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Scarecrow Kakashi
Line between Reality and Fantasy
Act 1: Peace Disturbed
The day was bright and sunny. It was a little bit hot for spring but, not too hot that the crops should be worried about. Birds chirped and sang as they flew from field to field and into the forest. It was the day of the Cherry Blossom festival in Akimuyo and after many urges; the servants were told that if they did half the work in the morning and half at night, they could have the afternoon off.
An older Akamaru told Nanashi and his family that he would meet them at Akimuyo. He now stood at an amazingly tall height, almost leading Nanashi by an inch. His copper brown hair was kept long in a ponytail that reached down to his waist. His choice of clothing had changed from a tunic to one of those new cloth shirts and loose tan leather pants. Akamaru was still thankful to have come across Yumi that one day ten years ago; he had become an adopted son in the family.
When Nanashi reappeared five years ago on that summer day, he and Yumi had gotten married in the following season. Then a year later, the spirits had granted them a daughter. It was during a night Yumi remembered spending while Nanashi was deceased that she knew the name of her child. Her name would be Hotaru, named after the fireflies that had given Yumi so much company. She had her mother’s straw blond hair but kept her father’s warm amber eyes.
Nanashi hadn’t changed one bit. He had trouble fiver years earlier with being human and Yumi had some trouble teaching him. He now stood a man of twenty-eight years although he was only human for five. His blond hair stuck out in odd places just as his straw from his scarecrow self had done. For once he had real eyes that had an iris in them. He dressed the same way he had done before, that being one of the only attachments to his past self. Yumi had grown to be a good mother and had dressed in a green gingham dress overtop of a blue shirt. She had hung up her small staff and ceased her magic since childbirth.
"Daddy! Daddy!" Hotaru stopped in her steps and looked up with wide-eyed to her parents on each side of her. "There’s a butterfly on your hat!" she said with a giggle. She was dressed in a dress made for her from Haru. A pink dyed dress with a blue shirt. Her hair was tied up in pigtails that fell to her shoulders.
"You’re right Hotaru-chan!" Yumi looked from her child to Nanashi. "It’s climbing up to the top of it."
"It is?" Nanashi blinked and ceased movement of his head. Slowly he bent down so that Hotaru could get a closer look at the blue butterfly. The five-year-old took a step closer to gaze at the small insect then shrieked in joy as it flew off.
As Nanashi straightened up, he gave a small smile to Yumi. "Five years," he said quietly. It was amazing how fast five years was able to fly by you. Never before was Nanashi able to predict the outcome of his journey that started about ten or eleven years ago. He would not have predicted that the thief he would encounter in the forest would become a mage and then his wife! Even more so incredible, his human body...he never thought that all the wishing he had done at the Wishing Spring would actually work.
"Five years." Yumi nodded in reply. She could tell by the look on her husband’s face that he was amazed by something. Knowing how he felt, her mind took her back years. Traveling with a scarecrow she barely knew. Fighting demons, meeting others who knew her from her other lives. One piece of memory was how Hiroto and Haru had helped her realize her love for Nanashi. Then there were the Doppelganger demons (there was now a new term for them Shape-shifters or something like that) and Akamaru.
"Mommy...Daddy...?" Hotaru looked up at them both. Thinking that they way they stared at each other was right, she did her best to imitate their faces, Bored with it, she pulled on their arms. "Come on! I wanna see the cherry cherries!" she protested, cherry cherries being her word for the festival and the trees themselves.
Each parent sighed to the other with a loving face and took one of Hotaru’s hands. Nanashi reached over to Yumi and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. She smiled softly and started to point out birds to Hotaru. Parenthood, Nanashi thought amusingly, it’s like another journey.
Hotaru giggled. "Aka you’re kidding! I’’m just wearing bigger shoes!" she then pointed down to her new black shoes that Hiroto had sent.
Akamaru nodded with a frown, his fist folded and under his chin in a thoughtful look. "Hmm..." Hotaru imitated him going "Hmm" as well. "Then I guess I’ll just have to...Ah!"
He lifted her up into the air and placed her on his shoulder with ease. Hotaru shrieked of joy as she looked out around her. They stood near the entrance to the village where the cherry blossom tree’s scent filled the air. Everyone was celebrating with vendors selling rice balls, buns, potatoes and sashimi.
