Raz looked across the room at the two children asleep in bed, their small bodies curled together with only the tufts of their hair poking out from under the covers. There was enough room for both of them to fit in the small bed, though that would only last for so long. They would need to separate soon enough, and that meant that the man would need to make the proper arrangements. He would need to order a mattress for the girl, and that could take weeks before it would be ready. Still, he could start on the frame in the morning so that she wouldn’t be sleeping on the floor when it did finally come.
He watched the blankets ripple, her legs kicking wildly beneath them as Ren rolled over to escape their blows.
Well, unless the boy ended up on the floor first.
Survival of the fittest.
And Sakura was proving to be it.
She had been there for three days now, and each one that passed only further solidified the girl’s permanent residency in the man’s home.
The first day after her arrival, Raz only saw the girl’s face when she raised it long enough to pull Ren down to whisper in his ear. Otherwise, all he saw was a mess of cherry-red hair and thin limbs following behind his nephew. He had managed to find a pair of the boy’s old pants that only needed to be rolled up in the legs a couple of times and could be held up with a rope around her bony hips. The shirts he was currently in worked well enough, although baggy and hanging around her thighs.
The man had handed the clothes over and told the boy to help her into them.
Least he scare her more than she already was.
They had gone into the village, the girl on the boy’s back the entire way, and had the seamstress measure her while she stood stiff as a statue without so much as a blink, her eyes empty and dull. She didn’t even seem to notice the seamstress as the woman showed her different swatches of fabrics that she could choose from. Ren was the one to speak for her, expressing his gratitude as he pointed to a few options, and the girl retreated into his arms once more. The old woman had looked at Raz with such concern and promised to start on the dresses immediately in order for them to be ready in a day or two.
He then led them out into the woods to Maggie’s hut but made them stay in the trees at a distance where they wouldn’t be seen.
The witch already had him to feed from.
He wouldn’t allow her the girl.
The task she requested had been surprisingly simple. He only needed to remove his bracelet and allow her to scrap shavings from the bones of his wings. He didn’t ask why. He never did. What she did with the things he brought to her was of none of his concern. As long as he could get the coin or enchantment or potion he needed, then he’d bring her whatever she wanted.
He just needed something to help the girl regain and build her strength.
Something to keep her off of and far from death’s door.
And Maggie gave it to him.
A vial of his own blood boiled down to the purest concentration mixed with whatever concoctions the witch found necessary.
Meant only for him.
Raz went back to the children to find them exactly as he had left them; Ren sitting against a tree with Sakura in between his legs curled up against him, her fingers working holes into his shirt.
He crouched in front of them. “You need to drink this, girl.”
Only her fingers moved.
The boy took the vile, his face peeking down into hers. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “It’ll help you. I promise.” And he pressed the vile to her lips, helping her to drink every last drop.
They followed Raz back to the cottage, and he told them to find something to do. That he would do the chores that day on his own. When he finished and entered the home, he found them lying in bed, hidden beneath the covers. He could hear their whispers but not their words.
Revealing secrets only meant for each other.
He left them be.
It wasn’t his place to interfere.
The man made them supper, and just like the first night, he had to slow the girl’s eating now and then until it was all gone and her gaze crept across the table. He followed it to his nephew’s plate, a little more than half gone.
“You need to eat, boy.”
“It’s okay.” He pushed what was left towards the girl. “I’m not hungry.”
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Raz didn’t tell them no.
Just helped Sakura to eat slower.
He gave Ren his shirt that the girl had changed out of that morning, and the boy helped her back into it. The children got into bed, and Raz listened to them whisper from the table until they fell asleep, their small bodies entwined.
The second day, Raz could feel her eyes on him, following him everywhere he went. But when he looked, her head would snap away, refusing to meet his gaze.
He had fed them breakfast where he didn’t need to slow her down as much. Once she was done, Ren gave over the rest of his food with the same excuse as the night before.
Raz didn’t say no.
He told them to tend the chickens and watched from the door as they went to the coop. The boy showed her how to open the gate and check the nesting boxes to collect the eggs. He reached down to pet the ones that came up to him, starting at their heads and running down their necks to their backs and tail feathers. He encouraged her to do the same.
She did.
She gazed up at the boy, her eyes a little brighter.
She smiled.
The man told him to get water from the creek.
The boy grabbed a bucket.
And the girl followed, holding onto the back of his shirt, her feet in step with his.
