Cherry Petals ~サクランボノハナビラ
3. 紫 ~緋真~ (Violet ~Hisana~)
He said with a shy look on his face
" Violet is nice." and covered his eyes with his right hand.
I asked, with that burning curiosity in me
" Then why won't you look at me? "
He did not say a word.
Soul Society was made up of different classes and ranks. Everything was arranged in a hierarchy – from the day you were brought into this world. If you are lucky, you form up the tiny percentage that made up the noble families; if you are not, you will then end up as the majority that lived in Rukongai.
Rukongai alone, was split into 80 districts, and had a way with sorting the type of people that formed the majority of a particular district. While District 1(Junrinan) was the most peaceful district in Rukongai; it also meant that District 80 was the worst. The logic behind Rukongai is simple – 'atonement' – if you had been a splendid person with a pure heart; you will most likely be residing in the top districts; if you had committed atrocious sins, the exact opposite will happen to you. You end up in the last few districts and you atone for your sins.
I was born into District 78, along with her.
While most souls had faint memories about the time when they were still living; I had none. The only names I remembered were the ones the Shinigami kept telling me when he sent me to Soul Society - Hisana and Rukia – while Hisana was my name, who was Rukia? That was when I realized I was carrying a child in my arms. We shared the same eye, hair and skin color; our age difference was too small to be considered mother and daughter – so I had assumed her to be my sister. She should be Rukia, the other name I heard from the Shinigami.
Rukia was only a newborn then.
She was a brave child and barely cried; she would look into my eyes and reach out her hands to touch it – as if she was trying to wipe away my tears. There was only one problem, Rukia needed milk – and it was very expensive to get it in Inuzuri. I could barely even get food for my own; let alone afford milk for Rukia. Rukia knows about this, that was why she never cried – she never once said she was 'hungry' even when I knew she needed food.
That was when I heard the townsfolk saying, that when a soul dies in Soul Society; the soul gets reborn into the real world again. They tried to talk me into committing atrocious sins, again.
I am the worst sister one could ever have.
The tainted thought of killing my own sister. If what the townsfolk said were to be true, Rukia might get a chance to live as a better person in her next life – wouldn't that be better than surviving this living hell? I hesitated. I recalled the logic behind Rukongai – you enter a district based on your past sins. Would it happen the other way round? Would you suffer in the real world, if you had committed atrocious sins and died in Rukongai? The last thing I wished for Rukia would be to see her suffer any further – I wanted to put an end to it; but was unable to if she were to continue to live with me.
I was sure that after what I have done to my little sister, a Shinigami would appear and transfer me to District 80 Zaraki – it was such a loathsome thought, after all. I continued making my way to the border where District 77 was, hoping to give Rukia a better life than mine. That was when I chanced upon a family that was dining together in their small brown hut. I thought, perhaps they will take you in and provide you with food; that you would be able to have a family.
I made that cruel decision. I left your frail body beside that hut while I kept a piece of paper inside the cloth that wrapped you – that paper had your name. I made a silent promise that I will find you if I had found myself a better life. As I took one final look at your face, you were smiling at me – it filled my entire heart with guilt – I'm sorry, Rukia. I ran as far as I could, with no intended direction – all I cared was to run away as far as possible; hoping that the memory of your face will vanish and be blown away by the wind. As I stopped by a running stream, I splashed water on my face repeatedly – but the sin I had just committed would not go away. I stared at my own reflection and saw the color of my eyes – it looked just like Rukia. These eyes, they had just been cursed with guilt. I looked up at the blue sky and made a promise that today would be last sin I will ever commit; that I will make sure I will lead a good life – so that when I find Rukia again, she too, will have a better life.
I roamed aimlessly and reached another village – it looked quite the same like my previous place – except that there were greener trees and the skies had whiter clouds. I survived by offering to deliver well water to the elderly villagers for a meager sum of money – I saved up large portion of it, with hopes to give Rukia and I a better life; while the rest were used up for basic survival.
I helped out every time I caught someone in distress; it was the only way to atone for those grave sins. Occasionally, I would remember the different people I meet – the granny who always called me by a wrong name, the family who would charge me lesser for the rice balls they sell, the little girl who made me a ribbon when I found her kite; and that limping boy who cursed madly in the clinic when they tried to fix his dislocated leg.
