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((Taken from the thread))

Neruheru appears out of a ripple in the air, her arrival as quiet as a whisper. As she hovers silently over Kyendi lake, a shadow passes across the village tree, a breeze following.

"It's a nice night," the goddess murmurs beneath her veil. She lowers herself, dipping a toe in the crisp water. "Too bad."

"What are you doing here, Neru." It was Ahnema's gentle voice. Her gaze fixed on the other goddess from her seat on the large stone.

"Ah.. my dearest." Neru smiled wickedly. "I didn't notice you there."

"Of course you did Neruheru. You are not blind." With inhuman grace, Ahnema stood up, her robes spilling down across the rock and into the water. "What do you hope to accomplish by being here.."

"I've just come to watch." With a shrug, Neru floated backwards, away from that annoyingly tranquil face. She couldn't stand that expression.

Ahnema's placid expression changed for just a second, the smallest crease appearing between her eyebrows. "He's coming then... So be it. It shall only end the same way. I will never let him harm my children again..."

Siff lingers, as always, around the tree, barely glancing at the inhabitants as he passes them but he was wary. His 'conversation' with Neru was still ringing in his head and he had not made mention of it to anyone, not even to Ahnema, which was strange. She would've been the first person he'd have gone to.

He finally halted his steps, having circle around a certain spot over and over, obviously lost in his thoughts. Too lost, in fact, to really be aware of his surroundings.

A thin, waif-like figure approached, the night breeze touselling its short-cropped pouf of hair. The two blood-red lanterns of its eyes pierced the darkness as Valesti neared the tree's base.

He paused then, thin arms crossing over a bird-frail chest as the crimson eyes narrowed to slits. They were starting to come back. He'd taken such thorough pains to kill each and every Ieldi, even straggling survivors that had surfaced years later.

And they were back now. And these...humans were assisting it.

Well, that was a problem that would need to be amended, wouldn't it?

Valesti gave a snort and reached out, placing one hand on a slightly protruding root of the tree, the wood instantly beginning to sag and rot beneath his touch. They would see him if he were to go into the branches to seek out the shelf inhabitants directly and he was far from being that foolish. Best to deal with the problem from the ground-up.

The first sag of the tree roused Kujaku, the peacock blinking as he sat up and yawned from the pile of blankets that he'd pulled onto the shelf. Oh, he HAD a bed... but hated it. "Fir?" he asked softly, nudging the spider Oculai that was curled up beside him. "D'jyou feel that?"

"Go back to sleep, little one," came the yawning voice from the blankets.

But there was something wrong... Kujaku had felt the tree wave in the wind before, but not jerk like that. Maybe he just felt it because he was so high up. Leaving Fir'Ethal to doze, Kujaku slid from the blankets and made his way slowly down the ladder.

~* * *~

On the platform near the Phoenix Nest, Chronos paused as he walked towards the pond. There was a particular scent in the air... one that made him shiver. What was it? He could smell death... but there was nothing here that Valesti could damage truly... was there? Perhaps it was time to find the others.

Instantly Ahnema's eyes fluttered and a painful sigh passed through her lips as she felt Valesti's corrosive touch.

Neru simply smiled as she slowly vanished from sight, the afterimage of her glowing eyes imprinted for a moment upon the empty air.

No... I.. am not strong enough yet.. Ahnema wavered slightly on the rock as her eyes sought out the source of her pain. Valesti...

His thoughts could not pull him any deeper now as the sudden sound came to his attention. Not one anyone could actually hear but still a sound, nonetheless. And that overwhelming presence, like a lingering stranger. He knew it all too well.

"Valesti..!" He hissed out the name with such hatred, turning swiftly. Neru, you stupid girl! his mind racing with a few more curses that none should be made aware of as he quickens his pace in a ruthless search for that damn creature, the Beast, as they had called him, no thought given to warning the others. No, he would get rid of him.

As the root withered, blackened, and curled in on itself, the poison of Valesti's touch tendrilling deeply into the earth to its very tip, a small smile ghosted about the death diety's lips.

