Title: Mo'i Wahine (2 of 4)
Author: Icka! M. Chif
Word Count: 4,201
Rating: Teen, for mention of blood.
Author's Note: Some mentions are made to the end of the 'Lilo and Stitch TV series' and the follow-up, 'Leroy and Stitch'. I haven't watched them because Lilo's characterization drives me up the wall, there's no development at all.
Summary: It came as a shock the first time Stitch realised that he had to look up to see Lilo's face.
The first time Stitch realised that he had to look up to see Lilo's face, it came as a shock.
While they'd never actually -been- the same height, but when they first met, they'd at least been able see almost nose to nose.
"Stitch?" Lilo asked as he stepped in front of her, running a hand from the top of his head to... just below her collarbone. She'd grown a -lot-.
It had been so gradual, he hadn't paid any attention to it. "Stitch?" Lilo asked again, looking concerned.
"Naga." He leaned forward, pressing his head against her front and she obligingly wrapped her arms around him, tucking his head under her chin. "Nothing."
Lilo was growing up.
He was a genetic experiment, created in a lab by an Evil Genius to unleash havoc and destruction against the galaxy. He was never a child, he didn't know if he could grow old. He was meant to simply... be. Survive.
Stitch hung close to Lilo for the next couple of days, never shying out of arms reach if he could help it. She was concerned for a while, but let him, until the clingy nature had her pushing him out the door to talk to someone about it.
He found himself at Jumba's house. His creator look down at him. "626? Little Girl has been most worried about you."
"Ih." He agreed, allowing himself to be escorted inside. Pleakley was humming something in the other room, a straight blond wig that curled up at the shoulders on his head, a pink dress with pearls around the neck and an apron completing the look. "There you are!" Pleakley grinned, pulling a tea kettle off the stove and pouring the steaming liquid into several cups.
"No coffee for you." Pleakley added with a scolding tone, setting a steaming mug of hot chocolate in front of Stitch. "And you, you need to cut back on your caffeine intake." He added, setting another cup in front of Jumba.
"Yes dear." Jumba muttered sarcastically into his coffee cup before taking a slurping sip. "Bah. Decaf."
Stitch snickered at the evil look Pleakley gave him. Pleakley harrumphed and walked off, head held high. "I'll be in the laundry room if anyone needs me." He announced loftily.
"Hah. He refuse to let me create machine to do laundry. Insist doing it the 'human way'." Jumba rolled his eyes, as if the understanding of his partner was beyond his ken.
Stitch shrugged, not having an answer to that. At least the human way was easy. Sorting the clothes according to colour, measuring the soap and throwing everything into the noisy devices. It was kind of fun, all the different fabrics and textures. He could even make costumes!
... Although Nani got mad at that.
"So, what seems to be troubling you, my little experiment?" Jumba asked, looking at him as if he could see into Stitch's thoughts. It was a little unnerving whenever he did that. Not that Stitch would tell him that.
He sighed, cradling his cup in his hands. A lesson that had taken him a while to learn... How to hold glasses without breaking them, especially if he got mad. He hadn't broken any cups in a while. "Lilo... growing up."
"Yes." Jumba agreed. "Little Girls do that. They turn into Young Women. Then into -Beautiful- Women."
"Ih." Stitch agreed.
"Ah." Jumba looked at him wisely. "And that worries you, my experiment."
"... Ih."
"Don't be." Jumba smiled kindly at him, his smallest eyes crinkling up in fond amusement. "I do not make my experiments to be so easily discarded. You and Little Girl will be around for very long time."
That was some comfort. Not much, but some.
"And not to worry, my little 626." Jumba added, taking another sip of his decaf coffee. "As she grows older, as will you. I foresee many long years ahead of you. And she will not leave you so easily, I think."
Stitch thought about it, all the things they had fought about, fought together for and nodded. "Ih." He agreed. "Meega think Jumba correct."
"Thank you, 626." Jumba said proudly.
"In this matter." He added.
"Harrumph."
Stitch grinned and finished off his hot chocolate.
Lilo was the only girl on the entire island who could understand temporal mathematics. It wasn't so much that she was a super genius, but because it was the level of mathematics that Stitch was used to, so therefore the type of math that he used when discussing various things out in the Galaxy.
