The Hani Chronicles
The following five stories chronicle the life of Hani--or, at least, a small part of it. Hani is a character that is frequently drawn, and I have the urge to explain her stories, and the mysteries behind her. So ple...
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Somewhere, a Bird Sang
“Big Brother, look!” Hani exclaimed.
Neji glanced up. His “little sister”, Hani, a girl with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes that normally wore overalls and a green shirt, crouched under a large tree.
Neji stood up. “Hey, what is it, Hani? Did you scrape yourself?” he asked, briskly walking over to where the child was kneeling.
A small brown bird was nestled in Hani’s palm. The tiny thing had its eyes closed and was not moving. Neji’s heartstrings tugged at the sight--the poor thing was dead.
“What happened, big brother? Why won’t the bird wake up?” Hani asked, looking up at Neji. “Hani found the bird sleeping under the tree, but it won’t wake up.”
Neji knelt down next to Hani, gently taking the bird from her. “It won’t wake up, Hani.” He said softly. “It’s dead…the bird must have fallen out of the tree.” Neji looked up. There was a bird nest about fifteen feet above them.
“The birdie is dead?” Hani asked, shocked.
Neji nodded silently.
Without warning, the small girl burst into tears. “Hani’s sorry!” she sobbed. “Hani’s sorry, big brother!” Tears rolled down Hani’s soft face. She hiccupped, than wiped the tears away, only to produce more. “Hani’s sorry…”
Neji stared at Hani in astonishment. “Why are you sorry, Hani? It wasn’t your fault.”
“Hani knows that.” Hani hiccupped. “But the birdie--maybe if Hani didn’t find it, it wouldn’t be dead…!”
Neji’s heart ached. “Oh, Hani…it wasn’t your fault. Come on. Stop crying.” Neji wiped Hani’s face with his long white sleeve. “Don’t be sad. The bird is…in a better place now. I’m sure it’s singing in Heaven.”
Hani sniffed. “Really?”
Neji smiled. “Really. Now, let’s bury the bird, all right? We can come back and put flowers here later, and pay our respects.”
Hani looked at Neji and smiled. “Uh-huh. Okay.” She said, nodding. “Han and Big Brother will make a grave for the birdie and put flowers on it.”
As the two worked diligently, somewhere in Heaven, a bird sang in joy.
“Tell Hani a story.”
Yuuki, a girl of about fifteen or sixteen with long, dark brown hair and quiet brown eyes, looked up at the little girl who stood before her—six year old Hani. Hani rubbed her eyes with her bandaged right hand, than climbed onto Yuuki’s lap. “Tell Hani a story, please.” Hani repeated in, with what Yuuki had come to get used to, third person. “Hani’s tired…Hani always has a story before her nap.”
Yuuki sighed contently, hugging Hani’s warm body. “She rocked the tiny tot for a moment before starting her story. “Once upon a time…there was a little girl who owned a bird.”
“What was the girl’s name?” Hani asked, squirming into a more comfortable position.
“Her name was…Hani.” Yuuki said after a pause, stroking Hani’s rough, light brown hair.
“Anyway, Hani loved her little bird. She played with him and fed him and loved him every single day.” Yuuki paused again. “But one day, she noticed that her bird was sad. When Hani asked the bird why, the bird told her it was because he couldn’t fly like all the other birds outside.”
Hani rubbed her eyes and rested her head onto Yuuki’s warm chest.
Yuuki continued, “ ‘I wish I could fly free, outside this cage.’ The bird told her wistfully one day as she went to sleep.
“As Hani lay in bed, she thought about her precious bird. She knew if she let the bird go outside, it would never come back, because that was the nature of birds. But she loved her bird, and she wanted the bird to be happy.
“So the next morning, Hani opened the cage and let the bird fly away.”
“That’s a sad story.” Hani murmured quietly, her eyes half closed.
“That’s not the end.” Yuuki replied, a twinkle in her eye. “The next day, the bird came back. When Hani asked why the bird hadn’t gone with his new bird friends, the bird told her ‘I missed you. I want to stay with you forever.’ So Hani and the bird lived together happily ever after.”
Yuuki looked down at Hani to catch the adorably soft smile on Hani’s sleepy face. “That’s nice.” Hani said contently as she closed her eyes. “They lived happily...ever...after.”
