Yumi faced the wall and shielded her eyes with her palms as she started counting down in her language. Jasper ran down the hallway, her voice towing behind. Tried to navigate his way as he recalled the walkthrough of the rooms his Mama provided. His feet scuttled. Hesitantly scooted as his neck swivelled back and forth to briefly glean the interior of the open rooms. There weren't many hiding places to go by except a few blatant cabinets and low tables. He sharply exhaled in disbelief. Crap. Not a single, good hiding spot. He'd get caught on a whim. He stood on the spot indecisively, and the silence drew him in. Void of Yumi's voice, and he realised.

Yumi had stopped counting.

How long has it been?

He hurried into the room he was blankly staring at and ducked under a low table. He turned around so he could watch the entrance. Fingers pressed down on the mat, heel stretching out. Not a single noise or footstep came his way. He held his breath, and his brows knitted further. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes felt like hours. Every tick, every slow, shallow breath demanded a sole pulse from his heart and nothing else, throbbing in his ears. He bit his lips. Foreboding was what clenched his heart. Foreboding was what made his premonition more obvious. His stomach crimped.

Achoo.

"OK, Yumi... You win," Jasper said, profusely sweating.

He slowly looked to his left and found no one crouched beside him.

What?

He looked to his right and–

"Woof!" Yumi clawed at the air as if her hands were paws, and Jasper shrieked. He sprung up, and his head bumped into the bottom of the table. Barrel rolled to his left, out of the table's cover whilst clutching his head, his face contorted in pain. He faced the ceiling, groaning.

"Y-Yumi..." Tears welled in his trembling eyes, and his vision grew blurry as he sniffed. "You scared me."

Yumi crawled out of the table and walked over to him. She looked down at him, not a flit of remorse twitching in her eyes. Jasper's eyelids twitched.

"Sorry," she said. "Play..."

Her tail wagged as her eyes narrowed, and she pointed at him.

"You. Seek. I. Hide."

Jasper stopped crying. He wiped his eyes with his sleeves and stood up, egg on his face.

"OK..."

He covered his eyes with his hands. Started counting.

"One, two..."

Light footsteps tapped away, and he brought his palms away from his eyes. He stopped counting and smiled as he saw the running away Yumi's back turned to him. My turn. He surreptitiously tailed Yumi out of the room and towed behind her back.

_____________________

"Boo!" Jasper lunged his palms at the air and took a half-step at Yumi. Yumi froze for the 72nd time, her lips parted, her golden eyes stiff and still like the rest of her body as they were about to face him. They were hiding in a cabinet, their feet standing on a pile of folded clothes. She tried to hide from him, but he kept just cheating every single time and never got caught for it. When he tried hiding from her, she somehow was right next to him every single time, so she had to be cheating, albeit he hadn't caught her in the act... yet.

And she wasn't sorry when she scared him. So was he. For. Every. Single. Time.

Jasper sighed as he scratched his head. He waved a palm in front of Yumi's unresponsive eyes. No reaction; nothing.

This is getting ridiculous.

"Yumi?" he said. "Heeello?"

Strange.

She wouldn't be frozen for that long. Unless...

Jasper eyed her stiff tail, and the corners of his lips lifted in impish. His fingers twitched, and they mischievously curled. He was gonna grab it. He was gonna do it. Payback time for biting on his shoulder.

Achoo.

"Jasper!" His Mama yelled. "Come help make food in the kitchen!"

Jasper and Yumi's eyes lit up. They barged out of the cabinet and ran down the hallways and into the kitchen. Mama sat on her knees, smiling. In front of her was a chopping board and a knife, a daikon radish, a carrot, and an onion on the mat. Three small wooden bowls surrounded the chopping board. Flames from the hearth licked the bottom of a steaming pot supported by a metal stand. The crackles of burning wood. Wisps of burnt charcoal wafted into Jasper's nostrils, and he inhaled. Exhaled as he quickly sat on his knees. Yumi followed.

"Mama!" Jasper said.

"Food!" Yumi excitedly said.

"Oh my, it seems like everyone is here," Mama said as she clapped her hands. "Wonderful. Today's dinner is miso soup. Yumi, take turns with Jasper cutting the vegetables."

"Miso soup!" Yumi said.

"Miso soup?" Jasper tilted his head. "Is that yummy?"

"You'll see for yourself soon," Mama said. "Now, now, get going. I should check with the rice..."

She stood up and walked around the hearth, examining the pot. Yumi stood up and ran over to occupy the freed spot. She immediately grabbed the knife and started hazardously working on the vegetables. Jasper hovered around her as she deftly sliced the onions into thin strips and put them in a wooden bowl. She grabbed the carrot.

"Hey, my turn," Jasper said.

