The sigh of a tired mage mingled in the air with rowdy calls and hollers from a hall full of adventurers and travelers. Some were telling tales of their latest quests, while others organized for their next. Some crowded around the request boards, looking for their next mission. The yelling of drunks and happy partiers seemed to drown out the tired young mage's glares.

"You look pissed," A smooth voice comments. The dragging of a stool was soon followed by the grunting of a man sitting down. The tired mage looks up to a man with messy black hair and light leather armor. "What's up with you, Kenma?"

"Nothing..." Kenma replied as he pouted and looked forward. His own tri-colored hair moved forward with him, covering his eyes slightly.

"... still not enough?" The all-knowing rogue beside him chuckled. Kenma scoffed. "You know I could always loan you some-"

"No, Kuroo." Kenma's answer was quick and decisive. Kuroo froze up with a stupid shocked look on his face as his friend outright declined his offer before he could even finish it. "I don't want to be in debt to someone like you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Kuroo asked in an annoyed tone. Kenma gave him a deadpan look.

"I don't want to give you any sort of power over me. Who knows what sort of stupid things you would have me do."

"You make me out like I'm some sort of pervert or something..." Kuroo sighs as he began to fiddle with his pocket knife. "So, you think another job is going to do it? We haven't gotten any good requests in a while."

"I'll find something." Kenma replied. He began to wonder if the next job would really bring in the kind of money he needed. He knew that the harder the job, the more it paid, but he didn't want to wear himself out. It's that mentality that caused him to be in the situation he was in now. He would take a ton of little jobs for pocket cash, and go on an occasional big job for bills like rent and food with exuberant people like Hinata, the adventurer. His system worked for everyday expenses, but when the latest and greatest in magic tech came out, he quickly became flat broke. He was currently looking at not making his rent this month.

"Oh, look who's here. Yachi is pinning up the new quests." Kuroo pointed out as the petite blonde gently places the requests on the mission board. She was watched over cautiously by another, more mature girl.

Kenma quickly lifted his head, causing the hood that he was wearing to fly off the back of his head and onto his back. He watched carefully as each quest was placed in a difficulty level. The higher level boards filled up quickly, barely leaving any quests left in her basket. He observed as jobs were plucked off as quickly as they were put on.

"You should probably go and get a job before they're all gone. I know you hate the crowd, but it's necessary." Kuroo points out and Kenma sighs. Guess now would be a good time to use his latest purchase. He tightens the glove around his hand and slides in an amulet on the back of his hand. Its cyan coloring was a bright contrast against the gloves mute brown coloring. He focused on a job that Yachi was about to place in the lower ranking area and snatched it with his new gear. Yatchi nearly jumped out of her skin as the job floated from her hands towards the bar where Kuroo and Kenma were sitting.

"Are you serious?" Kuroo asked in a slightly annoyed tone as he observed his longtime friend pull the task towards him.

"Yes. Why do you think I wanted this amulet so bad?" Kenma looked over the request and read the lines carefully.

"So whatcha got?" Kuroo leaned over the mage's shoulder to read the slip of paper in his hand. The paper was hastily written on with an ink-soaked pen, and it showed. There were kitty paw prints on the corner of the request, and smudges on some letters.

"...Collect green tea leaves." Kenma's face was unmoved as he read through the seemingly easy task. Kuroo's face morphed to one of boredom as he thought what it would be like to take such a mundane request.

"Ah... well looks perfect for you then..." Kenma nods. Low effort, decent pay. Perfect.

Kenma left later that day with a bag full of what he thought he would need. An amulet of finding, an endless pouch, his newest thieve's hand amulet, anything that would make this easy job even easier. As he approached the small forest nestled cottage in the woods, he began to hear noises inside.

It sounded like screaming.

He peeked his head past the quaint oak door, trying not to draw attention to himself, just in case his client was being attacked.

The cottage was a mess. Books open and strewn everywhere, papers scattered amongst the floor, a cauldron was overflowing with a sickening pink liquid in the firepit. The screaming seemingly came from a room further in the cottage. Kenma swallowed hard as he slipped on a stealth amulet to the side of his boot. His steps became lighter as he crept inside. The closer he got to the backroom, the more the screams sounded cat-like. He heard one voice, but it wasn't filled with terror.

