The Family Secret
By. Tate Icasa
Chapter Two
A Visit With Dad
"Dad!" I shout, slamming the door behind me, forgetting that Amiya and Shoko were following me.
Dad ruffles my hair, completely messing it up, but I don't care. Then he holds me at arms lenght and looks me over.
"You got taller." he says finally. I roll my eyes and swat at him. Dad can be such a dork sometimes. But I grin and nod, then I hug him.
Dad and I get along pretty well, given that we only see each other once a month. He takes me out into the backyard so I can show him my new martial arts skills. This year he's actually agreed to spar with me. I know I can't beat him yet, though.
After a while, mom calls us inside for supper. She's made beef-flavored Ramen, like she dies every time Dad comes to visit, because it's his favorite. None of us say very much during dinner, and I know that very soon Dad is going to have to leave.
First, Mom makes us all clean up the kitchen, even Dad. Then we all sit cross-legged on the ground, in a circle in front of the huge tree in our back yard. Dad tells us old myths about Sengoku Jidai, the Age of the Warring States, until it's almost too dark to see.
"Mou!" I hear him curse under his breath.
"Nani?" I ask.
He seems surprised that I heard him. "I'm late. I should be leaving now."
I know what's coming next, and sure enough, the next words mom says are, "Taori, say goodbye to your father and go to bed."
I've noticed two things. First, mom never says dad's name. I don't even know it. And second, I've never seen dad leave, I always get sent to bed..
I do as she says, though, and Amiya comes with me. We don't stay up long, because we want to be wide awake tomorrow, for her last day in town.
It's a quiet night, and I don't dream. I hardly ever dream. Amiya says she dreams all the time, but she won't tell me what she dreams about. I don't mind, but I add it to my list of Fishy Things.
We have another lazy day, except this time I teach Amiya archery. I'm great with a bow and arrow. Everyone says it's a gift I inherited from my mother, but I say it's just practice.
Mom orders us a pizza and we rent a movie and stay up until the stars come out. Mom says' Amiya's family is going to leave seen, so I get sent to bed. I sight and go upstairs. Then I get an idea.
I lock my door the second I'm inside, and scribble a quick message on the notebook on my desk. I toss some cloths and a couple of candy bars into my school back and pick up a flashlight, turning out the light so everyone will think I"m asleep. Then I put the bag over my shoulder and sit by the window, watching.
Mom and Amiya's family talk for a while. I can hear snatchets of the conversation, which I shouldn't be able to hear, but none of it makes any sense, so I ignore it. After a few minutes, mom disappears inside the house.
I have my moms old room, so there's a tree right outside the window, and I slip out and watch from the tree branch. Amiya and her family seem kind of cautious, and they open the door to the Shrine and slip inside, one by one.
I drop down from the tree as silently as I can, and peer into the Shrine. Staying as still as possible so they won't notice me. One at a time, they hop down into the old well. I wait a few minutes, but it doesn't look like they're coming back. I step inside, thinking they could have gotten hurt down there, and look into the well. It's empty.
"Amiya?" I call softly. "Shoko?" When no one responds I climb down into the well, think maybe they got out some other way. I get down on my hands and knees, and begin searching the ground for trap doors.
It comes quickly, and I realized I'm falling, slowly, trough a blue, starry place. It's like falling through water. I try to turn, but it's hard and slow, and there's nothing there anyway. As quickly as it had come, the falling stops. I'm sitting on my ands and knees, in the bottom of the well.
But it's not the same well. I can see the stars above, and a tiny cresent moon. There's a vine growing up the side of the well, so I climb it, and siton the edge of the well.
I can see people not too far away, and I guess they must be Amiya and her family. "Oi!" I call.
I see them stop and turn, before they notice me and start running. It doesn't take them long to reach me, and now I can see for sure that it's Amiya's family.
"Taori!" Amiya's mother exclaims
"How did you get here?" Her father asks.
"Same way you did. I followed you." I can see it in his eyes, he's going to send me back. Suddenly, I realize that I don't want to go back there. There is boring, and, maybe there's something interesting here. "Please, can I stay?"
"Does your mother know you're here, Taori?" he asks.
"I left her a not." I say, shrugging.
He seems to consider this a moment before nodding.
"Amiya," he says, "Run to the village and inform Kaede and Inuyasha of what has transpired here." He leans over and whispers something in her ear before she runs off. He takes something out of his robes and scratches something onto it. After a second, I realize he's writing a message on the back of an excorsism surta. He drops it into the well.
"Come on, then," Amiya's mother says. "If we start walking, we can reach the village by dawn."
Her father nods.
"Oi!" I exclaim. "Will one of you tell me where we are?"
Amiya's parent exchange a glance. Shoko shakes his head and begins to sign an explainationg. I understand very little of what he's signing, but I get enough to understand that we're in Sengoku Jidai, which is enough to knock the sense out of any normal person.
We begin to walk.