Hidoko

Friday, January 02, 19987:13:15 PM

Past.

Soujirou Seta headed towards the north.

It was somewhere—he wasn’t sure where—but he went on and on. Till he came to this place that gave him the déjà vu . But he went on, for he knew no terror, no sadness, no anger. All he knew was happiness.

His innocent smile shone like the moon, and his eyes, the stars. People that had seen him kill had wondered how he could smile so innocently and kill at the same time.

Even as the rain came down in torrents, washing the thinning blood away, so painful, the howls of the wind mixed with the screams of his victims echoing in the night, the freshly cut flesh that was ready to rot soon, the sky so fresh and cold like the air of winter.

Nothing did to make him feel remorse, or sadness. Even as the howls continued, seemingly going after his frail frame, disappearing over the horizion— —

His smile still hung, pasted over his face, so innocent, as if he was only a child who knew that he was doing something serious but had no care about it for all the world.

His presence burnt a green fire, burning tongues of green flame, of an innocent happiness… Even with his ice-cold heart, it was ever so silently burning…

There was no key to his innocence, no answers to all enigmas about him.

He continued walking, till he came to this ground. He remembered, it was where his parents were killed and now he could feel no sadness because of some accident.

Perhaps it was something he’d gained, or something he’d lost.

He’d remembered that he had some strange feeling, that seemed alien to him right then.

He’d remembered how his brother, his twin brother had been a loser and how he’d always defeated his brother in sword mastery. That was because he had talent, and somehow got a good teacher. His brother was jealous and hid his sword. One sad day—he’d forgotten what was sadness—He was pushed down from a cliff, and he was not angry. It was because by that time he had lost that ability to feel angry, sad, or others. His sword came tumbling down to him right after he fell, and the last thing he had heard was, "If you are that good in sword mastery, save yourself!"

He killed his twin brother when he was twelve.

Not because of hatred, but because of somebody who had hired him to do it for, well, nothing. He had been walking in the forest when somebody attacked him. Because his brother had offended somebody important. He defended himself, and they surrounded him. It was dark, and his smile was hidden in the darkness. "Why are you atttacking me?" He asked in a voice that only he had.

"You still have the cheek to ask!" someone shouted.

"I really don’t know."

That someone tilted Soujirou’s chin up and looked into the eyes of the little child. Soujirou smiled back in return, and that someone smiled, and let go of him. "He’s your twin brother?"

"I do have a twin brother, but I hadn’t seen him for quite a while."

"Help us look!"

Soujirou did obey—he knew the chances of him defeating so many people was almost next to none. He wandered away from them as they split up. He found his brother running towards him, chased by some people of the crowd, and shouted, "Brother, help me!"

He put his arm around his brother’s arm and wrapped tightly around it. His coward of a brother hid behind him as the people approached, and one of them, obviously the most leaderlike one, said, "Let him go."

"But he’s my brother."

"Or else you kill him with your own sword." He pointed at Soujirou’s sword. Soujirou smiled sweetly and asked, "What did he do?"

"He killled one of our brothers!"

Soujirou looked at his twin and asked, "Did you?"

"No!!"

Soujirou knew then his brother was lying. "Did you?" He asked again.

His brother cowered in fear. "Yes…"

He smiled so sweetly to his brother, like a satisfied cat, and his brother began to have hope. But Soujirou withdrew his sword and cut his brother’s stomach. Pints of blood and intestines made a gruesome sight.

"Soujirou…" His twin was shocked.

All he did was smile back at his brother.

"Why did you do this…"

"For survival." He smiled wider. "remember that you pushed me off the cliff in the first place."

His twin’s features softened as the blood loss to his life. Finally, he fell.

Author’s notes…