Chapter 1: A New Beginning

May 15, 1996 7:43 AM

Nanashi tried to look around at the metal moving object, what he'd heard called a truck, through the small peepholes of the wooden box he and a blue Spix's macaw, the younger brother of one of his lost friends, had been unreservedly shoved into. He pondered what he was going to do with the terrified chick who sat on the other side of the box from him. The little chick had been shivering, likely in fear, since they had been shoved into this new metal box, on the way to who-knew-where. The chick was in its infancy, only two and a half months old. Then again, Nanashi was only three and a half years old himself, not even a teenager by avian standards, so he wasn't far off the mark either.

Nanashi began to let his mind wander, and it eventually guided him to recall the day where everything went wrong.

March 6, 1996 9:55 AM

Nanashi stretched his wings as he looked outside his perch on one of the tall Brazil nut trees in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he called home. There was a very lively feel about the wild jungle this morning, and Nanashi could feel it in his chest. And for good reason too; Rio's Carvanal party was set to begin tonight, and Nanashi was finally confident enough in his endurance and strength to attend the celebration himself!

He wasn't the only one excited either; the entire jungle was alive in what he lovingly referred to as heartsong. He typically didn't participate himself, instead preferring to take in the sight, sounds, and scents. After all, it was how he'd learned to fly; by taking in the atmosphere around him and allowing his heart to take over, the natural avian instinct had finally kicked in.

He smiled as he watched the others dance and fly and sing, a beautiful song of unity and celebration that had nearly brought him to tears many a time. He decided to fly out of the nest he called home and enjoy the atmosphere before the gigantic flock of avians headed for the city.

As Nanashi flew, he landed on a perch next to the tree where one of his best friends and his brother in all but blood, Roberto, lived. Himself, Roberto, and Roberto's friend Jewel had done some crazy things in the three and a half years since Nanashi's appearance in the middle of an abandoned nest in the fall of '93. Roberto had told him a couple weeks ago that he was going to become a big brother, and Nanashi was very happy for his friend.

In fact, if Nanashi remembered correctly, the young one was supposed to have hatched two days ago, but he'd been running an errand for his mentor Rafael in the city proper and had only got back last night, having practically dropped in sleep the second he landed in his nest.

He turned his beak to the nest Roberto lived in and saw a lone blue Spix's macaw, likely Roberto's younger brother, enjoying the atmosphere as the heartsong approached its crescendo, standing on the edge and preparing to jump off in the crucial moment that meant he was going to learn how to fly. Peculiarly, though, Roberto wasn't around, and his parents had disappeared two weeks ago, right after laying the egg. Nanashi idly wondered where Roberto was, leaning back on his perch as he watched the young chick take the leap of faith that all avian infants underwent at some point.

Right as he was about to, and the music came to an end, something horrible happened. Large nets and cages started descending from all over the jungle, and many of Nanashi's companions became trapped.

Alarm bells rang in Nanashi's head as he watched many of his friends and companions now trapped, unable to escape, being dragged off to who-knew-where. He looked over to Roberto's nest and found that his brother was gone.

What?! Where did he go?! Nanashi was mentally freaking out, but he just managed to hear a squawk that no doubt came from a baby, and looked toward to the ground to find the young chick had fallen into the foliage on the jungle floor. Nanashi took off and landed on the ground, making sure to check to see if he was alright, but no sooner had he done that than a cage descended upon him and the young chick, trapping them as well. Nanashi resigned himself to whatever his new fate was, but since the chick's family had somehow disappeared, he resolved to take care of the chick in their place, to raise him the way he knew Roberto's parents would have wanted.

Suddenly, the truck they were being hauled in hit a massive bump in the road, and the box that Nanashi and the chick were in was thrown clear out of the now-open back hatch. Almost instantly, Nanashi felt the bitter cold of an environment he'd never been in, and he moved to the other side of the box to keep the young chick warm.

A couple minutes after they'd been thrown clear of the truck they'd been pushed in, he heard footsteps that could only belong to a human. He cautiously narrowed his eyes at the top of the box as it opened, and a young girl, not older than pre-teen age, stared at him from the outside. She had short, straight red hair, and from what Nanashi could see, was wearing a pair of blue earmuffs and a heavy sweater.

The young girl reached for him, but he pushed himself as close to the corner of the box as he could, not entirely trusting of this human after what humans had done to him already. "Hey, what's wrong, little birdie?" The girl asked softly, looking confused and hurt at Nanashi's move.