'Uncle' Jumba was pleased with this and quizzed her on various equations when they stopped by to visit.
Lilo was also the only girl on the entire island who could help build and fix hover cars. Lilo ate up the knowledge, as long as the lesson could be taught in a five minute span, which was about how long her attention span was originally. Eventually it grew longer and Jumba had her assist him occasionally in the lab, explaining complex mathematics, chemical equations, and what not to do with various chemicals, equations, and electronics.
Stitch found it fascinating as well, but had to reign in the urges to make things explode. As Jumba gently reminded him as he eyed two beakers that if combined could turn the entire island into a crater, he had been created for destructive purposes. And while he had been able to overcome those destructive impulses, he still hadn't swung completely over to the other side, to create.
He had, Jumba added proudly as he prevented Lilo from accidentally running an electrical current through a chemical matrix that would have taken out at least three islands on the island chain, turn them into protective impulses.
Stitch was growing up too.
Just not in the same ways.
When Lilo got a little bit taller, Cobra Bubbles showed up one day and asked if he could requisition Lilo for an afternoon. Nani was confused, but agreed, thinking they were going out for ice cream.
Now that her hands were a bit bigger and could hold a weapon, he sat her down and they went over weapons safety. Not only a few Earth guns, but several standard weapons in the Galactic Force, from Stitch's old stolen Plasma Guns, down to Disrupter Rifles and a few small Canons. How to dismantle and put one together, load it and make sure the safety was on. How not to shoot herself in the head.
And then he taught her how to shoot, Stitch helping with the targets. After all, it wasn't like the weapons could permanently harm him, only singe his fur a little.
By the end of the day, all three of them were tired and sweaty, but Lilo could now hit both a stationary and moving targets. Cobra pleased with her progress, Lilo was practically glowing at her new knowledge, but agreed to keep it secret from Nani because her older sister would freak.
But, as Cobra pointed out, it wasn't as if Lilo hadn't had weapons pointed at her before. At least now she knew what she could do with them.
They went for ice cream afterwards.
"Argh!" Lilo glared at the hair brush in her hand. "Stupid hair! It keeps getting stuck in everything. I should just cut it all off."
"Naga!" Stitch protested.
Lilo paused, looking at him. "Stitch?"
He hesitated, tapping his the tips of his claws together. She waited, looking at him expectantly.
Human hair grew at about half an inch per month, containing information about what the person had been doing. What they'd been eating, drinking, the conditions at the time. Their personal history, contained in multiple strands of keratin.
He took the brush from Lilo's hand, popping his other set of arms out of his sides to gather it all together and measuring it out. Hair grew -this- fast, she'd known him for -this- long, she had met him -here-. He thought he felt a difference in the strands, between where they had met and where they hadn't. Her hair seemed thicker where they were together. "Stitch help." He said quietly.
"Stitch?" She said, her voice uncertain as he began to brush her hair.
"No cut hair." He insisted, running his claws through her long hair, silky strands like black ink running through his fingers. A tangible history. Her history. His history.
"I wasn't going to really." She confessed, tilting her head back so he could brush her hair from the top. "I like my hair long."
Stitch nodded, brushing her hair. "Good."
She smiled, her eyes drooping closed. "Wanna see how long I can get my hair?" She teased.
He considered it. How long -could- human hair grow? "Ih. Okie-taka."
Lilo laughed. "But I'm warning you, it's going to be a pain to take care of the longer it gets. I'm gonna need help."
"Stitch help." He said, focusing his attention on a knot at the ends of the strands, which the brush had most likely caught on to begin with. "Meega happy to help."
"There we go then." She agreed. "I'll grow my hair out long if you help me take care of it."
"Agree."
During the summer time, he shed. He shed a lot. In those times, her hair brush was filled with short blue hairs and long black ones, from when she helped him take care of his own troublesome fur.
With the change from Hula to Lua, Stitch decided to look into strategy and warfare. Because it wasn't much help to know how to fight if you didn't know how to do it effectively. And while smashing everything in sight might work well for him, it wouldn't work well for Lilo, who wasn't created to be indestructible.
