Light in the Darkness
The World is Cruel and Dark. And We are Expected to Live in It.
Tears fell silently into the koi pond below. The forest was silent other than the soft sound of distant birds. The Orin couldn't help but wonder if this is where she was meant to be all along. All alone deep in the woods. Without a home to call her own. Without friends. Without anything. Sometimes she felt she would be better off living in a nightmare...At least then no other Orins could get hurt by her. It was almost that time of the year again. The Lantern Festival was coming up soon and she was still not allowed back into the village. She often wondered how easy it would be to sneak in, but then she reminded herself of the mutations that haunted her. Her tails slowly wrapped around her body as a cold breeze blew through the shrine.
They were the reason she was thrown out in the first place. She bet if she was a normal orin, with a normal bauble. Then they wouldn't have thrown her out. They wouldn't have that terrible rumor floating about. She wouldn't be a curse. But...she wasn't a normal Orin. She wasn't an Orin at all. She was a monster that deserved to be thrown out. She deserved to be hollowed and left to rot. If...If only it was that simple. She couldn't tell anyone what was keeping her holding on. Perhaps...perhaps it was love? Some small tiny fragment of love that kept her going. It drove her to sneak into the portal and collect dreams while the others slept. It drove her to steal supplies that had been tossed away. Some dumb minuscule fragment of hope that maybe somehow...Someone would remember her.
"Falling in love...that's how a star falls."
Chiharu whispered that breathlessly to herself. It was true. When she was a rigel she was warned of it. Yet she didn't care. She fell in love. She fell so deep into it...And...she loved it. Light starry tears fell into the waters below, fish moving away from the ripples she created. She loved it. She loved him. And then he broke her. Just like the prophet said. Perhaps it was all a setup. Perhaps everyone knew but no one cared to warn her. Perhaps even he knew. His sand was always ticking. Time never stopped. Maybe she should've seen it as some kind of sign and left while she could.
You can't blame Him.
She hated that she was right. She couldn't blame him...Chiharu sighed slowly rising from the pond and wiping the tears from her eyes. All she could do was blame herself. It was all her fault. All of it was. The kitsune slowly looked up to the trees above her, trying hard to see the sky through their dark leaves. How she missed watching the stars...seeing sunsets...birds..anything. But she knew she was far from welcome anywhere near the typical orin. At least most Orin tended to run and hide if she ever came their way. Perhaps then...it was for the better that no one wanted to be around her...maybe one day she could go see the stars...at least one last time. But at least...at least the rain would always be there. Wet droplets hit her hair as they fell off the leaves above. Sometimes it felt like this place was always raining. Perhaps that was fitting. Alone and in the rain. Like they always told her she would be. ChiChi sighed before humming some gently tune softly to herself and walking back into the safety of her shrine.