#chasing answers

 She was sitting in the back seat of her oldest brothers car going to the cabin he loved so much. She was going to spend the week with him as her parents had gone on a well-deserved vacation for their anniversary and the younger kids had been split up and sent with one of the older kids. As her parents had once said, it was the one benefits of having children for over twenty years the older ones could watch the younger ones and often did as a payback for the wonderful times their parents had given them.

Danny was her favorite brother. She had begged him to take her with him as the others all went to one or two of the others. Danny had smiled and fluffed her hair as he nodded. He had begun dating a woman who had kids around his youngest sister, Kit’s age, and they all had become fast friends. His girlfriend would be there this weekend as well. Though Kit had gone to the cabin many times before she wasn’t exactly happy about going there. The cabin was in the middle of nowhere surround by nothing but trees, and it could be scary at night if you looked outside. At seven, she had been deemed the child with an overactive imagination, and it had become a problem at times. She was easily frightened by things she didn’t understand. Danny had been the one to talk her out of some of her wilder thoughts.

As they neared the cabin, she began to feel something she didn’t know exactly what it was, but it seemed that something was surrounding her. She was trying to swallow the feeling, so she didn’t upset Danny’s happiness. She knew something was going on with him.

“This weekend is going to be special kid.” He said as they were pulling up to the long driveway to the cabin.

“Why?” she asked in her soft voice.

“It’s a surprise.” He said chuckling. “I’m glad you’re here for it though.” With that, the two settled into the quiet that could be only settling between siblings even if they were over twenty years apart in age. At twenty-seven Danny Jones was finally going to have everything he wanted and having his youngest sister there was more important then anyone could say. He had help raise her as she had been placed in his arms when she was only an hour old, and she batted her bright alert blue eyes at him, and he knew that he would lay down his life for the perfect creature in his arms. They had grown close. He had never missed an event for her, and she had spent many nights at his houses throughout the years. He thought more of her as a daughter than a sister. She was his.

Kit looked around as they got close to the cabin and felt the air that had changed. She didn’t want to say anything to him as he was obviously excited for many reasons she didn’t know. The air was charged with electricity around them. She was alert but didn’t want to upset her brother who had taken her on such short notice as she was supposed to go to another older brothers house along with two of her sisters. She smiled and forced the feeling away. She wanted to enjoy her time here with him.

 Soon the house was full of people. Danny’s girlfriend had arrived with her three kids. They were young like her, but the oldest was two years older. The two younger ones were only three and two, but they were fun to play with. Kit being the youngest in her family of her generation always enjoyed playing with little ones. She was a likable kid and Danny’s girlfriend, Che’re, loved her as well. Che’re was good for Danny Kit thought. She didn’t take anything from him, and moreover, she really embraced the entire family. She was a small-time chef in their small town and had made a name for herself though she also had a lot of questions about her past come around every few months. She had shown up in the town a few years prior with the three kids in tow, and she never discussed her past with anyone, except maybe Danny who had said many times he didn’t care about it. Danny had fallen hard and fast for the beautiful woman and had begun his conquest to win her heart from a few months of her arrival. It had taken years, but he had succeeded in the process. He had taken her children under his wing, and they had let him. he treated them as he did his younger sister, whom he loved as if she was his own child. Che’re had loved that about him from the start. His devotion to his younger siblings. It was what had won her heart as she enjoyed the younger kids in his family as well, all of which had been regular customers for years.

Kit smiled at Che’re as she watched the older woman work her magic in the kitchen for the family for dinner. Che’re was asking questions about school and other things as the other kids were playing on the floor when Danny walked in and smiled at the scene before him. “Che’re are you almost done?” he asked as he sat down at the bar across of the open range.

“Almost why?” she asked with a smile.

“Let me know when you are.” He said as he stood and went to see what the other kids were doing.

“What is he up too?” Che’re whispered to the young girl who shrugged her shoulders in response. Kit didn’t know what her brother had planned for before dinner, and she couldn’t guess either if anyone in the world knew how he was the most unpredictable person when he wanted to be. It was one of those things that she loved about him. He didn’t ever follow the norm.

