Author Uozumi
Genre General/Pre-series
Rating G
Disclaimer I do not own nor claim to own this. The characters, ect...contained within are not my property. This is an act of fandom and I do not make a profit from this endeavor.
Summary Back before either wore a smock to school, Watanuki met Domeki in a department store. Tiny Spoiler.
Note There's a very teeny tiny spoiler about Domeki's childhood from around the ninth-ish book in here. I should never have learned this. XD
"Now, wait here, Kimihiro, I'm going to go try these on," a woman with a warm voice and pale skin spoke to her son. The little boy responded with a smile and a wave as he sat down on one of the chairs near the dressing stalls, kicking his small legs back and forth. It had only been twenty seconds and he was bored.
Looking around at the women picking through the racks of clothes, he took his glasses off, putting one of the ear hooks in his mouth. They were only three hours new, and he didn't like them at all. The nose cushions pushed funny and the ear hooks jabbed his skin. Chewing on the ear hook, he marveled at how there weren't any monsters in the store. He had a very loud tantrum at the optometrists when a rather nasty looking tentacled creature sat down in the chair right before he could. His mother managed to scare it away as the doctor assured Kimihiro that the eye testing equipment wasn't going to hurt the boy.
Hearing a sound, the toddler tensed. Something was making a sniffling noise inside the nearest clothing rack. Shifting his blue eyes to the rack, he put his glasses back on. Even if they hurt, he could see whatever was going to hurt him better this way. It made dodging and hiding easier.
Slipping off the bench, Kimihiro considered running for his mother even though she told him to stay put. His mother hadn't thought one of those "things" might come for him, right? Eyeing the clothing rack again, he prepared to run for the dressing stalls when he noticed two shoes peeking out under all the shirts. Frowning, he wondered if monsters wore pale yellow Velcro shoes.
Swallowing, Kimihiro made up his mind. He was going to see what was hidden in the rack, and if it did turn out to be a monster, he was going to run straight into the clothing stalls and find his mother. Shorter than the rack of clothes, he reached up on his tiptoes to part the shirts around the shoes. He would take a quick look and then run for it.
Parting the shirts as best he could, Kimihiro peered into the dark area of the rack before pausing. Sitting near the center pole was what looked to be a girl probably about his age. She started rubbing at her eyes as though the last thing she needed was someone catching her crying.
"You…okay?" Kimihiro asked. It was a stupid question, but it was the first thing he knew to ask a crying person.
The girl sniffled loudly and then managed a choked, "No," before swallowing. She looked fragile almost like the porcelain dolls Kimihiro's mother kept on their mantle. "I lost my mom," she said, her eyes finally looking up at Kimihiro. For a delicate girl, her small eyes were a harsh contrast.
"I can find her," Kimihiro said. "I bet she looks just like you." Most girls he knew looked like their mothers, so the rule should apply here too.
The girl frowned. "I look like my grandpa," she said, venturing out of the clothing rack.
Kimihiro thought that was very odd. He'd never thought anyone's grandfather could be considered "cute" but he was on a mission now. He would help this girl find her mother, and there was nothing that could stop him!
Kimihiro looked around. There were a lot of women of different ages around them, but he couldn't see all of them down on the floor. Grabbing the girl's hand, he pulled her over to the waiting chairs and then he stood up on one of them, the girl standing on the other. "She here?" he asked, examining each woman as though he knew who to look for.
The girl took her fingers out of her mouth and looked at each woman before her eyes lit up. "There." She pointed to a slender woman with pretty eyes. "That's Mom." Taking a careful jump off the chair, she hurried off in that direction.
Kimihiro stayed standing on the chair. Watching the girl's mother scold her for wandering off, he frowned. His mother always badgered him to say "thank you" at times like this, so certainly she could have!
"Kimihiro!"
Hearing his mother's voice, the little boy froze. Looking over to his left, he felt his mother held him off the chair. "You know better than to stand on furniture," she said. Taking his hand, she adjusted the clothes hangers in her other hand. "Let's go pay for these and go home, okay?"
Kimihiro looked over in the direction the girl went off in, but he couldn't see her anymore. "Okay."