small warning: old writing. posted on tumblr (oct 2013)

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"Haha, stop being silly, Master~ Your wings only need a little exercise before you can go and fly again!"

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It was very windy. Well, in the Emergent part of the Kagerou Tree, it was always windy, so it wasn't very unusual. But to be windy inside a closed nest—now, that was unusual. Most of the nests in the Emergent were closed nests, unlike in the Canopy where the nests there were mostly open nests. The reason for that was because the nonstop blowing of the wind can be very noisy during the night in the Emergent, so the inhabitants close up when they sleep. In the Canopy, it wasn't as windy as in the Emergent, so it was optional for the wingeds to have a closed nest or not.

Shintarou Kisaragi sighed at this fact. The Kisaragi nest was in the most bottom part of the Emergent, but it was still as windy as the rest of the Emergent part of the Tree. The nest was always closed though, so it should be pretty quiet inside. The thing was, it wasn't, because it was always windy, even in the inside. The redwinged buried his face into his hands.

At that, he felt a strong breeze pass through him, the sound of childish laughter ringing in his ears. He groaned as he tried to cover himself with his wings, his faded red flight feathers scattered around. He was lying on his bed, when he suddenly heard the sound of the windows slamming open. He immediately sat up to see that the wind outside was wrecking havoc in his room.

"Ahh!" He exclaimed, tucking his wings behind him, so that he wouldn't be caught by the wind. He bounded towards the open window and quickly closed it. "Ene!"

He leaned on the closed window, already panting from his sudden movements. Even when the window was already closed, a breeze swept past him, and he swore he could hear it giggle. The wind began forming somewhere at the other side of the room, a vague and literally transparent figure of a girl appearing. Shintarou shot a glare at it.

"Hahaha!" The wind laughed, its female figure acting as if it was clutching its stomach. "You should have seen your face, Master!"

Shintarou showed a disgruntled look at the wind. He then let out a defeated sight, before examining his now disorganized room. Sheets of paper were scattered across his room, a few still flying around near the wind entity named 'Ene'. Moreover, he always had a bunch of papers in his room, because he always kept whatever the Wind Carrier brought in. All these useless information in his room—you could say he was addicted to the Wind Carrier.

The Wind Carrier was a kind of communication system that had been in the Tree for who-knows-how-long. It used the wind to deliver different files and papers to random people, so it was commonly used for mass announcements and alike. Inside the Tree was a series of tunnels that carried the wind, and the early ancestral wingeds decided to use those to their advantage and create the Wind Carrier that they knew now. They even managed to make a special kind of lid that could somehow slightly control whatever kind of papers that could be brought into one's nest. It was still kind of primitive though, because if someone wanted to send something private to another, they still had to use the Feather Mail.

No one actually knew how the wind inside the Tree was actually moving, so they just assumed it as something supernatural. No one complained, so they eventually just accepted it as a norm in their everyday lives. Shintarou didn't even care where it came from as long as the Wind Carrier brought in different kinds of information that would keep him entertained.

Although, the only bad thing that the Wind Carrier had given to him was a certain obnoxious wind spirit that suddenly came into his life a year ago.

"Damn it, Ene," He staggered towards his bed, which was now literally covered with papers. He used his left wing to clear some of the papers off his bed before letting himself flop on it. He groaned heavily. Just thinking of cleaning up the mess was already making him tired.

Ene continued to laugh at the redwinged's actions. "Hahahaha!" She made her way towards him, making tiny tornadoes as more papers scattered themselves around the room. "Master is lazy as always~" She giggled, before saying, "But you have to clean up! Or else I'll put Master's secret papers in the Wind Carrier~"

Shintarou stiffened for a moment, lifting his head high enough to have eye contact with the talking wind. He shot a glare. "You wouldn't dare."

Ene showed a mischievous grin, holding up her hand to show a couple of papers swirling around it. Shintarou immediately broke into a cold sweat. "Oh, Master~ We've already been together for a year, and I thought you already knew me well enough!" She giggled. "I guess I'll have to show you again—Master, catch me if you can!"

The wind figure bolted towards a certain hole on the wall on the other side of the room, which was covered with a hanging wooden lid. Shintarou quickly reacted and jerked up, flapping his wings for support as he ran for Ene with a scream. This just made the scattered papers in his room fly up again.

