Chapter Text
Rin fought to catch her breath as he older sister pulled at her arm urging her to go faster as they tumbled through the dark forest in the middle of the night. “Natsume, where are we going?”
The older girl in the red kimono ran faster still. “Somewhere where they won’t find us! Come on, Rin, just a little further. Then we’ll rest, I promise!”
“But what about Pa?” Rin cried, looking back.
“Pa’s dead! The monk killed him! You’re all I have now! He won’t get you too! You have to keep running!”
Rin struggled to breathe. “But Natsume, why? What does that monk Miroku want with you? Did you do something bad again?”
Natsume smiled. “Because I’m special, silly, that’s the only reason. He wants me to kill me because I’m special.”
Because he knows I can’t die unless he kills me himself.
“What does that mean? What makes you special?”
“You’re still too young to understand that. Silly Rin. Do you know why I’m saving you?” Rin shook her head. “Because we’re sisters. Pa may not have been our real Pa, but you are definitely my real sister and I will save you. I don’t want to be alone in this world.”
Both of them stopped running as a large wolf appeared before them. It was poised to attack.
“Go away! Stupid wolf!” Natsume cried.
Rin hid behind her. “Na-Natsume!”
Both girls clung to each other and screamed as the wolf lunged.
When Natsume awoke, she felt her throat. The blood had dried and the wound had already healed. “Damn it! Stupid wolf! He went right to kill me!” Natsume looked around franticly. “Rin! Rin!”
Rin was beside her. Her eyes were blank. Blood dripped from the open wound of her throat. The wolf had gotten her too, but she wasn’t special like Natsume. “No! He was supposed to go to me, not you! If only I knew how to do what Pa did!”
“Si…sis?” Rin whispered.
Natusme paused for a moment. Maybe if I should just end her pain… No! Rin is my sister! I can’t eat her liver! There still might be a
way.” She carried Rin’s body on her back. “Stay still, okay? Sis has got you.”
“Sir, Sir, do you know how to perform the Hangon technique?” Natusume asked a man on the roadside.
“The what?”
It was the same answer over and over. Someone, someone had to help Rin! She couldn’t be alone again!
“Here, have her eat this,” a small boy said.
“What is this?”
“A special kind of meat.”
Natsume forced Rin to swallow the hunk of meat. She coughed violently, but the wound on her throat healed.
“Natsu…me?”
Natsume threw her arms around the younger girl.“Rin!”
Rin began to cry. “I had a scary dream! A really scary dream!”
“Shh, shh, it’s okay now. It’s over. Thank you! Thank you!”
“My name is Masato.”
“I’m Natsume, and this is Rin.”
Now they were the same. Both forever young, both forever together.
The boy smiled to the shadows. “Look Papa, look I made another one.”