Author's Notes:
The drama begins.
-Zee
"Souji-kun is so amazing." Chizuru stared at the boy in awe. He looked like he was around her age, but he was so much more talented than she could ever dream of being.
"I agree, Yukimura. Souji is quite the extraordinary student. I truly believe he will become a great warrior one day." She nodded at Shuusai's words. She could easily imagine Souji being very strong one day, but she didn't want to be left behind. Chizuru had a myriad of thoughts swirling through her mind, but one stood out more than the others.
She wanted to join the dojo and become stronger.
And she couldn't wait to share it with her family.
Mayumi groggily rubbed her eyes with her forearm as sunlight streamed into her room, slowly waking up from her much needed sleep. She really didn't want to get up. Everything was too bright and her entire body ached. It took her a long while for her to finally open her eyes then sit up to take in her blurry surroundings. The whole room looked alien to her; from the placement of her futon to the strange and unfamiliar ceiling above her. Had she fallen asleep in a different room and otou-san had just decided to let her sleep there? No, there was no way. No matter where she fell asleep, she would always wind up back in her own room or a room she was familiar with.
Then where was she?
As her eyes began to focus, her confusion slowly turned into realization and then denial. She didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe everyone was gone, but the gaping hole in her heart told her everything she didn't to know. Everything she remembered about that night; the burning, the promise, the screaming— all of it came flooding back to her in one overwhelming wave. She couldn't be in her room anymore because it wasn't there anymore. This wasn't her room. She wasn't at home anymore. This wasn't her village.
Everything was gone.
She didn't even realize she was crying until she felt tears splash against her hand. That was all she needed to finally break down. Everything had happened so quickly - the responsibility that had been thrust upon her and the terror of escaping alive left no room for grief, much less tears. But now all the the adrenaline she had been running on for the last two days was gone, and the emotions that had been restrained finally came pouring out. She had lost her home. her friends, her family; everything. Mayumi had to brace herself against the floor from the torrent and her hand knocked against something half obscured by the blankets. It was her blades.
Grabbing them off the floor, Mayumi clutched the two swords against her chest, hunched over and sobbing. They had been passed down to her by her mother and she had been taught how to use them by her father. They were one of the few things she had left to remember them by, the other being her sister. She looked down beside her where the girl should have been, but Chizuru was nowhere to be found. Panic immediately overtook her and she threw off the blanket with the intention of rushing out to look for the girl, but a stabbing pain in her side left her collapsed on the floor clenching her teeth waiting for the waves of agony to pass.
Mayumi shakily reached down and felt the bandages wrapped around her abdomen. The gunshot wound was still tender from that night and she expected it to stay that way for the next few bullet had pierced straight through, resulting in an ugly and jagged wound. And seeing that the wound hadn't completely healed overnight, she assumed the bullet had most likely been made from silver.
Unable to move much without aggravating her wound, Mayumi took a moment to gather her thoughts. Chizuru wasn't in the room, but there was no way she would wander off by herself in a place she didn't know, so the only reasonable explanation was that someone offered to show her around. A deep breath was all that was needed to confirm her suspicions. She could recognize Chizuru's scent and another one as well; one she didn't know very well, but was able to determine it belonged to either Kondo or Souji. She didn't even realize she had been holding her breath until she finally exhaled and all the tension left her body.
Now shifting her attention to her surroundings, Mayumi saw a tray of food and roll of clean bandages sitting by the door as well as a clean set of clothes, all which was untouched. She carefully laid her swords down on the floor then gently maneuvered herself into a comfortable sitting position and reached for the roll of bandages. She could tell her wound had reopened from her rash movements and opened the thin fabric of the white kimono to see red blooming on the previously white wrap.
"You moron." She cursed quietly at herself while dragging her hand over her face in exasperation. Mayumi unwrapped the bloody bandages from her torso and finally got a look of the wound she had received. There seemed to be some sort of powder that had been placed on the injury in order to stop the bleeding, but now it was turning red as the blood seeped past it. Using the cleaner part of her old bandage, Mayumi put pressure on both sides of the wound until she was sure the bleeding had stopped. She debated on using the powder which she assumed was what was in the jar, but decided against it since it might cause her to heal too quickly and as much as she wanted the infuriating wound to heal, she had to play the part of a weak human.
Now that the most pressing matters had been taken care of, Mayumi could take care of her growling stomach. Even though Kondo had brought them food last night, she let Chizuru eat her fill while she spun a story similar to what happened while leaving out other details. She never thought miso soup could taste so delicious and if her mother could see the way she was scarfing down the food, there would be no doubt she would be immediately be on the end of another lecture on being more ladylike while her father chuckled in the back.
"Otou-san...Okaa-san..." Mayumi slowly placed her chopsticks and empty bowl back onto the tray, solemnly bringing up memories from just a few days ago. What she wouldn't give to hear her mother's caring voice again, lecturing her or otherwise, or her father's warm laugh that could brighten up any cloudy mood. She could feel tears rolling down her face once more. This wasn't something she could just push to the back of her mind, this was her family. The all too fresh memory of her mother's last words to her rang clearly through her mind.
