Author's Notes: See chapter one for disclaimer and explanation.
Love, Life, and Death By Annie-chan Chapter Twenty-Nine: ConcussionHôjun sighed and looked up to the sky. It was a warm, though not too hot, day. Spring was well on its course, and summer wasn't too far behind. It was only a matter of time before Kônan-koku's considerable summer heat came around.
Tasks like this are always a nightmare in the hot sun, no da, Hôjun thought to himself as he walked toward the forest with a good-sized axe, dragging a sled for transporting wood behind him. At least, during the summer, I always do this kind of stuff in the evening when it's cooler, no da.
He smiled at the sound of children laughing as his five-year-old twin sons, Washi and Taka, ran along behind them. They liked to accompany their father when he went out to chop wood like this. They always did a fair amount of playing in the woods, but they did pick up bunches of sticks they could carry back home.
The mood of the family had been on the good side as of late. Tori had recently turned seventeen years old, and baby Aichaku, her first birthday just this past month, had been trying her best to walk. Plus, the weather was getting better, lifting their spirits from the perpetual gloom that settled over the town during the long, rainy, muddy winter.
They reached the edge of the forest, and Hôjun turned to the twins. "Stay where I can hear you, no da," he told them. "Come to me if there's a problem, no da." The twins, as always, nodded and ran off into the woods. Washi and Taka were by far his rowdiest children yet, and they jumped at any chance they could get to run around and be boys.
Hôjun watched until they were a good distance away, then set to finding a good tree. He had plenty of prime carving wood at home for carpentry, but they needed firewood. He didn't like to burn the wood he had set aside for carpentry if he could help it, for some woods were better to work with than others, and he'd rather keep the better-quality wood for carpentry, and burn the lesser-quality wood.
"Hm, no da," he muttered, walking up to a prospect. "This looks about right, no da…"
Several minutes later, the medium-small tree fell, and he sat down on the forest floor for a few-minute break, listening to the sounds of his sons playing not far off. His thoughts drifted to Miaka and Taka in the other world, and he gazed toward the sky in thought, feeling a pang of nostalgia wash through him. Yes, quite a bit of grief came to him and to many others while Miaka was here from her world, but she and the other Seishi were the closest friends he had ever met, with an exception of Hikô and Kôran. Hôjun and Tasuki exchanged letters, but hardly ever saw each other in person.
"It's been ten years since I last saw Miaka and Tamahome, no da," he mused quietly, "and seven years since I last saw Tasuki, no da." He sighed. He was living a satisfying life with his wife and children, but he missed Miaka and the other Seishi so much. He supposed it was a burden he must bear until he and Tasuki died and were reborn in the Miko world. He wouldn't remember anything from this life, and there was a chance that he not meet up with any of the others, but it would be a whole new life, a completely clean slate that he could perhaps use better than he had in this life.
"Yes, Hôjun, you've done great things in this life, no da," he said, just as quietly, "but you also have many regrets, no da. I wonder how your next life will turn out, no da?" When thinking, he sometimes started talking to himself as if he were talking to someone else. He sometimes got strange looks if he was heard by others.
His thoughts were suddenly shattered as an alarmed cry sounded not far from him. A second later, he heard one of his sons start crying loudly, and Taka came running out of the trees, his little hands outstretched toward his father. Hôjun's heart jumped into his throat at the same time he leapt to his feet.
"What?!" Hôjun almost shouted. "What is it, no da?! Taka!"
The little boy couldn't make any intelligible words through his crying, so he merely grabbed his father's sleeve and started pulling Hôjun in the direction he came from.
Hôjun's breath caught in his throat when they broke through the line of low bushes Taka had emerged from. Under a tree lay Washi, his eyes closed and his skin pale. A branch lay across him. He had obviously been perched on the branch when it had snapped and sent him to the ground. He looked to have fallen headfirst, for a thin stream of blood indicated he had cracked his skull open.
"Oh, Suzaku!" Hôjun gasped as he fell to his knees beside his son. He was afraid to touch him and risk jarring his spine or neck. He was breathing, so he was alive, but Hôjun didn't know if his neck or back were broken or not. One false move when his spinal column is broken, and his life could end right then and there.
He did the one thing he knew was the safest, and prayed to all the gods that Washi would stay still for the trip. He grabbed Taka's wrist and cast a teleportation spell, taking them all back to the town in an instant.
