Scrolls For The Broken Hearted
Chapter 3: A Brother To Both Races
Almost two months have passed by, and everything in our lives has gone for bad to worst. All our joy was scooped up by the devil himself and crushed into miniscule and meaningless dust. I remembered my mother crying as we left the taiyoukai mansion under the foggy rain of the night. I held my mother's hand as she sobbed remorsefully with a wounded heart and a lost love. I looked back at the castle in the hill, and from the window I could see him looking down at us with the darkest face death could ever rejoice over.
He was now Lord of the Western Lands. Not my godfather...
I eventually let a single tear escape from my eyes as I noticed that this curse was really growing upon my mother and I, that this was really occurring, that he really was dead... Everything seemed so perfect and peaceful back when he smiled and strode along the halls of his shelter. I could remember how I always hugged him in the mornings as I felt Sesshoumaru-sama's stinging gaze rip me slowly through my heart. But at the time his jealousy was unnoticeable in my part, and so I did not pay attention to it.
The rain poured down hard as lightning lighted the sky every now and then, as my mother held me in her arms while I had mine around her neck. The trees made my fears increase a hundred fold as I felt like they would at any moment devour us in a matter of seconds. I remembered my mother soothing me silently as I whimpered in fear. She always said "Do not ail, dearest. We shall be fine."
And then I remembered the moment when the messenger informed us of Inutaisho's death. I remembered the way my mother kneeled on the ground as she covered her face and sorrowful tears from me as well as Sesshoumaru- sama. All that time he was glaring down at mother, for he really despised up with ever such a passion. He could not believe that this was happening; his father is dead, and he could do nothing to bring him back from his eternal fate.
But something else irritated him... He could smell the scent of an unborn child in the air; the child in my mother's womb... He triggered his glare towards mother, who was totally clueless of his distressing discovery. I tried in vain to console mother from her sad agony, but nothing seemed to work to ail her in any manner. I looked up at the new Lord of the Western Lands, and I could swear upon my soul that he was mourning ever so much. There was no tear or frown in his face, for his eyes told it all and revealed his true colors in his heart.
He looked at me now, and walked towards both of us, his posture straight as if prepared to make his first official command as a land lord.
"I want you two to leave this place at once," he spoke coldly, "I do not wish to shelter the cause of my own father's ironic and undeserved demise..." My mother heard his words and slowly turned her head up to look at him with tearful eyes filled with anger. She understood his command and his reason, and so looked down at me and motioned me to stand. She touched my head and pointed my footsteps towards the door.
"We will do as you desire," she responded, "but let me tell ye that it was not my fault... Blame it upon your father's killer..."
After she said her final words, I did not say any final farewells to him like I hoped I would. I would never say anything to him as long as he had a face like that. So I did not speak a word. And when I turned to the window and saw his dark face, I never saw him again since...
My mother and I eventually returned to our village, only to noticed that our home was disintegrated into debris and burnt into particles of nothingness. We looked upon our everything down in our bosoms, watching with gloom the sight before us as the rain pitter-pattered down upon the burnt lilacs that grew on our walls. I suppose the humans did not wish to see us again, for we in some way betrayed them. Nevertheless we mourned like newborns, our minds possibly what we have done to deserve such fateful misery upon ourselves... And so without any words or any complaints, we moved on road north, hoping that perhaps something of joy or cheerfulness would come upon our lives soon.
But I do not want to make my heart mourn no more like before. So I shall try and shorten our tail a pinch only...
Eventually we came upon an abandoned cottage near the eastern lands, right a few minutes from the ocean. It was really a place to console yourself and soothe down your worries. I could remember throughout the months that I ran to and fro about the ocean, breaking the waves' steady rhythm with my childish thumps and jumps I did. I remembered looking at the vibrant sea shells in the shore; I would always bring one home and add it to my collection inside this small bag I made myself by thanks to my mother's art in needle work.
And through months, I noticed my mother's belly growing more and more. I used to think that she was eating way too much ramen for dinner, but she then explained to me the rules of 'pregnancy'. At the time, her explanations were just a foreign tongue I supposed mothers spoke, but I nodded in so-called agreement nonetheless. Then she took my hand and placed it on her belly, moving it around slowly to different directions.
"Do you feel anything?" she asked me softly, a smile forming across her face and eyes capturing all light from this earth. I looked at her eyes and at same blinked in surprise when I felt a slight bump in my palm. I gasped at her like any child would when they encountered something phenomenal.
"Oo! What was that, mama? That was so amazing! What was it, mama? What was it?" My mother laughed at my excited gaze, and so she sighed as if she just took the biggest burden she's ever clenched.
"That was your little brother, deary..." she whispered sweetly. I stayed silent, my mind confused all of a sudden, for how could a child be inside my mother's stomach? How was it possible?
"A brother...?" I asked smiling nonetheless, "a little... brother?" My mother nodded caringly, and yet again I felt another bump in my hand. I looked at her stomach, and back at her eyes again.