Therefore, it was time to think smarter.
He spent a few days curled up in the local library, pouring over books of strategy. He'd been programmed with the knowledge of all of the galaxy's greatest strategists and their battle plans. But at the time he'd been created, Earth had been almost completely unknown, with none of it's literature or history available to them.
Lua was close enough to some of the Eastern fighting styles that the bone breaking techniques were often mixed with karate, so he focused on them. Lilo looked over his should as he was reading Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' and made a face, the archaic sounding phrases boring in her mind.
So they acted them out. 'Laying Plans', 'Tactical Dispositions' and 'Terrain' was easy enough, they practised those while running wild through the forests of the island. 'Waging War' and 'The Army on the March', not so much when it was just the two of them. Those were worked out in the privacy of their bedroom, using dolls, books, blocks and cars to simulate enemies and armies.
When Lilo graduated up to using weaponry, she was greatly fond of the Lei-o-mano, the shark-toothed club, and the Ihe, short spear, he moved them on to Musashi's 'Book of Five Rings', since Musashi was a swordsman. And weapons were weapons.
Weapons in hands, they practised the attacks and defences listed in the 'Book of Earth', 'Book of Water', 'Book of Fire' and the 'Book of Wind'. The 'Book of Void' was a bit harder to practise, so they meditated on it one day and discovered that neither of them really had the patience to deal with 'That which cannot be seen'.
At least, not when jumping out of trees for sneak attacks was a great deal more fun.
Stitch woke up to the scent of blood in his nose. He flailed for a moment, checking himself over, ensuring that he was not stuck in a dream and that he had not been damaged, but everything was fine.
He then went and checked on Lilo. Much to his horror, the scent of blood was coming from her bed. From her.
"Li... Lilo." His voice came out as a squeak as he stared at her, taking in the sound of her breathing. She was breathing. Still alive. He climbed up on the bed and shook her shoulder. "Lilo-?"
"Nhgh? Stitch?" She rolled over, blinking sleepy eyes at him. "What's wrong?"
"Blood." He said, unable to keep the worry from his voice. "Meega smell blood. Lilo blood."
"Huh?" She sat up. checking herself. "But I'm... oh. Yuck." Lilo wrinkled her nose as she looked down at the spots of blood on her nightgown. "Guess I didn't just eat something that didn't agree with me."
Stitch stared at her in horror as she climbed out of bed. "Lilo need Nani? Stitch get help?" He asked, scurrying in circles around her as she walked over to her dresser and pulling out a new nightshirt and panties. She seemed to be moving fine, not injured, but there was still -blood-. Blood meant that Stitch had failed in his duty to protect Lilo. Lilo wasn't supposed to bleed.
Lilo was too young to die.
"Stitch, relax." Lilo grabbed him by the side of the head, leaning over so they were nose to nose. "I'm okay. It's okay."
"Naga okie." He protested, wrapping his hands over hers.
"Stitch. Relax." She repeated again, a bit more firmly. "You smelled blood, right?"
He nodded.
Lilo nodded back. "You know how Nani smells like that once a month?"
Stitch paused, then nodded. Human women did occasionally. Not like blood from a cut, there was other scents, hormones, pheromones, perfumes it was like a walking soup of scents. All he knew is that they tended to get a whole lot more likely to snap at him when it happened.
"Same thing." She said soothing. "It happens. It's part of growing up. Of being a woman."
"Lilo... bleed?" Stitch whimpered. How could they do that? "Jumba fix?"
Lilo giggled. "Nothing to fix, Stitch." She kissed him on the nose. "I'll be right back, I promise. Just need to go to the bathroom and change clothes."
"But-"
"Stay, Stitch." The soft almost pleading expression on her face kept it from sounding like an order. "Please? I'll be right back."
"I... Ih." He agreed, ears flattening along his back as he shrank down on his haunches. She gave him one last worried look before stepping onto the elevator tube and disappearing. The time before she reappeared, 4 minutes, 21 seconds later, seemed to stretch on forever, scenarios running through his head. When she came back, she didn't smell quiet as strongly of blood, but it was still there.
"Hi." She said, holding some clean sheets draped over one arm. "Could you... Can you help me remake the bed?"
