Kitsune: A Little Mermaid Retelling

Chapter Two (Part 1)

As usual, Lord Kaedemori delayed in meeting with Hikaru. Though the nature of their peace treaty was important, his father lived and breathed ceremony. Before he could see his father, Hikaru washed and dressed in a fresh kimono. A servant brushed his hair and tied it into a topknot, which gleamed with oil. Perfumed and swathed in silk, it was difficult to think he had been running for his life just earlier that day. It all feels like a dream now. Once he had dressed, his father summoned him to his audience chamber. A servant led the way, his footsteps quick and precise. Hikaru followed after, lagging behind as much as he dared. Perhaps if he took his time arriving, he could delay his own fate.

The servant opened the sliding doors to the audience hall. Hikaru inhaled; this was it. He stepped over the threshold, taking care to avoid touching the actual threshold. Though as a whole he avoided superstitious actions, some habits were too ingrained to discard. I practice these domestic superstitions, yet I ignore the monsters? What sort of hypocrite am I?

His father knelt at the far side of the room, flanked on each side by empty suits of armor. Their polished masks glared at Hikaru like menacing sentinels. When Hikaru was a child, the armor scared him until he realized that boiled leather and hardened plate could not hurt him. His father, on the other hand, never ceased to terrify him. Lord Kaedemori worked at a low table, bent over a sheath of parchment. In his hand, he held a brush with which he made small sweeping strokes. From Hikaru's vantage point across the room, it appeared as scrawling lines, like ants marching across the white parchment.

"Come closer," his father said without looking up as he made another mark on the parchment.

Hikaru padded across the floor, his footsteps muffled by the soft bamboo flooring and his socked feet. He knelt down in front of his father, head pressed to the ground and palms flat against the rough tatami mats. He waited for his father's signal, listening to the soft exhale of his own breath.

"Rise, my son," Lord Kaedemori said.

Hikaru sat up, folded his hands in his lap, and looked to his father. Lord Kaedemori did not look up but focused on his writing. Lord Kaedemori's once black hair had gone silver in recent years, with a few strands of black shot through it. The tight topknot flaunted his receding hair. Long and nimble fingers made intricate characters on the paper. Hikaru tried to read the document upside down but found it impossible. After finishing the final line, his father set aside his ink and brush and then looked down at his oldest son.

"How many men died in the forest?"

Hikaru swallowed past a lump in his throat. "One dead and three missing... Father."

"Why did you take the forest road?"

Hikaru fiddled with the hem of his sleeve. "I thought it would be quicker..."

His father stood up to loom over Hikaru. Hikaru tilted his head, meeting his father's severe expression, which pinned him in place.

Then Lord Kaedemori said, "You did not consider bandits that might be waiting or that your men would be unable to maneuver to protect you?"

"I did not." Hikaru bowed his head.

"Look at me."

Hikaru's head snapped up.

His father stared down at him with an expression made of ice. "If you are to lead this clan, you cannot make these sorts of mistakes. If you had died, the treaty would have suffered."

His casual dismissal of Hikaru's life was nothing new. He had a place, as the oldest son, to inherit the clan, to become the elder. That was all he mattered to his father. If Lord Kaedemori held any affection for Hikaru, he never showed it.

"I understand. I will do better next time." He bowed low, mostly as an excuse to avoid his father's penetrating gaze.

"If there is a next time. I could always disinherit you and put your brother in your place."

"If you wish it, Father." He felt his father's glare on the top of his skull, but he dared not meet his gaze.

His father took a seat once more. "I trust all the other arrangements went as planned?"

Now this was something Hikaru could take pride in. "It was just as I expected, the squabble about territory lines and compensation. But in the end we came to an agreement that we could both be satisfied with." He smiled, but his father's blank expression wiped the smile right off his face.

"You have done well, Hikaru."

He fought the smile that threatened to crack his features once more. His father so rarely gave praise, it was an unexpected delight to have him do so. It almost soothed the bitter sting of his father's earlier disappointment.

"You are excused." His father turned his attention back to his parchment.

Hikaru bowed to his father once more and hurried out of the room.

It was not until he was down the hall that he exhaled. His meeting with his father had gone better than expected. He had expected to be chastised for leading four of his father's warriors to their deaths. Deep in thought, Hikaru did not see his brother Hotaru approaching from the opposite way.

"Hikaru! Welcome home, brother," Hotaru said with a forced levity.

Hikaru plastered a smile on his face for his brother's benefit. "Brother."

"You're back from the Fujikawas' already? I thought these sorts of things took longer to manage," Hotaru said.

"Did you come to see if I had failed?" Hikaru replied, hard-pressed to hide his rancor.

Hotaru returned a false smile of his own. Like most of their interactions, this one was laced with barbs. Hotaru was often intent on tearing Hikaru down. It seemed to be his life goal. "Not at all. I heard there was some trouble on your way back. A few of the men in the yard are telling wild tales about an enormous boar that tore apart half of your guard." He laughed. "The more they drink, the wilder the tales get. I think upon the last telling they were saying that you ran away like a dog with your tail between your legs."

Hikaru flinched internally. He would not let his brother have the benefit of seeing how his words cut him. He would remember those men's names until he died. They had died in his service because of his mistake. "Three men are dead, brother, is that really something to laugh about?"

His brother's smile faltered but only a bit. It was a small triumph. "I'm off to speak with father. He summoned me. The servant who relayed the message said it was urgent. Perhaps he already spoke with you?"

Hikaru bit his tongue to keep from spitting another ill-timed reply. His brother loved to flaunt their father's favor. Even though Hotaru was Lord Kaedemori's second oldest son and born to his second wife, Lord Kaedemori still gave Hotaru preferential treatment over Hikaru, his firstborn. Only age-old tradition had saved Hikaru from being passed up as the heir to the Kaedemori clan. Some days he wished his brother would inherit instead of him. Hotaru won the men's love with little effort, and he was an accomplished swordsman, everything a father looked for in a son. He had all the makings of a great leader, while Hikaru garnered disappointment and scorn from his men. And got them killed.

"I did not think so, why would he share such information with you?" Hotaru smiled as he brushed past Hikaru.

Hikaru watched his brother head for their father's chamber, his thoughts churning with anger and bitterness. A dozen too-late retorts came to mind but withered on the vine. As usual, his brother knew when to leave to inflict the most damage.