Chibimamoru: Small Lady's Otooto-chan (Revised)
Chapter 9: Surprise!!
Author's Notes: Finally! It's finished! Sorry for waiting so long to update Chibimamoru!! I promise to do better! In Chapter 10, we'll visit Small Lady again and see what's been happening with T.J. and the kids at Nephrite Hills. (wink) A new battle is brewing. (evil laughter) Once again, you'll NEVER EVER guess what's been plaguing Small Lady!! Also, will Damien be able to find out anything from Chibimamo?
A surprise! Daddy gots a surprise for me outside ina gardens. Uncle Nicky-san says so. Uncle Nicky-san is takin me outside to see the surprise. A.B.'s coming with me ta see the surprise. A.B. can talk now. I TOLD them he could talk. A.B. says he wants ta see the surprise, and Stella does too. Stella's my puppy – my puppy that Daddy bought. Stella can't talk like A.B. does, but I know she wants to see the surprise to, so I brought her with A.B. and me. Stella and A.B. and me. We're all gonna see the surprise together!!
Leading Mamo by the hand, General Nicholas couldn't help but smile at the child's overflowing happiness and curiosity. Everything excited him. Everything was brand new. Holding tightly to the general's hand, he half-walked, half-skipped studying everything like a newborn just being introduce to the world. He was so wrapped up in his own little world he didn't even seem to notice the large number of young eyes starring after him. "Are we there yet, Uncle Nicky-san?" Mamo questioned excitedly. "Are we there yet?"
"Yap! Yap! Yap!" Feeling the excitement of her owner, Stella barked out her own happy song running circles around the general, stopping every other minute to study something new and exciting. Then, as if realizing she was about to get left behind, she would take off in a mad dash catching up with the child and his uncle just as they disappeared behind a wall or down a walkway."Just in the next garden, Mamo-chan." Nicholas assured him as they rounded the last corner. Mamo's eyes lit up dancing like two oceans on a warm spring morning and a loud gasp gave away his pent up excitement.
"Uncle Nicky-san, look! It's a tree house!!" Mamo told him as if he couldn't see it for himself. Letting go of his Uncle's hand, he took a running jump up onto the rope ladder, which led up into the tree. Grinning, he climbed up all the way to the top disappearing through the open door. A minute later he can back out holding a crayon-colored picture he'd ripped off the wall. "Uncle Nicky-san! Who drew this?" He questioned loudly holding the picture out for his Uncle to see.
Looking at the picture from the ground, Nicholas smiled warily. "You did, Mamo-chan." Mamo paused for a moment starring from his Uncle to the picture to the tree house and back to his Uncle again. "No one's been in it since you ah . . .disappeared." Cursing his lips, Nicholas awaited the child's reaction. Would the old tree house help to jog his memories?
"Mamo no baka!!" A five-year-old strawberry-blonde odango-haired child yelled up at her 2-½ year old brother. Giggling hyperly, Mamo disappeared inside the tree house clutching his prize – a stash of candy he'd found hidden in his sister's bedroom. "Put the ladder down! Half of that tree house is mine!! All of that candy is mine!!! Mamo no baka!!!" Mamo grinned his midnight-blue eyes dancing excitedly as he reached into the little pink bag pulling out a sweet piece of candy and popping in into his mouth. "Daddy! Mamo won't let me inside the tree house!!"
Daddy must have helped Onee-san up, cause a moment later she was climbing up on the platform. Mamo's eyes were large and disturbingly innocent as he popped another piece of candy into his mouth grinning at her. "Yummy!" He declared. "Mine!!"
Standing in the doorway, Chibiusa glared down at her little brother. "Gemme my candy, Mamo-chan!" Grinning, he shook his head trying to hide the bag behind his back. As Chibiusa stalked closer, Chibimamo stood up ready to make a bolt for the door. Before he could get there, however, Chibiusa tackled him. "Let go!" She insisted trying to pry it from his hands."
"No! No! No! More candy for Mamo-chan!" Mamo insisted giggled hyperly popping yet another one into his mouth.
"If you don't let go, Mamo-chan, I'll MAKE you let go!" Grinning as if it were a game, Mamo shook his head clutching the bag as tightly as his two-year-old hands could manage. "You asked for it, Mamo-chan!" Holding her brother down, Chibiusa began tickling him mercilessly. Laughing loudly, Mamo swirmed trying to escape. Unable to beat his much older sister, however, he was finally forced to release to precious bag of candy.
