Forgotten Past - Part 1 - Chapter 4

“お父さん. . .” (Dad . . .)

Kagekao knelt by his father, crying. The day had been so happy and fun; and now this. The night was silent, no cars, no people, nothing.

Kage felt something new start to burn inside him; what was that? . . . hate?

Scollex’s body had burned up into sparks and ashes, which drifted away on the wind and disappeared out of sight. Yuki picked up the silver daggers which remained, and then ran over to Kage and Kurai.

“クライ!” (Kurai!) She bent down and started to try and find any sign that he was still alive.

“お母さん、お父さんが . . .” (Mom, he’s . . .) Kage couldn’t finish his sentence.

Yuki put her ear against Kurai’s chest, listening for a heartbeat. Then she put her hand to his neck, feeling for a pulse. Then she gasped and looked up. She looked around the area for something, but didn’t seem to find it. Then she looked towards a building and saw an open window.

Yuki sprang up and ran towards the building, climbing up the wall; she entered it through the open window.

Kage was confused, he watched as she entered through the window and disappeared, and then he looked back at his father.

“お父さん . . ?” (Dad . . ?) He imitated Yuki by listening to Kurai’s chest. Was that . . . a heartbeat?

“パパ!” (Daddy!) Kage cried joyfully; Kurai was still alive, but barely. Blood trickled from his mouth, along with barely audible breathing.

Yuki exited the building through the window that she had entered. Climbing back down, she ran back over to Kage and Kurai. She held a cloth that she had taken from the building. Using the cloth as a bandage, she wrapped it around Kurai’s face, where it quickly became soaked with blood.

“カゲ,きてね.” (Kage, come on.) Yuki said as she picked up Kurai.

Together, they slowly made their way back home.

* * *

When they arrived back home, Yuki took the blood soaked cloth off of Kurai’s face. Kage watched as she cleaned out the wound and put fresh bandages on.

“He’ll be okay, right?” Kage asked, worried.

“Of course he will.” Yuki answered shortly, doubting herself.

They stopped talking as Yuki started dressing some of Kurai’s other wounds.

“ . . . But you killed him; right?” Kage asked, breaking the silence.

“ん?” (Hm?)

“The shinigami,” Kage tried to remember his name, “Scollex?”

Yuki sighed, thinking about that relentless creature.

“Well, yes and no.”

“Huh?”

“He’s a shinigami, he only suffers temporary deaths; he’ll be back,” She sighed, “back and good as new.” Yuki had finished bandaging all of Kurai’s wounds, and started on her own.

Kage felt angry; that monster got to die and come back like nothing happened, and his father had to go through this?

* * *

A few days had passed. Kurai had woken up and was recovering. Yuki was also recovering nicely, and things seemed to try and go back to the status quo. It was strange to Kage how they didn’t seem to want to talk about it. There was no talk of revenge, or another fight, or anything of that sort; it irritated him.

That awful feeling that he had gotten when he thought his father was dead was back. It seemed to burn more fiercely whenever Kage saw his father’s bandaged face, and the knowledge that his left eye was completely gone enhanced it further.

Kage soon realized that this feeling was of hate; pure burning rage. Throughout his short life Kage didn’t have much to hate, but now this was here. It was an odd feeling, suddenly having something appear that made him furious like this.

Kage sat on the roof of the house. He had torn a branch off of a nearby tree, and was clawing at it; shredding it to splinters. He would not, nay; he could not sit idly by. He had to do something about this; something to settle the rage.

* * *

That night, Kurai was resting in the house when Yuki walked in, seeming a little off.

“Kurai, have you seen Kagekao?” She asked, sounding worried.

“No, I thought he was with you,” Kurai looked up at her, “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s just outside chasing birds or something.”

“No, I checked outside, and inside, and all the trees surrounding the house.” Yuki looked around the room. “Did you notice, he’s been acting kind of strange recently?”

“Yeah, he seemed different. He kept asking me when we were going back to the city, and then about the shinigami, and . . .” He paused, “You don’t think. . ?”

They both looked at each other, wide-eyed and panicked. Suddenly they both got up and ran out the house, calling out for Kage. They searched all around the house, inside the trees, all over; Kage was not to be found.

Then they ran off towards the city, as fast as they could.