Daa!Daa!Daa! ©Kawamura Mika

The Thirst
Chapter one: Juice Up!

Everything started when Wannya contacted the Galaxy Shopping Network to place an order for one of their most popular products. It was called Juice Up! a power drink especially made for sitterpets.

Lately, the creature from planet Otto had been feeling quite stressed of the many chores that he had to attend to everyday. Cleaning the house, cooking, doing the laundry, shopping for groceries--yes, he did them all. But that wasn't even a complete list. To add more to his burdens was Ruu-sama's restlessness. The blond baby was always flying around the house, ignoring his guardian's plea to avoid using his alien powers. Worse, Ruu would sometimes expand his explorations to those areas outside the temple!

Oh, it was an additional headache for the poor sitterpet.

Despite his life not being a wonderful bed of roses, Wannya loved his job a lot. He wanted everything that he did to be perfect. Efficiency-reducing factors like fatigue and stress were intolerable. When he started feeling them, Wannya was immediately troubled. Even more so when Miyu noticed that his movements had become slower than usual.

You seem to lack energy, Wannya.

The blonde girl's remark replayed in his mind for several times. She was right. He really did feel so drained out. Like a car which had just ran out of batteries. For Wannya, this was unacceptable. He vowed that he would do something about it.

And this was where Juice Up! came into the picture.

It was a bright and lovely Saturday morning when a strange-looking flying vehicle landed outside the Saionji temple's main hall. Light pink in color, it was shaped like an egg, and was adorned by colored light bulbs that were gaily flashing in broad daylight. At one side of the ship was the name Galaxy Shopping Network ,printed in a bright red .

Wannya waited in anticipation as the ship's metal door quickly slid open. From inside, there emerged a being who , after their several meetings in the past, the sitterpet knew now as Pidtz. This man of dark brown curls and ocean blue eyes was very human in form. Wearing a pair of khaki pants and a cream polo shirt to match it, he could very well blend with people on the streets. Only another alien could tell that he was from another solar system.

"Delivery for Wannya." He said, holding out a small, plain, brown box.

The sitterpet , with a wide grin on his furry face, gladly accepted the package. "Thank you. I have been waiting for this!"

"Sorry if I got here a bit late. My ship malfunctioned and had to be fixed." Pidtz smiled as he took something out from his pants' pocket. It was a small, rectangular device, which he always used to take the thumb (or in Wannya's case, paw), print of the customer in order to confirm that he or she had received the delivery.

"Paw print, please." He requested, to which the cat-like creature granted without any hesitation.

"Thanks." Pidtz said as he kept the device inside his pocket again. While taking several steps back towards his ship, he added , "Call us again when you need something, okay? Enjoy our totally enhanced Juice Up!"

Wannya nodded his head before giving the guy from GSN a wave of farewell.

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"Hmm..Totally enhaced Juice Up.." The sitterpet read as held the orange-colored can between his paws. Lifting off the tab, the fragrance of tangerine immediately tickled his nose. Taking a deep breath, Wannya felt himself invigorated by the smell. He had waited one week for this. Finally, he would regain his lost energy. But before that…

"Aa! Ruu-sama, stop that!" He yelled as he watched in worry as the other five cans playfully floated in the air along with a newly awakened and greatly energized baby. Setting his open can down on the table, Wannya ran after Ruu who was flying across the room with utter glee. After several rounds of chase, the sitterpet found himself to be out of breath.

"Ruu-sama, please…" He said in a pleading tone, hoping the little boy would understand the message he was trying to convey. To his delight, Ruu actually heeded his plea. The purple-eyed alien gently settled himself in his guardian's warm welcoming arms while the rest of the Juice Up cans returned to their places inside the box that was on top the kitchen table.

Wannya released a sigh of relief before turning his attention back to his waiting can of Juice Up! Lifting the metal container off the wooden table, he brought it to his lips and took a sip. The liquid was sweet and tasted exactly like ripe tangerines. Pidtz was right. He did enjoy the enhanced taste. The first sip was followed by another. And another. Then another until there was only one drop left.

"Waa! That was good!" He exclaimed as he slammed the can down on the flat, wooden surface. Quickly, he felt the energy filling up inside him. He was now a fully charged Wannya, ready to tackle any chore without worrying about fatigue!

Speaking of chores, he suddenly remembered that the cupboards and the refrigerator were nearly empty.

"Ne, Ruu-sama, would you like to do some shopping today?"

Ruu giggled and clapped his little hands as if saying 'yes'.

Wannya grinned and transformed himself into his human female form. After keeping the remaining cans of Juice Up! inside the refrigerator, the disguised sitterpet then left a note for Kanata and Miyu , telling about his and the baby's whereabouts in case the two teenagers got home before he returned.

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It was only 10:00 in the morning but Saionji Kanata was already on his way to the temple. School had been dismissed earlier than usual due to the emergency meeting their weird and monkey-loving principal called for all the teachers. What were they going to discuss about? The brown-haired boy didn't know, and at that moment, he also didn't care. Actually, he was too vexed to give concern to anything.

