Making A Wish Under The Sun

EPISODE 1 : The Shut-In

The curtains were closed, the room was dark. A lump laid beneath violet covers. The room was silent excluding the sounds of dishes being washed and birds chirping. A feminine figure rolled over in the bed, eyes narrowing at a bedside table. She reached over grasping a dark pair of glasses. She pushed them up onto the bridge of her nose as she sat up in her bed.

She turned to her window and opened the curtains. She turned away from the sudden brightness before opening the window. She was met with the unpleasant odor of manure, raw vegetables, and sweat. She looked out of her window to the garden behind her home. There was carrots, cabbage, rice, leeks, and many other foods to be grown. Her brother was working early today again, or possibly late. Kyo was known for working throughout the night. It's been eight years since they settled on the distance outskirts of the Land of Fire, and he'd still only learned to use gardening and work as a tool of coping.

"Go to bed you bear!" She screamed out the window.

"Do some work you sloth!" Kyo shouted back.

"Both of you buck wheats better hush up before I make you!" Their mother's voice made their mouths close quickly.

Emi retested back into her room. She dressed for the day, a comfy pair of shorts and a mint t-shirt. Their family emblem on the left breast. A four-pronged star, white, lined in pale yellow. She headed downstairs, when the sound of glass breaking made her freeze. Heavy, slow footsteps creaked on the floorboards.

"What do you want?" It was her mother's voice.

"Give us everything you've got. Money, food, medical supplies. All of it, now," the voice was rough, slightly muffled, possibly by a metal mask.

"Hey! Go away you-! Urk-!" The sound of her brother crying out in pain caused her heart to stop.

"Shut up kid, before I crush your skull into a pancake," a more rough voice stated.

The footsteps drew near the stairs and a pair of onyx eyes locked onto her. The man had a scrawny neck, a thick nose, and massive limbs. He raced towards her up the stairs with astonishing speed. Her throat was snatched up and she clawed at the hand around her windpipe.

"Hehehe... A little mouse sneaking around? I can take care of you with just a little squeeze. I'll pop those pretty little green eyes right out of their sockets and-" he froze as her tears dripped on to his bare skin.

Her eyes were a violet color, her tears a royal purple, thick like blood. He suddenly dropped her and froze. It was as if he was in a trance. Emi cowered in fear, swiftly moving past the man, only to arrive to a scene of dismay. Her mother was pinned against the wall, her throat in the hand of what looked to be a relative of the man that had attempted to attack her. Then, holding her brother was a woman with stringy black hair and wide wicked smile, her eyes covered by a scarf.

"Huh?! Where's Jun?! What'd you do to my brother?" The man attacking Emi's mother suddenly lunged for her. He grabbed the side of her face, his dirty gloves soaking up the purple tears from her face. Her head was slammed into the ground, and her world went dark.

What seemed like hours passed by and Emi finally awoke. The house, trashed. Her mother sat at the table, two chairs broken, while her brother began to clean up the house. Emi had been placed on their small couch. Her face was clean and a towel was on her forehead. She turned, looking to her mother.

"Mama," he mother did not look, "Are you alright?" She asked. There was no response. She sat up, looking to her brother for answers on what had happened. He only continued cleaning. She got up and went to prepare dinner, but their food, it was gone. She went to the garden but didn't even make it out the door before seeing the carnage from the men that had invaded their home. That night, the family went hungry and their mother went to be quite early.

As time passes and it grew later in the night, Emi took it upon herself to make a decision. She went to her brother's room, waking him. When she entered, he was seated on his bed, stating at an old photo.

"Get out," he stated.

"I'm leaving home," her words caused him to turn his head.

"What? Have you gone crazy?" Kyo asked, standing up.

"I'm going to go and learn to be a ninja," Emi stated, "But I need to ask you about something first." There was silence.

"Today, when those men attacked... My eyes. Something happened. What was it?" She asked.

".... Yokubo...." "Eyes of Desire?" She questioned. Her brother did not speak after that. She then turned, leaving his room for what would be the last time in quite a few years.