Perspiration stood out on his pale brow in a sheen, his mind already playing what would happen. The screams, the confusion, the creaking sound of the tree as it teetered on its base before inevitably collapsing.

Breaking bones, crushed skulls, eyes that were stupidly glazed with surprise as the life promptly went out of them.

It was always so thrilling. So glorious. So -exciting-

One ear swivelled beneath a curved horn, already hearing his name whispered among the others. They knew he was here...but they didn't know where. The fools.

He watched as tiny veins and fingers of rot began to worm their way up the trunk of the tree with aching slowness.

As he moved down the steps that had been built into the tree itself, Kujaku yawned widely and let his wings stretch. Maybe he WAS being paranoid. Fir'Ethal was usually right. His thoughts were cut short however, about halfway down the tree as the step beneath his foot gave way and snapped, sending the little Ieldi plummeting towards the platform. It took only a moment before his wings spread wide and caught himself, Kujaku landing with little more than an ungradeful thud... then looking around to make sure no one had seen it.

Something was VERY wrong. Those steps could hold YOUKO, for crying out loud... why did they break?

The village tilted in Ahnema's gaze. To be this close to Valesti.. it made her sick inside. No, it was too soon, she had not fully recovered from being asleep for so long.

"Ahh.." Ahnema steadied herself, putting one hand to her forehead. The smell of decay surrounded her as if she stood in the middle of it. She had to stop this. She couldn't.. no.. not again. She couldn't let him do this to her again.

Mustering up her will, the goddess walked steadily across the lake in the direction she felt death creeping upon the tree.

~

Imriel stared, wide-eyed, at the strange goddess in the middle of the lake. What.. was going on? She had been awakened by the most unsettling feeling...

She hid at the base of the lake, shivering a little in the night air. This feeling, it made her feel like crying... Why did the air smell like rotting leaves?

Siff was just as aware as Valesti that others knew of the deity's presence, and he sought to end this, once and for all. He was no longer walking, but rather, running, following the sounds of cracking wood, the smell of rotting life, one that could surely make the strongest of stomachs cringe.

"Valesti!" Again, he said the name, but this time, louder, to be heard as he rounded around a large root, diving forward to tackle him, away from the tree.

Valesti had heard Siff's approach and in the time it took the larger-built pantheon to near him, the death diety's smirk had widened into a grin. The initial hesitation had already cost them the tree. Regardless of how long it would remain standing, the inflicted damage was too great for it to recover. The first victory was his.

As Siff collided with his smaller form, sending him sprawling away from the root he'd been working his 'magic' on, the smaller pantheon rolled once and then leapt to his feet with the spry grace of a jackrabbit.

"Too little, too late, Siff. It pleases me to see some things never change." he chuckled throatily, though drew himself into a defensive stance. He knew Siff was far from being one to let a confrontation end with one blow.

Whimpering softly, Kujaku started back up the ladder to his shelf, just in time to get scooped away by Chronos. "NO, little peacock... you have to get away from here."

"Fir'Ethal's up there! LEGGO!" Squirming and actually landing a kick on the deity, Kujaku made a swift apology as he spread his wings and took off to the shelf.

Cursing quietly, Chronos startd to move towards the other shelves, shouting as loudly as he could. "Leave the tree! Every, get clear NOW!" He could smell the stench of decay creeping through every aspect of the precious tree... and knew it was only a matter of time. Unfortunately, even the deity of time couldn't stop death... and all he could do was make certain no one else was lost.

The little Ieldi would be the hard part... most were too afraid to go near the ground. Still, it had to be done. Preparing for the screaming and terror from the little bird-creatures, Chronos started to gather the four... and the remaining relic.

Reaching the top of the tree, Kujaku immediately scooped up the blanket, spider and all, despite Fir'Ethal's protest. He was about to leave again when his eyes fell on something else... and he quickly scooped up the leather-bound journal that Youko had spent so much time writing in. Everything else could be replaced. They had to get out FAST.

Growling deeply, Siff kept his gaze locked to Valesti. He didn't trust the b*****d as far as he could throw him.

