Alte Liebe Rostet Nicht

The Little Girl

"Izuzu! Patch! Hat euch ja lange gebraucht! Aber da seit ihr ja endlich! "

Years ago there had been someone else Izumi got to know during his trip in this foreign land. He recalls the time all too vividly and sometimes it just came back to him, although in rather short bursts if anything. He didn't want to think back on it, finding it all too distracting. And yet, here he was sometimes, just dwelling in the past where he had met her, a little girl he could not understand.

That was in a literal sense of course. He had never any idea what she was telling him, not daring to speak after having introduced himself and her being unable to pronounce it. This resulted in her calling him 'Izuzu', having given up midway through to pronounce his name. And it became somewhat terrifying to speak when she started talking in this alien language. He didn't understand her, at all, and didn't dare to ask. Could he even? Would she understand him? It was like communicating with an alien, another species altogether.

And the girl, she didn't look like one at all to begin with. At least not like one he usually saw around or what Mama had told him what a girl would be like. If it wasn't for her voice little Izumi would think that she was a guy actually. Short, brown, messy hair, shorts, a shirt way too big for her and a pair of trainers. No dress, no accessories, not even make up. And she was not scared too from what he saw. She sometimes fell over and scraped her knee but laughed it off rather than crying over it. She loved climbing trees, playing ball or just running around and circles for the heck of it. No dolls, no stuffies. She even got herself dirty and she was never, ever bothered by it. She was odd, to say the least, yet he was jealous all the same. If he were to do any of that, visibly Mama and Papa would get a panic attack, freak out and scold him, most likely locking him into his room for the rest of this business trip. This was one of the rare occasions after all they allowed him outside so he and Patch would of course take that opportunity to go to the outside world.

As for how he met her... He didn't know. She just walked up to him, greeted him and started to drag him into one game after the other without consent whatsoever. She just took him away and started introducing him to games, or so he assumed. At first he was debating if he should participate yet this girl made sure he stayed one way or another. And to make matters more complicated Patch wanted to stay as well, having fun with whatever the girl came up with.

Little Izumi tried to explain the consequences, what Mama might say if something happened to either of them yet the kitty had been too occupied with the game, being unable to reason with. So, it was two against one in the end and as a kid he let himself drag into whatever game the little girl came up with.

One time this girl had suggested some type of... Pretend? At least that was what he thought it was, though he did not understand when she had explained it to him.

" Ok, hier ist ein Stock, den ich gefunden habe. Izuzu und Kater. ihr seid die Helden und ich spiele den Super Bösewicht! Mein Stock ist nämlich größer als eurer! "

Compared to the stick in her hand the sticks they were given were super slim, easy to break, as hers seemed hard to lift at first glance, a little thicker than theirs yet also more dirty as a result. While most children would complain how unfair it would be he secretly was glad. Dirty hands meant that Mama would freak out if she was to find out about this.

' Look at your hands! What if you infected yourself with some incurable disease!? Do you want to die!? That's it! Up to your room! You will stay there! I will hire someone to look after you too! '

It would be something she would say and he hated to make Mama worry. She was just looking out, nothing more. So there was no need to make her worry whatsoever. The smaller the stick, the quicker it is to wash off and cover up.