AN Sorry for the wait, wasn't able to update this chapter on time since I was away for three nights last week. This chapter is rather... flash-backy. Sorry if you guys don't like that much but I prefer showing events rather than telling them, which you're supposed to do anyway. Also angst. Oh the angst. I do realise that I tend to skim over things and tell what has happened before a new scene but I do so because that way I can get the boring parts out of the way and move onto the main plot. Does this annoy you, readers? Now, enough from me, onto the main act!

Chapter Three - Betrayal

It was autumn, the year before Ichirou left to chase after his dream. The trees were turning golden and brown and in his forest sanctuary the teenager sat on a boulder, peering down at a scroll, trying to get the scribbles there to make some form of semblance in his mind.

"Onii-san!" Ichirou was rudely pulled away from his studies by one younger sister, having just entered the clearing. She wasn't wearing shoes, her feet were dirty, fallen leaves poked out of her hair. Her eyes were red and her chest heaved; she was a mess and out of breath. "I don't want to get married!" The girl ran to her older brother and pounced him, wrapping her arms tightly around his middle before crying overtook her.

Ichirou, trying to breathe and comprehend his little sister's sudden swell of emotions blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Married? What are you talking about?"

Hitomi looked up from his chest, lip trembling and tears flowing freely from her mismatched eyes. "I heard mother saying how I was getting to that age and that all my sisters had been getting motherly near my age and how I have shown no interest in boys then she began going through a list of the boys in the village and-"

"Hitomi, calm down." Ichirou sat himself down on the rock and patted his knees. His sister, sobbing softly perched on her older brother, marginally relaxing as he rubbed her shoulders and hummed a song for her.

Her frantic inhales gradually became deeper and even and the sobs became less violent and less frequent. Under his ministrations her tensed up shoulder and neck muscles began to relax.

"You know how mother is Hitomi-chan," Ichirou smiled, though inside his insides were turned to mush with the idea that his sister might ever want to leave him. "She loves to meddle." Hitomi laughed a little at that, Ichirou took that as a good sign.

"But I don't want to ever get married Ichirou." The older brother smiled, moving away from his younger sister's shoulders to her hair. It was pretty badly tangled up.

"One day you will," he declared, easing out a messy bit of her hair with practised ease. "All girls grow up and get married."

"I won't!" His sister shook her head with vigour, undoing all of his hard work. "Hitomi never wants to get married! I promise to always stay with my brother!"

As Onigumo stared into the still growing fire that scene replayed in his mind. How the autumn leaves that fell softly from the sky to get tangled in an unruly sister's hair mimicked the flames he was now looking into.

"Ichirou?" That day her kosode was very simple, a simple white and yellow pattern.

"Is something wrong, older brother?" Her mo-bakama was a plain green; it offset the main pattern quite nicely.

"Oi! Ichirou!" Onigumo's eyes snapped from his daydream, pinning onto his younger brother's with deadly accuracy. Daiki, startled, stumbled back. His brother, though always antisocial had never scared the younger sibling with so much as a glance before.

"What happened, Daiki?" Onigumo asked, resisting the urge to crack his knuckles, his recent intimidation tactic.

As his younger brother described the happenings of that day Onigumo could see it clearly, as if he had seen but had forgotten about it for a very long time. It was late summer, the year he hadn't returned and when he was currently being tortured by a small band of rogues.

Hitomi had been lonely without her older brother, that much had been obvious. According to Daiki she had hardly left the hut; her skin, which had been quite dark for a woman, had become unnaturally pale. She hardly ate, hardly drank and she clung onto Daiki like a life-line.

It was because Ichirou hadn't returned, Daiki explained. Hitomi had waited out most of the summer in a half-awake anxiety attack. She attacked on whoever entered the hut like a starved animal, only to reject them when she didn't find a boy with black eyes and slightly wavy black hair. But, as summer ended she had receded into herself, bit by bit. Daiki said he had never seen her so bad.

She had refused to eat; Onigumo felt a flash of regret. She had slept the day away, Onigumo felt inclinations of guilt. She had married someone; Onigumo was stabbed in the back.

Daiki explained, pausing to introduce Onigumo to his wife, that it had been a stranger that had decided to marry their sister. Onigumo had shaken off the thin stump of a woman his brother called Okoi, ignoring her attempts to veer the conversation away from a sister she had only briefly known.

As Daiki continued weaving his tale Onigumo could see everything. A hot summer's day, a travelling young noble, a younger sister trailing behind an older brother. He saw with his own eyes as he stared into the central fire. She stumbled along in front of his horse, causing the beast to rear up and unseat its rider with a thump. He observed as Hitomi waited for punishment to be given, bored of dullness and wanting to feel something other than grief.

Then, his eyes widened in amazement as the young noble laughed and wiped off his pants, bowing to the farmer girl in apology as she stared at him, uncomprehending. He excused himself for not keeping better control of his animal and for not watching out for his surroundings. Onigumo could only gape with his sister as the would-be-suitor gave her a sakura flavoured delicacy, could only look on with shock as the fog cleared from his sister's eyes.

"Hitomi never wants to get married!"

