AUTHORESS:
Welcome to the revised version of "Loveless in Flowerbud Village". I'm rewriting the story to 1) mark it down to "T" so I don't get kicked off the site by the admins and 2) to showcase my matured writing style. This is still a quick writing and I apologize for the length of the prologue, but I feel it flows better and jumps a little more straight to the point.
Enjoy.
WARNINGS:
This fan fiction is rated "T" for "Teen" due to some violence, mild language, and sensual content. It also contains relationships of both hetero- and homosexual natures, male pregnancy and occult/mythological content. If your "squick" meters are tuned in to such things, then I suggest you tune out of this story.
Otherwise, do enjoy the revised (less saucy and more realistic) version of "Loveless in Flowerbud Village."
PROLOUGE
Spring always brought with it new life to Flowerbud Village, but this time, the normal boom of budding trees and infant wildlife had been joined by a five-year-old boy.
Yuichi Natsuhara watched the little mop of brown hair bounce along ahead of him, chasing after a rabbit. Of course, Jack's young legs were no match for the rabbit's superior speed, and the frightened creature soon bounded into the brush and out of sight. Jack didn't seem to mind, though. After a moment's disappointment, he turned back to his grandfather, wearing a wide grin.
"I'll get him next time!" Jack shouted. Yuichi could only smile at the boy's enthusiasm.
"I'm sure you will, Jackie-Boy," he motioned for Jack to return, "but come along. That firewood ain't gonna chop itself."
Yuichi headed up the dirt road, worn down to the red mountain dirt from human traffic, as Jack hurried back to his side, tagging along as loyally as Maple, the honey-golden mutt that was now nearly knocking Jack over as they walked.
Yuichi sent a silent prayer out to thank whichever deity granted him such a well-behaved grandson. Despite his youthful exuberance, Jack always came back when Yuichi asked. Not once in the month since he'd been dropped off had Yuichi ever had to call him down. Even at his age, Jack seemed able to balance curiosity and common courtesy. For someone running a farm alone, it was a comfort knowing Jack could be left alone with the chickens for five minutes without Yuichi returning to see every feather plucked out.
Jack ran past Yuichi, racing Maple up the hill to where the half-chopped firewood log was. Yuichi called out a quick "be careful" but wasn't worried: he used to play in these hills when he was Jack's age.
As happy as Yuichi had been to see his grandson, the visit was bittersweet. Eve Concorde, the former owner of the town bar and owner of the local vineyard, had two grandchildren. Anne Green, the resident inventor, already had three grandchildren. Maria -gods rest her soul- now had a granddaughter bearing the striking looks of her namesake.
Yuichi's grandson held his grandmother's looks in all but his hair; Yuichi guessed the Harvest Goddess thought there were enough red-haired children in Anne's brood running around, so Yuichi managed to get one stroke in the gene pool. He would have to be content with that, for he knew there would be no other Natsuhara grandchildren.
Pete, Yuichi's son, never believed in the curse, even when his own marriage fell apart. But Yuichi knew. And believed. The curse had taken his own precious Sara from him when Pete was born. His own mother had died in childbirth with him, and his grandfather's second sweetheart had thrown herself into the river and drowned within a week of their engagement. Back and back the accounts went, as far back as about his fifth- or sixth-greats-grandfather, Kojiro Natsuhara, the founder of and the first of his family to settle in Flowerbud Village:
Every woman loved by a man of the Natsuhara line was doomed to have her romance cut short -be it by premature death or other circumstances- leaving behind only a single boy to provide the next generation.
Yuichi frowned. The curse was the only reason why he had never let his relationships with any of the other village women go beyond mere friendship. When he had taken over the farm left by his grandfather, the townspeople became a second family to him. So when he fell for Sara, a merchantwoman whose parents had died when she was a child, he knew her inevitable fate wouldn't plague him the same way as if she'd been a Flowerbud bride.
He couldn't have borne passing the family and friends of the departed girl, knowing he was at fault for their grief.
