Welcome to Gaia! ::

8/19/04

Emperial yawned and glanced at the time readout on her computer’s taskbar. 1:26 am. Why, oh why was it always one twenty-six? The number followed her constantly, cropping up in the most unexpected places, and she had yet to figure out its significance. After several years of pondering the problem, she had been forced to give up on it and just wait for fate to make itself known.

She watched the clock and waited for the number to change. Thirty-one, thirty-two... She glanced away a moment, her eyes falling on her new feien bloom. It was just resting there next to her computer monitor, exactly the way Simon’s had before it. Thirty-nine, forty, forty-one...

Time seemed almost to slow itself when she paused to pay it any attention. The distance between the seconds ticking by seemed to grow longer and longer. Forty-seven, forty-eight. She rubbed at her eyes. Four more seconds gone.

At precisely 1:26:56, the little dark red and blue bloom lying on her desk shuddered, glowed a dark red barely perceptible in the light of the computer monitor, and a single hand stretched out.

This immediately tore Emperial’s eyes away from the computer monitor. Screw the time. As she watched, the hand was followed by an arm, and then another hand. Tiny fingers gripped the edges of the flower petals as the feien within heaved itself out.

A puff of blue poked out from the flower’s center, straining against the tight squeeze, and finally the torso was through. It was an awkward moment. Emperial sat completely still, eyes locked on the newcomer, who turned and looked at her, half of him still magically hidden within the confines of his bloom. The considered one another, and the little feien resumed his struggle to escape his bloom, nearly popping out and falling face-first on the table. Emperial let out the tiniest gasp of surprise, having never seen such an awkward emergence before and blinked at him.

“Ow,” he said, and picked himself up. He squinted at the light of the computer monitor; his eyes were white. Poking out through the mass of short curly blue hair on his head was a pair of dark red horns, curled upwards, and matching dark red markings were arranged like spots across his body. He started to read from the monitor. “Custom-two-A, original. Last saved by user eight-eleven PM Tuesday, August oh-three.” His words were slow, halting. This was the first time he had ever read anything in his entire life, all two minutes of it.

He looked away from the monitor and at Emperial. “Who are you?”

“I’m Emperial, or Em, your bond.”

His little brow knit with confusion. “My bond?” He understood this term already, but did not like it.

“A human, to whom you are linked in order to live,” she started to explain.

“I know what it means. Why should I need a human?” He frowned and looked down at the desk. The faux wood was cool to the touch. He smacked it once with his hand.

“Do you have a name?” queried Emperial.

“A name? No, I don’t think so.” It seemed to him that he should have a name, he just... didn’t. He stretched out one of his legs and looked at it.

Emperial leaned back and flicked on a light switch, throwing the room into brightness, which caused the young feien to give a startled cry and cover his eyes. “Hey!”

“Sorry. Let me get a good look at you. I’ll find you a name.” She leaned forward onto the desk and moved her head close so she was only a few inches away.

The little feien fixed her with an odd look and pulled himself close to her. If she was going to get a good look at him, he should get a good look at her, too. She did not move away.

“What are those?” he asked, pointing.

“My glasses. They help me see by refracting light through the lenses, compensating for a naturally misshapen eye. My eyeball is too long, so the glasses stretch the light to fit. You can see just fine, though, can’t you? Nothing looks blurry?”

“Of course I can see fine,” he said haughtily. He curled his fingers around the thin wires of the frames. Then he reached over and pinched the kin near her eyebrow. She flinched.

“Don’t do that, please.”

“Why?” he asked.

“It hurts.”

At that announcement, he leapt into action. He stood, leaned over the glasses, and smacked her face as hard as he could.

“Ow!” she exclaimed, jerking back. She took him with her, as he was presently hanging off her glasses. “What the hell did you do that for?”

“Did that hurt?”

She squinted and pondered trying to pull him off her face. “A little.” He did it again. “OW!” she went, and reached up to swat at him. He dropped off her glasses into her lap.

“Does this hurt?” he went, and sank his teeth into her leg. She clamped her legs together, squeezing him tightly in place.

“It might hurt if you had gotten more than a mouthful of cloth,” she remarked wryly, plucking him out and dangling him in the air by the arm. “You know, you look an awful lot like a character from Stargate with that hair.”

The little feien struggled, pulling himself up, and bit down on her finger. This time, she didn’t even flinch. “What do you say about the name Fifth?” she asked.

“Grnk,” he mumbled, biting until he broke skin. Still she did not react. Warm blood filled his mouth.

“Yes,” she concluded, “I think Fifth is the name for you.”

Since his bite was failing to elicit any reaction whatsoever from her he gave up and crawled on top of her hand. Blood dribbled down his chin. “Why Fifth?”

“Because,” she smiled slightly, bringing her hand up to her face so she could look at him directly and suck on her finger, “you’re a sadistic little b*****d with really pretty hair.”

“Didn’t that hurt?” Fifth asked.

She removed the finger from her mouth. “Oh, pfft, you’ll have to better than that to hurt me, Fifth.”

Fifth sat down Indian-style on the back of her hand. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you,” he said sweetly, “I was just wondering what would happen if I did that.”

“Yep, you’re Fifth,” she repeated. “Welcome to the Household, Fifth.”

8/24/04

Their first meeting was not a particularly great one. “Kabuto,” Em had said, “do me a favor and watch over Fifth while I run some errands.”

“Fifth?” went Kabuto, wondering if something was being lost in translation. Emperial lifted up her arm, revealing a tiny fairy hanging off her watch.

