A day outdoors helps the nyan-nyan come to terms with who she is - and isn't. Also, she gets a chance to "fix" Chichiri-sama.
"And STAY out!" shouted Taitsu-kun, booting the little nyan-nyan through the door. "Honestly, " the old sorceress said, "these nyan-nyans get more annoying every day. And when did they start asking so many questions?"
It was good for the little nyan-nyan that Taitsu-kun didn't know that it was actually one nyan-nyan asking questions. She couldn't help it, though; the tickles were coming more and more frequently, and besides asking questions was fun.
But now the nyan-nyan was stuck outside until someone opened the door. She scuffed one slipper in the dust and tried to think of when someone might open it, when she realized Chichiri-sama had gone down to a village and would be back that evening. She nodded her head, and thought, Nyan-nyan'll just wait for him, then.
She stared down the road for a few minutes, then began to skip about the grassy lawn, singing to herself. She played games and threw rocks in the pond, and lay back and looked at the summer clouds.
The nyan-nyan had become skilled at entertaining herself. The other nyan-nyans had stopped playing with her altogether; whenever she was around one, she felt a pain in her chest as if she had been hit. So it was easier to be alone.
Soon it was noon, and the nyan-nyan got hungry. She ran to the apple tree beside the house, and scrambled up the trunk. She pulled off an apple, and ate slowly, remembering.
The nyan-nyan had wanted to eat the apples the first day they appeared on the tree, but Chichiri-sama had told her to wait. "They'll make you sick no da," he said, then added, "or at least I think they make nyan-nyans sick too no da. But if you wait a few weeks, they'll get bigger and taste better no da."
He had turned back to the tree to inspect the apples, and said, "Yes, two weeks should do it, no da. By the way, what's your name, no da? I can't just keep calling you nyan-nyan, all the others answer to that too no da."
Her brow had knotted in confusion, and replied, "We are nyan-nyan. You call we answer, yes?"
"Yes," he replied, "but what do you want me to say when I call just *this* nyan-nyan?" He tapped her on the head lightly.
"This nyan-nyan?" she said, tapping her own head. "This nyan-nyan," she repeated softly, and she felt as if a wind blew through her mind. She looked up at Chichiri-sama quizzically, then turned and walked away, ignoring his call to wait.
She frowned at the memory, and looked up into the tree. This nyan-nyan, she thought, and felt her heart contract like a vise. This nyan-nyan ... not that nyan-nyan ... one nyan nyan. This is one nyan-nyan. She felt tears on her cheeks, and lay down on a wide branch, staring through a gap at the sky.
All nyan-nyans are the same. This nyan-nyan is different. Why? She pulled forward one of her braids and looked at it thoughtfully. This nyan-nyan's hair is blue, like the sky. Like all the other nyan-nyans. But this nyan-nyan is different. The pain eased a little, and she thought, Chichiri-sama asked this nyan-nyan's name. This nyan-nyan is different because it has a name. This nyan-nyan's name ...
It was almost night when the nyan-nyan heard the jingle of Chichiri-sama's staff. She awoke with a start, and nearly fell off the branch. She clung to it, though, and expected to here Chichiri-sama begin to laugh at her scrabbling. She didn't hear any, though, and she leaped to the ground to see why.
Chichiri-sama had his face turned away, and the nyan-nyan was shocked to see tears on his face. "What is wrong?" she cried, running up to his side.
"Nothing, no da ... " he said, trying to turn away.
She tilted her head and thought hard. "Chichiri-sama, how do people say that someone has said something that isn't so?"
He stopped, and then laughed. "They say that the person has lied, no da." He grew thoughtful, and said to her, "I'm sorry, no da, I shouldn't have lied to you."
He looked up at the stars just appearing in the sky, and said, "When I went to the village ... I didn't realize the scar would stand out so much no da. I've been around Taitsu-kun and you nyan-nyans so long I forgot how people react no da."
"And then . . . they tried to be nice no da, but I knew where there eyes were, and I couldn't even summon up a smile. I was in the middle of a bigger group of people than I have been since I left my village, but I've never felt so alone."
"This nyan-nyan understands."
He turned to her, his eye widening in suprise. "What do you mean?"
"You feel bad because you are one Chichiri-sama. Like the way this nyan-nyan feels tickles."
"Nani?!"
"This nyan-nyan is one nyan-nyan because none of the others feel the tickles that make her ask questions. She . . . I am one nyan-nyan, so I am alone."
"I see no da. I'm sorry, nyan-nyan."
"Blue."
"Excuse me?"
"This nyan-nyan's name is Blue."
Chichiri-sama knelt and buried his face in her shoulder, shaking with sobs. She hugged him tight, and cooed the way she heard the mother pigeon in the apple tree coo to her nestlings.
"Chichiri-sama, what if the others didn't know you were one Chichiri-sama?"
"What do you mean no da?"
"The scar is like my questions, right? Well, when I don't ask questions around them the other nyan-nyans are nicer to me. What if the other people couldn't see the scar?"
He raised his head and frowned. "I won't remove this scar," he said stubbornly.
"Blue didn't mean to suggest that. Blue - sorry, I - meant that if it were there, just covered up?"
"Well, I suppose I could wear an eyepatch no da. Though I wouldn't like being asked to sing pirate songs everywhere I went no da."
"Nani?"
"Never mind, no da. What did you have in mind, no da?"
"This," she said, and cupped her hands around a glowing spark. It expanded, then flashed, and a mask dropped into her hands.
Chichiri-sama took it, and laughed. "It's face is smiling! Blue, for me?"
She nodded. "Try it on!"
He put on the mask, and Blue dissolved into laughter as he morphed into a three foot chibi to match it. Taitsu-kun looked out her window and muttered, "Damn nyan-nyans," and raised one hand to cover her smile.