I wonder how he is doing now.
One night while fetching water for an old lady, I met a strange creature. It did nothing except remaining at the same spot, overlooking the well where I was carrying water from. It continued to stare as I walked towards it. I bent down and asked the creature if it wanted water; it responded by stroking its head on my wrist – I laughed because the fur was ticklish. I scooped out the water with both palms and offered to the creature – it purred and licked my hand dry. The silver moon shone down on the both of us, I looked at the creature's yellow eyes and apologized.
"I'm sorry, little black one. I promised an old lady that I would give her this." I pointed to the pail
The black creature stretched its body and purred softly. I gave the head a little pat as I went over to lift the wooden pail, the black creature followed beside me as I made my way to the old lady's hut. I collected the pennies from the old lady and used a part of it buy a rice ball – I shared a third of it with the black creature. The black creature stroked my wrist once more – I smiled this time.
"I have to go now, little black one. See you soon~" I waved to the black creature before I made my way home. Somehow, the chance meeting with the animal lifted some of my spirits,
Peculiar things do happen at Rukongai. As a wandering soul at Rukongai, I too get frightened by such things – even though we may be the ones that are doing the scaring over at the real world.
The black creature was standing at my doorstep way before I reached home. I tilted my head as I wondered how it managed to find its way here. If things weren't any stranger, I heard a voice coming out of nowhere.
" Oya~ I found you," It spoke in a deep voice and had a weird accent; like that of an old man.
"Hehhh?" I staggered a few steps backwards, my hands covering the astonishment that was pouring out of my mouth.
Whose voice did it belong to?
"This must be a hallucination..." I whispered to myself.
I must have been too overwhelmed by fatigue; this is all imaginary.
The cat jumped up to the wooden plank and turned to look at me.
"I'm here I'm here~~" The ebony-furred feline spoke as it pulled out its paw and waved.
"You can talk?" I continued to stare at its yellow eyes in disbelief.
"My name is Yoruichi, " The cat moved over to a straw sieve and waited; as if it wanted to know my name too.
"I...I'm Hisana," I refuse to believe that I just performed a self-introduction with a cat. I was so nervous I found myself stuttering.
"Anyway, you stay put! I'm bringing someone over now..." The cat began to leap far and ran at top speed.
"At this hour?" I tried to project my voice louder.
"It's alright! It's alright! Wait there, young girl!" The cat disappeared into the dark silhouettes of trees and branches.
I sat on the small curb where the front door was. Yoruichi the cat said "to stay put" - I had not entered the house. This house used to be that old lady's son, but he left to become a Shinigami and would not be coming back any time soon – so I rented it from her. It had a nice view of the night sky. Stars would always gather around this area because there are lesser clouds in here. The trees hardly moved, but there was always a silent breeze that cooled the area. Everything moved in a quiet manner – it gave me the needed peace that I've longed for. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing onto my cheeks; tilting my legs to-and-fro in a non-rhythmic manner.
Just then, a commotion broke the silence.
A commotion between a lady and a boy. They were bickering with one another.
"What on earth are you taking me to, you were-cat?" The boy asked grumpily
"You promised didn't you? You don't want your ribbon?" The lady hissed.
"Argh my ribbon, return it to me already! What promise?" He seemed confused.
"Your life-saving benefactor,"
"Ah," The boy fell silent after that.
"You don't do this, I'll tell Ginrei-san," The lady threatened and giggled mischievously.
"Okay. You try to hide yourself somewhere. Don't you dare eavesdrop," The boy warned.
"Who knows I won't do that?" The lady spoke in a lyrical tune.
"You!!!"This angry-toned boy sounded extremely familiar; perhaps he happened to one of the customer's grandson I met this morning.
I had no idea where they were coming from; I only knew they were approaching for the voices get louder each time they conversed. I tried to follow the voices but there was nothing in front of me. That was when I saw a shadow of a figure – it was a girl with long shoulder length and she limped slowly towards me – have I met her before? When the moonlight finally revealed who the stranger was, I smiled,
"I thought you were a girl again,"
The boy did not say a word.
