Newborn cries filled the room and the father bursted into tears of relief and joy. He turned his glossy eyes to his wife and in a voice that was almost broken, Daisuke tells her they have a beautiful daughter. The head of Minamoto clan was nothing more than a big soft hearted man in the end as their two sons barged into the room upon hearing the wails
Through her exhaustion she smiled, and she let her eyes leave his face to take in the baby that was being brought to like on her bare skin. In that moment she began to cry the sweetest tears she'd ever known, all the pain of moments before melting away. Only minutes old and the tiny being began to root, mouth wide, her instincts strong.
In the warm arms of a father laid a newborn, her arms aloft as if dreaming of cuddling the mother who sat so closely by. Kou slid his pinky into the little one's open hand and watches as they curl around it, the baby sleeping on. He felt her soft breath on the back of his hand. Already, their school day was melting away as they watched their new sister...
Teru held the newborn to his shoulder and she was smaller than a bag of sugar from the grocers. Tiny toes peeked from her blanket, dangling. He smiled as he recalled the moment he held Kou years ago. The young nine year old Minamoto peeked at the little girl that was cradled in his older brother's arms, poking her cheek lightly.
She let out a coo that warmed his heart. He was an older brother, and that was his little sister.
Keiko looked to her husband, encasing his fingers into her clammy pale hands before turning to Teru who handed the baby to his younger brother extremely carefully.
Nora waited outside the door, sitting patiently as her tail waved back and forth, listening to the happy sounds of the chattering family who were celebrating the birth of a new life and new addition to their happy family. All the witch could really think about was that she would be napping when she got home.
And she would indefinitely change out of her extremely layered clothes.
The door creaked open as out stepped a tall growing boy, staring down at her as she let out a mewl. "Shouldn't you be holding your new little sister?" She asked him curiously. All humans seemed to unnecessarily always become happy over the birth of a new life, in her opinion, there was no reason to this.
Teru didn't say anything as he picked up the small cat, much to her dismay as she simply stared at him while being held up high into the air. "Let's go see my new little sister." He said with content as her ears twitched, indefinitely hearing him correctly, although she wished she didn't as she begun to squirm in his grip.
"Witches should stay out, no? I thought only family was allowed inside the room." She had spoken simple truth and facts as the boy pushed the door open. "Well mom said you're apart of this family too, so let's go." The mahogany door was cracked open where Keiko smiled warmly at the cat.
"I don't like babies." The witch stated for the umpteenth time as the mother laughed at her. "I know, I know. Come here and look at how precious she is, Nora." The woman ushered the two children over as Teru gently placed Nora down on his mother's bed.
Nora flinched at the sight of a raw baby, skin cherry pink, eyes still clammed shut. Fingers that were the size of her nails. A small little body that was barley smaller than her own. It flailed and reached its arms out, instinctively touching Nora as she flinched, her head ducked down.
"I shouldn't even be in here." Nora muttered beneath her breath, although the priestess heard her quite loud and clear. "Why not darling? You're apart of us, you're the reason why I got to have a little girl. You deserve to be in this moment." Keiko pat the top of the black cat's head as it flinched again.
The moment they had taken the stray cat under their wing, she had become one of them. Keiko saw no reason why she shouldn't have been there, nor Teru and Kou.
After all, the witch had been protecting both their mother and sister for the last few months.
As Teru picked up his small younger sister, holding the small baby down beside Nora as she scanned over the girl. It was hard to accept. She couldn't believe how tiny new humans were, how vulnerable. "She's so small." The witch had muttered.
"Do you want to hold her?" Keiko offered as the cat had immediately declined without hesitation. Keiko was intentionally pushing the witch out of her comfort zone, doing things that she particularly disliked in general. But the mother trusted Nora without a doubt.
"You're going to protect her when she grows up Nora." Keiko had said softly. The cat glanced at her. "Have you named her?" Nora changed the topic as the woman tapped her chin and nodded, the two brothers had been so caught up about their new little sister, that they had forgotten about the name.
