The children paused in their game and rushed over to Master Tarou, giggling and playfuly pushing at each other until they came to stand before them.
"Good morning Master Tarou!" Aoshi called out loudly.
A broad smile sat under his green eyes as his pig-tail bobbed behind him. Next to him was his younger sister, named for the fox-like color of her hair, hanging down behind her in a long braid. The boy, as Tarou recalled was five and the girl was no older than three.
"Somethin' wrong?" Kitsune asked hesitantly, scooting closer to Aoshi. She wasn't certain of the intimidating Chinese man, and was definitely looking forward to whenever her parents might return.
"Sit down," Tarou said without answering. The smile on Aoshi's face withered as his sister clustered closer to him. Neither moved to obey the command until Tarou had repeated the phrase in an thoroughly authoritative manner. "Sit down."
Both sat down quickly on stools before Tarou, he settled himself down slowly to face them.
"Your parents," he said hesitantly. "Are dead."
"No," Aoshi gasped. "No! They can't..."
"Not funny," Kitsune insisted. "Not funny! Not funny!"
"They were killed weeks ago," Tarou said. "The news just reached here yesterday." That wasn't true, Tarou had been holding back this blow for a full week already.
"Mommy!!" Kitsune wailed. "I want my mommy!!!"
Tarou frowned and reached down to cautiously, and hesitantly as he'd never done this sort of thing before, hold the two children in his arms.
"I promised your mother and father to protect you," Tarou said. "And I will."
"I want mommy and daddy!" Kitsune wailed, banging her tiny fists ineffectually against Tarou.
"Who killed them?" Aoshi demanded with all the insistance of a five year old and the anger of an orphan. "Who!"
Tarou watched the tears streaming down Aoshi's eyes and pondered his answer.
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Mon, 14 Jul 2003 07:03)
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