Disclaimer: Peacemaker Kurogane belongs to Nanae Chrono.
CHAPTER FIVE
The sunlight filters in through the bars of a small cage.
The little boy stands near it. There are grains of white rice are stuck around his mouth, and he pats his stomach, half wondering at the pain that has left his insides. The sticky rice cakes he has just consumed is keeping him content, for now. For now he is drawn to the remains of a bird in the cage. Tiny bones, bleached by the elements of nature. He shivers under his blanket. The wicker cage had been disposed clandestinely near the arched bridge.
As though the blooming flowers,the lush grass and hovering butterflies would cover up all sign of death in the cage.
He pulls the blanket tightly around him and paitently waits for the girl to finish fixing her hair up.
Kaiyoumi stares at her rippled reflection, her fingers fumbling atop her elaborately looped coifurre as she pushes a heavy pin back into place. How the ornaments bother her! Stealing a glance at the boy, she makes a mental note to find him some clean clothes and ask the maids to prepare him a bath. But for now, she cannot help but wonder what tonight will bring. Or more exactly, who it would bring...
The thought is pushed away just as she shoves a shimmering kanzashi into the inky depths of her hair. With more force then needed. After inhaling slowly, she turns to the boy, smiling sweetly as she extends her hand towards his drooping figure.
The little boy breaks away from his silent musings of the cage. He gazes upwards, noticing her extended hand.
A harmless gesture. But it is because of the many hands he had accepted that led him to this sad place.
He turns around and notices that behind the lovely facade of gardens,the compound wall looms. The confinement does not hurt him as much as the realisation that behind the plaster wall, no one is waiting for his return. But, the girl, she...
The little boy darts a glance back at Kaiyoumi. She is different because she wants him. That's what she said to the dragon, didn't she? She actually wants him...could it be that she actually cares for him? Ever since he felt her hand wrap around his, ever since he first looked into her strange eyes, he had felt safe, secure. Would she...always be with him?
Even though he has known her for only a day, the thought of her not being there...frightens him. The wind swirls past and the little boy for a reason unknown to him, panicks.
He feels as though the winds will blow her away, if he is not able to reach her in time.The very thought of her leaving him forms a heavy lump in his throat.
The little boy releases his grip on the tattered blanket and runs towards her. His bruised feet thud against the weatherbeaten wood. Kaiyoumi is looking wistful as she stares up at the cloudless sky, and then, hearing sudden noise, she turns...
...and her eyes widen.
The little boy trips and tumbles towards her. Kaiyoumi looks astonished. Could he...want to play with her? Was he coming out of his shell? So soon?
Only after feeling the boys quaking shoulders, did Kaiyoumi realise that he is crying. She frowns as she gives her surroundings a look over, something terrible must have frightened him. She glances at the nearby shutters, they were closed, and she is certain that at this moment, the gardens are only occupied by them.
She gently pats the boy's back in hopes that it will comfort him. His grip on her fingers tightens and since his tears seemd endless, Kaiyoumi softly sinks onto the hard floor.The little boy buries his head into her lap and in doing so crushes the delicate silk.
He watches as his tears slide down his face onto her kimono. He imagines them to be crystal beads sewn with the brocade.
Kaiyoumi gazes down at the river beneath her, the sound of rushing water soothes her as she watches a group of rainbow coloured butterflies,chase each other over the waters glistening surface.
Sighing wistfully, she hums a lullaby to the boy whilst gently stroking his hair. Chubei had told her nothing about the boys background and the thought of asking Oziki didn't seem a good idea. She wondered what his life had been like. If he had a mother...the thought pangs her.
She recalls a hazy yet precious image, of a wrinkled palm, tiny fingers uncurling towards her..fingers that never had the chance to entertwine with her own...Kaiyoumi presses a hand across her aching heart.
The little boy breathes in her sweet fragrance and allows himself to secretly pretend she is the lady in his dreams...wearing a sakura patterned kimono.
As Kaiyoumi finishes the tune, he sits up. His expression one of great concentration. She pushes strands of hair away from his tear stained face, curious as to what he'll do next.
He whispers, his face shy, voice soft, "Promise you won't go away...ever?"
She is shocked, partly because he has spoken, and partly because of his question. But there is no hesitation in her answer. It might be foolishness on her part, but there is no doubt in her heart that she will never leave this child. Yet, beautiful as she is, worshipped as she is...Kaiyoumi is only human.
Her only mistake in answering him, is that she didn't realise.
"I promise-- not ever!"
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Cast the pearls aside, of a simple life of need
Come into my life forever
The crumbled cities stand as known
of the sights you have been shown
of the hurt you call your own
Love is suicide...
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Chubei pushes his new pipe behind a ear as he leafs through a pile of dusty ink prints, merrily humming a tune.
He knows that sooner or later a scowling Oziki will come in and demand to know why the newest child has been moved to Kaiyoumi's room. Yet, he would find a way to convince him it was necessary, as he always did. Oziki would not have such a successful house if it weren't for Chubei, and he knew it.
He abruptly stops singing when a spot of blue flashes before his eyes. Intrigued, he pulls out a thin scroll of paper, scanning his room before looking down.
The scroll is a picture of a sky filled with clouds.
Chubei sadly wipes the dust away. Instantly he recalls a stormy day when he spotted three children miserably staring at the grey skies.
When he had learned of their crisis, he let out a hearty laugh and ushered them to his smoky room. They had complained they could not see the clouds, so Chubei painted them clouds, many clouds. Even now he can still hear their childish squeals of delight and glee. He closes his eyes, a futile attempt to rid of the past.