"So, what took you three long?" Akamaru asked Nanashi. His voice had gotten somewhat deeper in his years and Yumi had said once that his voice must be the reason girls flock to him. It wasn’t the same as Nanashi’s voice however. His own didn’t sound very deep but deep enough to distinguish the gender.
"Hotaru just couldn’t go three steps before pointing out a butterfly, a bird or even a ladybug." He answered shaking his head with a smile. "She’s a curious one."
"Your side?"
"No I think it’s Yumi’s...Ah ah!" Something incredibly cold touched the back of his neck. Turning around, Nanashi stared into the green catlike eyes of his wife who held several snow cones in her hands. One she had touched Nanashi’s neck with. "Yumi! Uh...Where’d you...go...off to?" he asked feebly.
"To get snow cones for everyone until I heard someone talking behind my back...I may have quit magic but that doesn’t mean I still can’t work it! I don’t always need that staff with me you know." She retorted while handing one blue snow cone to Hotaru and a red one to Akamaru. Yumi then eyed Nanashi while holding two snow cones in each hand, a green one and an orange one. "Now I don’t think you deserve it."
"Oh come on Yumi-chan!" he pleaded. "It wasn’t anything bad! All I said was that..." Nanashi could tell by the look in his wife’s eyes that a spell focused on him and Akamaru was now backing away and it wasn’t just him, everyone was. He began again. "All I said was that Hotaru-chan’s curiosity probably came from your side of the family!"
The fire died down in Yumi’s eyes as she handed the orange snow cone to Nanashi. "Thank you." She replied as she started to lick at her snow cone. Nanashi did the same, glancing at her from time to time. He knew how dangerous it was to talk behind her back.
"What’s wrong with mommy and daddy?" Hotaru asked, confused as she titled her head and her snow cone.
"Oh they’re just having..." He paused as her snow cone fell onto his head and several girls nearby started to laugh. Akamaru sighed. "They’re just having a play fight."
Yumi, with her arms folded across her chest, sighed heavily then smiled a little. "It’s all right, I’m not demanding it...it’s just..." Nanashi looked up at her happily with a grin. "It’s just that I can’t believe Akamaru beat you at so many of them." Down went his head as Nanashi stared at the ground.
Hotaru laughed as she walked beside Akamaru, holding his hand. "Daddy’s not strong like Aka……but!" she stopped and gave the teddy bear to Akamaru and dug into her pocket. Grinning, she pulled out a green beaded necklace. "Daddy and Mommy always said...umm...strength comes from within! Strength is...what the..."
"Earth."Akamaru offered.
She nodded. "Strength is what the Earth gives us! It’s not just muscles. It’s the heart and..."
"Mind."
"Mind! So...Aka helped me and together we made this necklace for you! He told me to wait until the cherry cherries came to give it to you as a gift!" Hotaru finished and placed the green beadednecklace in Nanashi’s hand.
"Hotaru-chan..." He stretched his arms out and hugged her tightly.
"It was entirely her idea...she just didn’t know how to make a necklace." Akamaru leaned over to Yumi and whispered into her ear. "I was a little surprised but I helped and she was very picky about the color. I walk to one shop and pick out a color and it’s too light. I go again and it’s too dark. Bring her with me, she tells me-"
"No wonder you had trouble Aka! The color isn’t even here!"
"When we finally reached the shop...it cost me the rest of my money..." Akamaru sighed. "I won’t be able to propose to Kaori-chan any time soon..." Hearing Yumi laugh, Akamaru flushed a bright red. "It is so not funny!" he yelled.
"Nanashi," Yumi looked over to him as he got up. "There’re events happening over there." She pointed to where the crowd was heading toward the west end of town. "Why don’t we go over there?"
"I’ll meet you there. I need to take care of something." He replied and turned away.
"Well don’t be slow like you usually are!" Yumi responded with a laugh as they left.
"Oh yeah? And you’re still short!" he yelled back then ran off when he sensed the spells being focused on him while Hotaru was laughing and clapping her hands and Akamaru looking incredibly worried.
"I’m no sonny!" he replied insulted. "I’m twenty-eight years old and happily married thank you!" If there was one thing Nanashi had learned from Yumi about the human world it was that not everyone is nice and you shouldn’t be polite all the time. With that piece of advice, his personality had changed a bit.
And with that, he slammed the hammer down and waited to hear the satisfactory ring of the bell. There was nothing but silence until the bell fell to the ground again. "Nice try sonny." The Gamekeeper stated. "Where’s my gold coin?"