And now, his grandson was beginning to suffer the curse. As horrible as it was for Jack, Yuichi was almost glad his mother was fonder of the bottle than her son or husband. That meant she might actually survive the curse, to go on to foster a new life, maybe have a new family. But the divorce, he knew, would take it's toll on his already world-weary son, and poor Jack would have to grow up without a mother.
At least Pete had the sense to keep Jack out of the biggest fights, Yuichi thought. Pete had overseen enough messy divorces that he didn't want his own boy to be caught in the middle of it. His wife -Linda? Glenda? Yuichi could never remember her name- wasn't likely to dispute it, considering she thought Pete had ruined her life by trying to "make her into his perfect little housewife," as Pete had put it the day he brought Jack to the farm.
It was sickening, to know he could do nothing for his son, to even hope the woman who hurt him would have a happy life.
But they were Nastuharas. If anyone's life could be spared, regardless of the pain it caused, Yuichi felt it was -in a deranged way- a necessary evil.
Besides, he had Jack to worry about.
Ever since he heard Pete's then-girlfriend was pregnant, Yuichi had made a daily (sometimes more if a harvest was particularly good) trip to the Spring of the Harvest Goddess, bringing her the best produce he had to offer. Time and again, he beseeched her to find some way to prevent his unborn grandson from suffering the same fate of his ancestors. But each time, his offering sunk and his prayers went unanswered, leaving the eldest Natsuhara to stalk downtrodden back to his farm.
A chill wind nearly knocked his cap from his head. Yuichi turned around to see the leaves of the poplar and hickory trees turning up, and the sky was beginning to darken. He didn't know how long he had remained so deep in thought, but one glance to the pile of splintered wooden blocks told him an hour at least.
"Alright, Jackie-Boy," he called out, "it's time we loaded up and headed home."
His reply was the sole rustling of the trees.
"Jack?" Yuichi turned around, looking to where Jack and Maple had been leaned up against a stump, sleeping. Both were missing.
His heart dropped to his stomach. Where had they -when had they gone? Forgetting the firewood, his attention turned to the woods, now darkening as a storm began blowing in from the sea. He shouted, frantic, hoping his grandson had only gone a little ways to hunt berries. When no answer came, he shouted for Maple. Even if Jack would not (or, Harvest Goddess forbid, could not), Maple knew better than to ignore her master.
Barking. But not where he had thought it would be.
Maple's yaps were distant, far down the mountain path and getting softer. Yuichi took off down the curving dirt path, calling out for both grandson and dog. When he reached the pond at the bottom of the hill, he quickly realized the barks weren't coming from the direction of his home. Instead, they headed across the river, into the forest. Yuichi breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that perhaps Jack had gone to visit the carpenter master again.
When he got to the shack, he found the carpentry master and a child -but it wasn't his grandson.
Sitting on the edge of a table, swinging her legs back and forth, was the little Fiore girl. Her father, Basil, and the carpentry master were sitting across from one another, sipping tea. The adults looked over at Yuichi in pleasant surprise.
"Yu, old man," the carpenter said, "come join us!"
"Yeah, we hardly ever get to sit down for a cup," Basil seconded.
Yuichi shook his head. "Not right now. Jethro," he looked over at the shack's owner, "have you seen Jack?"
Smiles widened on every face. "Indeed, we have!" said Basil. "I can't thank that boy enough. If it hadn't been for him, my little Popuri might have broken her neck." He turned to his daughter, who wore a momentary expression of guilt until he reached up and ruffled her hair. "She was reaching too far for a flower on that cliff when she lost her balance and nearly came tumbling over. Kid's pretty strong, he is. Grabbed her and that dog of yours nabbed hold of him. Gave Jethro here and me just enough time to get outside and over to them before he had to let go."
The little girl, Popuri, beamed at Yuichi. "He saved my life, Mr. Natsuhara!"
