Chichiris gift By Harmony-chan The girl sat, huddled underneath a tree with her legs tucked below her chin. A tear slipped down her cheeks, which she swiped away with one small hand. A robe was wrapped around her tightly despite the warmth of the summer afternoon. It allowed only one green eye and a whisp of short blonde hair to be seen. She was young, only about 9 or 10, but not too young to understand... "Da-a!" "Eh!" She started back, shocked. A small man had just flipped out of the trees overhead. He had a monks costume with kesa,bright blue stalks of bangs, and an almost too real face...the surreal quality of it made her blink. Then she giggled. "You have a funny face!" She poked him in the nose, eyes wide in fascination. "Is it real?" The little man laughed. "Of course it is no da!" He zipped back to his normal size, and the girl squealed with delight. He grinned down at her. "Im Chichiri nan no da! Is your face real no da?" The girls one eye darted away, a new tear barely visible at the edge. (Ah-hah.) Chichiri smiled a knowing smile. (Someone must have teased her about her looks.) He knelt down to her eye-level. "Can I see your face no da? That robe must not be comfortable on such a hot summer day no da!" The girl vehemently shook her head. "Please no da?" He grinned at her. "You have such pretty eyes no da! Let them see the sun no da!" The girl sighed, and slowly took off the hood. Chichiri started in shock. There, on her left eye,sealing it shut, was a perfectly vertical scar. It started at her thin eyebrow and arched down, curving almost to her chin. It barely grazed the left side of her lips, giving them an odd upturned corner. The girl looked at him pleadingly. Chichiris heart filled with anger. (They were making fun of her....beacuse of this? Its not fair! How can people be so cruel?) He reached down beside him and picked one of the violet flowers that grew all around them, still in a bud. "You do have a pretty face no da!" "Really?" "Hai no da!" He held out a feather, slowly willing it open to the girls shocked delight. "You even make flowers bloom no da! How could someone ugly make a flower bloom no da?" The girl smiled, genuinely happy. "Youre so nice! My parents told me not to talk to people, but Im sure they wouldnt mind if I talked to YOU, cause youre so nice and all..." "You want to know a secret no da?" He motioned the girl in close. He knelt on her hands and knees untill they were exactly face to face. He lifted off his mask. "I have a scar too no da!" The girl fell back, hands over her mouth. "Its a magic mask!" "Hai nan no da!" He stood up. "So I understand no da! And I think youre face is beautiful, with or without a robe!" He peered down at her for a second. "Dont you think youre pretty no da?" She shook her head. "No, Im not. Im all scarred and stuff. Other kids dont think Im pretty!" "Why does that matter no da?" He ruffled her hair. "Looks dont matter no da. Its what you do to make people happy no da! If you can make people happy, youre beautiful no da! And you know what no da?" "What?" He laughed. "You make me very happy no da! Youre very nice nan no da!" She blushed. "Really?" "Hai no da! And you know what else no da?" "Nani?" He poked her in the forhead. "Youre it nan no da!" "Aieee!" The girl ran after the now superdeformed Chichiri, giggling. "Am not! Am not! Am-" "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY CHILD?" An large, angry man stomped his way across the clearing and grabbed the superdeformed Chichiri by the collar of his throat. "Da-" "Daddy! Daddy!" The little girl ran up, giggling. "Look! I made a friend! His names Chichiri!" "Chi...chiri?" The man started to turn red, lowering the SD monk to the ground. "You mean, the suzaku seishi Chichiri....the mage with the mask?" "One and the same nan no da!" Chichiri turned back to his normal height. "Is she your daughter nan no da?" "G-gomen!" The man quickly bowed, and was patted on the back by Chichiri. "Ii desu nan no da. She just seemed very lonely, and I wanted to see what was wrong no da...." "Chichiri! Chichiri!" The girl was yanking on his kesa. "Come see my house!" He turned to the man, who simply nodded. "Youre wlecome to stay as long as you like." "I can only stay for a few hours no da..." Chichiri laughed as the girl dragged him torwards a tiny hut across the clearing. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*Chichiri sat with the gruff man inside the hut. Outside the window he could see the little girl (Whos name, he had learned, was Toshira) carefully shelling peas with her mother. She squinted with her one eye, bent over the peas intently. He smiled, then turned to the man. "Shes a very nice kid nan no da." The man nodded. "Shes had that scar ever since she was three. Some bandits attacked our house...." A pang went thriugh Chichiri. "The Mt Leikyaku bandits no da?" "Im not sure....all I know is that she and my wife were the only ones here when they attacked. They went through our house, taking all of our valuables and breaking what they deemed unworthy. Doori (my wife) and Toshira were hiding in a closet. Once the found Doori, they went to stab her....but Toshira threw herself in the way, earning her that miserable battle scar." The man sighed, shadows falling across his face. "Im not sure why they spared Doori's life, but I was informed they cleared out pretty fast after that. I guess they were shocked at hurting such a little kid...My wife was scared, but unharmed. Toshira, however..." The man waved his hand, gesturing out the window. Chichrii shook his head. "So noble. Only three years old..." The man nodded. "Weve never been able to send her to school, because the kids tease her so mercilessly....she just refuses to go! All she can do is run to the larger village for supplies, and only if she has her robe." Chichiri unconsiouly raised a hand to his mask, feeling the fleshlike material. He remembered how vehement he had been...he just refused to leave Mt Leikyaku without his mask at first. Even now, he was uncomfortable with it off. It made him feel so vunerable....and he was nearly 30! She was only 10! How was a 10 year old expected to deal with that kind of a situation? "Chichiri-sama?" His reverie was broken by the soft voice of Doori, who was bowing at the