The Last Season
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It was late in summer, and Shinta was working to bring in another harvest. Koji and Natsuko and Yahiko were still helping to finish up Grandmother and Grandfather's field while Kaoru was inside, preparing the family's afternoon meal.
It was a hot day, and another storm was gathering over his head. He was used to them - sudden, brief storms breaking up the heat of the day.
In a flash of lightening, Shinta happened to glance toward his house, and he saw his wife standing outside, speaking to a tall man with white hair. But he couldn't have seen that, because in the next flash of lightening, Kaoru was alone.
She was watching the sky, her face solemn. After a moment, without looking at Shinta, she turned and went inside.
.
That evening she held him closely, fiercely. He whispered her name and she said "I love you." She was weeping.
In the morning she acted like nothing was wrong.
.
She was the same as she had ever been as the summer turned to fall. Perhaps she smiled more. Perhaps she watched them all more closely. Perhaps she reached out more often to touch her husband, her children, her adopted family.
Perhaps it was her way of telling them that she would always love them.
Shinta watched her - as beautiful as ever, a few laugh lines to suggest she had aged. He watched her and he grew as silent as his daughter and as short-tempered as his son. He hovered over his wife. He relished her eyes, her skin, her laughter, her feigned annoyance when he wouldn't leave her alone. He held her whenever he could.
He never spoke the words, but each beat of his heart throbbed "Don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me."
.
Kaoru never spoke of that day, but it dogged her memory.
She had never seen him before, but she knew him. She knew who he was. She knew what he was.
He had taken the form of a tall young man - he might have been handsome but for his stark white hair and frightening eyes that were blue as the sky.
He had approached her casually. He was smiling. All he said was, "Sister, hasn't it been long enough?"
But his blue eyes were deadly serious and something inside her sighed and lowered her eyes and said "Yes."
.