ARTIFICIAL SUNS

"Why isn't Hanabi-chan crying? How can a child be so stone-faced at her own parents' funeral," spoke a whisper far too cruel for the heart to handle.

"Hush, dear. She'll hear you. I guess some people express grief differently from others."

"Yes, I would expect that from an adult...but not a twelve your old girl. Just maybe…she was the one who caused the house fire."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Say what you will. You can't expect people to think she's innocent when she doesn't even cry for the loss of her parents."

Whether they were trying to be so loud or not didn't matter. Hanabi still heard every harsh word they said. Regardless though, she kept her head down and stared at her sandals that pressed into the muddy ground. Her blue eyes blinked slowly while listening to the sound of dirt being shoveled into the holes where her parents will now remain. As soil dropped on the wooden coffins, each one slowly disappeared until she was unable to see them anymore.

Perhaps it was strange to not cry. She knew it was a normal thing to do when someone was upset, which she knew she was. The pain in her heart was real, but nothing was happening. Her throat felt tight enough to burst, and her body was shaking like an earthquake…but she still couldn't cry.

"What a soulless child…" With those last ugly words, the crowd parted ways and left Hanabi alone by two gravestones that belonged to her mother and father.

"Maybe…they're right," Hanabi muttered out before turning her head to the sky of gathering clouds. She could smell the rain in the air, and very soon after that, it began to pour. "At least...you're willing to cry in my stead."

ONE YEAR LATER

Not much has changed in the year following her parents passing. Their firework shop was still just as popular, even though Hanabi was now in charge of everything. It still didn't stop people from shunning her though, but they had dialed it down to just giving her odd looks and murmuring under their breath. It never stopped being hurtful, but with all the work that she had to do, she never had the time to think about it. It was all she really did anymore. Day in and day out, without rest or purpose, Hanabi worked on her fireworks. Though sometimes she would accidentally mess up the dosage of powder and end up making the equivalent of a mini-bomb. That more times than not blew up in her face.

After several hours of work, Hanabi finally managed to pull her eyes away and glance outside the window. Despite it being midday, the skies were rather dim, but that has become a typical sight for Akami village. Sadly, living in such a place that is mostly dark and void of light can be quite depressing at times. Which is why people depended on her fireworks so much. They needed something to brighten their day, and in their eyes, the firework display looked more like an artificial sun.

Hanabi dusted some of the black powder off her hands before swiftly turning around and stepping out the back door where a barrel of fresh water was. She ran her hands under the cool water before scrubbing them clean. She was about to shake them dry when she turned her body to the side and nearly jumped out of her skin.

There was a small figure of some sort peeking around the corner with a face as white as a ghost. That's what Hanabi thought at first before the logical part of her brain turned back on, soon recognizing it to be a little girl no more than nine years old. She had long, raven black hair pulled up in a bun with a beautiful red spider-lily hair ornament woven through. She also had these stunning amber-gold eyes that looked like they could pierce the blackness of night and glow in the dark.

Hanabi took a breath and held her hand over her beating heart. "Good grief... Don't sneak up on people like that. You're bound to give someone a heart attack."

The beautiful child didn't say anything and continued to stare at her with those large amber eyes. This wasn't really all that surprising to Hanabi though. A lot of children kept their distance from her because of the rumors their parents had spread.

Hanabi sighed and waved her hand. "Right, right. I'll leave." She turned around to head back inside but stopped when the child suddenly reached her small hand out and grabbed the hem of her kimono.

"Those lights...you make them, right? How do you make those mini suns?" The child asked her with those big amber eyes staring curiously up at her.

It was such an innocent and child-like question that it couldn't help but make Hanabi's heart squeeze a bit. It was the cutest question she had ever been asked.

Hanabi cocked her head to the side before folding in her kimono and crouching down in front of the girl. "What's...what's your name?" she asked.

The child's pale face turned all kinds of red as she looked away. She fiddled with the silky fabric of her kimono and avoided eye contact like she was embarrassed. "Ameya. Hibana Ameya."

"Hibana?" Hanabi blinked. She looked down at the clothes Ameya was wearing and quickly noticed the high quality of them. Quite expensive. "Oh, I get it now. Your parents run the tailor shop, right?" she asked and got a confirming and quiet nod from the girl. "Ameya...do your parents know you're out right now?"

"Yes, they do," the child said with a vigorous nod.

"And do your parents know you're out...talking to me?"

"No, they don't," the child said with another vigorous nod, seemingly completely unaware or didn't care about the rumors that surrounded Hanabi. "Miss...are you the one who makes those lights?" she asked while once again tugging on her kimono.

"Ye-yeah, but I think the word you're looking for is 'firework'," Hanabi corrected.

"Fire...?"

"Yeah...but more like a controlled explosion that releases these...uh...stars of color, as you say," she said, trying to think of an easier way to explain fireworks to a child.

Ameya's eyes grew wide and wonderous. "Oh! All those colors?" she said with absolute giddiness. "How can a firework hold a star."

"That's a secret, unfortunately. Only these hands know the magic." Hanabi smiled while lifting her callus-ridden hands that were scratched up and burned from years of firework making.

