Disclaimer: I do not own Furuba. :p

-------------- This is a background story (one shot) for an original character for Furuba. The narrator in the story is 10, and his sister is 4.

Sins of the Cursed

It had been pouring rain for days before, and everything was wet outside. Today was Friday, and school had let out early for a long weekend in observance of the Chinese New Year. Mother had been taking care of my sister all day, and preparing food to bring to the main house for the banquet. She was so sad. I sometimes hear her crying in her room at night. If I could have had my New Year's wish early, I would have wished for my father to return and for them to be happy again. I could not stand to hear her crying. Father had left two months ago after getting into a fight with mother. They argued and he hit her, then he left without saying anything to any of us. I knew it was my and my sister's fault. He hated us because he could not hug us, and could not be close to us. I knew mother secretly hated us too, but she never said anything.

I got home at noon, all wet and muddy from playing out in the puddles with the other boys my age. We even got into a slush ball fight, and I still had muddy snow clinging to my sand colored hair. Usually I got picked up from school, but mother was not there, so I walked. I let myself in and wandered through the quiet house, tracking mud on the wood floor, while I looked for mother and my sister. I found the two of them sleeping soundly in the living room, so I decided not to wake them, and instead headed upstairs to change out of my incriminating clothing, tracking mud all the way upstairs and to my room.

When mother woke up and saw the mess in the house, she lectured me, and told me that I might not get to go to the banquet in a few day. She made me clean the floors too, though she ended up doing most of it. She told my all I was doing was making the mess worse. She told me she still loved me, but refused to hold me, even though she will hold my sister, and instead gave me a cookie and told me to go play in my room. Later that day, my older cousin came over to play, and we spent a couple hours chasing each other through the house, up and down the stairs, in and out of room. We almost made it outside too, but mother said she didn't want any more mud in the house. She could be so mean sometimes.

My cousin stayed over for dinner, but had to leave right afterwards, since he lived at the main house and it was far away. Mother let me help with the dishes, and I almost dropped a bowl, only one. My sister was helping by beating up the rice pot with a wooden ladle, mother didn't yell at her though.

Later, during the night, I woke up hearing loud noises coming from the living room downstairs. I crept out of bed and quietly made my way to the top of the stairs. I could hear mother yelling and crying at the same time. I also recognized a voice I had not heard in two months. Father's. I gripped the rails of the stairs in my small hands and looked down into the living room. I could see the two of them arguing there, mother was screaming harsh words, and father swore at her. They were arguing about me and my sister, and they were arguing about themselves. Father said it was mother's fault we were different, monsters. He even blamed her for his families' curse. He said it was tearing them apart, and he hated her. He hated us, hated that he created such things. She swore at him and told him to shut up, because he would wake us. He hit her across the mouth and sent her to the floor. I flinched at the sound, was tempted to hide in my room, but forced myself to stay put. Part of me wanted to go stop him from hurting mother, but I felt like I was frozen. Even my voice refused to work properly. Mother had gotten back to her feet at this point, her lip had been cut with the blow and was already starting to darken with a bruise. She cursed father and his family for their problems, for the curse that afflicted us, and wished they had never met or got together. She admitted she wished she never had us through free falling tears. She tried to hit father back, but all sound was deafened by the sound of an explosion, and mother falling lifeless to the floor.

Mother just lay there, dark red staining the wood floor she was on, as well as the front of her shirt over where her heart was. Father stood where he was, shaking some, then cried out, wondering what he had done, and why. He had a gun in his hand. I could not breath. I could not believe what had just happened, and I wished it were all just a dream. Father knelt down by mother, and put a shaky hand to her neck, pulled it back like he was burned. He swore at himself and hastily placed the gun at his own head, tears flowing from his eyes. In that second, I realized I was not alone on the landing, my sister had crept out of bed as well and was watching horrified. I cried out 'no' and covered her eyes. Father's eyes met mine, and then they went dead, as he pulled the trigger and left us.

It was no more than a few moments that we heard the sirens, but it felt like an eternity that I sat there hugging my sister, trying to comfort her, even though I felt no comfort myself. I felt cold, and could not stop shivering, could not stop looking downstairs in hopes that it was not real. That I was still asleep in bed and it was all just a horrible nightmare. I was so focused on my thoughts that I had not noticed my uncle gently shaking me to snap me out of it. The cops had come to the house because someone had reported the gunshots. My uncle had been called too, after the cops came, and he was trying to get the two of us out of there.

The funeral was held on the day before Chinese New Year. My uncle had my sister's memory of our parents' deaths erased. She didn't even remember them. As for me, I chose to remember, because I didn't want to forget what the curse can lead people to do to each other. We went to live at the main house with my uncle and cousin. My sister got along fine, since she did not remember what happened. She worried about me though, and was sad because I would not tell her what was wrong with me. It took me almost a year and a half to speak to anyone about anything, and took me a long time to overcome most of the pain. It still hurts, more than anything. It was our fault, my fault, for being born cursed.

The end

Oh, sad. Please R/R ciao for now