An annoyed sigh escaped the boys lips as he chose the left side of a street intersection. He had no idea what was happening to him. Kanata's mood was not this sour earlier. Everything began before he left the school.

He and Miyu were in the classrooms having one of those petty arguments of theirs . About what? Well, the root was too insignificant for him to remember.

It had been almost like a routine, those word battles with the blond girl. It seemed both of them felt their day was incomplete if they couldn't argue about something. Their disagreements had never been quite serious though. One minute they would swear that they were never going to speak to each other again, next minute they would be in friendly terms .

"I'm not walking home with you !"

This had to be one of Miyu's most overused lines. Every time that they were unfriendly to each other while in school, she would say this threat to him. In response, he would just look at her nonchalantly and say 'Fine! I don't want to walk home with you either.' That morning was no exception. But something or more appropriately someone new was added to the scenario.

Hikarigaoka Nozomu.

The blond boy was like a sly predator---calculating and patient. All the while he had been observing; waiting for the right opportunity to pounce. And when Kanata let his guard down he moved in for the kill….

He asked Miyu for a date.

Nozomu was quite fond of Miyu; Kanata was not blind to see this fact. The blond boy had always openly expressed his affection for his 'Miyu-chan' and would take every opportunity to get her away from the one person he saw as a hindrance.

Him.

He found it ridiculous, the way Nozomu regarded him a rival to everything--looks, popularity and more recently, to Miyu. Kanata couldn't care less about fame. He had never asked nor enjoyed it. He would rather have a life that had no annoying fangirls swooning over every little thing that he did. Now, when it came Miyu, there was technically no reason for Nozomu to feel so threatened . Kanata liked Miyu, all right but not in the romantic way the blond boy was frequently suggesting. That's impossible. His relationship with her was purely platonic …

Well, he liked and tried to think that it was.

It had to be.

Kanata had conditioned himself to disregard any blossoming affection for Miyu that stepped beyond the boundaries of friendship. His logical mind said that it was the most practical thing to do. Life would have less complications that way. Miyu was free. She could go out with any guy she wanted and he would not care. Not a bit.

Or so he thought.

When Miyu accepted Nozomu's invitation, Kanata was startled. He totally didn't expect it. She had always refused Nozomu. She had always shown her disinterest. So why did she say yes that morning? Why did she go with him? The more puzzling thing was why was he feeling so upset?

Kanata shook his head vigorously, wanting to ignore the strange emotion currently plaguing him.

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A deafening silence greeted Kanata upon reaching the temple. No alien baby flying giggling happily in the air. No worried sitter-pet pleading for the little boy to behave. No Miyu to argue with. Everything was so tranquil..so soothing. He should be feeling a lot better. But still…

Ch' I said I am not upset!!!

..the mental war was not over and he was still trying to convince himself to believe the lie he had devised . Sighing sharply, Kanata threw his bag down on the living room tatami. He had to stop thinking about Miyu and Nozomu. He proceeded to the kitchen where he knew a note from Wannya was awaiting.

As expected, there it was posted on the refrigerator door--a yellow paper held securely by an apple-shaped magnetic clip that said:

To Miyu-san and Kanata-san,

Went to the grocery with Ruu.

Wannya

Just as soon as Kanata had finished reading the note, telephone rings began to break the silence inside the Saionji kitchen. The boy walked over to the other side of the room where the phone was resting on top a bamboo cabinet. He was about to pick the handle up when he saw the name 'Mikan' on the phone's LCD screen.

Kanata let out an exasperated sigh as he stepped back and ignored the phone call. He was not in the mood to tolerate the comic book artist's ..uh..insanity. Sometimes, Kanata couldn't help but wonder how a mild-mannered and smart, young man like Mizuki be related to Mikan. The woman was nice, he had to admit, but she was a strange one.

The phone stopped sounding after the seventh ring, much to the delight of Kanata . It was around this time also that the boy felt a feeling of dryness in his mouth and throat. And so he walked back to where the ref was , thinking that a very cold glass of water would be the best solution for it. Upon opening the appliance however, his brown eyes saw the cans of Juice Up lined up beside the pitcher of water.

Where did those come from?

Kanata wondered since those metal containers had not been there earlier that morning. And wasn't Wannya still out shopping for groceries? The boy shrugged his shoulders and decided to just ask the sittepet about the cans later on.

His hands reached inside to get the glass pitcher but for some reason, he couldn't take his eyes (and his interest) off the orange cans. Curious as to how the content tasted like, he opted to get Juice Up! instead.

And Kanata had no idea that what he did was a very, very big mistake.

End Chapter One

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Author's Note: My first fanfic for this very adorable series. There's so little Daa!3x fics on the net so I thought of contributing to increase them.

Thank you for reading.