Muttering to himself, Nanashi grabbed a coin from his pocket and dropped it into the sweaty hands. The man must have been working for such a long time that the sweat was practically reeking off of him. Grimacing, Nanashi turned away and with hands in his pockets and slumped shoulders, made his way to the west side of town.
That was until he heard a struggle.
"Memory lane?" Akamaru asked with a smile as the crowd clapped.
Yumi nodded her head. "Sort of yes. I wonder where Nanashi is? I said he was slow but he was never this slow before..."
"And for my next trick, I will need a volunteer!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Nanashi was able to spot a hooded man taking hold of a young woman and disappearing into an alleyway. Knowing he had promised Yumi not to be involved in heroism, he just could not turn a blind eye to this sort of behavior! Cautiously, he followed them into the alleyway. He had no other weapon but his fists.
"Let go of me! Help!"
The hooded man stopped once he reached a courtyard with no other exit. He turned and saw Nanashi standing and blocking the only exit. "And just what do you think you’re doing?" he demanded.
"It’s wrong to manhandle a young lady like that! If you are to kindly let her be, I’ll leave but defy me then suffer the consequences." Nanashi replied with a smirk. That was a pretty good line for improvisation.
"Then put your fists up!" He challenged, throwing the young woman over to Nanashi. He caught her and fell to the dirt ground. Wincing lightly, he tried to get up.
"Thank you so much!" The young woman, a brunette, hugged him tightly. "You and I should get together some time!"
"Sorry!" he gasped. "Married man! See? Ring?" She sprang away from him as if he were carrying a plague and ran away as he looked on. Turning back to the man, his face was met with his fist.
The magician, a man dressed in a tuxedo with a black cape, grabbed his wand and pointed to an odd Akamaru-tall box. "Ladies and Gentlemen...Minstrels and Bards...and children of all ages! My next trick..." he tugged on a moustache. "Will be to make this young man disappear."
Hotaru clapped her hands, now on Yumi’s shoulders. Her mother’s thoughts were not on the show but on Nanashi. He’s taking too long...she thought what could he need to take care of?
Akamaru stepped into the box and sighed to himself. "This is gonna be fun." He muttered to himself, rubbing his arms nervously. The magician closed the box and locked it tightly. This was then followed by silence and a wicked grin. Waving his wand, the magician started to mutter strange words.
"Mommy what is he doing?" Hotaru asked confused as Yumi took her off her shoulders, her eyes wide.
"That’s...He’s a demon!" she cried out in alarm. It was the only way to scare off the crowd despite the truth.
"Yumi-san! Yumi-san get me out of here!" Akamaru yelled as he pounded on the door. The spell the magician was chanting had created an impenetrable lock on the box.
He’s going to suffocate in there, Yumi thought in alarm as she raised her hands as white streams of light surrounded her hands. "Hotaru stand behind me all right?" she asked. The terrified five year old nodded and held onto her mother’s legs. "Eternal Fire become my light! Deliver us from the Evil and shine the Pure Truth!" Yumi pointed her finger at the magician. "Angelic Strike!"
Nanashi was then dealt a blow to his knee, sending him recoiling to the wall behind him. Gasping for breath, he looked to the man with a small grin. "You’re pretty strong...just what makes guys like you hurt women?" he asked. "Why go down that road? Huh?"
The man was now looking up at the sky as a strange object was flying overhead. Nodding to himself, he smiled at Nanashi. "You shouldn’t be so slow Scarecrow-chan." He said in a woman’s voice. Wait, Nanashi thought, he’s a she? And knows about my past?
"Wait!" He reached out for the woman and passed through her as she faded away. "Who was...? Don’t be slow..." Nanashi’s eyes widened.
"Well don’t be slow like you usually are!"
"Yumi-chan! Everyone!" he sped off toward the event site.
Terrified, Nanashi ran over to her and picked her up. Yumi looked up to him with a blank expression, her right shoulder and legs all deeply wounded and losing blood. "Ang..." she coughed up blood. He shook his head slowly. "Angelic strike...backfired."
"Backfired? Where’s Akamaru? Where’s Hotaru-ch-"
His voice was cut off by his daughter’s cries. Gritting his teeth, Nanashi looked up to the stage. The hooded woman was no longer hooded. She stood there in a scantily clad outfit, a black bra barely covering her chest and a black skirt that had a large slit up both sides. Red tattoos spiraled across her body and her long black hair went down to her feet. In the magician’s hands though was Hotaru.