"Okie." He agreed. Between the two of them, they had the sheets pulled off and the new set put back on fairly quickly. They shoved the other sheets into the laundry hamper, then by silent accord, they both climbed into her bed, Lilo curled around Stitch, hugging him fiercely.
"You okay?" She asked quietly.
He thought about it for a moment. "Ih."
"I'm kinda scared." Lilo confided softly.
"Ih." He agreed. "Talk to Nani?"
"Already did." She made a face. "That's how I knew what it was."
"Oh."
"It means I'm growing up." Lilo said, almost sadly.
Stitch really didn't know what to say to that.
A few days later, he was still thinking about it when the Grand Councilwoman called for Lilo. He wasn't entirely comfortable with the Grand Councilwoman, but he wasn't uncomfortable around her either. She had given him his home, his O'hana, and for that he was grateful. But he never quite forgot that she'd once sentenced him to exile on a lonely asteroid either.
Sometimes he wondered what would have happened if he hadn't escaped to Earth and Lilo. He didn't think about it long.
"She may not need you forever." The Grand Councilwoman said, a touch sadly. "Children grow up."
He knew that very well. He shrugged. "Meega stay." He said simply. "O'hana."
There really wasn't more he could say than that.
Stitch hadn't been entirely sure about the addition of David to their family. He was already O'hana and had helped them out whenever he could, but he wasn't sure about the other male actually living with them, in their house.
But David made Nani happy, which made Lilo happy, which made Stitch happy. He was a calming influence on both Nani and Lilo and Stitch gradually became comfortable with him around the house.
... It helped that his and Lilo's bedroom was pretty much soundproof from the rest of the house. Acute hearing sometimes meant listening to things that you didn't really want to. And pillows only blocked so much information. At least Lilo couldn't hear them at night.
The introduction of another newcomer about a year later caused more disruptions than David's presence did. Babies, in Stitch's opinion, were more trouble than they were worth. They cried and pooped and barfed and ate and didn't really do anything interesting. Well, except for maybe the barfing part. Especially when it was down the back of someone's shirt. Then it was just amusing.
But they required a lot of attention and care. And while Lilo helped out around the house as much as she could during the daytime, they required attention at night too. Within a few weeks of the squalling bundle of joy arriving home, both Nani and David were run ragged, working on automatic. Stitch took over meal making completely, shooing off Nani when it was her usual nights to cook. Laundry doubled, due to burping accidents.
He also started keeping an ear out for the midnight screams, heading downstairs and taking care of either a fresh diaper, or a bottle that was kept warm thanks to a reverse ice-box that Jumba made for them, that kept the formula at just the right temperature. Or some nights the baby just wanted to be held, seeking comfort and warmth against his blue fur, small hands wrapped around his long claws.
New life. He was young still, but he couldn't picture his own offspring. If he could have offspring. The thought kept him awake during the quiet hours of the night. Jumba had created them to be a new species, but they were a species without a general purpose, without a land. Hawai'i was home, but it wasn't their home.
He didn't tell anyone about those times, but Lilo always seemed to be able to sense his melancholy moods, inviting him to climb up her bed and curling around him.
He clung to her sometimes, a little afraid about the fact that she could curl around him, that she was now half again as tall as he was. Someday Lilo would grow up too, and a husband and children of her own. More O'hana.
While he didn't have a problem with more O'hana, the idea of someone else taking priority in Lilo's life scared him.
He was fire-proof, bullet-proof, could think faster than super computer, see in the dark, and lift objects three thousand times his size. But for all that, he couldn't think of a way to voice his fear.
The infant became a baby. Babies could blink, mimic expressions and were fascinated by the world. And they could sleep through the night.
Things got a little easier when everyone got enough sleep.
One of the first lessons he'd had to learn about this planet called Earth was that humans floated in the water and he didn't. Under water was bad. Floating on the top in a surfboard was good. Very good.
Nani could float. David could float. Lilo could... kind of. The larger she got, the more she had to work at treading water. But she could still mostly float.
Other people had trouble floating, so it wasn't a huge deal.