“I can’t take him with me, someone needs to watch him. Since Rik’s out with Lemon and Yttrium, someone is you. You just need to keep him out of trouble. Don’t let him near any Pixapets or Shizue or Zev. Keep him within eyesight. Oh, yes, and be careful. He bites.” That said, Emperial shook the little fairy off into Kabuto’s open hand.

What followed was several hours of torture from Kabuto’s point of view. Fifth spent the two and a half hours of Emperial’s absence running across tables, kicking glass objects onto the floor, and attacking Kabuto every chance he could. Kabuto blocked easily, of course. Perhaps a little too easily. About an hour and half into the assignment, he lost his temper slightly and used a kunai in a defensive move against the tiny hellion. Big mistake.

The sharp blade sliced Fifth’s side open instantly. The poor fairy let out a scream of pain and collapsed onto the table, screaming. Only Kabuto’s incredible medical skills managed to salvage the situation, and then it came with a price.

“Emi must never know I almost killed her fairy,” Kabuto said after the repairs were complete. “You must never tell her.”

Fifth fixed the human with a wary eye. “What’s in it for me?” he asked.

Leave it to Fifth to be five centimeters from death and five minutes later bounce back with a threat.

Kabuto considered Fifth’s words carefully. “If you breathe a single word to her, I’ll kill you.”

“Aha, but then you’ll be in trouble for killing me!” exclaimed Fifth. “Isn’t that what you were trying to avoid in the first place?”

Kabuto stared. “What is it you want?”

“Right now, I want an ‘ice cream sundae.’” Thank you, television, for introducing Fifth to one of the modern marvels of man.

“I don’t have an ice cream sundae,” said Kabuto.

“Then you had better get one before Emi gets home!” Fifth sneered.

So Kabuto took Fifth, a bicycle, and headed for the nearest ice cream shop, which happened to be a twenty-minute ride away and was an adventure unto itself. Kabuto was well familiar with the “don’t let the magic creatures be seen by average humans” rule, so hid Fifth in his sash while inside the ice cream parlor. His exchange with the cashier went thusly:

“Hello, I would like to buy an ice cream sundae.”

“Okay, what kind do you want? We have the single, the double, the supreme, and the strawberry deluxe.”

“Sing-UH!” as Fifth’s leg drove into his gut. Kabuto tried again: “Dub-gih! Supreme?” A moment later he winced as Fifth rammed his head against Kabuto’s stomach. “Strawberry deluxe!”

The poor cashier, who was only working at the parlor as a summer job so she could make enough money to pierce her nose for the third time, looked at Kabuto funnily.

From inside the sash, Fifth hissed, “Supreme AND strawberry deluxe!”

At that noise, the cashier look down.

Kabuto winced. “Ah ha! I’m so hungry!” He patted his stomach. Hard. Fifth squeaked as he was flattened and knocked breathless. “How about a supreme and a strawberry deluxe? To go,” he hastily added.

“Suuure,” said the cashier, quickly retreating into a “life is boring and everything sucks” state before her morbid curiosity could get the better of her and break her carefully constructed nihilistic facade.

From there, they went to a nearby park, where Fifth gorged himself on ice cream until his stomach looked about ready to burst. This meant he ate all of one-third of the strawberry deluxe sundae, never making it to the supreme. By that point, the ice cream had melted in the humidity, and Kabuto had to throw the rest away. On the way back, Fifth threw up inside his shirt.

Kabuto returned home at precisely the same time as Em. He coasted the bike onto the front lawn, dismounted, tromped up the front steps, disengaged Fifth from his hair (where the feien had been yanking individual strands out) and half-threw him at Em. Then he turned quickly away and went to put away the bike.

“Fifth,” went Emperial, “were you very mean to Kabuto?”

“No,” said Fifth, and bit her finger.

The next time Emperial went on an errand, Fifth requested he be left with Kabuto. Emperial, innocent as to the happenings on their last outing, agreed, and so Kabuto and Fifth were thrust together once again.

It started out peaceably enough. Kabuto watched Seven Days with Fifth (which was the fairy’s second-favorite show, after Law & Order: SVU) while Fifth jumped around on his body, kicking and twisting and threatening to tell Emperial how he had almost died every time Kabuto so much as breathed. Then, when Seven Days was over, Fifth jumped somewhere he should never have jumped and grabbed something he should never have grabbed. Kabuto shot up from his seat with a cry, clutched the area, and immediately decided to kill Fifth on the spot.

“DON’T TOUCH ME OR I’LL TELL EMI!” screamed Fifth as he leapt away from Kabuto onto the nearest table.

“I don’t care,” hissed Kabuto, drawing out his blade.

Unfortunately, this noise attracted the attention of fellow household resident Lord Admiral Piett, who made it very clear that not only was killing Fifth wholly unacceptable, Kabuto would be expelled from the house if he did.

Not that Kabuto minded. He wanted to be expelled from the house quite badly. Just not into outer space, as Lord Admiral Piett suggested. Besides, there was always the problem:

“I’ll tell Emi!”

When Emperial returned later that day, it was to find Kabuto stretched out on the couch as Fifth pulled hairs out of his nostrils. There were dry tears in the corners of Kabuto’s eyes from the pain. Kabuto was by this point too far gone to care.

“Fifth!” chided Emperial. “Don’t do that.”

“Why?” went Fifth.

“Because it’s not nice. Kabuto, why are you letting him do that?”

