Disclaimer: Trigun, who needs it?
Chapter Forty-Eight: Rhianne's Paper Cranes
Laugh it off and let it go
And when you wake up it'll seem
So yesterday, so yesterday,
Haven't you heard that I'm gonna be okay?
So Yesterday- Hilary Duff
Once I heard a story.
I learned very little about Earth, my home world, from Rem during that short year, yet this story I took with me and carry it still in my heart to this very day. The artificial sun shone down upon her in the Recreation Room in the Seeds ship, and I marveled at the dance of red and brown in her hair as she moved and laughed with us as Knives and I tumbled across the grass as we sought to outrun each other. Yet Knives always beat me, for whenever we passed Rem I halted and merely gazed at her with a kind of loving fixation that perhaps you cannot grasp, never having met the Earth-bound Angel that was Rem Saverem. I remember one time, though, as we bounded across the grass towards our tree, that I stopped, as I usually did when Rem entered my sight. Yet though she was usually a busy woman, this time she looked far calmer and more serene than I can ever recall her being, and I walked curiously to her and smiled as she embraced me and kissed the top of my blonde head.
"Hello Vash" she smiled at me, releasing me from her warm grasp and allowing me to sit upon the blanket next to her. Leaning against her bare arm I marveled at the muscles that worked beneath her skin and the web of tiny veins visible under the pale cover of her ivory skin. I could see the millions of colors that danced upon the rainbow that was her ski and sense the cells I could feel dividing and multiplying inside her. She was, like all Humans are, a work of natural art. I smiled up at her, brushing a few pieces of her chocolate hair back from her face, and returned the salutation. "Hi Rem!" I smiled, turning down to her hands, moving busily at something on the ground "what are you doing?"
Her laughter echoed about the chamber, bringing Knives to see what was going on. "This" she said as he sat down next to me, an awed look on his face "is called origami. It's something people did a long time ago back on Earth" At these words she held up a tiny paper, folded to a tiny little bird in the palm of her hand. I felt my eyes light up with excitement "oh Rem, that's amazing!" I smiled "can you teach me how?" I felt my smile widen as she nodded and unfolded the paper to a flat piece on the blanket, showing me how to fold the simple paper into a tiny animal.
"What's the point?" Knives asked, looking at the bird in her palm, his face a blank slate upon which she could carve out her knowledge "I don't see a point in folding a little piece of paper into something"
"Well" Rem smiled, leaning back on her palms and allowing me to sit on her lap like the child I was "originally origami was from old, letters and paper to wrap items in were folded. But eventually it became a method of amusement and education for both small children and adults alike. And there were certain suspicions that went with origami as well" she smirked, holding up a finger and wagging it ominously at us.
"Like what?" I cried, jumping onto her and nearly pushing her over in my excitement "what kind of superstitions Rem?" Pushing me back to the blanket she sat back up and smiled at me "such curious boys you both are. I'll tell you the story of Sadoko and the Thousand Paper Cranes*, shan't I?
During World War II on Earth an Atom Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima where many people were injured, killed, and later on suffered life threatening illnesses. Sadoko Sasaki had developed Leukemia as a result of the radiation from the bomb. She was a strong and loving child! While in the hospital her best friend Chizuko made her a beautiful Crane out of gold paper. She told Sadoko an old story "if a sick person folds 1000 paper cranes, the Gods will Grant her wish and make her well again." This kept Sadoko going, each day she would fold paper cranes .The cranes hung from the ceiling, while the golden crane stayed by her side. Sadoko tired and in pain folded her last crane - she reached six hundred and forty four.
