"Ka-Saaan!"
The cries of the child were drowned out by the screams of the rushing people. Bombs going off in all directions, sending debris and blood everywhere. The poor little girl was terrified; grown men and women slamming her around, trying to get away. Tears fell from her grey eyes, like the rain that pounded on her shaking shoulders.
After being tormented by the crowd, the girl was finally shoved into the outskirts. Her frail body collided with the floor, causing mud to fly. Eyes wide with fear, the girl immediately stood, afraid of being trampled on. Panting, she took off toward her home. She slipped and cried, wanting desperately for her mother's warm arms and her father's strong willed words.
After what seemed like forever, the young girl had to stop; the burn in her lungs far too strong. Shaking, she bent over, trying desperately to catch her breath. Smoke filled the misty air. Her little head pounded. Tears still freshly rolling out of her eyes, she gasped.
There, laying just a couple of inches from her feet, was a body. A hole gouged in its stomach, and broken jaw hanging open wide. The crimson, mud-drenched blood had a path leading to a puddle underneath her small feet. All the small girl could do was stare in horror. Her shaking changed to tremors; pants into deep, laboring breaths.
Kind of like the one on her neck.
A scream ripped from the frightened eight-year-old, as giant hands grabbed at her midsection from behind. She turned to see a full grown man, dressed in all black. She tried to see his face, but all she could see was the glowing piece of metal on his forehead. A strange swirl-type sign.
The blue-haired girl slapped at his hands and began to run again, being sure to avoid the dead body. She could hear his heavy footsteps sloshing in the mud behind her- gaining on her. She cried and shook, so very afraid for her life. Hearing the man pick up his pace behind her, she screamed.
"Yamate! Onegaaaaaiii!"
Her beg sounded more like a plead to God. Her scared voice trembled when she screamed. Her eyes watered, and her throat burned.
She ran and ran until her legs gave out, causing her to fall to the unforgiving ground. Her chest heaved as it grasped for air. The girl screwed her eyes shut, letting the rain pelt her tear-streaked face. She could feel the sodden ground encasing the perimeter of her small body. The pounding of her heart was loud in her ears.
Her heart dropped into her stomach when she felt something hard pressed against her back. She slowly opened her eyes and got up. Turning to look, her eyes met with a bloody kunai. Eyes wide, she reached to check her small back. No pierce. No blood. For once, she breathed a sigh of relief. The sound of a bomb and a shower of screams brought her original mission back into mind. She lept from her knees, and ran the last couple of blocks.
Her little heart began to break, as tears filled her eyes. Her once beautiful house, with a flower garden in the front, had a gaping hole in the side. Blood and ash stained the once white building. The flowers were trampled on- like her poor, young heart.
She stopped to catch her breath at what used to be the front door. Staring into the dark, eerily quiet home, the girl swallowed nervously.
"Ka-San…? T-tou-San…?"
Her whispers floated through the threshold of the house, unheard. The young girl cautiously stepped into her once welcoming home; hand shaking, she pushed the unhinged front door aside. The ominous darkness gave the torn apart living room an eerie glow. The child's tears began to re-appear, seeing all their family photos crushed and broken on the floor. Rain soaked the smoking furniture through a hole in the ceiling.
A loud noise from above caused the girl to jump. Her eyes flew to the damaged staircase waiting for something to happen. Anything.
Another crash. A scream.
The rare sound alarmed the girl; it was her mommy. The little girl rushed to the staircase, dodging broken glass and smoking wood. She quickly scaled the ruined steps, wanting to hold her mother tight in her little arms.
Fear froze the young child. There, in front of her, was a man. Dressed in black. The little girl sucked in air to scream, but her mouth was covered. Her eyes, wide and watery, stared into the face f her captor. The man reached up to pull something from his face. The young girl shivered in fear, trapped in the man's arms. His shrouded hand stopped in front of his mouth, latched onto a piece of cloth, and pulled. The terrified eight-year-old squeezed her eyes shut.
For a moment, she wondered if she was dead. She opened her eyes, when she felt the tight hold on her shoulders ease up. She gasped.
"Tou-San!" She exclaimed, staring into the warm, amber eyes of her father. He hastily covered her mouth again, looking at the door behind him, as if making sure someone didn't hear. He slowly turned back toward her, giving her the most loving, strong look he could give her in the middle of this hectic war. He plunged her toward his chest - a tight hug. He reached a hand up to quickly caress her soft blue locks. "Konan…" She heard him sob.
Face still pressed against him, her brows furrowed. She'd never heard her strong, proud father cry. She was with him now. Why would he be crying?
One of the bedroom doors slammed open behind the two, causing her father to swiftly let go of his little girl. Turning to hold off the two attacking men, her father shoved her away, nearly making her fall down the steps.