“Kill me now,” mumbled Kabuto. He looked over at her. “Or kill him before he kills us both.”

She laughed at that and went to scoop Fifth up. The little feien squealed in protest.

“Noooo! I wanna stay with Kabuto!”

“Huh?” went Em, her grip loosening. Fifth wriggled free and landed on Kabuto’s cheek.

“Kabuto is my best friend!” said the feien happily, lying down on Kabuto’s cheek and biting it. He looked deliriously happy. Kabuto’s face scrunched up, a valiant attempt to prevent tears from forming.

“Hum, okay,” said Em and went upstairs to spend some time with Zevulon.

Eventually Corvus stumbled across the two. He sniffed disdainfully at Fifth and shot Kabuto an extremely condescending glare. “Won’t Em be disappointed,” the summoner remarked.

“Hn?” hummed Kabuto.

“Seems Fifth has bonded to you,” said the summoner as he drifted off into the kitchen. Kabuto just let himself sink into the couch. There was really no point in objecting at this point.

“Fifth loves you,” crooned Fifth, punctuating this statement by slamming his forehead down on the bridge of Kabuto’s nose. The feien stumbled backwards. “Whoa!” His little arms flailed as he fell off Kabuto’s face onto the couch. He was distressed by this for a moment, but his upset quickly turned to joy and his tiny hands seized Kabuto’s ear and began to yank. Then, leaning in very close, he shouted at the top of his lungs. “FIFTH LOVES YOU!”

“I’m going to kill you,” muttered Kabuto. Fifth squashed the human’s ear up.

“I’ll tell Emi,” was all he said, grinning from ear to ear.

8/30/04

Kabuto looked down at the sheet of paper in his gloved hand and then at the building before him. The bespectacled ninja was presently standing somewhere in Gaia, and while he thought he knew where he was, there was no way to be certain at this point.

The situation was in no way his own fault. It was that damnedable Em. “Here, just follow these directions,” she said, and handed him the paper. “Easy as pie.” And surely it was normally, but however great and mighty a ninja Kabuto was, he could not make head or tails of Em’s handwriting.

This had resulted in his first reaching a bakery, which he concluded was not the right location, and then a shop that sold weapons so flimsy Kabuto had to resist the urge to snap them in two with his left pinky finger. Such actions were not tolerated by Em or the phantomlike enforcers of Gaia known as “moderators” and “admins.”

Sadly, the no break rule seemed to apply only to store merchandise and not to Kabuto himself.

From where he was riding on Kabuto’s shoulder, Fifth gave his bond a stiff kick to the jaw. He was so tiny that this one kick was not enough to cause anything more than a slight twitch of Kabuto’s cheek, but after three hours of this abuse, the area had begun to bruise. Furthermore, Fifth’s attention to Kabuto’s right ear had drawn blood.

It would be easy for the medical specialist to heal himself, but Kabuto was too annoyed to bother at the moment. He had learned several days ago that anything he healed would be attacked again so long as it was within Fifth’s range. Better to just wait it out and heal the whole area after the juvenile feien was safely deposited somewhere else. Like a small steel box or a lake.

This was the thought process that governed Kabuto’s mind as he stepped up to the door with his bloodied ear and gave a hearty knock. Please let this be the right place.

A small, blond boy with a bright smile answered the door. His baggy, pale blue shirt set off his eyes, which seemed entirely too cheerful. "Hello," he chirped at Kabuto, moving to step away from the door without even bothering to get a name or reason for being there. As he did so, another blonde, this one female and a little taller, peered out from a room.

Her eyes narrowed briefly at the sight of Kabuto, and she moved into the hallway curiously, her head tilted to one side. "Hello... may I help you?" she asked, a eyebrow raising slightly as a foxlike creature with deep blue fur followed her, coming to sit by one ankle.

Kabuto looked down at his sheet, light grey bangs falling over his eyes. “I have a delivery for Trio Maxwell-Chang?” He stumbled over the name slightly, partly due to the fact that it was Emperial’s handwriting, partly due to the fact it contained that bothersome “l” sound, which his Japanese tongue despised.

"That'd be me," Trio nodded, relaxing a little as she padded forward. She didn't seem phased by the way he pronounced her name, a smile beginning to grow on her face. "Who're you?" The blue Zurui beside her kept pace, the vivid green eyes narrowed as he noticed Fifth. He tilted his head, mimicking Trio, but said nothing.

The line “my name is unimportant” came to mind, but this was probably not the time or place to be ripping theatrics from movies. “My name is Kabuto. Uh...” He reached into a pouch clipped to his sash for this occasion and pulled out the leaf. “This is for you.”

“HELLOOO!” yelled Fifth, causing his bond to wince at the sudden loud noise. Then, much quieter, he said, “You forgot to introduce me.”

“And this is Fifth,” added Kabuto.

Trio blinked, finally noticing the feien on her shoulder even as she took the leaf carefully. "Hello Fifth," she smiled brightly, then, "Hello Kabuto." And then she seemed to realize just what the leaf must be. Eyes and grin both widening until her face seemed almost comical, she turned to the blond boy, murmuring, "Go get Aileron!"

The boy nodded, blinking once before stumbling off - and stumble he did, catching the top of his foot on the back of his heel around the second step and pitching forward for four more before he caught himself and darted into a room. "Would you like to come in, Kabuto?" Trio offered, stepping aside to offer entrance. "I could make you some tea. Aileron will be thrilled you brought this. I'm right, aren't I? It's a feien bloom. Er, leaf. Er, bloom," she waffled, then shrugged, bouncing briefly.

