Lost Small World [Iyuki]

Muika didn't wish to go home? But this was an alleyway... Iyuki frowned and hmmed to himself. He could not force her to go, but it was too dangerous for her to be left alone. Muika-Love would not mind if he kept this small child company while waiting for her to find him, he hoped. He didn't wish her to fall to dangerous things and his company may stop someone else from harming her.

That decided, he nodded. "Well, would you wish company then? I would feel worried leaving you alone, it is dangerous for a child alone..."

"Mm...'Kay..." Muika gave a small nod, if he...he wanted to stay he could, but...hadn't he mentioned someone might be worrying about him? She...She didn't want to go out of the alleyway alone though...

She glanced towards the exit that led back to one of the main sidewalks with a bit of fear.

"Th...They're probably gone now, but...I was hiding from the other kids..." She tried to explain; "T...They threw a rock at me and said I was a monster...T...They always do, but..."

She was a bit teary eyed, but she couldn't help it. Those statements hurt.

It seemed she would be fine with his company. That was good! Someone would come for her, so Iyuki could just keep her company. Her looks to the sidewalk made him worry, she seemed scared and the swiftly followed explanation explained it.

He sighed and crouched down, his hand reaching out to settle on top of her head if she would let him. "Well then I will stop them from doing such things. You are not a monster, not one bit. Where did the rock hit you? I should check to see if it is okay..."

He was furious inside, but Iyuki kept a soft smile on his face. It wouldn't do to scare the girl, she was almost at her crying point already. Soothe her and make her feel better was step one.

The hand he'd placed on her head was nice, no one had ever done that before that she could remember so it was nice.

When he asked about the rock she moved her hand to lift her bangs some, showing the red spot. "It hit my head when they threw it..."

She wasn't a monster...? "But...I have red eyes though...only monsters have those..."

He wasn't gonna let anyone bully her....?

She let him set his hand on her head, so Iyuki ruffled her hair very softly. His hand had to lift up a bit though as she showed him the red marking, a frown appearing on his face at that. It wasn't bleeding it seemed, but there wasn't much else he could do. "If we had some ice I could help the swelling a bit. Your head doesn't hurt too much does it, Muika?"

His head shook firmly and decisively as she said that. It...sounded rather familiar... something was bothering him about this, something very important that he was missing. "No, red is not a bad color for eyes. In fact red is a heroes color! The leader of the Sentai team is always the Red one, so you are definitely not a monster. You just may very well be the leader of your own team that you haven't found yet!"

"The only place I know to find ice is home but...It's too quiet at home so I don't wanna go back yet..." Muika explained frowning. "I...left to see if Papa would say anything but he didn't care...so I got upset..."

And she'd left.

When he asked if it hurt she shook her head some again. "Not really..."

When he said that...about the red, her eyes widened some; surprised.

"H-How can i be a leader though?"

She cried too much...

She did not wish to go home...and her father did not care... Things in Iyuki's head were piecing together with surprisingly slow bits.

He felt as if he was swimming in syrup, trying to reach some sort of revelation but too slow or too held back to do so.

Muika seemed fine, so that was all that mattered for now... though her question left him wondering how to answer. "I do not know myself, I merely follow others. I suppose being a leader means protecting others and helping people though, keeping bad things from happening to the ones under your protection! And defeating bad guys."

Leaders were meant to protect others and help people...and they kept bad things from happening to people they protected. Muika thought about that in her head before...she looked more than a little concerned.

"B-But...I can't protect people, I'm not strong enough...I-I cry too...L-Leaders aren't supposed to cry." She stated, her eyes watering some a bit again; "I-I don't have people to protect either; b-bad guys are...are scary..."

"Crying is perfectly fine. I am sure all sorts of leaders cry." Iyuki placed his hand on her head again, gently petting in a soothing manner. The poor child... She just was so small and scared...

