When Kubo Met Sach

226 (#KudosToKubo)

As midday loomed by, he had finished up his lunch—a homemade BLT sandwich with a drink of lemonade—and was now sketching out his next subject. The laid-back sea otter already knew who he was drawing next, and it was his hero, and his best friend, too, since he was the one who rescued him and the one whom he eventually rescued later on.

Sachairi was only a couple strokes into his new drawing when he heard three knocks at the door. He knew it was the young boy he's always gotten along with ever since the first time they had met, albeit under unfortunate circumstances. But overtime, the two had grown into the most unique, platonic relationship the world had ever seen. Neither of them didn't mind, and neither did their friends. Maybe it had to do with the friendly chemistry they later brewed up as they got to know each other better. Maybe it had to do with the kinds of magic they brought to each other's tables. But whatever it was, Sach was always glad to see him. And he always made sure to make the next visit the boy made as happy as the last one.

"Is that you, Kubo?" Sach asked in what sounded like the voice of his friend's lucky charm, Mr. Monkey.

"Mm-hmm," replied Kubo, standing on the other side of the door. Only a few days ago, he was locked out of two awards during the Oscars, both of them going to Disney films, so Sach knew the hero of his book was feeling glum today.

"Don't feel bad. Mr. Monkey knows how you feel," began Sachairi-as-Mr. Monkey. "You've already shown everybody how brave, how clever... how amazing you are. You don't need an award for that—because you've already won, Kubo."

"I... I did?"

"Yes. You should be proud of yourself for what you've done and how you handled yourself. I know your mother and father would be very proud of you, too."

Kubo paused for a moment, trying to take in what "Mr. Monkey" told him. As the words ran through his mind, he had begun to appreciate the quest he had taken on at such a young age. Smiling, the son of Hanzo felt encouraged. "I guess I should," he said. "Can I come in now?"

"Yes, you can," Sach replied. "The door's always open for you, Koobs..."

Kubo then proceeded to turn the knob and walk into his friend's apartment... except that there was something wrong.

In a bit of irony, the door was locked.

"You sure it's open, Mr. Monkey?" he pondered. "I think it's locked."

Only after the fact did Sach realize this, he half-ran to the door. "Sorry," the otter quickly apologized, in his normal voice, after unlocking and opening it. "Force of habit, I guess."

"Sach! Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" his friend exclaimed, hugging him.

"So am I! How have you been doing these past couple of weeks?"

"Nothing much, just helping out the villagers and telling more stories about Hanzo every once in a while. Still feeling down about what happened a few days ago."

"I heard," Sach continued as they walked to his couch. "You lost the Oscars on Sunday?"

"Yeah," said Kubo. "I thought maybe if I had won the award, then maybe more people would be able to know how much of a journey I went through... But thanks for the kind words anyway, I really appreciate it."

"Don't thank me, thank Mr. Monkey!"

"Wait a minute, how'd you know about him?!"

"You told me about your little monkey charm the last time we talked, right?"

"...Oh. Yeah, but hold on, how did you do the voice?"

"Easy, I never blinked. You always make it very clear to me when you start telling me legends of your father—'if you must blink, do it now'—remember that?"

"Well, yes, I always say that, but I didn't mean for it to be taken seriously!" Kubo laughed.

"But still, I never blinked! Seriously, I'm always paying attention to all of your stories, and every time, I'm always amazed at whatever happens in those quests your father went on! And when you went on your quest, too!" Sachairi pointed out. "You should be happy about what you've done, and when I said those words, I knew you'd warm up to it."

Kubo nodded as they sat down. "I don't care if they say another guy's better than you," his friend continued to ramble on. "If a little bunny became a cop and ended up helping a fox who happened to be a scam artist to solve a mystery, or if a young, sixteen-year old girl decides to find herself and finish up an important quest her ancestors started, would I care less about you? No, I wouldn't! I wouldn't care less about you, Koobs, if I hadn't met you and found out a lot about you and the stuff you've went through at this stage in your life. You're the only hero that matters to me, because you're the reason why I wanted to become an Octonaut. Helping you is why I want to go out there and help sea creatures and protect the oceans the best way myself and the rest of the crew would know how. So you've already won... you've already won me over. You may not have rocked the Academy's hearts, but you've rocked mine. And that is the only thing that matters to me."

The boy paused himself once again to process another helping of Sach's words. A few seconds after that, he smiled once more, accepting and affirming his friend's compliments and experiences with him. Sure, Kubo might not have needed or wanted to hear positive things about himself, even from Sachairi—but he was glad to know that somebody (or some otter) cared for him as much as Grandfather and Kameyo did. Even if he had to be subjected to the silliness that was... Sach.

"You know... you didn't have to say all of that, Sach," said Kubo, still smiling. "Just seeing you here makes it all the more better."

"And I just love seeing you, too," replied Sachairi. "Not fun when things don't go your way, but sometimes you need a little encouragement to keep yourself going—whether it's from me, your grandfather, or yourself! You should try it sometime; it'll be all the worthwhile."

"That's true," Kubo giggled. He then looked down at the sketchpad Sach was drawing on. "What are you drawing right now?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, this?" the otter wanted to clarify as he held up his sketchpad to Kubo. "This is gonna be you once it's all finished up."

"Really?! You're kidding! I can't draw anything like... whatever you've drawn so far."

"You know you've made it when somebody decides to draw up a nice picture of you," Sach told him with a grin on his face.

"No. Way. You gotta show it to me when you finish it up!" he responded.

"I promise, I promise I will, Koobs! And... speaking of yourself—where did we leave off? You know, on our wee little quest?"

"Hmm, let me see... I believe it was when your brother found us, right?"

"Shellington? Ah, yes, my brother found us. And then when the rest of the Octonauts came, I convinced the Captain that I couldn't leave you out there in the forest, because your life was at stake, correct?"

"You did, yep! So where do we end up next?"

Sach took a bit of time to think about how to recall where they were during their journey. "Well... we made the hike up Mortal's Point and the rest of the crew met your grandfather... and now we're planning out how we're going to defeat your aunt once and for all," he then surmised.

"So this is where we'll continue from here?" asked Kubo.

Sachairi nodded. "Okay, here we go..."

Author's note: Adrian here! Everything is okay and Emma is breathing and doing well right now. We're currently working on the last three chapters of this story, and we plan on releasing them simultaneously when we're finished. We'll let you know when that'll happen. For now, I hope you enjoyed this little story I typed up for a new project called #KudosToKubo - you can find some more info on my Tumblr blog (adrianimpalamata). Happy March!