Hello there, before we begin with the fanfic, I'd like to say that English isn't my first language, so please forgive me there are some mistakes in vocabulary and phrasing, I'll try my best to avoid them, but please forgive me if I make mistakes. Now, onward with the fanfic.
Chapter 1: A dirty mud.
It was around 1000 years ago in the country of the far east, when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their at their height. The people's appreciation for literature and arts also rise, which lead to many wonderful masterpiece being created. It was a time of peace and tranquility for everybody in that country.
Or was it…?
…
"Get that brat for me! She stole the meat buns from my store!" Shouts a middle age man, who is chasing after a small girl dresses in rag.
The girl dresses in rag try to run away from the man as fast as she could. She sneaks into small crowds of people passing by to shake off the man, then she quickly run into a small alley nearby to hide.
"Haa… Haa… Haa…" The girl gasps for air from all the running. She stands there in the dark alley for a brief moment to rest, then she carefully take a peek out of the alley and no longer see the man anywhere near there.
Maybe I lost him, she thought.
Just to be sure, she take a look around one more time to definitely confirm that she actually has lost the man. And again, the man is nowhere to be found.
Finally got away from the man, the girl jumps with joy. The girl takes out the two meat buns she just stole and look at it, she slightly smiles. Then, with the meat buns in hands, the girl leaves the dark alley.
But…
"Hey, where do you think you're going, little girl?"
Someone from behind pulls the girl back into the alley and force the girl down to the ground. The meat buns fall out of the girl's hands and roll into the pile of trash in the alley.
"Ah, what are those?" The man look over to those meat buns, while still forcing down the girl on the ground. "Ah, aren't those meat buns? Hey, little girl, didn't your parents teach you that stealing is bad?"
"Hmnn…" The girl struggles to break off the man's restrain but in vein. The man himself is not one who can be called healthy or strong, he's just a homeless beggar who is slowly dying from starvation in that alley. But the girl is just a frail little girl who only look about 7 or 8 years old, there's no way she can fight off the man.
"Ah, but that's alright… I'll just take these meat buns and forgive you…" The beggar reaches out to pick the meat buns with his left hand. "This way, you won't b accuse of being a thief anymore… Now, be a good girl and get lost."
The beggar let go of the girl, stands up and walks away like nothing just happened. A faint small tear rolls down the little girl's cheek, but she immediately sweep it away and get up from the ground and chase after the beggar. She bumps into him from behind and the two fall down to the ground one more time, then she bites his right arm and uses her hands to crawl the beggar's face.
"Aghhh!" The beggar screams in pain and let go of the meat buns.
The girl let go of the beggar and quickly runs to pick up the meat buns.
"You… That hurts like hell, you little brat!" The beggar get up from the ground, grabs a piece of splinter, walks up to the girl and smash down that splinter onto the girl's back, rapidly, furiously, until splinter breaks into small pieces.
"…" Even with her back got all cut and bruised from being hit by the beggar, the girl still refuses to give up. Frustrated, the man tears apart the girl's cloth and grabs her hair.
"Hmn?" The beggar only notices it now, notices that… "You have blond hair?" that the girl has blond hair."
"Ahaha…" The beggar breaks out in laughter, and then smash the girl's head to the hard ground. "Blond hair? What are you suppose to be? Some kind of youkai, huh?"
"…" The girl doesn't respond back to the beggar.
"Haa…" The beggar sighs. "Hey, you damn brat…" He continues to smash the girl's head to the ground as he say. "If you're suppose to be a youkai…" He smashes the girl's head to the ground again. "Why bother with human's food?" Again. "Give them to me!" And again. "Do you hear me!"
Blood flow out of the little girl's forehead and stained the ground. The little girl can't possibly endure much more tormenting. She finally gives up, she takes out a meat bun and gives it to the beggar.
"Please…" The girl begs the beggar. "Please, have a mercy…"
The beggar takes the meat bun from the girl's hands immediately, but he doesn't leave the girl after that. Instead, he kicks the girl into her stomach continuously, he yells. "You damn little brat! A filthy youkai like you doesn't deserve to eat human's food! Go eat some crap!"
"Please…" The girl cower into a corner of the alley, she continues to be the man. "Please, I beg of you… It's just a meat bun…"
"Right, it's just a meat bun, right?" The beggar continues kicking the girl. "So shut up and give it to me already!"
"…" The girl stop responding to the beggar, she holds the meat bun into her chest and braces herself against the man.
"Tcht…"The beggar seems to have gotten bored with kicking the girl after a while, so he stops and goes to sit in the corner of the alley. "If you want it so badly, then have it… You damn little brat…" He then proceed to devour the meat bun that he just acquire.
The little slowly get herself up from the ground, she takes the meat bun out and carefully brushes off the dirt from it. After that, she unsteadily walks out of the alley and away from that area.
That's right… This is the sad reality of this so called "peace and tranquility". The aristocrats wage war against each other to claim power, famine and plague spreads across the country, youkai roams the land like they own the place, countless innocent lives were lost, agriculture came to a halt, food production declines without showing any signs of stopping. All of these have made lives of people worse lives in hell, where people would be willing to hurt each other just for some little meat buns. This period isn't "peace and tranquility" at all, it's a big pile of dirty mud…
…
Later that day, somewhere on the outskirt of that town, there is a boy sitting in a corner of an old rundown house, waiting for someone.