"Nigete!" He screamed; "Konan! NIGETE!"
Konan fell onto the top step in fear. She latched onto the railing, crying her eyes out; her screams only adding to the loud sounds of the attack. Although brave, her peaceful father was not skilled in the way of fighting – especially against ninja. The two attackers quickly seized the man, one holding him in a choke-hold, the other…wielding a kunai. The men twisted to have the father facing Konan. The poor man, struggling for breath, called to his daughter one last time:
"Konan…"
Konan stopped her crying to listen to her father.
She gazed upon him and the scene, whishing she could've done something to help him. Through her tears, she watched her father. He stared back at her, his face turning purple.
"Konan…nige-"
He stopped. Konan screamed. A knife stuck out of a chest. The blood fell to the ground. Out of her father's mouth.
Konan screamed and shook her head wildly. Her knuckles were shaking and white, clutching the rails with a vice-like grip. The men shoved the dead body down the steps, past Konan's distraught face. Her head followed the body, thumping, thumping down the steps.
The two men then roughly grabbed the girl by her waist. Konan, still crying and screaming hysterically, stretched out a needy, scared shaking hand down toward the body of her father.
"TOU-SAAAN!"
The grown men brought her into the room they'd come from. Konan flailed wildly, smacking the male that held her. The other man shut the door again. Locked it. Konan opened her eyes through her crying to see where she was. Her bedroom.
The room that used to be Konan's utopia was now torn and burned. The beautiful origami that her and her mother had tried so hard on now lay ripped in piles. Her room…wasn't her room anymore. The poor eight-year-old ripped herself from the man and fell to the floor. She stared up in horror at the two men. They towered over her, covered in her father's fresh blood. The most glaringly hurtful thing about the men? The mocking piece of metal, shining, blood-free, with the funny looking swirl in the middle. Placed perfectly on their foreheads. Just like that other man from before.
Konan crawled as far as she could away from the men, shaking and crying silent tears all the while. The two men chuckled, and began to approach her again. She screamed and shook her head , her blue hair sticking to her wet face.
All three turned their heads sharply at the sound of a muffled scream. Not like the many screams coming from outside. No…
This one was from the closet.
Konan's breathing began to pick up as the two men stalked toward her closet. Konan realized that there were constant screams and banging coming from the closet the whole time. She brought her shaking hands up to her face, her eyes widening. The men reached for the door…
Konan couldn't comprehend. She couldn't understand why the men were chuckling. She couldn't understand why her mom was with another of the scary men. Tied up. Undressed.
Konan flinched when the tallest of the men – the one that carried Konan in – grabbed her mother and tossed her into the center of the room. Her mother screamed and begged at the men; "Let her go!" and, "Not in front of my daughter, please!" Konan began to cry at the sound of her mother's voice – so unnaturally scared and weak. Konan could see her mother's face, drowning in tears. She could see bruises and strange reddish splotches on her neck. Her mother's long, navy-blue hair was rugged and loose. Konan could see sliced and cuts on her mother's white-as-snow body. Her mother cried out.
The man that was in the closet had struck her back, hard. Konan screamed in terror, crying like no tomorrow.
"Ka-San! Yamate!"
Konan's begging just made the men chuckle, and strike her mother again. Konan cried as all three men attacked her mother; beating her to a pulp. Konan put her hands to her ears, no longer able to take the sound of her mother's agony.
The men found Konan's actions comical. They all laughed before continuing on with their scheme. Her father's murderers began to try and flip the woman onto her back, while the one from the closet began to step toward Konan.
Konan's breathing and shaking became unbearable. Tears flowed out of her eyes as he stepped closer and closer. She tried to push herself closer against the wall, but it was no use; she was as far away as she was going to get. She watched in horror as the shirtless man crouched down to her height. Kona n was frozen in fear; she couldn't utter one word. Her wide eyes still spilled tears – silent ones. Her head hit the wall when he reached his hand toward her. He grabbed a lock of her hair, and leaned into her.
"You know…" He hissed, smiling at the sound of Konan's whimpering, "You look just…like…your…momma!" With every elongated word, he moved his face closer to Konan's, until he was an inch away from her young, plump, trembling lips. She could feel the man's hot breath when he chuckled. Konan trembled and cried; she could feel his massive body coming closer to her. He released her hair, and planted both of his hands on either side of her head on the wall. Konan's breaths became short and panicked as he leaned over to her small left ear.
"Bet you feel the same on the inside, too."
Just as he tried to press himself any closer to her, they heard a scream. The man immediately stood, and faced the group behind him. Konan's mother was on the floor, her limbs held down by pieces of cloth and shuriken. She was crying hysterically, muttering things all the while;
"Please… don't!"
"Stop!"
"Let my baby go, PLEASE!"