At least, not until the day that she picked him up to set him on the bed while they were talking. She did it without thinking, like it wasn't a big deal. Which, size wise, it wasn't.
What was a big deal was that he knew that he weighed 30 pounds heavier than she did.
Suspicions gathered, he confronted Jumba.
"Shhh." His creator didn't bother denying it as he glanced around, making sure that his partner wasn't listening in. "I not hurt our Little Girl. Promise." He added solemnly.
Which meant his creator -was- doing something. Without Lilo's knowledge. Stitch nodded and kept quiet anyway, knowing that Jumba wouldn't purposely hurt any of them. Accidently was another story however, so he made a note to keep a closer eye on her. Especially while around Jumba.
Lilo didn't seemed to mind or notice her bouts of extra-human strength. Lua was about skill, not strength, so it didn't come into play often.
But as her footsteps grew bigger, she took great delight in carrying starting to carry him around, so they could hold conversations at eye-level.
When put that way, he didn't mind so much.
Nani and David had another kid. A boy this time. The introduction of another infant into the house wasn't quite as bad the second time around.
Nani swore this was the last one, after raising Lilo and having been pregnant twice, she was done with raising kids.
"Am I... strange?" Lilo asked him one day as they flipped through her latest collection of beached fat tourists on the beach. She'd upgraded to a digital camera, but still preferred the hard copy. Part of her allowance every week went to printing out hard copies at the local pharmacy.
Stitch thought about it. Lilo was Lilo. What was so weird about that? "Naga. Lilo not strange."
She laughed and gave him a hug. "Thanks, Stitch."
It still seemed to worry her, a silent awkwardness that followed her around. It had something to do with Mertle and the other girls in Lilo's class. They were a small island, it wasn't as if there were many children Lilo's age for her to hang around with.
Stitch didn't care much for Mertle. The feeling was mutual.
Lilo had helped Stitch and his cousins find their one true place to be. Sometimes he wondered if Lilo was looking for the same.
Her melancholy mood didn't really go away until she talked to Jumba. Stitch was annoyed that Jumba was the one to help Lilo, that he couldn't. But she was in a better mood and that was all that mattered to him.
The nature of the Grand Councilwoman's calls changed over the years. Originally, it had just been random check ins, Lilo chattering about her day and how the cousins were doing. But over time, it had evolved into long complex questions and answers and thought provoking discussions. Stitch watched them mostly silently, only interjecting from time to time, looking for the puzzle pieces underneath as to the nature of the calls.
Lilo didn't seem to mind that the phone calls were about serious matters with galaxy wide ramifications, so he kept his own council and watched.
And then as Lilo was about to graduate High School, after years of debates, the Grand Councilwoman finally dropped the bomb.
She wanted Lilo to come the headquarters of the United Galactic Federation. To live, for an unknown length of time.
Lilo was silent for a long time, her hands stilling in his fur for a moment before resuming petting. "On one condition." Lilo finally said. "When we found homes for all the Cousins, Stitch got to leave Earth, right?" For the award ceremony.
"Ah... Yes." The Grand Councilwoman nodded.
"So Stitch's exile is up."
"Yes."
Lilo nodded, her jaw set slightly forward like she did when she was stubborn. "Then I'll go if Stitch can come with me." She hesitated and lost the serious look as she looked down at his face. "... That is, if you want to go, Stitch."
He stared at her for a minute. "IH."
"Okay." She grinned, staring back. Then a small giggle escaped her throat and she looked at the Grand Councilwoman, her grin growing wider. "Okay! We'll come!"
He was treated to the rare sight of a true smile on the Grand Councilwoman's face. "I'll make the arrangements on this end. An earth week enough to prepare?"
"Yes!" She squeaked, hugging him to her chest. He grinned back. "This is better than college!"
College would require her leaving the island. This would require her leaving the planet.
Somehow, the other side of the galaxy didn't seem quite as far away as another island did. At least, not as long as he could be there too.
So he eventually got used to the idea that Lilo was growing -up-, growing taller. He wouldn't, but that didn't mean that they couldn't do stuff or be together. He walked a bit faster, Lilo walked a bit slower, adapting her longer strides to his short quick legs and they continued moving along at their own pace.
-fin-