Yuichi was taken aback. How had he not heard the children in trouble? He mentally berated himself for allowing his ranting thoughts earlier to have gotten in the way of taking care of Jack. He looked around the room, then said, "As happy as I am to hear Popuri is alright," he swallowed thickly, mouth dry from the run and the exhaustion of chopping wood, "I need to know where Jack is. Where did he go?"
Basil and Jethro exchanged confused glances. "After he climbed down the tree to check on Popuri -oh, don't give me that look, Yuichi," Jethro said, "you know I wouldn't have let that little whippersnapper fall without me there to catch him- he said he was going back to help you. Something about firewood."
Yuichi blanched. Jethro narrowed his eyes.
"You mean to tell me Jack's gone missing?"
Yuichi nodded. Both men stood, faces stony but eyes filled with concern. Basil plucked his daughter from the table and held her to him. "You go help Yuichi look for Jack. I'm going to take Popuri home, then I'll check and see if the villagers have seen him."
Jethro nodded. "While you're at it, get some of 'em to come give us a hand, and have someone run to Doug's and the vineyard to see if they've seen Jack." In a flurry, Jethro divested the wall of a cymbal-like straw hat, coat, and lantern. As he was donning his galoshes, he hollered after Basil, who had already run out the door, "And tell Duke to get his butt out of bed!" He looked over to Yuichi. "His drinks practically sell themselves, anyway."
After he slipped the second rubbery boot on, he clapped Yuichi on the shoulder. "I'm sure Anne or one of the other women will go check your farm for you. Let's go back up to where you were cutting wood. Maybe he's gone up to see Rai and Mineko."
Before Yuichi could utter another word, Jethro was out of the shack and halfway across the bridge. Yuichi stepped out after him, pulling the door to as a flash of lightning brightened the sky. The wind had picked up, bending the trees in its mad fury. He'd not had a chance to tell Jethro that Maple's barking hadn't come from the mountain (how on earth did she and Jack get by him, anyway?). Suddenly, thunder crackled overhead and he heard a distant yelp. Yuichi whirled around, looking toward the source.
The Goddess' spring?
Wasting no more time, Yuichi dashed into the woods, taking the boot-worn path that he had made for almost six years.
The closer he came, the louder and more persistent the barking got. Yuichi's heart thundered in his chest. Never had he heard Maple so adamant! Praying as hard as he could, he held his breath about what he would find as he burst into the clearing.
"Jack!"
There was his grandson: safe and sound.
He was sitting, legs curled underneath him and his hands gripping the edge of the bridge, peering into the water. Maple was running around the mouth of the spring, yipping, stopping only periodically to look down and bark at something that had disappeared into the watery depths. Slowly, deliberately, the boy turned to Yuichi.
"Grandpa…"
"What in the name of all that is holy are you doing here?"
Yuichi nearly flinched at the power in his own voice. He hadn't intended to sound so hateful, but fear of losing his precious little grandson had him so filled with terror-ridden adrenaline that he could scarcely control his voice.
But for some reason, Jack didn't seem to notice. He stared, blankly, at his grandfather.
"The lady told me to stay here."
"Lady?" Yuichi looked around. There was no one in the clearing besides himself and Jack. "What lady?"
"The one that told me about Popuri, Grandpa. She told me to come here."
Although he had never been quick to anger, Yuichi's concern was fast turning him into a seething volcano. He stomped over to Jack and took him by the wrist, pulling him to his feet. "I've had enough of your mischief for today. C'mon," he tugged on Jack, "there's a storm coming."
"I can't, Grandpa! Not until you see-"
"Now, Jack!"
"NO!"
With strength Yuichi Natsuhara had seldom witnessed from a child "barely knee high to a grasshopper", as his own grandfather used to say, Jack wrenched his hand free and stepped back onto the little bridge overlooking the spring. Yuichi glowered, completely flabbergasted by Jack's unusually difficult behavior.
