The Hunger Games, minako

[Khonsu Bjoran]

((Shortly after finding V.))

She was... an airhead.

Well, not totally. But damn it all, she certainly wasn't Minu. Artemis sighed to himself, padding his way across the bedroom floor of Aino Minako for the second time in his entire 'new' life. He almost missed that girl and her take-no-prisoners attitude, even if she was, you know... kind of scary by times. And disagreeable. He had a distinct feeling her newest incarnation wouldn't prove to be all that much easier to get along with, either.

Still, she seemed nice enough. Malleable, just enough so that he could start to work with her. There were all these things he was telling her that were only half-truths that he really hoped she wouldn't hate him for later, all of thirteen years old and trying to deal with all the hassle that came with being a teenager at the same time she needed to shoulder this new burden. But Minu had been this age when he'd first met her, and beyond the whole 'committing treason so that she could elope or what have you, then dying at eighteen' part, he reckoned she'd turned out okay...

Eep.

Speaking of things she had to do, as a responsible individual with a whole lot more on her plate than before... he needed foodstuffs. His little kitty cat belly was gurgling something awful, and whilst there was always the option of becoming his human self and wandering off into her kitchen looking for something to munch on, Artemis possessed the (very real) worry of her parents finding a grown-ass man leafing through their pantry claiming to know their daughter. He doubted that 'but she's like my own!' would go very well. It sounded like something that would involve the police.

And so, there he was. Prepared to beg. "Um, hate to be a bother," he started out, leaping onto her bed with the kind of grace only a feline could have mustered, sitting near her on top of the covers, "But I'm rather hungry. Did you, uh... did you buy any cat food, by any chance?" Why did he think the answer was going to be no?

Well, there was always the garbage. Ew.

[Amina Venth]

So this pen thing was really cool. Like really, really cool. She could get all her homework done easy, and have more time for manga! It got Mama off her back because it seemed like she was doing her work - okay, she sorta was - and the good grades made Papa happier, which was also good. Minako stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, admiring the pen's handiwork as she finished the last stroke of kanji. She could even write in kanji with it, it was awesome!

The blonde put aside her letter to Grandma, reaching over to her nightstand and pulling over the latest volume of Magic Knight Rayearth. It was so good, but somehow the characters seemed sorta wrong. Fuu was nice and sweet and a healer, but it seemed like she should have power over water instead, even with her name. Hikari shouldn't be all red, she thought, but purple and black if she was power over fire. Umi was the closest to right, but even then her hair was wrong. Minako sighed to herself, maybe they were memories that the cat said she would start having?

Speaking of the cat, she looked to the side where he sat.
"Uh. We have tuna? No cat food though, sorry. I didn't have time after school, and Mama still hasn't given me my allowance for the week, so I don't have any money anyway." The girl turned back to her manga, flipping to the next page idly - she couldn't wait until the next volume came out, it was easier than waiting for the magazine with each episode, even if the volumes meant a longer wait over all - she'd read it before.
"I can open you a can or something."

[Khonsu Bjoran]

Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all!

He perked, a rather loud purr coming from the cat-man as he leapt onto Minako's bed with a tiny kitty grin, tail flicking eagerly behind him. He took a seat on whatever it was that she was reading eagerly, mismatched eyes staring into her blues as he curled the aforementioned tail around his paws and waited. "Tuna would be lovely, actually. If you could keep buying me that instead, I'd really appreciate it." It was easier to seem like he was a cat with fancy tastes, after all, than a man disguised as her furry little companion.

For all that he was hiding the part where he wasn't completely a cat from her family, after all, he was also hiding it from her. He figured, Minu's memories would come in time. She'd remember as she awakened, at her own speed. He hoped it would be fast enough, and he hoped that it would mean he could stretch his real legs sometime in the foreseeable future. But there wasn't anything wrong with being a cat in the meantime.

He waited there, expecting her to run off and grab him that can of promised tuna, trusting as ever. This was still his Venus, after all. Team member number one, and he'd been able to find her in no time. Outside of her home country, at that! He'd have patted himself on the back, if cats bent that way. Maybe she'd do it for him, after she fed him? That would certainly be nice. He wondered, briefly, if Luna had found any of the other girls, and if she had, how well she was faring with them.

Because even if this one was young and kind of an airhead... she was already becoming his airhead.

[Amina Venth]

He sat on Hikari's face. Ewww! Roughly Minako shoved the white cat off her manga - there was more than enough room on the bed for him - and glared.
"Yeah, I'll get it for you, just no more sitting on what I'm reading or doing. You broke the spine, lardbutt." The blonde grumbled, standing up and walking from the room.

It took her longer than she'd liked to get the tuna. Ran into Mama, and had to make it into a tuna sandwich, rather than just the can. She tried to use as little mayo as she could, and no spices or anything. At least the whole 'open face sandwich' was believed as she walked upstairs. Ugh. Then she was still yelled up at about the letter to Grandma. Yes, it was written, but she wanted to doodle on it some first before sending it. Ugh.

