"MAMA, I'M SORRY. I-I CAN'T DO THIS." Tanji's lip quivered as she held a sharp katana at her mother's heart.
"Baby, you have to." Tanjira kept herself from crying as she saw her father look away for her coming death.
"L-let me at least go with you, Mama. You said that wherever you go, I go." Tanji cried with her hands shaking.
"This is different, Tanji. Where I go this time, you can't follow me." Tanjira couldn't bare seeing her child in pain.
"Why not?! I wanna stay with you, Mama! You promised!" Tanjira didn't know what to do. Knowing that her daughter has to kill her on her 5th birthday, she didn't want her to leave her in pain for the rest of these seconds.
"Tanji. . . Remember, none of this is your fault. I brought this upon myself." Tanji's mother took the katana from Tanji's hands and brought her into a tight hug.
"You are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, Tanji. . . Never forget that. . . I love you, Tanji. . . So much." Unknowingly, Tanjira brought the blade into her hands, pushed Tanji away from her and stabbed the blade into her own heart.
"Mama!" Before Tanji could reach her mother, Kastu caught her into his large arms.
"She's gone. . . Let it be." Katsu's tears ran down his face when his only daughter murdered herself in front of her child and her father.
"She's not gone! She's not gone! She's not gone!" Tanji punched his broad chest.
"She's gone, Tanji. She's in a better place now." Katsu whispered, clutching onto his granddaughter tighter.
"Let go of me!" Tanji managed to release Katsu's strong grip and run to her mother who was limp on her knees.
". . . Mama. . ?" Tanji quivered as she pressed her ear against her chest to hear nothing. . . Not even a blood flow.
Katsu slowly took out the katana out of his daughter's heart and gave it to Tanji.
"She'll be buried with it." Katsu mumbled, taking his daughter's limp body and the two walked back to the cottage. Tanji stayed outside the small house, looking down at her mother's katana, having her own blood on it. Now seeing that the blood is on her hands, her eyes grew blank and her body go limp.
". . . She's gone. . ." Tanji had no words when Katsu came out of out the cottage with Tanjira in his arms but wearing a white silk dress and her hair was worn in a braid.
"Let's go, Tanji." Katsu's deep voice knocked the small girl out of her trance and she slowly followed behind her grandfather.
"Where are we going with Mama's body?" Tanji whispered to the man.
"She's going to be burned. . . Where her soul will be taken up into the heavens." They arrived at the cliff where the moon was at its fullest and wood area was set up for Tanjira's burning.
Katsu laid his daughter's body on the wood before kissing her forehead and kneeling in front of her.
"Tanji, come." Kastu patted on the spot next to him as she slowly approached him.
"For a Ronin's honor, they are to be buried with their blade." Katsu easily wiped the blood off the blade and placed on top of Tanjira's body. Kastu placed a white blanket over his daughter's body when he set the wood on fire.
"This is all my fault. . . If haven't been born, none of this wouldn't have never happened. Mama would've been better without me—." The little girl was cut off when Katsu smacked the back of her head.
"Would you shut up? You really think your mom wants to see you cry? Is that what you want?" Tanji stayed quiet as she looked up at the moon as she saw her mother's spirit was taken up into the sky.
"I'm sorry, Gramps. . . I'll be stronger. . . I'll be the granddaughter that you want." Tanhi whispered, taking her small hand and placed it on top of Katsu's large one.
(Stop Music)
Present Time
Tanji woke up feeling her face wet and the sun shine bright in her face through the blinds.
"It's just another dream. . . The same one for the past week."
The girl had lost weight a couple weeks ago, she stopped eating for a while when Maki caught her slacking in eating. Tanji got up and went to the showers where it was half stalls but only you could see the behind the body.
"Oi, Tanji." The girl's thoughts were interrupted when Maki came into the stall next to her.
YOU ARE READING
Helium
ActionBorn from both failure and unacceptance, Takamori Tanji was raised by her grandfather and comes from a family from Ronin warriors. However, a boy, Okkotsu Yuta comes along and changed that for her. But new things always come along and tend to get i...