"Jack," he said low, his voice raising with each word, "I swear to the Harvest Goddess that if you don't come with me RIGHT NOW, I WILL-"
Those were the last words he managed to get out before there was a brilliant wall of ultraviolet light cut the bridge in half like a hot knife through butter. Yuichi was thrown back, flung into an involuntary somersault and smashing his knee against a large stone as he tumbled across the clearing. Maple's yelps died in a single shriek, and the world went mute.
For the longest time, Yuichi could only lay dazed, in a crumpled mass on the ground. Gradually, he became away of the stabbing pain in his leg and the feel of something soft and warm against his cheek. As his vision focused, he made out Maple's muzzle. She was licking him.
He eased himself off the ground, quickly realizing he was aching in every place a man could ache. Though still deaf and discombobulated, a single thought managed to wiggle its way to the forefront of his mind.
Jack!
Immediately, he turned to find his grandson and found a horrifying scene.
Jack's small body was prone, lying by the water's edge. Even as dark as it was, Yuichi could tell the discoloration of his grandson's flyaway brown hair and Holstein-patterned jumpsuit weren't just shadows. Bile rising in his throat, unbelieving of what he was seeing, he tried to go to Jack. The pain in his likely dislocated (if not shattered) knee and the aftereffects of the lightning strike dropped him to the ground, so Yuichi was forced to crawl the four agonizing yards over to the wretched body of his helpless grandson.
He made it three before he collapsed.
He should have paid more attention, Yuichi chided himself. He reached out, wincing in pain, to stroke Jack's hair. From that angle, he couldn't tell the damage, but a good chunk of singed hair crinkled between his fingers. Tears streamed down his face.
I t's all my fault. He watched as Maple went over to the boy and nudged him in the side, then lay down beside him, her head resting on her paws. Yuichi still couldn't hear but he was sure she had whined.
Why, he thought. Why my grandson? Why poor little Jack?
As he lay there, wallowing in his agony and sorrow, all he could think about was his family's curse. Of all the loss he had endured in his life, and how he had failed to prevent his son and grandson from going through more. It was always inevitable that the Natsuhara line would continue, he knew, so Pete would have to endure another messy relationship with another messy end, providing the world with another Nastuhara boy who would go on to have a doomed life and doomed descendants.
I couldn't do anything, Yuichi grieved. Now my grandson has paid the price.
Yuichi didn't know how long he had lain there, or if he had passed out, but he was suddenly alerted to a woman's voice. Soft and musical, yet bearing an almost regal air, it soothed him, crooning his name.
"Yuichi…Yuichi Natsuhara, it's time to get up."
Though it was obvious the voice was that of a stranger, it felt vaguely familiar. For a moment, Yuichi wondered if he had passed away; perhaps the voice was that of his long-dead mother come to welcome him to the afterlife. He wondered if he even deserved to go to the same place as that warm and tender voice, considering how his inattentiveness had effectively restarted the cycle of the Natsuhara family curse.
But as otherworldly as the voice seemed, Yuichi had a feeling it wasn't his mother. There was a maternal feel to the voice, but there was an open and boundless comfort that poured from the voice that seemed like it just couldn't fit in one mortal woman.
"Yuichi Natsuhara, you've been a loyal servant all of these years, but I must ask that you to witness my plan, rather than sleep through it. I promise I will make it up to you."
NOW Yuichi understood who the voice was.
Groaning from the still almost unbearable aches, he tried to sit up. When his arms collapsed beneath his hulking weight, he heard a soft tutting, then felt a warmth spread across him as he was bathed in a yellow-green light. His pains were gone, and he instantly shot up into sitting position.
Before him, cradling Jack's small body in her arms, was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen -no offense intended to his dearly departed wife, of course. Everything about her was soft, warm and welcoming. Her heart-shaped face radiated good cheer and her flawless complexion was lightly kissed by the sun, but only enough to provide a golden glow to her alabaster flesh. She was as lithe as a willow, her grass-green hair wound tightly into two buns on each side of her head, with one long braid dangling down into the folds of her shawl, as translucent blue as a dragonfly's wings. Any damaged part of Jack's body she shielded with her flowing clothing.
