Washu and Naja
On a small hill covered in snow, there was a disproportionately large, luxurious mansion. In a child’s room full of oversized antique furniture lay a little girl in bed with a cold. By her side, a woman who looked like her mother stood peacefully. She felt the girl’s forehead to check her temperature and was relieved that the fever was lower than she expected.
“Good night, Miyuki,” she mumbled, softly touching the girl’s cheek. She left her daughter’s side and snuck out of the room, careful not to wake the little girl.
This was Kuramitsu Mikamo’s mansion, and the woman who just emerged from the room was Mikamo’s current wife, Koyori.
Koyori walked a short way down the hall and asked “Who’s there?” forcefully, but quietly, so as not to scare her sleeping daughter. She had felt someone’s presence while putting her daughter to bed, and she knew that person was now close by.
In the dimly-lit hallway, a shadow winked into existence as if it had teleported. “Good evening,” said Hakubi Washu.
“It seems that he’s right. A review of the security shield does need to take place. Washu-sama, this way, please.” Unsurprised, Koyori stated just the facts and beckoned Washu to an inner room as if offering hospitality to a guest. She demonstrated no malice or hostility.
Koyori showed Washu to the best guest room in the house. Washu sat on the sofa in the drawing room, sipping some tea, and Koyori sat down across from her. “I guess you were expecting me,” Washu said.
“I was told a long time ago that you would eventually show up here,” Koyori replied. “Mikamo detected a ship of unknown affiliation two days ago and has been holed up at work since.”
“Oh, bother. So I was detected after all. That’s above and beyond what I expected. But then, why wasn’t an alarm raised?”
“It wasn’t detected by Seniwa’s army proper, only by Mikamo’s personal troops.”
“I see. He was an excellent student. But I feel knocked down a peg or two.”
“We knew you would come by, Washu-sama, so we simulated a number of suspected infiltration routes and developed a secret system independent from the army. We implemented the finished product six months ago. But we only detected your entry, and the ship had since been lost to us.”
“Heh, tell him I give him an A,” Washu replied with a wry smile.
Washu and Koyori had never met, but they felt as if they had been reunited after many years. They had Mikamo in common.
Koyori spoke, looking at the snow outside the window. “Mikamo said that he owed everything to Ikuma-sama, Naja-sama, and Washu-sama. His years at the Academy were the most fun he ever had.”
“I guess they’re all just memories to him now, too…”
Koyori realized upon hearing Washu’s words that Mikamo had become a memory for Washu as well.
It occurred to her that she had been trying to avoid claiming Mikamo as her own, or calling him her husband, in front of Washu.
“Thank you. I’m grateful to you.”
“What?”
“I’ve been watching Mikumo ever since I got here…” Washu explained.
“Washu-sama, I have a daughter born the same year as Mikumo-chan. Do you understand what that means?”
“You’re the same as Mikamo.”
Koyori nodded. “We vowed to each other that we would change things on this planet. That we would never let the children suffer in the same way we had. We’re a family now. So I cannot let you, or anybody else, have him.” Koyori looked at Washu with steely determination.
Washu stared back at Koyori, and they remained wordless. Only the wind howling outside the window declared the passage of time. Then, Koyori slowly closed her eyes.
“Mikumo-chan has your eyes…” She laughed mournfully and stood up. Though she wouldn’t hand him over, it was a fact that Washu and Mikumo were mother and son. Who was right? There was no correct solution. So she paused on the way to the door and said, “Won’t you spend the night here? The weather should clear up tomorrow. Mikumo-chan hasn’t been able to play ball outside, so he’ll be happy.”
“…”
“Please make yourself at home.” Koyori bowed slightly and left the room.
She’s giving me an opportunity to take Mikumo… Washu thought and continued to stare at the door. No, the true answer she was trying so hard to look for was inside of her.
“It’s so nice out today, you should go play outside,” Koyori said to Mikumo the next day and handed him a ball. “Be careful.”
She sadly watched Mikumo run off and willed herself to go inside the house. Indoors, she carried a breakfast tray to Miyuki’s room.
“Miyuki?” Her daughter, who was supposed to be sleeping in her room, was gone. Her blanket had slid off her bed onto the floor. “Oh, no, she didn’t…” Koyori searched and found a child’s footprints on the stairs from the terrace to the ground floor. “I didn’t want her to be there to see Mikumo-chan taken away…”
She hesitated for a moment, but then called the guards to order them to go after her daughter.
If only they make it in time…
But that means robbing a mother of her child.
If only they don’t make it in time…
But that means the loss of a precious family member.
All these thoughts swirled in conflict inside of Koyori.
It was a clear day, without a cloud in the sky, and the sun’s rays reflected on the pure white snow to create a magical space. Washu and Mikumo were there. Washu held the ball Mikumo had been playing with. They turned their green eyes towards each other. That was all they could do.
“Little boy…” Washu slowly reached out for him, and Mikumo raised his hand in response.
Just a little more, a little further… As Washu thought those words, Miyuki’s voice rang out, calling Mikumo through the still air.
“Oniichama!”
“Miyuki?” Mikumo instinctively turned around and ran towards Miyuki, who was panting clouds of white breath.
“Oniichama.”
“Mother told you, you have to stay in bed,” Mikumo said and gallantly draped his own cloak over Miyuki.
“Oniichama!”
Washu saw Miyuki glare daggers at her, clutching Mikumo. Washu’s breath caught in her throat. She looks exactly like her mother did last night… Those eyes when she said Mikumo wasn’t going anywhere.
She looked sorrowfully at Mikumo, who was fretting over Miyuki. Should I take him away? She was stricken with dark thoughts, tormenting herself. She wished she could do it, right now. The impulse lasted but a moment.
“I’m sorry.”
“…?!” Washu noticed the little girl’s sorrowful eyes, staring at her.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Her eyes stared back at Washu, tearful…
She wants Mikumo to herself, but she can’t do it because she sympathizes with me. Those same kind eyes her mother has… With a deep sigh, Washu closed her own eyes.
“All right, little girl… You win,” Washu murmured quietly and created more snow flurries around her. In an instant, everything turned white. Her body melted into the snow, along with her feelings, her desires, and everything else.
Farewell, my boy…
“Are you sure, Washu?” Naja said, as she prepared for takeoff. Washu had returned to the bridge without a word.
“Mikumo has already found where he belongs. Children eventually leave their parents, although I didn’t think it would be this soon.”
“So, in other words, you fought over a guy and lost to a little pipsqueak.” Naja’s words lacked emotion, but that was her way of comforting someone.
“Urk… I-I suppose if you put it that way…”
“Children don’t understand the allure of maturity. Maybe you could’ve won in your child form?”
“Heh, maybe I made a mistake.”
Washu looked more peaceful than Naja had expected. “Okay, let’s go home, Washu-chan.”
“Yes, let’s.”
Washu and Naja’s ship set sail. Washu quietly watched Seniwa on the dome monitor. The emotion passing through her heart was a mother’s joy.
My son is being raised by a strong woman and growing so fast. It isn’t like I will never see him again. He even has a lovely companion. Though she seemed rather strong-willed, heh. And above all, he seems happy… There is nothing else for me to desire for him. There’s so much more for me to do right now. There’s so much I still don’t know about the three jewels, or myself. Everything is yet to come.
Naja smiled at her. Washu returned her look, a smile playing about the edge of her mouth. And she looked away from Seniwa, now growing more and more distant, out into the jet-black of space. She felt an emptiness, and a freedom that was almost scary.
THE END