Butterfly's Curse: Prisoner Of The Unseen| Zenin Toji

Seiren's Confinement

Noritoshi told Tsumiki about his wife's situation as soon as the decision was made, hoping she would accept after hearing such tragic story. And indeed she did, feeling sorry about the fate that waits both of them at the same time, especially Seiren's, offering to take care of her during her pregnancy.

The first day Tsumiki entered that room, Seiren looked at her with scornful eyes. She was lying on a futon placed close to one of the corners, sitting up the moment she heard the fusuma slid open. All the time she had been confined inside such place, only Noritoshi had been the only person that would visit her and keep her company. So seeing a young a woman she had never seen before suddenly stepping inside, it was a strange sight to see and she didn't like it at all.

"Who are you and why are you entering without permission?!" There was hostility in Seiren's voice, demanding an answer from Tsumiki. "You did not even have the decency to even knock!"

The room was quite dark, taking a few seconds for Tsumiki's brown eyes to get used to it. "I'm sorry," she immediately apologized the moment she heard the angry voice, finally seeing the woman she's going to take care of. "Your husband told me you were sleeping, so I did not want to wake you up. That's the reason why I entered without knocking. He was the one that gave me permission as well."

"Even so, you must knock first before entering someone's room!" Seiren scolded, her red butterflies glowing in a red light to provide some light. "If I would had continue to sleep, you would had scared me to death!"

"I was planning to leave if that was the case," Tsumiki stated. "But you are completely right," she bowed, feeling quite guilty. "I'm deeply sorry."

The sincerity in her voice caused for Seiren's anger to subside and let it go. "I will let it slide for this time, so forget about that," she said, deciding to question Tsumiki of why she's here. "There's must be a reason of why you are here, right? And what you have mentioned moments ago, my husband was the one that sent you."

Tsumiki regained her initial posture and nodded, not moving from her spot. "He did tell me to come here, but it was because I offered to take care of his wife during her pregnancy."

Seiren was puzzled. "Why would you want to do something like that? What Noritoshi told me, you are the one who's going to take care of our child once its born. Nothing more nothing less."

"Well," Tsumiki started, not sure how the woman will take her following words. "After your husband told me the situation, I couldn't help feeling sorry about the fate that awaits both of you. Better said, the three of you. That's why I offered to take care of you during your pregnancy!" She exclaimed, not faltering for any second. "But not only that, I wanted to show to both of you that I'm someone to trust and that your child will be in good hands!"

Seiren would had never imagined to hear one day those kind of words coming from someone of this village, being hard to believe it. "If that's really the case, then you have a long way ahead. For the whole reason that I don't trust anyone of the villagers, except for my husband and my guardian. I hope you can understand."

Tsumiki did not mind her distrust, glad that at least Seiren had accepted. "I do understand," she said with a small smile on her lips. "Plus, I can assure you that I'm not like any of those villagers, and I'll show you over time that I'm really worthy of your trust."

......

Days before his unknown fate, Noritoshi visited the shrine were Sukuna had been confined all this time. He had a bad feeling about what's going to happen once his child is born, wanting to speak with him in order to make a decision. At first, he had given up to his fate, but as the time passed, he couldn't bring himself to let Seiren die nor to be separated from his child.

It was midnight when Sukuna heard a knock on the fusuma and the voice of Noritoshi saying his name. He slowly opened his eyes, not sure if he had imagined the familiar voice or not. He stretched his arms and let out a yawn, not rising to his feet from the cold floor until he heard the man calling to him for the second time.

"Sukuna."

This time, Sukuna got closer to the fusuma and questioned. "What are you doing here, Noritoshi? I don't think you came here to ask me how I been doing, right?"

Noritoshi felt guilty by the second question. He never wanted for the guardian of Seiren to suffer this kind of fate. "I think I should apologize first for not coming before and for causing all of this?"

"Save it," Sukuna didn't want to hear an apology. "No one is allowed to come here anyway, so get to the point of why you are here," he demanded.

Noritoshi complied. "Since I'm oblivious of what kind of punishment I'm going to receive, I want you to save my wife and our unborn child. You still haven't given up on Seiren, right?"

Sukuna wasn't surprised to hear that Seiren was expecting a child nor that Noritoshi haven't given up of saving her. "What do you want me to do? Take her to another village like we planned before?"

"Yes. It doesn't matter which village or town as long as it is far away from here. To a village where the chief will never find her," Noritoshi said, just wishing for Seiren and their child to live at least a normal life. "But first, you must save her from the place she's confined in: the kamos' residence."

Sukuna did not mind helping, since from the beginning he was planning to help Seiren before the day of the sacrifice arrives. "How do you expect me to escape from this shrine?"

"Before the day of the offering arrives, I will send someone here with a key to help you leave this shrine, as well to save Seiren from the room she's confined in."

Sukuna touched his chin. "Then, you have my word that I will save Seiren and your child."

I'm starting to regret a few things. Perhaps I should have started the story with Toji instead of Seiren.