Chapter 6: Gifts

"Hey, Oibore, you've been pretty quiet," Kuma grunted as he looked down at the old man who was sitting with his back against a shack.

"Oh hoh hoh!" Oibore laughed, looking up and grinning widely at the man, "So you noticed! I didn't know you cared so much about me!"

Kuma frowned, his eyebrow twitching upwards, "Don't flatter yourself. It's just been so peaceful around here that I can't help noticing what's shut up."

"Heh, heh, I suppose you're right," Oibore laughed again, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, don't worry about me; this old man is just letting his mind drift, that's all."

"All right," Kuma snorted, turning away, "Just don't drift too far." Oibore smiled behind the man's back, noting the grudging concern in his voice.

"Don't worry, Kuma!" he exclaimed heartily as Kuma walked away, "I'll never be able to leave you for too long!" Kuma resisted the urge to turn around and hit the man on the head and instead attempted to keep a straight face as he continued walking.

Oibore chuckled to himself as he settled himself comfortably against the wall. He leaned his head back, and let his gaze fall on the girl that was sitting by the Chinese man.

"Tomoe-nee-chan, it's a wagashi store! Buy me some?"

"Enishi-chan, you know you wouldn't eat dinner if you ate candy. Besides, you'd have to ask Father."

"Father?"

"Listen to your sister, Enishi."

"Aww, fine!"

It had been years since Oibore's old memories had revisited him, years since he had heard the name "Enishi."

Yet she had whispered it, uttered it with shock, relief, and a sort of bittersweet happiness.

Just as he had felt when he discovered that man's true identity.

His son Enishi was alive.

He was alive, Tomoe.

-

"Enishi, please take off your shirt," Mei-mei said softly, kneeling next to him with a bowl of water and a rag. He didn't answer, and didn't even acknowledge that she was there.

He hadn't said a word to her ever since she arrived, and had only looked straight at her once.

But just that glance had shown her the pain and turmoil his heart was in.

His once calm and reassuring aquamarine blue eyes were clouded over, as if far away from this world; his dark tinted blue glasses were absent from his face, exposing those empty eyes; the once snow white hair was matted with blood and dirt, clumping together so parts of hit hung down instead of sticking out wildly; his clothes were torn, stained, and bloodied, hanging around his limp form and giving him an even more gaunt appearance. He was even stripped of his sword, and instead was feebly clutching a ragged looking book in his dirty hand.

This was not the Enishi she remembered.

"Why are you here?"

Mei-mei's eyes widened--this was the first time he had addressed her.

"I'm here to make you take your shirt off," she answered, still determined to finish her quest of cleaning his wounds.

"Why did you leave China?" His voice was hollow, devoid of almost all emotion.

"To find you."

"Why would you waste your time?" He was frowning now, as he usually did when he didn't understand.

"Take your shirt off."

"I don't need your pity."

She remembered the exact same words he had uttered that fateful day in Shanghai, when he had sat before her in an almost identical state. He was near death at that time as well, and she had saved him before.

She frowned, then put the bowl down as an air of determination surrounded her. She pushed him against the wall, surprising him so it seemed his blue eyes cleared up slightly, and began to unbutton his shirt.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he growled.

"I told you to take off your shirt," she frowned as she fumbled with the strange clasps. "Your wounds need to be treated before they get even worse than they are now."

"I told you I don't need your pity." He lifted his hand, as if about to strike her, and she looked up at him.

Seconds clicked by and neither did anything. He looked into the determined slate blue eyes that stared back at him. He remembered those eyes, he remembered Mei-mei, and he remembered that night in Shanghai. The familiarity of her scent around him relaxed him, and he let his arm drop lamely as his head drooped forward.

"I haven't seen you in five years," he murmured as her face softened and she continued to unbutton his shirt.

"I know," she whispered back, not looking up from his task and allowing him to study her sleepily.

"How did you find me?"

"I asked people."

