Always Will Be

Chapter 7

"Gyu-Chan, stop pulling so hard!" Whined Yuna as she was practically dragged along through the backstreets of Rashomon. Her little feet scuttling over themselves as she tries to keep up with her quick-paced friend that clasped her hand in his; a sense of mission evident in the way he moved.

"We have to hurry before she comes back." He spoke adamantly.

"Who?"

"Mother." He answered just as swiftly.

Her brows knit and her feet grew sluggish in apprehension of his response. "Why are we going there?" She jumped to interrogate, already knowing his mother to be no better than her own.

"I want to show you something." He replied vaguely, making Yuna stop in her tracks entirely as she yanked herself out of his touch. "No, I'm not going." She objected, her tone air-tight.

Gyutaro turned to face her, an irritated scowl in tow. "We don't have time for this, do you want to see the baby or not?"

Gyutaro watched as her stubborn stare shifted at his words. "The baby?" She quirked dubiously.

"Mother wasn't getting fat, she had a baby in her stomach all this time." Gyutaro informed.

Yuna's thoughts trailing back to the swell of his mother's stomach the two had been watching grow in size from afar for months now. The two children had chalked it up to the woman merely putting on weight since they had no one to tell them any different. Although they had wondered how his mother could afford enough to eat to get that big, her son of course hadn't dared to ask.

Yuna's mind was a short circuiting whirlwind as she tried to wrap her head around what he was telling her. But as the idea began to compute, she found herself to be quick with questions. "Is it at your house?"

"She's at the house." He corrected. "Duh, that's why we're going."

Yuna let out an elated ear-shattering squeal at the revelation; nearly making Gyutaro jump out of his skin before he was the one getting dragged behind now as she sprinted to his house. Seems as though the concept of another girl being around had given her a second wind.

As the two came up to the derelict shack he had once called home, they could already hear a baby's unhappy cries. She sounded to be most upset about something. Gyutaro moved ahead to check that the coast was clear of his mother before he led Yuna inside.

The shack was mostly barren, much like Yuna's mother's house. But off to the side was what appeared to be a wicker bassinet that laid on the ground. The woven pleats of the baby basket were worn and breaking in places from the rot of age. The poor thing had been left unattended while her mother had gone off to do God knows what; another testament to the sheer neglect these children faced.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Yuna called out to the screaming infant as she drew closer to the bassinet before kneeling beside it. The baby's snow white hair contrasting starkly against her reddened and irritated face as she wailed on.

"You don't need to cry anymore! Your Oni-Chan is here!" Yuna declared to try and console the baby girl.

The title didn't register with the newly appointed big brother right away; as he stood stunned for a minute. But surely, it began to set in. That's right, he was an Oni-Chan now. And to hear it verbalized for the first time made pride for a new sense of purpose bloom within.

The infant cracked its eyes from finally hearing a voice after screaming out for someone for so long now. But clearly she still wasn't happy as her sirening cries carried on, her angry little fists still shaking at the world that cruelly refused her demands.