"Mayumi, you are the future of our lineage. You've helped raised both of them since they were born. I have no doubt you will help them grow up into fine adults, like you yourself have become."
Responsibility and praise. Their mother had entrusted the future of her younger siblings to her and she had already failed. In all the commotion and panic, her younger brother had been separated from them as they fled the village and she was in no condition to be going out to look for him now. All she could do was pray he was safe and take care of Chizuru as best she could.
"Nee-san!" Speak of the devil. She quickly wiped away the tears before a very excited Chizuru slid open the sliding door, revealing the little girl and Kondo, who she assumed escorted her back after her little adventure. The girl crashed into the older woman, oblivious to the depressing mood in the room, but Kondo could clearly tell something was wrong. He was no stranger to this situation. He had dealt with it before with Souji, but this was different. They cared and that made things all the more worse.
"Nee-san, I want to join the dojo to get strong like you!" Chizuru was so happy. She was growing up so quickly and after she joined the dojo she could be just like Nee-san. Mayumi was happy for her, she truly was, but the smile in her face was strained and everything cut too deeply for her to truly be happy.
"Nee-san, when are otou-san and okaa-san coming to get us? I want to tell them too!" Mayumi visabally stiffened at the girl's seemingly innocent question. She didn't even have to turn to see that Chizuru's eyes wide and full of excitement, just waiting to share her new found goal with their parents. It seemed that Chizuru still hadn't made the connection that the pain in her heart wasn't from losing the village, but rather from losing their family. Parents and their children share a strong bond since birth and if anything were to happen, either side would be able to feel that.
That's what Mayumi was dealing with.
Everything hurt. It felt like her whole life was now an empty shell. She wanted to give up and join them, but there was one thing keeping her from throwing everything away. She needed to live for her sister and keep her promise to her mother.
"Chizuru…that night- when we had to run away..." She could feel the tears welling up again and was starting to choke up, cutting herself off mid-sentence. It hurt to say it out loud and actually admit it, but it hurt even more knowing she would have to shatter the illusion Chizuru had of their parents still being alive.
"Nee-san, what's wrong? Otou-san and okaa-san got away, didn't they? They're looking for us right now right?" Chizuru's happy expression slowly fell and she clung to Mayumi, burying her face into her kimono like she had always done when she was scared or confused. She didn't understand why Nee-san was saying any of this, but deep down her inner oni already knew the truth. There was an emptiness in her little heart that wasn't there before and no matter how she attempted to distract herself from it, her heart still ached. Chizuru felt arms wrap around her to try and comfort her, but she just felt numb.
"...otou-san and okaa-san stayed behind so-" Mayumi couldn't even finish the sentence. It hurt too much and she knew it would hurt Chizuru, but there was no way of softening to pain. She had to say it.
"-so we could get away. They're gone..." Chizuru didn't want to look at her sister. If she looked that would mean she would see her downcast eyes and solemn expression. She knew Nee-san would never lie to her, but she just wanted to hold on to the belief that their parents were still out there frantically looking for them.
"No! You're lying! They're coming to get us! Just you wait! They'll come and we'll be a family again!" The distraught girl struggled out of the embrace and shoved herself away from her sister, just barely avoiding bumping into Kondo in her distress and missing the heartbroken expression on Mayumi's face. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. Chizuru's world slowly began to crack as memories of her family flooded her mind. Fleeting images of flower crowns in a field, sakura petals falling, and their family smiling; all shattering before her eyes. She could never go back to that time ever again.
"Chizuru…they couldn't have. There was too much fire..." Mayumi tried to reach out for her sister again, but there was no use trying to talk to the girl. Nothing would be able to get through to her.
"Then why didn't you save them too?!" Chizuru's words hit her like a slap in the face. She was right. She could have saved her parents, but she had promised. Promised to not look back and to take care of her siblings.
And oni never go back on their promises.
"I promised okaa-san I would get you out of there-" Mayumi wanted to explain everything to her. Tell her everything okaa-san had told her and the decision she forced her to make, but Chizuru was already too far distraught to listen to reason.
"SHUT UP! Why couldn't you have taken them with us?!"
Her heart was breaking. Was this, in the end, truly her fault?
"Chizuru, I-"
"YOU KILLED THEM! I HATE YOU!" Chizuru barreled out of the room ignoring her sister and Kondo's cry for her; tears blinding her vision as she ran.
Chizuru ran and ran, her tears blurring her vision, until she arrived in front of a familiar room. Her instincts had led her here on a whim, but with everything that was happening this was the only place where she felt safe. She knew Souji was still in class, but she snuck into his room anyway and hid away in the darkest corner of the room, letting her sobs and tears fall freely. She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to go home and back to how it always had been.
A happy family.
Thanks for reading! Tune in next week hopefully for the next chapter!
