Writer: israelproject

How Not to Grow Up in 10 Easy Steps

Part 2

The little room inside Hangman's Tree glowed with the light of bottled fireflies, caught by the eager Lost Boys as dusk fell, to be released again at dawn. The insects tapped lightly at the glass sides, buzzing and flickering. Sora, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to a little bed, turned to them with a frown, pressing a finger to his lips. "Sshh!" The tink as they continued to hit the walls of the jars grew louder. With a soft growl, the brunet boy turned to the orb of soft light sitting on his shoulder. "Fira," he whispered pleadingly, "make them stop! They're going to wake him up!"

The light-talented fairy, Fira, kicked her feet against his shoulder, shaking her head. "You know they don't like being jammed up!" she replied, her voice like a thousand silver bells ringing ever so softly.

"So why can't you train them to like it?" Sora demanded. "You're the one that teaches them to glow – can't you make them like the jars?"

"Would you like it if – "

"Unh… bells?" The boy and the fairy fell silent, Sora quickly muffling her with his hand as the figure on the bed stirred, an arm flopping off the edge of the cot. The brunet flattened himself to the ground, Fira caged in his fingers, and though she didn't like the dark much, for once the pixie didn't complain. There was a deep breath, a sleepy sigh, a small groan. Cautiously, curiously, Sora raised his head, peeping over the thin mattress at the redhead they'd found among the star-fragments. Large, crystal-blue eyes turned to him, and for a moment, they stared at each other. Just as slowly as he'd lifted himself, he brought his hand up, fingers parted, for Fira to peer. The blue eyes squinted, a hand covering them, at the bright light the boy appeared to be cupping.

In a whisper, Sora asked, "Are you awake?"

The figure paused, a small giggle coming out, the blue eyes revealed again, a little sparkle within. In a replying whisper, the person said, "Yes, I'm awake." A sudden ringing of bells, the boy's gaze ticking sideways to his hand, the blue eyes following with astonishment. "Bells! I did hear them!"

Sora surged up suddenly, planting his elbows on the bed, a solemn expression in place. The pixie squirmed out from his palm, flitted across the bed in a heartbeat, sending the figure flopping back, going almost cross-eyed in an attempt to watch as the ball of light zoomed up close. "My name's Sora," the brunet announced, and before waiting for a reply, demanded, "So – are you a Lost Boy?" The person's eyebrows drew together, momentarily forgetting the curious glow, the blue eyes turning back to him.

"I'm not a boy!"

The brunet started sharply, mouth dropping open. "Not a boy?" The person giggled suddenly at his expression, hands covering face. Sora thought hard. "Are you – " He glanced down at the figure's legs. "Are you a mermaid that can walk?" he wondered, in confusion. "You don't really look like a mermaid, though…" He reached out, took a section of burgundy hair and tugged. "Your hair's too short!" Fira's clear voice rang out. The boy made a face. "No way, not a pirate." He looked at the person dubiously. "You're not a pirate, right?"

The figure considered. "I don't think so?"

"You don't think so?" Sora exploded. He jumped to his feet, arms waving animatedly. "You have to know if you're a pirate or not! They – they're big and ugly!" He puffed his chest, hunched his shoulders with a terrible glower of demonstration, hands hooked like claws. "They – " He bounced across the room, around to the foot of the bed. "They smell funny, and they talk funny!" He leapt up onto the narrow bedpost, glittering with pixie dust, danced to the opposite one without a second thought, balancing as if he'd been born and raised standing on the small, round, wooden globe. His eyes widened, he leaned forward, concluded with a fearful sort of awe, "They're old!"

The person laughed outright, a strange noise to Sora's ears, almost unfamiliar in its timbre, but Fira suddenly started whipping around the room, jingling and jangling with excitement. Sora's head whipped up, eyebrows shooting high with surprise. "What did you say?"

"She said – " All three turned to see Riku standing in the doorway, leaning against it, arms crossed, with a curious smirk in place. "That your Lost Boy is in fact a Clumsy – a human."

So startled was Sora, that he sprang into the air, hovered there, drifting up near the ceiling. The blue-eyed figure gasped, sat up quickly, crying, "Sora, you're flying!"

Both boys looked down, said in tandem, "Yeah, so what?" Sora then demanded, "You're a Clumsy?"

