Chapter 9: Sakura in the Shadows (2) (Updated July-2020)

Ise brushed her hair in her room all alone; she felt sickened to her stomach.

"Those disgusting bastards," Ise couldn't help but grit out. "They think they can be happy after what they had done to their father."

Since meeting the two for the first time, Rachel was also suspicious of them, that suspicion rubbed off on Ise. Which, in the end, lead to a secret conversation that revealed the truth of her father's supposed 'guilt.'

Jimbe, whose father once considered his best friend, framed him with 'fake' evidence brought to him by her mother. They talked about the past, and that's where Rachel figured out the reason behind all this, and this also rubs off on Ise.

Ina Keijo was a talented man, even more so than the Jimbe, despite his higher status than Fathers. He obtained 'mothers' love first in their youth. That's when jealousy turned to hatred. As for mother, it wasn't that she didn't love Ise's father. She was unable to reach his talent. She then grew jealous of her own daughters' peerless talent and growing beauty, this in which she did not have herself. Mother was afraid that she would be left behind by her daughter and husband, so instead of supporting her daughter's talent, she tried to destroy it.

The Sakamoto Household departed in a long line of laden carts and snorting houses that trailed around the edge of the lake like a streak of spilled ink. For the first day or so, Ise enjoyed being out in the air and the light, doing something different.

Out in the open, with the field and forest all around, like there was nowhere to hide. Ise could not say she wanted to go for a walk in the garden nor plead for tiredness. She was with the two most hateful people in the world and her father's murders.

Ise was a weak girl who never even killed before, no matter how much she wanted too or could. Even with these strange and wonderful powers of hers, she couldn't do it. So revenge on a different route, collecting evidence to bring these two to justice.

They had been traveling for three weeks to reach the shore of the inland sea. There Jimbe found a ship that would take them to the capital of Brighten Lands. The ship wasn't a regular passenger ship either but a huge sleek merchant vessel.

Ise and her mother watched through the palanquin's pierced window screen while boxes, bales, and barrels of cargo were loaded alongside corded chest of luggage, many of them that belonged to the household. Jimbe stood near the gangplank, talking to richly dressed men who held folded cloths to their faces. It looked like they where being used to guard the strong smell drifted from the nearby fishing boats.

Small children, bare-chested even in the chill, ran wild around the sailors and boarding passengers, earning coins for running messages, and clouts on the ear for getting in the way. Children were ragged and dirty, but they looked as if they did not mind.

Ise brushed her nose with one of her long sleeves, as she fiddles with a sharp hairpin, the last gift from her father.

"You seem restless, Ise," her mother said, not looking up from her embroidery.

"Perhaps, it is a new 'home' we are traveling to and….it is across the vast ocean," Ise said without looking. "I can't help, but wonder…If, where we are traveling to will be safe."

'Yes, because this would be the perfect chance for Jimbe and her mother to get rid of Ise, ' Rachel thought.

"There is nothing to be worried about. We are perfectly safe." Her mother said.

"You maybe Mother, but will I be," Ise and Rachel said at the said time. Her mother looked at her and frozen at the coldness in her daughter's eyes, a coldness that sent chills before quickly disappearing and being replaced by a gentle smile of blooming beauty. Her mother frowned and wondered if what she saw was an illusion.

'Odd' Rachel couldn't help but think 'lately incidents like this have been happening a lot. Why does it…maybe it's just me."

Ise attention had wandered back out to the harbor, where gray and white gulls swooped and dived at the heads to the fishermen unloading their catch. The fish were living silver, cascading down out of the nest, and as they tried to steal the small treasure, the birds made piercing, mournful cries that both Rachel and Ise found strangely beautiful.

Perhaps full of an early breakfast, one gull declined to join its fellows perched on a coil of rope nearby. It looked up at Ise, its warm yellow eyes seemingly deciding something before flying toward her. Rachel reached out her hands, and so did Ise, in likeness a notion of two minds becoming one.

The gull landed on their soft hands looking to be adored if only for a bit. Ise's mother wanted to tell her daughter to stop touching it but found the words caught in her throat. As she is looking at the breath-taking smile, ensnare her along with the surrounding sailors.

Suddenly there was a cry. Neither human nor animal, it caught the attention of all the gulls who flew in a frenzy. Ise and Rachel, a bit upset that the little thing left, leaned forward from the window. They saw another bird plummet from the sky. Moving at speed, they couldn't see it clearly, as it dove directly towards the gulls, who scattered with harsh cries.

The azure bird soared up, with one of the smaller gulls dangling from its claws. The fishermen dropped their nets and whooped and clapped at sight.

"What is it? What is that noise?" Her mother asked.

"It's a bird of prey," Ise said, her eyes sparkling in wonder and curiosity. "I'm going to go check it out," Ise stood of quickly and ran out to get a better view. She heard her mother call for her to come back. But, Ise chooses to ignore her as she headed starboard.

Ise saw the beautiful Azure bird land on a boy, and his back was facing hers. But both Rachel and Ise could tell the boy was tanned skin, and there was something else something that moved the both of their hearts. It was like her heart was taken by only the back of a boy she did not know for Ise. But, as for Rachel, what she felt was…Familiarity.

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Mission Success

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Soul Fragmentation at 3%

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Recalibrating

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Ise was distracted by the mysterious boy's back while Rachel was confused at what the system met. Neither of them noticed until they had fallen faced first into the water that someone had pushed them.

But, it was far to late by them as water filled their lungs.