doorway. "Its time for dinner." "Arigatou nan no da!" He cheered, walking through the doorway to the outside, The family, he supposed, ate out here. All of their furniture was bandit scrap by now....he wondered, breifly, how Tasuki was. He was supposed to meet him in Konans palace the next day. He was going to be very late as it was, and he knew every second he spent here was one more minute of Tasuki's complaining he would have to endure...but the little girl... She smiled up at him. "Sit by me, Chichiri-san!" "Of course!" He spread out his kesa as a picnic blanket. "Lets eat no da!" Dinner was a simple affair. Just vegetables, all Doori had planted in the large garden plots behind the small palace. "And I helped! Arent they good, Chichiri-san?" The little girl looked up at him with hope. "Delicious nan no da!" Chichiri pumped his fist in the air, making the little girl giggle. "Theese must be the best vegetables in all of Konan-no, all of the WORLD no da!" The woman smiled. "Well, than, youre more than welcome to take some to....where are you going?" Chichiri sighed. "Da...I have buisness in the palace no da." "The palace?" The girl grabbed his sleeve. "Youve been in the palace?" "Hai!" He nodded. "I was good friends with the Heiga-sama." "Waiii!" The little girl clutched his arm tightly. "Youre so lucky! I wish that I could go to the palace! Im gonna work there someday, I promise!" The mother shook her head. "Now Toshira, you know that unless you go to school you can never even hope to work at the palace! Youre a very bright child, but without the proper schooling...." The girl pouted. "No fair!" Chichiri smiled. "How about I tell you all about it, Toshira-san no da?" "Really? Really?" The girl stared up at him, eye gleaming. "Start at the beggining, right at the gate!" "Well..." Chichiri stared up at the stars, straining his memory. It had been so long... "The gates are red, made out of brick no da..." The dinner continured on, into the night, stars twinkling lightly on the enraptured audience as Chichiri described palace life. The girls eye gleamed and shone with dreams of the palace. "Someday, Ill be a lady in waiting at the palace, and Ill be sooooo cool..." "Someday, maybe, someday no da..." Chichiri placed a hand on her head. "Who knows no da?" *~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~* "It was nice to meet you, Chichiri-san." Toshiras parents stood at the edge of the clearing, waving Chichiri off. The man looked slightly apologetic. "We thought it would be better if Toshira didnt see you leave...you know how attached childern can get." "I know no da." Chichiri tried to conceal his dissapointment.He had really liked little Toshira, and didnt want to leave without saying goodbye, but it was the parents will. Plus, he supposed the child needed her sleep. The woman handed him a basket of fresh vegetables. "For your trip." He zapped them into his kasa. "Arigatou. Sayonara no da!" "Sayonara!" the couple said cheerily, waving as he retreated into the bush. Chichiri hiked on, through the brambles. It had been a nice little aside, but this was the life of a traveler. He did want to see Toshira again, though.... *Tchoo!* Chichiri started, then turned behind hinm, a stern expression on his face. That small sneeze hadnt come out of nowhere. "Come out, Toshira no da!" The girl came out, hanging her head with a guilty expression. "Im sorry, Chichiri-sama." "Toshira!" He sighed in exasperation. "Why did you follow me no da?" "Cause....cause I wanted to say goodbye!" She lunged forward, throwing her arms around his waist. "Youre so nice, Chichiri-sama! I dont want to say goodbye! Ill never see you again!" Her tears began to fall. His heart twinged. He took out his kasa and began to rummage around for a present inside his kasa....his hand found a jar, a very particular jar....his eyes shot open. He grasped it, eyes wdening as he remembered what Mitsukake had given him.The power to heal his eye... Or, her eye.... He knelt down, emotions conflicting inside him. One one side, he was giving up the chance to be healed. On the other, little Toshira might have a chance-his mind was made up as he took the jar out of his kasa. "I have a very special gift for you, Toshira-san." He whispered. He opened the jar. "Now, hold very still, and close your eyes..." The girl complied, wincing as Chichiri began to spread the contents of the jar on the left side of her face. "It kinda burns, Chichiri-san..." "I know, now just wait." Her face began to glow. He watched in amazement as the skin on her face began to reform. It was like watching a gash in someones face go in reverse. The edges of the skin fomred together, and soon the lines and cracks began to fill. "Chichiri-san! It HURTS!" "Shhh." He watched as the crack finnaly filled in, leaving her with a perfect face. "Now, open your eyes." Her eyelids-both eyelids- fluttered open. A perfect pair of glinting green eyes met Chichiris smiling, maskless face. She gasped, rasing a shaking hand to her face. "Chichiri-san...how...." "Its my special gift from me to you no da." He kissed her on the forhead. "Now, if you study hard at school, I can visit you at the palace all the time! Will you study hard in school, just for me?" The girl nodded, tears of shock beggining to run down her face. "Good." He gave her a hug. "Now, why dont you go show your mom and dad?" She was crying now, full blown tears of happiness. "Chichiri-sama....arigatou gorimasu!" She ran off in the direction of the house. "Mama! Daddy! Chichiri-sama fixed me! I can go to school now!" Her voice trailed off in the distance. Chichiri stared after her and smiled. (Gomen nasai, Mitsukake, but someone needed that gift more than me.) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~* EPILOUGE Chichiri sat alone, in the tutoring room of the palace. Under special request of this particualr pupil, he had been summoned to help teach her in the ways of the palace. He smiled as the girl stepped in the room, long blonde hair sweeping behind her, green eyes twinkling. "Chichiri-sama!" "Good morning, Toshira-san no da! Are you ready for todays lesson nan no da?" ~finis~ (*AUTHORS NOTE*In the manga, after Chichiris battle with hikou, Mitsukake gives him a jar of healing water for healing his scar when hes ready.)