"They are. You do not have to fight them though, I promise... You do not have to be a leader. But red eyes can mean a lot of things! Besides, they are very very pretty, not monstrous at all." Iyuki felt a bit of deja vu at this conversation, but his mind continued to not be able to place it.

"Mm..." She didn't have...to fight bad guys? She didn't have to be a leader either, but she could if she wanted...because the red...

All sorts of leaders cry too? Well...he had a feeling of that anyway; she'd...never seen a "leader" type cry before, but...he was a grown up, he might know more...

She seemed surprised again when he stated her eyes weren't monstrous, but pretty; he'd said it earlier but it was still shocking to hear.

It took her a moment to compose herself, though really...it was just a shift of upset tears to happier ones as she gave a smile, her hands moving to try to wipe her eyes, even a small laugh came escaped. "Not a monster..." She repeated, her tone holding at least a twinge of more hope in comparison to her earlier words.

Iyuki was glad his soothing head pets and words helped her, the poor child. She was so sweet, so worried about things and so... so hurt by the world.

Much like his own dearest and the man felt a bit more attached to her. Smiling warmly, he crouched down a bit though he was still floating and ruffled her hair some more. "Now, let us see if you are wanting to stay out of the house, is there a park nearby? Maybe I could push you on the swings, Princess Okura?"

That name...was just like his dearest... Some final pieces were clicking into place, but Iyuki was so focused on cheering her up it would take him just a bit longer to finally figure things out.

Muika leaned into the hair ruffles, quite happy to be receiving them; it was a nice thing, it felt good to not have her hair pulled at but rather petted kind of instead.

"Park? There is but there's other kids there usually..." Not many were around, considering most had probably just gotten out of school if they were old enough to go; she'd missed out herself, though kindergarten wasn't mandatory...she'd still been put in it.

What was the point though if she rarely went...?

She couldn't really answer that, but the ones that were out an about right now had missed school themselves, considering she'd been dealing with them earlier. She didn't want to run into them again...

"There's a pretty place a little bit into the park though! Behind a bunch of trees, there's a flower patch!" That was where she went, it was out of the way of the other kids and it was pretty...

Aww, she liked the hair ruffles. Iyuki's smile was warm as the little girl leaned into them, glad to be giving such comfort. As she spoke, he gave an internal sigh though at the implications. She wouldn't go where others were...

"All right, we can go there instead. I like flowers, do you know how to make flower crowns? If not I can teach Princess Muika~" Iyuki smiled softly and stood, though he was still floating, his hand held out for Muika to take so she could lead him along...

Muika...Muika Okura...cream hair...monster....red eyes...

Flower crowns?

"I-I'm not really good at 'em...I've tried though!" She was trying to learn how on her own, they seemed like they'd be fun to make. This Iyuki could teach her how to make them better? She seemed happy and a bit excited by the idea.

She took his hand and began to lead him out of the alleyway, though she was cautious...making sure that there weren't others around that would see her. It would be best to just...avoid other kids, she just wanted to get to the flower patch!

Luckily, there weren't any in sight and she continued walking. The park itself wasn't far from here, which meant their destination wasn't far either!

"Well I can show you how! We can practice until you get it." Iyuki grinned at the girls excitement, it falling as she began their cautious way towards the secret flower patch. He would definitely show her how to make crowns, she deserved to know.

He had no idea where this park was, so he was content to follow along with the held hand.

It wasn't long before they reached the park; a bit far off was the usual playground for children, where a few were, but that was where they were headed. Muika led him through a few bushes and past a few trees.

They were a bit past the usual "park" area, but eventually they entered a small clearing, various wild flower patches scattered about it. "See!? It's pretty here! No one else around to bother either!"

She was a bit scared of other kids finding this place, while she was around at least...they might make her leave or mess this place up...and she didn't want that.

Iyuki noticed how far they were from the playground, but it made a bit of sense seeing as how the other children bothered her. Poor Muika... He almost froze as that thought hit him. Muika... Muika... As his floating form seemed to weight nothing, even his freezing solid had no affect on the walking to the flowers.