Making his escape without the bag, Mamo ran to the edge of the tree house coming down the slide – where his father immediately scoped him up. Still giggling, Mamo hugged tightly onto his Daddy's neck. "Hi, Daddy!" He grinned while Chibiusa watched them both from the top of the tree house.
"Mamo-chan." Endymion replied in the famous parental you're-in-trouble voice. "Have we not told you to ask before you go into someone else's things?"
Unfazed, Mamo grinned nodding emphatically. "Hai, Daddy. I did ask." Mamo insisted matter-of-factly. "She said no."
"And what does 'NO' mean?"
Mamo thought about it. "Get it yourself?"
"No. It means you just earned yourself a three minute time-out, Little Prince." Endymion told him with a sigh turning to carry him inside the castle.
"Uh, oh." Mamo answered eyes going wide as his father playfully messed with his hair. Really, Mamo wasn't the easiest child to stay mad at. A minute later Mamo found himself sitting in a hard chair facing a corner in his father's office. "Is it three minutes yet?"
"No."
"Is it three minutes now?"
"No, Mamo-chan."
"Is it three minute now?"
"No, Mamo-chan and if you ask me again you'll be there three minutes more." Silence
"Uh – Daddy?"
Endymion sighed fighting not to become frustrated. "What is it, Mamo-chan?"
"Um . . .Is three minutes more longer than three minutes?" There was a moment of silence as Endymion sweat-dropped before starting to laugh at the innocent question. Grinning widely, Mamo turned around in the chair giving his father his very best rehearsed look. Shaking his head, Endymion pointed at the wall. "Iie. Wall." He told him firmly – or as firmly as he could, while stifling laughter and looking at his son with that look on his face. Sticking out his lower lip, Mamo turned to face the wall kicking his feet boredly for the next three minutes.
Blinking, Mamo shook his head looking back down at Uncle Nicholas who watched him expectantly from the ground. Grinning, he let go of the railing he'd been clutching while he spaced out. "I remember, Uncle Nicky-san! It's MY tree house." Reaching down, he pulled the rope ladder up onto the platform before disappearing back through the open door. Smiling to himself, Nicholas turned away making his way back to the castle. 'I think he's going to be all right.'
Nicholas claimed no one had been in the tree house since he left, but that wasn't entirely true for it looked a bit different than he remembered. The beanbag chairs in the corner were larger than they were before. On the built-in bookshelves was a stack of new coloring books, crayons, and some books which may or may not have been there before seeing as he couldn't read either then or now. Also, in the middle of the floor was a pair of toy swords which seemed vaguely familiar.
Grinning excitedly, he grabbed a coloring book off the top of the stack. Lying flat on his stomach, he opened to a page that he liked, dumped the crayons on the floor, and made himself satisfied by coloring in HIS coloring book. "It's mine and I don't gotta share with, T.J." He thought happily.
"Hey kid!" Roughly five minutes later, Mamo was still focusing on his picture when a young male voice from outside caught his ear. "Hey, kid! Mamoru, come on out here." Mamo looked up. Those were older boys – older boys like T.J. He hadn't known there would be older boys here. Gulping, he backed away from the open door further back into the tree house. There was a murmuring of voices outside.
Uh, oh. Lots of older boys was worse than one older boy. "A.B." He called fearfully. Beeping, A.B. – who had been lying against the wall nearby – blinked floated over into the frightened little boy's arms. A load "clang!" made Mamo jump. Someone was climbing up the slide. They were coming up after him. They – but who were they? At Nephrite Hills, they was T.J. and his friends, but they wasn't they no more. Who was they? Was they mean like T.J. and the big boys at Nephrite Hills?
Actually, "they" was Prince Triston of Jupiter, Prince Damien of Mars, and Prince Antiny of Mercury. Twelve-year-old Prince Triston was well built like his father, on the tall side for his age, with soft brown hair and demanding chocolate brown eyes. The second of the group, eleven-year-old Prince Damien of Mars was basically average height with pitch-black hair like his mother and deep, deep purple orbs with a gaze that seemed to read a person's very soul. The last of the group was of course eleven-year-old Prince Antiny. Ever the quiet one of the group, he had sea blue hair common of Mercurians and inquisitive emerald-green eyes which he'd inherited from his father.
"Hey kid!" Triston called starring up at the high tree house with interest. "Mamoru, come on out here." Getting no response, Triston turned back to look at his friends. "Are you sure he's up there Damien-kun?"
Standing back with his eyes closed and arms crossed in front of him, Damien nodded simply. "Hai. His aura is very much like King Endymion-sama's." Cursing his lips together, Triston looked up at the high tree house with its rope ladder pulled up and the slide which allowed for quick decent. "Or quick entry." Triston thought with a grin.
