Ganazu

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 7: Mistakes

Lilo paused and stared up at the sun, which was now almost above her head. A single leaf at the top of the canopy blocked most of the blazing light, allowing her to glance at it for a few seconds longer. Sweat trickled down her neck in little drops constantly, and in one big smear on occasion. The water on her neck reminded her of the water hanging at her side, held by a strap over her shoulder.

She pulled the bottle out of the little holder, and drank a few gulps, putting it back. The liquid was both rejuvenating and teasing; the more she drank the more she wanted in order to relieve her thirst. But the bottle was a little under three-fourth's full, and they had been wondering for about half an hour, so she didn't want to drink too quickly and waste it all on the way there.

Angel had requested that they go back to the house and get ready, "It'll be a long trip," she said, "it may take us a long time to get there." Angel hoped that by describing how long and boring the trip would be, she would be able to discourage Lilo from going, but somehow she knew it was a pitiful attempt. "When she's got an idea she hangs onto it with a vice-grip. But it was worth a shot…" At least she felt better; she didn't want to worry about dehydration, and she also wanted to get rid of the dress, as she felt it restricted her mobility.

Stitch, who was last in line, felt a sort of empathy for Angel. He thought about what she said two nights ago, about how the other cousins had treated her badly because they claimed she was evil. Once she told him, he was immediately irritated—it was simple logic to him now; it was a horrible thing to accuse someone of being anything bad, especially when it was a lie. He wondered why they would do such a thing; didn't they understand that was cruel? And what about all of the things he and Lilo taught them: be good, use your abilities for a cause rather than for destruction, fit into society quietly, and above all was the concept of O'hana. O'hana alone should be enough reasoning itself.

He felt there was something fishy—something didn't add up. The others were smart. Smart enough to put family before personal grudges. Or was this a grudge? It could be just a misunderstanding. Angel didn't explain too much, only that she wanted him not to worry about it; that she would take care of it.

He wanted to know what happened; he wanted to know what they said, did, and most of all, their attitude. If they had brought up good points to accuse her of being "evil", that might be understandable by a small margin, and then they could reason with them. But, if they tossed the word around on the tips of their tongues because one said it was so, that was different. He didn't want to make too quick a judgment yet; it might complicate things for Angel.

He thought about her, upon his mind mentioning her name in his decision. He wondered how she was feeling. When she had first arrived two nights ago, Angel told Lilo and him that she was swept away by the water. That was highly convincing; she was muddy and soaked to the skin when she arrived, much like how he and Lilo were when they were swept away in the water.

But then, when she told him about what really happened, and asked him not to get angry, she also asked that he not tell Lilo. He kept her request without question, but now Lilo was going to accidentally find out about it anyway. He tried to think of what would happen—how everyone would react, especially Lilo—but there were too many possibilities, and he couldn't be sure of anything. He just hoped this wouldn't go the way he imagined it.

"What am I going to say?" Angel thought, pausing as she looked around. "'Hi everyone! Look, I know you think I'm evil, so I came to ask if you'd like to come play as a band with Lilo and me'." She shook her head and continued on, leading the other two. "Maybe they'll agree…I mean after all, they like Lilo—they'd do anything for Lilo. But chances are, they won't do anything if I'm involved. I'm just a pestiferous outcast to them. …At least I've got one friend outside of the house." She thought, with Slushy in her mind. She wondered why he stood up for her. He was the only one out of all of them that thought differently.

"I can't believe any of you would say such a thing to one of our own!" He shouted with dismay over the sound of the storm. "What honestly makes you think she's evil? Give me one good reason why I should believe any of you."

"Because she betrayed Stitch!" Shouted Kixx.

"She endangered Lilo!" Came Yin. All she did was ask if she could sleep in the shelter for the night.

"And she'll betray us too if we let her stay here. She made me evil—forced me to do horrible things against my will— all because Gantu told her to!" Roared Richter, even louder than the others. "And she might do it again!" By that time, she realized that there was no way she could stay with them, so she left. Not in a huff, not with a slam of the little makeshift door, but just noticeably angry, which she knew wouldn't affect them—if anything it would make them more accusing.

"Angel wait!" Slushy called, running out into the rain behind her. She was glad it was raining; the drops hid her tears. "Where are you going? You don't need to leave—you can stay, I'll make them let you stay." He grabbed her arm, pulling her back—back into the place where she was dubbed the worst thing on the face of the planet.

"It's all right." She replied, smiling to him, and slipping her arm out of his hands. But it was obvious she was heartbroken; her cheeks were puffed and her voice was upset. He was amazed she was able to remotely pretend like she was unaffected. "I don't need to stay here, I'll find another place. It'd be better if I did, you're all too cramped as it is, and plus-"

"Stop kidding yourself, Angel." He spoke pleadingly. "You know that's not right. I know you're not evil. And if you think even for a second you're evil, just because they say you are, then everything I saw in that hanger was a lie." She shivered in the rain, bawling a fist and squinting her eyebrows down to further recess her closed eyes. Suddenly, in the last five minutes, every ounce of grief inside of her slowly turned into anger, and she was beginning to find herself getting angry at Slushy for trying to help her. He held onto her hand again. "Come on, stay with us. It's not safe to find another place."

