"Oh just look at the poor dear, she must be lost" a woman cooed as she scooped the small black kitten up into her arms. It struggled in her hold, obviously not used to being picked up the woman decided, and she tightened her hold on the little darling before turning to her husband.
"Perhaps" her husband told her, "or maybe it was just on its way home."
"Well either way we should let its owners know where it is. I've heard that there have been foxes in the area and I hate to think about what would happen to the little one if it ran into one."
He sighed, resigned to having a stray in his house for a little while. "Of course dear. Does it have a number on it's tag to call?"
"Hmm, yep. It says the little sweetie's name is Maya and if lost we should call someone named Aro."
"Alright, then lets get home and call."
The pair quickly finished making their way home, the kitten cradled gently in her arms. When he got the front door unlocked, she moved into the kitchen and set the kitten down on the floor so that she could get it a bowl of water. While she had her back turned their dog got up from where he had been napping and come forward to investigate the intruder in his territory.
As the big dog came closer the kitten hissed at it in warning and swiped a paw through the air in warning for it to stay back. The dog in return let out a growl that had the kitten scrambling backwards. The dog followed, chasing the poor kitten up onto the table to get away.
"Now, now sweety, that's enough of that" the woman said, gently moving the dog to the side with her hip so she could set a bowl of water and dog food on the table next to the kitten.
The kitten stared at the two dishes in confusion and the woman used the distraction to reach down and grab her collar so that she could read the tag and punch in the numbers on her phone. As the line rang, she worked to keep herself between the kitten, and Rufus. Who was apparently making the kitten nervous with his continued attempts to get close to her.
The line only rang three times before she heard a terse "hello" from the other end.
"Hello" she greeted cheerily. "My husband and I have found your cat and wanted to return her to you."
"You found Maya?" The voice asked in an odd tone she couldn't decipher.
"Yes, she was out alone on the street so my husband and I took her home. You really should be more careful in the future about keeping her inside. There have been sightings of fox in the area you know."
"... I'll take that into consideration. Perhaps though you could tell me where you are so that I may come and get her now?"
"See that you do. And we live at number 143 on Via Leone. It's the one with the red shutters, you can't miss it."
"I'm sure I won't" the person said before abruptly hanging up.
The woman pulled the phone away from her ear and stared down at it. "What a rude man."
"What was that dear?" her husband asked as he came into the room.
"The man who owns little Maya here, he was so rude on the phone. Didn't even bother saying goodbye."
The man shrugged. "Perhaps he's just having a bad day. Or maybe he was just too worried about his cat to remember them."
"Maybe" his wife sighed, moving into the kitchen to get to work on preparing dinner, figuring she had time as it would probably take the man a while to get here.
Not even five minutes later though there was a knock on the door and when her husband opened the door he froze at the sight in front of him. On his doorstep was a group of imposing people all dressed impeccably that glared at him with red eyes and barely concealed anger.
"Ca-can I help you?" he asked fearfully.
The man in the middle smiled. An expression that should have been friendly and reassuring but only caused the man to back up a step as unease ran through him. "I'm here because someone here called and said they had found my kitten."
"Darling who is it?" the woman asked as she came around the corner. Catching sight of the group at their door she froze.
"Ah, you must be the one that called about Maya" the dark haired man said as he stepped around her husband and into the house to shake her hand.
"Ye-yes" the woman stuttered as she hesitantly took his hand. She had no idea why accepting such a normal gesture made her so nervous, but her entire body was practically screaming at her to run as his hand came out towards her.
"We fo-found her on-" the woman broke off as the sound of something breaking and a dog barking was heard.
Before either of the humans could blink the group was shoving passed them and into the kitchen. There they found little Maya crouched on the counter looking over the edge at the broken dish and spilled dog food she had pushed off the edge while a dog barked at her. At the sight of them though, the dog back up into the corner with a whine and laid down. Maya though perked up and quickly raced across the counter so she could launch herself at her family.
The couple moved into the kitchen just in time to see the man with shoulder length blond hair catch her and cradle her close to his chest. "You left her alone near a dog?" he hissed angrily.
The pair flinched back from him, not understanding how a simple look or a few words could cause them so much fear.
"W-we di-didn't mean to" the woman said, practically crying at the terror these people were making her feel.
"Brother" the man with long dark brown hair chided gently. "They were kind enough to rescue Maya when they thought she was in trouble. Don't be rude."
"Yes they were." the man who had first spoken agreed. He stepped forward and extended his hand. Shakily the husband reached out to accept what turned out to be a few bills. He only glanced at it, not wanting to take his eyes of the obviously dangerous men before him, but just that had been enough to tell him that it was a lot.
"For the damages" the man explained before he began to make his way out of the house.
The rest of the group followed him, closing the door once the last one had left. Once the door clicked shut it was like the couple were puppets who had had their strings cut and they both sank to the floor.
"I think those men were Mafia" she whispered as her whole body trembled.
"That's the last time we bring a stray home" he told her as he pulled her to his chest.
"Agreed. How much did they give you?" she wondered.
He brought his hand up and counted it. "500 Euros" he told her as he recounted it twice more just to be sure that his eyes were not decieving him.
"It was only a cheap bowl" she whispered in disbelief, looking over at the broken pieces on the ground. "I got it as a set. Its not even worth 10 Euros. Who would pay 500 for something not even worth a tenth of that?"
"Lets not think about it" he suggested, standing up to put the money out of sight. The men who had come to their door were dangerous and he figured the quicker they forgot about them the better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Did you have a fun adventure today?" Marcus asked Maya as the two settled down in front of the fire for their usual story time.
"Yes! The couple who picked me up were super nice! At first it was a little scary cause I didn't know them but they took me home and got me water and food. But it was dog food and that stuff tastes yucky."
Marcus smiled down at her as she finished. "That last sentence implies that you actually ate it my little principessa."
Maya scrunched up her nose. "I did. I wanted to know what it tastes like cause all the dogs I see eat stuff like that but it was gross. Why do dogs eat such gross stuff Zio?"
"I couldn't say" he said with a shake of his head. "But what story do you want tonight?"
Maya thought about it for a second before she began to bounce excitedly in his lap. "The one where they get lost and hungry on their way home and have to fight a monster with only one eye!"
He chuckled, "The story of Odysseus it is." Settling her in his lap better he leaned back in the armchair. "A long time ago there was a man named Odysseus who left home to fight in a war ..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3 months later after a string of bad luck, misfortunes and disturbing encounters the couple moved out of the city and across the country. The only thing they left behind was a growing rumour about the curse of the black kitten that freely roamed the street of Volterra and the danger that came to anyone that messed with it.
Suffice it to say that was the last time Maya was ever picked up against her will while out exploring. And as a bonus, a little while after the couple had taken her home she suddenly found the restaurants and food stall operators much more welcoming to her. Where before they would have shooed her off, now they cautiously offered her small treats and kindly let her pass through whenever she wanted.