Ran rubbed at her tired eyes as she yawned. Since the arrival of the little demon that sprouted from the dead tree branch, she had gotten little sleep. The sprite seemed to have endless amounts of energy and put that energy to use in annoy her. She learned after the first day that the demon couldn't be left in her apartment alone. When she had arrived home from work, she found all the plants around her apartment rearranged, nearly tripping over one the moment she walked in. Since then, she never left the little sprite alone.

"Stop fussing," Ran whispered to wiggling demon inside her knapsack. She ignored the weird looks given to her by passersby on the street as she looked for the shop where she had gotten the tree branch. A little arm wiggled its way out of a hole, and Ran quickly poked the arm back inside. No one seemed to notice anything more than a weird young woman. Ran sighed and hoped this visit to the shop would provide some sort of help for her.

Finding the shop, Ran entered and looked around. "Hello?" she called out, walking to the back. "Uh, Mrs. ..." She had to pause to remember the shop owner's name. "Kirin? Are you here?"

Seeing a familiar face enter, Rie tilted her head and smiled at Ran. She knew the girl's expression, and understood what happened and why she was here immediately. Still, she couldn't help but to approach the anxious looking girl, arms wrapped around her chest, and grinning expectantly.

"Kirin is inside, what do you need her for?"

Ran tried to smile at Rie only to have it ruined as the little tree demon started making a fuss inside the knapsack. She struggled to calm it down again. It was hard to know exactly what it wanted since she couldn't understand the gibberish it kept sprouting off.

"I just thought I could use a little advice on the item I picked up here," she answered once the tree demon stopped attempting to punch a hole right through the knapsack.

"Oh?" Rie snickered. "Well, let's see the artifact." The girl reached out to grab Ran's backpack, but was stopped when someone appeared behind her.

"S...stop that, Rie." The meek voice was hardly audible, but the dark skinned girl had heard it, and shook her head. Sighing, she gave Ran a wink. "Looks like the master appeared. Oh well, I'll just go and do my own...stuff."

As soon as Rie left, the figure that was behind her walked into the visible daylight. Kirin was wearing her usual attire of red and gold, symbolic of ancient China. Her long hair was neatly put into two braids, which hang down just above her waist. Her face was pale with a faint blush on her cheeks. She smiled a little at Ran.

"I'm...sorry. Rie, Rie didn't scare you, did she...?"

The dark skinned girl growled and said something about saying bad things behind her back, which made Kirin blush even more. She shook her head, and made a gesture for Ran to sit down.

"P-please, sit. Would you like some t-tea?"

Ran shook her head in response. "Not at all," she said. She happily took a seat, moving the knapsack to rest in her lap. For now, the tree demon seemed to be quiet. But there was no telling how long the peace would last.

"Tea would be nice. Thank you."

Kirin nodded eagerly and smiled back before turning to search for the cabinet. It was not too far away from where she was standing, but various artifacts stood to block her way. The girl sighed and carefully moved some of the big objects aside, trying to squeeze herself through the narrow space. Once there, she had a hard time to reach and opening the cabinet doors since it was located almost away from arm's reach. Kirin blushed, and turned to Ran.

"S-sorry, it'll just take a minute..."

Seeing the girl was definitely having trouble, Rie gave a loud snort and walked to Kirin, shoving the artifacts carelessly out of the way. "Let me get it. You are too short." Without waiting for Kirin's response the taller girl opened the door of the cabinet without an effort, and searched among the various things that lay inside.

"Hey, what kind of tea do you want?" Rie turned her head just slightly and peered at Ran.

Ran didn't mind the wait as she shifted awkwardly in her seat. It felt strange to return to this shop to talk about the tree demon. Even if Rie had suggested that the dead tree branch might be possessed when Ran had first asked about it.

"Any kind would be fine," she answered. "Oolong, maybe."

"Oolong, Oolong..." The tall girl eye-searched the cabinet and eventually picked out a round, brown box. She blew on the cover slightly to remove some of the collected dusts, and opened the lid. Taking a sniff, she smiled. "Hm...not bad, still strong in taste." Tossing the box to the other hand, Rie walked out of the narrow space after closing the cabinet doors. She looked at Kirin, who blushed and nodded to her. Rie grumbled. "Fine. It'll be a moment."

Seeing Rie turned and disappeared behind the back door (note: not the door to the back room), Kirin sighed and sat herself down not far away from Ran. She gave Ran a timid smile. "S-sorry to keep you waiting...it will be in just a few m-moment."

Taking a deep breath, Kirin continued. "M-may I see the artifact?"

"That's okay," Ran said, giving a small smile in her nervousness. "Ah, right." She carefully opened up the knapsack, almost breathing out in relief when it appeared the tree demon had fallen asleep.

Of course, a moment later, the little sprite leaped out of the knapsack, grabbing the ends of her hair and hanging from them.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Ran tried to pry her hair free of the little hands.

Kirin smiled as if she had expected this. "He's mischievous, isn't he?" She made no motion, however, to free Ran from the little sprite's grasp. Instead, she merely watched and continued on speaking in English. "T-tree demons are evil creatures that feed on lost traveler's fears. I never thought this one could be so open and energetic, though. You m-must have taken care of it well."

"You don't know the half of it," Ran said with a sigh as she finally freed her hair of the demon's hold. It settled in her lap like a pouting child who had just had its favorite toy taken away.

Ran lifted her head to stare wide eyed at Kirin. A hint of worry flashed through her eyes. "This little guy is evil?" She wouldn't have thought it. Staring down at the tree demon, she tried imagine him be more than just a little mischievous. It grinned up at her and reached again for her hair.

Kirin blushed and shook her head, then stopped in the middle and nodded. "W-well, the origin had an e-evil root...but it really depends on h-how you take care of it. The w-world is certain different now than where these creatures had lived hundreds...even thousands of years ago. I do b-believe that they chance, like us."

