The sound of crashing waves battered against buildings, houses, fences, everything...The sound of a distant baby's cry was heard throughout the small village, a baby in such distress, the sound of the waves slowly making those exact cries softened.
"It's a baby!" One voice shouted.
"Bring it inside! Hurry!" Came another.
And then a third. "Just let 'im drown!"
"Get back into the flood room, Takeiyo! Hurry up, now!" The first came around again, booming.
Now, a fourth voice, a strong, bold voice, came into hearing range. "We don't have enough bedding in our structure, at the moment. We can do nothing about this child. Leave it outside."
"Leave it outside! Are you mad!" The second voice screamed. She swiftly captured the muddied, skin soakened infant into her arms. "I will not leave this child out here to die! What kind of director are you to even suggest something like that!"
"I'm the kind of director that values our budgets! If we foster this child, we will definitely go broke having to pay for all of the necessities that a bloody infant like this will require! Leave it to die!"
"Let go, director, sir! Let go!"
"Naomi! I am not playing around here!"
A giant gust of chillingly wet air caused the three still present voices to soften, dissolving their sentenses into vapor.
Nowaki's slightly dampening eyes shot open. The sound of late summer cicadas filled his ears. Closing his drying eyes to fully embrace the comforting sound, Nowaki let out a gentle sigh. Today was the day, three long years ago, that Nowaki was found on the doorsteps of Kusama orphanage.
Nowaki Kusama
Age: 4
Location: Kusama Orphanage
Status: Beginning to fall
Due to the fright of his nightmare, not wanting to move in the slightest, Nowaki decided to himself that he would stay in the comforting folds of his bed a little longer.
Not even realizing the flying minutes, an hour had past Nowaki's usual awakening time. Naomi, a little curious as to the fact of this, went to go check on the boy.
Stopping herself by the wooden post of the door, Naomi peeked her head into the room slowly. Noticing a gentle quiver beneath the comforter of the lowest bed caused Naomi's impulse to enter the room, her body following shortly after.
Sitting herself lightly down on the creaky-old bed, Naomi's arm stretched outward. Placing it on, what she assumed to be, the arch of Nowaki's back. Naomi felt the light tremor to slowly cease, but sadly not for long. Nowaki's small back jolted in fright when he heard Takeiyo bounce furiously on the bed above.
His head swooping down off the side of the safety railing, Takeiyo began to shout, "Naomi-san! What are you doing? Why does he get a special 'good morning'!"
Takeiyo's shout abruptly awakened his partener-in-crime, Miko. "Naomi-san! Why do you always give Nowaki special treatment!"
Naomi sighed heavily, her arm dropping from Nowaki's arched back. Standing up slowly, she placed her hands on both of her hips. "When both of you had nightmares, I would comfort you in the exact same way. Don't you forget that," and with that note, left the room.
"Ugh, what a baby you are, Nowaki," Takeiyo huffed, jumping down from his bunk with a thump.
"Yeah, you really need to grow up, you dummy," Miko added, sliding out of his single, separate sleeper. The two of them leaving the room allowed Nowaki to curl even deeper into his ball. Wrapping his head in his arms, his legs tucking into his chest, Nowaki gave himself permission to close his eyes, letting the still present warmth of Naomi's touch fill his core.
Once another hour had passed, causing it to be nine in the morning, Naomi re-entered Nowaki's now "empty-of-negative energy" room. With no Takeiyo or Miko around, Naomi was free to do as she pleased. With that, she swiftly scooped Nowaki, covers and all, into her arms. Rocking him back and forth, playing with his dark hair, Naomi tried her dearest to lull the shaken child into a more peacful state.
Closing his eyes at the touch, Nowaki leaned his head gently against what was probably Naomi's bosom, but this only made her encase him tighter.
"You're very warm, Naomi-san..." Nowaki whispered peacefully. Not responding, Naomi continued to affectionately soothe the small boy, brushing his over-grown bangs out of his gently shut eyes. The feel of this strangely made Nowaki remember his unpleasant dream. Wanting to now address the reason for his earlier fright, Nowaki let the skins of his eye lids slowly part, his deep blue orbs becoming present.
"Naomi-san," Nowaki began in a gentle whisper. "Today was the day my mommy and my daddy left me on Kusama-san's porch." Gasping lightly at this statement, the force of her tears being desperately choked back, Naomi nodded her head to show her understanding of this.
"Can you tell me what it was like, Naomi-san? What it was like on that day?" Nowaki asked in a much more curious voice, his tone rising above his previous whisper.
