2| As Twisted As It Can Be

"Is she awake yet? She has to wake up...I still haven't shown her the beauty of the world. She is only a child merely seven years old. I- I still haven't heard her call me kaa-san since a year ago..."

It was sorrowful, cracking with slight gasps of air in between each speech but Nana tried to beg. Her little Tsunami has yet turned into a splendid adult, hasn't yet gotten married nor bore any descendants. Why is life so cruel to her? Nana was pulled into a strong embrace and tightly tucking her weeping face to his chest. He was none other than Sawada Iemitsu, the husband of Nana and the father of Tsunami. He had on a stern sorry figure, weary of the situation and exhausted of what he had caused. If only he had found the spy sooner, his little girl wouldn't have to go through this much. He was not a good father and neither was he a good husband. His profession ended up risking his family and he couldn't be any angrier than he had been.

He clenched his fist, tight to its bound and strong to its strength that dug through his skin. "Nana, I'm sorry. It's all my fault."

Bright honey eyes opened, its vision a bit blurred. The young girl turned to look around. Her gaze tired with a distinct flair of a pretty glow. She spotted two humans, one claiming to be her mother and the other a blonde male with unknown origin. As she was trying to sit up, her parents rushed to her aid. Nana being glad to see her precious daughter awaken from the mess and the male, relieved from the built-up tension.

"Ugh..." Tsunami groaned with a painful expression. Her head aching with loud pangs. She hurried to clutch her head as she stopped her frail body from collapsing.

"Tsu, you should rest. I have brought a very good doctor from my workplace. You are fine now. Tou-san has solved everything."

Tsunami turned to face the blonde male. He had a clean shaven hair but was donned with a red to the rims of his eyes. Facial hairs largely gathered, a bit disheveled but still it couldn't conceal his strong exterior.

"You...are...?" Still clutching her head, she asked.

Iemitsu pained by her words, nevertheless quickly covered it up with a cheerful smile. "Tou-san. I am your tou-san."

"Tou-san?"

"Yes, tou-san."

Tsunami seriously noted down his title that matched his appearance.

"And I?" Nana hurriedly took cover to ensure that their small encounter wouldn't be forgotten for the second time.

"Kaa-san?"

"Yes, Tsu-chan." As Nana said that, she pulled Tsunami into a tight hug, arms that were unwilling to let go no matter how much her child suffered. "Your kaa-san will always be by your side."

Their reunion was short-lived. While Tsunami was being engulfed with questions, she took her time and patiently listened to the childish rants of her kaa-san. Nana told many stories, stories of fantasies, stories of heroes, and even stories of a little princess named Tsunami when she was still a baby. Nana did all she could to entertain Tsunami to life again and Tsunami took it all in not once stopping her cheerful mother from speaking. She felt that Nana's voice is pleasing with a soft touch and from not afar, a sweet scent of vanilla drifted to her nose. The time is pleasing and so is the improvement of their relationship. Unlike the beginning when Tsunami guarded herself, she eventually begins to relax. However, despite everything, whenever Tsunami seeks to understand how she has come to this stage Nana would change to another topic. Her patience is not unlimited and while she is curious, she felt that she deserves to know what occurred to make her body end up this way. She concluded with two plans and one of them was to get her still unfamiliar father, Iemitsu.

The knocking of the door foreshadowed her desired persona and appearing was her long-anticipated father. Compared to when they first met, he had changed quite a bit. His appearance may have been a lot tidier but his clothes were the most casual of the casual. He approached the young lady with careful steps and a neat smile helpless in dotting.

"Nana, Tsu," Iemitsu called, voice gentle with a bit of huskiness.

"Tou-san."

He nodded brightly at the acknowledgment of his title and seated himself on the bed turning to face Tsunami. At that moment, Tsunami knew her chance had arrived. She turned to face her kaa-san and wished for something to eat. Nana did as her child willed and left the room leaving the two.

Tsunami faced Iemitsu, her gaze confronting his own pair of strong blazing light. "Tou-san, what happened to me? How did everything come this way?"

Iemitsu shocked by the direct interrogation flickered his hesitating gaze elsewhere. He paused for a moment before replying to a confirmation.

"Do you want a gentle truth or a harsh lie?"

"I want the factual truth." Like so, her sweet voice carrying her resolve confirmed the slight change in his child's behavior that Iemitsu had been feeling so.

-xxx-

To say where it actually began may be a bit difficult. Things happened too suddenly and too discreetly executed that even he as the head of the CEDEF couldn't notice.

About a year ago, Sawada Tsunami was still the energetic but the dame kid in school. Every day walking home full of scratches and bruises, Tsunami claimed to have gotten it from merely playing with other kids. She was an enduring child, kind, and understanding. Yet, her major flaw is her meek nature and weak self. She couldn't fight against those who would drag her to the end of the hall and secretly beat her up. The students as young as they were had long been brutal untamed animals.

The portrayed event would continue until things escalated. The bullying got worse as Tsunami would be thrashed and even so the name cursing never ceased. Tsunami had loved her dear mother and would be sad to cause her heart-ache. So she sealed her lips, a secret kept her own and hid it all.