"Lev! Come on! You have got to be the worst familiar ever! Get into the bath! How did Lilli put up with you?!" a feminine voice called as the hissing and growling of a cat continued. Kenma peers in and recognizes the room as a bathroom. He saw a girl with (H/C) hair underneath a pointy, curled (F/Color) hat. Her dress was fluffed outwards, with cute bloomers underneath. An apron tied around her waist was filthy with what Kenma could only guess was the contents of the boiling cauldron. In her arms was a rather angry creature. It was lanky, long, grey and awkward looking. It's piercing green eyes held rage at the bath it was being dangled above. Its claws had clearly done damage to the girl's arms. "IN! WE...!"

Soon, with a mighty swing, the girl flings the grey cat into the bath, but unfortunately, she slips on a bath mat and tumbles in with her cat. Kenma winces as he witnesses the girl and cat get drenched. A giant purple cloud of smoke emerges from the bath with a 'poof', creating an even bigger mess in the cottage.

"JESUS FUCK, IT'S COLD!" a male voice soon called as the lanky, wet, cat ran out of the bathroom, not even bothering to notice Kenma.

"YES! It worked!" The girl from the bath soon shot up, but unlike the cat, her eyes locked with Kenma's. His face turned to one of shock and bashfulness as the girl only stared. His face turned red as he looked away.

"Are you... um..." He couldn't make out the words. Her stare was too intense. He wanted to scootch out of there right then, but he needed the money. He usually went on missions with other people, people who would do all the introductions for him, but in his desperate need for cash, he needed to split this reward with no one.

"H-How did you get into my house!?" The girl shrieked as she covered her fully clothed body with a towel. Her face was red and matched the intensity of Kenma's. He began to sputter slightly as he looked down, but he couldn't make out what he was trying to say.

"Hey (Name), he has your request!" a masculine voice called from behind Kenma. He looked down to the source and saw the grey, lanky cat from before as he licked his paw. "That's what you're here for right? If you're here to hurt my (Name) I'll claw your eyes out." The cat spoke.

"Y-You're taking on my request!?" the girl in the bath leaned forward suddenly before stumbling once more, falling flat onto the tile. Kenma winced as he slowly entered.

"Yes..." He quietly replied as he carefully examined his client.

"Ah, that's good, my (Name) is going to need all the help she can get." the cat slyly replied.

"Lev! You're being mean!" the girl Kenma presumed to be (Name) called out.

"Well, it's true. You SUCK!" Kenma's face scrunched at the talking cat. He began putting the pieces of the puzzle before him together as he watched (Name) out of the corner of his eye. (Name) must be a witch. Everything pointed to it. The grey cat that she just dipped into the bath was her familiar, and she must be working on transfiguring her familiar. Getting them to speak human languages is the first step to that. Usually, however, familiars are far more obedient and cooperative.

'This familiar sucks...' Kenma thought as he scrunched his face further at the cat.

"W-Well thank you for taking my request, I appreciate it." (Name) soon lifts herself out of the bath and began wringing the potion out of her clothes. "I don't know what I'd do, I desperately need to be recognized as a real witch! No guild will accept me if I'm not at least a level 3 witch!" Kenma decided to take a quick peek at her stats with his peekaboo charm. He almost visibly winced at the mess her stats were. She had unused slots, her points were focused in the wrong areas, her mana was pitiful, how could she even call herself a witch?

"Her stats suck, don't they?" The cat meowed. Kenma looked down at the familiar with judgmental eyes.

"If she sucks, you suck." Kenma quipped. The feline stopped his snickering and choked slightly before returning his attention to his witch.

"Well whatever, let's get started! Right? These ingredients will help me transform right? I want to transform! I'm gonna be the best familiar ever! Just you wait and see!" (Name) smiles and steps out of the large bathtub.

"Right, that's our goal! We can't show that you're the best without being in a guild!" She walks over to the cautious Kenma and smiles brightly at him. She was cute, he'll give her that. "So I need green tea leaves, I'll pay you as much as you want! I just need a ton of green tea leaves! I'll even lodge you while you're here!" (Name) began to beg. Kenma's eye twitched as the girl needlessly begged for his assistance.

