Clair de Lune

Arrival

"It's the German soldiers."

"I'm damned if I'll be living by their rules!"

Kaoru could hear these and similar whispers in the crowd before her. She believed that something similar could be heard all over the France and maybe the whole Europe during this last year. After all, those crowds gathering to look as the German troops passed them didn't come forced by such a simple feeling as curiously, but were led by a long burning spite.

It was cold winter's morning of the year 1941 and most bystanders were freezing. It had been a long time since France faced such a harsh winter and most townspeople didn't have a coat able to withstand this weather, hence most people wore several layers of thinner coats and jackets.

Near the edge of the freezing and whispering crowd Kaoru stood, blowing her warm breath into the atmosphere and watching it turn to steam. She was one of the few people who had no need to layer their clothing and wore a coat thick enough to warm her, you can blame this onto being a daughter of a well-off bourgeoisie family. Kaoru silently observed everything that was happening around her as if she wasn't a part of it, as if it had nothing to do with her and it was only a cruel play unfolding on a stage of a theatre.

When the German troop was near the fountain in the middle of the town's square the buzzing of the crowd seemed to become louder. Kaoru's eyes traced over the people standing before her once more. All of them radiated hate and annoyance towards the so-called victors. And speaking frankly who could blame them, every single one of them had lost something precious in the war. It didn't matter if it was this or the last war.

Kaoru got bored with this show of hate and turned to leave when one of the Germans started shouting something in his native tongue and the crowds buzzing ceased. This caught Kaoru's attention. It wasn't impossible that people quietened to hear whatever the soldier was saying, but to her knowledge only few people in this town could actually understand German. Kaoru returned to her previous spot and stood on her tiptoes trying to see why the crowd who was so lively only moments before became as silent as the grave now.

The only thing she saw over the heads of the townspeople was the soldier's - who was shouting - red hair. Kaoru thought about jumping up and down until she saw his face, because as unusual trait the red hair of this hue as it might be it was in no way enough to silence all of those people, hence there had to be something wrong with his face. The odds weren't in her favour though, as just as she felt that morbid curiosity the troop was already making its way to the local government building with the red haired soldier leading the way.

The moment the troop was out of the crowd's sight that annoying whispering began again. This time it centred around the red haired soldier. Most of them sounded something along the lines of "I heard rumours about him. Isn't he the one who killed so many people that the blood of his victims seeped into the roots of his hair so deep that it became red?" As Kaoru walked away she couldn't help herself but wonder what bizarre things a person could believe when he desperately needed to believe in something.

Kaoru was one of the first people to leave the crowd. She had to hurry home and help her sister, Megumi, hide all of valuables in the house. Every household was forced to accommodate at least one soldier, so that the men serving in the staying troop would have where to stay and of course the Kamiya household was no exception. It wasn't a first time the sisters had to host a German soldier, but every time Megumi would still hide everything she held precious. But Kaoru never judged her. She knew that her sister acted that way out of hate and fear that were completely reasonable taking into account that Sanosuke, her husband, was suffering in a labour camp and their father had died during this war.

When Kaoru unlocked the door to her childhood home it already barely resembled the house she spent most of her life in. When she came in and took off her coat Megumi was running around the room and putting various things into the box on the floor and Tae, their maid, was carefully taking out the expensive china from one of the cupboards in the kitchen. It took another two hours before the walls of the house were completely bare and only essentials were left for use. Kaoru couldn't help herself but marvel at how gloomy the rooms had become. The walls now, instead of telling the story of the happy side of their childhood, told the story of their mother's death and the goodbyes they said to their father when he left for war.