Warfront: The Blazing Breaker's

&lt;- Previous Chapter

Waking to a new day
Slowly rolling over, Carra sat up from her bed. Her eyes half open, she reached for her glasses on a desk next to the bed. Hearing shuffling from next to her she looked to see Tori curled up in blankets on a bed across from her. "That's right, I bunked with Tori." she thought to herself, remembering that the two of them played with Chico for the remainder of the day yesterday. Out the window, she saw it was still dark out, though the sun could just be seen coming over the horizon. Deciding she was couldn't go back to sleep, she changed out of her pajamas and headed out the door.

Walking through the halls of Phantom Breaker, Carra noticed not many of the members weren't up yet, probably because it was so early in the morning. Walking for a couple of minutes, Carra found herself in the Breaker Garden's, where she heard a loud snoring coming from above her. Looking up, she suddenly grew tense, as Raven was sitting in a tree above her, sprawled out over several branches and his mouth hanging open as he snored. Turning to run, she bumped into someone and stumbled back a bit. Looking up she saw Akane looking down, surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?" Carra asked under her breath as to not wake Raven.

Akane shushed her as she helped her up and led her back into the building, the two eventually made their way to the main lobby, where some of the mages were up early, looking at the jobs while others were simply trying to wake up with some coffee.

"Sorry about that, Raven is an annoying brat, especially when he wakes up, how did you sleep?" Akane said with a smile.

"Fine, we took Chico over to the daycare, it was loads of fun." Carra said, stretching her arms out above her head. "But you didn't really answer my question, what where you doing in the gardens?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, I always wake up this early, though it's strange since we're not even from this region" Akane said chuckiling for a bit, "Anyway I just get up to take in the morning air, that and to get away from Zaraki, I love the man but he snores loudly" She winked at Carra as she and her laughed as a waitress brought them something to drink.

"So how do you think the job's going?" Carra asked after taking a drink from her cup. "So far all we've been able to do is get shipwrecked and start fights."

"You kidding? that's our specialty." A voice said from behind them. The two turned to see Kat walking towards them with a large smile on her face. Her hair was dripping with water, and her bandana was around her neck, allowing her hair to flow down behind her. "I think you guys are doing fine." She said, sitting down next to Akane.

The girls chuckled as they took a sip of their drink, while talking about some random things, a small tug could be felt as Akane looks down to see Chico nipping on her slippers, making her smile as she brought him up to the table. "Wow, only one day and the little guy found his mistress" She said kissing him on the head.

"Yeah, you got yourself a good little companion there." Kat said, patting Carra on the head, making her blush. Doing up her bandana in her usual style, Kat looked at Akane and said, "So you four got any plans for today? Because I think we might not be done with that gang we ran into yesterday." As she spoke, Chico made his way over to Carra, curling up on her lap and going back to sleep.

"Well our mission still stands, we need to explore the region to see what else it has to offer" Akane said looking over to Carra, "But this time, I want everyone with someone of S-Class to be with them, if that stupid gang does have something planned, then we need to make sure everyone is safe" Akane tells Kat as she looks at Carra. "Listen, you and Tori may be mages, but you're still not yet strong enough to handle guys like this, not to mention that with Chico, we won't be able to fight much. I want you to stay here with Tori".

"OK, sure." Carra said without any hint of hesitation. Though whether it was because she wanted to be with her new friends, or because she didn't want to get hurt again was known only to her.

"That's all well and good, but the only one's who aren't S-Class strength are you and your hubby." Kat said looking at Akane, "Plus there's the blond guy from here, so there's really no worry about not getting paired up with an S-Class." Leaning back she looked up at the ceiling and moaned, "Only problem now is deciding who get's stuck with Raven for the day."

The trio thought about it for a bit as they heard a loud yawn and saw the guild ace of Phantom Breaker with his messy hair and black shirt off as he goes to the bar and orders a drink, sitting down as he waited for it to arrive.

"Well, in a way he and Raven do kind of match up" Akane said with a smile.

"Yeah, but don't you think they'll get along a little to well?" Kat asked concerned. The guild had enough problems as it is, throwing those two together couldn't possibly end well for anyone in the same area. "This might backfire rather quickly, though it might be a hell of a show." Kat seemed to like the idea the more she thought about it.

"Yeah, plus I don't think we can pay for anything he breaks along the way." Carra said, thinking back to any job he had gone on.

"What's this about the destruction of the guild" A voice said as the ladies looked over to see the guild master, Jayapura Marsh, looking at them.

"Well Guild Master, after the last incident a few days ago, we thought it would be best to pair everyone with an S-class partner if they decided to go out today, but we still have no clue who to have for Raven. So we suggested Konoha, but..."

Jayapura laughed with joy as the guild looked at him, "Destruction follows this guild like Vulcan after pretty women, I'm sure more won't be so bad as long as it's pushed towards something constructive".

"Sounds like we got a lot in common." Kat said, laughing to herself.

Carra looked up at the guild master confused. "Wait a minute, how can destruction be constrictive?" making the others laugh. Carra looked at her companions, slowly getting annoyed that they kept laughing at her.

"I think he means personal growth." Kat said, leaning back again. "I think this might be for the best anyways, no offence Guild Master..." Looking up at Jayapura, "But I think he's one of the only ones here who could stop Raven if he goes wild." She said pointing over at Konoha.

"He isn't the guild ace for nothing, and to answer your question Carra, Konoha was originally part of the Demolition Group here in Genosha, charged with taking down the still-standing buildings that are not sutible for living in, we still often get requests for them so he goes to help out" Jayapura replied as the sounds of a yawn could be heard, making the group look over to see Tori still in her pj's, rubbing her eyes.

"Well good morning" Jayapura said as the others replied the same as she took a spot next to Tori.