"But, mother. Why will you not let him out? Will he not suffocate?" My mother laughed again, and motioned me to sit next to her.
"The baby is not ready to come out yet, Reyhana. He has to wait a while before he greets the world." She caressed my hair as I lied my head on her bosom sleepily. "He shall come soon, so ail not, my dear." She rubbed her belly gently, as she looked at it with eyes that suddenly seemed opposite from her smile. She now frowned her face, and her eyes shined, as if tears were begging of her conscience to let loose.
At the time I thought her tears were tears of joy, but I never knew she was actually mourning for the birth of my brother. I, nonetheless, could not wait until the little creature was born, for I would finally have a companion to entertain myself with during my times of boredom and gloominess. I would play with him all day without a worry in the world...
But I looked at my mother covering her eyes now, watching the tears trail down her sleeves and onto her lap. I rubbed her arms like I always did when she was in this state of darkness, and it worked up until now... It seemed her pain was beyond my knowledge to heal. So I stood behind her arching persona and hugged her head concernedly. I knew nothing more to do other than this...
And something I noticed back in these days of solemnity was this: every time my mother wept, it always seemed the weather altered to cooperate with her ailing sobs and mourning tears. Reason being that the rain poured down from the gray clouds above... That was something that stayed on my mind 'til today...
Months have passed by, and I was sitting outside the rising sun with the most worrisome face I bet I have worn yet at that time. My eyes were red of the tears, for my ears could not budge the ailing sounds of my mother's screams and yells. The village did not care a single pitiful emotion towards my mother's distress; they would let her die on the ground bleeding if it were possible. We had no support except ourselves; yet another reason why tears trailed down my face.
I wanted to enter that cottage and support my mother ever so much, but she told me once and twice to stay outside in case of any intruders. I knew such a thing would not occur, but what else could I do? Disobedient is not my favorite trait.
And for such a long time it seemed that I curled myself in that little hill, letting the wind blow through my face in hopes of allowing my heart to empty itself of pain and worry. But nothing happened. I could still hear my mother's yells and screams; and even from such a distance I could do nothing but cringe with the vociferousness of her pain-struck soul.
I could see villagers pass by, and look at me and listen to my mother's ailing screaming. Their faces showed anything but mercy, and they scolded at me and my home as if they have witness the sight of rotten manure.
"That disgusting child and her mother. Heard she's conceiving yet another half-breed," said one man.
"Ye say not," said the other disgustedly, "why in the seven hells are we even allowing her to live in our midst? Will our children be not in danger by their presence?" I looked at both of them as they suddenly looked at my broken-down childish self, my eyes looking down at my hands, which were in their eyes straight out disgusting; for what was I...? Really, what was I...? Was I youkai? Was I human? Was I faerie? What in the name of Kami was I?
The villagers eventually left, and I was relieved and yet angered by their presence. They looked down upon me without shame, as if they were the ones stronger than me. But since when did they have the ultimate authority over me? No one ever said that creatures without powers were stronger than half- breeds. Whoever did say so is utterly wrong in theory...
I clenched my fist and sneered at my own self, looking at the scars that the children have given me past these months in this residence. They have thrown everything imaginable to man kind when I ever approached them: rocks, pebbles, metal sword handles, horseshoes, and even sometimes small daggers. I have had my arms scarred all around, and part of my ankles as well. I cursed myself even more, for even though I spoke the truth, it fell upon deaf ears...
But then my thoughts were mingled away, as I heard the cry of a newborn child in midst of my mother's deteriorating yells of agony. I gladdened almost immediately as I ran towards the cottage and jumped inside, my smile erasing upon my face as I beheld my mother filled with blood around her, and a child in her hands crying as if it was the only thing it knew to do.
I cried out in worry as I knelt down beside her and gazed at the baby in her reddened hands. But even thought the sight was bloody, it was the best sight I have seen yet.
"Lo and behold your little brother, deary" she panted slowly, slowly handing me the bloody child in my own hands.
"Be gentle," she said cautiously, her face trinkling with sweat, but a with a smile as always. I held the child in my hands, and I did not know what to say or feel as I looked at the little creature crying in my embrace. I felt like crying when I looked at it, for now I understood why my mother cried so before. He was cursed, just like me... And he had to live in this world and go through the same pains I did; maybe even worse. I could smell the same scent of Inutaisho, and I immediately discovered that he was the father of my dear sibling.
I looked at my mother with question. "What will you call him, mama?" My mother shrugged with a grin in her face, and told me to choose one for him. I looked again at the babe, but what was I to know? I knew nothing about children, let alone names. But then I thought of a name the villagers used to jeer at him, a name I thought was very pretty...
"How about Inuyasha?" I asked looking at her approving face and then back at his. I caressed his cheek with my finger, not caring about his annoying wails. "Do you like that, brother? Inuyasha... It's perfect..."
Next Scroll: 'Til Death Do Us Part
