Promise #3 No Matter Where You Run, You Belong To The Clan

The cool spray of the ocean brushed through Haruka’s hair. Out on the beach, the other children ran barefoot and screaming. If she dared to go near them, they’d run off, calling her bug-eyed, daughter of a whore, or yokai. Plenty of names they chose from, some more creative than others.

“I heard about your mother, Haruka-chan.” One of the fishermen, Sakai-san, sat next to her. His crooked nose and bags under his eyes made him look twice his age. Haruka didn’t know exactly how old he was, but she imagined he wasn’t much older than her father.

Haruka pulled her knees inward. “They said she’s going to have a baby. But she’s been away from Otou-san for a long time. They say I’m the daughter of a whore…I don’t even know what that means, Sakai-san.”

Sakai-san wrapped an arm around Haruka’s shoulders. “Don’t worry your head about it. I’m sure—”

“Haruka!”

She recoiled at the sound of her father shouting. “Y-yes, Otou-san!” She pushed away from Sakai-san and stood up.

Her father glared down at Sakai-san then back to Haruka. “Come with me.”

“Come with? Where are we going?” She had never been called back home by her father before. Based on his short responses, it wasn’t anywhere good.

Sakai-san stood and grasped Haruka’s shoulder. “You’re not going to do this, Goto. She’s a child! She’s barely seen more than eight cycles.”

“And that’s my wife!” her father snarled. “Unless you have the coin to pay, then I don’t want to hear your complaints.”

“I—”

“Enough!” He stormed to Haruka and grabbed her wrist. His veins popped in his hands. “You’re coming home, Haruka.”

Haruka turned to Sakai-san who only stood by. The solemn smile flashed for a moment before disappearing into the sunken face of the hardened fisherman.

“How much?” Sakai-san croaked out.

“What?” her father snapped back to Sakai-san. He dragged Haruka closer to him.

Sakai-san gulped. His entire body shook. “How much is the fee for your wife?”

Haruka knew Sakai-san to be strong willed. He raced across the waves while searching for fish and helped defend the village from wild beasts. It didn’t make sense why he shook in front of her father. She never heard about a fee either. It was like so many secrets were being whispered in front of her, and she received only a few pieces to latch onto.

“Five hundred ryo. That’s if that fee is still set. You know how the Hikage clan is.”

What energy Sakai-san had in his body drooped into the earth. “Five hundred…far more than a year’s worth of wages…” He looked at Haruka and forced another smile. “I will count and see if I can help.”

There were stories of the Hikage clan hunting innocent people at night. Though Haruka never knew which stories were real, or the ones the kids all told while playing games in the streets. Tales stretched from the clan controlling yokai to being yokai themselves. The thought of her father being involved with the clan shoved a stone in her throat.

“You have until sunrise. We’re leaving then.”

He didn’t say another word.

Haruka and her father hiked back toward the village. Whispers echoed from person to person as they passed. None of them wanted to say anything directly. Not since her mother went missing a few moons ago. No one wanted to tell her what happened either.

Inside their small house was quiet. The wooden floors were rotten where pieces met from a lack of replacement and holes where water leaked during storms. She was thankful most of the year stayed warm enough that the holes didn’t bother her too much. After her mother left, they had to move here and sell their old home. Her father never looked in her direction the rest of the night, muttering under his breath as he fell asleep.

“Otou-san, where are we going?” Haruka looked up at her father and then down at the mud-covered streets in front of them.

He ignored her question, like the others before that on their morning journey. Occasionally she received a grunt of recognition, but nothing more.

The buildings were empty. The cracked windows were coated in grime. She imagined the city near their home would be filled with nice homes and wealthy people. Rumors from the children in her village claimed houses like these were filled with demons and monsters that hid from view until they could devour someone. She attempted to slow her pace and turn down another road back to the market. Despite this, her father’s cobra-like grip around her thin wrist tightened and yanked her further along. She was helpless against his strength and held her breath in hopes it would keep any yokai away.

They turned another corner and stopped in front of a statue of a stone serpentine dragon that blocked the building at the end of the alley. It glared down at her, twisting its body around a glass orb. Whiskers stretched across its face and down the sides of its cheeks. The hollowness of its gaze followed Haruka as she neared. Its three clawed fingers dug into the orb, daring anyone to approach and face death.

She turned away and dug her heels into the ground, but her father dragged her closer to the statue. She shifted where she stood, not wanting to look back at it again. The fire in its gaze bore down on her all the same.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A man dressed in a dark brown cloak with tattered edges and patches in multiple areas stepped around the statue. The man stood almost a head taller than her father. His expression twisted with disgust as if she were a filthy dog. Haruka recoiled behind her father.

