Welcome to Gaia! ::

Masahiro awoke feeling warmer than usual. A good beam of sunlight, perhaps? He must have found a good meditation spot. It deserved repeated use. He made a lazy note of this as his mind slowly started back up. His body eventually joined it, one leg then the next stretching. Arch back and check every vertebrae was aligned. Then, and only then, did he open his eye.

Hmm, not a meditation spot. A lounge room of some kind greeted him, coffee table a short distance away, a tv against the far wall. Where on earth was he...?

Memory returned, and with it last night's activities. Right. Destiny City. Assigned senshi. Girl with nightmares.

Hiro turned a neat circle, sitting up to stare at his still-sleeping charge. The sun was up, Hiro was up... clearly this girl needed to be up, too. Hiro wanted breakfast, for one thing. For another, it was hard to 'meet' someone who was unconscious.

Padding closer, Hiro stuck his face close to the human's. His whiskers tingled as they rubbed against her cheeks. Close enough to go cross-eyed if he'd only had two eyes, Hiro opened his mouth... and licked Kaia on the nose.

He sat back and waited expectantly.

Rest was for people who had fed their cats. Even if they had only just acquired them, and unknowingly at that. Because Hiro had decided that he would keep Alkaid. She was warm and comfy to sleep next to (or on), she'd been ready to smile at the sight of a cat, and even if her sudden mood change was a tiny bit hurtful, at least she was observant and quick to react. Those were good senshi traits. Hiro had no more objections to being assigned to this girl.

... Though there went his plan to meow and act cute and kitty-like until after food had arrived.

"The Destiny City battalion must have even less Guardian Cats than I'd heard, if your first thought is that I'm with the White Moon," Hiro said with an arched eye. He stepped off Kaia's stomach, settling himself on the arm of the couch. Sitting straight with his tail wrapped around his legs, he looked as regal as a beat-up high breed cat could (pretty damn regal, ignore the battle wounds, I am royalty, really).

It was good that Alkaid wasn't the overly trusting sort, but really, if she could do less of the glaring and more of the breakfast getting?

"I've been assigned to you, Sailor Alkaid. It's not a post I object to." He titled his head to one side, flicking the tip of his tail where it rested over his paws. The one teal eye widened and blinked several times, all cute and harmless and itty-bitty-kitty deserves love (and food). "Of course, it's not best discussed on an empty stomach."

Hint, hint. Meow, meow.

Food! Hiro leapt off the couch, a graceful orange streak arcing through the air. He trotted after Kaia, close on her heels but being careful not to trip her up.

Best of all, once they were in the kitchen, Kaia started pulling out normal food. Of course she had no reason to have cat food stocked, but at least she wasn't going straight for cheap canned tuna or something.

He showed his appreciation by winding around her ankles once or twice, headbutting her gently. A soft purr built up in his throat - completely involuntary, he swore. It wasn't a good idea to accidentally kill the person making the food, so Hiro stepped back and gave Kaia some space to work. Of course, this left him on the ground, feeling at a distinct height disadvantage. How could he supervise from down here, let alone talk to his new senshi?

It may have been bad manners, but with no other options, Hiro began eyeing off the bench. New places were always interesting. After a few raises and drops, Hiro leapt. He overestimated slightly. With a bit too much force behind the jump, he skidded along the bench before slowing to a rather undignified halt. He immediately adopted the 'nothing to see here, move along' aloof expression that cats had mastered eons ago. Padding to the end of the bench, far enough away that he wouldn't drop stray fur into the food, he lifted a paw and licked it studiously.

The teal eye peeked over the raised paw at Kaia. Was his humiliation forgotten now? Excellent. The paw dropped and he peered at the emerging foods.

"As long as you don't try to feed me cat food, anything should be fine," he said. A Mauvian's stomach could handle a fair bit more than an Earth cat's, after all. No need to worry over what might be poison for a normal feline.

"My timing wasn't up to me," Hiro protested. There'd been a lot of other factors involved. Several other people, in fact, the ones who made the decisions of where a Guardian Cat was best suited and to which senshi.

He gave Kaia an accusing stare, the closest he could come to a pout. She really didn't seem very happy to have him at all. It was a trying time, he understood, but she couldn't see the slightest silver lining to Hiro's arrival? He sighed. Well, at least she was cooking. That was a step in the right direction.

