Jungle fever

Chapter 30

If Masahiro's gaze could kill; his wife, Oha- Asa, and last but not least Raion would've died a thousand deaths already. Surrounded by his smirking arch enemy, a poison spitting wife and an old hag, who at the moment as cool as ice made tea without a care in the world and a siren look on her face, let him seethe with wrath. They had ruined everything and he saw his plan go down the drain. Also, his men wouldn't simply get away with their betrayal. He couldn't remember the last time he was so mad - not that it interested him anyway. All he saw was bright red when Raion was involved. Like now. The one-eyed-bastard had the nerve to sit beside his wife and chatted happily away with her while leaning closer and ignoring him completely. He fucking flirted with her right in front of him and he himself was damned to keep quiet. Every time he attempted to open his mouth, the old spinach quail's hand had twitched to the long stick leaning against the leather wall. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, he glared daggers at the muscular male but still got no response. He wanted to provoke him, show him that he was superior. It had always been like this since he first laid eyes on the young Raion with the blackish hair and burgundy eyes who so many years ago walked casually into their village and flirted with everything that wasn't by three on a tree. When he, after displaying such improper behavior, had the nerve to plead for his sister's hand in marriage, Masahiro had lost it and snarled his challenge into the other males face.

They fought fair and square - which Masahiro denied in Raion's case - without weapons. Only their fists and feet were allowed and shockingly he had lost to the buff man. Triumphantly smirking, the Kagami's guy had walked over to Tora, and Masahiro had to look on as his sister's brightest smile exploded on her face. She happily threw her arms around the winner and to Masahiro's ridicule, kissed him in full view of every other citizen of the tribe. His beautiful, lovely little sister got poisoned and snatched away by the devil himself that day. For nothing in the world would Masahiro forgive him. Never ever.

Caught up in his dark thoughts, Masahiro jolted as a small wooden crafted box landed in his lap. "This is for you. Maybe it opens your eyes faster than talking to an idiot like you." Raion stood beside him and peered down on him with a crooked eyebrow. "What did you call me, you asshole?" Masahiro snarled and was coming to his feet, bumping his chest against Raion's in an attempt to shove him away by the brute force of his body. "Good God, will you calm down already? You behave like a five-year-old brat." Hiruna's fierce scolding voice brought the tall man back to earth. With one last hateful glare in Raion's direction, he plummeted down on his arse and seethed inwardly. The small box had fallen from his lap and tumbled a bit away. Reaching out his hand to it, Masahiro noticed the somewhat familiar design of the little craftings embedded into the dark wood. "This is ...?"

"It belonged to Tora, yes. As I remember it was a present from you. She always held it dear." Raion sat himself between Oha-Asa and Hiruna opposite Masahiro. His voice was without hate and his eye shone with a nostalgic feeling. A small smile crossed over his face and let him look younger than he actually was.

"Go on, open it. She wanted you to have it." Raion made an inviting gesture with his hand and Oha-Asa's eyes held steady contact with Masahiro as she sipped at her tea. Masahiro sat a bit dumbfounded and stared at the box in his hands. This was different than expected and a somewhat cruel feeling twisted his guts as he slowly opened the cover which was decorated with flowers and hummingbirds. He remembered the long hours he had sat till late into the night to make them as realistic as he could. Tora's excited smiling face as she received the little treasure ghosted through his mind.

The first thing which came into his view was a small stone figurine. A tiger shortly before his leap, mouth wide open like he roared out his triumph. His eyebrows furrowed, vein popping at his temple. "Are you mocking me?" His eyes shot up to the Kagami chieftain, his anger kindled anew. Raion shook his head, "Why must you always react like this when you haven't seen the remaining content yet? This was her treasure box, shithead. Naturally, she would have something from me in there." Raion sighed but didn't say anything more. Peering down at the other things in the box, Masahiro noticed two small thin reed papers held together by thick leather bands. Reed paper was very valuable and he remembered that his mother was busy for hours with braiding the reeds when he was younger. Loosening the bindings, small flowers in every color possible fluttered into his lap. The calyxes had left imprints on the paper and beside each of it was the symbol for their names. It was a memory of their mother and he tried to swallow down the nod in his throat when his eyes landed on his name right below the symbol for the gentian flower. His name meant 'righteousness' and gentian was his birth flower. Swooping up the small flowers, he put them back in place and ventured further through Tora's belongings. A comb made from fish bones, a wooden flute, a hair accessories studded with small sparkling stones, a necklace of black-dyed leather with a blue stone at the end, and a baby rattle made ​​from redwood came to the surface and Masahiro's shoulders dropped lower and lower with each object. Those all were things he had given to Tora. Especially the baby rattle. He had forgotten that he had made it as a gift for the birth of her son. Even if they had no more contact to the date, she still was his sister who he dearly adored. Memories crashed down on him as he viewed each object. The occasions in which he had given her something swirling in his head.