Tears of the Red Sky

Chapter 5 : Koguma Awakes

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin and any of its characters. If I did, I'd be doing mangas and not fanfictions. XD.. The OCs are mine though. =)

----------

Chapter 5 : Koguma Awakes

"Yumi! Yumi!"

Chiaki stopped for a few moments to catch her breath. She had been searching for her sister for quite a while now. It was almost time to go back. If they were not back on time, the 'bosses' would punish them again. And she had not earned anything for the past two hours since she immediately went to look for Yumi the moment she realized she was gone.

"Yumi! Yumi, where are you?"

She had rounded the area twice already but still there was no trace of her sister. Her little feet were hurting from all the running around. She was starting to panic now. Every time they were out working, her sister would often stray from her but she never went too far and had never been gone this long.

What if something had happened to her? What if she never found her again? She bit her lip as she scanned the crowd. She can't lose Yumi too.

"Yumi!" She yelled more desperately now. "Yu -"

Her heart almost jumped out of her chest when she finally found the familiar form of her sister from a distance. She was sitting beside a middle-aged merchant who seemed to be showing her something. Her heart flooded with relief. She immediately went there feeling both happy and angry.

"Yumi! I was so worried about you!" She scolded her. Yumi only smiled excitedly at her and pulled on her hand to show her the things the man was selling.

"So her name is Yumi. What a very pretty name. And you must be her sister," the middle aged merchant said.

She did not respond. She did not intend to be impolite towards the man but her disoriented emotions only managed to make her give him a somewhat annoyed look.

"Oh, don't worry. She seemed to be very fascinated by my merchandise so I was only showing her how to make one," the man said kindly, referring to the jewelries he was selling.

"Thank you very much. But we really need to go," she told him and turned to Yumi. "Let's go Yumi."

Yumi nodded. She turned to the merchant and gave him a quick hug.

"Oh, you're welcome," the merchant said. "Come visit me again next time."

Yumi nodded and finally waved goodbye.

"Yumi, don't ever do that again! I was so worried," she scolded when they were walking away. "And I didn't earn anything because I was looking all over for you. The bosses might punish us again tonight."

Yumi gave a surprised look followed by an apologetic one. She bowed her head in remorse as they continued looking. Chiaki gave a sigh. She can never stay angry for long at her little sister even if she wanted to.

"Alright, I forgive you," she stopped walking and faced Yumi. "I know you didn't mean to make me worry. Just don't do it again, ok?"

Yumi nodded.

"Do you promise?" She asked, holding her pinky finger out to her. Yumi nodded and entwined her pinkie finger with hers. "Good. Now let's go before the bosses scold us for being late."

She started walking and stopped when Yumi tugged at the hem of her sleeve.

"What is it?" She asked her little sister.