The sun was shining today. Ai was quite happy to finally get out of her stall. She was sad to see her pups had been taken to the nursery, but they were in good hands. JB would not let anyone harm them. In fact, the man had opted to keeping one of the litter as well, as a ‘present’ to his wife. As much as she didn’t enjoy the fighter subspecies that were both the parents, there was no passing up the little chubby dark female the moment after she was born. Leticia had named her ‘Kita’, a portion of it derived from Ai’s name itself. Even though Leticia was the prime owner of the young mokai, JB would still be handling any affairs the youngster may happen to come across. In all rationale, the young mokai was his. He just told Leticia she could have her to make his wife happy. Isn’t that what a good husband did? The fact of the matter, soon Leticia would bare their first child, and she didn’t have time to train a young mokai. Not now at least.
JB walked besides Ai, bringing her to the nursery to see her pups. The striped female was more than happy to go with him, wanting to be able to check on her babies at any moment. Even though that would be near impossible, with the new training schedule that JB had induced for her, she would be happy with any free time with her pups.
“Ah, my boy,” JB spoke to the attendant. “How be my puppies today?”
My puppies.
“They’re doing good, sir! Growing well. Would you like to see them?”
“Actually, I am here to take little Kita out for a walk. Get some bonding time with her mom.” JB smirked. He hoped that this little female would grow up strong like her mama, and then become a winner too. Winners meant money. Money meant more mokai. More mokai meant more money. It was a win situation. Then again, he was already thinking into the future. If Kita wasn’t as strong as her mom, then there would always be the possibility her lineage could be.
The man gave a nod, rustling in the back where the little puppy barks could be heard. Ai whined, her tail lowering at her whining puppies. When the man brought Kita back up, the young fighter nearly jumped out of her leash, her tail beating crazy against anything it could hit.
“Down Ai,” JB gave a rough tug on her leash, causing the female to set, rather prettily, and wait until her youngest daughter was on the ground. “Thank you,” JB told the man, hooking a lighter leash onto the puppy, and taking it from him.
“Come Ai.” JB walked out of the nursery, the mother in tow. Once a few feet away, JB put Kita on the ground, who instantly ran over to Ai.
MOMMY! The young mokai ran from JB, tackling the striped female to the ground. She crawled all over the fighter until she had successfully placed herself on Ai’s back.
JB had taken a stake with a loop on the end, and drove it into the ground. He placed the two tethers attached to both mokai on it, so neither would be tempted to run away. He left the mother and daughter pair alone, while he had ‘important’ business to attend to.
“That thing is weird. He comes by too many times to see us mom. What is he?”
“He is your master, Kita. You will address him as such.” The striped female would have no tolerance to those, even her children, who would disrespect him. “You will get to know him as the hand the feeds you. And you will learn, along with your siblings, that you do not bite the hand that feeds you, got it?” It was never too early to start a life lesson. Not in Ai’s golden eyes.
“…okay! But does that mean Tari and Jak are…masters too?”
Ai nodded. “They do not belong to him, like you and I. Instead, they belong elsewhere.”
“So I’m the lucky one then! I get to stay with my momma!” Kita wrapped herself around her mother, before sliding down off her back and nuzzling into her belly, as if asking for something sweet to drink.
Ai would not go down that road again. The little babies had teeth now, meaning nursing was more of a hassle then she wanted it to be. Bring a back foot up against the cold nose, she lightly pushed her daughter away from her, not letting her succeed in the nursing.
Kita, grumbling, growled at her mother, eyes narrowing as she attacked her ear. The striped female snarled, lightly, lifting herself off the ground so she stood much taller than the mokai puppy.
“That’s not fair! I..” Jump. “can’t…” Jump. “reach..” jump. “you.” Jump. And fall. Kita landed with a loud ‘oomph’, somehow managing to get herself tangled into the tethers of both her and her mother.
“You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep that up.” Ai said softly, untangling Kita from the mass of knots, shaking her head.
Yawning, the young mokai sat down, slowly swaying with sudden tiredness that had just flown over her. One thing Ai found she loved about puppies was the fact they were so energetic one moment, and the next, peace and quiet! Curling around the fading daughter, Ai wrapped her tail to cover the over. Her head remained in an upward position. She was not tired, and enjoyed being out in the sun. These days it was a luxury more than anything. The feeling of warmth sunk into her skin, bringing small tingling sensations to it. Soon the weather would change, and the sun would no longer bring the nice heat. Instead, cold would filter the air, and remain on the ground for many months.
It was days like today Ai enjoyed life. She may not want another litter of puppies, but she was sure glad to have the one she had now, snoozing quietly by her side.
[End - WC 1019 words]
