New Life : A Second Chance

Kitty was grooming herself.

She sat on top of her treasure, happy that she had a nice bundle to snuggle in. Things were really good for her right now and she was very content with her life.

Ever since Aki came, she didn't have to do a lot of work. Aki would always be trying to please her, so he would be the one that got her treasures for her. He would bring her the treasures almost everyday, and she would reward him for each treasure.

She continued grooming while waiting patiently. The best thing was, not only did she no longer need to look for them, she didn't have to run while trying to take her treasures.

"AKI!!"

Kitty raised her head for a second, hearing the familiar roar, then continued grooming herself. Looks like Aki wasn't so lucky today. Still, she wasn't worried.

"NO! Socks! Not you too! …. Thief, get back here … argh! I swear, Onyx if I get a hold of you. Et tu, Izumi??"

Joyous laughter was heard.

"Go go go! You can do it!!" piped a happy voice.

"Alex, you are not helping," Kyle growled, only to have his own son laugh even more.

"Just give up, Daddy," Rory said sweetly from the sofa.

"If it was one, I can ignore it," Kyle hissed between his teeth, "But now there's four of them!"

"I thought you were the all great Kyle Smith," scoffed Alex, "Can't even handle four cats? Pathetic."

Kyle stopped running after the cats that were going all over the place in different directions, and stared at his son, saying, "Oh, there's not a problem if all I needed to do was kill them. Or injure them. Is that what you're asking me to do?"

"Kyle Rexington Smith!" shouted Sayuri, who then proceeded to twist his ear.

"Ow ow ow!" Kyle shouted, wincing, "Hey, that's not fair!"

It wasn't that he couldn't avoid her, but he didn't because she was heavily pregnant with their daughter. If he had stepped aside, she would have turned to catch him and that sudden movement would not be good.

"You should not be talking about killing the kids' pets, thank you very much," Sayuri told him.

"He started it," mumbled Kyle, pointing at Alex.

"You're not seriously arguing with a four year old now, are you?"

"Am not," Kyle replied, "I'm just pointing out the facts."

"Arguing with a four year old," repeated Sayuri, putting her hands on her waist.

Kyle gave her a slow smile, sauntered over and gave her a quick peck on the lips, "You shouldn't be angry or get too emotional. It's not good for the baby."

"Then stop fighting with your kids," Sayuri said with a pout.

Kyle hugged her, being careful of her pregnancy bump, saying, "It's not my kids, just my son."

Sayuri rolled her eyes then turned to face Alex, "And you. How long are you going to have this war with your own father? You're going to be a big brother soon. What sort of example will you be giving her?"

Alex pouted, crossed his arms across his c.h.e.s.t and sat on the sofa.

He felt very upset.

How could his own mother scold him for this? He felt that it wasn't fair. He looked back at his mother, who was being placated by his father.

Not.

Fair.

While everyone was distracted, Aki and his kids stealthily made their way over to Kitty.

As they reached her hiding spot, Kitty could not be seen.

But they knew better.

Aki stood to the side and jerked his head to the pile. Socks went first.

As he reached the front, Socks dropped his item on the ground. 𝒇r𝙚𝙚𝓌𝙚𝑏𝗻𝑜𝘷𝗲𝘭.c૦𝑚

One wet and chewed up boxer.

The pile in front of them suddenly moved slowly and a black nose peeked through. Soon, a face emerged and Aki nudged Socks, who then pushed the item towards the peeking nose.

Kitty's face emerged and she meowed once.

Socks sat down happily.

Aki came and picked Socks up by the neck and placed him to sit beside him.

Next, was Onyx.

Onyx was the smallest of the lot and she dragged the item along with her. Occasionally, she would stumble.

One would think that Kyle could have caught Onyx easily, but the fact of the matter is, Aki was always there to distract Kyle. Onyx was the slow and steady type, stumbling about. In fact, her treasure was given to her by Aki, and she was merely pulling it along.

Also, if it wasn't for the fact that Alex was constantly sabotaging Kyle and distracting him as well, Onyx would have long lost the fight.

Onyx sat down and meowed pitifully, upon which Kitty came out and started l.i.c.k.i.n.g Onyx. Being the runt of the litter, Kitty paid extra care and attention to her. Onyx purred as she received her mother's care, trying hard to stand still but finally stumbling backwards.

Onyx looked about in a daze and slowly trudged back to sit beside Aki.

Kitty looked at them briefly then bent down to pick up the two items to place it on her treasure pile.

Izumi sat dejectedly on the side, looking down and at her empty hands. She had the item earlier but dropped in in her panic to run away. She was almost caught and now, she had nothing to show.

Aki gave a small meow and Izumi walked over. He gave her a thorough wash and she started to feel better. While Izumi was being pampered by her father, Thief came into view.

He went up to his mother proudly, carrying the item happily.

She gave a low growl and snorted, turning around and burying herself deep into the pile again.

Thief was undaunted and happily turned around. He went to his own secret stash place. He carefully placed the item amongst the many trinkets there and purred as he looked at them.

His treasure.

His latest pick was some used tissue he found in the wastepaper basket. It was crumpled and smelled a bit like chicken. Later, he would spend a long time to open up the tissue and slowly tear it apart.

For now, it's enough that he could look at it.

Aki shook his head and went forward, carrying the last item to Kitty.

Kitty's head was poking out, looking at Aki eagerly.

When Aki dropped the item, she leaped happily out of her hidey-hole and started l.i.c.k.i.n.g Aki's face. Aki just sat there, taking the loving care without a word.

It was always like this.

Satisfied, Kitty then took Kyle's jockstrap and placed it on top of Aki's head. She then went back to her pile and took a few more, slowly putting it on Aki. Then, she looked at her work. She felt satisfied, then placed her head on Aki before sleeping.

Aki took a deep breath, having a rather resigned look on his face before he licked Kitty's forehead. He closed his eyes while the kids started playing with each other around them.

Except for Thief.

He was happily hugging all his items to his little c.h.e.s.t, dreaming while his legs were kicking in the air.