Yuichi gaped.
"You…you're the Harvest Goddess."
The woman nodded.
"I am," she replied. Yuichi suddenly realized the gentle voice he heard was being spoken to his mind, rather than aloud. She gazed at him piteously. "I apologize for causing you pain; it was unintended, I assure you."
"What?" his eyes widened. "You caused the lightning strike?"
The goddess shook her head. "No, the storm is seaborne, and thus my brother's doing. But the lightning was needed as a catalyst for my plan."
Yuichi stared at her, wondering if the goddess he had made offerings to nearly every day since before Jack was born was, in reality, a lunatic. She smiled at him, sadly.
"I assure you, your grandson never felt the pain you did. He went to sleep before the lightning struck."
Suddenly, Yuichi realized Jack was still not moving. He made a lunge for him, but the goddess held up a hand and Yuichi halted in place.
"I don't like placing anyone under my hold," she thought to him, "but I feel I must if I am to have you listen to my whole plan." Yuichi stared at her, wild with confusion and grief and concern about whether his grandson was still alive and wondering if he could grab the boy and run home, back to any semblance of safety from the wild storm. The goddess seemed to understand his fears and attempted to ally them. "The storm will pass soon enough. In the meantime, the raging of my brother, the God of the Sea, will mask our doings."
Making sure the damage was still hidden from Yuichi's view, she lowered Jack until she could prop him up with one arm.
"He is a fighter, this boy," she looked to Yuichi. "I have not forgotten your devotion and prayers over the years. But know that, because a deity more powerful than me placed the curse upon your family, I am powerless to end it."
Yuichi's heart sank. Had his offerings been for nothing?
"However," the goddess held up a halting finger, "provisions have been made that can end the curse. All that needs happen is for a female Natsuhara to be born. Normally, I could influence the gender at conception, but the curse forbids me. Thanks to the curse, you Natsuhara men are swimming with way too much testosterone for a girl to be produced. So what we need is a sire outside of the Natsuhara family to even the odds."
Yuichi could only shake his head. "But there are no Natsuhara women."
Suddenly, the goddess beamed the warmest, most impish smile Yuichi had ever seen.
"Then we'll have Jack do it."
Yuichi just stared. "No offense, my Goddess, but I do believe you braided your hair a bit too tightly," he attempted to stand, but the spell bound him steadfast. He glanced around the glen for an escape, but realized that was futile; as loony as the Harvest Goddess was talking, she didn't seem inclined to let him go at the moment.
The goddess shrugged. "Perhaps," her gaze suddenly firmed and she stared back, dauntless, "but I am also tired of watching how the fruit of two of my servants' love is contorted into something that brings misery and loss. "Your bloodline was cursed because my sister, the Goddess of the Sky, fell in love with your ancestor, Kojiro."
The goddess looked down at the child in her arms.
"In order to carry a mortal child, my sister had to focus much of her own power into his development," she told Yuichi. "It left her vulnerable as she, herself, had to take on a mortal form until his birth. But a few days before she was to give birth, someone attacked her."
Yuichi blinked in surprise.
"To this day, I'm not sure who did it, but Kojiro came running to my spring, screaming for help and covered in his wife's blood. She was dead by the time I got there, but I managed to save her unborn son."
The Harvest Goddess stroked the mop of brown-black hair.
"My brother was distraught when he found out. He blamed Kojiro for bedding her and causing her mortal state," she continued, "but I would not let him wipe out your bloodline. He tried destroying the village with floods and stormy seas, cutting them off from venturing for help. Finally, the Cosmic Father -ruler of our kind- stepped in and ended the chaos.
"He made a deal to sate my brother's anger and still protect your family. The bloodline would continue, but only in a straight lineage, with one child born per every generation until my sister was reincarnated."
Here, she sighed as one with the weight of the world on her shoulders, and shook her head.