They reappeared on the floor of the nurse Kangofu's clinic, making the young apprentice nearly drop her jar of newly-prepared disinfectant paste.
"Oh, my!" Kangofu exclaimed from the doorway into the back of the building. He had run to the door when she saw the flash of red light, and her eyes had widened at the sight of the obviously distraught Hôjun and Taka next to the still and silent Washi.
Hôjun looked at her pleadingly. "Please…help…" he said, sounding as if he was struggling to hold tears in. He had already lost one child, as well as so many others dear to him. He couldn't stand to lose another.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Later that night, Hôjun walked through the front door of his house, emotionally exhausted for the day. Washi was alive, but hadn't awoken from that blow to the head. Hôjun thanked his lucky star that his son had sustained no other injuries save a few bruises and scratches.
Washi was currently lying in a patient bed at Kangofu's. The nurse had insisted that Hôjun go back home and get a good night's rest, or she may have two Ris on her hands instead of one. He hadn't left his son's side since they got there, though he had sent Taka home, and was quickly wearing himself down. He had reluctantly agreed to go home only after a lengthy session of Kangofu's attempts to convince him, and she still had to practically push him out the door.
Kôran stood up the moment he walked in, as well as Tori, Seiryoku, and Hana. Kôran had had to stay home to look after Aichaku, and she was worried sick. Aichaku and Taka were in bed at the moment.
"Hôjun," Kôran ventured. "How…how is he…?"
"As good as he will get right now," Hôjun answered, his unique speech habit leaving him. "All we can do is wait and pray he pulls through."
"Well…" Kôran muttered, "it's better than I expected." She looked at her husband and noticed the fatigue in his face. "You should go to bed, Hôjun. You need your rest."
"Yes," Hôjun absentmindedly agreed, pulling his wife into a tight embrace. He laid a kiss upon her forehead as they parted, but he said nothing. He walked into the master bedroom and closed the door.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Now," Hôjun said, kneeling next to Taka, who was sitting on the floor in the front room, "what happened, no da?"
"Um…" the fire-year-old murmured, looking away. "We were going to climb a tree, and Washi-niisan picked one that I didn't wanna go up in. It looked too skinny and all, and I didn't want to fall…but, Washi-niisan climbed up the tree even when I said so."
"Why didn't you come get me, no da?" Hôjun asked, gently but firmly. "You know I want you to come to me if there's a problem, no da. If you thought it was too dangerous, you should have come to get me, no da. I would have told him to pick a different tree, no da."
"Yeah…but…" Taka always followed Washi's lead wherever they went, and almost never questioned his brother's actions, even when he himself was in doubt. It was a habit Hôjun knew Taka would someday have to break.
Hôjun sighed. He had been informed this morning that Washi was getting better, and would perhaps wake up soon, but he wasn't out of the woods yet. Still, the news made Hôjun not as angry at Taka as he could have been.
"Just be a little more assertive in the future, okay, no da?" Hôjun asked, putting a hand on Taka's head. "And, come to me or your mother if you have a problem, no da. Washi was hurt very badly yesterday, and we might not be so lucky next time, no da."
"Hai, Tôsan," Taka muttered, not looking at him.
Hôjun sighed again, pulling his youngest son onto his lap, holding him tight. He was once again forcefully reminded just how precious life was, and he couldn't stop thinking about what could have happened, not what did happen. He could have lost a son that day.
Please let this be the last time something like this happens, no da, he silently prayed, raising his eyes toward the heavens. Don't take any more away from me…no da.
To be continued…Author's Notes: I don't know if this chapter is my best work (I know, I say that nearly every chapter), but I'm not dissatisfied with it, luckily. I was playing with the concept of making the fall fatal, but, since I had already killed one of Chichiri's children, and killing Washi would make two deaths in two chapters, I decided to be nice and not kill the kid. I hope I didn't detract any by not killing him. Not that death is a good thing, but there always seems to be more power in a fic/chapter where someone dies, if it's written well. Anyway, wish me luck in getting the job I'm up for at Borders Bookstore! I have an interview there, and I do believe I stand a good chance of getting the job, but a little luck won't hurt. Oh, and my high school graduation ceremony is on June eighteenth (I wrote this chapter on the sixteenth)! Booyah! Let me know how you like this chapter in a review or at mangareader@hotmail.com, onegai shimasu!