The boy looks around the same age as the little girl earlier. Like that little girl, the boy doesn't wear actual clothes, instead he just wraps himself in a small piece of dirty cloth to keep himself warm. And one more thing that makes the boy similar to that girl: He also has very distinct beautiful blond hair just like her.
*creak*
The crumbling door of the already rundown house slightly opened, making squeaky, annoying sounds.
The boy quickly turns torward the door to see who was it that opened the door. Timidly, he asks "Sis?"
The door's opened wide, letting a glimpse of faint light from outside into the house, outside the door stood the little girl with blond hair. The girl look at the boy in the house, slightly smile and says "I'm back…"
The boy gets up from where he was sitting and quickly runs torward the girl. He hold out his hands and reach the girl's face, he looks at her face, filled with mud, dirt and blood. Not just her face, her cloth is torn and her whole body is cover in bruises and cuts. The boy can't help but cry at the sight. "Sis… Why are you so beaten up like this? Did you get bully again…?"
"Come on now… It's just a few scratches. Nothing you should worry about." The girl pets her little brother's head. "Besides, I'm used to this already…"
Yes, she's already used to it, because she's been beaten up badly almost every single day for as long as she could remember, just because she has different hair color from other humans.
At that time, having blond hair isn't uncommon among those who live in that country, but that only apply to those who are not human, youkai. As for the human on the other hand, only black and white are consider natural hair color, and anyone who's unfortunate enough to be born with different hair color are consider to be cursed, or some kind of half breed, or mosnters, or something worse…
And this pair of sister and brother, or to be more accurate, twins, were born with natural blond hair. And as a result, the twins and their parents were constantly mocked, abused, spitted at, throwed rocks at, and many more terrible things… Their parents tried to endure the pain as much as they could for the sake of their children, but they soon grow tired at everything… and abandoned the twins when they were not even 3 yet.
The twins were abandoned by their parents, but at least they still have each other, that would be enough for them to keep on living. That's what the older sister has always believe in for the past 5 years, and she will keep believing in it for so long as they are still walking on this earth.
"Ah, here…" The girl takes out the meat bun and gives it to the boy. "Some kind old man gave it to me. You're hungry, aren't you? So come on, eat it."
"Sis…" The boy takes the meat bun, but he doesn't eat it yet. He asks his older sister "Aren't you hungry, too?"
"Nah…" The girl shooks her head. "You can have it. I already ate mine before I got back."
"Don't lie to me, sis…" The boy divide the meat bun into two and shove one half into the girl's hands. "If there's another one, you would have wait until you get back here to eat together with me…"
"Ah ha ha…" The girl breaks out into laughter, and then pet the boy's head. "You're a smart boy, you know that? Well then, let's eat together!"
The twins sit down in a corner of the house, and start to eat the shared meat bun.
"Ack, hu hu hu…" The boy coughs furiously.
"Are… Are you alright? Did you catch a cold again?" The girl pat the back of her younger brother to eases his coughing.
Although they are suppose to be twins, the girl was born as a perfectly healthy normal girl. Whereas, the boy was borned with a very frail body. The boy has went through nurmerous illnesses since he was born, although he does get more healthy as he become older, but he still frequently catches terrible cold. That's why even though he really want to go together with his sister and help her searching for food, he usually has to stay behind or he will suddenly catch some kind of terrible disease when he's outside, and he knows that that will only make his sister more worried…
"I'm alright…" The boy reassures his sister. "It's just some little coughs, you don't need to worry… Besides, I'm used to this already…"
"Oh, you little brat." The girl knocks her little brother's head. "I guess I don't have to worry if you can joke around like that." Then she goes back to finish her half meat bun.
"Ah ha…" The boy laughs timidly. The boy looks out of the broken window of the house, like he's thinking deeply about something.
"What's wrong?" Noticing her brother staring off into space, the girl asks.
"Sis…" The boy turns to look at his sister's face, and then turns to look at the window again. "Don't you think it would be wonderful, if everybody in this world just get along with each other? "
"Well, of course I do." The girl replies. "If everybody get along with each other, then we won't have to worry about food or a place to sleep anymore."
"Well, yes… That, too…" The boy looks down to the ground. "But… What I mean is… We're treated harshly like this because we… looks different from them, right?"
"What do you mean?" The girl tilts her head in wonder.
"I mean… Why are we being treated harshly because we are different? The lords and the servants aren't alike, the servants and the merchants aren't alike, the merchants and the farmers aren't alike… Even as twins, we aren't alike… Why do people hate someone for being different when everybody is different?"
"…" The girl doesn't know what to say, she just… looks at her little brother with amazement.
"…"
…
The silence goes on for a while.
Feeling uneasy with the silence that surrounds the twins, the girl pats her little brother's back and laughs, she says. "What are you being serious all of the sudden for? Trying to act cool won't bring you food. Now, hurry and finish the meat bun or I'll eat it for you."
"Ah, yes… Okay, sis…" The boy hurriedly finishes off what little left off the meat bun, but his mind is still thinking about the question earlier.
Why do people hate someone for being different when everybody is different?
Little did the boy, nor his sister, know that that question that suddenly popped up in his mind, would later drastically change the fate of the twins, and this big pile of dirty mud.
…