Chihiro grunted as her mama dropped her down onto her futon, her wide and curious eyes watching her movements as she paced around the room. She hastily grabbed different items and stuffed them into a bag. Her confusion shifted to slight fear as she watched her mama grow increasingly more frustrated with trying to shove something else in the bag. Mama let out an inhuman growl when she could no longer force anything inside it, slamming her hands down in defeat.
“Mama, what’s going on?” She questioned, this wasn’t normal.
Mama paused to compose herself, then turned around a sad smile gracing her delicate features. Quietly, she moved to her, settling on her knees with a sigh. Hesitantly she brought her hands up to rest on Chihiro’s face, smoothing over the rough, scaly patches on her cheeks with the pad of her thumb. She took a deep breath, shaking her head at her daughter.
“Oh, Hiro… mama has to leave…” she whispered sadly.
Chihiro shook her head confused, eyebrows furrowing angrily.
“Is it because of those mean people in the village?” She said agitatedly.
Her mama simply shook her head with a little smile, hushing her as she brought her to lie against her chest. One hand ran through her hair while the other ran up and down across her spine, soothing her.
“No, no, it’s not just because of that… Mama has to go to keep you and Papa safe, okay?”
“We’re safest with you,” she shouted in protest, not able to grasp the situation at all.
Chihiro glared at the tatami on the floor quietly, thinking about the circumstance she was under. She didn’t understand why it had to be her mama; why not one of the mean village kid’s mamas? Was this Kami-Sama's way of punishing her for being different?
“It’s not fair,” she finally spoke up with a shaky voice, “why do you have to go?”
Her mother sighed, pulling away to look into her eyes “Mama doesn’t want to go, but life isn’t fair, Chihiro…”
Chihiro looked up at her, those vibrant green eyes that reflected her own filled with pain and sadness. The look was foreign on her Mama’s face -- it was wrong. It made Chihiro’s well up with tears, but she refused to cry, she had to be strong like her Mama.
“Tatsu,” she whispered the nickname, grabbing her attention, “do you know why that’s your nickname?”
Chihiro shook her head, “Uh, because I look like a dragon?”
“Not quite…” Mama chuckled, “it’s because you are strong, much like a dragon, you’ve got tough skin,” she placed her hands on her scale-like markings on her cheeks, rubbing her thumb over them, “well... more like scales, but you’re strong. You’ll be okay without me, you’ve got Papa, Jiji, Baba... even Mizuki to help you.”
She paused, thinking something over before moving her hands to the necklace around her neck. Chihiro had never seen her without it since she had been able to remember. She lifted it off from around her neck, holding it out so Chihiro could admire it closer, the dim lighting of the room glinting off its rough surface.
“Mama…?” Chihiro said quietly.
“This is my family heirloom, my Mama gave it to me and her Mama gave it to her, and so on,” she explained.
“That’s a lot of mamas,” she giggled.
Mama smiled affectionately down at her, “It is… now, I’ve been waiting for a while to give this to you, but I think now would be a perfect time…”
She lifted and placed it carefully around her neck, adjusting it until the moon was perfectly on display.
“When you look at it, know that Mamas there… I’m protecting you, always.”
Chihiro nodded absently, her curious little hands grabbing the necklace - messing up the careful handiwork of her mama as she observed it closely.
The moon was heavy in her hands, very old and scratched up, but still, each little gem in it was beautiful and intact. She wondered how old it was, probably way older than she was. It might’ve been more than thirty years old, that would be very old.
Mama watched her, biting her lip, her sharp teeth drawing a little droplet of blood which she quickly wiped away. She jumped slightly when Chihiro’s sharp eyes suddenly turned to hers - the eyes she got from Mama - the crisp blue-green shocking to see on a human child, especially with such an intense look on her face.
“Don’t forget about me…” she whispered, voice too serious for an eight-year-old.
Her mama stared down at her face, a look Chihiro couldn’t make out - maybe of shock and confusion mixed with sadness. She didn’t have much time to think about it, as she was pulled into a tight embrace where her mother hid her face in her shoulder sobbing quietly. Chihiro didn’t cry - she had to be strong for Mama.
For some reason, she felt like she would see her mama yet again.
A throat clearing pulled her mother apart from her, the kind face of her Papa peeking into the room. His face held the same grief her mothers did, but it seemed he wouldn’t cry - at least not in front of the family.
“You have to leave now if you want to be safe, Ayumu,” he whispered as he approached.