“That would be nice,” said Kabuto. As he spoke, he raised his hand up to scratch at his bloody ear, nearly unseating Fifth in the process, which resulted in an unhappy squeal from the passenger. Kabuto had still not gotten used to the idea that there was a creature riding on his shoulder. He mumbled a quick apology in Japanese and put his arm back down at his side, which was probably a good idea, as the scratching had only exacerbated the numerous tiny cuts. “If you don’t mind our intrusion.”

The juvenile feien’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Do you have any ice cream?” he asked pleadingly.

Just as Trio was about to answer, Aileron buzzed up, followed by Ailis and Levon both. The pale feien looked curious, pausing when he took in Kabuto and Fifth. Long used to looking for feien around humans, it didn't take him long to spy Fifth, particularly given the just-uttered request. "Trio?" he prompted, waiting for an introduction as he floated closer to Fifth.

Trio chuckled, the leaf still cupped in her hands as she nodded. "Aileron, meet Kabuto and Fifth. Kabuto, Fifth, this is Aileron, my bonded. And yes, Fifth, I think I can dig up some ice cream." Glancing at Levon, she murmured, "Why don't you take them to the living room while I go put some tea on?" Unobtrusively, she handed the leaf to the kitsune, waiting long enough to see his eyes widen and an answering grin split his face before he nodded.

"This way, gentlemen..."

“You really don’t need to look for any ice cream,” said Kabuto, following her in. If he found the kitsune to be at all odd, he made no sign of it. “He just always asks for that. We don’t want to be a bother.”

Fifth’s face had taken on a sickly sweet expression. “Fifth really, really like ice cream!” he crooned. “But Kabuto is mean and won’t give Fifth any!” His tiny eyes started to fill with tears.

“Huh?” Kabuto turned to look at the feien, nearly knocking Fifth off again. “You had ice cream for breakfast.” Still, Fifth dissolved into sobs anyway, weeping onto the rough dark blue cotton of Kabuto’s overshirt.

Trio snorted, shaking her head before peering at Kabuto. "I'll leave it up to you. If you'd prefer he not get ice cream, particularly after that," and she glanced pointedly at the sobbing feien, "it's not a problem. Would you prefer green tea, or something else? I've got most types," she added.

Aileron watched Fifth for a moment, slightly at a loss. He'd seen some of Trio's companions do something like this when they were young, but she had the authority over them that he didn't have over Fifth, and he wasn't quite sure WHAT to do about it. Finally, he said quietly to the boy, "Come on. I'll show you around, if you like."

“Green tea would be wonderful.” Kabuto was careful to conceal the immense amount of joy he felt at the offer. It had been a long, grueling journey to get here, and he could think of no finer reward for his trouble. To Aileron, he said, “I’m not sure if that would--”

Fifth bolted up, his horns leaving two tiny holes in Kabuto’s shirt, and exclaimed, “Oh really! Would you? I don’t get to go out much. Most of the time I have to stay in an underwear drawer. It smells so funny in there!” He wrinkled his tiny little nose, eyes filling with tears again.

Kabuto paused, trying to decide if outright smacking the juvenile would cause him to seem any worse as a feien owner than Fifth was already making him out to be. Fifth did not leave him time to reach a conclusion. The tiny fairy leapt into the air and hovered next to Aileron, the perfect picture of an eager child, innocent and friendly. “I want white markings like you have! Kabuto, can I have white markings, please?”

“Um,” said Kabuto.

Aileron blinked, then preened slightly, smiling. "I don't think that you can just ask to have white markings like that, Fifth," he said gently. "You have to be born with them that way. But your spots are nice, too," he added, gesturing for Fifth to come with him. "Trio keeps me on a shelf in the plant room. Would you like to see it?"

Trio had disappeared when Kabuto looked up again, but Levon was still there, watching as the white, winged Zurui padded along below Aileron and Fifth. He glanced up, meeting Kabuto's eyes and offered another smile. "They'll be all right, don't worry," he assured the man. "Ailis is a good guardian." He started to move forward, then stopped when a creature the size of a large dog - blue and black and yellow - padded out from the room Aileron and Fifth had just entered. He held a book in his mouth, but somehow still managed to pause and smirk at them before padding off. "Er... right," Levon said, shivering faintly before gesturing for Kabuto to follow. "To the living room..."

Of course, Kabuto did not fear for Fifth’s safety in the slightest. He was more curious as to whether or not that other feien, Aileron, would come back in one piece. If something happened to Fifth, perhaps it would be deemed an unavoidable accident and thus not Kabuto’s responsibility. Then he might finally be free of the brat.

He kept this to himself, though, and chose what seemed to be the most unassuming seat he could find in the living room, careful to not bleed onto anything. A quick moment to gather up his chakra and his ear was fully repaired. He wiped the blood off on his white sleeve. Now that he was free of Fifth, he was able to wonder if accepting this hospitality so eagerly had been polite. Not really.

"Did... Em? send you?" Levon asked, trying to recall if he'd ever even met the shopowner of Feien before. He didn't think he had, and if he was wrong, he still couldn't recall her. All he really knew was what Trio said about her. "I know Aileron's been waiting for this. And hoping for it."

