Hiten’s blood red eyes widened as the boar he’d caught for Souten fell from his shoulder at the sight before him. The heavy thump of the meat landing in the dirt didn’t even register as he waded through the wreckage in search of something, anything familiar; Monten close behind him.
Where was their family?
The answer came as the brothers got to what had been the meeting hall of the main complex where among the many enemy corpses lay their father Raiten, half propped up on his knees, swords, claws and teeth holding his weight as they ran through him and into the floor. Hiten felt cold then, his breath catching as he stared at the man that had been his greatest driving force; then another thought sent a shock of alarm through him.
Where was Souten?!
It was the first time in a long time that Hiten could remember feeling true, honest fear; and he wasted no time on the dead as he set off down the hall at a run, all but screaming his baby sister’s name. Monten followed suit, racing off in another direction, yelling for the little girl with more than a little worry.
They made their way through the whole complex, hours of yelling and searching, fear only rising when Hiten found their mother Kiyomi, lying sprawled half in the hall with a large gash in her back as though she’d been running away.
She’d been going into Souten’s room.
Did that mean Souten too had been–
“Brother Hiten, it’s Souten!” Monten’s voice was a shout as he came racing towards the elder, turning immediately to lead Hiten to one of the kitchen rooms on the other side of the complex. It had been half destroyed and without hesitation Hiten tore at the rubble desperately.
Ten minutes was what it took for the two to clear the debris away from the cupboard. Ten minutes of terrified desperation as both tried not to think about what they might’ve found beneath the stones and when Hiten finally pulled the crying girl from the cupboard where he would later learn their mother had hid her, he collapsed. Staggering backwards until his back hit the wall and he slid down it, holding Souten tighter than he’d ever held anyone.
