And now comes May and it's flowers! Has anyone noticed that each month is associated with some kind of natural occurrence? Eh, maybe I'm just a whimsical person "sweatdrops" Anyway, like April, this little bit came from a lil' bit of inspiration in real life.

I do not own Senkaiden Houshin Engi aka Soul Hunter, nor do I own its characters and plots, those belong to Mr. Ryu Fujisaki, I just own this little pairing and the cute storylines that go with it.

Where Flowers Come From
By Daydreamer9

Knock Knock.

No reply.

Taikoubou stood there staring at the door at the end of the hall for a minute, debating on what to do as he shifted the bundle in his arms a bit. Finally, after waiting two minutes without a proper response, he opened his mouth and called out to…

"Nataku?" he said, softly yet loud enough to be heard from the other side of the door, "buddy, you in there?"

Nothing.

For a few seconds, the green-eyed doushi figured that he was asleep, but then he remembered overhearing him while his mother was inside, fussing all over him and completely worried in a very motherly fashion. To say he was 'taking this like a man' wouldn't be the whole truth as he was currently 'taking this like a kid', even though technically he was a kid. Overall, if anything, Taikoubou knew that the redhead was simply humiliated and decided to try a different approach to test this theory.

"Room service," he declared in a cheerier voice, "lotsa very fine breakfast foods; salad, carrot juice, fruit-"

"Get lost."

Bingo.

We have consciousness, he thought, triumphantly, opening the door without a second thought as he quickly hid the bundle behind him.

The room he entered was sunlit and warm with the mid-morning sunlight spilling in through the window on the wall opposite to where he was standing. Against the right wall was what appeared to be a bookshelf with quite a number of literature on the shelves while by the window he was a bit surprised to see a couple of plants…mainly herbal plants, nothing edible or flowery. Against the left wall was a bed, plain and ordinary, with a not-so-ordinary red-haired Paopei Human lying in it…not looking very happy and that said a lot for him. Making his way over to the bed with the cheeriest of looks on his face, Taikoubou made certain to hold the bundle carefully behind his back to make sure that his friend wouldn't see it.

"Hey, buddy, how's it going?" he asked, as nonchalantly as possible.

The look Nataku was giving him was a sure indication that today wasn't one of his best.

"I said get lost," he grumbled, blank voice now tinged with embarrassment as he tried to turn over in bed.

Not losing his cheer, Taikoubou discreetly fiddled with the buddle for a couple of moments before trying another approach.

"Saw your Mom in here, earlier," he said, craning his neck to see out the window, seeing as how the other's irritated expression wasn't going to change anytime soon, "y'know, I think that she's just starting to calm down a little…"

Upon hearing this, Nataku actually raised an eyebrow up at his dark-haired 'friend'.

"Only 'a little'?" he asked, the irritation and embarrassment in his voice fading, which was a good sign; the less annoyed he was, the better the atmosphere inside the room.

"Is that sarcasm I hear?" Taikoubou asked with a 100 cheerful, confident voice, "my, you must be feeling a whole lot better."

Reminded of his predicament, Nataku scowled again and looked away.

"Didn't I tell you to get lost?" he asked, trying to turn away completely again.

Taikoubou could only smirk; he'd heard from Nataku's mother how he'd get like this whenever he got hurt, sick, or punished…by his father, of course. Embarrassed, grumpy, and not really in the mood to see another living soul besides his mother, he didn't even like looking at his reflection. Yup, taking the entire ordeal like a kid, a perfectly normal kid…

"Look," Taikoubou said, determined to take the bull by the horns with a cheery note still in his voice, "it's not that big a deal-"

"Excuse me?" the redhead cut him off, giving him a look as he struggled to sit up in bed.

Grimacing only slightly so as not to let the other realize that he was trying not to shrivel under the look he was getting, no matter how vacant it appeared, the emerald-eyed doushi suddenly realized that that probably wasn't the right thing to say, given the circumstances.

