Light of the Dragon's Eye

Chapter Thirty

(Akira is thirteen in this flashback)

To say she had been shocked to see her brother would've been the understatement of the century.

For at least thirty seconds, her mouth and flapped open and closed, trying to say words that she couldn't think of. Her brother wasn't much better off.

Shin recovered first, and rushed at her, enveloping her into a hug. As she hugged him back, Akira noticed how much her brother had changed.

He had gotten taller, and had grown light stubble, which looked quite good on him. He had the same tan skin, but his brown hair had grown longer and had been pulled into a bun. But when Akira looked up, she noticed the usual bright playfulness in his brown eyes was long gone. He smiled happily at her, though.

"I can't believe you're alive! That day, when I couldn't find you, I thought that...that you..." his voice trembled with emotion, and Akira gently patted his back. "It's alright. I'm here now. I'm sorry I ran off, but...well, I heard what Mom and Dad said, and-"

She stopped. The look in Shin's eyes had gone especially dark. "They had planned for some man to take you away, after a particularly bad day with harassment from the town. Don't worry though, they paid for it."

Akira opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but upon seeing the shadows of her brother's features, she decided to stay quiet. She turned to the pretty young woman who had fetched Shin. "Um, hello. I don't think we've been properly introduced." Akira gave a small bow, and the woman bowed back, with the softest smile.

"This is Rin, my wife," Shin introduced, gesturing to the woman. Then, he glanced at the young girl Rin had been carrying. "And this is my daughter, Izumi." The little girl, about three years old, gave Akira a toothy grin, waving her hand.

(If you don't remember, Izumi is the young girl from the village in the beginning of the story, who taught Kasumi how to make dumplings. More importantly, one line she said in her sleep was, Daddy hurt Mommy)

Akira smiled and waved back, before looking around. Many people were inside their houses, spying on them from windows and cracked open doors. One elderly man, with a tall, battle-scarred body, came walking towards them.

He bowed to Shin. "Master Shin'ichi, the taxes have been collected, per your request." He turned to Akira. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met." He bowed respectfully, and Akira bowed back. "Elder Shiro, this is my younger sister...Kira."

Akira raised her eyebrows. Her brother knew fully well that her name was not Kira. Why the secrecy?

"Hurry, Kira. You must be tired. I'll take you to my house so that we can catch up-"

"Forgive me, Master Shin'ichi, but there's another matter of importance. Miss Ayano and her family didn't have enough money to meet the tax quota."

Shin gave an irritated sigh. "And you couldn't take care of that, Shiro?" Disgust flashed across the old man's face, before being replaced by apologetic curiosity. "Forgive me, Master, but they do have three children, perhaps we should give them more time-"

"Rin," Shin interrupted. "Take Kira to the house so that I can deal with this." He turned to Akira. "I'll see you in a bit." He walks off, Shiro following closely behind.

Izumi tugged on Akira's sleeve. "H-home," she burbled, pointing to a large house in the distance.

***

Akira sat quietly in the room she had been given, tugging at her silky new kimono. Rin sat nearby, stitching up several tears in the girl's tunic, while Izumi happily played with a scrap of cloth.