And they both left it at that, remaining silent as Mei-mei once again attempted to save him from the hands of death.

Past

She sat with half lidded eyes outside, letting the breeze play with her loose hair as she combed it with her fingers absent mindedly. Her mind was visiting the only happy memories she could recall of her past, and they involved the Japanese family that had taken care of her so long ago.

She let herself give a small forlorn sigh as she glanced at the place where the giant tree had lain the day before, though now it was gone thanks to a dozen faceless servants.

She twirled her hair in her fingers as she vaguely considered the idea of attempting to run away for real, just to see him throw a fit.

That thought was quickly thrown out, however, as a twinge of fear resonated inside of her.

She scowled, feeling disgusted with herself for actually fearing this man.

She would not let him get the best of her.

Sounds from inside snapped her out of her reverie, and she looked up just in time to see the door open to reveal the evil one himself standing before her. She glared at him, causing him to give her a slightly bemused and annoyed look.

"Come inside," he stated simply, walking back through the door. She bored a hole into his back with her gaze, but stood up huffily. In the spirit of rebellion, however, she only stepped into the doorframe, refusing to completely obey him.

"You're being stupid," he said, giving her an exasperated frown. She felt a vein throb on her forehead, but didn't respond otherwise.

Enishi looked down at a large trunk by his feet, then at her, "Well? Aren't you going to open it?" She glared at him some more, hoping he'd get the idea of how much she hated him, but couldn't help sneaking glances at the large trunk.

It was big and it was for her.

He smirked as he watched her, practically sensing the inner fight that was happening in her head at the moment. Curiosity over hatred--which one would prevail?

He watched as she huffily made her way to the trunk, avoiding his mocking gaze.

Curiosity.

She undid the large latch of the trunk, and slowly lifted the heavy lid. Inside the first thing she noticed was a small black box and she picked that up first. She opened it to reveal a delicate wooden comb, lacquered with black and decorated with golden blossoms. She turned it over in her hands slowly, observing it at every angle as Enishi smirked inwardly at her obvious enjoyment.

She finally looked down at the remainder of the contents of the trunk, then stood up abruptly and went back outside, sitting down just as she had been before.

"You can keep everything else," she said casually. "I hate it." The inward smirk disappeared as suddenly as her remark had appeared.

He strode outside and stood above her, giving her a grim look, "What do you mean you hate it?"

"Is your Chinese still that bad?" she commented languidly as she began to comb her hair. "You can keep the rest of the trunk for your other mistresses."

"I have no other mistresses," Enishi hissed angrily, annoyed that his peace offering had been shot down so easily. "Those dresses are for you, and you're gonna wear them." She glanced at him with a you're-disrupting-my-valuable-combing-time look, then stood up to face him.

"What good would a box of stuffy and over-decorated dresses do to me?" she stated irritably. "You already said you weren't interested in me, so why should I dress up for you? I'd rather just wear this and be comfortable than wear a bunch of muggy dresses in the middle of August."

"Well," he said through gritted teeth, forcibly attempting to keep his anger in check, "Then what do you want?" She shrugged as a soft breeze blew her long ebony black hair around him, as if consuming him.

"Just something to keep me busy." With that she sat down, continuing the task of caring for her hair with the new comb, and ignoring him completely.

He growled at her obstinacy, but stalked back inside anyways.

She smiled contentedly to herself, happy to see she could irk him so easily. With the way everything was going, it wouldn't be that hard to make him suffer so much. She just had to come up with a plan…

A voice in the back of her mind, however, wondered just why he cared so much to buy her gifts when he didn't even want her.

-

"Mistress Mei-mei, you don't look so well," Lindo said worriedly as she fanned her mistress. Mei-mei mumbled something incoherent into the sheets, not bothering to move her head up. She was sprawled over her bed, every window thrown open in hopes to catch a breeze.

"E-excuse me?" Lindo asked feebly, not catching what she had muttered.

