. Her hybrid son was far larger than Mana's full-cheetah daughter, and he doubted Imbra would do too much damage, but he was also willing to let Aiko deal with his wayward offspring if she felt it necessary. "I'll have to have words with their nanny when I return them to her."

"I've been well," he said in response to her query. "And yourself?"

_____

Imbra completely failed to notice the momentary danger she had placed herself in when she pounced on the pale cub. He was so much bigger than she was, how could she possibly hurt him? Besides, he made funny noises when she landed on him. A large part of her wanted to poke and prod at him to see if she could get him to make more funny noises, but she remembered quickly that she was with her father, and that her behavior would reflect on him, and she didn't want to disappoint him.

She slid off of him and sat a little awkwardly to one side, staring at him to try to figure out what it was about him that made him different from herself and her siblings. He was bigger, but maybe because he was older like Mana and Tomkrie. There was something else about him, and it would bother her until she figured it out.

"I wasn't gonna bite," she said disgustedly, though now that he mentioned it she wondered what would happen if she did. He'd said something about Mama, though, which sounded an awful lot like her father's name to Imbra, and that was sufficient to stay her curiosity. She thought he meant Mana, and had simply mispronounced.

"My father's name is Mana. Not 'Mama,'" she corrected him.  

[zephira738]

Aiko chuckled at Mana's words, relaxing easily when Hikari began talking to the other cub. She was little and friendly, not a threat. But if her son had yelped she'd probably have swatted the poor little dear off of him on impulse. His next words had her giggling, the idea of Mana being a 'heathen' was a bit odd to her. He always seemed to be so...so proper. But not in that snotty stuck-up way her brother seemed to be. He was just...polite. But she liked that about him. He knew her work, and never seemed to bring it up. That made him one out of only...well. One. It was certainly refreshing in its own way, giving her someone to talk to even if one or two things had to be guarded ever so carefully.

But he had his job just as much as she had hers.

"Cubs will be cubs you know," she tried to assure him, it wasn't as though his daughter acted out of rudeness. She was just eager, and excited. It was something Aiko knew most tended to grow out of. Most. There was always that one... "I'm glad you've been well. I'm doing fine myself." She might have swelled with pride at that last one. To be honest, she had not known if she could do this thing. She'd been rearing her cubs all on her own, and kept up with the obligations of her job as well. Some days she was so exhausted she could barely think, but never once had she been unhappy with her lot.


Hikari watched her warily as she slipped off of him. His ears folded flat with embarrassment at squeaking like that, he didn't mean to act like such a crybaby. But Kanie often bit on him. And it hurt. How was he supposed to know this girl wasn't going to do that? She was smaller than Kanie though. And she seemed a little less...bitey.

"Sorry," Hikari mumbled, scuffling a paw when she said she hadn't been going to bite. It was just... he didn't mean to insult her or anything. "I know," he blinked at her when she informed him of her father's name. "I didn't mean Mana. I meant mama." He pointed helpfully at Aiko with one paw, before dropping it again to scuffle on the ground. He didn't know what to say now. There was something about being polite that he was pretty sure he was forgetting but he wasn't sure what it was... He didn't meet new people very often.

He was glad mama was right here with him though. It was less scary with her here.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

It pleased Mana that he could bring a smile to Aiko's face, even if he knew that in their first meeting he had forever condemned himself to be someone she viewed with a modicum of suspicion and around whom she would always be a little on guard. It was a shame in many ways, he felt, since he genuinely did enjoy her company. However, what's done was done, and he couldn't change that, just as he couldn't change the chain of events which had led him to the Kuroi'Nera in the first place.

He doubted that she fully comprehended all that he did in Nyoka's service, however, because if she did, her laughter wouldn't be so heartfelt. In his travels Mana had learned that people who performed the duties he performed were not often well-liked. Many times they were feared or scorned, or at the very least treated differently. It was part of why he made an effort to keep his duties generally secret. He grinned and pushed those thoughts away. It wasn't as if he didn't like his position in the pride, and he was inestimably grateful to Nykoa.

"I wasn't the one who was concerned," Mana observed. "From what I'm told, Imbra's more than capable of looking after herself, and smart enough to learn from her mistakes."

"I'm glad to hear you're doing well. I honestly don't think I could manage to look after these midgets without Tomkrie." Fatherhood really wasn't for him.

-----

Imbra sighed. So he was like that, was he? Well, this wasn't going to be very much fun. She'd probably enjoy herself better if she played with her own sibs. They were all pretty good at the rough-and-tumble, though she liked to think of herself as the best of the litter. She wondered if the squeaky fluffball was the best of his litter. From what she could see, he was the only boy.

"You don't like to fight, do you?" she asked in a rare moment of perception. They wouldn't be so rare as she grew up, but by and large Imbra was still a very selfish creature, and her acknowledging that anyone's views might differ from hers was coup of a sort. However, her tone and expression made it clear she wasn't much impressed by people who didn't like to fight.

"And that's not Mama. My father just called her Aiko. He wouldn't call anyone by the wrong name." The concept of motherhood was as alien to Imbra as the concept of fatherhood was uninteresting to Mana.  

[zephira738]

Aiko coughed lightly at Mana's words, perhaps a bit embaressed by them. Concern was most assuredly the understatement of the century when it came to her cubs. The fact that she'd tried, and occasionally succeeded, in mauling anyone who'd so much as looked at them funny when they were still her secret newborns was more than proof enough of that. Her own brother Nanashi had come frighteningly close to becoming another victem, as had Mana when she caught him trying to return Hikari to the den when he'd escaped during one of her outings.

