I don't own the characters from FF8, please don't sue. I don't own the locations either. Comments welcome, but please try to be constructive. (It is a work in progress, after all.)
Freaks and Idiots
At the age of 10, Fujin finally admitted to herself that she would be a freak forever. And all because of the stupid tree house. If she hadn't fallen, she would still have both eyes and her voice, not to mention quite a few less scars…
She sat on the porch, playing cards with Raijin. At least her cousin was still willing to be seen with her. He wasn't the brightest person she knew, but she was lonely, and at least he didn't call her a freak even though she was one. He even acted as her bodyguard, a role that Fujin thought he enjoyed a little too much.
She let Raijin win because it was easier than paying attention. Her eye kept wandering to the tree house, until a hand was waved in her face. "Fuj, what's wrong?" Raijin asked, looking at her, then across the yard, then back to her.
"TREEHOUSE" she croaked, still not looking at him. Speech was still painful, even after a year and several surgeries.
"You wanna go play cards in the tree house?" Raijin was totally shocked. She hadn't been in the tree house since the day she fell from it.
Fujin kicked him as hard as she could. "IDIOT!" she snapped. "SPIRITS"
At that word, Raijin stopped howling and looked at his tiny cousin, shivering in the sun. He knew she sometimes said she saw things, but… "You saying the tree house is haunted?"
"NO…" She wrapped her arms around her chest. "THINGS … NOT PEOPLE …"
Raijin moved to stand behind her. He didn't touch her, having learned that was a bad idea. "If it's not haunted, why don't we just tear it down, y'know?"
For once, Fujin agreed with Raijin's plan of destruction. Nodding once, she consigned the fate of her one-time sanctuary to the hands of her cousin. Being as big as an ox, Raijin had the tree house down in no time (which got them both lectured about safety). But the uneasy feeling in her stomach remained …