"What are you thinking, Triston?" Antiny questioned just as Triston began to make his way up the slide up into the tree house. "Triston-kun, you're going to scare him making all that noise!"
"He'll live." Reaching the top of the slide, Triston climbed up onto the platform. From there, it took him all of two seconds to spot the young earth prince pushed back against the far wall of the tree house holding A.B. tightly to his chest starring at him with those large midnight-blue eyes of his. Shaking his head, Triston grabbed hold of the rope ladder throwing it down for his friends below. "Damien, Antiny come on up. I found him."
Grinning, Triston made his way inside the tree house, which was just barely over his head, and towards the newly found prince. "Hey, kid. Did you not hear me calling you?" Cursing his lips, Mamo shrugged. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
A.B. made a face at the comment. "A.B. don't got a tongue." Mamo informed him. Coming up behind them, Damien laughed. "He told you Triston no baka."
"Shut up, fire hazard." Triston glared back at his friend shoving him forcefully backwards. Shutting his eyes, Mamo hid his face behind A.B. Triston was even bigger than T.J. What did they want? Was they gonna take away his new toys? He didn't have to share if he didn't wanna. Justin said so.
"Guys, is this really the best time to start a fight?" Antiny – ever the peacemaker – questioned noticing how it was affecting the little prince. "I told you, you were going to scare him." As if suddenly remembering the reason they'd come up here in the first place, both Triston and Damien turning to stare at the little child they'd come to see. Plopping down beside Mamo on the floor, Antiny pushed A.B. down away from his face. "There's nothing to be afraid for, Mamo-kun. We just wanted to talk to you is all."
"Who are you?" Mamo questioned curiously. Who were they? These boys were they. They were older boys like T.J. "How come ya wanna talk to me? Hows come you know my name?" He quizzed them. The older boys wanted to talk to him. Why did older boys want to talk to him? Older boys like T.J. don't talk ta younger boys. They just steal all the good toys.
Triston smirked. "You had better get used to it, kid. Everyone who's anyone knows your name. It comes with being a prince." A prince. I know about Princes, but I don't know how to BE a prince. Princes lives in big houses with lots and lots of rooms and they wear funny clothes like Daddy wears. Everyone knows a prince. No one cares about an orphan, but everyone cares about a prince. Everyone cares about a prince. I'm a prince, but I don't feel like a prince. I still feel lonely inside – lonely like an orphan, not like a prince. Princes are never lonely. Everyone knows a Prince.
"You're the Prince of Earth, squirt – Neo Prince Mamoru Endymion of Earth. Do you not know that? Your Daddy is the King of Earth." Neo Prince what? That's not my name. My name is Mamo-chan, cause everyone at Nephrite called me Mamo-chan. Mamo-chan was my orphan name. I guess being a new prince means ya got get a new name too – Mamoru. Mamoru is my prince name. Mamo is my orphan name, but I'm not a orphan no more. I'm a prince, cause a prince gets to live at home. Home is where Mommy makes it all better. I don't mind being a prince, cause I like home and I like Mommy. "I'm Prince Triston of Jupiter." The very tall – taller than T.J. even – prince told him running his hand roughly through his brown hair to push it back out of his face.
"Hai. And I'm Prince Antiny of Mercury and that's Prince Damien of Mars. You'll be seeing a lot of us around. We live here at the castle with you." Castle? Castle is what Mommy and Daddy's big house is called. My home is in the castle with Mommy and Daddy and Onee-san and the other Princes who live there too. The other princes – the other princes are older than me. I think I like the other princes. Prince Antiny makes sure things aren't too scary. Prince Triston does lots of scary things – like making loud noises on the slide – but he makes me feel safe. He can protect me from bad boys like T.J. cause he's taller than T.J. Prince Damien don't talk a lot, but he knows a lot, cause his eyes know a lot. He looks at me funny and his eyes look different cause his eyes know a lot. I don't know how – but I know they know cause how they look at me like they do. "How comes ya wanted ta talk to me, ne?" Mamo queried rising to his feet.
Leaning back against the wall, Triston shrugged. "Boredom mostly. It was Damien's idea." Antiny nodded while Damien kept silent. This was definitely the missing prince. But the question still remained. What had caused him to go missing in the first place? Was Small Lady truly responsible as he suspected? If so, why? Why and how had the evil been planted within her? Did the Little Prince hold the answers that might help to save his sister - - from herself? Finally, after a moment, Damien spoke. "Little Prince, Mamo-chan, how would you feel about helping me with something - - - important?" Mamo blinked curiously.