Dang…watching dust motes rather than listening to people argue about your living arrangements? Arrietty must be depressed. Bless her heart.

As always, I own jack-diddly when it comes to "The Borrower Arrietty," "The Borrowers," or anything related to Studio Ghibli's amazing work. I just own Mari and this plot line. Enjoy!

Forever

Chapter 5

"Listen, Sho, you have to think about what Arrietty needs, not just what you want." Arrietty could hear the concern and exhaustion plaguing Mari's voice. The two siblings had been arguing for almost an hour now.

"You think I'm not? What do you want me to do, Mari? Set her free and let her make her own way out there like she's a wild bird? You don't understand! She's…" He cut himself off and took a breath, brown eyes glanced down at me when he thought I wasn't paying attention. "She means a lot to me. She's been my best friend since I was a runt."

Mari slammed her spatula on the counter. "I didn't say anything like that, Sho! And quit putting words in my mouth. I'm not saying she's not human. She's just as human as you and me. So shut your trap and listen to what I am saying! I'm saying you need to think about caring for her just like how you would think about caring for a new baby. You've got the dollhouse for her, great! But, is it like the one Aunt Sadako's father had made? Does the stove work? Does the water run? Think, Sho."

Sho was quiet for a minute. I suppose he was thinking about what Mari had said. She did have a point. How was I going to make my way around this house without the passages my father and all the other families had made within the walls? I guess it really didn't matter, though. Once I was healthy enough, I going to leave and find Spiller. Maybe I could find some clues about my family. I gave a small sigh and let my shoulders slump back into Sho's hand.

Sho bit his lip, watching me with concern. Maybe he could tell I was tired. I'm not really sure. I met his gaze for a few minutes before turning my attention back to the window and the faint sun drifting through it.

"Well," he began, "Aunt Sadako kept the name of the original craftsman who built the old doll house. I could look him up and see if he's still in business. Then look into connecting the house to the pipes. But the house itself is still fairly large. There's plenty of 'closet space' like you said. There's all the rooms to move through and a kitchen. If she had a working stove she could be pretty much self-sufficient." He smiled down at me. "What do you think of that, Arrietty?"

"That would be nice. I mean, that would nice while I'm here."

"What do you mean 'while you're here'? Where else would you go, Arrietty? Your parents—"

"Sho!" Mari cut in, her eyes hard. She pinched her fingers together and slid them across her mouth in warning to my human protector. I had to wonder what that was about.

He sighed and settled onto a barstool next to the island. "I'm sorry, Arrietty. I'm just very concerned about you. You understand that, right?"

"I understand, Sho." I gave him a little smile.

This only made him frown and his other hand came up and traced the side of my face with a fingertip. The finger brushed over my hair and came back to linger on my face again. What was wrong? I didn't understand why he was so upset all of a sudden.

"Sho," Mari called, bringing his attention back to her. "We can fix the house without hooking it into the wall with the pipes. That would take a lot of work and money. I bet there are things we can take out of the house and store two tanks in there. Have one that's a thermal tank to store hot water and one that's a cooler tank for the cold water. Then just refill them when they're needed." She took Sho's wrist and turned gently to where she could see me. "What do you think of that, Arrietty?"

"That seems like a nice idea," I said. Mari frowned at me as well. Why were they so upset with my answers?

"You know what you need, Sweetie? As soon as that leg heals, you need a trip outdoors." She grinned up at Sho, her eyes dancing mischievously. "And I have been trying to get Sho back on my horses for a while now."

"Mari, I am not getting back up on your devil horses!" Sho protested.

Mari laughed. "I promise not to put you back up on Prince Charming." She winked down at me. "I stuck him up on my show stud the first time out at my ranch. He told me he knew how to ride a horse and got all upset when I asked how much experience he had. 'More than enough' he told me!" She laughed at her gruff imitation of Sho. I smiled a little more.

"So, I tacked up my stud and put them both in the round pen. They were perfectly safe!"

"Safe my foot," Sho grumbled. "That horse took off with me as soon as you let go of the bridle!"

Mari grinned again. "Oh you were in a high round-pen. You couldn't have gone anywhere except in a circle. And you shouldn't have tried to get off when he was still going! Geeze, what was your experience? The pony rides at the fairs?"

Sho blushed and Mari laughed loudly. I cringed slightly from the volume but neither human seemed to notice. She calmed herself after a minute and wiped at her eyes.

"Oh, I should have guessed! Well, you can come out and I'll put you up on my dead-head gelding. He's about as broke as you get. It takes a whole lot to get him up and moving. You can ride him and Arrietty and I will ride my broodmare."

"Why should Arrietty ride with you? She's my guest. She should stay with me!" Sho protested.

I watched as they went back and forth again. Mari insisted that I ride with her because it was her horses and she was the more experienced rider. Sho would need both his hands to ride safely. But he pointed out that I could ride in his shirt pocket. Mari debunked that because the gelding's trot wasn't smooth in the least and Sho's bouncing would only make the ride worse. The broodmare that Mari was going to ride was a different breed that was specifically bred for its smooth walk. Sho said then he should ride that horse and I could ride in his pocket. Mari said that wouldn't work either because the broodmare had certain cues to get her into the special walks and Sho didn't know them and Mari didn't want Sho spoiling what the mare had learned.