"Morning, I hate having to wake up so early in the morning" She said moving her hand over to Chico's head and gently scratching his head.

"Probably doesn't help that you two were up all night with the dog." Kat said, watching Chico rubbing his head into Tori's hand. Turning back to her companions she continued, "So how should the rest of us be paired up? Because I sort of got my eye on the handsome blond you guys got running around." a playful grin making it's way across her face.

"Hahaha, by all means, I'm sure Taichi would welcome the companionship" Jayapura said with a grin as Kat jumped with joy and ran out of the place, leaving the others in a daze.

"Well, I guess that settles Kat, me and Zaraki will be fine, Tori and Carra, you two stay here, Raven will go with Konoha, but that just leaves Peltin" Akane said wondering who she would pair him up with.

"How about Minerva?" Carra said, piping up. Thinking back to all the children at the daycare, she looked at Tori and said, "I bet she would love to have a day off." Chico barked in agreement with her.

"I don't see why not, I'll have another person take over the duties for her" Jayapura said with a smile as he walked away along with Akane who left to go check on her husband.

"Come on." Carra said, looking at Tori. Scooping up Chico in her arms, Carra ran towards the hall leading to the daycare, with Tori following soon after. This time both of them neather one being dragged by the other, making Kat laugh at how much they had grown.

A Day at the Daycare
Despite how it might have looked on the outside, taking care of a group of kids was a lot harder to do than it appeared. Within the first hour, both Tori and Carra were exhausted, running back and forth after children running in every direction. Even Chico, there secret weapon, had grown tired of being chased by the kids, and was laying in the grass asleep. After organizing a ball game for the kids to play, Carra fell back against the incline of a hill. "Minerva does this every day?" She asked in disbelief. "What is she made of?"

"You're asking the wrong person, I treat these kids and they're usually afraid of me, but this... This is just a work out" Tori said as she wiped the sweat off her brow and looked over to see the kids having fun.

"I can't believe Minerva does this all on her own." Carra said, watching as one of the children scored a goal. Stopping herself for a moment, with a blank expression, she had a thought. "Does she do this alone?" she asked.

"Were you listening to what I told you yesterday?" Tori asked bonking Carra on the head, "We have volunteers who help, they often do it of their own free will. Another person I know of that does this is..."

"Me" A voice said as the two turned over to see a beautiful woman with brown hair and large endowments as she had on a volunteer clothing.

"Speak of, Carra this is Aina Kuudou, Aina meet one of our guests, Carra" Tori said as Aina bowed in respect.

Quickly jumping to her feet, Carra bowed as well, though again she didn't know how long to bow for. Tori sighed as she pulled her friend back to an upright position. Embarrassed, Carra looked over Aina again. "She looks a lot like Kat." she thought to herself. After realising she was staring, she said "Oh-uh, nice to meet you." Quickly looking to change the subject, she looked over at the children again. "So how do you keep them all entertained?"

Aina chuckled a bit as she looked over still seeing the kids playing and having fun, "It's not easy at times, they always seem to be anxious about a lot of things in this land, but after showing them some magic and games, they enjoy themselves" She said with a smile as suddenly a small barking could be heard as the girls looked over to Chico who was growling at her.

"And who is this little guy?" She said picking him up and cradling him as she rubbed his belly.

"That's Chico, I got him a couple days ago at a festival." Carra said excitedly. Looking over at the children again, she saw that some of them had already gotten board with the game and began to wonder off. Thinking for a moment, she muttered "I wonder..."

Tori and Aina looked over as Chico wiggled his way out of her arms and ran to his master's side, wagging his tail and barking at her. "Mind sharing with the rest of the class?" Tori asked wondering what exactly was going on through Carra's mind.

"Remember when we saw Minerva reading to the kids a while back?" Carra asked looking back at Tori and Aina. "Think some story's well get them to sit still?" though as she said it, everyone could tell that even she found it a sceptical idea.

"I don't see why not, though I think they make work better if they had the little guy with them" Aina smiled as Chico licked Carra's hand.

Picking him up, Carra carried him over to a corner and began calling out, "Ok kids, story time! Come on over here!" Chico started barking in sink with Carra's calls, attracting the attention of some of the kids. Though not everyone listened, a handful of children began making there way towards Carra. Siting down in front of her, they looked up at Carra with anticipation, waiting for the story to begin. Seeing all there little faces looking up at her made her realise that she didn't actually have a story to tell. She didn't go out on jobs, so she couldn't tell them of her adventures, and she didn't know enough about magic to just talk about that.

"Uh...W-Who here has mage parents?" She asked, looking for anything to keep there attention. After a couple of kids raised there hands, she thought for a second and remembered something. Rolling up her right sleeve she pointed to her guild mark and asked another question. "Does anyone know what this mark is from?" After waiting for a moment, one of the kids shouted, "It's a Guild mark."

"That's right." Carra said, pointing to the child who answered. "Well, one of my friends from my guild has a teammate who says his dad was a dragon." she paused to see the kid's reaction. Some starred in disbelief, others had there mouths open in amassment. "Yeah, and he's got a talking Cat who can fly." Carra continued, not wanting the pace to drop.

"Wow, I have to admit, for someone like her to open up so much after a few days, it really does my heart good" Aina said as she and Tori looked over to see Carra continue her story.

"Will you be alright when she has to return back to her guild?" Aina asked Tori who realized that she had forgotten that after her mission was finished, Carra would have to go back home. It made Tori a bit sad inside.

"It isn't going to be easy, but in a way I helped Carra become better, not to mention gave Chico a great home to enjoy" Tori replied with a smile, secretly wishing that things didn't have to change, especially now that she found a great friend to have fun with that was her age. She heard the sounds of laughter as they both turned to see Carra telling them something while a little girl held Chico in her arms.