The dinner was set on the table, and everyone was called into the room to eat. As everyone was ready to sit down, Danny dropped to one knee in front of Che’re. “Cher I love you more than anything else in the world. I love your snots as well. Will you please let me claim you all as mine?”

“Danny!” Che’re exclaimed as he finished and she clasped her hands to face as the tears spilled out of the corners her eyes. She nodded, and Danny swooped her up in his arms, and the kids all shouted in happiness. Kit stood there off to the side and laughed at her older brother, who had just got his family that he had wanted. “Kit get over here. You’re going to be my sister as well!”

The family all calmed down a bit to eat and then settled in for the night as the conversation turned to weddings and everything that goes along with it. Che’re’s oldest child, Nick, sat next to Kit, “so what does that make you to me?”

“Your aunt, I think.” Kit responded.

“You are younger than me, though.” He replied.

“Yeah so?” Kit said as she looked at him. “Age doesn’t matter.”

“So do you want me to call you Aunt Kit?”, Nick asked.

“No.,” she replied. “Just call me, Kit.”

“You know I like you.” He said with a laugh.

“I like you too, Nick.” She said with a smile. The air seemed even more charged then when she had arrived, but again she didn’t want to say anything to upset her brothers special’s day. She held her tongue and went to bed in the upstairs loft with the three other kids.  

 Late in the night Kit woke up to a sound she didn’t know too well. She listened for a few more minutes as she heard the scraping against the door. It wasn't something she knew what it was. It wasn’t a branch rubbing. She crawled over to where Nick was as she shook him. “What?” he grunted.

“Something is wrong.” She said softly. His eyes shot open and looked around. He then heard the sound and nodded. He went to wake up the two little ones, and the four kids went down the back steps of the house, and then they heard the front door open. They all shot into the closet by the hallway. Kit lifted the panel in the back of the closet that she knew her brother had built into the house. The four kids settled in as Kit placed the panel back into place. It was dark in the hiding hole as the two little ones clung to the older ones who were whispering words of encouragement to remain quiet. That was when the screaming started. It wasn’t a fight. It was the scream of being tortured and extreme pain. Kit winced, and Nick flinched as well. They covered the ears of the little ones as Nick pulled Kit closer to him and helped her with the little one in her arms. He wrapped his arm around her as well as Kit was silently crying with fear.

It seemed like forever that they had heard the last scream. They had heard them from both Danny and Che’re but more of them had been from her than him. They hadn’t heard Danny in some time. The house was silent again. There was no sound. Kit made a move to open the hatch she had placed.

“We should stay here,” Nick said.

“We need to do something they could be hurt.” Kit said.

“They aren’t hurt anymore,” Nick said softly. “I think my dad found them.”

“Your dad?” Kit asked.

“Don’t ask.” Nick pleaded.

“Let me go out there and see. I will come get you if we can leave. I know the way to the closest house. They will help.” Kit said as she pulled herself together. She went to open the hatch silently or as silently as possible. There was no movement in the house. She let her senses reach out. She crawled out, and she placed the piece of wood back in place. She stood in the closet and pushed open the door. She took a step out, and she knew something was very wrong.

The was a metallic scent in the air. She took a deep breath him and almost gagged from the scent. She crept down the hallway to the main room of the cabin. She stayed low and away from the windows. The young girl stood in the hallway in the doorway of the main room of the cabin what she had seen was the thing of nightmares. The bodies had been beaten and sliced open. Their blood was everywhere and was making it’s way to the edge of the hallway to where she was standing. There was nothing she could do but stand there for a few minutes. She turned to go back to the closet, they had to go. They had to go now. She knew that. Something had done thing. Someone had done this, and they might come back. She had watched enough tv with her other siblings to know that. She crawled into the closet and opened the panel.

“We have to leave. We have to leave now.” She said. Her voice didn’t sound like herself as she took the two-year-old in her arms as Nick and the three-year-old in his arms came out of their hiding place. She motioned to the back door.

“My mom?” Nick asked.

“Not now.” She said. “We have to go to the neighbors and call for help.”