"Tiara." Keiko said adamantly as they blinked. Teru had begun smiling and that soon morphed into a chuckle as he understood. "It's amazing, Mom. I like it." Teru said, stroking the top of his sister's head while Kou jumped up and down. "Hey Tiara! I'm your big brother, Kou!" He grinned broadly.
"She's going to be our little princess. It's the perfect name. Tiara." Daisuke held his wife's hand lovingly as Nora simply stayed quiet, not having anything to say.
The small baby's arms had outstretched touching the top of Nora's ear, causing it to twitch as the baby giggled, taking a small pinch of her ebony black fur. Keiko stared at the interaction with a smile. Nora sighed as she laid down, fluttering her eyes closed, allowing the baby to continue grabbing her fur.
The Minamoto household had been more bustling and full than ever before, a full family now housing it. Daisuke and Keiko decided that it would be best for them to stay occupied with their little girl for a few months before leaving back on their missions.
Needless to say, Nora spent her next few weeks in her human form. When as a cat, her hearing was more enhanced and sharp. Listening to wails from a baby for hours on end as a cat made her ears bleed profusely as she scampered outside to escape it as she watched the two brothers spar against their father.
Keiko cradled the baby wrapped in a blanket within her motherly touch as the girl beside her had been indulged in her hobby of read a book while munching on some rice crackers. This was how they spent their days after the two brothers were done with school. They would go on exorcism rounds with their father at night and Keiko cared for the new born child.
Nora, as per usual, slept, was put to unnecessary work by Daisuke and slept more.
This had come to an end after a few months when the two parents were called to an emergency exorcism and decided that it was finally time to them to go back to work. Kou and Teru weren't necessarily disappointed since they would have their hands tied with caring for Tiara, but they had known this was going to happen eventually.
Their parents never stayed for good. It was what they had all gone through going up. It helped them become stronger, and neither boys resented neither their father or mother for this, because at the end of the day, they were well aware that their parents loved them greatly.
Nora, who was finally set free from Keiko, had realized that this meant she could no longer sit around the house, lazy and unproductive. Instead, she would have to resume going on exorcisms with Teru again, much to her dismay.
It was one day in particular when Teru had come home from school. Nora who greeted him as always had sensed something odd from the blonde as her nose twitched and scrunched in disgust, causing the Junior High boy to raise a brow. "You .. smell." She said bluntly as he cocked a brow in confusion.
"I took a shower yesterday." The boy smelled himself and it was fine, but Nora had a keen sense of smell. Her medallion orbs bore into him as she took a step back, not leaping onto his shoulder as usual.
"There's something else. It's .. gross. Are you carrying something, or made contact with someone weird?" The cat circled around him. In her eyes, he was radiating something similar to an indigo foul miasma. It was .. hideous. The boy shook his head. He had a rather average day at school.
He was now a second year in Junior High, thirteen years old and had been talking with a few of his peers throughout the entire day. The smell had dissipated after Teru had done his usual prayers, purifying himself of any lingering foul auras from apparitions when they were done with their exorcising rounds.
She was weary and cautious of whatever or--whoever he bumped into that day.
"So Nora. Care to explain what I'm going to say if someone sees that I have a cat in my bag?" Teru asked, as they, walked to school together. The witch peeked her head out of his bag, leaping onto his shoulder, semi-startling him in the process.
"I can make myself invisible to humans for a temporary period of time. You'll be okay." She said nonchalantly, but that wasn't his biggest issue.
The bigger picture in question was rather why she was coming with him. Nora was well aware of the seven wonders and what they did or do. Although there were seven apparitions, there was ten of them in total that held the title.
They were the seven pillars that protected Kamome Academy, each of them being stronger than the average supernatural, ruling over them. They had strong rumors that were known by many, written down in books and would never be forgotten. Teru and Nora hadn't seen the need to exorcise or attempt to exorcise them since none of them caused harm. And as stated before,
they were the seven guardians of the Academy.
"And your reason for coming with me to school?" His cerulean eyes flickered to her as her tail brushed against his nape. "An aura of a wonder was smudged on you yesterday. Just curious to find out which one."