"It's too damn hot," Mei-mei repeated, lifting her head to look up at the girl with a look of intense boredom. "And I have nothing to do."

"If you spend all day sleeping and eating, you're going to get fat," a voice sneered. Mei-mei looked at the door, to see none other than Enishi standing there, his usual scowl set in his face.

"As if you care, Master Enishi," she grimaced. "And twice in one day you have come to visit me, I am so flattered." He quirked an eyebrow as Lindo jumped with fear, but to her relief, all he did was turn around and say "come."

Mei-mei scowled, clutching the sheets with anger, then exclaimed after him, "As if I'm your fucking cat! Why don't you 'come,' you ba--!" Lindo had thrown herself over her mistress, covering her mouth so the final words wouldn't be heard. Mei-mei gave her a look of betrayal, but Lindo whispered, "Please don't anger Master Enishi, there's never knowing what he will do when he is angry."

Mei-mei gave an angry snort, but nodded so that Lindo removed herself, then mumbled grumpily, "It's too hot to do anything, anyway."

By the time the two girls had made it into the main room, Enishi was waiting for them, a look of impatience on his face as he tapped his finger irritably. Lindo shrunk back, but Mei-mei managed to keep her ground.

"It's about time you came," Enishi grumbled, "Now open the door." Mei-mei was about to yell at him again, but was stopped when Lindo grabbed her wrist and gave her a pleading look to stop. She sighed, and walked over to the door that led into the sitting room, giving Enishi a last look of hatred before she pushed open the door.

There was silence. No one said anything as the young girl with the wide blue eyes stared ahead, a look of surprise on her face as her lips parted.

Mountains of books lay everywhere, piled on the tables and on the floors, obscuring a lot of the artwork that hung on the wall and sat amongst the mountains of literature.

She walked in silently, letting her gaze flow around the room as her fingertips slid over the covers of the dusty books. Never in her life had she seen so many.

"This ought to keep you busy, right?" Enishi stated. "There are enough books in here to fill up a store, but if you ever finish them, I can always get more." She didn't answer, having been too busy staring at the first page of a book she had opened to hear him. He felt a pop of annoyance within him, but it didn't have time to accumulate as she walked up to him and shoved the book into his face.

"What does this mean?" she asked, pointing at the first Chinese characters on the page. His eyebrows shot up into his long bangs as he looked past the book at her.

"You can't read?"

"What does it say?" she asked again, ignoring his previous comment. He sighed irritably, but took the book and looked at the first lines.

"It says 'Once upon a time,'" he said simply, handing the book back to her, "It's how all fairy tales start."

"Once upon a time…" she echoed, tracing the complicated caricatures with her finger.

"So you can't read?" he asked again, feeling disappointed that he had to waste time getting all those idiots to bring in those books, not to mention to "persuade" that book keeper to sell him his store.

"No…" she replied absent mindedly, "But I've always wanted to learn." She glanced up at him, and for once loathing and animosity were absent from her eyes. "Thank you."

Enishi hid his surprise and only shrugged, "I won't have time to teach you, but I can get you a tutor."

"I-I could teach Mistress Mei-mei," a small voice said, "If Master Enishi permits it." Enishi looked behind him to the forgotten servant that was standing by the door, as if attempting to take up as little space as possible.

"You can read?" he asked her, surprised that a simple servant could do such a thing.

She nodded nervously, her face burning, "Father taught me before he passed away." Enishi glanced at Mei-mei, who was still engrossed in the book she couldn't read, and nodded.

"Fine, I'll let you do it." He looked at the young girl who was smiling humbly. "I'll get some writing tools and up your pay." The girl beamed, and bowed deeply in thanks. Enishi walked past her to the door, but stopped before he passed through it.

As he looked back, he saw the servant walking up to an eager looking Mei-mei, who was now shoving the book in her face and asking her what the next line meant.

He smiled to himself as he saw Tomoe gazing down at him with a content expression.

