Well hi there! Summer was crap...so I didn't write much of...anything really. It was just a smoky, crappy summer.
But I'm here with a new chapter so that's good, right?
RIGHT?
OK ENJOY!
Chapter X
Butterfly
Dear Diary,
It was her who turned my life around. She gave me a purpose at holding on. Those 9 months of grief were worth every second when I heard her cries for the first time.
I knew she was the reason I was still here even though she made it harder.
-R
Eight years later.
"And they all lived happily ever after," Rin spoke softly, closing the book with gentle touch, being careful to not wake the silver-haired child sleeping beside her.
The pattering of the rain on the window matched the rhythmic tones of the electronic monitor. At the child's bedside, attached to the giant machine, were long, clear tube connected to the child's nostrils, giving her extra oxygen to breathe.
Rin's hand brushed away the loose silver strains from the pale face of her daughter. A face of a china doll she once had as a child. She smiled softly at the girl, thankful for another full day with her. Then she leaned down and gently kissed her forehead, pausing to take in her lilac scent.
"Good night, my little butterfly," she whispered against her skin.
She stood up from her position on the bed and took one last glance at her daughter's face in the small, illuminated light from the small lamp in the corner. Her face was that of her father's. Her eyes, her hair, and the way she made facial expressions matched that of the man who destroyed Rin's heart.
And she cursed that fact she couldn't look at the face she loved the most without wanting to cry.
It was one of the hardest parts.
"Mommy?" Rin paused at the quiet voice of her daughter.
She smiled in the dark at her daughter faint figure in bed. "Yes, Chou?"
"Can I hear one more story?"
Rin huffed softly. "You should be going to sleep."
"But I won't be able to sleep without another story!" her daughter whined.
The woman breathed out, walking back to her daughter's bedside, sitting down and taking her small hand into hers. "Alright, one more story. What should we read?" she asked, leaning down to her small bookshelf beside her.
"I want to hear about Daddy."
And Rin paused. Breathing stopped. She swallowed something hard down her throat and sat back up, not glancing at the curious little girl beside her.
Her heart beat was racing again. The same momentum as before when the moment of abandonment and lies hit her eight years earlier. The same man who indeed saw her as nothing but an experiment, a research topic, had begun to raid her mind like he already raided her dreams.
It was why she escaped out into the rural landscape of Japan. A simple village with nobody to question who she was.
Or who she used to be.
She started fresh, pregnant, and learned herself how to live without the demon who'd broke her heart and hung over her shoulders like a parent.
Her daughter never questioned him. Never asked. To her daughter, she and Rin were the normal.
It was our normal. Just the two of us.
Rin took a small leap of faith and questioned her daughter's curiosity. "Chou, what makes you so curious about your father?"
The little girl's eyes moved away, casting a slight sadness in her expression. "Mae told me it was weird to not have a Daddy. She asked me why I didn't have one."
Rin felt a slight urge to walk over to her daughter's friend's house and demand to know what made this conversation rise. She wanted to yell at the parent's face and tell them it was none of their business to know who Chou's father was or ask her why she didn't have one. As these thoughts rose like a gathering storm, the rain outside fell harder like a raging typhoon, matching Rin's growing impatience with some parents. She touched her daughter's hair gently, running her fingers through her soft silver strains.
"There is no reason why you should tell Mae anything like that. The important thing is you have me and I'll always be by your side."
Chou's tiny hand took a hold on Rin's. "But Mommy, I want to know about him. Why is he not here? How did you meet?"
Rin bit her lip, and looked outside at the dark, raindripping window. "Your father…" she took a moment to think before turning back to her daughter with a small smile. "…I met your father when I was at my lowest in high school. He helped me, turned my life around, and…" she took in a breath. "…I-"
"No! I want to hear it through a story! What happened to him? I want to hear the story!"
Rin sighed heavily, realizing her daughter wanted a fairy-tale. She wanted to hear how the little mermaid fell in love with a human only to be betrayed by his one true love.
She wanted to hear the tragedy she didn't know.
"Okay. Once upon a time there was a girl who lived in a small, run down room. There was no running water, no warmth besides her cozy blankets on her bed, and the place was run by an evil man who made sure to make her life miserable. One day she met a prince, or at least she thought was a prince. She didn't think the prince would ever see her, but he did, and saved her from a terrible fate."