Wonders were different from any other supernatural. They had different smells, scents and abilities. Some abilities that were extremely valuable, making it extremely unwise to exorcise them, such as the Clock Keepers. Exorcising them would be throwing everything out of balance, but to speak in real terms in the first place ...
It would be near impossible for the two of them to exorcise the three Clock Keepers. One controlled the present, one controlled the past and the other controlled the future. The future had the ability to push your time forward with a single touch of her hand. The same could go for the past.
But she had never met the present. From what she heard, the former present retired and passed on his clock to another.
Halfway through the day when Teru's lunch had rolled around, and instead of eating with friends or classmates, he used it to patrol the school building to check on which apparitions they would need to eliminate that night after school was out and over with.
Nora hadn't been as much of a bother as he originally thought. None of the students saw her, which meant she was telling the truth about her capability of turning invisible. She had stayed quiet most of the day, sleeping on his desk as he wrote notes during class.
"I just noticed ... but you're really popular." The witch said simply. It had been maybe one of two lifetimes since she had actually enrolled herself in school, but everything seemed to be the same except for the social environments. Teru was .. abnormally popular but she had a hunch of this at the beginning.
Nora would wholeheartedly admit that he had rather handsome looks, his mother herself was a gorgeous woman. He raised a brow at her. "Really? People just come up to me and ask for help because I'm a top student." He shrugged nonchalantly.
Suddenly, she had stood up on his shoulder, which was dangerous in circumstances. But he had a feeling that she would be alright.
The boy had stopped walking as he heard a sudden shout from the back of the school building, where they were slowly making their way to. The cat leapt onto Teru's head as he quickly made his way over, where there was a maroon haired boy. The Minamoto had recognized the male to be the first year he helped the other day.
"M-Minamoto-senpai?!" The boy had screeched with wide eyes. He looked panicked, panting as he clutched his shirt, drenched in a cold sweat. Teru let out a sigh. "Akane? What are you doing back here?"
The first year student had taken a step back as his senior took a step forward. "N-Nothing .. Just feeling a little woozy is all .. What about you president? A-And ... A black cat!" The boy suddenly pointed on the top of the blonde male's head as he jumped backwards, landing on his arse, causing Teru to raise a brow in confusion.
"I found you." Nora leapt off of Teru as she landed on the floor. "This is the Wonder?" Teru inquired as she nodded her head.
"Boy. You're one of the clock keepers aren't you? The new Present." She leapt onto his chest as he stared up at her with wide dilated pupils, quivering in both fear and confusion. "H-How do you know that?!" Akane quickly shoved her off gently as he stood up to his feet shakily, as if he had just seen a ghost.
Unless she was a ghost in disguise. "Because. I'm invisible to humans only. You aren't a normal human if you can see me. Besides, you're leaking out your spiritual power everywhere ... It's gross." She cringed, nose scrunching up in disgust. Teru hadn't had time to see it earlier, but now that he focused on it, there were hues of a dark indigo leaking off of the student.
"A-Are you more of those weird things?! You're a talking cat!" Akane looked terrified as he backed away from them, pulling something out of his pocket. A stopwatch. "So you can see apparitions too. Seeing as how panicked you are ... Teru, I don't think this boy is an apparition." Nora looked up to the eldest Minamoto who let out a hum.
He picked up the cat. "Good job, Nora. Now .. Akane. You're just a human, aren't you? But that power ... where did you get it?" The second year's voice had dropped low as his eyes glinted dangerously, every nerve and cell inside Akane's body screamed for him to stop time, but he was too slow as Teru tossed the bracelet around his wrist, up into the air as it transformed.
It wrapped around the auburn haired boy's figure as he fell to the ground, the beads preventing him from moving as the watch dropped out of his hand and rolled onto the floor.
Teru knew an apparition when he saw one. Being a gifted exorcist, he was able to clearly see apparitions, and Aoi Akane was not one. Yet gave off the power of one. "Now. You have five seconds to start speaking. First-year or not." Teru's eyes stared down at the boy mercilessly with a foot planted on the younger's back.
The tip of Teru's katana sheath pressed against Akane's cheek threateningly as the boy gulped.