Naomi was a tad hesitant about this, but nodded her head once again. It was Nowaki's life, after all. Keeping him in the dark about something that occured in his past wouldn't last forever. "It was typhoon season," she began in a strong, story-telling tone. "There was rain and rising water everywhere the eyes could see. Nowaki-kun, you know that the Kusama Orphanage is located near a dam, right?" Nowaki nodded. Continuing, Naomi picked up on her open thought. "Well, the force of the growing waters caused the secures that held that dam together to burst, causing our small village to flood.
We had thought we heard a baby crying prior to this catastrophic event, but we honestly pushed it off as the wind. Then, when the water began to rush down the streets, myself and Kusama-san ran to the front door in worry that there was actually a baby in turmoil somewhere. And then," she paused, taking a deep breath, "there you were."
Nowaki's curious eyes searched Naomi's face for some type of conclusion. When she looked down at him, he had received exactly what he was waiting for: her gentle smile.
Nowaki was now confused. It was only him there on that porch? Where were his parents? They had just ran to the orphanage during a typhoon, placed their infant child on a muddy porch, and fled? Nowaki wanted more answers. "Were my parents there, Naomi-san?"
Naomi shook her head apologetically at this, saying, "They were no where in sight, Nowaki-kun. They must have sought out shelter somewhere nearby..."
Nowaki's face wrinkled at this. "You've never seen them? You don't know what they look like, Naomi-san?" Naomi's smile faded at this, but her lips did not become harsh. Fully craddling Nowaki into her arms, she shifted herself, placing her socked feet on the cold wooden floor. Clinging to Naomi's chest to assure his safety, Nowaki looked up at the woman. "What are you doing, Naomi-san?" He asked sincerely.
Once their little journey was over, Naomi placed Nowaki down on his feet lightly. They were standing in front of the randomly placed dress-up mirror, both of them looking intently at their reflections. "Nowaki-kun, I haven't seen your parents, but," she pushed Nowaki slightly forward, "I do know what they look like."
Nowaki's head shot up at Naomi with concern at this. "What do they look like, Naomi-san?" Smiling gently, Naomi placed her right hand on Nowaki's head, his soft hair sticking through her fingers. Pushing down on it, she made Nowaki look at himself in the mirror again.
"They look just like this, Nowaki-kun. What you are seeing right now is a combination of your mother and your father, together...as one." Naomi's voice was soft and low when she spoke those words, sincerity lingering on every vowel.
Nowaki gently shrugged himself away from Naomi's supporting hand, walking closer to the mirror. Looking at it as if inspecting the piece of reflective material, Nowaki looked himself up and down multiple times. After his routine of analyzation was complete, Nowaki softly placed the palm of his hand on the cool surface of the mirror. Letting his hand slowly fall, leaving a small trace of finger smudges, to his side, he walked closer to the mirror.
Just an inch from the reflective frame, Nowaki did something that made Naomi confused: he began to embrace the mirror. What came next made the woman hold her heart dearly. Nowaki had sweetly nuzzled his head against the glass-like element, breathing out lightly before whispering, "I love you, mommy and daddy..."
Her heart almost bursting, Naomi threw her wavering arms around Nowaki, pulling him backward and away from the mirror. This action made Nowaki terribly confused. "Naomi-san, what are you doing?" He felt warm tears fall onto the top of his head. "Naomi-san, why are you crying?"
Releasing him, Naomi slowly spun Nowaki around to face her, gently brushing her hand across the soft skin of his cheek. "You'll understand when you're older, Nowaki-kun...You'll understand when you're older..."
This explanation made Nowaki desire to be older. Naomi, still crying gently, stood up tall, towering immensely over Nowaki as she directed her walk to the exit of the multiple-person bedroom. Turning around before her exit was complete, Naomi voiced in, what seemed to be, a whisper, "Oh, also...Happy Birthday, Nowaki-kun..."
Hearing the whisper clearly, Nowaki looked over at Naomi with a bright smile. "Happy Birthday to you, too, Naomi-san!" He cheered happily, feeling the need to wish the special affair back to her in response. Watching her dash out of the room, her tears leaving a trail of crystalline droplettes on the floor, Nowaki's smile faded.
After two short minutes, Nowaki stood himself upward, using his steady feet to move him closer to the mirror. Placing his hand on the cold surface once more, the boy, only four years of age, softly whispered, "And Happy Birthday to you as well, mommy and daddy..."