He placed a gentle hand on Chihiro’s head and pulled her into his side, away from her mother. Chihiro curled into him, holding onto his Haori tightly as she watched her mother collect her overstuffed bag. She began to walk away, posture slumped unlike her usual proud and regal appearance, but she stopped to look back at them once more as she stepped outside.
“Hurry,” her father urged, “you’ll be hurt if you don’t.”
She scrunched up her face slightly, angry and sad, but she nodded and turned away - not before saying one last thing.
“Be strong,” she whispered.
Chihiro smiled up at her Papa, who pressed her closer to him with a sigh. Both of them watched as she walked away until her father could no longer see her, though, Chihiro watched her retreat just a bit further before pulling away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“‘Tsushi, Baba, Oba,” Chihiro called out excitedly.
She stumbled her way through the doorway, tripping over her feet a few times before finally landing face-first on the tatami. She groaned loudly, lifting her head slightly and rubbing at her face. She needed to be more careful when she was excited.
A hand reached out in front of her, around the same size as hers, and with that obnoxious laugh, she knew that it was Atsushi offering to help her. He flexed his hand again as if he thought she didn’t see it or something - though she knew he was just trying to get under her skin.
With a little huff she pushed herself up onto her feet, straightening out her kimono as best she could - she still had to look presentable for Baba’s sake. Atsushi chuckled at her, watching as she tried desperately to straighten herself out.
“Need some help,” he asked smugly - he was only two years older than her, but he treated her like a helpless child.
“No, Atsushi, I'm doing great… Besides I highly doubt you could be much help,” she sassed back with a roll of her eyes.
He held his hands up defensively taking a step back, “Okay, okay, I get it, you’re a big girl now. You don’t need big bro ‘Tsushi looking after you anymore.”
She growled at him, though she couldn’t stop the affectionate smile that grew on her face. He was like a brother to her, and despite how annoying he could be she loved him.
“Alright, you two, quit your bickering. It’s already hard enough to live with Atsushi as it is, I don’t need both of you giving me headaches,” her Jiji’s annoyed voice sounded behind her.
She smiled widely, turning to face him with a wild grin just as he opened his arms for her.
“Jiji,” she squealed, throwing herself at him at full speed, both of them stumbling back a little from her force. She heard Atsushi groan a little at the sight -- good, maybe he’ll learn not to bother her.
“Kami-Sama, Tatsu, you’ve not only grown bigger, but you’ve gotten stronger too,” he groaned out humorously.
“Try not to be so rough Hiro, your Jiji is old,” her papa said tiredly behind them, he was always tired.
“Masahao I’d watch that mouth of yours unless you want to be sleeping outside tonight,” Jiji shot back with a little laugh, “besides she’s fine, nothing wrong with my little Tatsu showing off her strength!”
She smiled widely up at him, basking in the praise she was given from her second favorite person in the world - second only to her dear old Baba.
“Yeah, besides Papa, I don’t think I could ever possibly hurt Jiji, he trained in that army place right?” Her father rubbed her head gently, adjusting the strap of their travel bags with the other.
“Just be careful, and don’t hurt anyone too badly okay?”
“Okay, Papa, I’ll be careful,” she assured.
She watched him pass by and walk into the other room, the sudden commotion from the two other women in the house exploding from it as he walked in. She smiled at the noise, happy to be back where she was happiest. Jiji smiled back down at her, rubbing her head affectionately before pulling away to acknowledge her sister who made an appearance at the front door.
“Mizuki, nice to see you again kid,” he said with a small smile.
She nodded, quietly moving onwards past everyone without a word in her usual fashion. Chihiro didn’t like that about Mizuki - well she didn’t really like anything about Mizuki, but her silent disrespect made her angriest - especially when it was toward Jiji.
“I wish she wasn’t like that,” Chihiro grumbled.
“Yeah, not only is it mean, but it’s just annoying,” Atsushi chimed in with his thoughts after his long silence, “not to mention when she does speak it’s mean; it’s like she thinks she’s better than us.”
Jiji sighed, looking between the two kids then at the door conflicted. Chihiro knew he wanted to deny their claims against her sister, but it was hard to do so when he too knew it was the truth. They all knew it was the truth.
He shook his head and shoved Chihiro forward toward the family room, “Come on, let's stop picking on Mizuki and go say hi to your Oba and Baba.”
With a nod, she pulled away and followed after Atsushi, who was already excitedly prancing away. When they reached the room where the rest of the family was she smiled, quietly watching their interactions at the entryway for a moment. Oba was fussing over Papa’s appearance, while Baba quietly spoke with Mizuki.