Until one day, as Tsunami went out shopping with Nana, she saw the child who abused her mentally and physically. Tsunami thought she would be safe if she stayed with her mother. Her mother was her haven and her safe place, no one can harm her there. Foolish as she was, just by a mere contact near the crossing of the street, Tsunami was pushed off the side road and into the streets. Luck didn't seem to kiss her any blessing and from there a drunk driver crashed the young girl to her death.

When Tsunami heard all of this, her face was pale. A bit ashen but most importantly, anger welled up in her heart. She is not Tsunami, she knows by this fact for sure. Her anger was kept for two people, one primarily the child who is the victim and two, the bully. Hatred is a strong word but she would like to say that she loathed the two. The world is a cruel place, it valued the strong not because they are strong but because the weak couldn't live long to survive. She bit her lips down bitterly weeping in the seething hatred and the growing sorrow.

She may have never known how the original Tsunami was but she felt a tingling sensation that Tsunami's fault lied with her solution to the problem. An idiot, a true idiot but more importantly a pathetic fool.

At that moment, Tsunami knew that she is now the pathetic fool. What a joke, her life was fiddled to be in the weakling's body. At the same time, was this a blessing or a curse? She remembered although faintly that she was murdered. The world had betrayed her but what brought her light was the tight clutches from her beloved ones. In the end, she had failed to live to their expectations and passed away in the quiet dark.

She quietly laid her head low. Her arms to covering her shamed face. All her actions recorded in Iemitsu's eyes. He had been analyzing her expression for a while in hope not to provoke too much from her recovery process. All while his darker shade of amber was observing, a small interlinking flame of black orange sparkled. And he captured every detail to the tiniest bit before it was sealed off replacing with a soft glow of orange. The flames were tender and soothing that lulled his own flames in.

"Tsu, are you okay?"

Tsunami looked at him, face tired both mentally and physically. Iemitsu could only wish so deeply for himself to take her place instead.

"Is there anything more?"

Iemitsu for a moment was about to speak but chose to stay silent. Tsu is only seven, too young to comprehend the ugliness of the world and what he is about to drag her in. Thinking so, he rejected the question with a no but Tsunami could feel an inner voice telling her that he was lying.

"Tou-san, I wish to know all factual truth."

Seeing the determined and collected look made Iemitsu realized, Tsunami is his child without a doubt. Her hyper intuition like his is keen to be known. He whimsically sighed and brought himself seating much closer than before.

"The accident had been taken care of and the child had his own repercussion. Alleged punishments will be sent to him and his household, the Sawada family isn't so easy to be bullied." He threw a wink to Tsunami hoping to release some tension. "After you got injured, Nana tearfully brought you to the hospital. Her heart almost couldn't stand handling the consecutive shocks." Taking one arm, he placed it on the young girl's petite body. "The hospital gave you immediate medical care but still they weren't gods. They told us that we need to wait for you to wake up. When I asked them how long you would awake from your coma, they claimed that it could be a day, a week, a month or possibly a year."

At the end of his response, his eyes returned back to its former exhaustion. Tsunami planted her own small arms and gently patted her father's back, comforting him to go on. Iemitsu took heed and proceeded.

"So we waited, Nana and I that is. We kept you on life support and no matter what, we will wait. Tou-san may be a construction worker but I had quite a bit of cash stacked up." He laughed contentedly at his own small joke but Tsunami remained still with indifference.

"Thank you, tou-san." Tsunami felt that having such parents were a blessing, she felt somewhat sad for the past Tsunami. A small stricken grief crept up her heart.

Iemitsu took the gratitude with a smile and embraced his cute daughter lovingly.

"You were actually supposed to wake up earlier but then an evil doctor who tou-san thought was his friend, betrayed me. Every day, she gave at least a small dosage of anesthesia to keep you in your sleep."

"Was she the one who looked like a pretty angel? I vaguely remember kaa-san calling her Mizune."

"Yes, tou-san is sorry to you. If it wasn't because she hated tou-san, she wouldn't have attempted to harm Tsu."

"Then what happened to her now?"

"She had been arrested and will be prosecuted for murder." No matter what, Vindice owes us our justice. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and I will guarantee that for sure.

Naturally, the ends of his words were swallowed off. The underground business, the world of the mafia is that much of a cold, dangerous place. Every time he thought of how he could have prevented this whole mess, the whole tragedy, he succumbed to his own darkness. Had he planted enough protection, perhaps came home more frequent, or had cleaned all the cockroaches before they could move, Tsu wouldn't need to suffer through so much. For a child at the age of six to experience through this, he wanted to give her a perfect childhood as a normal child.

By the time Nana came back to the room holding freshly hot meals, they had finisher assuming their small talk. Tsunami has come to terms with how her life will go. She could feel many emotions enveloping her tiny brain but most importantly...

Placing a hand on her beating chest, she slowly muttered. "I'm alive."

And her parents who heard her proudly smiled. "Yes, Sawada Tsunami is alive."

The wind fluttered passed the opened window and gently pushed her golden locks. They danced exasperatedly with the aid of the whispers concealing the lifting corners of her lips.


Her name, Tsunami is not the one we all know. It is something different which will be discussed in the next chapter.

Comment? Critics? I hope you can follow Tsunami on her journey as you learn more about her. :)