Wish
upon a fallen star
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"This one," Emma-o declared, glaring down pitilessly at the small form over which they all towered, "is nothing but trouble." The hissing laugh of the demon fox sealed in the boy drew another, sterner frown from him and he smiled thinly as he made his decision. "Eaten from within he shall be, his chakra enough to hold the kyuubi, but not enough to protect his own life."
Murmurs of fickle amusement or dissatisfaction at the statement echoed in the clearing, rustling in the wind blown grass and the leaves fluttering in the air in irregular, unsteady patterns. The boy's smile faded for a moment, as though perhaps he sensed the gods teeming around him – but then his smile returned, the hope still shining brightly in his eyes. The stars were falling in brilliant streaks, one after the other and on a night where one might hope for a god to answer's one wish, he was determined to be heard.
So it continued, each god or goddess granting calamity or alienation to the annoyingly cheerful young boy while their words were accompanied by the defiant hisses of the fox demon who could hear them only too well. So it continued until only one deity was left, peering down at the brilliantly smiling young boy, his head firmly nestled against his crossed arms while he stared up at the heavens.
"Ah, child," she finally signed, shaking her head slightly, the flowers weaved in her hair rustling delicately at the motion. "How is it that you conceal such deep sorrow underneath your smile, so very well that even the gods are fooled?"
At her words, the gods paused in their low conversations and turned to stare in mingled confusion and dismay.
"I choose you as one of my own," was the final declaration, accompanied by murmurs of shock and surprise by the witnesses still present. "And to thee," the goddess murmured, "I give my greatest gift of all. The hearts of others you shall touch and understand, drawing them closer with every passing moment even though they understand not why. The depths of your empathy and kindness will be their salvation. And in return... they shall ever seek to touch you in kind."
She smiled softly as she reached down, and brushed her fingertips across the cheek of the small boy, still staring up hopefully to the heavens, not seeing at all the august company around him.
"Or at least I would give that to you," she laughed, smiling in delight as she dropped all formality, drawing gasps of surprise from all those present, "were it not that you possessed it already!"
Kannon leaned down to press her lips to the boy's forehead in a silent benediction, before straightening up. All watched the boy as he drifted off to sleep under the Goddess of Mercy's benevolent protection, that same hopeful smile still etched on his lips.
And each, slowly, started to think of ways to moderate the fates they had set upon the young boy.