Ears and tail twitched as Kaia asked for his name. At least she was taking an interest - that was a good sign. "Masahiro," he said, drawing himself up his full seated height and puffing out his chest. "You can just call me Hiro, if that's easier." Or Your Majesty, Sir, Handsome Devil, Oh Great And Wise Feline, or several other equally appropriate monikers.

He stared back at his senshi. "Hmm. You may need to return to favour. I can sense that you are Super Sailor Alkaid, but Mauvian senses unfortunately don't include civilian information."

If cats could frown in sympathy, Hiro would have. Instead, Kaia would have to make do with his one teal eye softening and his ears drooping somewhat.

"So I've heard," he said. It was worrying to him that members of the Negaverse had been captured, simply as a fellow member of the organisation. But knowing that his senshi had been there and nearly suffered the same fate made it worse. There was nothing he could do for Kaia. "I am sorry for your friends... but I'm glad that you are safe."

Hopefully that wasn't too insensitive. But Hiro had just arrived and decided that his new assignment was actually someone he wanted to work with. How terrible if would have been to arrive in Destiny City only to learn that his senshi was missing, possibly dead.

He tried to reassure the young woman. "If they were kidnapped, it was for a purpose. Information, possibly. But they'll still be alive." At least until the information was retrieved, or the senshi grew tired of failing to retrieve it. But... that might not be the best thing to tell Kaia.

Still, if there was one thing Hiro was good at, it was gathering information. "I'll help you look for them," he said decisively. "We'll shake some senshi down until they're begging to tell us everything they know."

Turn about was fair play, after all.

Hiro puffed up as Kaia spoke of relying on him. He was pleased that she recognised his worth and couldn't help a quiet purr from escaping. The kitchen echoed with the tiny rumble.

It cut off when she mentioned the food was nearly done. His body twitched with the effort to remain in place and not trot across the bench to inspect the food. Mmm, food. The tip of his tail flicked back and forth, the most obvious sign of his eagerness.

He waved a paw at the talk of powers. "I know," he said calmly. Of course he could sense her power - how else would a Guardian Cat be able to tell a senshi the correct phrase to shout, or who they were (both planet and power sphere). He wasn't phased by the fact that she was a senshi of Guidance and not of Flaming Fireballs From The Sky. "But powers aren't all a senshi has."

There were plenty of other weapons at a senshi's disposal. Fists and feet. Random objects nearby that could be used to whack people. It wasn't as though the Negaverse's Lieutenants had any powers, after all, and they still managed to hold their own and survive (most of them) to be promoted.

"I hear you're not so shabby in a fight," he said. "But we can work on that later."

For now... food!

Hiro's nose twitched appreciatively as Kaia readied a bowl for him. It smelled so gooood. If he'd been down on the floor, he would have been twining around her ankles anxiously. Luckily for the bones in both their bodies, he was still on the bench and so did nothing except leap to his feet as if that would bring the meal to him faster.

When Kaia placed the bowl down, Hiro darted forward, head into his food. In his defense it had been about a day since he'd eaten - too much excitement regarding his new assignment to find the time to hunt or beg off someone (and begging was just degrading - it was for dogs).

He wasn't a messy pig of an eater, Hiro hastened to point out. After swallowing his first bit of biscuit, he licked his muzzle and chirped out a very happy, "Thanks! It's good." He ducked before down for another mouthful.

"Well, a senshi's power can have limited use," Hiro pointed out. Or like Alkaid, be a supportive power instead of an offensive one. "No sense relying on just one weapon. The best fighters can adapt and use whatever is at hand."

Another few bites... And then he had to stop and purr loudly as Kaia scritched between his ears just right. Oh yes, he definitely had himself the very best of senshi right here.

"What's your roommate like?" he asked when the petting paused. "One of us?"

Hopefully so, otherwise a talking cat would be difficult to explain.

Hiro frowned to hear that Kaia's flatmate, a Captain, had suffered a mental breakdown. One ear twitched but he decided against asking for details. It sounded very raw, at least from the way Kaia spoke of it. And so while he was concerned over what could do that to a Captain, he knew better than to prod at open wounds. He could always find out more himself by keeping his ears open.

He continued munching at his breakfast while he thought. Raising his head, Hiro said, "I can pretend to be a normal cat for a while, if that will make things easier."

It wasn't his preferred way of doing things, but at least it wasn't forever (as it might have been had her flatmate been a normal human civilian). And he could still talk with Kaia when the flatmate was sleeping or in a different room.

"So what are our plans for today?" he asked after a few more bites. Why yes, he was automatically including himself in whatever Kaia had planned.