"A girl, too," Riku added. Sora bumped the roof sharply.

"Ow!" He rubbed his head, and the girl once again started giggling, knees drawn up, hands over her mouth.

"Of course I'm a girl, silly bum! Didn't you realise?"

The silver-haired boy pushed from the doorframe, sauntering over. "I'm Riku, second-in-command around here. Sora's never seen a real girl before," he said. "Except for Tiger-Lily, and, well, she has longer hair."

The girl put a hand to her short hair, an amused grin in place. "I need to have long hair to be a girl?"

Sora drifted down, swooping to land in a crouch on the bed, close enough to peer into her face. "I've only ever seen girls with long hair," he declared. He studied her with interest. "How did you get here? What's your name?"

She put up with his scrutiny good-naturedly, replying, "Well – my name is Kairi, but I don't really know where 'here' is, so I couldn't really tell you if I tried!" She frowned a little, glanced at Riku. "I'm not clumsy, though."

The silver-haired boy laughed richly, catching Fira out of the air as she went darting by. He leaned over the bed, shook the little fairy by the wings, scattering a shower of gold dust over the self-proclaimed girl. Kairi blinked in wonder, then sneezed violently. "Not anymore you're not," Riku agreed with a broad grin. "Not now that you can fly!"

The girl sneezed again. "I – achoo! – I can fly?"

"Well – with practice," the boy replied smoothly. "I'm sure I could be of service there." His eyes shone suddenly, almost seeming to devour the girl as they darted down her feet, back up to her face, from eye to eye. "Maybe then, you can show us the way to the stars – we can take you home to them."

Kairi glanced at them both, glittering with a layer of gold. "The stars?" She raised an eyebrow. "I don't know the way to the stars."

Fira fought free from Riku's grasp, buzzed the room, scolding him for not giving her any warning before using her dust, before swooping away through the open door. Kairi's gaze followed the little ball of light. "What was that?"

Sora bounced lightly on the bed, grasping his shoes happily. "That was Fira! She's a fairy from Pixie Hollow!" As Kairi's eyes widened, he exclaimed, "Don't tell me you've never seen a fairy!"

Riku clipped the back of his head with one hand. "Dork – of course she hasn't, she's from the human world. From the stars. Had you ever seen a fairy before coming to Neverland?"

"I don't remember before Neverland," the boy protested. "So I don't know!"

"Well, there you go, then," the silver-haired friend replied, with a nod, as if this wrapped up his argument. He turned to the door, sighing. "I'll bet Fira's gone to tell Tink about Kairi." He shrugged, twisted back to the girl reluctantly, who was watching them both with keen interest. "Peter will want to meet you, I guess. Are you okay to get up?"

"I – I think so," Kairi said, not sure why she was in bed in the first place. She carefully shifted to the side of the bed, lowered her feet to the ground and stood. She took a moment to smooth her dress, before turning to the two boys.

"I found you," Sora eagerly informed her. "You were on the beach with all the pieces of stars – we thought you might want to rest, if you'd fallen aaaaall that way! We were worried you might have hurt yourself." His face fell abruptly. "Are you hurt, Kairi?"

She checked herself over. "Hmm – I seem to be okay! I don't hurt at all!"

"Good," Riku said, with a breath of relief. He smiled. "That's good to know." He straightened, lifting his chin with a proud jut, giving her his most charming face. "Well, you might as well come along and meet Peter, now."

"He's our leader," Sora chirped, somersaulting from the bed, landing light as a feather. Kairi laughed.

"Is he?"

"And, like I said," Riku interjected, "I'm second-in-command. I can show you around once the meeting's over."

"Me, too!" Sora yelled happily, zooming through the door. "I'll show you the Lagoon, and the Pixie Hollow – you can meet the fairy queen! – and I'll show you the Indian Village, and I'll show you the…" The boy's voice drifted away, excitedly jabbering. Riku wasn't entirely pleased at the thought of the brunet tagging along, but Kairi seemed cheerful enough, so he didn't try to tell Sora to shut up just yet – he was still trying to make a good impression, after all. He had to be friends with Kairi, had to make her like him, if she was ever going to take him back to the stars with her.

He smirked to himself, suddenly satisfied with life, and ushered the pretty young girl from the room.