October 10th, Year 1.

It's a pretty ugly day, Ippan thought to herself. It was raining rather hard, but she brought an umbrella with her. The sky was clear not that long ago. Now it was dark and a bit chilly. Not to mention how grouchy the town had been lately. They always seemed to be depressed and angry around this time of year.

The seven year old playfully splashed her feet in a puddle on the street. She was half way home when she saw something peculiar catch her eye. There was a little boy sitting on the side of the road. He was completely soaked. He looked dirty like he had been rolling around on the ground. Ippan remembered that her mother told her to come straight home, but curiosity got the better of her.

She walked over to him and slightly leaned over her umbrella to keep him from getting anymore wet. The boy had his head tucked into his knees up until that moment.

Ippan tilted her head. "Hello, why're you sitting in the rain?"

His blue eyes searched around before staring up at her in surprise. "...you're talking to...me?"

She thought that was a silly question. Of course she was, but she decided to settle for: "Yes."

He was speechless for a moment. "You...Why?"

"Cause I want to know why you're sitting here." She looked the boy over again. "You're also dirty. Why is that? Did you fall?"

The blond boy looked down in shame as if talking would cause a problem. He tucked his hands around his legs. "Yeah..."

She stared at him as she saw his eyes glance over to her bag of food. The little girl surprised him by raising it to his face. "Are you hungry? Mommy asked me to buy dinner, but I got goodies too."

His eyes locked onto the bag before shaking his head. "'m not hungry." Suddenly his stomach growled.

Ippan pulled out a packaged food and forced it into his face. "Here. It's a sweet bean bun." He looked at her skeptically. "Take it. I wasn't 'uppose to get this, so if you eat it my mommy won't know."

She grinned at him and he hesitantly took it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She said. "I have to go home now. Don't stay out here! Mommy say's this is how people get sick!" She waved before hurrying along as he blinked at her.

The six year old stared down at the packaged food. The girl had unknowingly given him a birthday gift.