𝚆𝚘𝚕𝚏 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐

2 | Life and Death

Hana and the man sat in bed together. He would soon ask as she looked down. "It's surprising, isn't it? Are you going to stop seeing me...?" His wolf hand moved up and touched his cheek as she looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. "No, I'm not scared at all. Especially not of you." She said. The two would kiss softly.

My late grandfather was human and wolf, after his death my father was adopted by relatives who were unaware of this fact.

During the summer, that's when some very important news came up.

Hana was in a telephone booth on the phone with the man. "I was very nauseous.... I decided to go to the doctors but I was beginning to get nervous. If... If the baby looks like a wolf the doctor might be shocked..." She said, clenching tightly onto the book that she held in her hands.

The man ran down street, turning corners quickly as he shooted her name, "HANA!" She flinched slightly hearing her name and before she could react he would hug her, holding her close. She gasped, not expecting that. 

He ran his hand over her head, laughing. He was excited and she could tell. She couldn't help but cry a bit as the two hugged each other.

•|•

Hana looked at a postcard of the mountains. "You want to live in the mountains?" She asked.

He would nod. "Yes, I've always wanted to live there before I came to Tokyo." Her eyes lit up as she looked up at him, "It's very beautiful..." Though that was interrupted ad she remembered that she was cooking. She quickly stood up and walked to the stove, "Ah, I almost burned the food." She said, nervously. 

She would serve him food, it was Yakitori with some sauce. He would be a bit confused as he recited the name. Hana nodded and directed him, "Yes, just dip it in the sauce." He did just that and ate a piece.

"Oh! This is wonderful! You should have some!" He said as he began eating the piece of Yakitori. Hana shook her head with a kind smile, "I don't have a good appetite right now." He took note of that, watching as she placed a hand on her stomach. "Is it.." She cut him off, shaking her head. "N-no, I'm fine. I'll make the Yakitori again someday, since you seem to like it so much."

•|•

My father really, really liked to hunt. It was... In his nature. My mother believed it gave him a sense of freedom.

Hana slept in bed, having a hard time dealing with her morning sickness. She gripped onto the bowl that she had laying beside of her. He would open the door slowly, "Hana?"

She leaned up slowly, humming as she rubbed her eyes. "Hm... Uh, Oh! Welcome back-" She stopped speaking once her vision cleared up. She was flabbergasted seeing him holding a pheasant which seemed to have covered him in feathers. He held it up with a sweet smile, "I caught a pheasant."

He would begin cooking it, not allowing her to help him. "Do... Do you need help?" She asked. He would shake his head as he brought up the ladle to his mouth, taking a slight sip of the broth. He smiled, "No, you just sit down." 

Once he finished and he covered the top and brought it over to the middle of the table. He would open the top and watched as Hana's eyes lit up seeing the delicious food. "Oh! Wow! I-it looks amazing!" She would look to the side as she thought, 'I wonder if I'd be able to eat it though...'

She used her chopsticks and slurped up some noodles. She would begin getting teary eyed as she spoke, "I... This is wonderful! It's really good!" She started eating it quickly, gasping when she ate a hot piece. 

My mother gave birth to my older sister in that tiny apartment. It was a snowy day when she was born, her name being Yuki.

The small family walked down the sidewalk hand in hand as Yuki sat on her father's shoulders. "I wonder if she'll be a kind kid? Maybe she'll be smart." He said as Yuki played in his hair. "Well, we'll see in the future. For now we have to keep her safe until she ready to go out in the world by herself."

Hana nodded, smiling. "Yep!" Her eyes glanced down at the ground then at her round tummy. Her hands softly rubbed it, wondering what her next child would be.

My mother then gave birth to my older brother on a very hard rainy day. His name was Ame.

The bigger family stared out the window. Yuki watched as the rain drops raced each other to the end. Hana waited for her lover to arrive. It wouldn't take long before he approached the door and opened it, holding a pheasant. Yuki was surprised to see the big bird. Hana sighed in relief seeing him though that wouldn't mean he was free from scolding.

"Welcome back home but... You shouldn't have gone out in such weather, I got worried." She said. Though she had a smile on her face, she was still worried. Something bad could've happened, who knows what she would've done if something bad did happen. 

He felt bad for worrying her and laid the dead bird on the table before he kissed her head. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I just wanted to make sure that you had a nice meal after giving birth. Yuki might even enjoy it too." He said. She smiled and nodded before she closed the door behind him.

A month and a few days later, my mother gotten pregnant with me. The day I was born it was a very sunny day. My name was [Y/n]. The sun on that day didn't last long...

Hana held me and Ame in her arms, trying to multitask as she kept Yuki from doing anything dangerous. She was home alone at the time and was starting to get worried. She looked outside, realizing it was starting to get late. "Where could he be?" She asked herself.

She got the kids ready before she opened the door. The shuffling of bags could be heard when she did. She crouched down and lifted up the bag, finding, "His wallet...?" She muttered.

She would start walking around the city as she approached the side of a bridge, looking down she remembered what he had told her before he left.

"I'll be back soon." He smiled as looked back at her, opening the front door.

She placed her hands on the railing. Once she realized what she was looking at, she gasped. There, in the water, was a wolf with some workers standing around it. It wasn't just any wolf, it was him, her lover and my father.

Hana ran over and  tried to stop them as they carried his dead wolf body into the truck. "S-stop!! T-that man is-" She was cut off by the workers as they stopped her from touching the body. "Don't touch it, it's dead." That hurt her more than anything, hearing the confirmation. She fell to her knees, crying as the sky began crying along with her. 

We never got to have a funeral for him. I and my mother could never quite understand what he was thinking.

Maybe he was hunting for food for me...

Maybe he wanted to feed my mother something to eat after giving birth.

We'll never know...

Hana stood in a field watching as he looked back at her with a smile. She was surprised, "Huh? I... Was worried about you. Where did you..." She stopped as she realized her was beginning to walk away. "Where are you going?" She asked.

Her eyebrows furrowed as he transformed into a wolf and walked away from him. "W-wait... Yuki... Ame... [Y/n].. Their waiting for you!" No response.

"Please.... Come back. I'm waiting for you.."

"Please!"

Hana would wake up from the dream. She looked down at the wallet that laid infront of her and took his divers license out.

Seeing my father's picture on the driver's license, she said that she heard what he was telling her. "Take good care of the kids for me." 

She said, it echos in her head everyday. She lives by that saying and won't ever forget it.

She looked out the window. She could hear him fantasizing about what our future was going to be like. 

"I wonder how they'll turn out. I hope they do work that they enjoy and love. Doctors, teachers, architects, whatever it may be. They'll be a lot of challenges in-store, but all I know is that it'll all work out."

Hana smiled as she looked up at the moon, despite the tears in her eyes. She nodded, "Okay! I'll make sure to raise them right!" She looked back to her three kids as they all slept beside one another.