Opening them he wonders if he should tell Kaiyoumi the truth about the twins... that they were still here... He lights his pipe, welcoming the strong scent of tobacco. Oziki had decided it was time for the three children to grow up...prematurely...Chubei had nearly risked his position trying to talk him out of such a plan. But Oziki was the one who held the deeds..and ultimately, he had the last say in most things.
Chubei wonders if the twins ever did adjust to their new life after that. He rarely saw them after that day, Oziki being in charge of the mens quarters, and he in charge of the womens. He was glad he did not have to part with Kaiyoumi...she was his little sparrow, his favourite girl.
Following this stream of thought, Chubei ponders upon his favourite child.
Actually there is nothing to ponder, he thinks to himself, amused. The boy is the only person Oziki can't control but otherwise delights in tormenting--- the boy he had found on one of his long travels. Chubei still remembers that day as if it happened only yesterday.
He had seen a dirty child no older than five, babbling nonsense to himself on the side of the road, before a grave of rotting lotuses. Chubei had ordered the runner to stop the rickshaw and had stepped down beside the boy, noticing that the grave had been freshly dug up.
He recalls staring at the child's torn fingernails and what was stacked neatly stacked in the middle of a torn gi.
Human bones.
A sight that still haunts him in his sleep. Chubei later learnt there were trades out there worst then slavery.
He had taken the boy under his wing and was as proud as any father when he gave him the name Shouki. Oziki had often laughed at the irony of such a name, enjoying the salty tears that spilled from the boy's haunting eyes when he teased him, and the darkness cloaking his pupils.
Chubei had thought of Shouki as a frightening beauty. A term that nearly sent Oziki to an early grave as he had choked on his warm sake.
Shouki's hair shade certainly puzzled the townsfolk as they saw him waltzing behind Chubei. Many old women would come up to stroke his hair mumbling how it was just like the sunlight. But as time flew by, his hair had turned a silvery white.
He smiles fondly as he thinks of his page, his burden of painful memories lifted temporarily. I wonder where he is, he found himself wondering. Usually, he'd make it to my room my now...Chubei scratches his thinning hair, turning back to his papers--
--an excited shout and a thud following soon after.
Chubei is amused as he looks up to see the skinny boy with white straggly hair grinning up at him from the floor.
"Chubeiiii!" Shouki jumps up happily and holds his arms out for a hug.
Chubei obliges as he always does, which is at least six times a day. "You know, one of these days, Shouki, that tree is going to break off," he chides as the teen brushed off the petals from his green kimono. "And you'll fall and hurt yourself."
"Blah blah blah!" Shouki exclaims, covering his ears with his hands.
Chubei sighs. "Have it your way then."
He turns back to clear his desk of the dusty ink prints, each of them unwelcome pathways to forgotten memories, or rather memories that he wished would be forgotten. The past was just such an ache, even the happy times. Or maybe he felt guilty. Maybe that was it. Maybe, even though he believes he did all he could for these children, he was still guilty at them being here, and him unable to change it...unable to give them a better life...
And there was that feeling. The feeling that oneday something would go wrong...that all this pretence, all the makeup he applied over the reality of Yogatoya, would oneday peel over to reveal the ugliness within. Would he be able to bear it? He hears Oziki's jeering voice in his head.
"You think you can just make a fairytale out of this? You think, that just by painting a tree, it will be something else? A tree is a tree Chubei. You should remember that."
"Soooo Chubeiiii," begins Shouki eagerly, eyes big like a child's, interrupting the man's unwanted thoughts. Chubei focuses on him gladly. "When's Kaiyoumi coming?" He giggles, placing a dirty thumb in his mouth.
"She's already gone," responds Chubei with a rueful smile, resisting the urge to go over and pull the boy's hand from his mouth. "You missed her, my boy."
"Awww." Shouki droops, dark eyes looking watery. "I wanted to say hi! Hi, Chubei, I wanted to say hi! Hi!"
"Now now," Chubei says gently, worrying that the boy might like repeating the word for the rest of the day, or even worse, burst into tears, "Why don't you go and fetch me some tea then? Hmmm? You can see Kaiyoumi later, I promise."
"Okay!"
Shouki beams, tucking his hands in the pockets of his oversized haori. He starts to climb out the window but Chubei quickly strides towards him. "Shouki," he says in a very slow and clear voice, taking him by the shoulders and steering him towards the shoji, "The exit is that way, remember?"
"I remember!" he answers brightly. "Bye Chubei!"
"Bye Shouki." comes the patient reply.
"Bye bye bye bye..." Shouki sings as he marches away.
Chubei massages his forehead for a moment, before refilling his pipe with tobacco. The force of Shouki's embrace had spilled the contents of his pipe onto the lavish carpet. He is a little worried that Shouki might forget where he is heading off for, and enter someone's room unwanted again.
The last time this happened, one of his girls had basically stomped into his office, dragging the crying boy by the arm. Chubei had been amused to see his face covered in rouge, apparently Shouki had gotten into her cosmetics. But it wasn't him that Chubei had been angry at though, it had been the young woman. Rozu should not have reacted the way she did, especially as she knew that, despite Shouki being sixteen years old, his mind had not caught up.
Sometimes it saddens him to know that the boy will literally always remain a child, but a part of him is also glad. Glad for what, he doesn't know.
Chubei glances sadly at the ink printing of the clouds and once again he hears the gleeful giggles...
There are some things that just can't be answered, no matter how hard you try.
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