"Did she get to a thousand?" Knives asked, his interest perked by Rem's story. Yet her smile faded and she shook her head "no Knives, she only reached that amount before she passed away. But it is still said that if you make a thousand paper cranes your wishes will come true…"
I remember it so well, her story; which is why I sit here atop this tower of stone and fold them for my Sadoko, dear Rhianne whose very life hangs in the balance because of my brother's cruelty. I can hear her thoughts as though she shouts them, her words of hatred and how she desires to be as cold and heartless as he. Perhaps her life is not at stake…yet; but her very soul hangs by a thread to which only my brother can cut. I refuse to allow her to become the monster he is; I refuse to simply stand by and watch her soul deteriorate and her world crumble beneath her…
"I will not let you be like him"
His statement rung in her ears as she pulled herself upon the rock where he sat. Her eyes widened at the wondrous and beautiful sight that met her tear-ridden eyes: Vash sat before her, cross-legged upon the stone in his bloodied and dirty clothes, his hair lopsided and tumbling into his eyes which spoke of caring she thought none save Knives could ever feel for her. Yet 'twas what sat in his hands that fascinated her: a tiny paper crane lay nestled between his strong hands. Yet her eyes saw that it was not the only little bird; another lay in his hair, another four sat atop his shoulders, dozens lay in his lap, others tucked in the folds of his shirt and others simply laying upon the stone near him as though they feared straying too far from their creator. The light sparkled in his eyes and upon his damp cheeks and the tiny paper birds fluttered in the wind and she felt a tear escape her eye, for 'twas the most incredible scene she had ever laid her eyes upon.
"Vash…" she started, choking on a sob and simply moving closer to him before attempting to speak again "what are all these for? Why are you making these tiny little birds?" Her eyes pooled over with crystal tears as she picked one up in her hands, careful not to bend the fragile paper.
"Why…?" She sniffed, moved by the scene she beheld before her. She felt his fingers lift her chin so that their eyes met "you're like Sadoko, and I want the gods to grant your wish" he smiled at her. She leaned away from him, taken aback by his words, for she knew the tale of Sadoko and the Thousand Paper Cranes; it had been told to her when she was a very young child so that she would know that war affects everyone, and that she had been granted a gift that could hurt people the same way the nuclear bombs had hurt Sadoko. She remembered all to well her tears when she heard the tale's end, and how she had sobbed into Corrin's arms as he, too, allowed shining tears to flow from his emerald-mauve eyes. Yet she remembered that he had smiled at her and told her that she was a good person and nothing would ever happen like that on their new home. She sniffled though her eyes were dry, thinking of her brother and how Knives reminded her of him. Yet his smile…his smile was uncannily similar to that of the plant who now sat before her, smiling kindly as he said "let me see what you wrote to him". She glanced from her hands, clenched till the whites of her knuckles showed "what did you say?" she asked, dumbfounded. Extending his hand out to her Vash continued to smile "I saw you writing it, can I read it?" Rhianne gasped with comprehension, reaching into her pocket and producing the piece of paper still wet with tears, placing it in his hand "I just needed to get my emotions out" she stammered, flushing as he started to read "I know it sounds stupid but…"
"No, it doesn't. It sounds exactly like I thought it would. I don't think it's stupid at all and you're coping with this far better than I thought you would" Rhianne chuckled darkly "from what you can tell" she snorted, grimacing. She felt his hands upon her chin as she turned to him "Rhianne, I can tell. Everyone within a five-mile radius can tell what you're feeling" he smirked at his joke and she attempted to smile, finding though that her lips simply could not force themselves to turn upwards for him. She moved to take back the letter, yet he pulled it away, still smiling warmly at her "I'm going to show you something" he said, laying the piece of paper down on the dusty surface of the rock. Unsure of what to say, Rhianne simply watched as he folded the paper over and over again until, finally, a small paper crane sat in the palm of his hand. She gasped, awed by his ability to create something so fragile and beautiful. She yearned to touch it, yet she feared it might disintegrate beneath her very touch it looked so fragile. Instead she simply watched as Vash stood gathered an armful of small paper cranes in his arms and stood, his shadow falling over her.
"Pick up the rest" he instructed, and she reached about and gathered the rest of the small paper cranes fluttering about in her slender arms before standing next to him. "This" he said, placing her letter-crane atop the pile in his arms "it the thousandth crane. We'll release them into the wind and pray the gods grant your wish" she nearly laughed at the ridiculousness of his ideals, yet thought it the civil thing to do, and turned her face to the horizon, where Knives' footprints were already being blown away by the wind that whipped about her and she opened her arms.
Off they flew, tiny white birds of paradise against a cerulean sky, drifting on the wind like paper angels. On and on they flew, twisting and dipping in the wind high up in the clear blue sky, and below them, on her little rock, Rhianne felt herself smile.
*Sadoko and The Thousand Paper Cranes is a true story that was published by Putnam books in 1977 (to the best of my knowledge) and is a wonderful book to read!!