No... that was giving him FAR too much credit.

"You've done enough... you never DID know when to just quit while you were ahead." Bringing his arms down, Siff let his hands close, the very shadows themselves beginning to swirl around him and come into sharper focus. The darkness pooled around his hands, forming into twin blades that gleamed in the light despite their origins. "You've worn out your welcome. AGAIN." He lunged forward then, both blades nearly singing as he brought both into play against the slender deity.

Valesti, however, was ready for him and, with a quick jaunty sidestep, moved himself out of the way of Siff's attack, bringing one leg up to use the shadow pantheon's own forward momentum against him.

"Funny how that happens so quickly these days, isn't it?" he grunted, feeling one of Siff's shadow blades bite into the flesh of his thigh as he hefted the shadow diety forward in an attempt to throw him off-balance.

Warmth blossomed around the death diety's wound as the blood flowed immediately, thick and warm. As soon as it touched his flesh, it became black, dried, and chipped away from the lips of the cut, his own blood not even able to touch him without becoming corrupted. The disconcerting grin never left his face.

Imriel's eye's widened even further as she suddenly felt the tree shudder. That definately wasn't good. Instinctively Imriel scrambled back to her home and snatched up her precious bag, stuffing everything she could into it, including Karasu's journal. She was frantic as she heard Chronos' shouts. There wasn't enough time!

"Nnnn!" Imriel squirmed as the diety carried her out. Where was Ullue? And what a great time for Karasu to be away on business... oh what was going to happen now??

~

Ahnema heard Siff's voice and she hastened her steps. She felt so dizzy, the tree's dieing song was echoing painfully in her mind. Too late.. too late for it.. She wasn't strong enough.

A choked sob escaped her as she stumbled toward Valesti. She could see him now.. and Siff. Oh Siff...

If she could only. Just seal that b*****d away again.. it would take all of her energy to do it. All of it... but she had to.

The creaking and moaning of the tree intesified behind her as a large branch thundered to the forest floor. The ground shook with force of its landing and a shower of wilted leaves followed soon after.

Disconcerting... and aggravating. It was quickly getting to the point where Siff just wanted to wipe that grin off of his face. Preferably with one of the swords he swung around into a cross-motion in front of him. He was off balance long enough to love his first attempt, but recovered quickly enough and spun around, bringing the second blade in an arc towards the other man.

~* * *~

Chronos, however, was still moving through the tree. He'd managed to grab four of the little Ieldi, sending Kikuei off with Kujaku, who had come back to the main level once more... and prying Odilen and Imriel off of their shelves only by holding tightly to them both and keeping them with him. Now there was just Safrinni... and he had to move fast.

When Kujaku and Kikuei reached the bottom step, Kujaku screeched to a halt, looking at the grass with widened eyes. No amount of prodding or encouragement from his friend could get him to make that final step down. Finally, the peacock took wing, flying just over Kikuei's head towards the forest as the two boys fled the dying tree.

Something jerked Kali awake from a light slumber. The shivers she felt had nothing to do with the temperature. As always, she darted a quick look at the relic - nope, no danger there.

Edging down onto her stomach, she wormed her way to the side of the shelf and peered down. Too high, as she'd thought - if something bad was happening on the ground then it was too tiny to spot from here. It was like a 6th sense though, telling her that something very bad was happening.

Wrinkling her nose, she thought something smelt like rotting tree husks or dying flowers... Was someone doing something stupid to, or on, the tree? Settling down in the precarious position, Kali squinted below and wished she had binoculars or something. Or that she could go down and see what was happening... but of course she couldn't.

Sighing with unsatisfied curiosity, Kali offered up prayers to the Pantheon members she knew to be 'good' or at least watching over the tree and the Ieldi. Don't let anything go wrong at this stage...

Chronos saw Kalindara peering over the edge of the shelf and breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't alone with this one. "Get the relic down and out of the tree. HURRY!" He climbed towards Safrinni then, Imriel half hidden beneath his cloak as Odilen stayed curled up in the hood, wailing.