Some part of him realised that that was a foolish thing for a boy to latch on to. It was a stupid promise for a girl who had never been in love to make. She had slandered that promise as her eyes rose to slowly meet those of her to-be-husband.

"I promise to always stay with my brother!"

A true case of 'love at first sight' she forgot a brother who might be dead, who might never come back. Onigumo realised as the heat of the first burned his eyes that she had forsaken him as he had forsaken her. He hadn't returned, she had moved on. It was only natural.

But why did she leave him?

Autumn heightened the feelings growing inside of Onigumo. It was a season when leaves fell from trees in furies, colours of fire and earth. It was the season when things started dying and the warm bliss began to be replaced with a chilling numb. The leaves, he thought, as they floated to the ground in their beautiful death, were possibly his favourite part to the season. Onigumo almost sighed as he dragged his rake across the ground of the garden, fixing perfection, as he put it.

Tracking down the family had been the hard part, but once he had their last name it was merely a matter of asking around. Oddly enough, the clan his sister had married into took after her own name; Hitomi. Hitomi no Hitomi was what she was formally called, Onigumo would have found it humorous if he hadn't known her.

Getting a job was easy enough, he merely asked for anything to do, since Ishio, his current persona, was pretty desperate. Saving up for money to buy rare medicine to heal a sick parent made him that way, of course. Onigumo had almost expected to be refused but had instead managed to get a job as an all-around servant. He wasn't trusted enough to be a chef or a personal servant so he was the one who did the odd-jobs.

He did all the things the servants who had been there longer thought they might get away with giving to him. Was it beginning to look rainy, he had to fetch the clothes that were drying outside. If the gardener had a cold he had to rake the garden.

The tasks he was presented with were so below him that Onigumo did them without any extra effort in his own part. So what if he got told off and was never going to get anywhere on the servants' social hierarchy? He didn't need to make a good image of himself for a long time; he was only here to rescue his sister.

It was obvious to him that she had only agreed to getting married because he hadn't returned. Their parents probably forced her into an unhappy married life; not wanting an old maid hanging around their family. What did this lord have that Onigumo couldn't provide? He was sure that she had been forced into this marriage by their parents, perhaps they had arranged a yobai* with the young suitor?

Onigumo sighed and bundled up more of the fallen leaves, trying to get them all into a pile so that way he wouldn't have to make many trips to rid them. He couldn't change the past, he'd just have to try and fix it as best he could. And boy, did he have a lot to fix.

Hitomi, having just have delivered the lord's child, was due to come from her room any day now. He would see her, talk to her first. Onigumo would transform back to her older brother, being the shoulder she cried on and her rescuer from this world of closed doors and hidden meanings. Hitomi would be relieved, apologising profusely for ever doubting that he would survive.

Onigumo dropped his rake and picked up a bundle of leaves, savouring their musty scent. She had to have not wanted this, she would come with him and everything would go back to normal.

Hitomi sighed and bounced her boy on her hip, smiling at his sleepy face and patting the down-like hair that topped his head. He was perfect. Unlike her family she had given birth to a son first of all and unlike she he was perfect. Kiyomori said that her eyes were what attracted him to her in the first place; she stood out from the crowd. But, as Hitomi had realised growing up, half-blindness was a bother.

Being born a farmer and having no depth perception were apparently not a good match for the now-noble. While other ladies could at least apply their own make-up if needed Hitomi was useless. Mirrors made her confuse the way things should be going and trying to apply makeup with the right pressure was impossible. Servants were her only option.

Holding her son, Yoshiteru, for the first time had been, well, scary at first. He had been so small and she had been so tired. Hitomi had only held him for a few minutes before grudgingly giving him to his nurse, frightened into this act by the idea that she might drop him. Yoshiteru may have been purple and pruney but to his mother she thought that he was beautiful from the first second she laid eyes on him.

Kiyomori had come by to see his son after she had rested and had given her a deep kiss, right in front of the servants! Hitomi thought that she ought to have been embarrassed, but found that basking in her husband's love counteracted those emotions rather perfectly. Indeed, Hitomi thanked all the gods that she knew for letting her meet and marry her current husband. He was the second son to the reigning lord, but Hitomi wouldn't have had it any other way. The older brother was too scary for her tastes, all focused on war and conquest.

Hitomi paused her little hopping motions to run a finger down Yoshiteru's nose, awed by the softness and the healthy sheen of his skin. How she had gone into that dark place after his birth was anyone's guess. It was like her mood as a teenager, though completely different.

Worries of death or sickness of her baby had plagued her relentlessly and everything had been so hopeless for her to control. Kiyomori had persevered to help raise her dark mood but he hadn't been successful. Hitomi felt useless and needless as servants breastfed, changed and washed her joy.

This depression had only stopped when Kiyomori had taken drastic measures. He had pulled her to her feet, slapped her, and pushed her into a bath-house where ice-cold water was waiting for her. She had been washed till her skin was raw from scrubbing then wrapped in thick clothes.

Hitomi had been flabbergasted. Shivering and shocked she was surprised when Kiyomori's stern expression broke as his lip trembled before he pulled her into a tight embrace. Hitomi had blushed into his chest as he told her that he still loved her, would always love her. With a serious tone he had assured her that in the unlikely event of Yoshiteru's death he would mourn with her but, would prefer having more children instead of mulling about a future unlikely to happen.