Yumi stopped before she could pulverise the carrot and passed him the knife as she huddled aside. Jasper took over. He stabilised the carrot on the chopping board with his hand before he carefully lowered the knife over its body. His trembling hand holding the knife, sweaty fingers latched onto the handle, became steadfast as the carrot was slowly cut in two. He hadn't ever held a knife in his life. He narrowed his eyes.

"Jasper?" The sweet voice of her past Mama. His breath quivered. "Gosh! Don't swing your knife around like that!"

Yumi blankly watched him clumsily cut the carrot.

No thanks.

"Here." Jasper gave her the knife and backed away, and Yumi took over again. She finished the job in a blur and moved on to the next. Jasper sat back, reflecting on the voice of his past Mama. He poignantly looked at his palm and flexed his fingers. The sentimental metallic grit of cutlery wrapped around the muscle memory of his thumb's webbing. A knife he playfully swung around at home. It was slowly coming back together.

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No.

He had his new home to only think about. He shook his head out of it. He curiously eyed his Mama remove the pot from the hearth and onto the mat using iron tongs. She placed another pot in its steed and let its content boil for a while before lowering the heat of the hearth for the broth to simmer by pushing the ashes with the iron tongs closer towards the burning coals.

"Are the vegetables ready?" she asked.

"Yes," Yumi said.

"Wonderful. Come, you know what to do, children."

Yumi enthusiastically nodded and grabbed the two wooden bowls of thinly sliced vegetables while Jasper grabbed the last one, and they headed to her in a single-file line. Mama received them one at a time as she dropped the sliced vegetables into the simmering cauldron and placed the wooden bowls on the floor.

She gave Yumi and Jasper a bowl of miso paste to play around with and stir with chopsticks to wait. After a few minutes, using a wooden spoon, Mama added spoonfuls of miso paste to dissolve within the cauldron, whisking constantly to get its flavour interspersed. Before long, she would taste miso soup with a wooden spoon, lip-smacking as her tastebuds processed the rich flavour. Hm. A pinch of salt did the trick.

Now, it was ready.

A domineering wooden bowl containing freshly hot miso soup and brown rice served before Jasper, right in his eyes. His taste buds salivated. He hadn't had a proper meal in a while since... everything. Anything else might as well be a once-of-a-lifetime opportunity gourmet to him. Mama had sat next to him with her own steaming bowl and pair of chopsticks for one for herself and him.

Right.

She was gonna teach him how to use them properly.

Yumi sat on their adjacent side of the hearth, her eyes closed, her nostrils occasionally flaring to taste the soup through the meaty aroma as she waited. Waiting for Papa to arrive. A lone bowl sat on the opposite side of the hearth to him and Mama. In the meantime, Jasper watched the mesmerising flickers of the dying flames and pool of flaring embers scattered across the hearth, its feeble warmth nudging his skin through his clothes. It was nice. Mama stroked his hair while she hummed an old tune. They waited.

And waited.

"Oh dear..." Mama said. "The soup is getting cold."

Yumi's eyelids twitched as her hands felt the bottom of her bowl, chopsticks in her hand.

The distant yet boisterous sound of a shoji sliding open woke Jasper from his trance.

"I'm home." A standoffish voice, laden with the I-don't-get-paid-enough-for-this-shit attitude, echoed throughout the household to the kitchen, following the sound of a shoji sliding again, presumably closing off the entrance. Heavy footsteps sunk into the mat and let out muffled cries, getting louder with every step as they approached the vicinity of the kitchen. Papa. Jasper watched the entrance in anticipation, and a man with broad shoulders and a scar etched across his eye shortly walked in. His black, bushy hair tied in a bun matched the void etched in his pupils and the vestiges beneath them fading away in his eyebags. He scratched his stubble with his finger, his dark, pointy canine ears perking.

"Honey..." Mama worriedly said.

"Huh. Look who it is," Papa said, amusingly staring at Jasper as he trailed off. Jasper averted his eyes from his intimidating gaze. He looked scary.

"Reminds of a shithead of a certain old man."

"Honey! Just..."

"Jasper," He paused a beat, cocking his head. "Less food for everyone, then?"

He walked over to the lone bowl and sat down cross legged, swooping the pair of chopsticks beside it.

"Thank you for the food." He clapped his callused hands and closed his eyes. His hands grabbed his bowl off the floor, and he started devouring its contents. Yumi did the same, presumably from his voracious genes passing down to her.

Jasper profusely sweated. He only had Mama's hand gently guiding his, fingers feebly wrapped around his chopsticks while a fierce eating competition ensued in the background. He looked at his bowl. The miso soup reflected his pale face. It shouldn't be like this. He tried to force a smile, but a twitch to the corners of his lips faltered it all. That sense of strangeness crept up to his gut again. He doesn't even know how to use his chopsticks. He clenched his teeth.