Her Jiji cleared his throat in annoyance from behind her, drawing all eyes to him “Mikasa leave him alone, he’s not a child, he can fix his own hair.”
Oba pulled her hands away from Papa’s head, a nervous smile on her face as Jiji approached. Chihiro watched the interaction with a smile, happy to see her family acting as they normally did. Every interaction was so casual and comfortable, as it was meant to be.
She stared quietly for a few seconds more, giggling at Jiji smacking Papa upside the head for a smart comment he made - yes things were as they were supposed to be.
“Chihiro,” a quiet shaky voice called, her head turning to attention immediately, “come here, let Baba see you, Tatsu.”
Chihiro smiled and made her way over, pretending not to notice the annoyed look her sister gave her as she walked away. She pulled her arms around Baba’s frail body. Every time she held her it felt as though she somehow got smaller since she last did so - or maybe Chihiro just got bigger.
She gave her a gentle squeeze; not too strong, but not weak enough to make her Baba notice. She had to make a perfect balance to not hurt her physically, but still not weak enough that Baba would notice she was holding back. Baba was never one who liked being underestimated, then again neither was Chihiro.
“My, Tatsu, you’re so strong now,” she said with a laugh pulling away a bit, Chihiro didn’t mention she was hardly using any of her strength.
She placed her hands onto her cheeks, jerking her head around to observe her closely. Chihiro grumbled at the jerky movements but did nothing else as to avoid being reprimanded. For such a frail woman, she was scarier than Jiji when she was angry.
She rubbed at her cheeks, the roughness of her “scales” - as her family called them - setting her at ease somehow. Her Baba chuckled at her, she must’ve been wearing a weird face so she laughed along with her. When the laughter died down, Baba’s face faded to a sad smile.
Chihiro knew what she was thinking, everyone always thought the same thing, but she still had to ask, “What’s wrong?”
“Sorry, it’s nothing, you just…. look so much more like your Mama every time I see you,” she sighed, “you’re so beautiful… your father is going to have to fight off all the boys in your village.”
Chihiro groaned overdramatically, pulling away from her hands, “Baba quit! You know I’m not interested in boys!”
Baba just smiled knowingly at her, ruffling her hair slightly, “I used to think like that too before I met your Jiji.”
“Ew, Baba, that’s gross,” Chihiro whined, pretending to throw up.
“It’s always gross until you fall in love yourself, Tatsu,” she continued to tease, a smirk on her face that made Chihiro frustrated, “you’ll find someone who you love someday, and then you’ll understand what I mean.”
She groaned once again, both because she was disgusted and she felt a heavyweight on her back -- one that could only be her cousin. She shoved him off her, turning and immediately throwing a fist at his face. He barely dodged it and stumbled back a few times before his back met the ground. Chihiro smirked, ready to jump on top of him, but was stopped by her Baba’s angry voice.
“Chihiro, Atsushi, knock it off this instance,” she yelled angrily, grabbing the attention of the four others in the room.
“Baba, we were just gonna mess around a bit, honest,” Atsushi whined pathetically.
“Yeah, Baba, we were just going to roughhouse a bit that’s all, we’ve done it since we were little,” she defended - also not wanting to get in trouble.
“You two aren’t five anymore, you’re a young boy and lady it’s not appropriate for you to do things like that,” she scolded.
Chihiro was about to retort, not understanding why it was wrong to have a little fun with her cousin -- they used to do this all the time just a year ago -- when her Oba stepped in.
“Now now, Kaa-san, let the kids have a little fun they won’t be this youthful for that much longer, you know,” she said, gently helping Atsushi onto her feet and smoothing out his hair.
“They need to learn to act like proper civilized men and women as soon as possible, it isn’t right to have them roughing around with each other,” Baba retorted, to which her Oba merely hushed her.
She turned her gaze away from Baba and to the two children next to her - Atsushi her son, and Chihiro her niece. Chihiro watched her carefully, Oba’s eyes widening a little when they met her bright ones, gaze softening slightly after a moment. Out of everyone in the family, Oba was the one person who she couldn’t seem to read like the others.
As if Oba knew what she was thinking, she gave her a subtle wink - something that she always did when Chihiro stared at her so attentively.
“Now, why don’t you kids go out with Masahao and Jiji to get something sweet for later tonight… Baba and I will cook dinner in the meantime,” she turned behind her to Mizuki, “that includes you Mizu, have a little fun, okay?”