“Kit?” he whispered.

“I’m sorry.” She said softly, and she could see him start to falter. “We have to get away.”

They opened the backdoor quietly. She again stopped and let her senses take over. The cloud cover left no light in the forest. It looked like a storm was going to blow in. She couldn’t feel anything around them as she took a step out and motioned to the rest of them. She made it to the edge of the forest in the path that she knew well. She heard the branch snap behind them as she turned to glance behind them and saw a shadow figure walked around the house in that moment. He looked up and saw the four kids enter the forest. Their eyes locked and nothing but fear surged within her. She grabbed Nicks hand and pulled. “He’s here.”

“What?” Nick nearly yelled .

“Behind us.” She said. “Come on.”

The two older children carried the two younger ones as they made their way through the woods as fast as their legs could carry them. They knew they were being followed as well. The wind began to pick up. Kit was sure they were headed in the right direction. She was pushing herself and Nick to continue. She knew what had befallen her brother, and his mother would happen to them if they stopped. She looked up and saw a crack of lightning before her. It was blinding. The next few moments seemed like they were not really happening. It looked like a doorway was opening before them. It was a tear of reality in front of the four of them. It was blocking the way to the neighbors. She glanced behind her, and the man she knew had been following them was within arms distance. She held the toddler tighter and grabbed Nicks hand as they ran right into the darkness of the tear.

The tear opened in front of the four children, and they walked out. They were on the edge of a forest with a million tents in front of them. It was daytime as Kit looked at Nick, who was already looking at her. She had blood all over her from when she had leaned on the wall as she crept toward the main room of the house. His eyes opened wide as she looked down at herself. They placed the two younger ones down for a moment and looked around.

“I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore,” Nick said softly.

“What just happened?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”  He said. “Whatever it might have saved us.”

 The soldiers in the tents came out with the small sounds of the children. “What in the seven hells?” some of them said as they looked at the children. Six men started to walk towards the children. They all had looked at each other and then back to the children as they walked closer to them.

“What are you doing here?” a man said with an imperious voice.

“Where is here?” Kit asked as she took a step closer to them.

“Japan.” One of them said.

“Wait, you are speaking Japanese?” she asked.

“Yes.” They all replied with a laugh as they looked at her.

“How is that possible?” she asked as she turned around to look at Nick, “You understand them?” he nodded.

“How is what possible?” one of the men asked as he bent down to her level. His light eyes were hypnotizing to her. He had a soft smile on his face as he talked to her in a soft voice.

“We were in America at my brothers cabin. Something happened, and we had to run into the woods to get away. We ran into a black thing and ended up here.” She said as she looked at them.

“She is telling the truth.” One of the men said as he looked at the girl. The others nodded and looked at each other.

“Come on, kids.” One of the men said who had a patch over one eye. “come on Kitten you need to change. Are you okay that is a lot of blood? Ieyasu you should look her over.”

“How did you know my name?” she asked as she looked up at him as he walked over to her.

“Your name?” he asked.

“Kit.” She said. “That’s Nick, Chole, and Ryan. They are my niece and nephews.”

“Kit?” she heard Nick say from behind her.

“Nick, let them help.” She said, and the young boy nodded at her claim.

“Alright, Kit.” He said.

“Your name is Kit?” one of the men asked as he walked closer. He was dressed in white. “Come then, Little Princess. We will get you cleaned up. My lord, I assume you will be sending them back to the castle?”

“They will be safer here.” The first man who spoke said. “From this moment, these four with be members of my clan.”

“Do you think that is smart, my lord?” one who hadn’t spoke before, “All the children should go to different clans. They can all be housed at the castle together but belong to other clans.”

“Smart thinking Hideyoshi.” The ‘lord’ said. “I will claim the older boy.”

“I will claim the younger boy.” The one called Hideyoshi said with a smile.

“I will claim the little Lass.” The one with a eyepatch on.

“That leaves you, princess.” The one with yellow golden eyes said as he moved closer to Kit. “I think I will claim you.”

“Thank you, sir.” She said as she looked up to the pale face.