Title: An Unkind Country
Rating: PG
Warnings: None, just some spoilers for characters in episode 13
Summary: The story of how an Unkind Country began to turn kind again.
Kino happily played with the new gun that she was just given. It was beautiful and she couldn't stop running her hands over it's polished metal.
"Kino, this may sound like a weird thing to you but..." Lily Sakura's grandfather started. She looked up, a bit worried that something was wrong.
"A long time ago, actually, just eleven years ago and just a few days before Lily was born, a traveler came to our country. At that time, the people here were mean to travelers, so I'm surprised he actually stayed. He was a tall man with dark hair. He reminds me of you, because he wore a coat just like yours..."
The grandfather stopped talking for a moment as he watched Kino's face go pale. "Please... please continue with your story."
An Unkind Country
It felt great just to lie on a nice soft bed. After running around for hours just trying to find a good hotel, it's just what someone needs.
"You know, Hermes..."
"Yeah?"
"This place is just like what everyone said it was."
"I agree. It's not really all that fun, Kino."
"We entered the country, and our warm welcome was a dozen kids throwing rocks at us. We went to almost all the hotels in this country and everyone just shut the doors in our faces. Is it something I did?"
"I think it has something to do with your height."
"My height...? What's wrong with my height?"
"Well, for one thing, Kino, you're huge! You're so tall, that probably when some young housewife opens the door, you scare the living daylights out of her!"
"...Thanks a lot, Hermes. I feel so much better. Good night." He turned over and turned out the light.
---
"Kinoooo!!! Wake up!!"
"Ugh..."
Hermes snorted. "WAKE UP!"
Kino bounded out of bed and scrambled for his knife on his bedside. He looked and saw it was just his motorrad, who was more like his alarm clock right now.
"Hermes, how many times have I told you not to wake me up like that? I hate waking up feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack."
"I hate to tell you this, but there is no other way for me to wake you up. That being said, good morning Kino."
Kino pouted a little as he got ready for a day of exploring in this unwelcoming country.
---
Hermes watched as Kino took a huge bite in a large hamburger.
Hermes then watched as Kino made funny and disgusted faces.
"What is this stuff??" he exclaimed and spat the food out.
"Apparently, it's a hamburger."
Kino glanced down at his plate. "Oh, really? I think they didn't cook it properly. Or maybe at all."
If Hermes could grin, he would be grinning now. "How much do you love this country, Kino?"
---
"It's our last day here..." Hermes started.
"Hm... Good things about this country." Kino pondered for a bit. He blinked and then said, "Um, bad things about this country. The people aren't nice and the food is horrible. It's not the best place to be, it seems. In a place like this, I feel like I need to carry a gun around for protection."
"Kino, why don't you have a gun?" he asked curiously.
He fell back on his bed and looked to his partner. "Well, I've never found the need to have one. A knife, sure, I'll have one of those. But not a gun."
"On the way back here, I think I saw a nice looking gun store... wanna take a look?"
"I guess we could," Kino sighed. "We've got nothing else better to do..."
---
Don't be intimated. Don't look away. Don't... break... eye contact...
The old man didn't move. He just stared down Kino like he had grown a second head and he wanted to cut one of them off.
"Um... I'd like to take a look around." He stuttered out.
The man's stare weakened. "Sure traveler. You can." He forced out like he'd rather not be nice. His gaze dropped down to the small persuader he was polishing. He seemed to take special care for this gun, like it was a prized and treasured possession.
Kino started to slowly walk around to look at all the guns. While he did not own one, he certainly appreciated the beauty of firearms. He felt, however, that he wanted to create not kill.
He was just about to pick up a persuader when a woman's voice cried out in the other room. The old man immediately bolted out of his chair to her, leaving Kino all alone. Hermes' curiosity seemed to rub off onto him, so he quietly followed the man. He peeked into a back room and saw the old man with a young woman. The woman looked like she was in a lot of pain. She was pregnant.
"Shhhh... it'll be okay..." The old man touched her face and brushed some of her hair out of her sweating face.
She cried out again, this time louder. Could the baby be coming? If so, where was her husband or family?
"Hey! Traveler!" The old man had gotten up and was shoving Kino towards the bed with the woman on it. "Keep watch over my daughter while I go get a doctor."
Before Kino could protest, the old man ran out of the house. He looked down at the woman in pain. Slowly, he took a few deep breaths and tried to remember any medical training he took in a faraway country many years ago.
---
The baby's cries were loud, but Kino knew that it was a good thing. He smiled as he saw the love in the mother's eyes for her daughter. She was bundled in her mother's arms as the doctor explained to the old man that everything was going to be okay.
"Traveler, I must thank you for being with my daughter while I was away." The old man smiled and was nothing like the old brooding man of before. Watching the childbirth must had softened him.
"It was no problem, sir. I just did what I could."
"But still. I thank you. You must have noticed that our country isn't all that hospitable. I'm very surprised that you would want to help us out after we showed you no kindness during your stay."
Kino smiled and looked down at the happy mother and child. "If I could help, I would try to do whatever I can for whoever I meet. I would even give my life if I saw someone else's life was in danger. I guess I'm just that kind of person. But seeing the smiling faces of those I help out, I find it's worth it to put aside what ever grudges I may have." He looked at the old man and was surprised to find tears in his eyes.
"Your words are true, traveler. I try to be nice, but in this country, living with such mean-hearted people... it rubs off and I cannot wash myself clean sometimes." He looked down at his daughter and her daughter. "But I think it can be done. If I try, then maybe in the future, you can come to this country and be welcomed by happy people. It may be a decade, it may be more, but I hope you can see our changed country."
---
That night, Kino and Hermes stayed with the old man and his family. He was able to get to know the old man, Takashi. He talked of his daughter, Maria, and about their lives.
"Kino, do you want to hold the baby?" Takashi asked, already bringing the baby closer to him.
He gently put the baby into Kino's arms. Kino looked down at the young life in wonder. She was so small and so beautiful.
"Ah, have you all decided a name for her?" He asked to no one in particular.
Takashi answered, "I think we're going to call her Sakura. Lily Sakura, after her grandmother. If only they could have met..."
Kino cradled little Lily Sakura and smiled down at her. "That's such a pretty name."
---
Ending Notes: Okay, so I got this idea mainly from episodes 4 and 13. Apparently, Male!Kino had a motorrad in the past, so I thought it would be a neat idea for him to have went to The Kind Land. While I was watching episode 13, it looked like during a flashback to the past, there was a picture of a tall traveler with a big backpack on his back talking to one of the gate guards. To me, it looked a bit like Male!Kino. So the idea was born. But the place he visited would not be like the place Kino visited later. In that episode, they mentioned bad food, kids throwing rocks, and people shutting their doors in traveler's faces.And the little bit of the Kino we know and love in the beginning was actually a part of a rough draft of where Kino hears about the story. I finished the whole story and then at the last minute, literary right after I posted this story at my personal journal, I changed it and put that little bit at the beginning, just for the sake of having it in there.