"But the deal didn't extend to lovers of the Natsuharas, so my brother cursed the family so that, once the one child was provided, the woman who bore it would die or leave. In the cases of a Natsuhara taking future lovers, they met with a premature fate."
The goddess fell silent, allowing the information to sink into Yuichi's head. She needn't have bothered, however, as he drank in every word she'd said. For so many years, he had wondered the exact source of the curse and had never known, but the elusive truth was finally revealed.
Nevertheless, to know that a god had stolen his Sara's life and ruined the lives of his ancestors and son was sickening…and terrifying. "Are you telling me the God of the Sea has been picking off our women?"
The Harvest Goddess gave a solemn nod. "It is a very easy thing for him to do, to manipulate the water of a river or the sea to suit his purpose. The human body is made up of a great deal of water."
Suddenly, it all made perfect, horrifying sense to him. His daughter-in-law's love of the drink. His father's fiancé suicide in the river…if she had really jumped, that is. He recalled his own Sara bleeding out during the birth in a way that had the midwife pelting him with questions about possibly hemophilia. All of the other women's deaths in his family were all related, somehow, to liquid.
Yuichi rocked back, nearly falling over as the color drained from his face. "A god has it in for my family," his words came in a shaky breath.
But the goddess smiled at him.
"And a goddess has your back."
Yuichi shook his head in disbelief. "I don't get it," the bile bubbled up in his throat, "why would he hinder the chance of his sister's reincarnation?"
The goddess shook her head sadly.
"I don't quite understand it myself," she said, "but I think he blames himself. They'd had a fight the year before your ancestor was born, and my brother blamed himself for her running to a mortal's arms for comfort. They had always been very close and he probably thinks he could have been there to protect her from whoever attacked her. Even if she is reincarnated, she won't be the same sister he had. She likely will not even remember him, even as a goddess reborn."
"Do you think my ancestor, Kojiro, killed her?"
The goddess shrugged. "His grief seemed real enough, but the marks on her body were human-made, not animal. The only ones who know what really happened are dead."
She extended her hand, fingers together, over Jack's abdomen.
"It is a long-shot, I know," she told him, "but this may be our only chance. Jack is a special boy. He was born as an incomplete hermaphrodite, meaning he has an underdeveloped womb that no one has yet detected. I knew from the moment he was born that nature's fluke could be our key to ending the curse. Lightning is a strong magical catalyst; it will help me make it into a viable, useable organ." She laughed awkwardly at the very squeamish look on Yuichi's face. "Don't think too much about it. If he can produce even one girl, it will be my sister's reincarnation. I'll make his body completely that of a normal boy. The curse will be broken and all will be right with the world."
"But how is he…ur…" Yuichi looked very confused.
"Supposed to have a kid? He'll have to take a male lover, of course. The child will have to be taken from his body, as I can only reroute things so much without my brother or another god running off to tell the Cosmic Father. He won't be subjected to a woman's bleedings, so I'll see to it that he won't give away our secret until the…'occasion' for fertility presents itself ," she emphasized the word "occasion" in a way that would have made Yuichi blush had he still been a young man, courting Sara.
She looked at Yuichi with pleading eyes.
"I can only do this if you allow me. May I?"
Yuichi looked at Jack's small body, still lightning-damaged and frail. The weight of his family lay on those tiny shoulders -an enormous undertaking that the boy never had a chance to accept or turn away. How could he make that decision for him?
As he looked at Jack's sleeping form, he decided that, if Jack had any chance for happiness, regardless of how strange the Harvest Goddess' plans were, they could decide when the time came.
Yuichi nodded.
The goddess began to chant softly. Her palm suddenly glowed with a soft, bright pink light, which she then pressed into Jack's tiny body. After the pink light had disappeared, she embraced Jack, a brilliant green light covering him from toe to crown.
Within moments, all signs of the storm's damage were gone, the boy's clothes magically repaired. Gently, she transferred Jack to his grandfather awaiting arms and filled him in on the last details of her plan.