He saw glimpses of emerald peeking around Ren as they returned.
Watching him.
Raz told them to go play.
“Can I have my knife?” the boy asked, the ocean so clear.
So blue.
So tranquil.
Like the man had never seen before.
“Alright.”
He retrieved it from the top of his dresser, a small dagger with a ruby handle, and gave it to the boy.
She followed him to the tree line where he found a stick and the two sat together, her between his legs with his arms circled around her, his hands working at the wood.
They ate supper, Sakura receiving Ren’s, and went to bed whispering until they fell asleep.
That morning, they had gone back into the village and purchased the girl’s new dresses. She reached out on her own to accept the parcel from the seamstress and hugged it close to her chest all the way back home. She squeezed past the man through the door into the cottage and knelled on the ground, slowly and carefully untying the string and unwrapping the paper to reveal the dresses within. With due care, she unfolded and observed each one before making her choice and putting it on herself.
Raz looked at the little girl in her new white dress with capped sleeves and fluttery skirt around her calves. “It’s very nice,” he told her. “It suits you.”
Emeralds peered up at him, and her mouth opened and closed, trying but unable to make a sound. She nodded.
“Do you want to go play?”
She nodded.
“Will you help Ren with the chickens and get water first?”
She nodded.
The girl rushed ahead of the boy and opened the coop. She gathered half of the eggs, breaking two. She took the other bucket and filled it full, splashing most of it out by the time she reached the house. She sat with Ren and watched him whittle at the stick from the day before.
When she could sit no more, Sakura took the boy’s hand and pulled him to the creek where it pooled and was calm. She stepped into the water and tried to catch minnows with him.
Neither would succeed.
She would watch Raz make supper and not look away when their eyes met. She would eat hers and some of Ren’s. She would whisper with the boy until they fell asleep.
Raz sat at the table, a book open before him, writing down the things he felt were necessary to look back on. Important.
The changes in Ren.
The changes in Sakura.
He looked up as he heard the padding of feet making their way slowly across the room. She was like a little ghost practically gliding to him, his white shirt that she had taken for her own sweeping along the floor, her hands hidden in the sleeves that pressed against her mouth, nibbling away at the cuffs, as bright emeralds peered up at him and her fox ears twitched nervously, getting closer and closer until she froze in front of him.
Watching.
Waiting.
“What’s wrong, little one?” he whispered, not wanting to scare her off. “You can’t sleep?”
She glanced down and then back up at him, silent.
“Do you want to sit with me?”
She climbed up onto his lap, sitting there quietly, her ear pressed against his heart, her fingers searching out and rolling the fabric of his shirt.
He cupped his hands against her side, holding her there, keeping her close.
Safe.
Protected.
They sat in the silence, only the feasting of the fire to be heard.
Raz couldn’t recall the last time that Ren had sat with him like this. It had been so long, the boy so small. Back when he was so innocent, so ignorant to the cruelties that the world had in store for them all.
So many of which this girl on his lap had already faced.
A child who had already been beaten down by life.
So young.
So small.
So resilient.
“Sakura, do you know what your name means?” He didn’t wait for a response, knowing he wouldn’t receive one. “It means cherry blossom. And do you know what they represent? Rebirth and death. Beauty and violence. They represent life.” He pulled her closer and rested his cheek on the top of her head, breathing her in. “You should have never stepped foot into my home. You should have died out there on the road long before you made it anywhere near the north. But you didn’t. You lived, and you’re alive now, and you’re going to continue to live. You’re going to get bigger and smarter and stronger. You’re going to grow into a beautiful woman who gets to make her own choices. This isn’t the den, remember that. What they think or want doesn’t matter here. This is your home now, and they no longer have control over you. No one does. Only you. Do you understand?”
The girl yawned in response.
“You’re tired. Go to bed, Sakura. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She pulled herself up and took the man’s face in her hands, kissing the scar where his eye had once been. “Good night, Raz,” she whispered and crawled from his lap, heading back to bed.
He swallowed hard watching her go, his heart aching as she took a piece of it with her in the same way that Ren had years before. A piece that was now all hers. One he would never get back.
One he never deserved to have the chance to give away in the first place, let alone a second.
But since he had, he would have to make it worth their while.
Raz would go to sleep that night and wake the next morning wondering where that scared, quiet girl had run off to and where this wild and fearless one had come from.