But that did not make it alright to attack her friend's cub for merely being playful. Hikari was used to being tackled by larger cubs than Mana's, his sister was the most frequent attacker and she was larger even that he himself was.

"Imbra isn't hurting anything." Or she had better not be, or there might still be hell to pay. "And, well, I've only four. You're looking to...five?" She glanced around, regretting not making a count before they scattered. Well, it wasn't that much of a difference. "And you've still your duties to Ny- to preform," the cheetah amended easily, her smile sunny against her dark features. "I'm sure you're kept more than busy."


Hikari shook his head hesitantly, glancing up at Aiko for a moment as though seeking her permission to contradict this other cub. "Aiko is...is mama's name. But she's still mama for me. And...and Mana is 'father' for you, right?" That made sense, didn't it? He knew mama's name, he heard it fairly often now. But 'father' wasn't a word he got to be familair with. It seemed most other cubs were familair with it. Why not him too? Why didn't he and his brother and sisters have a daddy to go with mama? It was like the male didn't even exist...

"And...no..." he clarified, sort of, when the other cub asked if he liked to fight. His ears folded uncertainly as he said so, she looked like she might be...sort of almost kind of mad at him for it? Only not angry. Like she thought it was dumb? Maybe? "But...we can still play?" the young hybrid offered hopefully.



((OMG I cannot beleive how long it took me to tag this, I am SO SORRY >.> Feel free to bother me lots if this ever happens again.))
 

[Princess_Feylin]

"Just four, not five," he corrected automatically.

There had been a fifth cub, but it had been weak and sickly, and Mana wasn't about to claim it. Not until he knew whether or not it would survive, which was looking doubtful, quite frankly. If it wasn't going to survive, it would be better to pretend that it had never existed at all. Particularly with the huge importance Nyoka placed on bloodlines and that sort of thing. If she ever learned he'd sired a cub like that, her opinion of him might drop.

Actually, it was more likely she'd blame Tesanya's inferior blood, but either way, Mana would prefer not to have it discovered. He was ashamed of the cub, and concerned for his position. He had won the position by chance, he felt. He had owed Nyoka and sworn himself to her totally. She could make him a slave as easily as not, and his word bound him to serve in that way if she so chose.

"Imbra. Leave off." He turned to Aiko and inclined his head. "We should be going, I think. It was good to see you and your cubs, but I think maybe Imbra's a little too excited to be a good playmate at the moment."

-----

Imbra shrugged. She guessed it could work like that, but she wasn't sure. It was a little confusing to think that a person could be called two different things. Nicknames were one thing, because they were just a shortening of a person's actual name, but what Hikari was talking about was totally different. And she didn't tend to think of Mana as "father" so much as "my father," which was more what he was than who he was.

She was about to say that of course they could still play, but her father called her, and she recognized the tone, if not the phrasing. The tone meant "stop it and come here." Imbra would have liked to linger, but coming from her father's mouth, there was no way Imbra would even think of disobeying. She shrugged again and said quickly, "I don't think so. I think my father wants to go."

The young cheetah hurried over to her father's side, ready to follow him wherever he went.  

[zephira738]

"Ah, four then. My miscount," Aiko apologized softly, though it seemed like this had upset Mana in some way. Leaving? Already? She had not meant to offend him, she had just glanced at the little furry bodies milling around his paws before her son had been pounced. But Mana had only just arrived... Disappointment seemed to be finding her more often lately.

"Oh, okay," she muttered, though really the cub had just been playing. She just worried was all, she wasn't mad, Imbra was fine... "I...I guess I'll be seeing you around then." Hopefully.


Hikari couldn't help but feel a little rejected when the cheetah called his daughter away. He'd thought Mama and Mana were friends, and that maybe he could be friends with Mana's cub. But maybe they could play some other time?

"...bye?" he tried meekly, watching as she hurried away before glancing up at his mother. She didn't seem particularly happy either. Had he missed something? She'd said that they would be playing with new friends today, but the others were leaving now...

((Sorry, I glanced at the list in the thread for a number >.>; Aiko doesn't know anything about your plots if you were concerned that I was implying anything, her visions are related to her OWN family.))
 

[Princess_Feylin]

"It's fine. They keep moving around. It's hard to count them," he said, smiling. "I only know how many there are because I was forced to be present while they were born. I assume it's the same for you and your brood."

When he noticed Imbra had raced over to join him, responding to a summons he hadn't realized he'd issued, he guessed it really was time to go. It was just as well, really. Aiko was a little too close to the mark with her little miscount. He wondered if she knew more than she let on, and wondering made him anxious.

Probably he ought to stay longer and do what he could to play the incident off, but he was just too freaked. And since Imbra was ready to go, apparently, he would just collect the rest of his offspring and take them back to Tomkrie.

"We'll see each other. You're much too much fun not to see," Mana assured Aiko. Then he called, "Come on kids. Back to Tomkrie."

-----

"Bye," Imbra called over her shoulder as she followed her father.

She flashed him a sharp-toothed grin, but the bulk of her attention was on her father. Her sainted father. He could do no wrong, and she didn't question why he was ready to leave. She hadn't really been listening too closely to the grown-ups' conversation, but she would've been very confused by Aiko mentioning a fifth cub. She only knew of three siblings and herself.

She'd not heard it, though, and so she didn't trouble herself about it, or about what had caused her father to decide so suddenly that it was time to go. She had been looking forward to this playdate, but there would probably be others in the future. And maybe then she'd get to play with someone more playful than Hikari.
Oh, no worries. Mana's going to worry, but I'm not. It's all good. I just figured we could end it here. I'm out of ideas for the grown-ups to talk about. cool