Blood Stained Sand

Prologue

818 AD – Heian Period

"Mommy, Mommy! Look at what I found!" An energetic two-year old said, racing into the house, her chin length brown hair waving in the wind, and held out her hands. There, clutched in her sweaty, dirty palms lay a baby bird. The baby lifted its odd head, which seemed to be the same size as its body, and looked up at the mother of the child. Opening its beak, it let out a chirp, asking for food.

The mother, a woman in her mid-30s, with black, shoulder length hair, laughed and said, "Where did you find it, sweetie?"

"Back there." The girl replied, pointing behind her to the open door from which she had just entered. Though, as she pointed, she almost dropped the baby bird, but brought her hand back just in time to stop it from falling.

The mother, now cautious, said, "Well, why don't you put it back where you found it? It's hungry and the momma bird is probably worried about where its child is."

The girl contemplated this for a while in her mind before finally replying, "Okay." She raced back out the back door, not bothering to close it, much to the relief of the mother, for, if she had, she probably would have dropped the poor bird.

Getting to her feet after crouching before her daughter, she chuckled, shook her head, and said, "Kids." Then she went back to what she was originally doing, which was trying to scrape together a decent meal with what few things they had. She sighed, her face lined with worry. She or her husband was going to have to not eat dinner again, in order to make sure their son and daughter got enough to eat. She pulled herself together, squared her shoulders and got to work cooking.

Meanwhile, outside, the daughter was putting the bird under the tree where she had found it. Looking up, squinting because of the sun, she could make out a nest. Decided that putting it in the nest would be better then leaving it on the ground. She went back to the side of the house and grabbed the small bucket they used to carry water and placed the bird inside. Back at the tree, she placed the handle of the bucket in her mouth and began to climb. 'Left foot, right foot, left hand, right hand.' She repeated in her head until she reached the nest. This was the tricky part. Hugging the tree with her left hand and firmly placing her feet on a sold branch, she removed the bucket from her mouth with her right hand. Then, lifting her right leg, she balanced the bucket on it. Gingerly reaching in, she removed the bird and stretched her arm up, gently depositing it into the nest, where his sibling chirped, surprised that their lost brother had suddenly been reunited with them. She giggled, and her right leg moved.

This is when it all went downhill. In slow motion, she watched herself reach for the bucket, her hand circling the handle, and then she slipped. She fell off the branch, face forward. Twisting herself in midair, she was able to hold the bucket near her stomach, trying to protect it, knowing she would get in trouble if something were to happen to it. They were always telling her not to play with it. But, then, she was caught by someone. That person let out a barely audible "oof" before collapsing to the ground, the girl on top of him, still clutching the bucket.

The person was, in fact, the girl's 14 year-old brother. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at the girl on his chest. His black hair was now covered in pink petals from a sakura tree nearby.

"What were you doing?"

She looked up at him with big, hazel eyes and said, simply, "Bucket?"

He rolled his eyes to the sky and said, "Yes, the bucket is fine." Then he looked back down at her. "But I'm more concerned about your personal health." He reached up and tousled her hair. "Come on, let's go." He said, standing up and holding her under his left arm, her right hand still gripping the handle. As they passed the place where she had taken the bucket, he had to fight her fingers in order to get it from her and place it back on the ground. Then he set her on the wooden porch. Tousling her hair once more, making her look up at him, he placed his finger on his lips and stuck out his tongue. Getting what he meant at once, like the smart child she was, she grinned, showing off the few teeth she had, and nodded her head vigorously. What he meant was, 'I won't tell, if you won't.'

One Week Later

It was sunset and the small household was just beginning to make their dinner. The father of the family was sleeping in another room after a hard days work, the son was in town buying as many ingredients as he could for next week with the little money the family had and the girl was outside playing in the little amount of sun light that was left. The mother had just finished putting all the ingredients over the fire to boil, when the girl raced inside, as the sun had finally dipped below the horizon, taking the light with it. Getting up, her back aching, she patted the girl on the head. "I'm going to take a nap now. Can you watch the food for mommy? Your brother should be home soon, so make sure you don't do anything troublesome. And do not, I repeat, DO NOT, go near the fire."

