A Cry To The Heavens, A Cry To You

Chapter 24

Hell.

That was what Yuri looked like, and felt like. Hell.

Waka was trying to get her to talk about what had happened, but she wouldn't say anything, too traumatized by the sudden memories of the dream.

"Yuri-Chan?" Waka called to her, "what nightmare did you have to make you react so violently?"

She only stared at her hands, as he held her close. The fit of crying she had just gotten over made Waka worry that she may have been scarred for life, but that wasn't it. For now though, she seemed to be scared.

"Yuri-Chan, please, what happened?" he prodded once again.

"Okah-San….Otoh-San….blood…." she whispered so quietly, her voice fretful.

"….go on…." He whispered just as quietly.

"Otoh-San….murdered, my Okah-San…." She choked slightly.

Waka stilled instantly from the slight rocking movements.

"He left my Okah-San, going off with another woman, and never came back to Sei-An, and it was just when she told him she was pregnant with me as well….as the years went by, she always told me that Otoh-San….went off on a journey….wanting to do something else, I was only three at the time….I believed it….I was six then….and I still believed it, always saying I loved him…and that he would come back soon…." Her voice always came so soft and gentle, but it was hard and shaky now.

Waka listened when she continued on, "When I was nine…I was old enough to understand that he never did go on a journey…and then my mother told me what he did….and we cried for so long together….I replaced my love for my father with an intense, strong hatred."

"When I was twelve, I had just come back from….getting food for my mother….when I didn't hear her greet me…I got worried….I went to investigate….and when…I did…m-my….Okah-San….was….being stabbed to death by Otoh-San!"

She broke down into tears immediately again, and sobbed in hysteria.

Waka could only stare, stare and stare, his eyes very, very wide with astonishment. Yuri was always so cheerful, happy, kind, she would put a smile on anyone's face no matter how depressed they were. How could someone, with such a terrible past beyond belief, be so light hearted?

"When Otoh-San left…Okah-San only had a few minutes…." She continued suddenly. Waka listened.

"She always told me to smile….because smiling lights up the whole world…and then she died instantly after she told me she loved me…she also told me….not too…." She paused, taking a huge shaky breath, "hate Otoh-San...even though….he caused her and myself so much pain…"

Immediately, Waka felt angry, he felt angry at her father, he felt that he needed to kill him or get the gods to give him what he deserved.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't realize anything like that had ever happened."

She didn't answer just lay limp in his arms, and Waka knew she immediately fell asleep once more. He sighed quietly, and took off his hat, his golden hair falling across his shoulders and back, placed it on the ground, and laid Yuri's head down.

"To think someone like you, would have a past like that," he said quietly and looked up at the sky. He honestly wished that he could do something for Yuri, but knowing there was nothing, he put his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said to her motionless form. Waka really had no clue why he was apologizing, he really didn't know, but it was all he could say after hearing something like that.

"I'm sorry…"

He stared at the ground. "I really am."