I don't own Hanazuki: Full of Treasures.
Here I am again doing another story for the cutesy interactions between Hanazuki and a Hemka. There's other ones for Pink and Red, this one is for my fourth favorite, Blue. Redundant, right? I'm bored, I think I'm gonna make a little series out of these oneshots, maybe.
With a start, I awoke in the middle of the night to the familiar sound of soft weeping.
Stifled, mournful sobs. A sound I don't want to hear, yet can't ignore. He's trying to be quiet...
Of course it's Blue Hemka. It's always Blue... what was he doing awake when the rest of the moon is asleep?
Drowsily getting up onto my feet, I tiptoe past the other Hemkas closer to me, all of which were clustered together as they slept. Blue was the only one missing, but his little cries were getting louder the closer I was getting to him.
Another turn and there he was, in the grove of multicolored treasure trees I grew before with Kiazuki, sitting in between the pair of matching blue ones, his face and voice hidden and muffled by both droopy ears.
I take a few steps closer, the pinkish grass rustling under my feet and in the light breeze.
"Hey... little buddy?" I whisper, causing Blue to jump in surprise, shaking and murmuring softly as he clings to a branch of my blue treasure tree.
"I'm sorry!" I start, a bit loudly, but nobody else stirred, "It's just me, Blue... It's okay..."
The little creature calms down slightly, bouncing back down from the tree branch, but gives me a worried look, as if guilty for waking me up. With that, he bursts into tears again and tries to bolt away from me. Fortunately, I grab him before he can escape.
"Hey, hey," I murmur softly, trying to calm Blue down, petting and hugging him to help him relax, show him I wasn't upset. Eventually he exhausts himself from the struggle and goes limp in my arms, gazing up at me with those big sad eyes of his, whimpering submissively. Now that he's calmer, I start wiping the crusted dark tearstains from his fur. Poor little baby...
"It's pretty late," I tell the little Hemka gently, stroking his ears to keep him calm, "what's wrong? Did something happen...?"
He doesn't make any sound in response, looking away from me and hiding his face.
Disappointed, I look back towards where I came from.
"Should I just go, then?"
At these words, Blue suddenly bolts up and grips my arm tightly with both ears in clear refusal, whining in protest.
"Okay, okay," I answer softly, mildly surprised by the change of behavior, "I guess you don't have to tell me what happened. Just an off night for us, buddy, whether it was a bad dream or you just had trouble getting to sleep, I'm here." The Hemka curls up in my lap in response, still staring at me with that same woeful expression.
Misery loves company...
"Come on, Blue, don't give me that look," I murmur, "I want to help you, but I don't know what you want... can Mirror Plant translate for you, or...?"
Blue lowers back down in a more relaxed position, slowly shaking his head.
"All right. I guess we can just keep each other company right here. If you won't tell me about your night, why don't I tell you about mine? Maybe it'll make you feel better knowing you're not alone." I smile when the little creature seems to nod in approval at this suggestion, his ears perking up to listen.
"Okay, Blue, lemme tell ya," I start in a more casual tone, holding the Hemka close to me as it made me feel more comfortable somehow, "First of all, you're the one who taught me about sadness. It's a painful emotion, yes, but it's also a helpful one. Sadness helped Kiazuki and I grow these trees," I say softly, lightly touching the blue Treasure Tree's droopy, silky leaves above my head, "and it lets others know when you need comfort. It was my second emotion after I was born, remember?"
Blue nods again, smiling only briefly before returning to his usual lamenting expression.
"All negative emotions, like sadness, fear, anger... I need them. Not only does expressing them grow Treasure Trees, but they let everyone know when I need help, when I need someone there, know what I mean?
"I still can't forgive myself for flattening you," I sigh, catching Blue's attention again as I spoke, "even though you're all better now, if Sleepy Unicorn hadn't been there, you would've..." There's tears starting to gather in the corners of my eyes; I can feel them. I was feeling okay a moment ago, but now I'm remembering... unpleasant things...
"I almost lost half of you Hemkas to the dangers of this moon. Yellow getting eaten by Chicken Plant, Pink almost drowning in slow sand, Lime Green getting caught in another moon's gravitational pull, Orange falling into the volcano of fears, Red getting sick from the Big Bad... and I almost lost you, Blue, to my own selfish stupidity." Suddenly I'm full of guilt and panic. I feel like an awful person with these memories returning.
Blue is giving me a surprised look as I continue my rant. I'm too stressed now to notice his concern.
"Sometimes I wonder if I'm really a good Moonflower... sometimes I have this dream... where I'm all alone on a barren moon overlooking this one, and even though you Hemkas are so close, I can't reach you, a-and the Big Bad blows you all away." My vision is blurring with tears, a soft blue glow surrounding me. I'm sad, and all I can see is the hazy outline of the Hemka in front of me. I extend my hand towards the shape and to my relief, he wraps his ears around it again, bouncing closer to me.
"The thought of being alone... I can't even handle it. I couldn't imagine my life without you guys here. I need you. I can't imagine how Kiazuki feels after losing her little guys, and if I lost any of you... I..."
Blue suddenly hugs me tightly, as if he were never going to let go, trying to express that he cares, starting to sob himself. Maybe that was a bit much to tell my most sensitive Hemka, but he understands when I'm sad. That's empathy, and we help each other.
As the stars twinkled above us in the dark sky, we sat and cried together, and in the end, we felt better. We were able to smile again and fell asleep leaning against the treasure tree, still embracing. Just the two of us.
It's okay to let someone know if you need help.
It's comforting to know someone is there to empathize, understand and support you. What's quite surprising is that crying does help. It soothes and eventually eases away pain, even more so when someone is letting you cry and express that emotion, they're there to let you cry, but they don't judge you for it. They understand.
I learned all that from Blue Hemka. That was the night we bonded the most.
Everyone feels lonely sometimes. Maybe he was actually trying to get my attention that night...
It was just a beautiful night that I still remember, being able to cry with someone and tell them how I felt.
It's okay to let it out.
character voiced by Jessica DiCicco comforts other character voiced by Jessica DiCicco
I still can't believe Blue Hemka is voiced by Jessica DiCicco I mean HIS VOICE IS HILARIOUS WHAT how does she do that!? Voice acting magic! I want to grow up to be a voice actor and I can't do that eee
Anyway I was bored and was inspired to write this after finding some art by one of the dudes who work on the show...