The girl answered with a curt nod and promptly sat on the floor staring at the pot of food as though her life depended on it. The mother stepped through the door to the bedroom, looking back only once to appreciate how much her child loved to complete things. She always did the best at everything she did, which was why she was considered the prodigy of the village, even at the age of only two. Then she slipped through the door, closing it behind her.

Ten minutes passed while the girl continued to stare at the food. But she had noticed that the fire was dying. She looked at the branches stacked in the corner, then back at fire. Her mother had told her not to go near the fire, but if she didn't the fire would go out. Climbing to her feet, she walked over to the pile of branches and pulled some from it. That's when disaster happened. The stack collapsed, and the branches rolled right towards the fire. She dropped the branches, and ran to grab the others before they got to the fire. But she was too late.

The first branch caught fire, and, in a chain reaction, the rest caught fire, racing towards the wall where they used to lay. The fire climbed up the wall, greedily licking the wood. The smoke in the air made the girl cough and her eyes to tear. She raced outside, only stopping once she was away from the smoke as the fire moved from wall to wall. A bell rang in the distance; the warning of a fire. But all this was lost on her as she watched the walls of the room in which her parents slept suddenly exploded in a blaze of orange and red. Collapsing to her knees, she could only watch as her world crumbled around her. It was her fault. She had killed her own parents at the age of only two.

In Town

The brother was just picking up the last ingredients when the bell which warned the villagers of a fire began to ring. He placed the food into the basket on his arm silently praying for the poor souls whose house was on fire. A mass of villagers were running in one direction, towards the fire. Their arms carried buckets full of water. They had to do everything to make sure it didn't spread. One villager stopped and looked at the boy then shouted his name which was lost to the sound of the bell and stamping feet. But the boy somehow knew that someone was calling him. He looked up.

"Hey, you live in that little house at the edge of town don't you?" The man asked, and the boy nodded, confused. "Well, you better hurry back, because it's on fire." Then he was lost, once again joining the crowd. The boy stood there in shock before dropping the food and running towards his house.

The boy finally made it to his house. Villagers were desperately throwing water onto the house, but it stubbornly continued to blaze. He fought the crowd as they milled around, whispering to each other.

Then he heard, above all the noise, someone say, "Can you hear me sweetie? Blink if you can. I need a doctor over here! This little one seems in shock!"

He fought harder and found himself standing over his sister. She stared blankly at the fire, her eyes expressionless and a tear running down her cheek. Her kimono was covered in soot and dirt and her hair was an ashy color instead of its usual brown.

"Sister!" He screamed, bending down in front of her. Her eyes remained expressionless and showed no hint that she recognized him. He grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her lightly, completely oblivious as everyone created a circle about them. Finally, to his relief, her eyes slowly slid up to his and she croaked out one word from her raw throat, "Bucket?" He burst into tears and her hugged her tightly to his chest. "Yes, it's okay."

819 AD – Heian Period

A year had passed since the deaths of their parents and, by now, the boy was 15 and the girl was three. They lived in another city, Yokohama, after moving from their hometown, Gifu. Luckily for them, the city embraced them without asking any questions. But one thing was different. The boy never let his sister out of his sight. The girl knew that even though he said he loved her, deep down, he could never trust her. He had gotten paranoid ever since the deaths of their parents, and she knew that he blamed her for their deaths, even if he denied it every time she asked. So, after a while, she let it go and tried to pretend that every thing was normal between them.

They now lived in a city that was on the coast, much different then their hometown, which was inland. After about five months after their arrival in Yokohama, there was a rain storm that didn't stop for three days. By then, the rivers were overflowing and the town was afraid that there would be a flood; many of them went inland in fear. Then, on the forth day of rain, the barriers that the townspeople had placed around the river broke, sending gallons of water swirling through the town, destroying everything in its path. The boy immediately order his sister to get ready to leave, shoved supplies into two backpacks, one for each of them, in case they were stranded somewhere, and then they followed the townspeople to a hill outside of town. There, they were able to watch first-hand just how powerful water was. It crashed through solid buildings, bringing the buildings to their knees. It uprooted trees like they were twigs and reshaped the lands. And all they could do was watch.