Kabuto nodded. “Yes, Emperial is my...” His what? Friend? Enemy? Acquaintance? Lover? “Employer.” The title fit, though it was more than slightly inaccurate at this point, particularly since Emperial made a habit of slipping into his bed every other night, and he was certainly not being paid for that sort of service.

"Ah," Levon said, with a sage nod that proved he hadn't the slightest idea of all the details Kabuto had left out of his statement. His tail wagged for a few moments as various noises could be heard throughout the house - laughter and shouting and clanging and all the other sounds that came of a few too many companions under one roof. "Thank you for delivering it. It's really quite beautiful. Corvus summoned it?" Again, he sounded out the unfamiliar name with hesitancy.

“Yes,” said Kabuto. He fidgeted slightly in his seat, vaguely nervous, or at least pretending to be. He rather hoped the whole subject of feien fairies would be dropped. Aside from Fifth, he had no practical knowledge about fairies, or any other sort of Gaian creatures for that matter.

"You'll have to mention to him that he did a wonderful job," Levon said, tilting his head to one side. "Is there... something I can get for you? Trio will be returning with the tea shortly, I'm sure."

That triggered Kabuto’s smiling mask. “No, thank you,” he said cheerily, falling into his Konoha routine. “If you don’t mind my asking, what sort of a creature are you?” The smile on his face was indistinguishable from one of genuine interest.

"A kitsune. I was born in the desert," Levon explained, "but a friend of Trio's brought myself and my brother Dalreidan, along with some others of our tribe, here to Gaia. Trio's given Dal and I a good home." He grinned. "And you?"

The question took Kabuto by surprise. He shifted his weight forward, leaning his elbows against his knees. “A human, of course. I’m a shinobi from the Sound village.” No sense in claiming to be otherwise. He had blown his cover in the matter several weeks ago, and the location probably meant nothing to Levon. “A kitsune, that’s interesting. We have a kitsune monster where I come from. The Nine-tails demon.”

"The two might be related," came from the doorway, as Trio entered carrying a tray with three teas on it. Ice cream was conspicuously absent, though two small thimbles were filled with tea as well. "I'm afraid I don't know any tea ceremony stuff, Kabuto. Please forgive me. Never could learn it." She handed him a mug, then handed one to Levon before sitting back. "It's good to meet you. I haven't gotten to meet many other feien bonded until lately.”

“Ah, I’m not,” he started to say, then realized that he was. He took the mug in both hands, enjoying its warmth. “I’m sorry, I’m still very new to this. You’re the first I’ve met besides Emi.” He raised the mug to his lips, savored the scent a moment, and took a light sip. Not too terrible.

Trio nodded, smiling softly. "It took a while to get used to having Aileron around, and I already had another fey companion," she commiserated. "Something about the feien, though... they make good bonded." She sipped at her own tea, which his glimpse into her mug revealed to be much darker than his own, then raised both eyebrows. "Wouldn't you agree?"

The smile Kabuto wore seemed more than a little forced at that statement. “Perhaps when you have a choice in the matter, yes.” The mug in his hand shook almost imperceptibly.

Trio blinked, looking slightly confused. "Hmm?" she prodded, her question cut off before it could begin by a audible jaw-snap and high-pitched squeal from somewhere in another room. Her tea was abandoned immediately, along with a rushed apology as she bolted for the door. Malicious laughter echoed the pounding footsteps, and a few moments later, the entire building could hear Trio snarling at someone - or thing - called Malv.

Watching her go, Levon shook his head, then glanced at Kabuto. "You were saying?"

“Nothing,” said Kabuto quickly. The smile fell off his face as he wondered whether the commotion had anything to do with Fifth. He hoped not. Taking a deep draught of his tea, he tried to come up with another conversation topic. Something, anything.

“Ah!” Kabuto went as the mug fell away from his lips and the cheery facade returned. “Have you been following the Olympics?”

"Not well, I'm afraid," Levon admitted. "My charge is more interested in playing with tiny pups and cats than keeping track of what some humans on television do. Who's winning, if you know? The few bits I've caught with Trio seem interesting." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs as he watched Kabuto curiously.

“Hum, I think the United States is leading. Or China.” He had no particular love for either, and had missed the only area of the Olympics that he found personally interesting: martial arts. The television schedule was just too confusing. “I know China swept diving, and there’s been a scandal with the Gymnastics Men’s All-Around. A judging error cost a North Korean the gold, to the benefit of an American.” The athletes’ names were distant memories at this point. He was glad he at least remembered enough of the foreign countries to sound knowledgeable about the event.

I think I got to see a bit of the gymnastics," Levon murmured thoughtfully. "I remember a couple of them were quite impressive." He took the rest of the information in, rolling it around in his mind. "Trio will be pleased to hear about the US, if she doesn't already know. She's half-American, after all."

“Ah,” said Kabuto. “Emi is American. I think.” As she explained it, she was and she wasn’t and he just left that conversation feeling confused and decided never to ask again. “This is very good tea.”

"I'm glad. Her father taught her to make it, I understand." He chuckled, then sipped his own before glancing up. "I should go check on Aileron and Fifth. Would you like anything while I'm up?"

“No, thank you. Perhaps we should be going, it was very impolite of me to impose on you in this way.” Kabuto bowed his head apologetically.

"Nonsense," Levon said, smiling. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like. We all enjoy guests." He started to say more, as a flash of black and pink crossed the doorway, and changed it to, "Almost all."

Kabuto’s head jerked around and he nearly spilled the remainder of the tea. “What was that?” he asked quickly. All his instincts told him to throw a blade in the direction of the movement, but such actions were hardly becoming of a guest, to say the least.

