Happy Mother's Day, minasan. Have you told your kaasan that you love her lately?

Kouka: Somebody said you never need to. But somebody obviously wasn't a mother.
M2000: Hai.

Disclaimer: Don't own Saiyuki, don't own copyrights, don't consider Kouka's name as canon, DO own Kouka's non-canon name and my fluffy muses (plus several delicious pics of the ikkou)

Akai Hana No Saigo II

I had a son. His name was Sha Jien.
I had a stepson, Gojyo his name
Gojyo's the one I thought of in hatred
Due to the eyes and hair, colour of flame.
Born between demon (my husband, Sha Ren)
And human (Feng Xiao Wei, the love I scarce knew),
Crimson-haired, crimson-eyed twixt the folks of white blanket
That Ren shoved upon me before the man flew.
Though I should have tried love, eight years did I loath
The crimson-haired halfbreed who entered my life.
He tried so hard to please me, but I thought he was trouble
Though it really was me who assumed all the strife.
He came to me one day, that cold and clear Sunday,
With no premonition of incoming doom,
He tugged on my hem to get my attention
And presented to me a bouquet of blooms.
The child had a grin on his half-demon face
As he said with his eyes filled with glee through and through,
"Kaasan, here, look! The florist gave this to me!
Aren't they pretty? They're all just for you!"
Kou-ka. Red Flower. My name means Red Flowers.
Red blooms from Red Flowers from filthy red hands
I felt my gorge rising, blood rushed to my head,
No more could I hold back. No more could I stand.
I regret to report that I shredded the flowers
And then I vented my rancour on him,
Upon crimson hair as red as his blood,
Though tears fell from crimson eyes not knowing his sin.
I came pretty close to killing youg Gojyo--
I had an axe-blade aimed straight at his heart--
But Jien returned home, and grabbing his sword,
He made two quick slashes and cut me apart.
One with the axe, and one with red flowers,"
Both showed their love in their own unique way,
Jien saved Gojyo, his hanyou step brother
Rather than seeing his own mother slay.
Jien still remembers me...don't know about Gojyo.
The scars that I carved on him, surely they burn.
Red flowers, red blood, red tears, red death,
They still must exist, unable to turn.
I often think back on the times that I left
And ask myself why I did not have the heart
To take to my arms my crimson-haired stepson
Who I should've (and could've) loved right from the start.
Could he have known of the curse that he carried?
Could he understand his stepmother's rage?
I forced onto him a truth that he surely
Could not start to fathom, not at that tender age.
Sha Gojyo, my stepson; the one who most sought me--
He of the Sand understanding the Pure:
My voice will not reach you, now you are grown,
I learned this too late but I learnt it for sure--
I have a son. His name was Sha Jien.
I have a stepson, Gojyo his name
'Tis both that I love now, there is no more hatred,
Whether the eyes and hair still burn like flame.

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