So, I've been riding the grovin' hype wave from the recently released new Utawarerumono game and soon to begin new anime series.
This is a one shot, contemporary with Itsuwari no Kamen, that looks at what became of Tuskuru and some of the characters, but manly centering on Eruru.
Keep in mind that a lot of this is speculation, since I've yet to play the game/watch the anime, and is based on info I've gleaned here and there. Even so, spoiler warning everyone!
Seventeen years after…
"It's already been seventeen years," Eruruu mused as she grinded away at the herbs in her mortar.
Physically, she hadn't changed much over the years, as she was still young, but she had grown a few inches taller. Her chest also grew around the same time, ironically well after she had stopped worrying about it. She had other things to worry about. While her breasts weren't as big as some of her friends, they were close to the size of Touka's, a fact that she found out through Kamyu that her little sister was thankful for, as she had rightly assumed all these years ago that they'd end up the same in that department.
She still whore her black hair long, although these days she kept it gathered into a single ponytail that was slung over her shoulder, and with the white ring she always kept with her tied at the tip and hanging below the level of her belt. When she worked, as right now, she slipped the ring into her sash to keep it out of the way.
Clothing wise, she didn't look all that different either, with the one major change being that the cloth headband which used to hang around her neck now sat atop her head, where it was meant to go. When the weather was colder, she often whore a brown woolen shawl, much like the one her grandmother used to wear, but right now it hung on a hook on the side of one of the storage self, as today a warm summer breeze was blowing over the city, and entered the room through the open door of the rear porch. It carried with it the smell of the myriads of medicinal plants growing in the garden.
Thirteen years ago, Eruru had moved to the then newly settled Tusuku-Kyo, Tusukuru's new capital founded, with the benediction of high Priestes Urtorii, close to Onkamiyamukai right after the unification of the land under the rule of King Oboro. She had left the little mountain village she had grown up in with a heavy heart, but this was for the best. She could help a lot more people here in the capital, and it was easier for people to come get training from her here. She had several regular apprentices, in fact. Also, if…. when he would wake up, she would be close at hand.
After she emptied the contents of the mortar into a jar and closed up its lid, she got up, and walked over to the window that faced the hills under which the man she lover slept. She sighed, much like she did these past two years and a half.
She found the time to do so since then because that's when her adoptive daughter had disappeared. Up until then, herself and her female friends had been busy raising the girl in the stead of her mother, Yuzuha, who had died in childbirth giving every ounce of strength in her frail body so that she would be born.
"Kuon…" She whispered. She turned away from the window, and walked through the open door, and made her way along the porch that surrounded her townhouse, making her way towards the side that face the street. As she did, she tough about the girl.
Eruru sometimes felt guilty about the girl's "disapearence". She never said anything to Oboro, but the night she disappeared, she had almost certainly seen her as she was making her escape from the castle, dressed up as her uncle and wearing a cape identical to the one Oboro wore when he went out on secret mission. Indeed, she would have mistaken her for Oboro himself had she not just left him in his office along with Benawi, both trying to take care of massive piles of paperwork. Had she notified the guards or Oboro, the girl would have most certainly been caught before morning. But she didn't say a word to anyone. Instead, she went to check the girl's room, where she confirmed her suspicion and found a dummy in the place of Tuskuru's crown princess. In the morning Dorri and Gura, going to wake her up as they usually did, discovered the dummy. They also found a note in which Kuon expressed her intent to travel and "see the world".
The castle had, of course, erupted into an uproar soon after. Oboro, never a morning person after a long night of paperwork, had jumped out of bed, positively livid. Search teams had been dispatched, and the border outposts were notified to be on the lookout for the girl, but, using mountain trails whose paths she no doubt learned thanks to Aruruu, Kuon had slipped through. Word was that a patrol had come close to stopping her, but had let her go on account of her clothing which had them convinced she was Oboro. They sure weren't going to try and waste his time as he was looking for his niece. Rumors had it the members of that patrol had been reassigned even further in the boondocks. Indefinitely.
In retrospect, they should all have seen it coming. Preceding her running away, she had been arguing quite flamboyantly with Oboro about how she wanted to travel, much like when she was little. Kuon had also confided into herself and Urtori about that wish. Oboro, predictably, was very much opposed to the idea. He had probably tough that, now that Kuon had settled down from her hellion childhood days, he could have a little peace of mind, and give the small army tasked with keeping an eye on the girl a well deserved break. Eruru could understand, she was treating several of them for ulcers. But that was underestimating Kuon's character.
Eruru had been split between wanting to keep the girl she considered very much like a daughter safe and honoring the deathbed wishes of her late mother, which mirrored Kuon's own, that she be able to live free and see the world. In the end, she decided to have faith in the girl, letting her go, all the while making sure she was ready to welcome her back. Eruru took comfort in the fact that the last thing she had told the girl, the day before her vanishing, was that where ever she may go, no matter how long she may be gone, her family would always welcome her back with open arms.
Some members of that family had also gone abroad, tough. Feeling restless without Kuon around to keep them busy, the dynamic duo of Touka and Karura had decided to go to the Empire of Yamato about six months after Kuon had left. As Yamato was the most likely place where Kuon would go to, the venture had the full approval of Oboro. Apparently, the two had to open an onsen INN in the country's capital, which lacked such an establishment. Even Eruruu, who had lived half her life without taking a bath more than twice a week when she lived in the countryside, now found the idea foreign. Karura came back once and departed soon after with a bunch of materials, a cartload of Eruruu's home brewed sake (with doctor's orders to only drink it during special occasion, as she couldn't spend all her time brewing the stuff, and was most certainly not going to keep sending some on a voyage all over to Yamato!) and workers, who were sent to both help them get set up and learn Yamato building techniques, which were much more advanced than theirs.
Not long after they had departed, Munto almost has a stroke when he discovered Urtori had been "invited" to go along with Karura on the spot, leaving a bewildered and un-amused Kamyu to fill the role of High Priestess. Luckily for the girl, and probably the whole nation of Tusukuru, Urtorii came back a after a few weeks. Apparently, Karura had wanted her to open a hot water vein for their onsen, of all things! At least they had sent along with the blonde woman several shipments of medicinal ingredients she couldn't get in Tuskuru, along with a few exotic medecine formulae.
And now, Kamyu and Aruruu were preparing to go to Yamato themselves, with the mission to open diplomatic relations between the Empire and their country. Eruruu had found herself wondering if she shouldn't join them, if only to make sure the two didn't do any shenanigans that could lead to a massive incident. A change of scenery might do her some good, too.
"Eruru-Sensei!" said in unison the voice of three of her apprentices, two girls and one boy, who were making their way along the main street towards her home while waving to her. She waved back with a smile.
No, her place was here. There were many people who needed her, both to be taught and to be healed.
And besides, she told herself, it wasn't a bad thing to be able to welcome loved ones back home after a long journey. With a warm meal and a sunny smile…
The end!
Man, that was so much fluff!
Please let me know what you guys think in a review, okay?
This is a one-shot only. However, I am working on an Utawarerumono AU story idea, so I may start posting another, much longer story. We''ll see.
-The Stan Man