As Things Should Be

-1- Kotoha

She was running desperately, trying to quiet the screaming child in her arms. Tears were streaming down her bruised face, one of her large emerald eyes was swelled almost completely shut, and there was scarlet blood that stained parts of her kimono.

She ran and could still taste the alcohol on her lips from when her husband had kissed her. She could still feel his disgusting presence covering every part of her. She could feel the blows on her face as if they were still being thrown.

She could hear his distant shouts pursuing her and that made her trembling legs run faster. She stumbled through trees, tripping over roots and stones in the darkness of the moonless night. The baby, swaddled in blankets, was wailing as large tears slid from his eyes too.

"Shh," Kotoha whispered to her son, holding him closer and ducking under a low-lying branch. "Shh... it's okay... it'll be okay."

The baby continued wailing and Kotoha continued running. 

She was out of breath, and everything in her tired and beaten body was crying in pain. She pulled her child into her chest and tried to push herself further. She couldn't hear her husband's shouts anymore, but she could hardly hear her own son's wails over the rhythm of her panicked heart.

When she saw light ahead of her she let out a cry of relief and stumbled for the large building. She ran up to the door and knocked desperately, looking behind her as if expecting to be pounced on at any moment.

The door was opened and a woman looked in surprise at the sight before her. Kotoha was covered in bruises and dirt. Leaves and twigs were caught in her messy dark hair. The baby in her arms was wailing miserably and was flailing his small arms. Kotoha's face was painted in terror and desperation.

"Please!" Kotoha cried falling to her knees, "Please offer me sanctuary! My husband! My husband is - Please help me!"

The woman immediately ushered Kotoha and her son into the door and closed the door behind them. Kotoha leaned on a wall and slowly slid down until she was sitting and bounced the baby in her arms.

"Shhhh," she soothed lovingly, tears still streaming down her face, "Shhhh."

The baby slowly stopped crying and opened his large green eyes, which matched his mother's. He gazed up at her and whimpered a bit. Kotoha only smiled at the boy and bounced him.

"It's okay now... It's going to be okay," Kotoha murmured, planting a kiss on the boy's forehead.

"Are you okay?" the woman who had let her in asked, kneeling down beside Kotoha. The woman could clearly see the answer to her question, it was painted all over the newcomer, from the blood on her kimono to the bruises on her face.

"I'm okay," Kotoha nodded, her eyes glued on her child.

"I'm going to go get a doctor... and awaken the Gracious One to tell him you're here," the woman murmured.

"What?" Kotoha asked.

"You're in the Eternal Paradise Temple, don't worry. The Gracious One will not mind you being here, but he will want to know about this," the woman assured her, running down the hall and looking for the doctor of the temple.

Kotoha only let out a small breath and slowly tried to slow her tears. The temple was much warmer than the outside world and for that she was thankful. She began to relax and smiled in relief as the candlelight flickered over her wounds and her filthy kimono.

A coo directed her attention back to her child who was reaching for strands of her loose hair. She giggled and stroked her son's cheek with the back of one of her fingers.

"No one's going to hurt us anymore," Kotoha promised her son. "No one's going to yell at you anymore."

The baby looked up at his mother's face, his large emerald eyes settling on the large purple bruise on his mother's cheek. His lip trembled and he let out a whimper before crying again. This time, however, he was quieter.

"No... no, it's alright," Kotoha soothed, "This isn't your fault."

The baby's large eyes looked up at his mother's matching ones which regarded him with nothing but love and adoration.

"Babies are supposed to cry," Kotoha smiled. "Every good parent knows that. It's not your fault that he got upset."

She could hear her husband's voice in her head, cursing her child, her son, for crying too much. He was raging against a baby for crying... he was sick.

"It's not your fault," she soothed holding her child closer.

She could almost see his huge hand being raised to strike her child as if it was happening again. When she closed her eyes again, she saw herself throwing herself in front of her monster of a husband. She remembered hurting. Everything hurt and she had begged it to stop. It didn't, he didn't. She remembered finding his hand in her mouth and biting. Biting his hand with all of the force she could give. She remembered him screaming and punching her before getting up to tend to his hand. She remembered scrambling over to her baby, her son, who was screaming and crying. She had grabbed him and she had run.

She had run and she had gotten away.

The baby in her arms babbled something unrecognizable and was able to grab a strand of his mother's hair. He tugged on it lightly and laughed. In response, Kotoha smiled and pressed her forehead against the boy's head.

"We're safe now Inosuke," Kotoha told the boy, "We never have to be afraid again."

Inosuke cooed and touched his mother's face, not understanding what she was saying but smiling regardless.

(I've been gone for half a year... It's time to return. I'm back suckers. Prepare for angst and fluff. >:D )