Chapter 6
Kenshin turned around, startled. Yuwa jumped to her feet and hastily wiped her face.
"You're up early," she said, swiftly walking up to the old man who stood a few paces from them.
"I wanted to see the sun rise. Who is your friend?"
The man's voice was raspy, as if roughened by years of drink. Kenshin stood up.
"This is Kenshin," immediately replied Yuwa. He cast her a sidelong glance.
"Kenshin… Never heard the name. Come make me breakfast," he said without skipping a beat.
"Sure, sure."
Yuwa grabbed the man by the arm and tried to take him back to the only house left standing. The man followed then suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around and shuffled up to Kenshin.
"I know what you're up to, Himura," he spat. "If you lay a finger on her I will kill you."
Kenshin froze. The man glared at him for a moment then his featured softened. He turned his head this way and that, then, catching sight of the woman, he called out to her.
"Yuu-chan! Who is your friend?" he asked.
Yuwa took the man by the arm anew and hurried back to the house with him.
"Wait here. I'll be right back," she yelled to Kenshin over her shoulder.
Bewildered, he nodded then sat back down.
The sun had started its ascent, basking the old village in its warm light while the valley remained in the shadows. Kenshin closed his eyes and let the morning rays caress his tired face. He felt Yuwa sit next to him. He waited.
"I'm sorry," she finally said.
"That man…" he started. "Is he…?"
"Yes. He's my father. Your uncle."
Kenshin opened his eyes.
"The man who sold me."
"Yes." A whisper.
Yuwa shivered. What would Kenshin do? It had taken her years to come to terms with her father's actions. And now that she knew Kenshin's story, she wasn't sure if she'd ever even forgiven her father. Yet she felt she needed to defend him.
"After your father's suicide, the village shunned my father. They ignored him completely. So when Yumi fell sick, no one helped. She died a year after you… left. He was a man consumed by grief and rage. The villagers ignored me, too. I was left to take care of him on my own. I thought about ending it all many times but I even the darkness of hours, I felt that I needed to stay alive for Yuki, for Shin-chan… for you."
She looked down at her hands.
"It took me a long time to learn of the doctor's death. No one would talk to me. They found his body. They said you'd been killed, too, but I didn't believe it. I didn't want to. It would have made my burden too heavy. I had to carry on thinking that you were alive and well somewhere."
He pulled his arms in his sleeves and crossed them on his chest.
"What he said a moment ago…"he began.
She shook her head.
"Not long after the landslide, he started to lose his memory. He sometimes thinks I'm his first wife. He wasn't talking to you. He was talking to your father." She looked up at him. "The hair is all wrong, but you do look very much like him."
She paused.
"I lied to you yesterday. I knew you were the guest coming to the village. I insisted that I should be the one to host you and your friend. I was terrified. So I rehearsed our first moment until I thought I had covered every possibility. Except I hadn't planned for everything."
"You didn't expect me to have forgotten you."
She nodded.
"So I panicked and I reverted to the merry façade that had allowed me to survive for years in a village who believed that the sins of the father were visited on the daughter."
"I'm sorry," he said.
"I'm the one who's sorry."
She stood up.
"I have to go check on him. He refuses to move down with the rest of the village so I have to come up here every day. You can go and take a look at your house if you want. No one touched it. They all believed that the spirits of your parents haunted it. I tried to keep it in order for as long as I could but time did its work."
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Kenshin approached the house slowly. He circled it. Now that it was light, he could see that it was a little bit bigger than he had initially thought. The back was where the damage was most important. The wall had collapsed, taking with it part of the roof. A young tree now grew out of the hole. On the far side, brambles were so thick that he had to retrace his steps. He found himself in front of the entrance anew. He peeked inside. The layout was similar to the house he had lived in with Tomoe. He looked up at the roof. It still looked relatively solid. He gave the doorframe a good push. Dust floated down but the structure held. He risked a few steps inside.
"Tadaima," he whispered. If the spirits of his parents haunted the place, they didn't respond.
The irori had been filled with straw, not doubt by animals seeking to build a nest. He bent and ran his fingers across the wooden floor leaving clear marks in the dust. He noticed the broken remains of a screen where the roof had collapsed. Against his better judgement, he followed the line of the ceiling, trying to see if he could tell which one of them had supported his father's lifeless form. He couldn't. He dusted a small area of the elevated floor and sat on the edge. A bird came through the door and perched itself in the tree behind him. The sound of the breeze and the chirps of the bird were his only companions.