Valesti leaned non-chalantly backward, as though casually dodging a tossed stone...however, his pride had gotten the better of him as he felt the cold wind of one of Siff's blades whicker just deep enough to part his ebony robe in the front in a jagged curved mouth.

It quickly became apparant why the thin diety concealed his torso, leaving only the appealing parts of him exposed for others to see. From his chest to his belly, Valesti looked to be twenty years dead. The cage of his ribs glittered sallowly in the moonlight and within it there was black movement of some sort as the withered black pump still serving as a heart busily worked. The scent of decay surrounded him as though it was a secondary shroud, fanning outward in sour waves.

The grin slipped away then and became an enraged scowl. Valesti was all but immune to pain, he was unmoved by threats...however this particular curse that had come with his power and own inner corruption was one of his few sore spots.

"b*****d...!!" he hissed through gritted teeth, ears flattening against his skull as his eyes intensified their glow. To hell with playing with Siff and all of his bluster, perhaps tonight they -would- finally end this once and for all.

With sudden and unearthly speed and grace, Valesti leapt forward, up and over Siff's head, spinning once he landed and raining a flurry of blows on Siff's unguarded back.

Hissing with the attack, Siff dropped low and brought one of the blades around sharply, aiming for Valesti's midsection. The motion was only aided by the fact that he stumbled forward with the sudden barrage. He was still off balance though, and it only hindered him as he tried to get to his feet once more. "Stooping to using my epitaphs now? I could have sworn you thought better of yourself."

Of course, Neru was nearby, unseen. Every inch of her skin tingled with excitement as she watched the giant tree wilt before her eyes. Valesti was such an artist!

Her gaze came back to Siff as he fought against the one person he hated more than her. Ah such anger.. She could pratically see it rising off him in heated waves. Neru couldn't remember the last time she felt this good. A cold laughter welled up from within her and soon she'd found herself in a giggling fit. A nice night indeed.

Her laughing only doubled when Valesti's disgusting body was revealed... Although she was forced several steps back by the stench.

"Ack!" Kali jumped in shock when one of the said Pantheon appeared. Maybe there was something to be said for prayer, after all. "Yessir," she replied. She kind of felt like she should be saluting or something...

No time for that. Pushing back from the edge of the shelf, she got to her feet and hurried to the relic. "It's okay, sweetie," she crooned to Zayn. "We're just going for a walk together, okay?"

Damn but she'd forgotten how heavy these things were. Staggering under the weight of the wooden carving, she made her very ungainly way down the first small set of stairs. It was slow, akward progress. It didn't help that Zayn was beginning to notice the change of scery and wasn't happy about it.

His glowing 'eyes' opened wide, blinking frantically. His energy pulses, normally soft and slow, were speeding up in frequency and brightness as he worked himself up over the disturbance to his magical sleep.

"It's okay, everything's okay," Kali soothed in as reassuring a voice as she could manage.

Inwardly, she was beginning to panic herself. What was so bad that it was summoning the Pantheon members and causing an evacuation of the tree?

The death pantheon was unrelenting in his blows and unaware of Neru's laughter, stopping only when one of Siff's blades jarred between two of his ribs with a wet noise that made him vent a throaty groan over his teeth.

He arched his back, making a great show of the fact that he was going to keel over as he collapsed against Siff's back, using his weight to further hinder his opponant's balance.

When his forward motion brought his mouth level with one of Siff's ears, however, the groan became words.

"...and what of yourself?" he whispered, his crypt-like breath tickling the fine inner-ear fur. "Trying to kill what is already dead, brother? I thought better of you than THAT!" he punctuated his last word by heaving himself off of Siff's back and planting a sharp kick in the vicinity of Siff's right kidney.

When he had Safrinni, Chronos moved back towards Kalindara, suddenly realising that perhaps this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. One hand came to rest on the relic and he spoke as softly as he could. "Don't panic, little one... if you stay here, your relic will be destroyed. We're taking you somewhere safe." Glancing to Kalindara, he tried to help as best he could. "Hurry... the tree won't stay standing much longer."

