Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [2]

☾ Interlude: Shirayama ☽

In a room in a distant land in the distant past, three siblings sat with their reading tables forming a triangle in the middle of the candle-lit room. The eldest of them was named Otsutsuki Indra, a boy with messy, dark hair that travelled down his back and equally dark eyes trained on the books he was reading while the youngest of them, Otsutsuki Ashura had short, spiky hair concentrated on top of his head which he scratched, unable to understand much. The middle child and the only girl, Otsutsuki Shirayama was sitting in the middle, writing on a book.

Shirayama did not appear to resemble her two brothers – rather she seemed to be a complete copy of the woman who visited them from time to time, travelling from faraway places with the name of Otsutsuki Kisshoten, their one and only aunt. Shirayama had very long hair that were pure white in colour and eyes that resembled the paleness of the full moon. Upon her head were tiny horns. She always carried herself with a pretty smile, the same one on her lips as she wrote.

The three siblings lived with their father in his home village where their father taught the people of Earth the ways of the Ninshu. They had lost their mother following Ashura's birth due to unexpected complications. It was a hole in their lives but their paternal aunt, Kisshoten, had always made sure to not let them feel it far too much. Shirayama, in particular, found a lot of guidance from her.

It was quite in the room as Indra continued to read through the long list of books while Shirayama wrote about her understanding as her father had asked of her regarding the books she had finished reading. Ashura, however, was starting to crack from the pressure of not being able to concentrate.

"Nii-San!" Ashura whined, breaking the silence. "How can you read all that stuff?! And Father too... why does he write so much? Even Nee-Chan has started to write now!"

"It all has to do with Ninshu," Indra reminded the youngest boy with a smile while Shirayama giggled at Ashura's pouty expression. "Every word means something,"

"I know that," Ashura muttered as he looked at his elder siblings, who were smiling. "But..."

"It will help you understand more about the world around us," Shirayama told her younger brother kindly. "It is okay even if it takes you a long time, you can always take it easy!"

The three siblings returned to their work following this and silence fell again. Shirayama continued to write as she was doing before until she felt like enough time had passed without Ashura's yells about how tough it was. She glanced over to Indra, meeting eyes with him.

Both Shirayama and Indra both looked over to Ashura, only to find that he had fallen asleep. The two elder siblings shared amused looks with each other quietly.

"I will fetch him a blanket," Shirayama assured Indra as she got to her feet, packing her stuff. "I am finished with my work, you can continue, Nii-Chan, do not let it disturb you,"

☾

While her brothers shared a love with each other, they could still be very competitive. Shirayama, on the other hand, had never likened herself to be such. She always wanted to live a life where there was no competition and no violence, and she invested all of her heart in spreading joy – and the most joy she received was whenever she was supporting her brothers.

One of those occasions happened whenever Shirayama joined her two brothers at a nearby stream in the forest where they would go fishing. The three siblings also owned a pet dog, Shiro, which Shirayama was particularly close to and she held him in her lap as she watched her brothers.