***
The same face with a touches of time and unbloomed youth. The gentle face with highlights of joy and innocence. Her long, beautiful hair unscathed by time, yet her body smaller and frailer.
"Mom! Don't let Myoko get close to the pond!"
Her mellow voice exclaimed as she began sprinting towards her mother in desperation. The estate she grew up, filled with little ponds-springs. Her little treasured sister was far away enough to not fall and drown, so they ignored her call and went their way.
"Mom! Listen!"
She clutched onto her mother's cherry petal kimono with her tiny hands, both of them still far away from her little sister.
"Kyoko,...mother is busy at the moment. Please don't bother."
"But mother -"
Within a moment, Myoko, who had a safe distance from the spring-pond, had fallen in the pond and shuffled in the water bed for her life.
"Myoko!!"
Mrs. Usagiko screamed while trying to reach her youngest on time.
Fortunately, with a gust of wind and his haori[1] and hakama knitted with wind magic, swaying and flowing accordance to his movements. His younger complexions beaming with striking looks and a well-built body under his blue yukata. The whirlwind scattered across the spring pond, slicing the water bed itself and the surge of winds going across the lines of water, finally plucking out his child and embracing her with warmth.
Myoko cried under her father's warmth while he began taking off his haori to tuck her in with it. He's expression unchanged, a worried frown.
"Dear, what happened?"
Although his deep voice was intimidating, yet when it had come to his wife, he had spoken so softly and with care.
"Myoko....my love, Kyoko mother is sorry for not listening to you."
She implied while caressing her hair with tears in her eyes.
A coincidence?
"Hey, your father would lose his arm if he left his house today."
Kyoko let out while scribbling on a piece of paper along with her friends, the jne who she pointed towards, made an exaggerated face, one filled with complaints. How strange was the girl that the next day had come? Her ways had followed through, and the poor man had lost his arms.
Another coincidence?
"Father, you're outh to remove Sir Suzuko from the clan, I've a bad feeling about him." This time, she played in her father's arms while he was busy reading the daily paper sipping on his hot green tea. Instead of questioning his daughter, he smiled at her and spoke gently.
"Don't worry about father's affairs. Play to your heart's content instead."
Suzuko was caught gambling away the clan's funds and investing in slavery. Her father's eyes darkened, and he bestowed the rightful punishment. Hang him on the air. As he turned away, he left the grumbling fool on his doorstep.
Again, coincidence?
The town grew colder, and the colours left the streets she walked on so happily. Those stares had become so threatening and disgusting as the days followed.
"I heard she can tell the future."
"What!? That's so alarming."
"What has the Usagiko family even birth?"
"Is she a monster in disguise?"
They feared the unfamiliar, the unspoken one who carried the forbidden knowledge they were unaware of.
"Maria, don't play with the Usagiko kid anymore. Who knows what misfortune she brings along next."
They blamed the worst on her, as if she had asked or called for it.
The hate grew, her father feared for her safety, and her mother grew tired of proving them wrong, yet no one listened or embraced the gift besides them.
"Father....what have I done wrong?" She whispered and sniffled, seeking his comfort.
"Nothing, my child, absolutely nothing."
Sir Usagiko's frown grew larger as well as his concern. His youth was starting to fill with wrinkles, since for the first time, he had felt helpless in the arms of the depicted society his daughter had once warned about.
"Usagiko-san! Your daughter raises concern for the clan and our people! Banish her before it's too late!!" The men argued in the conference.
Usagiko's air darkening and eyes getting merciless at the sight of the indecent ones that spoke cruelly about his beloved daughter. He tried his hardest to reamin cool, as he began to lock himself up inside to prevent a massacre done by the very hands that cared for his both kids.
He sighed loudly enough to warn and silence the room and spoke without the care and love he used with his family. The deep, intimidating voice that would send shivers down one's spine.
"My daughter has done nothing wrong. If you speak about her again and allege her with deeds, she hasn't committed. Then, you will be able to empathise with Suzuko."
As he pronounced, no one dared to add another phrase. He walked away again, protecting his sole loving family.
"Kyoko, you father and I've decided, it's better if you had stayed home from now onwards."
She sat in her little seiza position and gazed upon her guiltful parents' eyes. Her childhood had been coloured by an implacable rush of being introduced to maturity. She forced a smile, prevented her tears, and lowered her gaze so she wouldn't worry her parents again.