She broke away from him, and ran. He yelled after her, chasing her, but she was too quick. If she was getting angry at Slushy, she knew that her feelings were being thrown out of her control, and she didn't like it. The only thing she could do was leave the feelings behind; go somewhere else. But they chased after her, along with Slushy, which made her panic and run faster.

The blur of the rain mixed with the blur of her speed was eventually what led to the rushing flood. She tumbled down a hill, and just as she reached the bottom, the roaring wave took her into its will, and tossed her every which way for what could have been miles. She wound up, some time later, hugging onto the knotted tree in the leafy meadow, which was flooded with water at the time. Eventually, she found her way through the woods to the house, desperate to see someone who didn't care if she was good or evil. She was fortunate to have found that someone, and even more fortunate to find two of those kinds of persons.

She felt happy—relieved. She escaped the erratic anger and meaningless frustration, and replaced it with a half-true story and tasty bowl of ice cream. She did want to go back to the others, however, but she wanted to wait. Wait until she was ready; wait until she had an explanation.

All they had to go by in their accusations were the events that took place in the hanger, but for some reason that seemed to overpower her retorts. It was a real shock for her; she never expected them to bring that up simply because she requested to stay for a night.

But she didn't want to explain about the past; she wanted to forget about what she did—both her trickery in alluring all the other experiments with her musical trance, which almost got Stitch seriously injured.

And then there was that monster—Achie-baba Kino. He was now something of a stigma to her. She had made the same mistake twice; she resorted to trickery and deceit not only once, but a second time, and Achie-baba Kino was the product of her mistakes, molded into a monstrous being meant to harm her. She wanted to forget about all that and pretend it never happened, but she couldn't put it behind her until she convinced the others that those were all mistakes.

"Mistakes…" She thought as she trudged along. "It seems like somehow I always make them."

"Can we take a break?" Came Lilo's voice, tired and panting. Angel's mind snapped back to the present, and she realized that her eyes were watery and her cheeks were a little puffy. She tried to pass it on as irritation from the heat and bright sun.

"Oketaka." She said, turning around and rubbing her face, getting rid of the muck in her eyes.

"Miga beat." Stitch said, sitting down on a shady rock and rubbing his toes. Lilo set her half-full water bottle down and looked around.

"I gotta go to the bathroom really quick, I'll uh…be right back." She half-mumbled, and wandered off into the foliage. Angel nodded without thinking as she sat down on a rock opposite Stitch. She stared at a tiny flower in the ground a little bit beyond her feet for a moment, but then she looked up at Stitch and realized he'd been watching her. He smiled when she noticed him, almost like he wasn't fully paying attention to his gazing at her.

"Ju rekista?" He asked.

"Gaba ju chiva?" She asked back, trying to suppress the uneasiness in her voice. Stitch said nothing, but pointed to the corners of his eyes. Angel wondered what he was doing, but then she felt a tear form in the spots where he was pointing to in his eyes, in her eyes. She immediately wiped them away, giving a recomposing laugh. "I was hoping you'd forgotten." She confessed, now understanding what he was getting at. "I'm fine, I was just thinking, that's all."

"About Lilo finding out?"

"No…I'm not too worked up over that. I'd rather it not happen—rather take care of it myself and not have her worry—but there's nothing I can do about that now." She replied.

"Then…what?" He asked, with a friendly tone.

"I was just remembering what happened…that's all. And…thinking about other things." He looked down at the little flower near her feet, the expression on his face cluing Angel that he was using her answers and his observations to help understand what happened without having to ask her and dig too deeply. "Don't worry about it ok?" She begged.

"Huh?"

"I know what you're thinking, and I know you want to help— and I appreciate it— but I don't want it to bother you."

"But Angel…Stitch only wants to he-"

"Thanks, but no thanks." She was surprised at her tone. She sounded almost stern and angry. Was she getting mad at Stitch like she had gotten mad at Slushy? She shook her head. "Don't be angry at him; why are you getting angry at him?" She rubbed her eyes again. "Maybe it's not that I'm getting angry at him…maybe I'm just venting it out on him." She looked deep inside herself, trying to figure out if that was it. There wasn't really an answer. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I'm just a little frustrated. It seems like…lately…I've realized I'm making a lot of mistakes—a lot of big ones—and it just gets on my nerves a little." Stitch smiled with understanding.

"Stitch understand. When Stitch feel that way, Stitch sometimes tell Scruff how Stitch feels and Stitch feels happy again. Otherwise Stitch just feel grumpy." He told her. Was that it? Was she getting angry with everyone because every time she thought about it, she kept it bottled up inside? She was never straightforward in telling anyone about how she felt, even to Stitch.

"You're right…" She thought to him. "Maybe I'll talk to Scruff…after we get back…a very long time from now…"