Konan watched as the men crouched down by her mother, surrounding her. The young girl cried at the sound of her mother's screams, wanting everything to stop. To go away. She wanted it to go back to the way it was: Her mother, smiling warmly at her as they made origami. Her father's outstretched arms when he'd come home from work, wanting a hug. All three embracing underneath an umbrella.
Konan shook her head and screamed, "YAMETE!" She couldn't take it: her mother's screams and cries. The evil men's laughter and growls. The young girl shoved her head into her arms, bringing her legs up to her chest. She closed her eyes tight, and tried her hardest to block out all the terrorizing sounds. She wailed, and cried, feeling completely helpless.
After what seemed like forever, she heard the screaming slow down, and the men become silent. Konan refused to look. To see. To hear. The young girl finally decided to move when all that could be heard was the pouring rain.
Konan breathed a shaky sigh: it was nighttime. The war had been paused. Now, only the sound of the thunder storm could be heard. No screams.
No bombs.
No cries.
No suffering.
Only silence.
The eight-year-old slowly released the tight grip on herself, shakily lifting her hands from her ears. Konan's eyes were still glued shut; she didn't want to see. She slowly worked on getting herself to stand, using the wall for support. Her legs shook incredibly, from the fear…and the chill. It was dark and cold. She stayed there for a moment, plastered against the wall. She wished, for a moment, that it would just suck her in, make her part of the room. She felt stuck there. Like wallpaper.
She could hear how shaky her breathing was, now that it was silent. It sounded…so unnatural. Swallowing her fear, she slowly opened her eyes. At first, only the faint shade of blue-grey, on all the surfaces in the room, could be seen. "The color of night…" Konan thought.
But then, out of the dark shadows, came the scene Konan had hoped had been only a nightmare.
There, in the middle of her very own room, lay the body of her mother. Konan's eyes grew, filling with tears. Konan shook as the sobs wracked out of her small body. Konan fell to her knees, and began to crawl to her mom. Konan cried and cried, kneeling beside the violated body of her mother.
"Iie…iie!"
The young girl squeezed her eyes shut, and screamed out.
"Mama!"
The little girl untied her mother's limbs, her shaking hands making it difficult. She sobbed and whimpered as she held her mother's cold, white hand in her small, shaking, juvenile ones. " Ka-san!" She screamed, squeezing the dead hand harder. "Ka-san…" The young girl whimpered, her tears falling on their intertwined fingers. Konan refused to look at her mother anywhere else at the moment. The only thing she could focus on was their hands - together, holding. Konan cried. She wanted her momma back.
The lightning crashed, shaking Konan from her broken-down state. She sat up in fright, and gazed upon her mother's damaged body. Konan's eyes met with bruises, cuts, and strange looking bite marks. Her eyes filled with tears, the closer her eyes moved to her mother's head. Konan sobbed, taking it all in; the terrible harassment given to her mother by those evil men.
Konan was silent. She didn't want to leave. She didn't want to stay. Her heart crumbled in on itself, bringing the burn of a new fresh set of tears to her eyes. She knew she was dead. Her momma. Cold and dead.
With a sob, the poor girl walked over to her destroyed bed. She pulled at the flimsy, now ripped quilt, until the bed let go. She carried the blanket over to her mother, quietly sobbing all the while. She lifted the quilt high into the air, and watched as it slowly fluttered down over the white body.
Konan knelt down by her mother's still and cold head. The young girl smoothed her mother's dark blue hair out of the way, trying to take in every feature of her mother's porcelain face. Konan stared. Searched…
"You look the same…"
The young girl whispered, filling the desolate room with the sound of her trembling voice. She squeezed her eyes shut, and balled her fists.
"But why won't you get up…? Ka-san! You can't be gone…not yet… mewosamasu…onegai…"
Konan sat by her mother for the rest of the night. Konan looked out the window, when she saw sunlight pierce the room's atmosphere. For the first time in her entire life, Konan had witnessed the sun. She could feel it, too; its warm rays bathing her and her mother's body. Konan gazed down at her mother and gasped.
Her mother's face glowed, a warm peach color. Her perfect eye brows framed her closed eyes; her black-as-coal, long eyelashes shining in the light. Her lips were kissed by the sun, almost relieving her of her grey-pale, lifeless color. Her navy locks gleamed beautifully, like long tresses of sapphire-silver.
Konan's heart warmed to the point of melting. Tears sprouted out of her water-logged eyes once more, taking in the scene.
Konan had always regarded her mother as the most beautiful women in the rain village. Now, Konan was speechless. Her mother looked like an angel. The sunlight stayed for a few moments longer, before the storm clouds swallowed it up again. It began to rain. Her mother's radiance vanished; she was back to being grey.
Konan felt the warm vanish as well. She held back her tears.
She yearned to know what her mother would have looked like alive-
In the shining sun.