Aberration

Chapter 19: The Mother here & The Mother Never Known

The Kagami heirs stood in front of a sliding door, a cup of tea and a bowl of soup atop a tray in Arash's hands. "Well?" Her sweet voice asked. Her hand was already on the door, prepared to enter, but it seemed she was waiting for something to change in him. She placed her hand on his back and rubbed it gently, "Why do you tremble?"
"I'm not trembling! I'm just cold. Just open the door." She snickered beneath her breath and slid the door open.

Behind the paper door was a relatively small enclosure especially in comparison to the enormously grand rooms that the castle seemed to more commonly have. As she opened the door, there was a dank draft and the smell of ointment. Within it was a desk with a mirror and a single notebook & pen. The window by Yayoi's bed was closed, but the sunlight warmly shone on the burgundy quilted comforter atop Yayoi, the matriarch. As soon as he saw her, Arash winced and slipped behind Shiho unconsciously. The mother was pale with fickle hair. She was dressed in her sleeping yukata, freshly changed as she blankly stared out the window. The wrinkles on her face and the grey strands intertwined in her hair made her seem ancient, but the calmness in her eyes and the remaining black in her hair still gave her an air of youth that hadn't fully departed yet: it was like the fossilized remains of something one could tell used to be radiant. "Come, come." Shiho smiled, taking Arash's sleeve in her hand. "Good morning, Mother. You look well today." She said, placing a bed tray in her mother's lap. Arash set the tray of food atop it and Shiho soon began to feed her in small spoonfuls.

"You'll never guess who came to visit. Your favorite son is here and he even brought friends. He's gotten tall and rather handsome in four years. Oh. Oops." Soup dribbled down her chin, so Shiho wiped her mother's lip with her sleeve. "Hey, Yayoi." Arash's voice came hesitantly, still backed to the door. "He made us tea. I thought you'd like some. Rasha, would you mind lighting some incense? Sometimes she smiles when she smells it."
"Yeah. Yeah, sure." He scuttled around towards the desk and did as asked, finding some incense and a lighter in one of the drawers of the desk. {She's still like this, the exact same as when I left. It's good to see that Shiho is still taking care of her though. She still believes there's hope for Yayoi to get better somehow. I don't know if she'll ever come to terms with that and I don't know if she wants to accept that this is why the old man goes away so often. Having to see his wife like this must break his heart, so making as much distance from her as possible seems to be the only way he can cope. I don't blame that old bastard... but still... at least write to your damn daughter... What the hell am I even saying? I'm not any better...}
"Rasha?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Come." She held out her hand, soft but strong with a hurrying gesture. He grabbed it and she pulled him closer to tuck his hand into the mother's. There was no response, but he squeezed Yayoi's and Shiho's hands tight regardless. The current priestess's hand was warm, soft, and oddly strong with its grip, but her mother's was frail with loose skin and a bony interior. He could barely feel her pulse, though her veins were practically exposed under her skin. "I love you. Very much, Arash. You know you can always just stay, right? You're welcome here... here in your home. You know that silly fox misses you. Kimi was absolutely elated to see her cousin as well. Just..." She stopped herself, biting her lip, and shook her head. "Just think about it, okay?" He pressed his forehead against hers and nodded, "I'll think about it. You're strong, Sis. Yayoi will be fine. Or did you forget she used to be the priestess before you? Stubbornness comes with the title."

The Kagura Dance, the Kagami clan's familial Spirit Art honed over four hundred years. As a familial Spirit Art, most of the technique's specifics are only preserved through the direct family and written text hidden away deep within the family library. The Kagura Dance was a technique originally developed to create a being closer to Izanagi than Aberrations themselves. In order to achieve this, the soul is split into two, creating two separate entities to inhabit the single body. As a side effect, the second soul born from the original develops as another personality, a new being part human and yet wholly spiritual. To call it a "new" personality isn't quite accurate. As it was birthed from the original, certain aspects of the original soul are embedded in this alternate personality to work as a balance to the original. In some cases, the original soul may be female and in turn, the second soul may be male. The first soul may be kind and caring while the second is cruel and selfish. The first may know nothing but cold meticulous calculation while the second only pursues the enjoyment of life.