─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐈."
Kiyoko appeared and leaned against the wood bridge fence, Inari was staring at the orange and white koi fish swimming underneath the small bridge behind their estate.
"Don't call me that." Inari rolled her eyes with letting out a small groan, Kiyoko punched her arm and laughed, "No, seriously, we are twelve now and you still call me that." She threw her head back and looked at him while smiling.
He tilted his head and ruffled the top of Inari's head, Inari smacked his hands away, "It's been two years and I can still easily hop over you." He teased while poking her cheek, Inari frowned, "Anyways--"She leaned forward, changing the subject, "When is our lesson with Akane?" Inari asked, glancing at him.
Kiyoko shrugged, "I haven't seen her since..." he tapped his chin and his eyes moved around trying to think, "I haven't seen her at all today." His red eyes shifted to Inari, while she tilted his head, "So we aren't having sword lessons?"
"Do we even need it anymore? I think I'm pretty good but you are really good. It all seems so natural to you."
Inari snorted softly, "I am still not as good as I need to be," she admitted, a small gust of wind hit her face, "Well, Amaya didn't say anything about it. Maybe Akane just went somewhere or is doing stuff that old people do." He responded with a bored tone.
"She's not that old, Kiyoko." She rolled her eyes while laughing a bit, Inari leaned forward against the railing, reaching her hand out to touch the clear water, pausing, she pushed herself back up and turned to her brother, "Did you hear about Hoshi?" She asked while tilting her head.
Kiyoko raised an eyebrow, "What? Did he die or something?" He narrowed his eyes at her, Inari's eyes trailed off and she put her hands behind her back, "No....he has a girlfriend." He burst out laughing, "Please tell me this is another one of your shitty jokes." Kiyoko looked at her, reading her expression, her face said that she's being for real and he stopped laughing, "How do you know?"
Inari scoffed, "He said it to me in my face. Her name is Mei, she's a year younger." Both of Kiyoko's eyebrows raised and he rested his arms on the wooden railing, Inari laughed, "Hate that guy." Kiyoko stood up straight, "Hate him." He agreed, like he was finishing Inari's sentence.
He motioned for Inari to walk with him, she did, "Why can't you just track Akane with your Sekigan?" Inari asked, glancing at him, "I did, I can't trace her flow at all--she's probably far away." He responded while staring at the trees. Inari scrunched her nose, "So no one knows where she is?"
His foot stepped in front of her, causing her to stop, "Inari, why are you thinking too hard about this? She is fine." He put his hands on her shoulders and shook her, Inari fixed her ponytail, "I'm going to go ask Akira if she knows where she went." She went back inside, Kiyoko stopped walking and scoffed, he opened his mouth and then closed it again.
As she walked through the long hallway, she looked at the many portraits of the Founding Families before her, her eyes studied the faces of the great-aunts and uncles who she never met. Inari stopped at the biggest painting of the Founding Mother, Amaterasu.
Her head tilted as she stared at her bright red eyes and her dark purple hair that was up in a ponytail, similar to Inari's ponytail. She wore a very elegant kimono that was dark red with gold and purple flower designs etched on her sleeves. The painting represented her heroic actions, her chin was up and she was sitting down with her fancy little katana in her hand. Inari realized how similar her mother looks like to Mother Amaterasu, her eyes squinted as she wondered if Amaterasu acted like her.
Inari made a small 'hm' noise before she continued walking through the hallway, at a fast pace. Her fingers picked at the torn skin next to her nails.
"Inari?"
The voice made her freeze, she stopped and put her hands behind her back. Hanami looked at her, "How are you?" She asked, smiling sweetly. A small sweat rolled down her face, "Good afternoon, mother." She said in a small voice. Hanami bent down and caressed Inari's cheek. Inari flinched at her touch and bit the inside of her mouth.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Hanami tilted her head, Inari's eyes trailed off, "What do you mean?" She looked back at her an expressionless face, Hanami grabbed Inari's wrist and squeezed it, "You should let your hair down, the ponytail makes you look stupid."
Inari looked down, "Okay." She quickly tried to leave but Hanami didn't let go, Inari turned around, Hanami looked at her with a small smile, there was a small moment of quietness, before she talked, "Akira is preparing our dinner, make sure you clean up."
"O-Okay." Hanami let go and Inari didn't think twice before walking away, speeding up a little bit.
Hanami said that Akira was making dinner so Inari assumed she was in the kitchen, Inari opened the door and saw Akira chopping onions with a stoic face yet her eyes were glossy.