He tried to make sense of it. He had vague memories of his father working the land. He also remembered helping. When he focused, he could almost picture his face. His mother was another story. It made sense, of course. She'd died young. Yet he had always felt like she was there in his mind, just out of reach. Could it be that what he was actually picturing was Yuwa's face? Maybe.
He shifted, trying to cast his eyes on something that might trigger a memory. As he did, his foot hit the riser with a hollow sound. He frowned and kicked it again. Interesting. He got up to his feet and crouched. He knocked on the planks with his knuckle. Definitely hollow. He ran his fingers along the joints until he finally found what he'd been looking for. He slipped the tip of his fingers in the small ouverture and pulled. The decaying wood gave and splintered, sending a cloud of dust in Kenshin's face. He coughed, waving his hand in front of himself. Once the air had cleared, he pried the rest of the plank off. In the hollow, he found a small journal. Water and bugs had gotten to it and it was impossible to even open the thing. He set it aside. He wiped his hands on his hakama. He looked again in the cavity. There appeared to be something in the far corner but he couldn't see it for the dust. Leaning forward he extended his arm and reached out. His fingers met with something smooth. He peeked in and repositioned himself to get more reach. He finally managed to close his hand around the object and pulled it out.
Kenshin blew the dust off. It was a small koma, a colourful red lacquered spinning top. Despite the time it had spent in the damp, it still looked fairly good. He felt the weight of it. It looked like it was a really good quality toy. He had no string to wind it up but he decided to try it on the floor space he had previously cleared. The toy whirred to life on the wooden board. He observed it, as if hypnotized. His chest tightened. Tears welled in his eyes. He bit his lower lip.
His house wasn't really far. Yuwa nee-chan wouldn't even know he was gone. He needed to go back. He knew that Oton was sick and that it would make him better if he stayed away, but he had forgotten his koma. He couldn't possibly be without it. He would be in and out. Oton himself wouldn't even know he'd been there. He pictured the toy in his mind, bright red and shiny; his most prized possession. Only a few more moments, he thought, and he would have it again.
Despite the rain, the door to the house was open. Even better. As quietly as he could, he stepped over the threshold. A foul smell lingered. He covered his nose. Having only one hand would make his task harder but not impossible. He crouched down.
"Shinta!"
He turned around to find his father towering over him in the doorway. His hair was wet, plastered on his face. His cheeks were sunken in. He reeked even more than the house. Shinta trembled. He tried his best to smile.
"I just wanted to get my koma," he explained.
"Get out of here!" his father yelled.
He fought his tears.
"I will, I just…"
His father didn't give him the time to finish. He picked up his son and all but threw him outside. Shinta landed in the tall grass.
"Go away. Go away and don't come back unless I tell you to!"
Shinta stood up. He took a defying step towards his father.
"I want my koma! I want you! Why do I have to stay in that house? They're mean to me! They're mean to Yuwa nee-chan!"
Shintaro covered his face.
"Shinta, go! Do as I tell you!"
His last words were lost in a fit of coughing. Shinta took the occasion to move closer to his father. He latched onto his leg. The man tried to push him away.
"Shinta, no! Leave! Go back!"
The boy shook his head.
"I want you. Don't make me leave. Don't leave me like Okan!"
Using all the strength he could muster, Shintaro pushed his son away from him. He crouched and held him by the shoulders in front of him.
"Shinta. I just need to rest. I am not going anywhere."
He pulled something out of one of his sleeves and put it in Shinta's hand. It was a koma.
"It's a not the one I want!" protested Shinta, his lower lip quivering.
"I know, but it's a new one. I made it for you. Take that one. I don't want you near the house, do you understand."
"But I want the other one!"
Shintaro stood up and pulled his son by the arm as far as he dared go. When he finally let go, he gave him a small push. Shinta stumbled forward and fell to the ground.
"Now go!" his voice cracked. His face crumpled.
"Oton!"
The boy tried to get closer. A rock flew near him and landed behind him.
"Go! Shinta! Just go or I promise you I will not miss next time"
The spinning top slowed down to a stop. Tears coursed freely down his cheeks. He sat on his heels. To think he had burnt down that koma with the house in Otsu. He carded his fingers through his hair and leaned forward. As sob escaped him. Then another.
Outside, leaning against the wall, Yuwa waited.