Her blush had deepened then as she took on his meaning. Somewhere she realised she wasn't opposed to the idea, which reduced her to a blubbering streak of red. That had been enough to force her out of her depression. Though she loved Yoshiteru with all her heart she realised that she had servants to help her and in the worst case she could always have more children.

But, for now, Hitomi was happy taking her first steps outside with her baby boy on her hip. Of course, her servants accompanied her, but Hitomi had gradually learnt to push them out of her sphere of awareness. Which was why, when a young man raking the garden caught her attention, Hitomi was surprised.

He looked so achingly familiar. Yoshiteru dropped out of her notice for a few seconds and her physically aching abdomen was replaced with the feel of her chest tightening. Black hair, tied low to the base of the neck did little to hide the curl to it.

'No.' Her heart throbbed.

He was a tall and thin stick of a man, muscles lean rather than bulgy and fingers long and spindle like.

'It can't be...' Her limbs shook.

When black eyes rose to meet hers Hitomi almost dropped Yoshiteru.

'Impossible.' Her throat tightened.

He was dead. She knew he was dead. He was dead and that's why he never came back. He wasn't here right now; he hadn't come back a year ago. Why now? Where had he been? No, it wasn't him, because he was dead. She had told herself that he was dead. Daiki, mother, father, Tsubame, the village miko all said that he was dead so he had to be. He was dead, but that didn't stop the fact that he was here.

"Who... who are you?" she whispered, handing Yoshiteru to a suddenly anxious nurse. The man's finger's tightened around the rake, he stood straight. His eyes betrayed no emotion, which was how Hitomi knew she had been right.

"Ishio to some." The man, Hitomi refused to call him by his name until he confirmed it, pointedly looked to the maid on her left.

"Matsu, Go, would you please leave us; I would like to introduce myself to the new servant and get to know him." Hitomi put on a forced smile, trying to act nonchalant. The two maids nodded, having learnt long ago that their master's wife insisted upon knowing everyone's name. Go reached to her mistress and took Yoshiteru off her, knowing that he was getting hungry. As they turned around the smile dropped off of Hitomi's face. The servants retreated back to the garden porch but not any further; to allow her alone with a male servant would be scandalous in the least.

Hitomi, satisfied that they were out of hearing made a point of not turning to the man. "You are supposed to be dead."

He stiffened and leaned on his rake. "Ichirou did die last year, I call myself Onigumo now." Her heart felt like it was breaking all over again. He was different, but, she supposed, so was she. He talked in less formal manner than he had before, but she could hint the slightest accent change; less back-water, more accurate in its carry out...

All she could do was whisper, "Why didn't you come back?" Her head lifted so she could look into his face. It was harsher. His chin stood out more; he had lost the baby-fat that had made his face look young. Hitomi did not like the slightly crazed gleam that came to his eye when he spoke next.

"I did. You were gone." Hitomi could feel the accusation in his voice. He ran a hand through his hair, obviously agitated. But, for once in her life she felt like standing up for herself.

"You promised you'd return in a year. What was I supposed to do, wait my life in that village, forever hoping you'd come back? I hated that place! Ever since that day the only reason I stayed there was because of you, when you didn't come back I lost all attachment." Hitomi fought to keep her emotions in check, tried to put a mask on her face like her brother had done. It wasn't working very well. Her lips trembled, her eyebrows tightened.

"You promised you'd stay by me!" he hissed, knuckles turning white. "I thought that would warrant more faith in you but obviously I was wrong." Ichi- no, Onigumo tapped his foot impatiently. Wherever he had gone to had shortened his temper. Hitomi blinked away the weakness in her attempt at an icy mask, turning her head suddenly in the hope that he wouldn't see the tears she had let escape.

Silence enveloped them. Hitomi took deep breaths, steadying herself and dabbed away at her eyes with the edge of her sleeve.

"I'm sorry, but not for everything." She had tried to be angry at him, tried to push him away; but it didn't work. She was his little sister and even if they had changed, it didn't stop the fact that she would keep on admiring him until the day she died. "I love my husband but, even so, I missed you."

The siblings stood apart from one another, Onigumo never having had liked touch whilst Hitomi didn't want awkward questions from her maids. All she knew was that she suddenly felt very relieved and very much wanted a hug.

"How long will you stay?" she asked, allowing a bubble of hope to rise slightly within her. She kept it on a leash though; her dreams surrounding Ichirou had crashed before, she wasn't willing to place the same trust in Onigumo.

"As long as it takes," Onigumo grinned, hands relaxing marginally from their perch on the rake.

Hitomi found herself suddenly elated. Her brother would stay! However, her feelings of happiness would have dissipated if she had the ability to read Onigumo's thoughts. He pushed forward his outward farce with darker thoughts in mind.

AN
*Basically where the guy courting the woman would sleep with her to either ensure marriage or so they could find if they were sexually capable. Parents could be involved, often sleeping at a friend's hut when the yobai was due to occur. Many thanks to Hagakure Productions.