A bit past the park area though, his blue eyes caught the glen and he smiled softly. "It is very pretty, though I imagine lonely sometimes. Hm, what colors would look nice for your crown though?"

He waved his free hand at the patches, wondering which colors she would like. Muika... was this really his Muika? Had she been turned into something? The thought that had been biting at the back of his mind finally came to the forefront. What was going on? This...was most definitely Muika. His Muika, but younger. She had told him enough that it was rather obvious and he wondered why he hadn't thought of it before this!

Colors...

"Mm, iunno...I usually try making them with those purple ones since there's a lot..." There was also a lot of reds, and pinks around, but more purple overall.

A bit away, mostly hidden by taller grass, was a small, messy pile of her failed attempts at making them, the flowers having obviously dried out and died due to being pulled from the ground. There was a lot of fresh ones though, so it was fine.

"Purple it is. The Color of Royalty to go with your Color of Leadership eyes." Iyuki winked and laughed, moving to sit. He could play the older brother to her for now, hoping she didn't think to call her such... it would be painful...

Just act as Takuya would. Do that.

He began pulling the flowers out by their stems, carefully and making sure they had long enough ones. "Come sit so I may show you."

Muika hadn't known the meanings of the colors, only that they were pretty; purple meant royalty? She would try to remember that! It was neat!

When Iyuki asked her to come sit so he could show her how to make the crowns, she gave a nod; "Okaay~!"

Quickly, she moved to sit and watch him, eager to learn.

Iyuki waited until she was ready and then began picking the small purple flowers. "You see, because they are small you need to pick them as close to the ground as possible to give you enough stem to work with. See, if I were to use entirely daisies it would be a bit easier, but there are only a few. Then you braid like this..."

He was intent on his work, wanting to show the mysteriously child Muika how to do this. She needed smiles it seemed and something happy, so he would most definitely give them to her.

Muika watched carefully, listening to Iyuki's instructions and making sure not to miss a single word! He obviously knew what he was doing, and she was going to learn how too!

Since they were small flowers...pick them close to the ground as possible...

She nodded; that...that might be one of the reasons hers always failed; she never really thought about the stem length at first.

When he began braiding them, she continued to play close attention, she also wasn't good with braiding but...watching him do it didn't seem so hard...

He was being nice and showing her how to make things, being nice and not mean...he'd even been worried about the injury on her head...

"...Later, if you still wanna put ice on my head I can take you to my house... I can't reach the freezer, and Papa won't care..."

"Like this, if you can braid them in carefully... then you can slip those with smaller stems through the hole to fill in the blank spots. It doesn't have to look perfect immediately once done, you can always touch it up and fix things." Iyuki showed her, noting her intent looks and smiling gently. "Do you know how to braid?"

If she didn't he could teach her... Her words caused him to smile more and he nodded, hiding the slight twinge of anger he thought at her father. The young girl wouldn't appreciate that... "That would be good. If it is still swollen that might help, or else a bandaid... or even both."

"I...I've never really learned...I've tried to though..." She could maybe get to the second step but then it'd become hard, she'd never had someone else teach her how to braid, she'd just seen other girls do it or see it in pictures...

It was hard to get it to look like how it was supposed to though...

When Iyuki seemed happier by the "ok" to get ice later, she gave another small nod; ice, or a bandaid...she could check the bathroom cabinets for bandaids...

"I can show you this as well. You have long enough hair, but also my hair is getting quite long. You could practice on mine." Iyuki nodded as he braided the flowers together quite expertly for the moment. He finished the crown and set it on her head with a smile.

"We need to first teach you how to braid. I will show you with my own hair first and then if you wish on your own?" He reached up and took one of the longer locks of hair and then gently separated it into three. Holding them between his fingers, he began a step by step process though it was harder to do without being able to see the braid itself.