"ENE NO!" The redwinged ran through the wind spirit, slamming his back on the wooden lid as he showed a frantic look. Ene showed a surprised look, before letting her usual grin show on her face. She still had her Master's 'secret papers' floating at her hand.

"Ene, I beg you," Shintarou breathed heavily, obvious that he was already worn out. "Drop those papers!"

The wind seemingly smiled before letting her girl figure disappear, although the floating secret papers were making their way towards the nearby window. Shintarou's eyes widened. Ene materialized once again, her hands positioned as if she was ready to open the window. She shot the redwinged an evil smile.

"O-Oi, Ene, wait—"

"I'll gladly drop them, Master~" She giggled, and, to Shintarou's horror, slammed the windows open. The Emergent winds immediately invaded Shintarou's room, muffling the said winged's screams. Ene disappeared into the wind currents, her laughter echoing and being carried by the wind.

Shintarou used all of his strength to push through the wind, his wings tucked tight behind him, quickly closing the window before more of his collected papers flew out. As soon as the wind died down, he slid down to his knees, feeling something unpleasant in his stomach. It seemed that Ene had once again overworked him up, even when he didn't leave his room.

He felt the wind go through his wings, and he took the risk of looking behind him. And there was Ene. By the Wind Carrier opening. With his secret papers at hand. Shintarou stared at her blankly as she showed a smile. With the wind holding up the lid to the entrance of the Wind Carrier, Ene showed a twisted grin before saying, "Alley-oop~"

At that, she put her hand inside, letting the wind inside carry the secret papers to some unlucky random wingeds around the Tree. Shintarou immediately reacted as he shouted, "NO—!"

Ene disappeared into the air as the redwinged scrambled up to his feet towards the Wind Carrier opening, tears already threatening to fall from his eyes. He stuck his head right inside the hole, watching the sheets of paper fly away into the windy husk of the Tree's interior. His raven hair was beating at his face wildly because of the wind, quickly drying his watery eyes as he continued to stare.

Ene was laughing at the side, finding glee at her Master's distress. As soon as Shintarou dropped to his knees and sat on his legs, face buried in his hands, the wind figure swept past him, ruffling his raven and red feathers. Her female figure leaned on the redwinged's back.

"Ene, you," Shintarou started, turning around to face the wind entity with watery, stressed out eyes. "How could you, Ene! Almost half of my papers flew out of the window, and now someone out there knows my dirty, unforgivable secrets!"

The redwinged continued to blabber out and complain to the wind, which was clearly making Ene's mood waver. She couldn't help but let her eyebrow twitch as she watched his bad excuse for a Master whine in front of her. Out of impatience, she shoved a gust of wind against his wings, making them spread out and shut him up. Considering that he hadn't used his wings for a long time, it wasn't unsurprising when he suddenly doubled over from pain, the sudden jerk of his wings clearly leading to muscle pain.

Ene puffed her cheeks up as she hovered to the side, her own invisible 'wings' trying to flap themselves. She glared at her Master. "You know, Master," She sighed. "This wouldn't have happened if you weren't so lazy! You should have cleaned up your room when I told you so!"

Ene huffed. Shintarou shot a look at her that said, 'Are you serious?'

"What the hell are you saying, Ene?" The redwinged winced as he tried to sit back up. "You're acting as if I'm the one at fault here! It was you who opened the window in the first place! Why are you blaming me?"

"Because!" Ene shot another gust of wind at the redwinged. "Master is an idiot!"

The wind spirit, out of annoyance, then made her way to the nearby table, which had a particular beverage sitting on top of it. Whether it was on accident or purely intentional, the pitcher of frizzy black liquid tipped over from the wind, and it spilled almost entirely across the floor. Most of the papers that littered the wooden floor was now soaked with the black concoction. Shintarou immediately shrieked at the scene.

He stood up as he swore loudly, in an attempt to catch the pitcher, but he was already too late and he slipped from the soaked papers on the floor. His back hit the wooden lid of the Wind Carrier, and the sound of snapping wood echoed in the redwinged's ears. He fell on the floor with the lid on his back, leaving the Wind Carrier opening wide open.

Shintarou gaped at it as he laid on the floor, while Ene was laughing at the accident that just happened.

"Ahahahaha—!" The wind laughed as her figure hovered over back to the redwinged. "Did—Did you see that? Oh my god, why am I asking you—Hahahaha! I can't breathe—"

Ene quickly stopped laughing though, when she saw Shintarou lifelessly sitting up, the back of his head and his wings now drenched with the black liquid that he always drank. He turned to look at the broken lid on the floor behind him, feeling despair swell up inside him. He couldn't even scream or wail like he used to.