"That... was Jaelle. One of Trio's less social companions," Levon explained. "She gets around, often at more inopportune times." Rather than leaving the leaf behind, as he'd been about to do, Levon tucked it into a pocket carefully and carried it with him. "Trio will be back momentarily.'

“Ah,” said Kabuto. He looked down at his cup. “This is good tea.”

"I'll make sure Trio brings more," Levon nodded, slipping out.

~~~

Aileron buzzed into the plant room, pausing in the middle as he glanced back to Fifth. "This," he said, gesturing widely, "is where I live. The shelf up there is the one Trio keeps me on, and these are my roommates," he added, nodding to the three Bloomlings and Leafie who inhabited the room. Another fey-type creature, a small grey female with cloud and lightning marks over her body glanced up from where she sat at the window, sizing the two feien up before sniffing and darting out into the yard beyond. Aileron rolled his eyes. "That was Saevira. Don't mind her. She doesn't like anyone."

“Ooooh,” went Fifth, as if this were the most interesting show and tell he had ever encountered. The little feien beamed at the Leafie and the Bloomlings, then threw one of his hands wide in an exuberant wave, shouting, “HIIII!! I’m Fifth! This place is so cool!” He bobbed his horned head.

At his shout, two forms, one pink and the other white, darted out of the room so fast that he only barely caught where they'd been hiding. Aileron hid a laugh, even as the largest of the plants tugged herself from her pot and padded forward a few steps to peer at Fifth. "Hello there, little one," she said, her tone gentle and oddly maternal.

“Ooh, hi, what are you?” asked Fifth. He stretched his hands out behind him and rocked his shoulders, toeing the air.

"I'm a bloomling," the creature said, her petals waving slightly in the wind created from a nearby oscillating fan. "My name is Milkvetch."

“A bloooomling?” echoed Fifth. He darted forward under the pretense of getting a closer look and grabbed hold of the nearest leaf. “Hmm, tell me... Does this hurt?” And he pulled on the leaf as hard as he could, little wings beating a furious patter in the air.

Startled, the other leaf came down, doing its best to swat him away. Aileron stared in dumbfounded shock for a moment, then darted in, catching Fifth's wrists and tugging his hands apart as best he could. "What are you DOING?!" he demanded, eyes flashing green fire.

“Hey! I was just seeing if that hurt it. It’s some sort of plant, right? I heard they can feel pain, too. Nobody said they could talk.” He sounded vaguely indignant at having his little “experiment” interrupted.

The bloomling retreated as soon as she was released, hurrying to her pot and tucking herself in as the others leaned near to examine her wounded leaf.

Aileron rounded on Fifth, still holding his wrists tightly. "Do you know how CRUEL that is, to come into someone's home and hurt their companions? How unbelievably WRONG it is?!"

“Seems okay to me,” said Fifth. He looked down at Aileron’s hands. Since his arms were immobile, he did the only thing he was able to: he threw his head forward and bashed his forehead against Aileron’s wrists.

Aileron jerked his arms away, wincing sharply. "You... How dare you?" he asked softly, even as a white shape below, oddly hidden in the shadows, rose up, peering at Fifth with narrowed gold eyes. "What ARE you?" Aileron continued, his voice still muted.

“I’m Fifth,” said Fifth, as if that was the greatest answer or all answers. “That hurt?” His eyes gleamed slightly.

"Of COURSE it hurt," Aileron snapped, staring at Fifth as though he'd grown another head. "Don't do it again."

“Oooh,” purred Fifth, eyes narrowing and mouth widening into a smile that revealed an unsettling number of teeth. His tongue flicked out, running between his incisors, and he rubbed his hands together. “So very pleased to meet you.”

Aileron flew back a bit, growing wary at the feral grin. One hand covered his opposite wrist, rubbing lightly where Fifth's head had bashed him as his eyes narrowed. He said nothing, though his mind was trying to wrap itself around the suddenly-different perception he had of the boy.

Fifth straightened then, eyes falling into a dull luster, and looked suddenly bored as he glanced to the side away from Aileron. “Do you have any ice cream?” he asked indolently.

"Are you insane?" Aileron couldn't help blurting, not quite sure WHAT he'd just witnessed. What had HAPPENED to the bloom, that the feien should be so... so... whatever he was!

“I’m hunnngry,” whined Fifth. He turned back to Aileron and clasped his hands together, pleading, “Don’t you have any ice cream? All Kabuto ever feeds me is nasty leftover spinach! It smells funny and has lots of flies!” His lower lip trembled.

"Come with me," Aileron said slowly, glancing down at Ailis. The Zurui nodded, padding along under him as Aileron moved slowly toward the door to his room, keeping his eyes more on Fifth than where he was going, to ensure that the younger feien followed him.

Closing his eyes a moment, Fifth sighed, “Ah, ice cream,” and obediently followed his host. He bobbed around a bit haphazardly in the air (flying was rather new to him) but stayed close and made no attempt to torture or destroy anything.

Aileron narrowly missed hitting the doorframe rather than flying through the door, intent on Fifth as he was. But eventually, he made it to the kitchen, turning back to Fifth as his hands rubbed at his wrists again. "Chocolate all right?" he asked quietly.

“Ummm, do you have straaawberry?” asked Fifth. He was pulling the innocent act again, fluttering his eyelashes at Aileron sweetly.

Did I dream it? "We may have neopolitan. If so, I can get strawberry from that," Aileron offered vaguely, still trying to figure out what had happened. As he moved to try to tug the freezer door open, they heard the sharp snap of jaws, followed by a high-pitched squeal. Aileron froze, turning in the direction of the squeal a second before pounding footsteps passed them in the hall.

“Hey, wait!” went Fifth, scowling after Aileron. He started to follow, then seemed to think the better of it and scanned the kitchen for some sort of glass object to push off a counter.