Present

"I have something for you," Mei-mei said as she strode up to Enishi, who was still slumped against the wall but was looking noticeably cleaner. "Here." She handed him a large bento box as he looked up at her lazily, but he let his gaze fall again and didn't make a move to take the food. She scowled, her grip on the box tightening as she felt a wave of exasperation flooding over her.

She slumped down beside him and opened the box, taking out the chopsticks and snapping them in half. She put the box on the ground in front of her, picked up some food with the chopsticks, and suddenly turned and plugged Enishi's nose while stuffing the food into his mouth. He nearly gagged as he fell to the ground, but she continued wrestling him down until he had swallowed what she gave him. When he finally did, she let him go.

He bolted up and yelled, "WHAT THE HELL?"

"Are you still hungry?" she asked with a dangerously sweet voice, holding the chopsticks in front of her threateningly.

"Hell no!" he yelled, standing up suddenly to his full height with the indignation of being force fed. Suddenly the blood rushed from his head, he paled suddenly as his stomach cramped and his legs gave out. He fell forward, but she attempted to catch him and cushion his fall.

"Enishi! Enishi!" she exclaimed as they both fell on their knees, his head on her shoulder. "What's the matter!" He felt himself shaking, sweat mounting on his forehead as his temperature rose and his stomach continued doing summersaults. Everything around him began to start swirling, and he knew he was going to be sick. He turned to the side to avoid Mei-mei, then threw up the mouthful he had eaten along with a stomach full of acid. His eyes burned as he blinked heavily, feeling weaker by the minute.

Mei-mei lay him down on his back, watching him take shallow breaths as she wiped his mouth with her handkerchief. "Enishi, talk to me," she breathed, "What's hurting you? Is it the food I gave you? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" His eyes were rolling in their sockets, but he managed to look at her a final time before he slipped out of consciousness.

Her eyes widened as she held his head in her hands, "Enishi!"

Note: Ahh, I got more reviews for the last chapter, which inspired me! (Yes, I'm that shallow).

I'm having fun writing this and am happy to have gotten the spark of it back! Whee!

Reviewer Responses:

Liem: Heh heh, glad that you found Enishi's wrath against the poor tree funny. I'm really trying hard to keep him in character, but Enishi's a difficult character and I'm not sure how well I'm succeeding. Oh well, it could be worse, ne? I mean, he could be prancing around hugging Mei-mei and stuff. That would just be sickening (not to say that there won't be any cuddling, because I love cuddling!). Thanks for sticking to this fic, I really, really, appreciate it.

FairyMage: Thank youuu! I'm glad you reviewed, it makes me feel very happy though I'm a bit guilty since I'm making you read a fic about a character you don't necessarily like. If you really find it painful to review, then please don't, I don't want to bring about any more displeasure than necessary. Yah, I agree that the early chapters were dark, but I was also really depressed back then. I'm a bit more happy now, which may be a bit noticeable since I've put in jokes and stuff. You beta'd this chapter, right? I'm pretty sure you did, but I don't necessarily remember. Still, I'm pretty sure you did….

WhiteRabbit5: And so I've delivered another update. Gotta admit that I've been holding out, since I've had this chapter ready for a while. I was just kind of deflated when I only got one review (like I said, shallooow!), but now sessha is happy and ready for more Enishi torturing! Thanks for reviewing, I really appreciate it (-hugs!-).

Kenni: Yay, I'm well organized! Ha, thanks for reading!

HarukoSohma: Heh heh, ya, I know what you mean. I have a Sano/OC fic and I usually hate reading Sano/Megumi fics and such. It feels personal for some reason, ne? Anyways, I'm glad you think my fic is good! Coming from a fellow Enishi/OC fic writer, that makes me very happy! (where'd you get "Haruko" from? FLCL?)

So, I'm working on the next chapter and will have it out as soon as I damn well feel like it. Ha!

DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE MAH REVIEW! Or else I won't update. Really. I won't. (-suggestive glare-)