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Once upon a time, on the edge of a tiny tranquil stone bridge in a serene garden, sat a lonely little chibi. Her feet swung aimlessly out over the pond as the slow moving koi below lazily looked for handouts.
The pouting chibi pondered the unfairness of life. Aisu had thought that having her twin around would make for endless play, but nooooo. Hisako had been swept off into special training with Master Yoda. She'd probably already discovered his candy stash, Aisu thought resentfully. She had been the special one before! Now Hisako got the special treatment and Aisu was left to take classes with the Initiates again. Of course, she was conveniently forgetting her own lesson with Yoda just two days before.
Aisu tossed some plum blossom petals into the water below and sighed sadly. It seemed that no one had time for her lately. Her parents were off on yet another senshi mission. And if Riko wasn't busy teasing the other senshi pets she was trying to keep Aisu from getting into trouble. That was no fun! How she wished for a pet of her own! Someone to cuddle and hug and play with! Myou's huge water lizard, Eki, was very nice about sharing his pool, but he wasn't very cuddly!
A tingling sensation in the Force interrupted her musings. Someone was watching her! Before Aisu could panic, a gentle voice spoke quietly from behind her. "Don't be afraid, Little Princess."
Aisu spun around in surprise, then squealed with excitement. "Mystic!" She enveloped the shimmering pegasus in an enthusiastic hug. "I haven't seen you in forever! You used to come around the Palace a whole lot and run through the gardens and play chase with Hisako and me and..."
Mystic's deep sable eyes twinkled as he interrupted smoothly. "That's in the far future, Little Princess. I only appear in your father's dreams in this time and place." Kneeling gracefully, he nodded towards his back. "Come with me. I'd like you to meet someone."
Giggling, Aisu eagerly hopped up on Mystic's back, twining her fingers into his dark brown mane. It had been so long since she had had an adventure! Shimmering wings beat strongly, causing a sudden gust of wind to shake the branches of the nearby trees. Smoothly they soared up towards the top of the huge Room of a Thousand Waterfalls and headed off to a remote corner. Aisu squealed happily at the marvellous view of the expansive gardens and cascading waterfalls below. As there were a few species of Jedi who could fly, the gardens had been constructed to be beautiful even from above.
Finally, the Pegasus and rider settled down in a remote and rather cold area. To Aisu's surprise, there was even snow here! She slid off Mystic's back and jumped happily into the white powder. To Mystic's amusement, Aisu proceeded to plop flat on her back, wave her arms and legs wildly, then hop up to admire her handiwork. "Look at my snow angel, Mystic!!" she crowed joyfully. "Isn't it beautiful?!"
"It is you who arrrre the snow angel, little Prrrrincess," came a soft voice from the shadows. Aisu's eyes grew huge as one of the nearby shadows began to come to life and take shape in front of her. It resolved into a large cat-like figure with soft fur of lightest grey patterned with blurred rosettes of a darker grey. A majestic snow leopard settled regally in the snow in front of Aisu, just the tip of her fluffy tail twitching.
Mystic chuckled as he made introductions. "This is Kohri-ohki, your spirit guardian. She will try to keep you safe and give you guidance." The Pegasus nudged the awestruck Aisu forward with a gentle push. "Go on... say hello... she won't bite. Well, not you anyway!"
The nudge was all Aisu needed. She moved close enough to touch the feline's incredibly soft fur. Brilliant blue eyes rather shyly met Aisu's silver ones. Under Mystic's approving gaze, Aisu, drawn by the siren call of the Force, reached out with her mind and heart as Master Yoda had taught her, only to feel the snow leopard reaching back. As the two minds touched, a deep bond of friendship was formed. Never again would either be lonely. With a wordless cry of joy, Aisu threw her arms around the strong neck of her new friend, burying her face in the leopard's velvet fur, body vibrating with the force of Kohri-ohki's purr.
"Aisu..." Mystic gently interrupted the happy moment. "You must remember that Kohri-ohki is still a rather young guardian, so you must take very good care of her."
"Oh, I will! I promise!!" said Aisu happily as she gently scratched her new friend under the chin. "Oooo, she is soooo beautiful!! And I love her name and she can sleep in my room and I'll feed her each day and walk her and play with her and show her everything and she can stay with me all the time and I'll bet that even Master Yoda would let her come along with me to classes and..." Aisu stopped her chatter suddenly as she realized exactly how large the snow leopard was. While very soft and furry, it could not be denied that Kohri-ohki was also about two hundred fifty pounds of powerful feline predator. Her face fell. "Oh noooo!! You're so big that you won't be able to sleep in my room that I share with Hisako, my sister... you'll like her, she's nice and loves to do hair up all fancy but... I can't really carry you around with me but I want you with me always but... I don't know where I'll get all the meat to feed you and..." Aisu looked ready to cry.