"Sorry about the mayo, Mama was down there, I couldn't just bring the can." She put the plate on her nightstand for him and pulled out the packet of cookies she had managed to slip into her pocket when Mama wasn't looking at her, opening the crinkly plastic.
"Anything else you need, your highness?" Even as the words left her mouth, they sounded wrong somehow. Irritated, she bit into the first of her cookies, chewing on chocolate chips angrily.

[Khonsu Bjoran]

He hissed in surprise, unceremoniously pushed to the side. A paw raised in confusion as he sat on the new section of bed (nowhere near as warm as the areas closer to her were), he waited for some kind of explanation. Artemis was patient like that - he'd wait. Not that there weren't parts of him that felt like demanding answers for such action.

And there were still the parts of him, of course, that wanted to reprimand her for not acting like a proper Princess. That she was calling him a lardbutt was just a painful reminder that Minu was indeed dead and gone. The girl he had watched die was not going to come back. Her spirit lived on in this snotty brat of a teenager, living outside of her cultural 'happy place' in another continent. He wished it was so easy to forget the girl she had been before, head flying off in her last few moments as one of the Earth generals had then taken it and thrown it across the battlefield to incite Ariana.

Well, that would be something to look forwards to, at least. When she found her soulmate again, he supposed, they could all rest a little bit easier. Had to be better the second time around, and this world certainly seemed a good deal more forgiving than the last had been. "Well I am a cat, you know. Cats like to sit on laps. Perhaps you should always keep your lap and the area around it clear, because that is going to be where I sit. Unless you'd prefer I hunkered down on your shoulders? I'm sure I could climb up there."

Aaand she was gone. Just like talking to a brick wall, sheesh.

He waited as patiently as he could for her to return, lazily rounding on the abandoned manga-thing in the meantime. Ears pricked, he tried to make sense of the language in it, frowning. His Japanese was awful. Maybe living on her shoulder wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. He could read Minako's work, make sure she was actually doing it... brush up on his literacy.

He leapt when she came back, offering a tiny, hopefully adorable mewl and padding towards - oh good grief, mayo? Sigh, well. Beggars couldn't exactly be choosers here. "It's fine, Minako," he stated, hopping over to her nightstand and licking at the tuna with a grin, giving her a good view of his rump in the meantime (show her what he thought of her bad attitude). "This will suffice. Oh, but we have to go out training later, so... keep your schedule open!" he sing-songed, the constant reminder that her life was different now.

As was his.

[Amina Venth]

It wasn't her fault that she'd adopted the comfortable custom of laying on her belly when doing her work. If she could manage to get to work on her bed, she was always on her belly, books or papers held out in front of her. That way of lying was comfortable, and since Mama and Papa refused to get her a small kohatsu and she didn't want to sit at her English desk, at least this way she stayed warm.

"I can try to get those pop top cans, so I can store some up here, so Mama and Papa don't catch me all the time. Especially if I use my allowance on them instead of manga or food, that should take care of you." She turned away from his butt, shoving his tail down to cover it before turning back to her manga.
"I'll try to fit it in between volleyball practice and games and dance practice and gymnastics practice and vocal lessons and acting lessons and Chorus meetings and Drama meetings and homework. How about that?" Her answer was probably on the more irritated side, but she'd just been irritated about everything lately.

She knew why, just didn't want to tell it to a male cat. That was just awkward. Luckily this time she hadn't gotten the supremely sensitive - oh there it went - Minako wrinkled her nose and swallowed back her bile. Ugh. Maybe the pain would be bad enough that she could skip something, but no, she never could. It would be wrong to skip one of her clubs or lessons. School classes? Sure, those she could skip. If she dragged herself to school and was still feeling crappy the nurse would let her sleep for a period (ha!) or two. Might help, might not.

[Khonsu Bjoran]

She was just so young - delicate, he noted, trying not to chortle against his food as he felt his tail shoved downwards. Artemis flung it upwards again, the end curling to and fro as he happily lapped at his food, considering. She'd grow out of this. She'd grow out of this, find this life's Ariana, the rest of her sisters, their Princess, and... and things would go better, this time around. He had to be able to promise himself at least that much. What kind of Queen would theirs have been, after all, sending them into the future just so that they could die again?

"You could use a bit less of the manga anyway," he chided, thinking of how (perhaps) she should have been investing her time in having some actual friends. He was fairly certain the notion of a sleepover hadn't even been passed around since his arrival, and... well, wasn't that a normal, teenaged girl thing to do? She was thirteen! She should have been sneaking around with her friends doing mildly-bad-but-definitely-not-awful things.