Aileron paused at the door just in time to hear Trio snarling at some creature named Malv, and the sinister laughter her chiding elicited. He hovered there for a moment worriedly, while Ailis watched Fifth carefully for a moment before moving to place his paws on the edge of the counter where Fifth was shoving a glass toward the edge. "I wouldn't," Ailis said softly, a warning tone to his voice.

“I would,” snarled Fifth, pushing harder. He strained as best he could against the weight, determined to see the glass sent to the floor below.

Ailis tried to reach for the glass as it finally teetered on the edge, but his muzzle wasn't designed for such work. In the end, he danced back just in time to see it fall, shattering with a loud crash on the linoleum beneath. Aileron yelped, turning back and staring at the mess in shock before his eyes slowly raised to Fifth.

The juvenile’s mouth and eyes were wide with happiness. “That was awesome!” he exclaimed, surveying the mess. The little pieces of glass on the floor glinted dangerously. He looked at Ailis contemplatively a moment. “You wanna lay down in it? I bet it would make your fur look all shiny and nice.”

"Don't think me stupid, child," Ailis hissed, sounding more like his sister than he cared to think about as he glowered at Fifth.

Aileron, across the room, was furious. He darted forward, coming to stand directly in front of Fifth, so close that he could tower over the boy in a hopefully intimidating manner. "Stop now," he demanded hotly, anger lacing the words.

“Or what?” smirked Fith, sticking his chin out. “If you hurt me, I’m gonna tell Emi, and she’ll bust your buns into outer space where you’ll die a cold, hard death!” It was a slightly confused threat, cobbled together from Fifth’s limited life experience, which mostly involved the television set.

"She can try," Aileron informed Fifth, grabbing the boy's wrist and moving to drag him toward the living room, where he'd heard Trio offer to take Kabuto. "Continue to destroy our house and harm our friends, and you'd best hope to never see me again," Aileron added sharply.

“Hey, stop!” Fifth struggled. He tried unsuccessfully to yank his hand free. “Kabuto! Kabuto! HELP! HEEELLLP!!” Fifth was screaming absolutely as loud as he could now.

Aileron ignored the cries, even as Trio made her way toward the kitchen. Catching sight of them, she froze, staring for a long minute before reaching out to grab Fifth from Aileron. "What's going on here?" she demanded, blue eyes stunned.

“He hurt me! He hurt me!” wailed Fifth. “He said if I didn’t do exactly what he wanted, he would push me in the glass pile!” He waved at the shards on the floor. “I didn’t mean to knock it over! It was an accident!” Never mind that the accident involved the glass moving over a foot from the wall to the counter’s edge.

Lies! Aileron snarled, hands clenching into fists as he darted toward the other feien and lifted a hand to point to the front door. "GET OUT," he growled, shaking with the fury he was keeping tightly-reined in. He had yet to harm a feien intentionally, but damned if this Fifth wasn't tempting him now.

Trio stared at the two before grabbing Aileron in one hand and holding him slightly away. "Try again," she informed Fifth coolly, her fingers closing around Fifth as well. "I know Aileron better than that."

The crying stopped abruptly as Fifth rubbed at his chin and thought. “Some weird pet ran in here and knocked the glass over, and he yelled at me for it?” Fifth offered hopefully.

He could barely breathe. The sheer audacity of Fifth stunned him and infuriated him, and Trio, noting Aileron's shudders, glanced at her feien before raising an eyebrow and looking back to Fifth. "Try the truth, Fifth," she said coolly. "We're a little obsessive about it around here."

“Well, poot,” said Fifth, and crossed his arms. His face scrunched up crossly. “I want some ice cream. He said he would get me ice cream, but then he left me standing here, so I pushed the glass over to make him come back, only he just yelled at me like a big meanie and didn’t get me any ice cream, even though I toooold him I only ever get to eat week-old leftover spinach with flies and maggots innit.”

Aileron's shaking didn't cease, his glowering fixated on Fifth. Impossible as it seemed, he may just have found a feien to hate more than he even hated Corvus... "Get out," he hissed again, fingers clenching against Trio's finger until the bone showed through his white-marked skin.

"I give up," Trio said disgustedly, glaring at Fifth for several seconds before a light knock sounded on the wall of the hallway behind her. "Uh, Trio?" Levon asked, tilting his head slightly. "I was just coming to help you. Looks like you might need it."

"Take Aileron," Trio demanded, releasing her feien and watching as he hovered closer and closer to Fifth menacingly. "NOW, Levon," she prompted. The kitsune reached out, grabbing Aileron's legs (careful of his wings) and drawing him away. "Come on," he said. "We need to get you calmed."

Trio didn't wait to see what they did. Still holding Fifth, she stalked into the living room before releasing the small feien into the air in front of Kabuto. "I don't know what happened in my kitchen," she said without preamble, a dark frown on her face. "But I think it might be best if the two of you left for now. Kabuto, you're welcome back in my home any time... without your bonded."

Kabuto stared at Fifth and winced. Why, oh why couldn’t the little bug have just died or behaved long enough to give Kabuto a break? He sighed, grabbed Fifth as tightly as he dared (ignoring the feien’s squeals of protest) and bowed his head. “Thank you for the tea. I’ll show myself out.” He almost tightened his fingers with rage and crushed Fifth on the spot, but to do so would bloody his hands in a way he could not afford.

Trio walked with him to the door, her brows drawn together. "Thank you for the conversation, Kabuto," she said at the exit, her tone stiff but polite. "And for the delivery. We appreciate it greatly."

“If you require anything, Emi will be back from her trip soon,” said Kabuto. “Have a good day.” He gave her one last small bow before he turned and leapt into the air, seeming to vanish before her eyes.