The sister tugged on the sleeve of her brother's kimono and pointed at something in the water. The boy had to squint to see what she was pointing at, but, finally, he saw it. A small boy about the age of 5 was holding onto a trunk of a tree as the tree was bashed about by waves, his mouth open in a silent sob that no one could hear. Suddenly, a shrill cry rose in the crowd as the mother of the child, who had been looking for him, spotted him among the debris.

"Please! Somebody! Anybody! Please save my child!" She screamed while others tried to hold her back from running into the waters, telling her that there was no way to save him. It was just too dangerous.

Something inside the brother snapped as he recalled his horrid memories from a year ago. He kneeled in front of his sister and looked her in the eyes and she immediately knew what he was going to do. She held onto his clothes in a desperate attempt to stop him from leaving her, but he shrugged her off.

"Never again," He said, "Never again, do I want to see someone go through the pain of losing a loved one when I could have done something." Then he kissed her on the forehead and was gone, leaving his backpack behind.

"Ani-san!" She screamed, as a last attempt, but he never looked back as he dived into the water.

She could only watch in fear as she waited and waited and waited, but he never resurfaced. Then, his head popped up near the boy, and his arms shot out, grabbing the small child by the arms and the sister could only sigh in relief at the thought that he was safe, that he would be okay. If only that were so. About half way back, his leg got caught in something and they both the boy and the brother had to stop swimming. He tried to free himself, but with no luck. Then, with his free hand, he grabbed a plank of wood floating by and commanded the boy to use it to swim to safety. The boy immediately obeyed. So, as the boy ran up the hill to safety, the sister ran down to the danger, until her bare feet were sinking into the soaked dirt. Then she stopped.

Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning spilt the sky, lighting up the scene in front of her. 'It's happening all over again. Someone I love is going to die in front of me and I have no power to stop it.' Then she heard her brother's voice above the roaring thunder.

He said, "I'm sorry you're going to have to see this again, Kimiko. Someone dying in front of you. I'm sorry." As he finished talking, she watched in horror as a giant wave swept over him.

"Yokio!" Kimiko screamed. But, when he never resurfaced, she turned around and walked up the hill. The people avoided her. She heard whispers of cursed and ruined, but she only grabbed the backpacks and left that town. She never cried, not once. Instead, her eyes were distant. Her mind was elsewhere, setting her goal. Her goal was of changing the world, to fix it, or break it. Would it be for the better or for the worse? That was for her to decide when the time was right. So, only three years old and alone, Kimiko set out on a mission that would shake the earth off of its throne.

824 AD – Heian Period

Horses clapped along the dirt road, escorting some rich people into the city. They take no notice to the boy hiding behind the bushes at the side of the road, because he is hidden so well, he is invisible. He skirts along, following them, crouching in a position that would cause most people to wince just looking at it. But, for him, it was a natural position. That is, when he was robbing people, it was, which was what he was about to do. He crawled along, always keeping his eyes on the carriage. And, when he was about to jump out and attack them, I shadow fell over him. He stopped moving and gulped, fearing that he had been careless and had been found. But then the shadow continued to move… towards the carriage. He heard a light thump and, when he moved his eyes back to the carriage, he almost thought he was hallucinating, because, there, on top of the carriage, stood a girl.

She held a dagger in her hand and stood proudly, her brown hair curling in the wind. Then, in a loud voice she proclaimed, "Get out of the carriage, with your money, and no one get hurt."

'Whoa, wait, what? That girl is robbing the carriage? But that's my loot!' So he stood up and yelled at her, "Hey, back off! This is my money! I was here first! Didn't you see me? You jumped right over me, there's no way you didn't see me!"

She then replied, picking dirt from beneath her fingernails with the dagger, like she didn't have a care in the world, "Of course I saw you." She said, adding unneeded emphasis to the word course. "A psychic wild boar could tell you were there." Then, finished with picking her nails, she leaped down and grabbed the money out of the merchant's hands. "Thanks!" She said, winking at him, before disappearing into the forest as fast as she had appeared, and the boy could only watch in shock as his dinner money ran away.