Atsushi immediately started shoving Chihiro out of the room excitedly, chanting ‘free treats’. Oba must not let him have sweets often, she could see why. Though Chihiro was excited as well, she didn’t miss her sister watching the both of them with annoyance as she followed them out - nor did she miss the side glance she gave Oba.
“Alright, Atsushi, shut your mouth,” Jiji snapped, pulling Chihiro out of her daze.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group had been out much later than she thought they would be initially, the sun beginning to set over the horizon. She couldn’t complain, she never really got to go out due to her skin condition, so being out in the village -- albeit small in size -- was more than she could ask for. She even met a kind boy around her age who was selling coal, she didn’t catch his name, but she recalled finding him cute. She also met the girl Atsushi always gushed about when they visited, and she decided she was way too good for her cousin.
It was fun; the most fun she’d had in her entire life. Still, she had to go back home at some point, and that’s what she was doing. Holding onto the bag of sweets she and Atsushi picked out, resisting the urge to devour everything inside it by staring straight ahead and trying not to think of it.
She focused carefully at the distant scenery until her Oba’s home came into view, which caused her to pause. It was wrong. The door to her Oba’s home was completely torn apart, thrown away from where it was and in pieces on the ground. Inside she could just hardly see some broken pots and things strewn about - like there might have been a struggle. She could tell just from that alone there was something wrong - something had happened.
The adults didn’t seem to notice it, or maybe they couldn’t see it yet, she always had impeccable vision compared to everyone else she knew. Other than her Mama of course, but that wasn’t something she should be concerned with now. She needed to make the adults aware of the situation.
“Papa,” she said, tugging on his pants to get his full attention.
“Yes, Hiro,” he looked down at her, an affectionate smile on his face - the happiest she’d seen him in a while.
How she hoped that she was wrong, just this once, for Papa.
“I think something happened...”
He stared at her for a long moment, then looked up at the house, his face twisting in confusion. He must’ve just noticed the open door. He pulled her a little closer to his body, which did little to soothe her worries, but she appreciated it.
“I wonder,” he said quietly, “how about we get Jiji to go ahead and see what happened, and I’ll take the three of you somewhere else while he checks - would that make you feel a bit better?”
She nodded, gripping his shirt tightly. The last time he held her like this was when Mama left. She hoped she would see Baba and Oba again.
“Tou-san, would you go ahead and check up on the house please, Hiro’s a little worried.”
Jiji paused and looked back at them, about to come up with a retort, but snapped his mouth shut when his eyes met with Chihiro’s. He sucked in a quick breath before he nodded and turned away leaving the four of them behind as he hurried to the house.
Mizuki and Atushi turned back to look at the two of them, confused and a bit shaken at Jiji’s reaction.
“Obon, what’s going on…” Atsushi worried.
Papa shook his head, ruffling Atsushi’s hair with a smile, “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure it’s nothing… now… who wants to go back to town and get some more sweets?”
“Won’t Kaa-san be mad,” Atsushi asked, eyes wide but hopeful.
“It’ll be our little secret,” Papa said, placing a finger against his lips, ushering him away quickly.
He looked back when neither Chihiro or her sister moved, but Mizuki merely waved him off -- seems she wanted to talk.
They stood next to each other quietly for a few moments, the tension thick in the air. They were never alone together, not even at home, they always avoided each other as much as possible. Now she couldn’t avoid her sister, and she knew Mizuki knew that too.
Chihiro nearly spoke, but Mizuki beat her to it, “We both know something bad happened, something really bad.”
She nodded, “Y-you think someone was mad at Jiji or something?”
“I think it was demons,” Mizuki said blankly, not a drop of humor or emotion in her voice.
Chihiro stared up at her, trying to discern if that was a joke or not. Demons weren’t real, they were just part of scary stories her family used to scare them away from misbehaving. If that was so, why was her sister saying that? It couldn’t be a joke, she never joked about anything, especially not with Chiro. So what was she talking about?
“Don’t overthink it, it makes your head hurt…” she looked up to the house, “you should probably go check up on them, I know you want to.”
What? Was Mizuki being… considerate?
“Don’t think this means I like you, I don’t, I just know what’s best for my family,” she said quietly.
The confirmation of her hatred kind of stung, but Chihiro didn’t have time to think about that too much. She turned on her heel and ran as fast as she could, kicking up dirt and rocks with each step until she finally made it to the house - faster than she thought she ever could. Her feet stumbled over the tatami, slamming into the wall roughly before she could catch her balance.
“Jiji, Baba, Oba,” she called out, voice strained with worry.
