Fledgling Cranes

by Satu-D-2

Chiaotzu has been living under the thumb of the evil Crane Hermit, Master Shen, for as long as he can remember. The only bright part of his life is spending time with the little triclops who shares his room. But Shen has eyes on the boy and the vast potential he holds. Based on the Pint-Sized Prompts by the wonderful u/Atojiso. February Love and War

26. Little

February 26th: Little - 100 words - Sometimes love is doing tiny things for someone that they may never notice.

Deep in the cave, near the dark pool where water gathered and formed deep channels through the rock, Chiaotzu had formed a small shelter around them of stone and a thick barrier he used to shield them from sight. Ino curled up around Tien, keeping a watchful eye on the boy cuddled into his side. At some point, exhausted in the wake of spent adrenaline, Chiaotzu nodded off, drifting to sleep leaning against the stone wall.

His sleep was deep and dreamless. An unknown period of time passed in the blink of an eye, and when he woke up it was with the jolt of missing a step on a familiar staircase. Ino was motionless, still curved around Tien, who was sitting up under a slow glowing ball of ki, busily fiddling with a length of cloth that was stretched over his thighs, the ends tucked into the hollow behind his knees. When Chiaotzu jolted, so too did Tien, before letting out a pained little squeak.

"Tien? Are you okay?"

"You scared me," Tien said, though his voice wasn't angry or accusatory. He stuck his thumb in his mouth, then held it up to the ball of ki, three eyes narrowed in the dim light. "Am I bleeding?"

Chiaotzu scooted closer, concerned, and saw the little pinprick of blood on the tip of Tien's thumb. Then, when his eyes dropped lower, the shirt Tien had stretched over his legs. It was the one he'd been wearing that morning, if it had indeed been that morning, in his face off against Tao. A series of messy yellow x-shaped stitches had pulled together the clean slice from Tao's knife. Hand. Knife-hand thing. The thread had clearly come from the frayed end of Tien's empty sleeve, the surcoat discarded beside him in an inconsequential heap. "Tien?"

"Oh." Tien blushed. Looking down and covering the dry stitches with his hand. "I couldn't find another shirt. I wanted to fix it."

The simple statement mended the cracked edges of Chiaotzu's heart and he felt tears sting his eyes. "Thank you, Tien."

"Don't thank me." Tien straightened his legs a little, freeing up the sleeves of the shirt and lifted the cloth up. With the shirt up, it was clear that the stitches were even more uneven than he'd initially considered. The cloth was ruched. A few of the stitches even pierced through the back of the shirt and secured the two sides together, making it functionally useless. "I'm not very good."

Chiaotzu leaned in and put one arm around Tien's shoulders, hugging him closer and squeezing. "It's the thought that counts."

"Oh," Tien said and put the shirt back down. He was blushing again, but smiling as well. And he hadn't flinched when Chiaotzu had put his arm around him. Maybe things were already getting better.