The Pink Pearl

Prolouge: Zzzzz(sorry, I fell asleep)

  "Then if we're in agreement," he chuckled as he set his piece down, quite close to winning. "I'll let you sleep."
  "Wait," Chikao eyed him. "You're just going to... let me have this power?"
  He smiled, "of course. It benefits us both. Just give me your name."
  "My name?"
  The man with the green hair nodded, "that's all I need to seal the deal. Just give me your name."
  He hesitated, "what are you going to do with it?..."
  "It may change one day," he chuckled, "but that's going to be quite far off from now. Really, you have nothing to worry about."
  Chikao slowly reached out and slid a piece across the board, no longer concerned with winning. He was watching this man carefully. "I give you my name... in exchange for power..."
  He nodded, "yes. Exactly. No strings attached."
  "Then shouldn't I get to know your name? You'll be taking mine, so-"
  "Sena." His smile widened, "my name is Sena."
  The Kitsune nodded to himself, "alright... my name is Chikao."
  "Chikao," his smile spread farther than it should have been able to, revealing more than one row of sharp teeth. The Go pieces started rearranging themselves, shimmering a teal-green color. They made themslef into the characters for Chikao's name. "Wonderful... Enjoy your rest. I'll be back to claim that five percent when the time comes."
  Chikao watched as that man shimmered like the stars and disappeared. Then the Go board started to fade away, leaving only the character of Chikao's name floating there before they, too, faded away into nothingness.
  Chikao was left in darkness, an uncomfortable tightness in his chest.
  Now he just stayed here? A few hundred years wasn't that long... Some idiot human would unseal him soon enough...
  But that's not what happened.
  He could hear nothing of the outside. All he could see was the darkness. He couldn't even feel any life around him at all.
  There was nothing.
  Eventually Chikao grew so bored and alone that he had no choice but to sleep. And he would sleep for quite a long time...
  Until:
  Who was crying?
  Chikao woke up, feeling heavy. Far too heavy to do anything. Why? What had happened? How long had he been asleep? Where was he?
  The crying wasn't loud, but it echoed around in the darkness.
  As the sound bounced around, bright colors bled onto the scene, marking out the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and finally a figure.
  A young man, his skin completely black, his face without features. Only a vague humanoid form.
  Was he the one crying?... Chikao was far too sluggish and encumbered to move. He could only watch in confusion.
  This young man held a knife in his right hand, his arms shaking as he struggled to breathe properly.
  Chikao immediately assumed this person was about to kill themselves. Human lives were short enough, why would-
  The young man took a deep breath in before reaching back and cutting his hair off from where it was tied up.
  Chikao finally realized what was happening. This person must have done something wrong. But wasn't that something a parent or mentor normally did as a form of punishment? Why would he be disowning himself?...
  The young man's arms went limp, letting the knife fall onto the floor as his now short hair fell about his face. And he sat there, unmoving for quite some time.
  As time passed, the colors shifted and moved around as if they were alive. Chikao really wasn't sure if what he was seeing was real.
  Chikao didn't have a good concept of time and it didn't help that this person was just sitting there... He wasn't even crying anymore...
  At some point the door slid open, and a sharp gasp came from the other side. A woman rushed in, horrified at the sight in the room, "Itsuki?! Itsuki, what happened?!"
  Itsuki? Was that his name?...
  The woman was much blurrier than Itsuki was, Chikao could hardly make out where her clothes stopped and her skin began. She was made up of those confusing bright colors, just like the surroundings. She got onto her knees in front of Itsuki and kicked the knife away, "Itsuki?"
  He wasn't responding. But there was no way he could be asleep. Why wouldn't he ever address her?
  "Itsuki, talk to me," she put her arms around him, holding him close. "What happened?"
  Itsuki held his silence. He slowly lifted his arms and pressed his hands against her back.
  "Itsuki, you know I could never be mad at you... so, what's wrong?" She whispered.
  Itsuki only shook his head, closing his hands around her clothes.
  Chikao was very curious about this, as well. What made this Itsuki character feel awful enough to disown himself *and* refuse to talk about it. Especially to this woman who seemed to care about him deeply.
  "What's going on?" Another person stepped in hesitantly. It was a deeper voice and a larger figure.
  The woman was rubbing Itsuki's back, "I don't know... He won't say anything..." She laid her head on top of his.
  The man walked farther in, taking in the scene. He slowly sat on his knees beside the woman, "he hasn't said anything?"
  "Nothing," she whispered.
  The man carefully put his arms around both of them, "that's alright... we can wait..."
  And that's exactly what happened. They waited. And waited... and waited...
  It was a long time before the man got up and left, beckoned by the sounds of children calling for their father. He closed the door on his way out.
  The woman remained in the room with Itsuki. Eventually she let go of him and started tidying the room. She spoke to him about a lot of things, most of them trivial and unimportant... but she tried.
  Chikao was able to move around after what was probably a few days. Well, not really. He couldn't leave this room, but he could walk around. He couldn't physically touch anything, but things were less blurry. The people he saw were still blurry forms compared to Itsuki, but objects were very vivid.
  Chikao spent a lot of his time sitting beside Itsuki, bored out of his mind. He spent the rest of his time sleeping curled up on the floor.
  Itsuki almost never left that room. But when he did Chikao moved with him, weather or not he wanted to. It were as if the world revolved around Itsuki...
  There were a few other people who lived with him. There was that woman and that man; his parents. Then there were three other children, one of them older than Itsuki and the other two were younger.