The girl was walking through the town, happily eating some food while the leftover money clanging in her pocket, when she saw someone an alleyway to the side. He was hugging his knees to his chest and looked thin and malnourished. His 'dirty' blonde hair was even dirtier, with actual dirt caked onto his hair. She walked over and squatted down in front of him, to see if he was still alive. Because, if he wasn't then she was going to root through his pockets for valuable items like there was no tomorrow. But then, to her shock and amazement, she recognized him as the boy from earlier.

"Oh, it's you, the boy from earlier!" He looked up in shock, because someone was talking to him. But then he felt disappointed when he recognized her as the girl who had stolen his catch. He slowly got up, unsteady on his feet because of fatigue, and retorted,

"Look, if you just came to gloat, then you can go elsewhere. I have no interest."

She shook her head repeatedly before replying, "I actually didn't recognize you at first, but now that I do, I just want to say I was sorry." Then she squirmed, uncomfortable to saying that to others, "And I wanted to give you this. It's the rest of the money from that robbery this afternoon. Take it as thanks that you distracted them when I was on the carriage. I was relying on instinct and hope, but I didn't predict you would be there. You confused the guard before he could impale me on his katana. So, please take it, you deserve it." He could only sit there, with his mouth open. Was this really the same girl as back then? "Look, boy, either take the money or shove it down your throat since it is so conveniently in my sights right now." Ah, there she was. He reached out a hesitant hand and grabbed the money.

"T-Thanks… I guess…"

"What the hell was that supposed to mean!" She said, smacking him in the back of the head.

Then she sighed, looked up at the sky and said, "Never mind." Then she looked back down at him, where he was holding the back of his head. "What's your name?" The boy was so shocked by the question that he almost dropped the money. This was a record! Not only had someone spoken to him willingly, but they had also asked his name!

"Um… well… my name is… uhh…" She quirked her eyebrows and gave him a funny look. "Well, that is to say… I have no name." And as he said this, he looked at his feet, his face turning red from embarrassment, so the girl decided to take the lead.

"Um, well, okay then. Why don't I start introductions instead? My name is Hoshi Izanami. It's nice to meet you."

He snorted in amusement. "Where did you learn to communicate like that? Did you have conversations with people while you robbed them?" She looked him in the eyes, suddenly serious and somber.

"No, it's just the way my brother used to greet people."

"You have a brother? Where is he now? Why aren't you living with him?"

"I'm not living with him because he died in a flood five years ago, when I was three. I changed my name after that because people were saying my name was cursed."

She awkwardly pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and looked like she was about to start crying.

The boy coughed and said, "Well, um… I never knew my parents. So, you can make a name for me if you want." Instantly, her face lit with joy and she clapped her hands together, grinning from ear to ear. In her mind, she shuffled through the infinite words that she had stored over the years from her travels. While doing this, the boy, slightly worried on what she would come up with, tucked the bag of coins she had given him into his pocket.

Finally, she said, "I got it! What do you think about the name Ookami?" There was a pause here, where you could hear the wind blowing and someone down the street sneeze.

Then the boy mulled it over, "I guess it's alright. I can do with my name meaning wolf. Yeah, okay." He looked back up to see an irritated look on Izanami's face. "Wha-wha-what's that face for!" He said, taking a few steps back.

She replied with a tart, "You thought it would be something bad, didn't you?"

"What! No! Of course not! What made you think that?" He said, waving his hands in the air and chuckling nervously.

Izanami didn't buy it, but she pushed it away before saying, with a straight face, "We make a good team! I was wondering, would you like to be my partner in crime… and my brother?"

"…Whaaaaa?"

"…I'm being serious."

"How can you just say stuff like that out of nowhere? And with a straight face too!"

So that is how our story started. I obviously got him to agree with my twisted idea. And though we have our differences sometime, and we still do, we love each other like any siblings would, even if we had just adopted each other as siblings. But in a way we were the same. Both of us had tragic pasts and were brought together by some unknown force. Was it fate or destiny, or was it a curse? Was it because we met that the world crumbled in the future, or was it already crumbling when we were not even born yet? Once again, that's up to you and what side you choose. So, which will it be? Good or Evil?