"If I'm here, doesn't that mean I've accepted?" His soft voice immediately calmed the bowing girl, and she soon became red-faced.

"O-Oh! RIGHT! Yes! Let me show you where you'll be staying!" (Name) fumbled out of the room and into the hall before being stopped by a level headed Kenma once more.

"If I'm just collecting green tea leaves, then it shouldn't take me long, right?" A scoff could be heard at his feet.

"You doubt how much my (Name) messes up potions! But go ahead and don't unpack! That just means I get extra dinner tonight!"

"Lev!" (Name) scolded and Kenma sighed. He better get to work.

Each leaf was daintily held by the stems of the shrubs. The new budding leaves were perfect for harvest, and Kenma wasted no time delicately plucking each tea leaf and placing them into his bag. His thoughts wandered as his hands were occupied by the simple task. Although they were sporadic and randomly placed, his mind eventually found itself on the clumsy (Name). Unlike the other thoughts he had, his mind stayed with her for a while. She was cute, but she was like a bull in a china shop. Everything she touched was likely to be destroyed. Her stats were a mess too, so he could only imagine that she had no idea what she was doing. How she expected to even transfigure her familiar was beyond him. Maybe she could transfigure him into something simple, like a beetle.

"A gnat would fit him better. He's annoying."

"Who nya talking to?" A familiar nasally voice called. Kenma turned his head slowly to face the small cat that was once by (Name)'s side. His face scrunched up as he gave the lanky familiar a glare and a pout.

"Why are you here?"

"My (Name) was worried about you, so she sent me after you, you should be honored!" The cat stretched as Kenma went back to tea picking. "I mean, without me, I'm pretty sure my precious (Name) would be lost or dead, After all, I'm a top-notch familiar."

"Is that so?" Kenma mused to the cat as he would to a child talking nonsense. "Your power is directly correlated to hers. If she sucks, so do you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know you said that, but I'm not your ordinary familiar." He began preening himself with his long paw. "nya see this fantastic silver coat? I'm a silver familiar. Only gold familiars are of higher caliber than me."

"You sure you're not just a grey familiar?" Kenma spat back. Lev huffed.

"Of course I am. My (Name) got me checked! I'm 100% silver!" Lev's whiskers twitched with pride. "Watch, I'll transfigure into a human. Then I'll be able to properly woo my (Name)." Kenma's hand froze over a budding leaf. What a weird thing for a familiar to wish for. "What, do you not think my (Name) is the cutest thing ever?"

"I don't know, I met her 20 minutes ago."

"You have eyes, don't you? That should be enough!"

"Do you ever shut up?"

Kenma quickly returned with the tea leaves, and a smug familiar was close in toe. He was eager to be paid and rid of this chatty familiar.

"Oh! You're back!" her voice was like a spring wind against aluminum chimes. Gentle, yet energizing. Kenma did his best to ignore her charm, but he eventually found himself blushing again. Lev's emerald green eyes spied the reddening cheeks and twitched his nose. So he did have eyes.

"Mm." Kenma replied with a curt grunt as he handed off the small, burlap bag to (Name). She quickly and excitedly pulled the strings and opened the bag. She delicately brought out a single, infant tea leaf and smiled.

"This is perfect! Thanks so much!" (Name) spun around in her (F/Color) dress and began to carefully tip the bag's contents into a pot boiling in the center of the room. Kenma immediately realized a problem, but before he could speak up, it was too late.

"Wait, those need to be dried-"

WHOOOSH! With a strong, green billow of smoke, a wind emerged from the cauldron, causing the room to be covered in a thick layer of moss. (Name) began to cough and wheeze as she began to wave the emerald fog from her face, but Kenma was aware of the real dangers. Even though he was sedentary most of the time, he had cat-like reflexes when in situations like this one. He gripped (Name)'s wrist and exited the cottage, he also managed to grab Lev by the scruff of his neck and toss him out an adjacent window. In his hurry to exit the premise of the gas, he accidentally tossed (Name) on the grass outside, resulting in him tumbling next to her. Her cute, pointed hat flew a few feet further away.

(Name) lifted her head in shock and awe as she witnessed her house be engulfed in moss. The moss itself looked harmless, but it got everywhere and covered the windows. At the pace of a slow crawl, she made her way to her once charming doorstep.

