Yuiren's Last Day
My name is
Yuiren. I am five years old! *Holds up
four fingers* This is the story about the day I saw my big brother and "big
sister" for the last time…
Yuiren
yawned and stretched her little arms.
Chuei came in and smiled.
"Finally, the little girl awakens."
Yuiren
pouted. "I am not so little no
more!" She got out of bed and went with
Chuei into the kitchen, with the rest of the family. "Hi daddy!" She ran to
her father and gave him a little hug, well the best she could.
"Hello
Yuiren. Sleep well?" He asked, now back to full strength, thanks
to the Priestess of Suzaku and her companions.
Yuiren
nodded happily and took her seat at the other end of the table. "Yep!
Last night I had a dream!" She
waited until Chuei brought everyone their plates full of warm oatmeal, and sat
down himself. "I had a dream big
brother came back and said that he would stay with us forever! I know big brother will come back!"
Her father
laughed and smiled. "That's because you
have been a good girl lately."
Yuiren
smiled.
"Hey, sis,
why not take Miaka some food?" Gyokuran
suggested.
"Okay!" Yuiren got down off her chair and over to
the shelf where a bag of birdseed was.
She took it carefully and trotted outside where a small birdcage was. There sat Miaka. Miaka was a bird, a white dove "the bringer of peace" that Yuiren
had found a few days ago, injured and malnourished. With her father's help, she had slowly regained its
strength. She had named it Miaka, after
her big brother's girlfriend. She felt
Miaka was a big sister, and even referred to her as so.
Yuiren
opened the cage and slowly placed some seed at the bottom of the cage, where
Miaka could get to it easily.
Afterwards, she ran back into the kitchen and ate breakfast with her
family.
"I plan to
make big sister a present today!"
Yuiren exclaimed.
Her father
smiled. "And what would that be?"
"I'm going
to make her a wedding present! I've
been collecting acorns for a couple weeks now and I have enough to make a
necklace!" Yuiren said happily.
Shunkei
perked up. "Can I help?"
Yuiren
shook her head, decisively, yet politely.
"I want to do this all by myself!"
Her father
chuckled at how adorable his youngest daughter was. "Alright then. You can
start this afternoon."
"Yay!" She bounced in her chair and ate the rest of
her food with a giant grin on her small face.
That
afternoon, Yuiren sat down in her room and laid all the acorns down around
her. Her father had been nice enough to
carefully grind a tiny hole through the nuts, so Yuiren would be able to string
them.
She lifted the first one up and
tried to put the string through, but it was hard cause the string kept
splitting and she never got the whole thing through.
She got very frustrated with it,
but never gave up. She kept at it and
soon got all the acorns on the string.
She was so happy at all her hard work, she ran out to show Miaka.
"Miaka! Looky at what I made!"
She stopped and stared at the cage in disbelief. "Daddy!!"
She cried out.
Her father came running out. "What is it Yuiren?"
Yuiren pointed to the cage, with
its door open, and Miaka gone. "Where'd
she go?"
Her father looked down at his
daughter. "She probably got healthy
enough to fly away back to her own family."
Yuiren nodded, not sad
anymore. "Just like big brother will
come back to us soon, right!"
Her father smiled. "Just like
that."
She smiled, and watched as her
father went to look into the cage. He
reached in a brought out one of Miaka's white feathers and handed it to
Yuiren. "She left you a present." He handed it to her, and went back inside.
Yuiren looked at the feather in
wonder. It was so pretty and soft. It reminded her of the Priestess. She looked
down at her necklace…and back at the feather.
A smile came to her face.
She kneeled down and took off about
half the nuts. She carefully strung the
feather onto it, and replaced the rest of the nuts. She smiled at her work and used her little fingers to tie the
ends together, completing the intricate gift.
She ran back inside. "Look at what I made!" She showed Chuei and her other siblings and
they all applauded her work.
"Very good Yuiren." Her father complimented.
"I'm going to put it away!" She ran to her room, and carefully placed it
on her bed, getting a soft piece of wool, and wrapping it carefully.
"What are you doing here? Who are you?" She heard her father ask.
"I am the passer of judgment." A slow quiet voice came back. There was a spinning noise, and it sounded
like it hit something.
Then she heard Gyokuran
scream.
"Come on!" Chuei yelled and Yuiren peaked through the
door to see the intruder walked in and pull his weapon out of her father's
back. Chuei pulled Gyokuran and Shunkei
into the other back room and stood before them, holding a butcher knife.
Yuiren was scared. "D-daddy?"
She said, just above a whisper.
She slowly came out as saw the intruder slowly close in on her siblings.
Chuei stood brave in the face of
danger, holding the butcher knife in front of him. "Leave this house! Leave
us alone! What have we done to you to
deserve this?" He asked, not seeing
Yuiren.
The intruder glared at them. His eyes were soft, but his heart was
cold. Yuiren knew he was made over
something horrible. "I am paying them
back for killing my brother!" He
shouted and swung his weapon, cutting at Chuei's arm and making him cry out.
"I won't let you hurt my
family! I will protect them in my
brother's place!" Chuei charged in and
took a messy swing at the intruder's leg.
The intruder easily dodged and jammed his weapon in Chuei's stomach.
"Chuei!" Shunkei shouted. "No!"
In one swift movement, the intruder
swung his weapon again, slicing and cutting and the remaining children, until
they fell to the ground, completely gutted.
He breathed heavily. "Now he will know the pain I feel."
Yuiren felt hot tears fall down her
soft cheeks. "B-brothers?" The intruder gasped and turned around. "S-sis?"
She questioned in a wavered voice.
She looked at the intruder, who turned his head away in shame. "Why?"
He winced. "T-they killed my brother."
"Who?" She asked, still completely innocent and shocked.
"The Suzaku Seven!" He once again was filled with anger, and
attacked with his Ryuseisui. One came
and smacked Yuiren across the arm.
She cried out and started to
cry. "To…to kill others…to match your
own pain is wrong…" She said. "D-daddy
told me so…"
"Shut up!" He swung again, hitting her leg, and making
a deep gash, which made her fall to her knees.
"I don't understand…" She said,
crying and holding her wounds. "Why
hurt us? What have we done?"
The boy sniffed, in spite of
himself trying to appear strong. He did
not have an answer.
A pool of blood formed around
Yuiren and she felt the blood dribble out of her mouth. "I'm sorry." She said.
The blond haired youth gasped. "What do you have to feel sorry for!?" He yelled angrily.
"I'm sorry you lost your
brother." She looked over at her dead
siblings. "Now I know…"
"What does a little girl
know?"
"I know…you're pain…" She winced as
pain ran through her body in giant waves, but she would be strong, for her
brother. She had to be a good girl to
make him come back. "I forgive you…"
She said, putting on a smile.
"I…forgive…you…" She let out a staggered breathe and fell down onto the
floor, then rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. "Pain…so much pain…"
The intruder, Suboshi, gasped and
cried. "I too am sorry." Then he heard someone calling.
"Dad! Chuei! Gyokuran! Yuiren!
Shunkei! I'm home!"
"Damn!" Suboshi cursed and ran out the back door.
Yuiren smiled as she saw the door
open, and her brother's face come into the house. "Big…brother…"