“Bringing the girl won’t change your debt,” the man said as if his voice were made of the wind itself.

Her mother hobbled out from around the statue. Her cheeks were sunken in and her brown eyes dull and glass-like. The weeks had destroyed her mother’s inner glow. Her stomach was round. Well into a pregnancy.

“Okaa-San!” Haruka shouted and tore away from her father.

Her father grabbed the scruff of Haruka’s robes and yanked her back. “Stay still, girl,” he snapped.

Her mother winced from Haruka and scuffled closer to the cloaked man.

Haruka looked up at her father and then back at her mother, who stood as still as the statue next to her. They should have been embracing one another.

“Okaa-san?”

Her mother flinched again at the sound of Haruka’s voice. She wanted to reach out to her mother but knew to stay still for now. It pained her that the gap between them was so close and yet more distant than ever before. They’d soon be hugging one another again as long as she stayed patient. At least, she hoped they would. Sakai-san claimed he would be giving her father the money to cover any debts. It had to be enough. But he hadn’t come that morning, and she wasn’t sure if he knew where they were.

“I’ve come to pay the debt in full.” Haruka’s father stood her between him and the cloaked man. “She will provide you many more years compared to my wife. And I’m sure there will be many who will pay for someone so...young to enjoy...”

He took a step from Haruka, releasing her arm. His face contorted into a combination of disgust and sadness she had never seen before. Not since she cut open her leg and bled over the salmon, making them unsellable. At least he claimed they were unsellable, but she recognized the one her neighbor purchased the next day from the too short tail fin. The realization slowly poured over her. She was the fish today.

The cloaked man nodded. “We could find more use for her.” He pushed Haruka’s mother forward, pinching her arm. She squirmed from the pain but didn’t let a sound escape her lips. The cloaked man didn’t seem to notice or didn’t care, that he was causing her any pain.

“Saitou!” he shouted.

From the darkness of the building came a young boy no older than Haruka. He had one long scar across the right side of his face. It reached from his brow past his lip. There was no life in his eyes. Every few seconds, his body twitched and shivered from an unknown breeze or pain.

“Bind the girl and take her inside.”

The boy, Saitou, reached for his belt and held out a long rope. “Of course, Kasshoku-sensei.” He wrapped the end of the rope into a loop and tested the strength of the knot. He strode up to Haruka and grinned. His teeth were half rotten.

Haruka moved closer to her father and grabbed his forearm. “Otou-san, you’re not really leaving me, are you?”

She glanced up at her father, expecting him to shield her from the boy and cloaked man. He continued to stare straight ahead at her mother. Like a knife cutting through any attachment they had, he wrenched from Haruka and reached out for her mother. She was isolated.

“You promise this will cover our debt?” His voice quivered.

“She will do.”

Kasshoku-sensei pushed Haruka’s mother forward. She stumbled over her feet and fell to the ground. Her kimono, which had once been a bright red, was now caked in grey and brown mud. Haruka remembered when her mother had first sewn the kimono. It had taken several moons, and she almost quit when funds were low, but they worked together to finish it. Now it was as disheveled as the rest of their life.

Haruka wanted to reach out and help clean it off, but the stare she received from her father pushed her away. A lump swelled in Haruka’s throat, keeping her silent.

Saitou grabbed Haruka’s wrist. She yanked away and shook her head. The cloaked man snarled in her direction. It sent a cold shiver down her spine, and she froze in place. If she moved, he would devour her in an instant. He was the demon they warned of. Not a real one like the stories, but a demon in human form.

The boy took advantage of her distraction and slipped the loop around her wrists. He tightened it and drew Haruka closer to him. He stank of an unclean waste pit. She gagged. She pulled against the restraints and sucked in a deep breath of fresh air before he pulled her back in close.

“That’s enough, boy,” Kasshoku-sensei growled.

Saitou nodded and held the rope in both hands. He turned to the man and handed the rope over. “Yes, Kasshoku-sensei.”

Kasshoku-sensei grasped the rope and gently held it closer to his body, dragging Haruka behind.

Haruka turned to her father. Tears welled in her eyes. He looked away, not meeting her gaze. Her mother’s face was buried in her father’s shoulder. She was shaking and muttering apologies. Whether to her father or to Haruka, she wasn’t sure.

Kasshoku-sensei’s face was cold, staring intently at her. She gulped down the need to scream in fear. This was the beginning of a nightmare that wouldn’t end. No one said what her mother had done while she worked for the Hikage Clan.

“The debt is paid for. You’re both free to leave.” Kasshoku-sensei waved a hand through the air as if shooing an annoying mosquito.