He could see the little kyunru and kuns darting here and there, diving into the grass and making for the trees. They could handle themselves... even at a young age. For that, he was grateful. Still, the tiny Ieldi needed them badly and he wasn't going to leave them behind.

Siff's eyes narrowed for a moment and he was about to respond when he felt the breath suddenly leave his body in a whoosh, and he fell to his side on the ground. One of the blades vanished immediately, seperated form his grasp when he instinctively put out a hand to break his fall. "One can only... hope you'll eventually STAY dead."

"Thank you," Kali gave Chronos a teary smile, grateful for his help and for his attempt to calm Zayn. It seemed to be working - even as a spirit, Zayn could sense the presence of one of his old gods and responded to him. With two trusted figures telling him that this was a good thing, the spirit surrendered to higher wisdom. His panic slowly left, leaving the tiny being peering out curiously.

Kali also felt reassured by the Pantheon's words and gestures. Although it was shocking to hear that the tree was in so bad a shape, it was surely better to have kinder Pantheon like Chronos here to help.

Their progress down the tree was hastened and as they neared the bottom, tiny figures became more distinct. Recognising Siff and Neru, Kali almost missed a step and tumbled the rest of the way to the ground. Luckily it just resulted in a small stumble. She eyed the other Pantheon figures, faces she didn't recognise, and instinctively knew she didn't want their attention on her or Zayn.

"What's happening?" she whispered to Chronos, hoping she wasn't making a pest of herself. "I thought the Pantheon watched over the Ieldi, Kyunru and Kun-kun to protect them..."

In the time it took the words to leave Siff's lips, Valesti's slight weight was suddenly perched on the larger pantheon, ears back, eyes narrowed, one corner of his mouth quirked up in a smirk, as though he'd already won this fight.

"There are some who would gladly see you in my place, Siff." he purred, bringing his face close to the darker pantheon's, his crimson eyes burning into Siff's rouge. Wrapping a slender-fingered hand around either of the ram-like horns of the other diety's head, holding him firmly in place, Valesti grinned, showing a maw of eerily-straight white teeth.

"....and that, brother, is one wish I AM willing to grant." he whispered, pressing his mouth forcefully over Siff's. It was not a kiss, as much as it appeared to be one. Once their lips touched, Siff would find immediately that he was being drained. His mouth had become a pathway through which the death diety was now seeming to draw out his very soul.

"Most do," Chronos replied sadly. "Others... well, others don't." He urged Kalindara to follow him, making for the outer ring of trees as quickly as he could. By this time, Safrinni and Odilen were both shrieking, neither liking being this close to the ground at ALL. It took all the deity could manage to keep them both from fleeing back to the doomed tree as Imriel simply held on for dear life.

Siff's eyes widened immediately, feeling his very essence beginning to drain away. No... NO! There was no way he was going to allow this... not so long as he still had ANY semblance of life left in him. The remaining sword was lifted, shakily due to the weakness that was beginning to take hold. Luckily, he didn't have far to move at all.

The blade was directed, Siff using Valesti's own movement to grab hold of hte smaller man and pull him forward hard, impaling his chest on the shadow blade. In the same moment, he pulled away, snarling softly. "After you, BROTHER."

Valesti had not been expecting this and his face contorted in agony....it was not a ruse this time as he felt what remained of his heart attempting to carry on its pulse around the blade now lodged in it.

Apparantly, even the death deity was not immune to all pain. Venting a hiss through clenched teeth, one hand wrapped around the blade as though to draw it out of himself, and then faltered, moving instead to catch him before he could spill off-balance.

Looking up at Siff, his eyes burning with cheated malice, he snarled, a thin runnel of black ichor oozing from the corner of his mouth.

"Siff!!" Ahnema shouted in strained voice, tears streaking her pain filled face. She stood a few feet away from the battling gods, her hair blowing about her in a phantom wind. The air around her slender frame glowed in pulses as she gathered her remaining power.

