Asa no Yumi (Akatsuki no Yona)

Short Story

A/N: This is not related to the story, but I just want to share this story that I found. I do not owned this story, just wanted to share this author's work. It's a Chinese folk tale story if you know what I mean... lol

"Sister can you tell me a story?" A little girl asked.

"A story?" The said sister asked who was sitting on a couch reading a book. She looked up from the book she was reading.

"Yep! I want to hear you tell me a story." The little girl said cheerfully.

"Okay. This is the story of what is known as 'The Fulfilled Promise?'. Want to hear it?" The sister asked. The little girl nodded excited while sitting next to her sister.

"But why is there a question mark at the end?" The little girl asked.

"Who knows. Want to hear the story, there might be an answer." The sister replied.

"Yes!" The little girl yelled excitedly.

"This story takes place long long ago in a village where there lived two people in one house. In the house lived one girl and one boy who has lived together for some years now." The sister told the little girl.

*Cough**Cough* The girl coughed while covering her mouth with her hands. The boy who was currently writing stopped and looked at the girl who was suppose to be cooking but who suddenly started coughing out of nowhere. He looked at her worriedly and asked, "Hey, are you okay?" The girl cough came to a stop and she looked at the boy and smiled. "I'm fine, just a small cold." She replied weakly. The boy stood up and walked up to her, "A small cold again? You sure have a weak body to keep getting a small cold from time to time." The boy said. "Hey, don't say that I'm weak." The girl said while pouting. "Sorry. If that is the case, you should go rest for a bit." The boy said. "It's fine, it's not that serious." The girl replied putting her hand behind her back. "If you say so..." The boy with a little worried face. "Go and write your story while I finish up cooking dinner." She said. The boy did as he was told while the girl quickly went to wash her hand  after coughing in it. The dinner was made and they both started eating peacefully. After they finished eating, the girl looked at the boy, "Hey, I decided that I want to go outside and explore the world for a bit." The girl said. The boy looked at her, "Why?" The boy asked. "I just wanted to see the world outside this village one more time." The girl replied with a smile. "Then let us both go see the world." The boy said. "No, you stay home and focus on your writings." The girl said. "Why not?" The boy asked confused. "I want to go by myself because you have to finish the book your writing. I do not want to delay your work since you have trouble coming up with what to write. So, please let me go." The girl asked with puppy eyes. The boy sighed, "Fine, when are you going to set off and for how long?" The boy asked. "Tomorrow and who knows how long." The girl replied. "Tomorrow!? And you don't know for how long?" The boy exclaimed. "Yep." The girl said. "Okay, let's pack some stuff." The boy said getting up.

Tomorrow came and the two were standing at the gate of the village. The girl stand in front of the boy facing the the village while the boy stood in front of the girl facing the outside of the village. "Are you sure that is enough stuff to last for your adventure?" The boy asked worriedly looking at the girl with a small bag of stuff. "Yeah, I'm sure." The girl answered. "Promise me to come back, okay?" The boy said with a sad smile. "I promise, so don't look so sad." The girl said holding out her pinky, indicating for a pinky promise. The boy locked his pinky with hers, "You better fulfill this promise." The boy said. "Sure, sure. It's not like you can take care of yourself without me." The girl teased. "Hey! It's not that funny." The boy said. The girl just giggled. "I'm sorry." The girl sudden said with a sad tone. "Just hurry up and explore the world and come back." The boy said not noticing the way she said sorry. "Okay, hope we see each other soon." The girl said with a smile with a feint sadness in her eyes that the boy does not seem to notice. "What do you mean hope, we made the promise, remember?" The boy said cheekily while holding up his pinky. The girl stared and laugh, "Yep, we promised." The girl said also holding up her pinky. "Farewell." The girl said and headed off.

It's been a week since she left and something strange started happening around the boy. When the boy got into trouble, it magically got solved. When the boy try to cook something which he was terrible at, it turned out delicious. This boy didn't really take in mind of these strange things and continued living his life writing his book. Years and years has passed and the girl still didn't come back and thinking she might have forgotten about their promise. More years passed on and the boy was on the brink of death due to his age but the girl still didn't come back. That moment was he was at death's door, that's when he notice something that didn't come to his mind until now and he then smiled realizing the true end of his and the girl's promise. He passed anyway soon after the realization still with a smile on his face.

"That is the story of 'The Fulfilled Promise?'." The sister said.

"So, what was the realization that the boy realized before death? Was the promised fulfilled? Why didn't the girl come back? The story didn't answer it. Are you sure that's the end of the story?" The little girl who was full of questions asked.

"Yes, that's the end of the story. The questions you asked, there was never a true answer. So, it's up to you to decide an answer for this story. Everyone has their own answers when they listen to this story." The sister replied.

The little girl looked at her sister, "Even you?" She asked.

"Yep, why do you think there is a question mark at the end of the title?" The sister said looking at her little sister.

A/N: If you actually read this short story, what do you think the answer is? See you guys next chapter!