It had been five years since San and Ashitaka had taken poor Kohaku in. Right after that day, not even a second they had thought him as an outsider. He was a part of the family and they loved him just like their very own son. San often compared this to that when Moro had taken her as her own daughter. Now, they also had an own child, three-year-old daughter, named Kaya. San let Ashitaka choose all their children's names, since she really didn't know human names. She thought all the names he decided were good. Ashitaka had wanted to give that name to respect his dear sister back in his village he never got to return. Kaya had her father's hair(though it was not so messy) and her mother's eyes.
Kohaku was now five-year-old small boy. From the right beginning, Ashitaka and San realised he was a very, very special child. As a baby, he almost never cried. He learned to walk at age of half year and year later he was able to speak like an adult. He had wanted to learn how to read at the age of two and half, and now he knew host of even the most difficult characters of Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana characters he had learned almost right away when his father had started to teach him.
He no longer looked the same either. He now had a dark green hair down on his shoulders messily, much like his father's. And his eyes, they were even more beautiful than five years ago. They were deeper and full of emotion and life. San often laughed as she said that older Kohaku would be quite popular among girls, since his eyes could easily capture any woman's heart.
As for his family, he loved them all very much. He was close to them all. They hardly ever had fights. With his father, he learned humanly things, like reading and writing, and to eat form bowl, with his mother he learned wolf ways, like hunting and howling. With them both he learned fighting skills and he was quite strong to have such a small body. As for his little sister, she was maybe the most precious to him. He loved her very much and was quite protective over her. Kaya used to say "If you continue that way, I'll never get married", in which Kohaku answered "Well, I wouldn't mind if you didn't, because I love you". In fact, he really did. Though he was young, his feelings for his sister were really strong and mature. Another thing that made him special. Kaya seemed to love him as well very much and she always wanted him to read to her and tell stories that he made up himself. "Ani-sama, read to me please" she always used to say.
Though all this happiness, he always could feel an empty place in his heart. He didn't understand it. He had all he needed and he loved his life. Though he didn't have any friends, it couldn't be it, because he didn't have them only because he didn't want to make any. He was happy to just have his family. He always had Kaya to play with. Kaya didn't have any friends either.
He had asked it from his parents, but they weren't been able to answer him. They only said that it was his destiny that wasn't filled yet. He believed them. Someday, he would find out about his destiny and fulfil it.
It was spring now. Kohaku and Kaya loved spring. Specially at this time, because the Sakura trees were in full blooms.
"Ani-sama, why do the Sakura trees bloom only in the spring?" Kaya asked hi and they walked through the pink flowery trees.
"Because in the summer, they are in berries, in the autumn they lose their leaves and in the winter they get strength for the new flowers. Every season has their own job with these trees"
"Wow. Does the seasons have a job with us as well?"
"I think they do. In the spring we start training, since the weather gets warmer, the summer is a season for relaxing, autumn is for hunting and preparing for the winter, and the winter is too for relaxing and playing in the snow"
"You are so wise, Ani-sama. Will I ever be as wise as you are?"
"I'm sure you will, Kaya. But you don't have to be. I love you as you are" he said at least twentieth time.
"Kohaku, Kaya! Where are you?" They heard voices of their parents.
"Hey, let's hide" Kohaku suggested and pointed a bush that had formed from Sakura flower's leaves.
They did so and went to hide there. They heard their steps of their parents.
"Now, where did they go. I know they enjoy the spring time, but they don't always have to get so far away from home" San said
"Shh. Look" Ashitaka whispered to her. San looked and saw a little bit of dark green in a Sakura-flower-leave-bush.
They walked quietly nearer.
"One, two, three!"
With that they pulled their children out of the bush. They got all covered with Sakura leaves, but no one of them cared. They just laughed together. Now Kohaku really felt that he didn't need anything else in his life. It empty place disappeared and soon it was like it never even had existed.