Nanashi briefly considered his situation, before letting the young girl see the young chick he'd tasked himself with protecting. Even if I'm not entirely trusting of humans after what happened, I have to give them a chance. Not just for my own well-being, but to make sure Roberto's younger brother lives and has a happy life.

The girl gasped in shock, slowly reaching in to see the young chick, who was shivering in a mix of fear and chill, making himself as comfortable with the confines of Nanashi's wing as he could. Nanashi looked at him, and directed his gaze to the young chick, and slowly nodded with a warm smile on his face. The blue Spix's macaw took this as a sign that things were at least better than they had been, and slowly stepped out, allowing the young girl to pick him up.

He whimpered in fear, but the young girl managed to surprisingly calm him down by petting the feathers on the top of his head, and the macaw cooed in contentment as Nanashi flew up and silently landed on the young girl's shoulder.

"Don't worry. It'll be okay. I'll take care of you guys."

That day, Nanashi's entire life changed.

May 17, 2005 11:47 PM

Nanashi flew down from his perch in Linda's room, looking around at the many knick-knacks she owned, from the various instruments she used to help her take care of himself and Blu to the various books she loved to read and collect, to a seashell Blu had somehow found in the middle of the floor at Linda's middle school one day when Linda had taken him there for show-and-tell day, to the pictures of Blu and Linda after winning first prize in said school's eighth-grade spelling bee.

He stretched his wings to get a bit of feeling back into them and watched through the second-story window of the house the three of them now lived in. If he remembered correctly, Linda had taken Blu to try and "be social" and had allowed him to tag along to her prom. A weird choice, but Nanashi's life the last nine years had been filled with those, so he was used to it.

As he landed on the desk where Linda's computer, an old Dell she'd saved up for from helping her parents at the bakery they owned, sat, he heard the unmistakable sound of Linda's car door shutting, and a couple minutes later, Linda walked through the door, Blu perched on her shoulder like he almost always was. "Oh, hey, Nanashi. I figured you'd be asleep by now. You been alright in here?"

"I've been alright, Linda, thank you for asking. How was your prom?" Nanashi let a genuine smile cross his face as Blu hopped down from her shoulder as she went into the walk-in to change out of her prom dress, a blue and black strapless gown with quite the extravagant frills and lace near the waistline, shaped to look like overlapped flowers.

Only a few months after the two had been rescued by Linda as a kid, Nanashi discovered something very shocking about himself: while all avians could naturally understand and use human language amongst each other, Nanashi had a unique body and voice box that allowed him to actually communicate with other species not his own. As a result, he'd been the subject of many research papers, TV interviews, and public appearances, among other things.

But even through it all, he preferred to stick beside Linda and Blu. Linda had raised him like a mother for the last nine years, and in turn, he'd helped her raise Blu, so he was perfectly content staying here in Moose Lake, Minnesota. None of the family was keen on travel, anyway.

"I think it went pretty well, all things considered. You know, aside from the obvious fact I didn't have anyone to go with." Linda responded as she came out of her walk-in in her favorite white and yellow striped pajamas.

Blu squawked in indignance. "What, was I not enough companionship for you?"

Nanashi narrowed his eyes. "Little brother, you know she did not mean it like that. You and I, despite being different species, are some of the best friends she could ask for."

Blu sighed, resting his head on the keyboard of the currently inactive computer. "I know, Big Bro, but I wish she wasn't so hung up on that kind of thing, you know?"

Nanashi moved over to where Blu was resting his head and draped a wing across his smaller body. "Yes, Blu, I know, but there's nothing to can do about that. I know you don't like hearing it, but you'll understand it eventually. Now, why don't we all get some sleep? We've been up for the last eighteen hours."

At that last part, Nanashi shot a half-hearted glare at Linda, who blanched and raised her hands in the air in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, in my defense, I didn't know the tailor still had anything in stock. I was fully prepared to drive all the way to Duluth!" Nanashi maintained his glare, raising his eyebrow. After a moment, Linda caved. "Okay, fine! I wouldn't have been comfortable with it at all! Happy?"

Nanashi nodded shortly and flew into his cage, while Blu climbed into his own and Linda collapsed onto her bed, turning the lampshade next to the bed off. "Good night, Blu, Nanashi."

"Good night, Linda, Blu."

"Good night, Linda. Good night, Big Bro."