***
Mother and father were helpless, I tied down my needs and childlike tantrums. Those piercing stares had unalived a part of me that day. My voices gotten quitter, and the words I would have said were hushed inside me. Little by little, only silence remained.
Until I found her.
***
Curiosity wouldn't kill this time. The thin shoji would never prevent the soothing noises and mana from reaching her doorstep. A dreadful boredom was enough to ignite the ounces of curiousity within her. The same trailed, but she walked with thiner and shorter legs on the depths of the night.
Grace, elegance, and worldly beauty had welcomed her with a smile that day. If it weren't for her, the future would've been cruel and unyielding for some hearts.
"I'm Zerius. What's your name?" She extended her hand towards her for her to take.
Her eyes grew larger, yet instead of fear, she was just bewildered by her radiance and existence.
"K-kyoko...."
She giggled and let her soothing mana flowing in sink with hers, calming her from within and making her fall in a deep slumber that she wasn't able to achieve due to her anxiety.
When morning came, she would be back to her manner, acting as if nothing had occurred the past night. Night fell, and she would stream out of her house to meet with her new friend.
"Your gift is precious, my beloved. Most would give everything for such a gift."
Kyoko chuckled bitterly and sat next to her. This time, her body was large enough to be called an adult.
"I often prayed that this gift to be cast to exist from my life."
"Have you never loved it?"
"You saw my life, Zerius. You had watched it all. You should know how it was."
Zerius fell silent and bit her lips in guilt and pity.
"What about the event you foresaw, won't you act on it? My beloved?"
"I'm not so sure anymore, I'm tired of being the misfortune bringer."
"But it's crucial for you!"
"Which event wasn't?"
"....."
"Don't worry, I think it will work out, just it's a pity I wouldn't be able to visit you gain...."
"It's fine, I'm here as long as you know. My lifetime isn't in sink with yours. I will wait for your return."
Kyoko smiled softly. However, Zerius didn't and continued while grabbing the fabrics of her cosmic cloak.
"I hope you will visit, I've only had a few friends you see. They all kept their promises until their final breath."
"Zerius....I promise I will come find you."
Those emotions lingered still, from the days of tiny feet to the years of longer strides. She had walked the same trail to be with her. The ones who came before her, same as her. Willing to spend their long lives with her, a trustful and treasured friend of all long livers, since they would die before her. She would be alone at the end, so she became the carrier of their memories and watched over them, helped them, and loved them.
From the human who stumbled upon her domain, sucked out of life by war. He was the first for her.
The frailer dragon, caused by insufficient mana result of only two parents, spent her time along with her until her final days.
A dwarf who made the beads for her so that her domain wouldn't fall silent ever again.
To Kyoko, who she looks after now.
They loved her, she loved them, unforgotten by her. Such is the burden that she carries. Nevertheless, she wasn't sadden by their passing, as if she knew that someday, somewhere and somehow she would reconcile with them, by the mercy of her creator.
***
"You felt another depiction of the future?" His deep voice echoed in the room.
"Yes, father, this time with urgency."
"Speak then."
Kyoko breathed in a sum of air and let out without hesitation.
"The wolf clan will be here to break the peace."
That one line is spoken to soon. That event was to happen later in the distant future. However, she had mistaken and informed it soon.
That led, for the demi clan to be tangled up with misfortune. The old folks' alleged tales had become the truth.
The girl who brings misfortune.
"Usagiko-san! You can not ignore it this time around!"
"Yes!"
"Banish her from the clan immediately!!"
"She's the bringer of misfortune!!"
"Our clan had faced so many losses!"
"Usagiko-san!!"
"Usagiko-san!!"
Society and duty.
"Leave immediately."
He said without facing her. Her family had crumbled apart as well as her heart. Tears she locked up all those years were let out on that day. Her father's heart ached for her, but again he was helpless, unworthy, and blamed himself for everything.
***
"You wish for my land, huh? What makes you think I would agree?"
The yellow dragon in his human form, sipping his red wine and sitting on his throne, scoffed.
"I will give the riches you need."
"Hahahaha, whatever you give, It will only be a penny to me."
It may seem like a dead end. Fortunately, for Kyoko, she had foreseen the event occurring.
"Would this be enough then?"
She extended a piece of artefact, a red shining one. Enough to make the yellow dragon jolt up from his throne with giant curve eyes.
"You?.....Prepare a small land for her immediately."
And the rest remained as history.
[1] haori and hakama are olden traditional Japanese clothing