The Challenge: "Strange Bedfellows" – a crossover challenge
Crossover: CCS/Toy Story
BelongingsKero-chan woke up in the arms of a little girl who was not Sakura. She was blonde, with curly, curly hair, and she smelled a little like melted ice-cream, which reminded Kero of why he was sleeping with this little girl in the first place. He extricated himself from the warm grip and fluttered upward before settling back down to the ground.
"Finally," said a wry female voice, with a cowgirl's drawl. "I was beginning to wonder if you were even a toy. Or if I should prod you with something." The voice belonged to a doll. She had bright red hair and a plastic cowboy hat, and she was peeking, head and elbows, out of the little girl's Hello Kitty purse.
Kero blinked and wondered if he should say something, or if he should stay still and pretend to be a plush toy. Then he realized that it was, indeed, a toy that was talking to him, which was a situation that had never happened before. "Aah…" he said. "Hi?"
"Oh, good, you speak American," said the cowgirl. "I was afraid you were Japanese. Are you a Russ© ? I'm Jessie, by the way. This," she pointed at the sleeping girl, "is Princess Drool, as Andy calls her – but I love 'er. And we're all lost."
Kero looked around. Beyond the little grassy hill under the trees where he was, there was no visual sign of Sakura or the others, but he could sense her in the Tokyo park. She was a good distance away from him by walking, but he could fly to her in minutes with little effort. "I know exactly where we are," said Kero confidently.
"Do you?" asked Jessie, hopefully. "Can you see Andy and Andy's Mom anywhere?" She swiveled her head around anxiously, trying to see beyond the scattered shrubs. There was a concrete paved path beyond, one that connected and fed into other paths, and an ice-cream vendor, and a scattering of strangers walking or running or jogging past.
Kero exhaled a wistful sigh as he watched the vendor hand out yet another luscious cone. All I wanted was an ice-cream, he thought. But he had been noticed by the little girl and had had to play "doll". She had picked him up and carried him for a while until she had started crying; after that, she found this shady place and curled up to fall asleep. Trapped, Kero had been waiting until she was fully asleep before slipping free, but her embrace was warm, and he'd fallen asleep himself. "What do they look like?" asked Kero of Jessie, answering her question with a question.
Jessie slumped with a wailing moan. "Oh, they're never going to find us," she despaired. She crawled out of the purse and sat down on the grass, near the Sun Guardian in his false form. Then, strangely, she lifted her foot and looked at the bottom of her boot. She read the scrawling letters inscribed there in marker and smiled with determination. "Can't give up hope, Jessie," she said to herself. "You belong to someone."
Kero looked at her curiously. "You have a name written on your shoe?" he asked.
"Andy wrote his name on me," Jessie answered. She stuck her foot out so Kero could clearly see the letters A N D Y. "It means that I belong to him."
Like the way Sakura wrote her name on the Cards, thought Kero.
"Don't you belong to someone?" asked Jessie.
"Yes," said Kero. "I do."
"How did you get lost?" the cowgirl asked.
"Well," hedged Kero, "I wasn't really lost… actually…" He wondered how much to tell her. A talking doll was not an everyday thing, but then, neither was a magical winged lion in small form with a weakness for sweets.
Jessie's face filled with sympathy. "I was left behind once, too," she said, reaching over to pat his forepaw. "But then I met Woody, and after an adventure, I became Andy's toy, too. In fact, that's why we're here to begin with. We were going to see the 'Woody's Round Up' exhibit at the Museum of Toys. So, if you want," she added shyly, "you could stay with us."
"Thanks," said Kero, oddly moved. He decided then that he would definitely reunite this doll, and the curly-haired girl, with their family. He stretched his senses out to touch Yue's aura, and gave it an insistent tug. Wake up, bro, he thought. Time to help a damsel in distress.
It didn't take long for Yukito to find them. When he stepped off the path and into the dark under the trees, Jessie froze, appearing to be an ordinary doll. "It's okay," Kero assured her. "You can be yourself." He waved a little paw in front of her face, but she remained unmoving. "Wow, you're better at this than I am," Kero commented.
"What's the matter?" asked Yukito. "Is she lost?" He indicated the sleeping girl.
"She wandered away from her family," Kero replied. "A boy named Andy, and a mother."
Yukito kneeled down and studied the blonde child. "I had better wake her up," he said. "I'll take her to the security office. Her family is probably already looking for her."
"Okay. But first," said Kero, "put Jessie back into her purse. And be gentle!" he added adamantly.
Yukito looked at him with curiousity, but did as he was bade. He tucked the doll into the pink plastic bag and carefully zipped it shut. He then opened his pocket so that Kero could flutter in; once the golden Guardian was settled in and suitably inanimate seeming, Yukito spoke loudly enough to wake the sleeping child. "Hello," he said, and waited.
The girl stirred, and then opened her eyes suddenly with a gasp. She looked at Yukito while blinking, and seemed too mesmerized to scream or shy away. A thumb crept into her mouth.
"Are you lost?" asked Yukito gently. The little girl nodded, eyes wide and very blue. "Let's go find your family, then," he said. He held out a hand, and the little girl took it.
. . .
The family had indeed been waiting at the security offices when Yukito arrived with the little girl, and the mother thanked him profusely. For a moment, Yukito's pocket and Princess Drool's purse came into close proximity, and Kero heard a muffled drawl whisper, "Hey, Russ – thanks."
. . .
Sakura was doing her homework, writing carefully and neatly with a black ink pen, when Kero fluttered to a landing on her desk. "Sakura," he said. "I want you to write your name on me."
Sakura's eyebrows shot up with surprize. "Kero-chan! Why?"
"Just like you did with the Cards," explained Kero. "I belong to you, too."
"But that's just weird," said Sakura uncertainly.
"I think you should," insisted Kero.
"Maybe we should ask Yue-san…" Sakura considered. She thought about writing on the Moon Guardian and blushed with horror. But because Kero was still looking at her with a serious expression, she rose and went to knock on her brother's room door. "Anno… Yukito," she started, ignoring her brother and looking only at the fair-haired young man as he stood in the doorway. "I… me and Kero… have a question for Yue-san," she said. She led Yukito out of the room and into her own, where the other Guardian was still waiting on her desk. In a moment, Yukito changed form, and Yue was standing in patient waiting. Sakura fidgeted nervously, but finally waved toward the smaller Guardian. "Kero has a question," she said.
Yue looked coolly at his brother. Kero stood up on his four small feet. "I think that Sakura needs to write her name on us, as she did with the Cards," he said.
Yue's eyebrows rose, slowly. His face twitched almost imperceptably. Then it became still again with quiet thought. At last, when Sakura could hardly take any more of the silence, he spoke carefully, directing his words toward Keroberos. "It should be enough," he said, his voice gentle and melodic, "for her to have written her name upon our hearts."
{owari}{the end}