Tat tat tata tat tat tatatata tat tat. Uzura paused from beating her drum and sighed.
"Where am I zura? I want to find Ahiru zura. And Fakir zura. And see them lovey-dovey zura!" The little puppet girl continued to beat her drum as she walked, startling a group of pigeons from where they had been residing.
Uzura was lost. Hopelessly, confusedly lost. But she wasn't afraid…just slightly frustrated. She had wandered around in the forest outside of Gold Crown Town when she managed to leave behind Drosselmeyer.
"Why hello there, little girl!" A tall man stepped out from behind a tree. "Do you want to come with me? I have some candy just for you."
"Do you know where Ahiru and Fakir are zura?"
"I sure do. Just follow me."
"Okay zura!" She sprinted to stand beside the man, looking up at him. She was excited! Finally! She could see if Fakir and Ahiru were lovey-dovey again.
"Right this way, m'dear." Uzura picked up her pace, beating her drum happily as she skipped alongside the man, who happened to be kidnapping the oblivious puppet girl.
After 45 minutes of constant drum tapping by Uzura, the man was happy to finally reach the abandoned barn where he could stash the brat until he could get some ransom.
"Ooh! A barn zura! Like where Fakir puts his horsey zura!" She serenaded their arrival with even louder tapping, and the man's eye began to twitch in annoyance.
"They're right in there, little girl!"
"Yay zura! Lovey-dovey zura!"
As they both stepped into the sudden gloom of the building, the man shut the door behind him and slid a padlock into place. It snapped shut with a soft click.
"They're not in here zura!" She turned back to him, her wide blues eyes bewildered and disappointed.
"No? Well, why don't you tell me who you belong to then?"
"Belong to zura?"
"Yes…where do you live?"
"In the cogs zura! With the weird red-eyed man zura!"
"No, sweetie," the latter word was stressed, a result of his growing impatience. "Who is in charge of you?"
"The red-eyed man zura!"
"NO! Where were you heading when I found you?" His impatience was now apparent. Of all the brats he had kidnapped…this one had to be the weirdest.
"Oh! To Charon's zura! To see Ahiru and Fakir lovey-dovey zura!"
"Thank you. Now was that so hard?"
"Yes zura. You were asking the wrong questions zura!" The kidnapper felt his eye twitch even more so.
4 Hours Later
Tap tap tap tap tap tatatatatatatatata tap tap tap tap tap.
By this point, the kidnapper was banging his head against the wall in the rhythm if the girl's drumming. What was up with this kid?
"It's time to go to sleep now." He said. She paused from her marching and looked at him.
"But I'm not tired zura. I want Fakir and Ahiru zura!"
"They'll be here soon…until then…give the drum a rest." He had delivered a ransom note earlier…but as she continued to beat her drum…he was guessing why he hadn't gotten a response yet. This kid was annoying!
"No zura. It's fun zura! Let's play a game zura!"
"No."
"Why zura?"
"Because."
"Because why zura?"
"Just because."
"Just because why zura?"
They continued in this manner for the next hour and half, by the end of which, both of the kidnapper's eyes were twitching.
When at last Fakir and Ahiru burst through the door, panting because they had run the entire way, the kidnapper fell at their feet, begging for mercy.
"Please! Just take her! Don't worry about the money! Just please…please…please take her with you! Don't leave her with me anymore! If she beats that drum one more time…I will lose it! Please, have mercy!"
Fakir and Ahiru exchanged knowing smiles.
"Fine," Fakir said, "then you will hand Uzura over, and will turn yourself in to the police."
"And why the hell would I do that?" Growled the kidnapper.
"Because," replied Ahiru, "If you don't…we'll tie you up and let Uzura play for you all week."
The man's eyes widened in horror. A week of that incessant tapping and he would lose it!
"Fine," he conceded. "Just tell her to stop!"
"Uzura!" Ahiru cried out, and the little puppet girl came around the corner, before leaping onto Fakir and Ahiru, who stumbled backwards.
"Yay! Ahiru and Fakir zura!" She pulled backwards, examining them closely before she smiled. "You're still lovey-dovey zura!" Fakir turned a dark shade of red. "And Fakir still changes color zura!" Ahiru giggled at the comment and Fakir shot her a look.
The kidnapper walked in front of the three youths, and was turned in to the proper authorities. Lounging in his cell the next day, he breathed a sigh of relief…this wasn't half bad…
"You have a visitor," came the gruff voice of a guard.
"Really, who-" He cut off when he heard the tell-tale taptaptaptaptaptap coming down the hallway towards him. He wondered how hard he could bash his head against the prison wall.