Ishimaru's POV:
I was searching for my Okasan's favourite flowers when something red in the corner of my eye grabbed my attention. Standing up I held on tightly to the bouquet of blooming colours and made my way to the strange-looking flower. I hadn't seen it before, so, struggling with the bundle nearly as big as I was, I reached for the peculiar specimen. After getting ahold of the stem I tugged on it until it snapped, falling onto the grass and getting all manner of pretty petals from my bouquet stuck in my long gold curls. Grinning from ear to ear I got back up, nearly falling over again but happy nonetheless.
Running over to our Minka, I said a quick hello to father who was busy making a Kijin for the Onikoroshi down in the village. "I used the ore you found yesterday Manjushage!" father said to me smiling. "Was it good ore Otosan?" I asked hoping the ore would make a Kijin fine enough to be sold. "Its wonderful Manjushage!". I squealed in happiness as he showed me the shining Kijin he had made with my ore. It was a fine blade that would likely sell for a high price, after all, they were very hard to make and only the Onikoroshi could wield them. After he had placed the Kijin in its matching sheath I turned to our Minka when I was scooped up from the ground by a pair of rough calloused hands. "Now where are you off to with all those flowers?" Otosan asked me curiously, walking over to the veranda where I tied up and hung my flower bundles to be dried off in the sun. Giggling as he put me down gently I said: "I'm making a new tea flavour!". You really liked the one I made the other day so I thought I could mix all of our favourite floral teas to make one really REALLY yummy one!" I said practically yelling by the end. Laughing, Otasan said: "You're so grown up for a 6-year-old, soon you'll be able to go with me to the village!"
Ever since I had learned how to walk my parents always told me to never go down the mountain because bad things were hiding in the forest. I never knew what they meant, it couldn't have been that dangerous if Otasan went once a week and always came back fine. We lived at the top of Hirayama, which Otasan told me means flat mountain. "How can a mountain be flat?" I asked confusedly. He explained to me that ours was different from a normal mountain because at the top it's completely flat rather than a sharp peak like all the other mountains around here. Because of its strange shape and placement, it was the perfect habitat for all sorts of flowers, even some rare ones that had nearly gone extinct. I don't mind that we're the only ones up here, I rarely get lonely and I'm happy being with only my Otasan and Okasan.
Going over to my small box filled with all the Kumihimo Okasan had made for me I took out two, one for the bundle of flowers and one for the new flower I hadn't seen before. I never liked using normal string or twine because it would hurt my fingers and didn't look good, unlike the Kumihimo which was pretty and even supposed to bring good luck! Tying up the bundle of flowers with a white and blue one, I thought of the new specimen I had found over in the field that I was going to ask Okasan about.
Ever since I was little I would always go out to the fields surrounding our Minka and pick any flowers that looked or smelled nice, sometimes even new ones that had caught my attention and sparked my curiosity. My favourite thing to do was make floral teas for Otasan and me (sometimes Mr Tanikawa too when he came to visit) using the flowers in the fields, especially if I had dried them in the sun making them taste and smell even better. Because of my hobby, I ended up knowing quite a bit about flowers, things like appearance and smell, their many names, which ones I could use and which ones weren't safe to consume. I also learnt about some flowers that had special abilities or could only be seen by certain races, some even described as magic, but I knew they were made-up, just like Okasan's stories.
After hanging up my bouquet to dry out in the rafters of our porch, I ran back to where I had picked the new specimen and lay down nearby to relax for the rest of the day. Throughout the afternoon, I stared up at the dazzling blue sky, watching the clouds move and shift, everchanging in the wind until they formed a shape that resembled something I had seen or heard of, only to disappear and create something new altogether.
I stood up when I heard my Otasan yelling out for me to come and have dinner with him on our Minka's porch so we could watch the sunset together and wait for Okasan to wake up. Breathing in deeply I ran towards the scent of fresh fish, egg, mushroom, and even pork! I can't believe it! My favourite food was pork and I rarely got to eat it seeing as it had to be carried from the village to our home before it went off, a difficult task that was quite costly if not achieved. I grinned at the scent of all the food Otasan had prepared for us, my mouth beginning to water just thinking about it. With an extra burst of speed I sprinted over to our stairs when rather than using them, I leapt onto the porch like a cat. I plopped down onto a pillow at the low table that had already been set for two and stared wide-eyed at the delicious, tempting food, shaking with restraint to not jump up and stuff it all in my mouth at once.
"Manju-" Otasan started not noticing me seated at the table behind him until I began giggling thinking how oblivious he was. "How on earth did you get here so fast!?" He yelled whilst jumping up from surprise. "I wasn't that fast silly!" I said still smiling, when he replied; "I didn't even notice you Manjushage...". He shook his head, looking at me with a bewildered face and trying to calm his nerves. "What's wrong Otasan?" I asked no longer laughing but confused by his reaction. Snapping back to reality with a few blinks he said; "Nothing Manjushage, now wipe that drool off your mouth."
With both of us smiling and the sky changing colour, Otasan put the food on the table and we both sent up a prayer thanking the gods for our meal, then hastily grabbed our chopsticks ready to dig in.
After cleaning up all our plates and food scraps, we looked at the sun that was now starting to dip just below the horizon from our porch. Both of us seated comfortably on a cushion and groaning slightly from the large and delicious meal we had just eaten, we relaxed and quietly watched the sunset together. Small rays of light peeked between the trees and landed on the flowers as the sun hid behind the densely packed forest below our secluded meadow, surrounding the edges and clinging to the sides of the mountain so thick it got dark within them even during the day.
Sighing with content I looked upwards to where the sky was, a beautiful gradient mix of colours that faded into each other so smoothly it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. Closest to the sun it was a bright, blinding yellow that made you have to squint a little, whilst furthest away it was a deep dark blue that was slowly starting to reveal little clusters of shining stars. In the middle, it was a mix of purples, pinks and oranges that all blended into each other making all sorts of different hues so pretty I had no words to describe each of them, nor the time to think as it wasn't long before they began to grow fainter, duller and disappeared into the night.
By the time the last of the beauty of the sunset had faded my stomach was no longer bloated and I could stand up without feeling completely stuffed to the brim with food, Otasan also feeling this way. I was about to ask him how long until Okasan would be getting up when I heard footsteps inside of our Minka along with the sound of soft fabrics rubbing against each other. Grabbing onto the door, Otasan gently slid it open, somehow making it practically silent rather than when I used it which often ended with a loud bang as I tugged it too hard or fast.
"I guess I'll go inside then" spoke Otasan, standing up and walking towards the doorway. On his way through he gave Okasan a quick kiss on the lips which made me pretend to gag. My parents laughed at this, Otasan wrapping an arm around Okasan's shoulders and pulling her close where she proceeded to lay her head on his shoulder.