"Well, I mean…er…" Taikoubou shuffled, uneasily, before finally deciding to use his trump card to wiggle his way out of trouble. So, replacing his squeamish look with a peppy smirk, he removed the bundle from behind his back and held it out to the other. "Here you go."

Nataku blinked as he looked at the bundle that was being held out to him; wrapped in beige clothe with a slim cord to hold the fabric in place, it didn't look too special, albeit it was a bit lumpy…and had a goofy-looking smiley face drawn with the writing 'Get Better Soon' alongside it on the front that could only have been made by Taikoubou. He stared at it for a second before looking back up to the robed doushi.

"What is it?" he asked, bluntly.

The corners of Taikoubou's mouth twitched into a slightly bigger smirk for a second before turning neutral again; he wasn't giving the rather observant redhead any clues.

"Duh, it's a 'get-well-gift'," he said, pushing the bundle closer to Nataku, who looked back down at it for a second. After what seemed like forever, he finally took it hesitantly in his hands. "Careful, the bottom is breakable."

Hearing the other's words, but not understanding them, Nataku held the bundle steadily in his hands regardless, peering down at the silky cloth for a while, unsure of what to do…

"Um, aren't you gonna open it?" Taikoubou asked, curiously leaning over his friend…who glanced up at him.

"Oh," he said, realization dawning, and looked away just in time to avoid seeing Taikoubou roll his eyes, fondly.

Carefully sliding the cord off the bundle, Nataku started to tug the cloth away…and his eyes widened at what he found beneath. It was a plant. With a small, porcelain green bowl as the base that held a small portion of rich-looking soil, small green stalks rose up from the brown, with two bulbs of pinkish-red flowers at the tips just beginning to bloom. He stared at it long and hard for a while before turning back to look up at a smiling Taikoubou questioningly.

"Whenever someone gets really hurt or sick, someone who cares about them will usually bring them flowers," the other doushi explained, "since only lotus grew here, I had to search some of the surrounding valleys to find some good ones. Y'know, since you don't seem to like roses…"

Nataku stared at him before turning back to the two blooming buds and stared some more. These didn't grow for miles; had he really gone that far for them…for him?

"They say the Earth laughs in flowers."

Nataku turned back to look at the other as Taikoubou turned to look out the window, eyes fixed on the sky.

"That nature can see everything and when it laughs, flowers bloom, and when it weeps, flowers die," he continued, his voice almost sage-like as he spoke, before his distant gaze morphed into a pleasant smile as he looked down to his friend, "so try not to get all moody about this, okay? A sprained ankle isn't a big deal, no matter how embarrassing it was in the way that you got it."

He saw how Nataku seemed to avert his gaze for a second, briefly glancing at his bandaged ankle; he'd gotten it while helping his mother garden, the hazard of him bending over finally proved hazardous after all as he not only tumbled to the ground, but banged both his head and his leg on the way 'down'. It wasn't too bad, granted he couldn't get up nor could he see straight since his focus was momentarily off due to the small bump, hence why Taikoubou had to carry him indoors in front of all the attendants in the garden, which was pretty much why Nataku was crabby towards him all yesterday evening. At the moment, however, the incident seemed to be the last thing on the boy's mind as he stared back down at the delicate, rosy pink petals. Taikoubou made no move to leave as he watched the other for a while, waiting for some kind of response. Finally…

"Taikoubou?"

From what he could tell, the redhead didn't sound too negative right now, in fact, he sounded a bit distant.

"Hm?" he responded, leaning closer.

"You know everything, don't you?"

The question was innocent and…soft; Taikoubou smiled down at the young Paopei Human as he gazed down at his gift, thoughtfully, and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Yeah. I do."

And there we go "smiles" The quote, "The Earth laughs in flowers." I believe, is by someone named Emerson, but I dunno really, since I'm only going by what was written on the picture that the quote came from. I honestly love the phrase and wanted to use it, though I made up the following line, although I thought that it fit. And the last part here is homage to Henrietta and Jose from Gunslinger Girl, a series that I plan on looking into, though I already have the first book in the manga series. Well, until next month!