"Don't worrrrry, little Prrrrincess," soothed Kohri-ohki. Her voice took on a touch of smugness. "I am a spirrrit guarrrrdian, afterrrr all!!" The leopard concentrated a moment, sifting through the memories that she and Aisu had shared when they'd touched in the Force. Ah, that one would do nicely! Turning her attention inward, Kohri-ohki transformed her essence into a more child-friendly form. Aisu took one look at the overwhelmingly adorable little creature in front of her and squealed with joy.
"Ooooooo, my very own snow cabbit!! You are soooo kawaii!!!!" Aisu gleefully scooped the cabbit up into her arms. "You even have the same lovely spots! Now I can carry you everywhere!" She cuddled the purring Kohri-ohki happily.
"Kohri-ohki!" Mystic said sternly. "You know that we are supposed to stay in our original chosen forms. Shifting demands huge amounts of energy."
The snow cabbit's long, elegant ears drooped at the rebuke. "But I want to be with Aisu all the time! I can still prrrotect herrr by trrransforrrming into my norrrmal shape if therrre is dangerrr! This shape was made to trrransforrrm into a spaceship so it doesn't take any extrrrra energy to shift. And it can phase thrrrrough solid objects which could be handy." Her pleading blue eyes got all huge and shiny. "Pleeeeease?!"
Her own silver eyes shimmering with unshed tears, lower lip quivering slightly, Aisu joined in the pleading. "Pleeeeeease?"
Not even a spirit guardian was immune from the unbelievably kawaii double attack of the cabbit and chibi. Sighing deeply, Mystic said, "Well, I suppose it would be a good idea for you to be able to stay with the Princess at all times..." Anything else he had to say was lost in the cheering of the happy little chibi and the meows of her cabbit friend. The pegasus shook his mane in exasperation. As he began to slowly fade away, his last words were, "I just know I'm going to regret this!!"
Turning to her new friend, Aisu smiled wickedly. "I've got an idea..." The two kawaii faces took on identical mischievous looks. This would be fun!
The sight of Aisu with yet another stuffed animal caused hardly a stir in the half-filled common room of the Room Behind the Waterfall. Only Mori had more stuffed critters than the chibi ice senshi, though Kashyyyk's protector focused more on collecting teddy bears. Aisu looked carefully around the room, seeking her chosen target. Ahh, she was sitting right over there... Appearing to wander around aimlessly, happily exchanging greetings with her friends as she passed, Aisu slowly made her way over to where Chouko, Mika and Mori were sitting sharing a plate of fresh-baked goodies.
"Awww, what a cute new stuffed animal, Aisu!" exclaimed Mori. "Did you find it at that new toy store, FAO Blanc, that just opened up in the Galaxy Mall?" Hoth's chibi just grinned and shook her head, waiting for her victim to speak.
"Ooo, no way! FAO Blanc wouldn't carry a cabbit!" exclaimed a surprised Chouko, as she took another bite of her cookie. "Ippin must have brought it back from Earth. But I've never seen one with markings like that before... It's adorable!!"
The supposedly stuffed cabbit winked one big blue eye at the senshi of friendship.
"Aieeeee!!!" squealed Chouko, toppling out of her chair in surprise. Her half-eaten cookie fell forgotten to the floor where a pleased Pinku quickly rescued it. "But... but... it can't be!! It... it's... REAL!!!!!"
Looking up from reading one of Yuki's manga, Kairiku asked in concern, "Hey, what's wrong, Chou-chan?"
Picking herself up off the floor, Chouko squealed again, this time loudly enough to attract the attention of the entire room. "Aisu has a REAL LIVE CABBIT!!" Turning back to the smug little chibi, Chouko asked, "May I hold it? Is it a boy or a girl? What's its name? It's sooo cuuute!! Where did it come from??"
Aisu giggled as Chouko bounced with excitement, braid flying every which way. Surprised senshi quickly gathered around the table, while Aisu said, "She's a girl and her name is Kohri-okii and she's MINE! You can ask her if she'd mind you holding her."
"Ask her? You mean she speaks?" Chouko was near speechless with amazement herself. She turned her attention to the cabbit. "Wow!! May I hold you, please?"
Kohri-ohki chuckled then answered in a surprisingly deep rumbling velvet voice. "Cerrrrtainly you may. Just hold out your arrrrms." The cabbit jumped into Chouko's waiting arms and nudged the senshi's nearest hand.