After a few minutes both human faces turned to me and spoke at the same time. "What do you think, Arrietty?" I grinned when they glared at each other again before Sho spoke up.

"Who do you want to ride with? Apparently, I won't be allowed on Mari's special horse."

Mari rolled her eyes. "She's the only mare I've got. I'm not even sure I'm going to keep and invest in showing and breeding her. I need her to remain at a high resell value if I don't keep her. You have to think money on these horses, Sho."

Sho pursed his lips and turned to look back at me. "What do want to do, Arrietty? We'll leave it up to you."

I looked back and forth between the two, trying to figure out what they wanted from me. "Well, I suppose I would be safer with Mari since she has more experience, right?"

Mari looked at Sho and grinned. "See, Sho? Girls have the brains. She knows what's best. Besides, we have a while yet before we go out. Who knows? She may just change her mind and I may change mine." She reached over and pinched Sho's cheeks as he just glared at her.

"Now cheer up." She cleared away the dishes from breakfast and loaded up the dishwasher. "I have to get back to my place, Sho. I was able to get one of my neighbors to go feed this morning but I still need to clean out the stalls and drag the arena. Plus, one of my mares is about to drop her foal and I should really be there." Mari came and placed a kiss on Sho's cheek and waved down to me. "It was nice to meet you, Arrietty. I'm sure we'll see each other soon."

I nod up to her. "It was nice to meet you, too, Mari."

"See you later, Mari," Sho said as she walked out the door. He turned and smiled back at me. "Would you like a bath or anything? The doll house faucets don't work, but the tub is removable. I can fill it up with water and empty it when you're done."

I thought about it for a minute. It sounded like a great idea. I hadn't had a hot bath that I didn't have to lug buckets back and forth to a communal tub then empty out the tub myself since we left this house years ago. But still, that sounded like a lot of effort on Sho's part. I really didn't want him to have to take care of me anymore than he had to.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble," I said. "That would be nice. I haven't had a hassle-free bath since I left here." I couldn't help how my voice dropped on the last words. I didn't really mean for it to waver and new tears to prick my eyes. Just being with Sho and talking about anything seemed to connect back to my family and remind me of my loss. I felt so devastated. So utterly alone and devastated.

He shook his head. "It's never a trouble. Nothing is a trouble for you, Arrietty. You ought to know that by now."

That was sweet and I wondered why my stomach knotted at Sho's words. It was probably the remains of my minimal breakfast settling in my stomach.

Sho carried me back upstairs, setting me down on a pillow on his messy bed. The sheets were strewn about and the quilt was bunched up at the foot of the bed. Apparently Sho was a restless sleeper. I guess he noticed me looking at his bed and smiled sheepishly.

"I'm not normally such a messy sleeper. But bringing you home that first night had me so worried about you. You didn't wake at all when I got out of the truck and carried you inside. You were completely out of it. I couldn't sleep at all." His brown eyes watched me carefully, soft in the set of his brows and the creases in the corners. His whole body language showed me just how concerned he was.

I felt so terribly guilty.

"Oh." I hated the way my voice was small, quiet and so much like my little sister's when she was in trouble. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry."

Sho dropped to his knees in front of me, his eyes earnest now. "Arrietty, it's not your fault. Please, stop apologizing." His hand came up and wrapped around me in some form of a hug. "I really enjoy having you here. It's just like old times, only so much better because you don't have to hide anymore." He smiled and his fingers squeezed me just a little. "Okay?"

I dropped my eyes and bit my lip. How was I supposed to respond to that? I only felt even guiltier now. I nodded when he repeated his question. My nose burned and my vision was suddenly blurry. Why did everything I said or did only make him worry? I didn't want that at all. My shoulders were shaking and I felt Sho's hands cradle me. He lifted me to his chest and hugged me carefully.

"Arrietty," he said, voice dropped to a strained whisper. "I'm sorry. So very, very sorry. I wish I had found you sooner."

I shook my head, trying to speak without the warble in my voice. "It's not your fault, Sho. Don't blame yourself."

"Don't blame yourself, either, Arrietty. You couldn't have done anything."

"I know, I know. I just…I just can't help feeling like I should have done something. It doesn't matter that I couldn't. I just should have done something." I sniffed and scrubbed at my eyes.

"Arrietty, there wasn't anything you could have done. You aren't strong enough to fight off a raccoon-dog."

"Don't you think I know that?" I didn't mean to snap. Honestly, I didn't. "Sometimes I hate being so small. I hate being a little speck of nothing that can't do anything for itself."

Sho was quick to respond, ignoring the snap and just trying to calm me down. "Arrietty, don't say that. You shouldn't be ashamed of who you are!" He pulled me back and tried to get me to meet his eyes. "Arrietty, I love the Borrower you."