Kitten Watching

Never before did Natsu think he would come to hate cats so much. Lucy was out of town for the weekend on an all girls weekend out in Oshibana, so he was stuck taking care of her cat Baby and her four newborn kittens Tenebrae, Runt, Luna, and Hoodrat. Aside from her constant meowing, Baby was easy to take care of. It was her children that were by far the biggest pain in his ass. At four weeks old the little monsters had since begun walking and climbing out of their 'd lost count of how many times he'd had to dig Luna out from under Lucy's couch and bed. For being so small the little critter was fast, though unsteady on her feet. Hoodrat was just as bad, he was currently trying to rangle the two females out from under Lucy's single lounge chair.

"Oh come on, ya furry little beast. Lucy will kick me straight across Fiore if anything happens to even a hair on your heads," Natsu begged the critters, fearing his best friend giving him a solid Lucy Kick to the face if he didn't keep these kittens safe. Finally managing to grab the little critters he turned around to find the boys, Runt and Tenebrae missing as well. Setting the two females back in their pen he let out a groan of frustration as he strarted sniffing out the boys. At this very moment he thanked Mavis that he was a Slayer and could smell the little buggers.

After locating the boys in the kitchen he made quick work of scooping them up, cradling Runt in one arm and setting Tenebrae on his shoulder knowing the little guy would end up climbing up there anyway. Kitten acted more like a pirates parrot than a kitten in that aspect. Natsu didn't mind, aside from them escaping every so often, the boys weren't too difficult. The girls however, they deserved a damn place by Zeref's side. Their own book and all. Damn little demon spawns they were. He'd questioned if Jackal had become even freakier and knocked up Lucy's cat but quickly dismissed that thought due to an utterly horrific mental image.

Slipping the boys back into the pen with their sisters, Nastu turned and took a seat across the room in an arm chair and watched as the babies finally calmed down and latched themselves to their mother. He could tell Baby was delighted by the powerful purring noise the rivaled that of the pervy lion spirit Loke. Cringing off yet another creepy mental image of Loke purring after a romp with the shy but still sweet Aries, he sat back and rested his eyes. Who knew his greatest foe wasn't Zeref, the Seis, or the damn Clock, but was four adorable baby faced kittens. He almost wished Happy had been around to help him but he was staying to Carla and Wendy for the weekend so go to see the Exceeds. That was honestly probably a good thing, the last thing he wanted right now was for his foster son to get baby fever and end up having Mavis knows how many baby Exceeds flying around their cottage.

Letting out a sigh, Nastu glanced at the clock finding that it was four in the afternoon, Lucy was due home today at about five. With only an hour to go, Nastu couldn't have been more grateful. NOt only because he would be free of his kitten watching duties, but he wanted to see his best friend. He didn't much like when he left him alone and to his own devices. That usually brought some kind of costly damages to some random ass town or too many brusies from pointless brawls at the guild. Getting lost in his thoughts, Natsu failed to realize that the kittens had once again escaped their pen and were all in the process of climbing up his signature puffy white pants.

Lucy silently walked up the stairs to her apartment, though she had fun with the girls from the guild, she was happy to be home. SHe missed Natsu of course, but she really didn't like being away from the newborn kittens for very long. Taking her keys on of her bag she made quick work unlocking the door. Queitly opening her door she found a sight she never thought in a million years that she'd see. Nastu. Curled up in her chair, with kittens sleeping on him. Tenebrae had climbed up his shoulder and was snoozing peacefully in the crook of his neck. Runt had taken residence in his crossed arms, sleeping soundly. The ladies had decided to nestle into each other and claim his lap. Smiling softly and the sight of the babies and Nastu, Lucy quickly fished out her camera lacrima and snapped a few photos for later before making her way over to the sleeping boy. Careful not to wake any of them, Lucy plucked the kittens up one by one, returning them to their mother who was watching carefully from across the room. She meowed her thanks to Lucy as she set the last of her children back into the pen. Turning around, Lucy made her way back across the room to her sleeping partner. Carefully grabbing the blanket that was hanging off the back of the chair, she carefully drapped it over her friend before starting the unpack from the weekend. She didn't even notice when Natsu woke up and came into her room. Leaning againt her doorway, Natsu cleared his throat earning a squeak of surprise from his partner.

"Dear Mavis Natsu! Don't scare me like that, I thought you were asleep!" She cried, clutching a hand to her heart while she tried to calm her racing heart.

"I woke up the minute you came in the door but didn't wanna wake the little monsters up, who knew something so small and cute could be so evil. Those girls deserve a spot amongst Zeref's demons!", Natsu huffed, earning a giggle from Lucy.

"They can be little monsters but they're good babies. They just like to snuggle, thanks again for watching them. You can head home now if you want, I'm going to finish unpacking and probably take a nap." Lucy said as she turned back to her bag.

"Nah, get some sleep, I'll watch them for a bit longer so they don't escape while you are asleep." Nastu shugged, really he just wanted to raid the fridge one last time before he left.

Nodding, Lucy turned to face her Partner, "If you're sure, that's fine with me."

Nodding back at his partner, he turned around and made his way back out to the livingroom so she could nap. Scanning the room he finally laid eyes on the kittens pen. Looking down at it he noticed it was empty.

"Seriously?! Again?! Just an hour you guys, one freaking hour without being escape artists would be great! Dammit!" Natsu cried, here he was hoping his original plan of raiding the fridge would happen but the kittens had other plans. Turning his head he saw that Lucy was already completely passed out. He was once again on his own. Sighing, Natsu got to work on finding the escaped kittens.

Hiding her smirk in her pillow, Lucy held in laughter as she watched Natsu try to be both quite and try to find the kittens. He'd be looking for awhile. She stealthly reached her had under her blanket and stroked the tops of the furry kittens heads. During their little chat he'd failed to notice all four babies and their mother crawling under her bed.