Story written by: Ricken
Author's quick notes: Yo, this story is a backstory for a friend of mine. Their identity is going to be concealed with their screen name, ARAyoujokin. Or for short, Ara.
And Ara, my bro, if you're reading this then, hope you enjoy, Lmao. This is going to be such a weeaboo story. I'm sorry in advance. This contains curse words, I advise reading this is you're 13+. Also, I was using google translate to translate things to make this story seem more...Japanese?
The air was crisp, cherry blossoms scattered in the area around my house. What another lovely day in Japan. My father was a ninja, so he was gone most of my life. My mother owned a farm on the outskirts of town. I was just a little baby when it all went to Hell. My father soon died when the war started. His naginata (spear) was sent home, along with the bad news. My mother wept and wept for days and days on end. She cried herself to sleep most nights. It kept waking me up, so I cried along with her. She started neglecting the farm. The cherry blossoms started dying, the life fading away from the farm. My mother died from depression. Suicide. I was only 3. I was bundled up in a basket, crying as if it were to be my last night alive. It would have been, if my O bāchan wasn't there to come visit. That same night, a deadly storm was on the way. It ripped the roof off of the house.
"Ara-Chan," My grandmother started to say, "Enjoy a new life to live upon the hills. You're a lucky child. You will live to see the day again, for you have a great power. A great secret that your family held on to. You are the last to inherit it."
Those were the last words of my last family member.
My grandmother had set me in the river close to the destroyed house, the cold rain beating down upon us. I just remember looking at her as I drifted off into the unknown.
(Author's quick notes: Well this is getting interesting)
As I drifted farther off down the river, over the rain, I heard a voice. A soft, caring voice.
"Child," The voice cooed, "I wish to talk. Even though you may not know how to yet." I kept squabbling as if I were to argue against it.
"I wish to talk to you about your powers. I am Eun. A powerful spirit, only you can harbor." It spoke only quietly, but it was the only dominant force around. I felt safe. My basket slowly drifted into a cave. Eun's voice echoed off the walls, "If you wish to talk more, you will know how to."
A glowing figure. The nine-tailed fox, Eun.
Me, being just a baby, couldn't believe my eyes. A fox, much less a nine-tailed one. This one was the one of legends. The fox closed the empty void between us.
"Ara, dear child," It continued, keeping pace with my floating,"Many people before your family have tried to use me for evil things. When you were born, I knew, you were someone special. I believe in you." Eun then disappeared.
I drifted out of the cave, the storm rolling off the opposite direction. I washed up on the edge of another farm. I heard voices, different from grandmother's and Eun's. Soon enough, people were surrounding me. Farmers, as I suspected. A lady pushed her way through the crowd, "Excuse me, excuse me, what are we surrounding over here? A five-legged dog?" She was soon hovering over me. A beautiful woman with long, brown hair and farmer's clothes. Her eyes glowed like cat's eyes from under the brim of her hat.
"Who's child is this?" She asked in a calm voice. One person answered with "from down the river, the south." The woman only looked at me. She picked me up as I just started to cry. "This child, this one, is lucky."
Not long after, she took me in, and cared for me as her own. Her name, was Nitana. A lovely woman, she was. She was single and independent. Never taking her eyes off of me. She took me everywhere. I grew steadily. Age 5, age 7, age 10, now age 13. Nitana slowly became ill. I had to care for her. "Ara-Chan, my dearest child, I've not long," She wheezed, "I want you to know, do not be sad if i pass. For dead cherry blossoms die, and grow back. Humans are not very different." She rested her hand on the side of my face.
Her hand went limp, and collapsed to her side. She died right beside me.
I fell asleep beside her cadaver that night. I told not a soul when it happened. I was devastated. My dream was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Except, a familiar glow. I remembered when I was a child. I closed in on the figure. "H-Hello?" I sniffled.
"Hello, Ara-San," Eun said.
(A/N I'm going to fix this later.)