Instead, she was... buried in all kinds of extracurricular activities. He paused, thinking on it for a moment. "Do you really like doing all of those things?" It seemed important to know. If there was one she didn't prefer... well, that was the one most likely to fall out of place as they made room for training. Because, as the Mauan knew too well, she was going to suffer the unfortunate fate of slowly falling away from things she actually did enjoy in order to pursue her duty. He'd hold that off as long as he could, because all things considered...

Well, he got the idea she was kind of lonely. Not that it made any sense. She was surrounded by people who seemingly adored her. But they all wanted something from her. Himself included, he knew that. He wished it wasn't so. Maybe things could change, if she just... could see that what he really wanted was her happiness. "I'd rather we didn't have to practice in the dead of night, if that's what you're suggesting, by the way."

He'd also like it very much if their late night parading (it was inevitable) didn't get her killed. That would be great.

[Amina Venth]

Give up manga, what is he, crazy? Minako stared dolefully at the tail waving, thinking he had to be kidding. He just had to be, it was manga, it was one of the things she and Hikaru could bond over, one of the things they could trade and chat about beyond boys and Beanie Babies. Her friend was more into soccer and her classes than the blonde was. She didn't dignify his comment with a response, merely turning the page to keep reading.

His question made her think. She did like doing everything, she was only doing volleyball because Mama was requiring her to do a sport, and she didn't consider dance a sport. Mama thought dance was just part of her "going to be a star" requirements. Mama's requirements, not her own. Okay, while she wanted to be a star - sorta, maybe? - Mama was the one that really wanted her to be. She just liked - okay, loved - doing everything taht Mama thought of as "star-work". Minako had planned on bugging her Mama to let her try out for a competitive team for gymnastics. She had hoped to maybe make the next Olympic team, but now with her being Sailor V, it wouldn't be fair to everyone. So no Olympics, but maybe she could still be a star.
"Yeah, I do, I mean, volleyball is just because Mama wants me to, but all the rest, I love."

Briefly she wondered if she should bother getting up and getting a hotpack and painkiller, nip everything in the bud before it began. Probably should, even if it meant going downs - ow. Owowowowow. Ow. Whoever said exercise helped with cramps lied. Lied! She held in her whimper, quietly biting her lip.
"Me too." The girl bit out, adding without trying to plead, but uncertain if she was succeeding, "Please not tonight." Roughly she shoved herself up on her elbows and scrabbled with her free hand in her wrenched-open drawer, yanking out a bottle of painkiller and a secret chocolate bar.

The top was popped off, two of the extra-strength poured out onto the sheet next to her, the open bottle put on the nightstand next to Artemis, the two aspirin picked up and tossed in her mouth and sharply chewed. Even as she was grimacing at the taste she was ripping at the wrapper of her Cadbury dark bar, using the pungent chocolate flavor to dispel the chalky painkiller. Only then did she fall from her elbows and roll onto her side, curling into a ball. She slipped her hand under her skirt and panty waistbands, using the slight heat of her hand like a makeshift hotpad. Ugh, ow.

[Khonsu Bjoran]

Oh good God above, he was being tested. He had to have been, as that was clearly the only logical explanation for his being faced with having to deal with the issue of... feminine things then. He'd certainly never had to before, least of all with one of his charges. To his knowledge, Luna had taken care of all of that in the life previous.

Or maybe one of the palace servants had? Their mothers? Anyone else, but certainly not him. Never him. "No, not tonight," he agreed, politely moving his gaze elsewhere as he tried to focus on what she had said before bringing up this little problem, staring at the ceiling as he padded a bit closer to the bed, carefully around the pill bottle. "But perhaps tomorrow afternoon, if we can get some time to ourselves. This really should be your first priority, Minako."

Should be, would have to be. Someday, she'd realise how important she was to all of this. Someday. He was kind of looking forwards to that, thinking about how being the leader again might suit her. Well, after she did some growing up. In the meantime, he supposed, she was going to need someone to take care of her.

That decision made, all executive and the like, he carefully pattered to where she was lying on her side. Artemis was acutely aware that being small and furry held some distinct advantages. For example, he was essentially a tiny motor when purring. Or an excellent hot pad of perfect, cuddly, feline heat for those who were cold or, well... in desperate need, to put it so delicately. He'd have to try to get away with that, and hope she wouldn't get too awkward about it. Not bothering to ask any further questions (and certainly not mystified as to her problem anymore, thanks to her theatrics), he moved into position.

Wordlessly, the white cat tucked himself in close to her stomach, settling down for one of his less-than-planned naps. If they weren't going to get anything done, then they weren't going to get anything done. No sense torturing the girl. She'd do the best she could. In the meantime, he'd make an excellent replacement hot-water-bottle. "You should get some rest." A short purr, just a quiet, rumbling one before he added, "Goodnight, Mina."

And this was going to be the last nice thing he ever damn well did for her if she threw him again.