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."
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