Born of Love

CHAPTER IV

The arrow had managed to pierce the wood. There were only a few archers with enough skill to do that from so far away. It must have been the Nagao.

Undeterred, he analyzed the situation: she was at the top of the shrine, already hidden behind the pagoda, but Yuna was still by his side. The Nagao would not kill his family; They'd do worse: take her, Yuna, and the unborn baby as slaves.

He squeezed Yuna even tighter to his chest and ran away from the entrance of the Shrine. He stepped into the bamboo forest just behind it, his ears catching the whistle of arrows hitting the logs. A fox crossed his eyes and an idea occurred to him:

"Yuna, look at that fox. Whoever reaches its burrow first and hides in it will eat octopus at dinner."

Will that work? Would the innocence of a four-year-old girl be enough to inhibit her from the terror of the scene and make her flee without frightening her? Yuna kicked a little, and he pulled her down from his arms. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Yuna ran after the fox. Her father ran after her, hiding her from the arrows and her pursuers.

"Run, Yuna! Don't stop running, my daughter!"

The first arrow hit his shoulder causing him to stagger and collide with several bamboo logs, but he kept running after Yuna's small figure. It would be his shield; he would dampen a hundred arrows from Tadayori reincarnated in the Nagao if necessary for Yuna to survive, because he wanted his little girl to always get her way and walk around with her head held high without having to answer to anyone.

And Yuna ran. His father had asked her to run! A completely different order from the previous ones that used to force her to stay still and still. She ran fast in hopes of winning a race for her father for the first time. The fox stopped under a yellow-leaved tree and jumped a few times before climbing through a hole in the ground. Yuna saw the finish line in that tree and when she arrived, she went into the empty hole with great satisfaction. As she tried to catch her breath, she heard footsteps approaching. A piece of tape fell from outside, followed by her father's broken voice:

"Well done, Yuna. Wait until the fireflies arrive, okay?"

Yuna tried to say something, but he silenced her.

"Don't talk, my sweet dream, or you'll scare them away."

Yuna could only see shadows and silhouettes under the undergrowth. She noticed that her father kept running after the fox that had come out of the burrow again, but his steps were getting slower and slower. Suddenly, Yuna heard many more people approaching and passing over the burrow. She closed her eyes and clung to the tape.

Yuna's oldest memory is of being lost in the woods all alone. Looking for someone who isn't her mother. She vaguely remembers being completely dirty, with her head full of dirt. She remembers running and running among the bamboos, her throat dry and her cheeks wet with tears.

Somehow, Yuna managed to get back to the area near the Scarlet Rock Shrine and was attracted by her mother's call. When she saw her, she rushed at her, and they wept together in the middle of the field of flowers of the equinox.

Yuna's mother saw that she was holding in her hand the piece of ribbon she had given him years ago. She sadly reconstructed the trail of the chase in the forest next to a small shivering Yuna. After passing the burrow she advanced a few yards farther and found a large pool of blood; No one could stay alive after losing so much. His voice came back to her mind, along with his last prerogative: she must reach Umugi Cave and leave Tsushima. But after the trauma experienced just a few hours earlier, her nerves gave way, and she went into labor just as she was crossing the rocky entrance of the cove. Some women assisted her and took her into the village where Taka would end up being born.

She managed to speak to the pirate, who gave her the loan money as well as his condolences.

The smuggler's boat that was going to take them to Koryo was ready, but they didn't get to board it. She thought long and hard about the situation and found herself overwhelmed; she didn't know anything about that place. She didn't know their customs, or their language, or how they treated foreigners; And if they looked a bit like the Japanese, then life for a single woman with two children would be the same hell (only even lonelier).

She stayed for a few weeks in Umugi Cave regaining her strength, waiting for people to forget about her. She later returned to Yarikawa when she learned that the hunt for rebels and witnesses was over. She thought of going somewhere else; perhaps south of Izuhara as Azamo or Kishi, but she was afraid that the samurai would recognize her.

After the Rebellion (no longer known as "war") the Shimura had managed to reassert the loyalty of all the clans of Tsushima. The Jitō declared sanctions against Yarikawa; with the increase in taxes being the most powerful. The village coffers bled with each end of the season, as well as the debt money he had bequeathed to her in his last moments. She tried to find a more stable job than selling her medicinal herbs, but her reputation was tarnished now more than ever by having two children without ever having been formally married.

The sake became a recurring companion and soon became indispensable. She felt the need to turn off her mind with alcohol at all hours, ignoring other urgencies such as feeding herself or her children.

Yuna's ordeal began right there: with her mother's progressive deterioration. There was little left of that sweet woman who conquered her father's heart, beyond her caution not to mention "sake" in front of her children, and instead use the word "tea" to refer to the noxious beverage.

Yuna was always the one who was willing to take the scolding or the blows when her mother was especially drunk. She felt a great protective instinct within her for little Taka and tried to get him out of the house to distract him by playing with him at collecting crickets or dragonflies, spending time with the village blacksmith (who seemed to be the only one who took pity on them) or taking him to the cave hidden behind the village waterfall. That was a pleasant memory: After a day of collecting (and no sake in her body) their mother showed them Yarikawa's secret entrance, granting it the status of the brothers' favorite playground.

Yuna, who was already quite awake for her scarce 10 years, had to mature suddenly when she witnessed the most terrifying scene; her mother breaking the arm of a 6-year-old Taka in a fit of rage. She blamed herself for not having foreseen her mother's tantrum and especially for having been busy and not protecting Taka.

She plucked up her courage, packed two sufficiently full caches, and took her little brother with her that same day. Their mother was found dead in the streets of the village soon after.

But Tsushima was still hell masquerading as paradise, and there was neither protection nor help for a pair of orphans descended from a rebellious clan.