At that, the wind spirit felt a tinge of guilt in her chest. She tried to approach her Master in a more gentle way. "Uh, um, Master? Is something wrong—"

"Something wrong?" Shintarou snapped at her, making the wind flinch. "Ene, the lid just came off! Now I can't control what the Wind Carrier will bring inside my room anymore!" His watery eyes glared at the wind figure. "It'll continue to spam me with papers that I don't even care about!"

As if to prove his point, a number of papers shot out of the hole, eventually landing on the floor where they got drenched with black liquid. Shintarou sniffed. "And m-my favorite drink is spilled on the floor. A-A-And all my papers… Th-They're…"

He cried as he used his arm to try and wipe the tears away, while Ene watched him in silence by his side. In her mind, she panicked as she thought of what to do, obviously not used to seeing Shintarou crying like that. In the end, she put on a smile, trying to cheer up her good-for-nothing Master.

"A-Ah, look, I'm sorry, Master!" She tried to apologize. "Uh, see, I'll even help you clean your room!"

She began to summon small tornadoes that picked up some of the drenched papers on the floor, that awkward smile still on her face. "And I know how to fix the problem with the Wind Carrier problem, Master!"

Shintarou then looked up from his arm, his eyes showing interest in what the wind had to say. "Really?"

"Yep!" Ene nodded happily. "Let's go out to buy another lid!"

The redwinged froze at the suggestion. "W-Wait. You mean, go out? Outside the nest?" The wind nodded again. "As in, fly?"

Ene giggled. "Oh, Master, stop acting stupid. Of course! How can you even go out without flying? Haha!"

Shintarou seemed uncomfortable at the idea. "B-But, I haven't gone out for so long… It's been two years, I think. I don't think I can even fly anymore!"

The wind spirit, after collecting some soaked papers with her small tornadoes, threw them all in the trash can at the side, much to the redwinged's horror. "Haha, stop being silly, Master~ Your wings only need a little exercise before you can go and fly again!"

"A-Ah…" Shintarou still seemed hesitant, wiping the tears that was still on his face. In the end, he sighed, giving in to the wind's idea. "…I guess I'll do it." Ene showed an excited face. "Mom and Momo won't be home till later anyway, so I can't wait for them to come home. If I did, my room would be full of useless papers by the time they got here."

Ene giggled. "It's a good thing you know, Master~"

"Shut up,"

"Well then, before we do get out, we should clean up your dirty room first!" The wind clicked her tongue. "I told you you should have cleaned it up. Why does Master not listen to what I say?"

Shintarou ignored her, standing up and carefully making his way to grab a mop to clean the floor. He felt a painful pang in his chest as he gazed at the soaked floor below him. He always liked drinking that frizzy liquid, even though no one in the Tree knows what the heck it was. It was apparently just discovered by some dude while making potions by accident, and it became pretty famous because it was different from tea, juice and water.

Nevertheless, he had to clean up fast. The sooner he got to clean his room, the sooner he can bathe. And the sooner he did that, the sooner he could go out and buy a Wind Carrier lid. And the sooner he did buy one, the sooner he can stop the carrier from bringing in more papers to clean up. He sighed as he painfully watched the wind spirit throw out all of his collected papers into the trash can.

While cleaning though, his eyes caught a certain clothing that was hanging on the wall by his bed, and he couldn't help but stare at it. A red cape. It was long enough to touch the floor if ever he wore it, and it even had white lines embroidered on it. Never once in the past two years had he thought that he would be able to wear this thing again.

"But red suits you, Shintarou!"

"Hey, Master! Stop spacing around and mop the black stuff on the floor!" Ene's voice snapped the redwinged out of his thoughts, making him nearly slip. "The wooden floor's gonna snap soon if you don't clean up that stuff you drink all the time! And then you'll fall to your death~"

"Sh-Shut up, Ene! I'm mopping, I'm mopping!"

Shintarou then went back to cleaning, trying his best to mop the floor as he felt his damp clothes stick to his skin. It didn't feel very pleasant, so he tried to work faster, so that he could bathe already. But every once in a while, he found himself glancing at the red cape, the memories of two years ago flooding his mind once again.