Chapter 4 : Family.

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"Haku, don't run so close to the lake."

"Okay!"

My small feet stopped close to the edge of the water, shards of ice floated in its depths but its surface had not yet frozen over. Its color was a deep, dark blue interspersed by white pieces of ice.

The world was painted a pure white around me, as was usual for the small town we lived in. The snow covered landscape still made me marvel at its beauty but I couldn't say the same for the cold.

I nuzzled my nose deeper into my scarf as the chilly wind nipped at my face and ruffled my hair. I glanced back at my mother, who was hanging the laundry, and shivered. It's truly unfair how she could wear short sleeves in this weather and not feel a thing.

She turned back and smiled at me. It was bright and warm and suddenly, I didn't feel so cold. I smiled back as she came towards me, the empty clothes basket held against her hip.

"Find anything interesting?" She asked when she reached my side.

I shook my head.

"Really?" Her lips quirked. "Maybe you should look closer. You missed something wonderful."

Curious, I squinted at the lake but couldn't find what she was talking about.

"Where?"

She laughed and crouched to my height, then she pointed at the water where the image of a small child rippled.

He didn't look a day over four years old and his delicate features could be mistaken for a girl's. His face was round and soft and his eyes big and bright.

It was the image of a boy named Haku.

It was the reflection of a long dead woman.

I quickly averted my eyes from the water.

Mom smiled cheekily as she whispered "You missed my adorable baby boy."

"I'm not a baby." I muttered, ears burning from embarrassment. So cheesy.

Mom just laughed and ruffled my hair. Then she headed towards the house, beckoning me to follow her.

I glanced one last time at the boy in the lake, he stared back. I trailed after his mother.

Ever since my, belated, discovery of the reality of my situation, living as Haku had been hard.

You see, thinking that I potentially took the place of a baby and knowing that I stole the body of a baby are two distinctly different situations.

The knowledge of what this baby grew up to become and the realization that I took his life away from him caused me to drown in a sea of guilt. What made me even more guilty is the fact that I didn't regret being reborn. Not when I had such a warm family.

I had a family before, it was broken and toxic but it was mine.

I fought, in vain, to keep it together. But in the end it was just me and my little sister. Well, I died so it's only her that's left. She was a smart kid, graduated highschool top of her class and got a fully paid scholarship for college, so I never worried about her. She'd manage, maybe even better without me.

The thing was, it was so easy. It was so easy to love and to be loved by my new family. And it felt good, so good, to not have to fight to be accepted by the people that were supposed to love you unconditionally.

So I couldn't bring myself to regret this new life, and I resolved to fix it.

To mold a better ending for the tragic story of the boy named Haku.

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