~~~

Kabuto came to a rest in a stand of trees not far away. “You,” he muttered, shaking his head and finally releasing Fifth into the air. “You impossible little twerp.”

“Haha,” went Fifth, rolling through the air. “That was loads of fun. Did you see the expressions on their faces? Priceless. Totally priceless.”

Kabuto sat down on the branch and covered his face with his hands. “I can’t take you anywhere!” he moaned.

Fifth landed on top of Kabuto’s head. “Sure ya can. Ya just did. And it was loads of fun.”

“No,” said Kabuto, “I can’t.” He shook his head, dislodging Fifth, and looked skyward. “I’m not allowed to leave you unattended at home, and the minute I go somewhere, what do you? No, really, what did you do this time?” He looked helplessly at Fifth, who had moved into the air again, as he had no idea what the feien had done to get them kicked out.

“Just knocked a glass over. Don’t know what they got so upset about. Do that all the time at home.”

“But we weren’t at home!” protested Kabuto, exasperated. “I honestly thought you might behave yourself when we went in there! You were behaving yourself at first. What happened?”

“Meh, got bored,” shrugged Fifth. He came to land on Kabuto’s shoulder and started pulling individual strands of hair out of his bond’s ponytail. Kabuto kept his head as still as possible, but continued to lecture.

“You can’t do things like that, Fifth. It is utterly unacceptable to go into someone else’s home and break their things.”

“Oh, take their side, why don’t you,” huffed Fifth, yanking out a single hair. Kabuto flinched in a manner Fifth found intensely satisfying. He smiled and twirled the piece of hair around his fingers and arm.

“Fifth,” sighed Kabuto.

Fifth kept his mind focused on the piece of hair. He pulled on it until it dug into his skin, then loosened it, leaving white lines crisscrossing his forearm. He moved the hair around slightly and did it again, forming complex patterns that disappeared after a few moments. The lull in conversation gave Kabuto the chance to become very angry.

“What is your problem?” the human demanded. “Why can’t you just behave in a manner conducive to interacting with others?”

“What’s not conducive?” asked Fifth. He suddenly launched himself from Kabuto’s shoulder to his lap, put on his silly face, and bubbled, “Wasn’t I cuuuuute enough?”

“That will only get you so far,” growled Kabuto, flicking at Fifth with his index finger. The fairy dodged, mostly because Kabuto was not really trying to hurt him. If he wanted to hit Fifth, he would, and do quite a bit of damage in the process. He was still a ninja.

“I’m open to suggestions,” said Fifth, landing on top of Kabuto’s left knee now.

“You are?” Kabuto was genuinely surprised to hear that. In fact, this whole conversation seemed odd. “You’re capable of being reasonable, aren’t you?”

That elicited Fifth’s new trademark predatory smile. “No, I’m not,” he purred, crouching down. His curly blue hair bounced lightly as he moved. “But if you’re gonna help me out, perhaps we can make a deal?”

A deal? The last time Kabuto made a deal, he ended up stuck with Fifth. The time before that, he wound up agreeing to study under Em, and the time before that... Deals had a way of being less than beneficial to Kabuto’s side of the arrangement. “No deals,” said Kabuto.

“Aw, but c’mon, I’ll make it worth your while.” Fifth rolled over, draping himself across Kabuto’s knee and looking up at his bond. From his vantage point, Kabuto now appeared upside down. “Emi’s panties?”

Kabuto snorted. “I can get those on my own, not that I have any need of them.”

“I know you have a pair hidden with your stuff,” said Fifth. “I could agree not to tell anyone.”

Effortlessly, Kabuto countered: “I’ll just say you planted them there.” Though he had to admit he was surprised Fifth knew about that. He tried to keep his mind on-topic and not think about the panties too much. This was neither the time nor the place to become aroused. Never mind that those panties had once...

“Poot,” said Fifth. “I give up.”

“You could try asking me what I want,” suggested Kabuto. In his mind, he was picturing that soft dark purple cloth, the material shiny on the outside, soft within.

Fifth groaned. “Fine. What do you want?”

“I want you to stop attacking me all the time.”

Fifth fell silent for a long moment. Then, he said, “Really?”

“Really,” said Kabuto, and the look in his eyes showed he meant it.

Fifth went quiet again. Finally, he sat up, and with his back to Kabuto, said, “Okay.”

It was now Kabuto’s turn to fall into shocked surprise. “Really!?” He never noticed the way Fifth’s shoulders sagged.

“Really!” snapped Fifth, leaping up and whirling around. He pointed a finger at Kabuto. “But the info you give me had better be really, really useful!”

At that, Kabuto had to smirk. “It will be. I can teach you to sell a snake shoes. But from now on, you’re going to have to listen to what I say...”

9/20/04