  All of them tried at different times to try and get Itsuki to speak. But he wouldn't. Chikao had never heard him say a word. It was a week since he had woken up and Itsuki was back in that room again.
  This time, though, sitting next to him was the oldest child. A young man just a few years older than Itsuki.
  "What do you think, Itsuki?"
  The oldest had never asked Itsuki what happened. He acted as if nothing had changed. He spoke to his younger brother as if he were speaking back.
  "Do you think I should ask, or is it too soon for that?" He seemed nervous and excited at the same time. "Mom said I should go for it... she's always been so supportive. Do you think Rika will say yes?"
  Itsuki leaned onto his brothers shoulder, shaking his head as tears rolled down his featureless face.
  His brother sighed, "yeah, you're right... Rika'a gotten so many proposals, already... You know, Nori keeps asking to see you. She's really worried..."
  Itsuki closed his hands around the fabric covering his knees, holding his breath.
  His brother patted his back, "don't cry, Itsuki... Maybe I can help you. Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back." He stood and walked out of the room.
  Itsuki immediately pressed his palms into his eyes, clenching his jaw tightly. Nevertheless, a pitiful groan escaped his lungs and the tears wouldn't stop coming.
  Chikao, who hadn't taken on a human shape in quiet some time, laid his head in Itsuki's lap and pressed his snout against his side. He had discovered that Itsuki was the only thing he could touch.
  Being here and watching everything that happened made Chikao want to cry with him. Chikao remembered his own suffering and was filled with such a powerful anguish inside him. He closed his eyes, his ears shifting backwards as he whined. He wanted to be in Daikokunyo's arms again. To feel her cool embrace and hear her soft words. She would surely chuckle and say Chikao was being so childish for crying like that. But she never meant it. She was so patient with him... He didn't deserve it. Not at all.
  Tears started to leak out of Chikao's eyes, too.
  Then the oldest son stepped back in. In his hands was a flowerpot, with a plant in it. "Look," he said quietly, "it's got a few buds now. It should bloom anytime now."
  Chikao didn't recognize the plant, but it didn't look like the kind that tasted good.
  He sat down across from Itsuki, "I know they're your favorite, so I was saving this for your birthday... but I want to give it to you now."
  Itsuki lifted his face, seemingly staring at it. The tears starting streaming down his face more powerfully.
  "No, don't cry," his brother set the pot down, "I didn't mean-"
  Itsuki opened his mouth for the first time. He whispered in a hoarse, cracking voice, "I'm undeserving..."
  "What?" His bother came close, taking his hands, "of course you deserve it. Everyone deserves to have something that makes them happy..."
  Itsuki looked down, shaking his head.
  "Itsuki..." he spoke through a sigh, "we can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong..."
  They sat in silence for a long time. Eventually evening came and his older brother had to leave. "No more tears, okay?..."
  Itsuki gave no response. He watched his brother leave, then collapsed onto his side. Laying on the floor, silent tears ran across his face.
  Chikao circled up beside him. He wished he could talk to Itsuki. He wished he could talk to anyone. It was almost torturous to watch and be unable to communicate...
  He wanted to tell Itsuki he wasn't alone. Chikao wanted to be known. To be heard. To be listened to. But most of all, he wanted to make Itsuki stop hurting...
  It wouldn't be until two months later that he would have his chance.
  Itsuki was asleep and Chikao was laying beside him again. Even if Itsuki didn't know he was there, Chikao still found it comforting to be beside him...
  Then something fell over in the next room over, a loud crash ringing across the house. Chikao was on his feet in an instant, sniffing at the air, and Itsuki sat up abruptly.
  As Itsuki's eyes flew open all those confusing and oversaturated colors suddenly disappeared. Everything looked so much more real. But with it came an overwhelming feeling of dread.
Chikao looked up at Itsuki and discovered: he could see his face. Bags under his brown eyes and tear stained cheeks. A permanently pained expression.
  There were screams and sounds of struggling from beyond the door.
  Itsuki hurried over and threw it open.
  In the dim light of the night, Itsuki saw before him a scene painted in red. He became frozen in the doorway, transfixed by the horrors before his eyes.
  A man he didn't know was standing over his mother, holding her up by her robes.
  Her head lulled to the side, with no expression on it.
  Itsuki drew a sharp breath in, stumbling backwards.
  "Ru...n..." the word flowed out of her moth like a wisp of smoke.
  That man let go of her and her corpse fell onto the floor with a dull thud. His hands were stained in blood.
  Chikao was furious.
  Was there no end to the monstrosity of humans?! Why couldn't they just keep to themselves?! What compelled them to be so horrible?! Itsuki had been through quite enough!!!
  Itsuki had fallen backwards, still frozen in fear, seeing the bodies of his family littering the floor around that man.
  That man turned to face Itsuki. He seemed rather beat up, himself. But he still walked. He moved with an odd sort of shifting. As if his limbs weren't entirely attached.
  Chikao growled, standing in front of Itsuki. He grew in size. He wasn't about to let this human get away with anything else!
  He was nothing. It took Chikao no time at all to deal with him. He didn't know how he was able to touch him, or how he had made himself bigger. But he had opened his jaw and tore that man apart before devouring him.
  Chikao started to feel incredibly tried. He turned towards Itsuki, sluggishly moving towards him as he began shrinking in size.
  Itsuki looked just as horrified as before, but now his eyes were fixed on the fox in front of him. Chikao let himself fall on top of his human, exhaling deeply.
  "Goodnight... Itsuki..."
  His eyes closed and they wouldn't open again for another three years.