chokiechips

[chokiechips]

The Lake

   Every night in her childhood,  Haruka’s mother would cradle a half-asleep, dainty little Haruka into her quaint bedroom, the moonlight shining through the window, where the bridge over the lake was.

  She would be carefully laid on the soft mattress on the bed, just above the straw tatami mat, as a gentle flame burned atop the candle by the mattress. 

Haruka loved these moments. Akane would drape the silken comforter over her small body, tucking her in, before cuddling close to the girl in the cold darkness, and whispering the usual tale of the Akuma no Kenshin . As Haruka slowly drifted off into her everlasting wonderland, where she would play with Akane in the very same lake that glimmered and rippled under the horrified watch of the moon.

 As stars would twinkle their warnings.

 As the traitorous clouds camouflaged the slimy creature that slithered between the rocks at the bed of the lake they splashed happily in.

A bedtime tale passed down from mother to daughter in the Norowareta family, generation to generation.  Of the siren sent down from the heavens, equipped with a gleaming, warm smile, radiant eyes that shined with an indescribable gentleness, and her multichrome scales that shined with the sun. The great Akuma no Kenshin. That’s how the Norowareta’s family lake came to be known as the Tengoku no Shonin. “ The Heaven’s Prize”. 

        Haruka would spend every waking moment in the sacred lake, lotuses floating lazily across the crystal waters, the cherry blossom flowers dropping from the overhanging tree into the deep waters, and koi fish, a kaleidoscope of reds, oranges and yellows playing mischievous games under the water. She would kick up a torrent of waves, giggling as the flowers moved aside for the grandeur of the current. Sometimes rode it. 

Akane loved it. As they soaked their legs in the cool water, she would share stories from the beginning of time with her beloved daughter. She would do anything. For Haruka.

        However times change. Haruka’s sparkling blue eyes that shined with curiosity and intrigue darkened over time, now a muddy hue, burdened with knowledge. Her coveted locks of hair chopped off the minute she turned 16.  Time spent with her mother growing less and less.

         Akane couldn’t juggle the misery with her role as mother and wife. Loneliness crept over her features over the passage of time, taking the form of wrinkles and ashen hair. The lake had withered with age along with the pair.

           On a dry afternoon in the present, Haruka sat, poised and graceful, atop the chair in the pavilion, reading through manuscript after manuscript. She had enough of her mother’s playfulness and childish behaviour. Haruka wasn’t a dreamer or some poet. The siren was a myth, but the exam that she was to sit for to enter the school of scholars wasn’t. Akane peeked through the thin sliding door of her bedroom, a worried expression on her face, a letter in her hand, addressed to her.

A soothing voice broke through the endless silence. “Haruka- please, I need to have a word with you.”

Silence. The brushing of fingers against parchment halted.

“It’s your father, Haruka”

Haruka cut sharply through, cold. “So?”

“You’re to-”. She froze, tears slowly brimming in her eyes, her throat closing up. She could feel her weary, spotted hands shaking slightly. Would her daughter even look at her after this?

“To be wedded off.”

A pause could be heard, the soft whooshing of the wind bringing only shivers through Haruka.  Akane  slid open the door, in hopes of letting her daughter cry in her arms, and rekindle their lost friendship, and reassure her daughter with pats on her back that everything would be alright, and she would do everything possible to protect her.

Instead, she was met with a shaking girl, tears brimming in her hatred-filled eyes, her mouth curved into a snarl. The parchment lay across the floor, the wind blowing roughly outside, tugging at each blossom on the tree to fall into the clutches of the water regardless.

      Akane could feel her face drop. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Shouts and screams echoed throughout the household, the screeching inhuman voice and a weak voice, trying to console and soothe the rage. Hands were thrown, insults shot back, a relationship choked and drowned in water, koi slipping past, their heads bobbing in pity.

Darkness soon enveloped the land of the rising sun, bringing forth drafts that swept the leaves off the grass, letting it drop into the muddy lake. Among the gentle chirps of grasshoppers chattering the latest gossip, to the gentle rustling of the flowers of the sakura blossom tree above, the aggressive  sound of slippers against stone could be heard, as Haruka stormed onto the bridge over the lake.

Holding her shaky breath, she peered into the water below, unable to see the devastated look on her face, the way her eyes were red with tears, her tear-stained cheeks now red from the cold, and her rumpled yukata. 

Holding her breath, she paused, pressing her eyelids tightly together, as far as she could. To bid away the bad dream. Her reality. But no matter how she pressed, she knew that it would do nothing. She was to face her nightmare alone. Her mother proved to be a pushover, a simpleton from the village. She would never know how her “dear” daughter felt. If mother even thought of me as a daughter, Haruka thought.

Thought after thought. Tear after tear. Heartbeat after heartbeat.

The knuckles of the hand that held the bridge’s railing turn a ghastly white.

Finally, she screamed, all her withheld pain and struggling, the pressure and torture into the silence, wailing for hope. For the warmth of her childhood.

The vessels in her throat and forehead strained, her voice cracking with misery as she cried, a torrent flowing down her cheeks.

Through her vision, blurry with tears, she peered down onto the rippling surface of the withered lake to see the image of a disfigured girl staring back at her from the water. The reflection frightened her, the way she had wrinkles already forming on her forehead, the way she no longer looked like her mother’s child, a new being in itself.

The water started to ripple more, all of a sudden. A hand pierced through the water, as if grasping the air, followed by a majestic being.

   Her long, damp, luscious hair, unlike Haruka's, clung to the bare of her back. Her eyes shone a burning, radiant maroon, the colour of blood. She held a beaming smile, emanating an indescribable warmth.

        Haruka couldn’t feel the world around her blur, as she bent over the edge of the bridge to take a look at the majestic creature. Nor the desperate cries of warning coming  from the pavilion.  

Was she hallucinating? Maybe so. Maybe not. But if this creature was the answer to her fears, her misery and her pain, she would gladly give herself up.

Akane’s screams of terror grew, as she watched from the pavilion bend over the edge of the bridge, peering into the water. Her eyes glazed over, mouth gaping, as if in a trance.

Akane gave up screaming, and ran to her daughter. Her beloved. She didn’t care if her daughter no longer acknowledged her, she would face the screams later.

Haruka could feel her heart beat faster and faster, in awe of the creature.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

One footstep off the bridge.

Thump.

The sharp claws of the siren reached for Haruka’s hand.

Her eyes glimmered with greed. 

Skin of scales, a smile belonging to a ravenous shark. Bits of rotting flesh sticking to the teeth.

Haruka stopped, realising. Eyes growing wide, she took in a breath to scream.

Before being plunged into the cold dark waters.

The splash echoed throughout the courtyard, and Akane increased her speed, horrified. She ran onto the bridge, peering into the lake’s murky waters for any hint or sign of her daughter. Nothing.

Akane couldn’t have this. With what little energy she had, she jumped into the lake, and searched for her, a desperate look in her eyes, her mouth uttering the same word, over and over again.

“No”

Nothing was left of Haruka, except for the telltale bubbles of air that escaped to the surface.

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Hihi- this was my first original work- i don't know if i'll make a series on the akuma no kenshin. Maybe? idk. Also- i hope you liked it! I'll start making more soon! :3