"Your hands have magic in them?" Ameya grabbed Hanabi's hands and ran her fingers over the worn and scarred skin. "I wanna know..." she said with a childish frown. "Can you show me?"

Hanabi frowned instantly. "Ah...I think you're gonna have to tell your parents first."

Ameya suddenly flinched and held onto Hanabi's hands tighter. "Don't wanna. They're gonna get mad at me and say no." Her frown quickly deepened, and she looked generally upset. "Everyone says you're not nice...but how can that be if you make pretty suns."

Hanabi felt her stomach flutter at those kind and rare words. When was the last time anyone had said something so sweet to her? "Fireworks. They're called firework," she corrected once again, but this time smiling. "Look... How about this. You can watch me make ONE firework, ok? After that, you go straight home and tell your parents nothing. Deal?" Hanabi sat up and offered her hand out.

Ameya's golden eyes widen, and the world's most innocent smile stretched far across her face. "Yes, yes, yes!" She jumped for joy and immediately grabbed ahold of Hanabi's hand, dragging her back inside the shop herself.

ONE YEAR LATER

"Demons, you say?" Hanabi had to stop funneling the black powder into the firework mold and look up at Ameya sitting across from her, book in hand and still as bright-eyed as ever.

"Yeah. Creatures who stalk at night." Ameya nodded and turned the book around to show her what she was reading. "I read that they like to eat young kids because their meat is juicy."

Hanabi nearly dropped the bottle of black powder from just hearing a ten year old say that. "Ameya, you really have to stop reading those fictional books. You're never gonna have a good night's rest if it's plagued with nightmares," she warned her

Ameya nodded as her lips turned into a frown. "Are you saying demons aren't real?" she asked rather worryingly.

Hanabi scoff. "You said they stalk at night, right? Then why hasn't anyone seen one before? Not to mention we live in a village that the sun hardly ever touches. Gods forbid anyone here getting so much as a little tan."

Ameya gave it a little bit of thought before agreeing with her. She even looked relieved. "Yeah...I guess you have a point. It was pretty silly for me to think that, right?"

"Why this sudden excitement to read anyways? You never once talk to me about a book before," Hanabi asked.

"It's because I heard that if you read a lot, you can strengthen your vocabulary for writing," Ameya explained

"What's this?" Hanabi said with a cocking brow. "You wanna be a writer? Now that's a dread if I ever heard one before, but a nice goal."

Ameya perked up excitingly. "You think so?"

"Yeah. The inspiration to learn is a good thing to have. It might actually help you find a husband one day," Hanabi said dryly, lips curling up into a joking smile.

Ameya blinked before letting out a sweet-sounding laugh. "Don't be silly. The only one here who's in need of a husband is you. You're already fourteen years old and you had never gone on a date before, right?"

Hanabi notably flinched at the question and her face turned bright red. She took a hesitant step back and accidentally knocked into a barrel of black powder, spilling it all over the floor. It went the air, into the cracks in the floorboard, and all over Hanabi's pants.

"Oh, good grief," Hanabi groaned and tried to brush the powder off her pants.

Ameya frowned. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you like that." She stood up like she was going to clean it up but was stopped by Hanabi.

"Don't worry about it. I'll clean it up later," she said while patting Ameya's head. "We got the Blue Light Festival tonight and I'm not even remotely done with the firework preparations," she groaned while gesturing to the abundance of already made fireworks that littered her workshop. It was a lot, but not remotely close to the requirement.

"Are you late because I'm talking to you?"

"No. It's merely because I just don't wanna do it," Hanabi said bluntly while leaning against her workbench. "It's always been a stressful time of year for me."

Ameya pondered those words for a second before an odd question came to mind. "Hanabi-san. I never asked this before but do you actually like making fireworks?"

She had always known Hanabi's fireworks to be the best in the village. Superb and breathtaking were just some of the words she'd use to describe them, but it never occurred until now if Hanabi actually liked making them. She had always assumed that she did. Until now at least.

Hanabi cocked a brow but could understand Ameya's question. It actually made her think for a little bit. "Well, I've never given it much thought. I guess…it mostly feels like a mundane task that I just have to do," she said with a saddened realization. It baffled her really, because at some point in her life Hanabi did have an absolute love of fireworks. Now though… It was different. Made her wonder when the passion was lost.

"I like your fireworks. They make me feel happy and forgetful," Ameya said oddly.

"Forgetful?" Hanabi said with a perplexed stare.

Ameya nodded and started to fiddle with her hands, searching for the words to describe how she felt. "Like...for the moment before and after the flash, I don't have to remember all the awful things in the world. So yeah...forgetful."

Hanabi looked a little stunned at first and didn't know what to say. It was such a childish and innocent explanation…but she could see what Ameya was trying to say perfectly. "Thanks, I guess. I'm glad they're, uh...doing some good."

"You're welcome," Ameya said with a bright smile. "Well...I won't keep you anymore. You got a lot to do before tonight comes. We'll meet up by the riverbed to watch the fireworks, right? With a whole lot of festival food," she said eagerly.

Without even realizing it, Hanabi let a smile slip onto her lips. "That doesn't sound so bad. I guess I'll see you in a couple hours."