"A terrible fate? What happened?"
"She was struck by a horrible spell, and only a magic sword could wake her from her slumber."
"But what about the kiss?"
Rin laughed. "Didn't work that way. Anyways, when she awoke, she found herself to be in a beautiful castle. The prince was there and said that he would always protect her. The girl didn't know what was happening, but slowly she fell in love with the prince. Then one night, she was invited to a ball, and was transformed into a princess. She never thought her life could get any better. It was a fairy-tale she never imagined would come true. And that night…" a sad smile appeared on her face. "…that night she truly understood what love was."
Rin stopped speaking then. Her smile disappeared remembering the day after, and the betrayal of her love.
"What happened after?" her daughter asked.
Rin blinked at the little girl, and took both her hands, trying to think of a creative way to tell her daughter her father wasn't coming back. "The next day, the prince was placed on a very powerful spell. One that could never be broken."
"Not even love's first kiss?"
She shook her head. "Not even love's first kiss. So, the girl ran, realizing that the prince didn't know who she was anymore and the spell would never break. She ran to an enchanted forest, moved into a small house, and had a beautiful daughter soon after."
"But Mommy, why didn't you try and break the spell? If you loved him, wouldn't you try all you could to do so?"
Rin's mouth opened to answer the little girl, and then hummed. "I did. He was…too far gone. The love…the love was…"
"Was never real?"
She paused at her daughter's sudden words. To tell a child her father never loved her mother…Rin felt tears form in her eyes realizing…she never did try hard enough.
I wasn't strong enough to fight for him.
"Do you still love him?" Chou asked.
"Sometimes," Rin answered shortly. "But I love him mostly through you because you are my true love, my little butterfly."
"I think if Daddy is still out there, he still loves you too."
The tears that formed in the back of her eyes started to swell more. And it was when one single drop fell down her face did she go and kiss her daughter's forehead again, whispering goodnight.
As she was leaving the room, the whispering sound of her child spoke for the last time. A breathing yawn, reaching her ears like a feathering touch.
"And we all lived happily ever after."
Rin smiled at her words, nodding in agreement, and closed the door. It was then she released the tears like the rain falling down onto glass, silently wishing her daughter's final words to be true.
xXx
Lightning flashed through the room every few minutes. Rin watched the summer storm pass over the small village from her bed. The wind rocked the house every so often. Thunder roared. And she wondered how her daughter was more fearless than her. The eight year old had gone through so much already that Rin's own tough life was nothing.
The pain her daughter has gone through…
She rolled over, sighing heavily from another sleepless night. The time of 11:59am illuminated red beside her. In her mind, she wondered about her past. She wondered about him. There were often pictures of him on the front of the newspapers, printed in black and white. Large, bold words exaggerating the extravagant goal or event he did or attended. Rin scoffed at the last one.
Sesshomaru Takahashi voted most attractive man in Japan
Or the one before that.
Sesshomaru Takahashi becomes highest paid CEO in Japan
The list goes on.
And if he knew about Chou…Rin already knew the headlines.
Sesshomaru Takahashi's love child…truth? Or scam?
"Like I would ever want him or his money," Rin whispered at the clock as she watched it turn midnight. "It's over."
She would never let her daughter get caught up in the tabloids. All Rin wanted was peace. Peace and quiet for her and her daughter.
And she fell asleep hearing those thoughts in her head. She slumbered, trying to avoid the dark thoughts of her past, thinking about the future she could have with her daughter. The laughter of her, the smile, and the way she looked at life. She was her inspiration.
It was still dark when Rin awoke to the house violently shaking again from the storm, but the clock beside her had become black. She blinked in the dark, sitting up, listening to the hard patters of the rain.
In her mind; however, something wasn't right.
"Chou." she muttered.
So she ran to her daughter's bedroom, and found the machine that helped her daughter breathe at night had shut off due to the storm. Mixing in with the storm outside, she could hear her daughter's wheezing breath and her raging coughs that came with it. She was sitting up, holding her chest with one hand and her mouth with another. And when lightning flashed through the room, fear ran through Rin's eyes when she saw what her daughter was trying to keep inside her tiny, fragile body.
Blood.
And we get to the next part of this story! The bulk of it really. It's smooth sailing from here, folks! Right?
RIGHT?
Review ^^