"Enough.. enough, please... Valesti..." Her voice trailed away as her eyes filled with a brilliant light. Her head slowly tilted back as her lips moved to a silent, ancient spell..

In her mind, her thoughts were only whispers in the light that infused every part of her. Bind him to me. With all that I am, I seal his power. With my last breath.. I bind him..

In moments.. it would be done.. a single breath left her as she sighed Siff's name and a spear of white light raced toward Valesti.

Kali nodded at Chronos' words. Mostly she was still confused - was Siff the good guy or the bad guy here because before he'd seemed to care about his own kyunru egg, at least - but she did understand a bit. Her knowledge of human mythology and pantheons made her well aware that sometimes a few gods would not be fond of humanity as a race and therefore have few to no worshippers. Apparently at least one or two of the Kyeldi Pantheon felt a similar sentiment.

Following close behind Chronos, Kali kept murmuring soothing phrases to Zayn as they left the tree behind. He wasn't encouraged by the panicking states of the reborn Ieldi, although he seemed a little bemused by their behaviour as well. Kali guessed it might be because Zayn had the extra protection of the relic and the magic within that left him more drowsy than usual. Perhaps he was simply not as aware of the danger as the flesh-and-blood Ieldi were.

Reaching the outer ring of trees, Kali stopped and looked back. Sorrow filled her features as she took in the state of the tree - decaying before their eyes, so different from when she had last seen it from a distance. "It's so sad," she said in a low voice. "It was finally blooming so well..."

Siff choked as he saw the light flare towards Valesti. "Ahnema, NO!" He nearly wailed, the sound completely foreign to the deity. He tried to get to his feet to stagger over to her, but never made it quite that far. The energy drain from Valesti was too much, and he fell forward into an unmoving heap, the sword vanishing from his grasp even as he held it. For that moment, even his breath seemed to stop, and it appeared that Valesti's attempt had succeeded.

Chronos could feel the woman's sorrow and nodded softly. "We will find another place... Valesti may succeed in destroying this homestead, but he can't keep us from finding another." Chronos had his hands full... literally... as Kujaku and Kikuei joined the group and he now was covered in FIVE young Ieldi, all of whom were scared stiff and petrified in fear of touching the ground.

Nodding as Chronos spoke, Kali felt a ray of hope. It was true, they would find another place for the Ieldi to call home. Even if it meant having to revert to plain old treehouses until a new tree could be brought from the Kyendi homeworld.

'Valesti'. Kali filed the name away for future reference. So that was one of the new Pantheon that she hadn't recognised... very likely the one fighting Siff. That answered one of her questions then.

A beam of light was clearly visible from this distance, as was Siff's mournful cry. Hugging Zayn's relic tighter, Kali let herself feel sorrow even for Siff - who was quite possibly the scariest and hardest to feel empathy for creature she'd ever met. But even someone like him had someone they loved. Even someone like him could feel the pain of losing that person. It made the Pantheon slightly more human to Kali. She still didn't think she liked him, but she could empathise with that particular feeling, at least.

Turning away from the scene, which felt a bit too private and raw for her to be watching, Kali blinked back her tears to smile at the sight of dignified Chronos covered in wailing Ieldi kids.

In the haze of her mind she heard him cry out to her. It was enough.

Ahnema inhaled sharply and the beam of light shattered before hitting Valesti. Her concentration had been broken. The goddess' eyes grew large as the shards of light pierced the god of death, turning black where they pushed through his gaunt frame.

"Siff..." Despair filled her voice as she gazed upon his unmoving body. Suddenly her eyes grew dim as the shattered light backlashed, slamming forcfully into her. The impact thundered loudly, shaking the ground with its intesity.

Which was too much for the dieing tree to bear... ear splitting cracks sounded through the night air as the enormous branches snapped and came crashing to the earth. The tree's rotted base crumbled beneath the weight of the buildings and collapsed inward as the last branches fell away.

Everything was buried. And it was deathly silent as the leaves settled around the deathly husk of what was once Kyendi Village...