Automatically, Chouko began petting the now purring snow cabbit. "Oh my.... Where on Coruscant did you come from?" She turned to Mika, who had taken advantage of the confusion to finish off the last of the cookies. "Didn't you promise not to make any more pets into cabbits?"
"Hey, it wasn't me this time!" Mika protested, reaching out a crumb-covered hand to stroke the blissful cabbit's soft fur. "She's soo pretty!"
"Yeah, it couldn't be you, Mika. This cabbit can talk!" smirked Miyuki who'd walked up behind the little group. "So, Aisu, where did Kohri-ohki come from?"
"Aisu! Where did this cabbit come from?" echoed an astonished Yuki who'd come over to see what trouble her future daughter was in this time.
"Ooo, she is soooo adorable!!" cooed Annika happily as she scratched Kohri-ohki under the chin. "I want to hold her next! Please, Aisu?!"
Ben peered around Yuki's shoulder at the kawaii cabbit. The little critter was now being thoroughly cuddled by Annika while Ippin took over scratching Kohri-ohki's chin. The Knight just chuckled. "Yet another talking animal joins the Senshi Menagerie."
"Mama!! Papa!! Look!! I have my own guardian animal now just like you do!! Her name is Kohri-ohki and she's my friend and she's going to sleep with me and I'll bet Hisako is going to love her and I think she might be hungry, but I'm not sure what a cabbit would like, especially since she's not really... oops, I forgot that I'm not supposed to tell... um... isn't she cute?!!" Her laughing future parents agreed that, yes, the little cabbit was adorable.
Riko hopped up on the table to see what all the fuss was about. The little white fox took one look at the cabbit and started laughing. A cabbit? You chose a CABBIT?! she snickered mentally, nearly rolling off the table in her amusement. Amid puzzled looks from the surrounding senshi, the cabbit in question replied haughtily, voice dripping with affronted dignity, "I prrreferrrr the convenience of this form, Mo... urrrr... Rrrriko!"
"I love her just as she is, Riko," declared Aisu with an equally indignant tone.
"Um, what do you mean, chose to be a cabbit?" queried Priire suspiciously. "Just what are you anyway?"
Her question was interrupted by sudden squeals of fright and terror coming from the direction of the kitchen. The group turned as one to see a veritable flood of cats making rapid tracks away from the kitchen. Which could mean only one thing... Eki was on the prowl!
Sure enough, the huge scaly form of Myou's water lizard strode purposefully out of the kitchen, a large haunch of meat grasped firmly in his capable jaws. He passed close to the table where now-nervous senshi stood waiting for the large creature to pass.
Responding instinctively to the perceived threat to her charge, Kohri-ohki leapt from Annika's arms and landed directly between Aisu and the lizard. The cabbit's form began to shimmer as she shifted her shape. To the utter surprise of all - except Aisu, of course - a huge snarling snow leopard now stood defiantly between Aisu and Eki.
Aisu quickly threw her arms around her guardian's strong neck in a futile attempt to drag her away. "Nooooo!! Eki is my friend!! He even lets me share his pool!! He'd never hurt me!! He just scares the kitties!!"
Turning her regal head, the snow leopard's brilliant blue eyes met Aisu's silver ones. Reading the truth behind Aisu's words, the majestic cat turned and stared into Eki's impassive eyes. Nodding once, the lizard headed off to his pool to enjoy his lunch in peace. The snow leopard relaxed and rubbed her head against Aisu.
The watching senshi stood in shocked silence as the powerful predator shifted back into her adorable, non-threatening, snow cabbit form. Looking around at the stunned faces, the cabbit said hesitantly, "Ummm.... Miya?"
The tension was broken as senshi and knights laughed with self-conscious relief. Kohri-ohki was quickly covered with happy kittens eager to thank their new heroine.
"Well, Kohri-ohki," said Priire with newfound respect. "Got any more cute tricks like that?"
"Well," blushed the cabbit. "I can phase through things like real cabbits can, but I can't turn into a spaceship." With some embarrassment she admitted, "I'm only supposed to transform in emergencies." Pulling herself out of the pile of kitties, she turned to her charge, "I'm sorry, Aisu. I didn't know he was your friend."
Scooping up her cabbit into a tight hug, Aisu smiled happily, "That's okay! I'm glad you can protect me. And I think you are the best guardian animal in the whole galaxy!!" Kohrii-ohki purred happily, snuggling into Aisu's arms.
The two friends would go on to have many exciting adventures together. But that's a story for another day.
