HALCYON [Minamoto Teru]

12

Each of them had their hands tied. Teru would be busy as student council president both during school and after. He would be running errands for teachers, helping out his classmates or other students and was usually stuck doing a long stack of paperwork after school that required his attention since he was the type to turn things in on time.

Kou now had the full-time job of picking up their little sister, Tiara from school unless he had some important after-school activity to attend to, in that case, Nora would pick her up. He also was the chef of the house, creating everyone's lunch and made dinner when everyone was home.

Nora as of the last month of so, had received less sleep than Teru as the days passed. She would make breakfast for everyone, waking them up and occasionally handling the grocery shopping with Teru after school.

During exorcism rounds, she kept quiet and handled the dirty glances and insults thrown to her by other exorcists that shunned her for being a witch while she also protected them. She was the one who sealed up pathways to the far-shore while protecting lives that she simply valued over her own.

When she got home and Teru still had homework to do, she would usually complete it for him and Kou if the boy felt more lethargic than usual. Although she was plenty snappy and grouchy in the mornings after a whole all nighter, in which she would take that negativity out on Aoi Akane who suffered her wrath.

Partially his fault for his improper use of calling her a 'hag' after learning that she had been alive for quite some time.

Holding the cat in one arm as he tossed the towel inside the bin where it was done serving its use of drying her, covered in bits of her black fur. With a tired sigh, he flipped the light switch off and swished the curtains shut to prevent even the slightest bit of moonlight seeping in and the early rays of sun that would be peeking through in a few hours.

With a flop, he made contact with his bed sheets, laying the limp cat down beside him. She re-positioned herself, curling into a ball that nuzzled into his abdomen with the blanket draped over herself.

Keiko and Teru were the only two known people that Nora let touch her skin to skin directly. In cases of other people, she was rather uncomfortable about it if forcibly touched or grabbed out of the blue, even when it came to Kou, she was careful about it and wouldn't touch his skin directly if she could help it.

Although she had tried this with Tiara, sometimes the little girl caught her, but Nora cleansed her soon afterward, so it didn't matter.

By the time they were twelve or thirteen, Teru had realized she had a phobia and fear of spreading bad-luck, living up to her title of a black cat, being extremely weary of herself and those that she came in contact with to.

"Should we wake them up?" Tiara asked as her head peeked into the bedroom belonging to her elder brother. Kou examined the pair. It was nine in the morning, still raining outside from what he presumed to be a continuation of last night, thus meaning they probably had to patrol in the downpour, which must have been a tire.

He stared at the cat that was draped over Teru's abdomen as he shook his head, placing his own hand atop his younger sister's blonde hair. "I think Nora-nee and Teru-niichan have had a long night fighting bad guys. Let's let them sleep for a little more. Wanna help me make lunch for them, Princess?" Kou grinned at his younger sister.

"Okay!" She beamed excitedly, getting to help her older brother in the kitchen.

The pair had woken up right as the clock hit noon, the smell from the kitchen flowed through the door crack. Well more specifically, one of the two had woken up right at noon, the other woke up about half an hour earlier, deciding that food sounded and smelled nicer than just lazing around in the bed no matter how much she wanted to.

Her raven hair was messy, tangled and tousled as she sat slouched and hunched over on the chair while watching Kou and Tiara cook together. Nora's eye bags were still prominent as she let out an extremely stifled groan, her voice sounding much deeper than its usual tone with a hoarse voice, courtesy of a stuffed nose.

The freshly awoken eldest came down from the stairs, stretching his arms out extremely rejuvenated from the nine hour sleep he had taken. Nora sniffled, blowing her nose. "Morning, what's for lunch?" The seventeen year old had asked as Tiara turned around with a big gleeful smile. "Teru-onii!" She jumped off of the stool and launched a hug toward her brother who picked her up and twirled her around.

"Good morning to you too, Princess." He smiled, setting the girl down as she waddled back to the kitchen. He pulled the stool out and sat next to Nora who looked miserable, her head laying down onto the cold kitchen counter.

Teru reached over her head and to her plate as she slapped his hand. "I just made these myself. Let the sickly witch have her food." She hissed at him as he chuckled, brushing a lock of her raven hair that framed her face as he pressed a hand against her forehead. She popped a glazed sweet potato into her mouth.

"Looks like sleeping away the cold didn't work, huh." He said with a some-what teasing grin as her scarlet eyes glowered at him bitterly. "If I had magic power left, then maybe. But as you can see." She snapped her fingers and nothing happened except for a dim spark that lit her finger up.

"It's okay Nora-nee, Me and Princess's soup will cure you!" Kou pumped his fist into the air as she smiled at the two, allowing Teru to nonchalantly reach over and grab a sweet potato from her plate, popping it into his mouth before Nora could protest. She pinched his side, causing him to wither and chuckle.

In the end, she had ended up splitting her plate of sweet potatoes in two, sliding it to Teru who smiled in thanks, knowing that his charm worked as she let out a low growl, morphing into a cat that bit his hand as he simply smiled off the prick he felt on his flesh, pulling Nora off and plopping her onto the counter top where her paws padded.

The witch leapt onto his shoulder and crawled onto his head as though he were a tree. He had grown so used to it to the point that he no longer minded or became surprised.

It was just another Saturday afternoon in the Minamoto household with their three children and one witch companion. It was the only time they got to relax for a few hours before heading out on patrol later in the evening. All of their hard work accumulated to the safety of their loved ones and other human beings.