The Riverside Kittens

Pancho pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Sam.” He started, trying very hard to calm down. “What. The. Hell.”

Sam just cringed sheepishly (a rare occurrence) and let her raven black hair fall over half of her face, hiding her wide and frightened brown eyes. She only ever did that when she was truly ashamed and abashed over something she did (again, a very, very, rare occurrence).

Next to Pancho, Dustin sighed. He still wasn’t used to the antics his classmates had each and every day. “Where on earth did you find a box of kittens?”

Sam just gave a small and pathetic whimper at the back of her throat as one of the kittens (the golden tabby with the white paws) clambered on the fabric of her school uniform skirt and purred, its tail swishing back and forth in content.

“They were tiny and pitiful.” Sam replied, her voice for once small. “I couldn’t just walk past them, and my house was already well behind me. So I picked the box up and brought them back to Riverside.”

“And then set them loose.” Cheska finished in disdain. She was hiding behind Nico who was trying very hard not to laugh. “Ugh, get them away from me.”

“They don’t like you anyway, Ches’.” Sam pointed out as she picked up the tabby on her lap and hugged it close to her chest. “This one’s my favourite. I named her Euro.”

Pancho face-palmed. “My life.” He moaned, mourning the loss of normality.

It had honestly started out as a normal day. There was laughing. There was squealing. There was shouting. There was some-what-kind-of studying.

All was good and well until recess. That was when a white ball of fur ambled across the floor of the room and decided that Luis’s lap was the most comfortable place in the world.

And that’s where everything came apart at the seams.

Sam yelped as something moved under the folds of her skirt (she is honestly the only girl in the world who would be willing to let a kitten sleep comfortably under her skirt) and then a pathetic mewl came from the wooden wardrobe filled with their theatre costumes (“No, Skittles, don’t chew on Kuya Josh’s kimono!”) that stood, lone in the corner.

And that was how the Third Year High School class of Riverside Academy was overrun by thirteen adorable little balls of fur.

“Fifteen.” Sam quickly corrected Sabrina, who just blinked at her bemusedly. “What?” she demanded, offended. “I counted them on the way to school.”

“Oh, that is not crazy-old-cat-lady-esq at all.” Luis sarcastically said, though his sights were set on Sven and his kitten (“You’re going to adopt him? Really?” “Yes! Geesh.” “Then be good to him, please! Oh, by the way, his name’s Snow Drop.” “No, his name’s Mr Awesome.” “… It’s legit.” “Damn straight it is.”) who were practically leaning on his legs as they played.

“Look, I like cats, ok!” Sam snapped, blowing her hair out of her face. “And I thought that maybe you guys would, too. So I brought them here. Sorry if you decided otherwise.”

She then turned her nose up in the air and pointedly did not talk to them for the rest of recess. The others just shifted uncomfortably as the kittens played and wrestled on the floor, purring and circling around their legs every chance they got.

Then it was math, and Sir Moe instantly fell in love with the little adorable balls of fur. Sam smiled stupidly throughout the whole escapade and that then paved way to two more kittens (a black one with blue eyes and an orange tabby, who she named Sherlock and John respectively—“Where on earth does this girl get these names?.” “Fanfiction, Sir Moe. Fanfiction.”) being adopted.

“See.” She said a little while later during their lunch break, her mouth full or food and her lap full of a purring Euro. “Three down. Four counting Euro. Eleven more to go.”

And it wasn’t hard. It really wasn’t.

Ms Nikki fell in love with the grey, short haired tabby (named Lestrade—“You watch too much BBC, my dear girl.” “There is no such thing as too much BBC.”).

Ms Tin loved the black and white one with blue eyes and the gold patched one with a stubbed tail (“Merlin and Arthur.” “I approve.” “Thank you, Cheska, dear.”).

Sir Rentoy took liking to the all black one (“Kovu.” “‘Luis’ would have been nice.” “Shut up, Sven.”).

And Ms Cathy (she is not Ms Kathy, ok? She's Ms Cathy, with a C, alright? Alright), who they initially thought was a dog person, surprised them when she decided to take home the five extra fluffy ones (“Butter, Sugar, Skittles, Blueberry, and Cinnamon… What? I was hungry, ok!”).

That then totalled a wonderful nine kittens adopted, leaving only two up for grabs. But these two felines were just so inseparable it broke the hearts of all of Riverside to see them apart.

So, Sir Raymond and Ms Therese adopted them and made them Riverside’s Honorary Kittens.

They wanted to keep the original names, though, and they asked Sam for them. However, the girl only smiled knowingly, shook her head and told them to guess, refusing to divulge any information.

And since they never backed down from a challenge, the whole of the Third Year High School class took it upon themselves to guess. It took them a week, and Hyme even started a bet. The wager was four hundred and seventy three pesos. If nobody guessed it right, Sam collected all the winnings.

And that’s what happened. Nobody, not even the teachers, guessed it right. They begged Sam but came up with nothing. They even bribed her. In the end, however, they gave up and let her collect the money, eager to know the names. And after she (smugly) collected her winnings, she smiled a smile wider and softer than all her previous other smiles that year and pointed at one of the kittens.

“See that one?” she asked, pertaining to the timid, tri-coloured cat that sat still and wary on the floor. “See how she just sits there? She’s waiting for something.” –She then pointed to the slightly larger, all brown cat that ambled across the lobby toward the previous cat—“And this one? He’s the one she’s waiting for.”

It clicked.

Pancho smiled. Miguel grinned.

Then they promptly hit her with one of the lobby sofa’s many pillows and started a rather intense pillow fight between the students that left feathers all over the lobby floor for weeks.

Meanwhile, Pancho-cat and Miguel-cat sat quietly, side by side, purring in content.

-Xxx-X-xxX-

A/N: I love torturing Pancho. Unfortunately, that torture soon leads to some very sweet Migancho.

And I also love cats. And since in one of my previous posts I described the pairing Migancho using a GIF of two kitties snuggling in a box, I decided to write this.

I also wanted to point out that a cat, most definitely does not have nine lives. In fact, a house cat lives for a grand total of 12-15 years, 2-5 out on the streets. 

That's why I made Pancho-cat a girl and Miguel-cat a boy. They can have mewling little kitties to replace them once they’ve gone to heaven.

More Power To You!

-Duchess Constantine Nihilyon

PS This takes place a year after the events of the Bluestocking Collab, so you might see a few new names here (such as Josh, Dustin, Ms Nikki, Ms Tin, and Ms Cathy) but don't worry, you'll meet them in one of our many Omakes sooner or later.

I bid thee, bon voyage!

What? I thought the GIF appropriate. XDDD