"Akamaru-chan is in our little box for the moment. Hotaru-chan is with us." The woman replied with a smirk. "I’ll have to say, she does look a lot like you Nanashi-chan. The eyes and all, yes they’re yours. But the straw hair...both mother and father have it so who knows?"
"We’ll be taking her with us for the time being. We wanted to offer you an invitation but we need to give you an added incentive in case you declined." The magician slowly stroked Hotaru’s cheek. The child trembled at his touch and whimpered.
"Let her go Demon spawn!" Nanashi yelled, rising up.
"You move one step and she gets it in the head." The magician hissed, pointing his wand at her.
Akamaru finally punched his way out of the box. Looking toward the couple, his face twisted into anger. "You dirty rotten-"
The energy spell hit him in the stomach, sending Akamaru flying away and into a wall. "Keep him out of this!" Nanashi yelled, his voice starting to become strained and hoarse.
"We don’t want him to curse in front of the child...what kind of parent’s are you two?" the woman asked, shaking her head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk."
"We’d best be going. Oh! Before we go...we need to collect one more demon..." The magician looked toward the area Nanashi and Yumi were standing in.
Staggering from out of an alleyway was a red colored demon with horns and also dressed in a tuxedo. Turning around, Nanashi’s eyes widened. "No...It couldn’t be..." he said, barely a whisper.
After making his way up onto the stage, the demon took hold of Hotaru roughly and smirked triumphantly down at Nanashi. "What’s the matter Kakashi-san? Cat got your tongue?" he then exploded into laughter.
"You bastard!" Nanashi screamed in fury. "I killed you! I killed you ten years ago!" This was making no sense to him! He had killed Shin ten years ago. He had seen the blood! Opening his tunic shirt, sure enough, the scar running down his chest was still there. He placed his hand on it and felt a small sting of pain. It wasn’t an illusion.
"We’ll be waiting...oh...it’ll be more fun for you to find us by yourself seeing how your wife can’t seem to move and your farm boy seems to be unconscious." Shin laughed again. "Wave bye to daddy Hotaru-chan..."
Nanashi ran toward them as they started to float into the sky. Hotaru’s free arm reached out toward her father’s. "Daddy!" she cried.
"Hotaru!" he screamed reaching up to her. Nanashi’s hand barely touched Hotaru’s when she faded into the sky.
"Daddy!"
Nanashi woke up drenched in sweat. He ran a hand through his hair as he gazed around the room. He and Akamaru were staying in the Inn as Yumi was seeing treatment for her wounds. Hotaru’s cry for her father echoed in his head since the incident. "What...what kind of father am I?"
He buried his face in his hands. I couldn’t do anything, he thought, I couldn’t do a damn thing! Why...? Why did Shin have to return? How did he return? Looking over to the corner of the room, his eyes laid upon the very weapon that had stripped Shin of his life. His scythe. After showing Yumi to a healer, Nanashi’s first objective was to grab the weapon that had helped him for so long.
Getting up from his bed, he looked over to Akamaru who had suffered broken bones and had to stay at the Inn because of the shortage of beds at the clinic. He wouldn’t be joining me that’s for sure, he thought.
But Yumi...
Nanashi walked over to the clinic and knocked on the door. Thankful that family could visit whenever they wished, he made his way to Yumi’s room. She had accompanied him practically everywhere he had gone years ago. Now however it looked like she wouldn’t be.
"I’m sorry." He said quietly, his scythe in hand. "It’s my fault that this had happened, and now, I’m going to fix that mistake and bring Hotaru-chan home." Leaning down, he kissed her forehead and turned to leave the room.
"Alive..."
Blinking, Nanashi looked back at Yumi whose eyes were now open and shining with optimism. "I want you back alive love...not like last time." She said quietly.
Smiling, he nodded and lifted up the green beaded necklace. "I have strength from the family I love. I won’t go down so easily." Nanashi replied as he left the room.
Looking out to the sunrise, Nanashi quickly tied the necklace around his neck. First thing’s first, he needed some help on how to kill Shin. Who better to know than the Angelic Race? All he needs is a boat though to reach their continent. The port city of Mizuhiko would do me just fine; he thought it’s the closest. "I guess it’s time to hit the road as Yumi would say." Nanashi said with a smile as he started walking.
Another journey had justbegun. One that would change his life forever.