Kikuei padded along beside Trio, clinging to the small bag he held. He could feel the weight of the gifts inside and nearly beamed at the thought of giving them - the Ieldi loved recieving gifts but seemed to have just as much love for giving them away. Trio privately suspected it came from the way he'd beamed after giving Safrinni a small jewel and coming home with a stuffed animal at the same time. The glow around him had been nearly palpable. Now, they stopped in front of Kujaku's new home and Trio knocked, grinning down at the bouncing Ieldi. He was whistling under his breath, a nervous energy of sound.

There was the sound of scuffled movement inside the small house as Youko tried to step around items that were still boxed up. He had been shopping to replace most of the items lost when the tree fell, but had yet to actually put much away. "Coming!" he called out, noting that Kujaku was still tucked away in the little mushroom chair that Youko had bought just for him. It was the perfect size for him, and was like a small papa-san chair on a metal frame.

Opening the door, the fox grinned at seeing the two and motioned them inside. "Hey there!"

"Hey," Trio smiled, leaning over to give Youko a hug and whispering in his ear, "One of us comes bearing gifts..." She grinned, stepping back again as Kikuei nodded at Youko without much of the previous animosity he'd held for non-Ieldi. Without speaking, however, Kikuei moved straight to Kujaku, smile wide on his face. "Hi!" he chirped.

Kujaku peered up from the chair, eyes wide at the greeting. For the first time that day, the Ieldi seemed to smile, flying out of the chair and tackling Kikuei in a hug. "HI!!"

Youko just grinned, bringing Trio in and leaving the door open to air the place out. "Good to see him smiling... I thought he was going to stay in a purple funk all week."

Kikuei went tumbling, and Trio hurried forward just in time to keep the bag he clutched from going with him. He hugged Kujaku back, giggling wildly. "Trio says it's Christmas time," he added, still in the hug.

Rolling her eyes, his guardian muttered, "Past Christmas, but hey..."

"Christmas..." Kujaku's eyes widened then and he looked to Youko almost as if he was ready to cry. The little Ieldi had gotten his friends presents, but all of it had been lost when the tree fell. Kujaku sat back on the floor then, trying to speak, but his breath kept hitching in his throat. "I... I got something for you... but... but..."

"But he was waiting for the right moment to give it," Youko supplied, moving to one of the two tiny bedrooms and coming back a moment later with a small wrapped package. He handed it to Kujaku with a wink, and the boy stared up at him in a mix of shock, gratitude and awe.

Kikuei blinked, staring a moment before beaming. "COOL!" he said brightly, accepting the gift and curling up with it on the floor.

"Kikuei...," Trio admonished, setting the bag down beside him. The Ieldi immediately looked contrite, but only for a moment.

"Thank you!" he said, leaning over to hug Kujaku again before moving to rummage in his own bag. "Here!" he said, coming up with a large, very light-weight box that was wrapped in plain red paper.

Kujaku was VERY pleased now, the melancholy vanishing almost immediately. He held the box in his hands, nearly vibrating as he watched Kikuei. "Open it!" he said, bouncing in place as he waited for the other to look at his gift. Inside the box was a small set of windchimes, dangling and making soft music when they were lifted up.



Kikuei beamed, immediately setting to work playing with the soft sounds. "I LOVE it!" he declared brightly, waving it towards Kujaku. "It's music!"

"Captain Obvious strikes again," Trio muttered to Youko, snickering lightly.

"Open yours, open yours!" Kikuei said, missing his guardian's words as he bounced and jingled. Inside the light-weight box was a paper lantern, though the candle-holder had been replaced with a carefully-crafted light-bulb setting.



Kujaku's eyes went wide as he carefully lifted the lantern from the box, letting it hang from his fingertips. "LOOK!" he cried out, turning to Youko with a grin that was VERY easily visible beneath the veil he wore. "It's so pretty..." he said, prodding at it with a finger and setting it spinning in his hands.

Youko grinned, moving to curl up on the small couch and pulled Trio there with him as he whispered. "I think this is just what he needed... he's been moody ever since all of this happened."