"What... went wrong?" She questions herself as she could only sit back and watch the moss progress. She could hear a groaning behind her as Kenma lifted his head from the not so soft ground.

"You didn't dry the leaves. You made a moss bomb." Kenma seemed upset. "If you had inhaled any of that, moss would be growing in your lungs." His tone was stern and annoyed.

"O-Oh... I didn't know..." (Name) bowed her head in shame. "Thanks for saving me then," she then averted her gaze elsewhere before picking herself up.

"It could have killed you." Kenma's tone softens as his adrenaline decreased.

"Right..." (Name)'s shoulders slumped as she walked over to Lev, who had gotten stuck in a fence post in the chaos. "I'll pay you and you can leave. Thanks for the tea leaves..." with a bit of wiggling, she managed to get her familiar free and placed him on her shoulder. "It's no use. I'm never gonna be a good enough witch to get into a guild..." her sulking sparked a bit of sympathy in Kenma's chest. She really did seem to be trying everything. He bit his lip and looked down as he thought.

His mission wasn't technically over. The potion wasn't a success.

"This isn't the worst accidental moss bomb I've seen. A friend of mine, Shoyo, made one when trying to cast a charm on a sword..." Kenma spied the hat that had tumbled off (Name)'s head and plucked it from the ground. Lev observed the mage walk towards his witch with gentle steps and let it happen. He wasn't happy with the mage for throwing him, but he was more concerned about his (Name) more than anything. Kenma carefully placed the slightly dirtied witch's hat onto (Name)'s head, causing her to flinch slightly. "It's a bit of a pain, but cleaning this stuff up isn't bad..." He looked everywhere but at (Name)'s face. He had trouble looking at her, and he choked it up to being antisocial, even if he was starting to admit that she was cute.

"It... Isn't?" (Name) lifted herself up and blinked. Kenma removed an amulet from his bag and attached it to his glove. "Wait, so you aren't leaving?"

"Is your potion done?" (Name) shook her head. "Then my mission isn't over." (Name)'s face lit up a bright red as she saw Kenma begrudgingly clean up after the moss bomb.

After the moist foliage was removed from the bungalow, (Name) showed Kenma to a spare room. He collapsed on the bed as soon as he laid eyes on it, causing (Name) to jump, but he reassured her that he was fine and he would see her in the morning. As he heard the door click closed behind him, he turned his face to the nightstand next to the bed. Why did he do all that? His job was done enough to where he could technically leave the witch with her moss-covered home. What on earth had gotten into him?

His mind began to drift slowly to the witch he was sent to help. Her skittish smile and hopeful eyes began to invade his thoughts. She was... cute.

Kenma grabbed the pillow on the guest bed and buried his face from the unpresent eyes of Kuroo. If he knew Kenma was having these thoughts, he would never shut up about it.

He ended up spending a couple of weeks at the cabin. Each time (Name) attempted the spell ended in failure. Kenma would watch on as (Name) made the simplest mistakes, but her mishaps became endearing. She would giggle each time a potion blew up in her face, and quickly bounce back. Her heart was full of sunlight and joy. It exuded gold.

He also got to know the chatty Lev, a silver familiar that seemed to have an ego bigger than his bite. Him having the ability to talk only made Kenma's job tougher. (Name) would send Lev out with Kenma to make sure he got to the tea fields and back safely, even when Kenma insisted it wasn't necessary. At first, it was annoying, but his heart began to beat faster when she worried about his safety.

One morning, he finally convinced the worried witch that he knew the path. As she saw him out, He found himself staring a little longer than usual as he waved his goodbyes.

His hands were nimbler than times before due to his experience, and his pouch filled quicker each time he went to pick the plentiful leaves. He also began to wonder if having the ability to focus on his work instead of trying to ignore a chatty cat had anything to do with his speed.

It wasn't long after noon that he found himself back in (Name)'s home. He let himself in and found himself in the middle of a quiet living room.

"I'm back." He meekly raised his voice. "(Name)? Are you here?" He set the pouch of tea leaves down on a table as he began to scour the room with his eyes.

"I'm in here!" Her voice carried itself down a hall and straight to Kenma's beating heart. He shook it off before finding her in a kitchen. The room was an elegant