"Here comes the aeroplane," Mama said, and Jasper lifted his head. His lips automatically parted, and Mama's chopstick pinched food in his mouth. The savoury, delicious taste of a carrot and some rice. Jasper chewed. Delicious. The voice of his past Mama saying the exact phrase rang in his mind.

"Here comes the aeroplane–"

Obnoxious slurping from both sides ripped him out of it. Jasper glanced at Yumi, who was chugging her bowl, before staring at Papa, who slammed his bowl onto the floor, gasping, his eyes directly holding eye contact with him. Jasper averted his eyes. He accepted the next batch of goods pinched in by his Mama's chopsticks into his mouth. He slowly chewed with his mouth closed, careful to not produce lip smacks. He slowly looked at Papa again. Papa stared into his soul.

"You know, Jasper," he said. "What happens when the prostitute wife of a magical, nut shootin', crazy old man, gunslinger dies and... he's left with his Alzheimer son?"

"Honey. No," Mama snapped. "You will not go down that path–"

Jasper stared into the voidness of Papa's eyes. He heard his voice. The voice of his past Papa.

"Son, ya see that young, lookin' fellow right there? This is how ya shoot a gun."

BANG!

"What happened to your eye?" Jasper asked. Papa cracked a dry grin and laughter. His smile melted, and he leaned forward. Yumi's eyes darted between the both of them as she slowly chewed. Papa continued.

"They called him one of the Great Bastards of the West. We used to work together, nothing much, you know," Papa shrugged his shoulders. He narrowed his eyes and distantly stared at a wall to the side of him. "That bastard? Held us at gunpoint on a sunny day to take you in. Said he was gonna kill us all if we don't, yeah, nothing much."

He clenched his fists, white-knuckling.

"Honey... That's enough." Tears welled in Mama's eyes, and her voice croaked. Jasper's eyes became moist. His eyes lowered. His temples were throbbing. The voices of his past memories and his past Papa. It was slowly coming... all together.

"This wound?" Papa pointed at his scary eye. "It's–"

"Please, stop, he's just a kid–"

"Shut the fuck up!"

Jasper flinched. He alarmingly looked up at Papa. Mama sobbed while Papa stood up, looking down at her. Papa continued.

"He's gonna forget all of this damn shit anyway. Fucking cultivators, man! Fuck!"

He paused a beat. Yumi growled at him, baring her teeth.

"And you... You're a lil piece of shit, too," He spun around and pointed at Yumi. Yumi's ears drooped as her head lowered and her posture slouched. He shook his head from side to side and flounced out of the kitchen. Mama stood up and followed him.

"Mama, no!" Jasper reached out to her, but it was too late. She had already left, and an argument of a different language and dialect ensued. Yumi's body shuddered. She looked at Jasper. Jasper looked at her. They nodded and ran out of the kitchen, following the shouts around the corner. They turned to witness Mama being slapped in the face by Papa. Mama dropped to her rump on the floor and sobbed. Yumi screamed. Jasper watched in horror.

This isn't home.

"Jasper!" The man roared. "After the mornin' breakfast, you will accompany me to this damn village's forest. There's something I would like to show you. Got some treasure to dig. Sick and tired of this shit..."

He turned their back on them and slowly walked forward, muttering to himself. He stopped halfway. He glanced over his shoulder to Jasper and said, "And one last fuckin' rule, do not call me daddy. I am Hiro Hamiyashi. She's Sakura. That is the golden rule here in the north."

He beckoned his chin and lowered his eyes towards Mama. Mama continued sobbing to herself. Hiro clicked his tongue in disdain before he ventured further and disappeared around the corner. Yumi ran to Sakura and tightly embraced her from the front. Sakura hugged her back. Jasper gloomily walked over. His deadpan eyes and blurry vision wavered over the two. Wild memories of him and his father spending time together had rushed to his head, veins bulging from his forehead. A splitting headache hit him. Jasper groaned as he touched his temple. His eyes were narrowed and glued to the floor.

"Jasper..." Sakura said. "I'm so sorry for everything that happened. Go to your room and have a well-night rest."

She tried to fake a cheerful smile, but her transient bitterness faded to a sniffle. Yumi turned her head around to face Jasper. Tears flowed from her eyes and trickled down her cheeks to her pursed lips.

"I'm sorry," Jasper said.

I'm sorry for being alive. I'm sorry for being a mistake.

"You did nothing wrong, Jasper. I promise," Sakura paused a beat. "When you wake up, just think as yesterday as a nightmare. O-Or forget about it."

A nightmare…

Jasper nodded.

"OK? M-my strawberry mochi?"

Jasper nodded. He tried saying, "Yes, Mama," but couldn't bring himself to say it. Not anymore. The cogs in his burning head arduously grounded to navigate and pull his dead limbs towards his room. He entered and closed the shoji. Fell back on his futon, blank eyes staring at the ceiling.

I wanna go home.