He had this frustrated face on him, as if it was not his intentions to see me right here.
"It's late. How did you find me here?" I tried to be oblivious of the fact that he was angry.
"It's all because of that stupid cat and her stupid ideas..." He began muttering away.
"Cat? Yoruichi?" I managed to catch one word; I had only remembered one cat.
He looked surprised this time.
"You...know her?"
"Not really, just today. She just went off. She said she was going to find someone and come back,"
"Oh," The fair-skinned boy gritted his teeth before he walked closer to me.
"What brings you here?"
Under the bright moonlight, I must have looked extremely hideous with all the dirt on my face. I did not even have the chance to wash up before meeting this unexpected guest – I thought Yoruichi was going to bring along another feline that talked. The boy stared into my eyes again, just that this time it was closer. That feeling was so awkward; it was my turn to look away.
" Your eyes... " He was still following the pupils when he suddenly covered his own with his right palm.
What about those eyes?
Are you telling me that they look scary?
You should probably fear them, because these are the eyes of a murderer.
"Violet...It is a nice color," He said it with his eyes still blocked out.
Stop it. I don't like the color at all.
"Then...Why is it so hard to look at them?" I had wanted to know the answer myself; ever since that day, I had not once looked into my own reflection.
He had gone silent. The moonlight had dimmed for the gray clouds were making their way across the dark sky. He took off his right palm and said,
"Because, it feels like another part of me will spill out anytime,"
He spoke in an inaudible tone and looked at the floor.
There was a small twitch on his lips, as if he had said something he should not have said.
It was so strange. The words that he said made no sense.
Yet, I felt I could picture what he wanted to say as well.
It was that kind of indescribable awkwardness I get when I stared into my own eyes.
That part of me that I wanted no one to see, it felt like it was jumping out.
"Naa, girl," That haughty boy was climbing its way back. He touched the back of his hair as he continued,
"I would like to thank you,"
"Hmm? For?"
"This," He had pointed at his bandaged leg.
"Oh, not at all," I had realized the reason why he came over.
"And..." The boy seemed like he was glowing under the moonlight the instant the clouds moved away. It was his light skin tone that gave me the illusion of a fallen star.
There was something else?
"This. It is Yoruichi-san's idea to take you. She said it would be a good way to thank you,"
I laughed out uncontrollably. A boy with so much pride would take advices from a talking cat?
"What's so funny?" He questioned like a prince.
"Somehow, the two of you are adorable together," I rubbed off the tear that was about to fall out of my right eye.
"Just go to this okay ! Three days later!" He slipped the paper into my pocket and tried limping away as quickly as he could. He called out Yoruichi's name in a grouchy tone; a black shadow flashed past the woods and the boy was no longer seen.
I reached out for the paper the boy had given me.
It wrote "Fireworks Festival" on one side.
A map on the other side directed me to this pavilion with the sole instruction "Wait here" scribbled above it.
My head was not focusing much on the map anyway.
It was repeating that one sentence the boy said about those eyes,
That he did not dislike that it was made up of that color.
I had not once asked for his name; I only remembered he's "that angry boy".
Yet I was glad that I've met this boy today, for the first time; for...
Violet had never been a prettier color until he made it to be.
yu-pon's note:
Thank you for reading!
(even if this line appears at every chapter, I will still say the same thing.)
Done! Chapter 3!!
This is really random: sometimes i scream like a fangirl at certain things that come out from my keyboard.
(like I wrote that line, but I felt like telling myself "omg!!!how did you think of this!?"~)
That incident occured when I wrote this chapter. haha.
Translation Notes:
Junrinan, Zaraki, Inuzuri - District Names for #1, #80 and #78 respectively.
Kuchiki Ginrei - Byakuya's Grandpa~ XDD
Chapter 4 is...? XDD It's not too hard to figure out what it would be about.
I'm attempting a sad chapter. aww.
Weekend's arriving! Yippee~
Shall reply to the reviews before I log off! Thank you, once again for reviewing!!!
(breathes in nervously) okay I shall enable anonymous reviewing~
but if you would like a reply from me.. because I always do, haha please log in.
See ya guys soon!
yu-pon
ほなおつー