No reply, just silence. She called out again, this time a bit louder and a bit more desperate. Her eyes took the time to scan the area carefully while she waited tensely, noting the broken vases and furniture. Signs of a struggle, but nothing more than signs.
She sniffed, the air was thick with the smell of iron and ash that nearly suffocated her. The smell, combined with the tenseness of waiting silently for something that maybe never come, made her nauseous. She was sure she would’ve fallen over dead had she not heard the smallest noises - just the gentle shifting of clothes, something easily missed if she was not listening for it.
She stood silently for another few moments, waiting for another noise - another indication of life. After getting nothing once again, she let out a silent huff, deciding to just find out who was in here; to find out what happened to her family.
Stepping into the family room, the stench of blood and ash was stronger -- more suffocating than before. It made her dizzy enough to feel her head spin, to make her close her eyes for a moment to recover. When she opened them she finally noticed the ruin the room was in. The walls, the floors, the ceiling all cut and broken; torn and smashed apart by an inhuman force; in shambles. Then she looked straight ahead, and nausea returned in full force like a kick to her gut.
There, sitting in front of her, Jiji was cradling a body -- Baba’s body. Oba’s lied near the entrance to the kitchen, her guts torn out and exposed for Chihiro to see. She couldn’t see the state of Baba’s, but she could easily assume it was no better. Next to all of this, glinting dangerously in the afternoon light, a sword of some sort.
Her body shook violently, face paling as she took in everything in front of her. Her family -- her life all dead in front of her. Taken by the man who she trusted with her life -- she didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence was clear, even if she knew that it didn’t fully make logical sense. She was going to die, she was going to die in his hands. Her Jiji was going to kill her.
A sob ripped through her body, at the realization, loud and clear in the silent room. She froze, she hadn’t meant to be so loud. She might’ve been able to get away safely had she stayed silent, but the sound snapped Jiji out of whatever trance he was in, his head whipping around to face her and his hand grabbing onto the sword. His eyes were wild and lit up with an emotion she’d never seen on his face before.
He looked crazed with anger.
She stumbled back, tripping over her feet and falling hard onto her back. She wasn’t ready to die, she didn’t want to die, she reminded herself as she forced her feet to keep pushing back away from him. She moved until she hit the destroyed wall, squeezing up into herself until it was painful.
Her mind at war, the clear evidence that he had killed her not matching up with the already destroyed home she saw earlier. He couldn’t have done this when he was with her, she tried to rationalize, but her body still kept moving back from him.
She kicked at his hands when they touched her, screaming at him to stop. Though she wanted to believe he wouldn’t hurt her, and it was all some misunderstanding. She wondered if this fear was what Baba and Oba felt -- overwhelmed and scared knowing the inevitability of death by their beloved’s hands was coming. She sucked in a breath, still pushing and screaming even as his arms wrapped around her tightly.
“Tatsu,” his stern voice called, but she just screamed; she refused to listen.
“Tatsu,” again, “Tatsu calm down, you’re fine.”
She screamed again, punching and pushing as hard as she could against him. She couldn’t go without a fight.
“Chihiro,” he said sternly, making her freeze in her actions on impulse -- her mind almost trained to stop at his tone.
“I’m not going to hurt you, now calm down you’ll suffocate if you don’t,” he eased, pulling her into his lap as she finally relaxed.
He held her like that for longer than she knew, she wondered if Papa noticed she was gone. If ‘Tsushi was worried about her… maybe they were coming back for her right now. Who knew? Her sobs died down into little sniffles and she allowed herself to relax fully into his arms, knowing full well she would never be able to escape him anyway.
“Jiji,” she mustered, “w-what… what happened to…?”
She wasn’t sure that she wanted to know, but she had to ask. She had to get confirmation from his mouth, not just from her eyes.
He pulled her back, face gravely serious as he looked down at her. His gaze bearing into her and making her feel even more uneasy. She was sure this was it, this was where he would kill her -- yet she still found the time to wonder if the rest of her family was enjoying their time in town, or if they were searching for her.
“Tatsu,” he said seriously, gripping her arms tightly, and she said her last prayer, “do you believe in demons?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Prolouge End~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Hey! Uh yeah I wrote this thing... it’s not good... it’s actually bad so. Anyway, I’ve worked for several months on this, and I saw a few people encouraging me to post it... so I did. I guess you can sort of see this as a trial run for the fic. Anyway I hope it was good, cause it’s 4K+ words and by far the longest thing I’ve ever written and I worked really hard on it... hahaha...