The meek girl looked down at the little black creature and smiled. She murmured something in Chinese, as if testing to see if the creature would respond.

"I see," Ran said, relaxing a little. "I suppose that makes sense. Everything changes with time."

The little tree demon made attempts to climb up Ran to reach her hair, but Ran kept him firmly seated in her lap. Along with his mischievousness, he seemed to have lots of curiosity about random things.

He stopped and looked over the Kirin when she spoke to him. He chattered something in the same gibberish that had been speaking since his sudden appearance.

"You can understand him?" Ran asked.

Kirin nodded. "H-he's not able to speak it extremely well, but it's C-Chinese, and I can understand some of it." The girl smiled gently at the little creature, lending out a hand and said something as to invite the little creature over.

Meanwhile, Rie came back with a tray that contained two cups of steaming Oolong tea. She peered at the two other females, and looked at the little black creature sitting on Ran's lap. She grinned mischievously. "Told ya that branch is hunted. Kirin doesn't take anything ordinary in her shop."

"R-Rie..!"

"I know, I know." Rie cut off Kirin's words as she puts down the tray on the counter. "The tea's ready, it's still hot. Don't burn your tongue with it. I'll be in the back if anything gets out of control---though I doubt it." She shrugged, winked at Kirin, and walked out from teh backdoor.

Kirin sighed, and shook her head, trying to get the blush off from her cheeks. She looked at the little creature, then looked up at Ran.

"W-well...are you ready?"

"Chinese, huh?" Ran asked, looking down at the little creature that was now reaching out for Kirin's hand. "That certainly explains why I can't understand the little guy."

As soon as the tea was set on the table, the tree demon attempt to leap from Ran's lap. She just barely managed to keep hold of him, not wanting him to spill the hot tea all over the place.

Ran blinked as she looked up at Kirin. "Ready for what?"

"w-well, " Kirin was a little surprised when Ran's question came, as if she had never expected it. The girl ducked her head, embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry, what is...your purpose here again?"

"Ah, well," Ran started, blushing a bit in embarrassment. "It's been pretty hard taking care of this little guy since I can't understand him at all." She bit her lip, watching as the tree demon attempted to stretch out his body to reach the nearest of the cups. His arm was too short to grab hold of it. "I thought maybe you could help. Somehow."

Kirin blinked, then sighed. "I-I suppose Rie didn't tell you anything."

Standing up, the girl walked over to the counter, taking the two cups of tea in her hand and returned, handing one to Ran. She then sat down with the other cup, smiling a little at the black creature and murmuring Chinese, possibly telling the creature to not spill the hot tea when his owner tries to drink it. She then took a small sip herself, and looked up at Ran.

"It appears that the sprite likes you well enough. I-in that case, I think I can h-help you two to communicate better...by spirit connection."

Ran accepted the cup. The tree demon tried to steal it from her hands, but after hearing Kirin, he decided to finding something else more interesting to play with. Whatever had been said, Ran was grateful and took a sip of the tea.

Swallowing the tea, she looked up at Kirin again. "Spirit connection?" she asked, finding herself confused again. Whatever it was, if it helped her to understand the mischievous little tree demon, Ran thought it was probably a good idea.

Kirin blushed. "Y-yes. It sounds really cheesy, I know, b-but...I don't know how else to call it so..." She glanced at the little sprite and nodded. "B-basically, I connect your thoughts---you and the sprite's---together, t-that way, you can communicate with the sprite through t-telepathy...or whatever you call it. In that case, you don't have to understand Chinese in order to communicate with it. I-I think that's more convinient?"

Ran grinned widely. "That really would be much more convenient!" she agreed. The sprite waved his little arms as he grinned too.

"Looks like you two are agreeing already." Kirin giggled, "t-that's a good sign." She tood up and put the tea cup back onto the counter, then turned to look at Ran. Kirin was still smiling a little, but her expression was more serious now, as if she was about to make an important announcement.

"I m-must warn you though, that my power is not yet strong enough for me to control the sprite fully. You must be confident that you are able to tame the sprite when I spirit connect you two together. Otherwise, an untamed sprite who k-knows telepathy can potentially hurt you and people surrounding it. In your case..." Kirin paused, her voice was lowered as if she was uncertain.

"I-in your case, you might die if you cannot tame your sprite."

Tricky business. Kirin sighed inwardly. She had met a lot of people who had the potential to have the power similar to hers, but many of them failed, mostly because they gave up at this step.

Ran swallowed nervously at the last announcement. Anyone would be fearful if they heard they might die from something. Idly, she tickled the little demon's sides. He made some kind of noise that could have been a laugh. She had spent a great deal of time taking care of him since he became a sprite.

She stared at Kirin. Her eyes filled with determination. "As risky as it sounds, I want to do it," she said firmly. The spirit connection was the best way for her to take better care of the sprite. "I'm ready."

Kirin looked at Ran hesitantly. Could she be the one to do it? The thought made her blush in excitement, and she smiled. "I-if you say so...please follow me then."

Kirin turned to go, but thought of something suddenly and twirled back, her motion almost knocking the tea cup over.

"OH! Um..." Adjusting the cup so that it was in a secure position, the girl continued, "s-sorry, there's one other thing...your sprite p-probably won't stay small like this when he gains the power of telepathy. A-are you ready for that as well?"

Ran stood up to follow Kirin. She held the little sprite in her arms. When Kirin exclaimed and spun around, Ran jumped back a step in surprise.

"Ah," she said, thinking over what Kirin had said. Ran glanced down at the little sprite, who stared up at her. He grinned and reached again for her hair. "I think so," she answered at last as she turned back to Kirin.