Trio nodded, nestling against Youko and watching the two. "Kikuei's been dying to see Kujaku again. He's asked nearly every day, but we've been so BUSY," she murmured, a soft smile on her face.

Kikuei beamed, watching Kujaku's obvious enjoyment before delving into the bag again. "I found something else for you, too, and Trio said I could get it," he chattered, tugging out a much heavier box and handing it to Kujaku. Before the Ieldi could open it, Trio leaned over to Youko. "You'll need to help him put it together..."

"Put it together?" Kujaku blinked, staring down at the box for a moment. What could be in the box that needed put together? "Okay..." he said, grinning as he started to open it.

The box held within it a small mechanical waterfountain - just the right size to place on a windowsill or near Kujaku's bed.



Kujaku was nearly vibrating, every feather on his body standing ouward as he set the fountain down and looked over it. "I can't wait to see what it's like when it's all put together!"

Youko snickered, resting his head against Trio's shoulder. "He won't let me rest til it's set up."

"It's really pretty," Kikuei chimed. "I saw a sample of it when Trio took me shopping." He hesitated, watching Kujaku examine the front of the box.

"It's supposed to be soothing...," the woman offered, feeling warm at the way Kikuei said her name offhandedly. Their relationship was still far from the best in the world, but it was certainly warmer than it had been, and she suspected she owed a great deal of that to Kikuei's friends.

Kujaku was fairly bouncing, grinning from ear to ear as he dove forward and hugged the other Ieldi tightly. "THANK YOU!"

Kikuei giggled, snuggling into the hug with abandon. "You can't dive into it, but...," he said, laughing brightly and bouncing at Kujaku's enthusiasm.

"But it's still great!" Kujaku scowled then, mock-glaring ar Youko. "He made us live all the way on the OTHER side of the tree from the lake."

Bringing up both hands, Youko just snickered. "Hey, hey... not MY fault there's no houses over there. This is as close as you can get."

"I should probably avoid mentions of things like wading pools and above-ground pools, huh?" Trio whispered directly into the kitsune's ear, not wanting the kids to hear her.

Kikuei drew back a bit as Kujaku grumbled at Youko, glancing over at Trio with a nervous expression for a long moment. When she smiled gently and nodded, he reached into the bag, coming out with one final box, this one not wrapped. It was wood, the lacquering glaze job leaving it with swirls of iridescent color. He held it for a moment, then handed it to Kujaku nervously. "I got you this, too," he said, his voice far smaller than before.



Kujaku stared at the box, smiling for a moment. "It's pretty!" he said, his mind already thinking of all the feathers he could put inside of it.

"Open it," Youko whispered, grinning at him as he nestled closer to Trio.

It was as if a lightbulb went on in the Ieldi's head and he brightened up, flipping open the box quickly. When he saw the wand inside, his breath caught, eyes widening. "Beautiful!' he said simply, not knowing what else he could say to describe it.

Kikuei relaxed a bit, watching Kujaku for a moment. "Now we can learn how to play them together. Trio got me one, too," he said, offering a smile. "If you want to, I mean."

Nodding emphatically, Kujaku set the box CAREFULLY aside, making sure not so much as a scratch came onto the wood. "YES!! I'd love to!"

Kikuei beamed, glad the flute had been so well-recieved. He glanced back at Trio, whose soft smile reassured him further, and Kujaku suddenly found himself pounced in turn, Kikuei bouncing so much he almost seemed to vibrate.

Trio snickered, leaning her cheek against Youko's hair. "For the record? I apologize in advance for the next month or two's worth of flute-squawks."

Kujaku let out a yelp, falling back in a heap of wings and giggles as he clung to his friend.

"A couple months of squawks is nothing... You've never heard Kujaku shriek when he REALLY gets going."

Trio laughed, watching the two tussle. She noted with some pride that Kikuei was careful with all of the gifts, not just the flute, and nodded, curling a little closer to Youko. "Kujaku's good for him. I need to bring Kikuei over a lot more, now that we've finally settled a bit." She paused, then added, just loud enough for the kitsune to hear, "Thank you."