"He's the cutest little boy. Makes it that much sadder, doesn't it?" An old woman said to her friend who sat beside her in the market street. They were people watching. Or rather, she was. Her friend was going blind.
"Yes, he was a cute little kid when he was in the orphanage. I remember taking care of him. He was loud and a bit obnoxious, but he was a sweet kid." The blind lady said.
Today they had focused their attention on the local village pariah. Everyone knew of him, and although he was a friendly kid, no one would dare approach him. They valued their social status much more than to dare reach out to the 'demon child'.
"You know what?" the old woman looked curiously as the boy tried to get some food from the vendor across the street. "I think I want to help him…"
"Help the demon child?" the blind woman questioned. "Why in the world would you do that?"
"Because… while you may not be able to see it, he's suffered enough. And besides, my son respects the kid. He doesn't like him, mind you, but he respects the kid for holding the demon in him. Says that he just doesn't like him because the kid is annoying and has pulled a couple of pranks on him while he was on the job."
The blind one snorted. "Well, do what you like. I'm not going to help him, but go ahead and do it if you want to."
"Fine. I will." The old lady stood up and walked away towards the boy.
Slowly, the blind one smiled. She knew that she wasn't helping the boy directly, but she knew she wouldn't need to.
What no one knew about this blind woman was that she had made a deal with a demon herself. A lesser demon, true, but it was a deal with a demon none the less.
She gave up her sight for the True Sight. Most prophetic people were blind, and there was a reason why. It was impossible to be able to see people for who they truly were and to be able to what would happen to them if you were distracted by their outward appearance.
She looked over as her friend started patronizing the shopkeeper. She no longer remembered what her friend looked like, but she could see her blue chakra. It was swirling rapidly in her anger, while the child's blue and red chakra was flowing at a slower rate in his awed state. Obviously, no one had stood up for him before in the way her friend was.
The woman closed her failing eyes. She knew that she wasn't needed to help the child. Her friend was doing exactly what he needed. She was giving him hope in humanity with her actions, which would then allow him to be hopeful that someday they would accept him as one their own. He would keep trying, and she knew that he would be the most famous person in this world.
Her friend was finished with the shopkeeper and handed plenty of fruits to the boy. He was so happy that he yelled his thanks and hugged her before taking off. The woman began walking back to her chair besides by the blind lady.
As she sat down she said, "Well, I think that that just made my day."
The blind woman smiled. "It's amazing what a difference one act of kindness can make."
Her friend blushed, never to know that kind deed would some day save their village.
Total words: 598
Author's Notes:
Well, this was a spur of the moment one-shot. I was inspired by the prompt "He's the cutest little boy. Makes it that much sadder, doesn't it?" that I found in a book of prompts. Seriously, you have to get one of these things. It's amazing.
Anyways, now I have to write an essay for English. Hope you enjoyed this! Keep Reading!
~Corselli