Trial Of Yoshimune

Chapter 17 Lady on the Hill

For all of his life, Sawada Tsunayoshi could see what was hidden from the normal people, the second reality that overlapped with the one in which he lived in. The boy tried to make sense to it, talk about it with his family, but everything he said was brushed off as a symptom of an overactive imagination. But oh how slowly he learned. Within the first couple of weeks, he became victim of bullies, all because of his inability to keep his visions a secret.

Now there he sat, in middle of the school yard, hurt. His bullies had become more and more violent as the years went by and the six grader really didn't want to be there anymore. The child got up slowly, his body aching all over. Tears burning in his eyes, blurring his vision. He staggered towards the highest place he knew, ready to just end everything. It just hurt too much. It was too much.

At the rocky hill, Tsuna came to halt, there, right in front of that crooked tree, stood a woman in a yukata. Her hair done, decorated with hairpins. The boy stared at the woman, who turned around slowly. Blood-red lips clocked into a smile, eyes closed.

"Hello there little one, what are you doing here?" she was so warm, so beautiful, her face painted like a doll's, serene as the finest summer day, confident as a soldier, mysterious like the fog and yet.... Soft as a feather pillow. At her kindness, Tsuna broke down and cried, it had been such a long time someone else than his mother had shown him such kindness and acceptance. Broken sobs filled the air as the woman bent down to pat his back. It felt weird, as if she was phasing through him and his whole being with her hands.

When he was done with crying, Tsuna got up and thanked the woman for being there, promising to be there tomorrow too. And so their meetings continued. The woman called herself Kaede, and she told Tsunayoshi that she liked sour foods, tea and places like the forest, which was filled with ghosts. Tsuna in exchange told her his favourite food, game and that he liked plushies. One day, however, Kaede seemed to be out of it and kept staring into the distance.

"Kae..? Are you okay?" hearing this nickname, the woman flinched as if she hadn't been expecting to hear it. Laughter filled the air for a minute as Kaede laughed in embarrassment. "Ah, no need to worry Tsuna, I am alright. I was just... Thinking", she answered in a manner that made the boy furrow his brows a little. It didn't seem quite right. "What were you thinking of?" the tween asked worriedly, wondering if it was something bad that made her sad.

The ghost stared at the boy before turning away from the blinding innocence and want to help her. "M-mm~ You're just very similar to a friend of mine, he too tends to ask me whether I am alright or not even though he always knows what the real answer is", Tsuna tilted his head cutely, progressing this new information.
"What is he called miss?" Kaede turned to look at Tsuna and gave him a secretive smile. "Confidential~"

After laughing a little, she turned serious once again, her gaze locked on the horizon. Minutes went on and on, like a slug stuck on a piece of toilet paper...Or a dinosaur stuck on tar. Her eyes turned sad once again, as she knew that she had to cross over the line and stay there a lot longer this time. Unlike the yokai kind, she couldn't survive for too long yet, she hadn't been dead long enough to achieve the level where she could become a Yokai herself. Her bloodred painted lips parted slightly as she took in a a deep breath, or seemed to do so, old habits died hard.

"Tsunayoshi... I think that we won't be able to meet for a long time", she said silently as her hand rouse up. Ghostly tears filled her eyes, looking like pearls as they fell. "I am so sorry..."

And with that... Tsunayoshi forgot.

She took away the memories of herself with him and the memories of wishing to die, leaving there something that someone else once sparked within her.

Hope.

Tsuna walked home, his face filled with slight confusion, tears forming in his own ambers eyes going unnoticed, thought to be from the bullying. Nana didn't again notice any change in her son's attitude nor behaviour, still seeing the boy as a small child as she was stuck inside her own delusion. Delusion created by her mind that had been still oh so immature when she got Tsuna.

From inside the closet, Tsuna found a plushie that he didn't remember ever receiving, which he took into his hands and brought it closer to his chest. The soft toy dragon smelled like tea and honey and there was another scent to it that didn't quite fit with the friendly scent that was somewhat familiar. The other scent was irony and dark, sinister, blood yet it somehow had a pleasant flowery scent added to it, vanilla perhaps? He took a good look at the toy dragon, the scents on it were just too out of place. But he decided not to wash it, for it made him feel safe, like nothing bad was ever going to happen to him ever again.

The indigo dragon was placed onto the bed and although he knew that he was already a big boy and didn't need a sleeping buddy, he chose to sleep with it anyways. It just felt right thing to do.

Upon the dreamland soo enveloping him in its familiar comforting cloudyness, the tween dreamed of beautiful creatures playing in the field, one of them making a flower crown to another, group of children laughing and dancing around the creatures in a circle.

And in the center of everything, his own face, but older and topped with fiery red hair with glass beads on it, stared at him, smiling reassuringly.

Another clone of him, this time blonde, walked next to the man, and smiled at him lovingly.

"Don't worry little brother, father is going to pick you up soon".

Tsuna woke up the next morning, confused yet feeling a bit better about the future. He got up, dressed, and happily skipped the school, eventually forgetting about the whole dream. And as he went with his day, light set of footsteps kept watching over him, red hair reflecting the light coming from the sun. The person protecting him, and the rest of the children, from nasty predators.

To bullying, he couldn't do anything, for he had to stay hidden away from the eye of the mortals and for they were children he'd sworn to protect back in the day. So he allowed it to happen and each night, he'd make sure that the boy of the flesh of his soul wasn't suffering from wounds that take too long to recover. For his mind and trauma, he allowed his people to visit the boy's dreams as long as they weren't harmful. The people were enthusiastic about the idea, but they sadly tried to give the boy hints about his heritage too soon, which caused the dream visiting being privileged to only selected few.

And during all this time that Yoshimune was waiting for the seal to be undone before making his entrance, he felt anger towards himself for not being able to show Tsuna that he was not growing up without a father. But what could he do? The seal Ninth put onto Tsuna, prevented him from seeing any other creatures than ghosts and the tiny critters of the isekai. It also made sure that the boy couldn't be brought back home just yet, his inherited power was blocked too.

Yoshimune growled in the silent room at the information.

Oh how the "father" of his son would pay...