Author's Note: This contains spoilers for the end of season one. This is also my first time posting to AO3.
Warnings: Incest between cousins, character death
Disclaimer: I don't own Hell Girl.
Ai's marriage to Sentarou wasn't a surprise to anyone. The festivities lasted only from sunset to sundown. Many whispered that it wouldn't last.
Sentarou had just finished in the fields for the day when Ai announced her pregnancy. An overjoyed Sentarou swore to work harder to support Ai and their child when he, because they certain that their child would be a he, was born.
Sentarou plowed his parents' fields as well as his own. The crops were failing. The other villagers demanded a sacrifice to the Mountain God, yet there was no child suitable to be sacrificed. The crops continued to fail.
Ai watched her husband working hard in the summer heat. There was no wind and everything was silent. She put a hand on her swollen belly and hoped for the best.
Leaves began to change color, signaling the beginning of autumn. The harvest was uncomfortably small, but they would get by.
Ai went into labor at sunset late in autumn. The baby was a boy, just as they'd hoped. He didn't cry as the dirt was poured over his small corpse. He'd never had a chance to live.
It wasn't long afterwords that Ai became pregnant again. Ai wished Sentarou would come home earlier. She ignored the whispers.
It was too hot and dry for crops to grow. There was never a rainy day as Ai worked the fields, heavy with child.
A beautiful baby was born to them. Sentarou didn't bother to hide his disappointment over her. Angry because Ai had brought a daughter into the world when their son had never had a chance. Ai pleaded for him to stay with them, but he ignored her pleas. He had to attend the fields.
Days turned into months and months turned into years all while the crops continued to fail. Ai often saw a Sentarou like boy around the village. She and Sentarou rarely spoke anymore.
It was dark when they came for Ai. Brandishing shovels and torches, they demanded her daughter. Ai begged them not to take her daughter away. She pleaded on her knees to deaf ears. Then, she saw Sentarou. His cold eyes bore into hers.
"I need to think about my son."
The villagers were all in agreement. Ai was bound and thrown into a deep grave along with her daughter. As the dirt rained down on them, Ai told herself that it was for the good of the village. But even as the last threads of life left her, she knew that it was really only for Sentarou's sake that they had to die.
Author's Note: Please review.