Her brown eyes shifted to the young girl, setting the knife on the chop board and greeting her with a bow, "Lady Inari! I'm still making dinner." She exclaimed, a bit surprised, Inari glanced at the boiling pot of water, Akira set the stove all the way on high and she didn't even notice the pot was basically hopping up and down.
Before the pot tipped over, Akira blinked and Inari was already holding the pot handle and turned the stove down. "Oh no. Let me!" Akira took the pot away from Inari and turned off the stove before she set it back down, "Have you seen Akane today?" Inari asked, observing the fine china plates on the counter top. Akria shook her head, "I'm not sure. Maybe she just went out today."
Inari looked at her, "She has never just went anywhere without letting anyone know. I have lessons with her today." She pulled her ponytail to her shoulder and combed it with her fingers.
Akira sighed, "Lady Inari, Akane is perfectly fine. I'm sure of it. Now, I have to get back to cooking. If you'll excuse me." She smiled softly and bowed again, Inari took a deep breath and nodded, "Alright." She mumbled under her breath and walked out of the room.
Why is it just me who is worried? Am I overreacting?
She walked into her room and stared at herself in the mirror. Inari looked at her ponytail and her ribbon and she shifted it around.
You look stupid.
Stupid girl, stupid, stupid, stupid.
Inari removed her ribbon, her hair fell down to her back, she sighed while observing herself with her hair down. Even though it was a small comment, Inari was still hurt by it. Hanami criticizes every single thing about Inari's body. It feels like nothing at first, but when it happens over and over again, she started to believe it.
Your stomach is so big.
Those arms are so thick.
That's not lady-like.
You are a stupid girl.
She felt her bottom lip tremble and she bit it to stop it. The sigh she let out was shaky and she put her hair back up and tied her red ribbon around it, and a small smile crept up on her face. Inari felt like the ponytail with her ribbon makes her stand out from others, she thinks it makes her look pretty. Inari only wished she had Hanami tell her that, just once.
Her door burst open, Inari turned around with wide eyes, it was Kiyoko. He had a face that scared Inari.
Inari slowly opened her mouth, one word escaping breathlessly, "What?"
Kiyoko motioned for her to follow him, "There's some people here to question us." She tilted her head, "What do you mean?"
He shook his head, "I have no clue. I ran over here before anyone else could tell you. They're in the living room." Inari nodded and followed Kiyoko to the living room.
Akira was standing by the door and bowed before she opened it to let them in. Inari scanned the room and it was two men in black-ops uniforms, one of them held a scroll in their hand, Amaya nervously stood next to Hanami as they waited. Amaya saw Inari and Kiyoko and smiled a bit. Akira stood next to the black-ops' guard that was standing next to the paper door, she bowed and kept her head down.
"Lord Kiyoko, Lady Inari." One of the men in the mask greeted them with a bow and the twins walked over to Hanami and Amaya.
Hanami smiled before she held her hands together with a slightly worried face, "Can you guys tell us what's going on?" She tilted her head and looked at them with soft eyes. The guard cleared his throat and opened the scroll.
"Due to the overwhelming evidence, Akane Akashi has been pronounced dead--"
Inari let go of her breath that she didn't even know she was holding, Hanami gasped and covered her mouth while Amaya started to cry. Kiyoko looked at them with a shocked face, he glanced over at Inari who didn't move at all, even Akira gasped and her eyes started to water.
It was like everything went mute in her ears. Inari's red eyes turned dull as they were glued to the black-ops feet while she could hear her friend next to her start to cry loudly. She could hear Kiyoko's words as he tried to comfort her, every thing felt muffled and her ears started to ring.
Her hands slowly covered her arms and she whimpered, her lip quivered and she felt tears coming but she held them back behind her eyes.
Wall up.
The wall around Inari started to grow taller and taller.
She watched the other black-op show them a plastic bag with two fingers in it. She blinked, "These were found outside of the village gates as some ANBU were patrolling. It was tested for DNA and it was a match to Akane, due to the way it was cut they have declared it was left there post-mortem. I'm sorry." Blinked again.
That's not hers. That's not her.
Amaya's legs felt weak and she fell into Kiyoko's arms, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Kiyoko whispered that in her ears over and over while running his fingers through her hair, his eyes were wide, it probably hasn't hit him. Yet.
Hanami walked up to the black-ops and grabbed his arms, she was begging them to say it wasn't true, tears falling from her face, her cheeks red. The man tried to console her but she shook her head. Inari knew that Hanami was very close to Hanami, she knew her even when she was still in the womb.
Inari's eyebrow twitched and she balled up her fist, her nails dug into her skin so hard that it left blood.
And she blinked again.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───