'Leave us!' ordered Seimei Myōjin, the man who was at the head of the Myōjin clan, father of Heihachi Myōjin.
Sitting on his legs on the floor, the latter kept his head lowered under the stare of the man sitting across of him. From the corner of his eyes, Heihachi saw his mother, his cousins and the elders of the clan leave the room, closing the door quietly behind them.
His anxiety doubled as he found himself all alone with his father.
He couldn't help but flinch when the older male stood up. Heihachi found the man's presence even more crushing in this position. He felt so small under his father's shadow; so fragile.
Without any warning, Seimei Myōjin slapped him across of the face with the back of his hand.
The impact was such that the younger male got knocked down by the blow and he could taste blood in his mouth.
Heihachi was so shaken that he remained motionless for one long minute, before he pushed himself up into a sitting position, wiping off the blood which escaped the corner of his mouth, keeping his eyes down in submission.
His father's action didn't surprise him much and he knew that there was more to come.
'Decidedly, you inspire me only great disappointment!' muttered Seimei Myōjin when, he was done beating the younger male. Striding his way up to the door, he paused momentarily, to state, 'Tomorrow, you'll take my place at the head of the clan whether you like it or not! What a pitiful leader you'll make!'
On these words, he left the boy to himself.
Heihachi didn't move from where he was, lying on his side on the wooden floor.
His body had already been hurting him from all the blows Shūsaku, Kotetsu and Suguru had laid upon him on the previous day, but now, it felt even worse. He had the impression that his ankle was twisted.
And that heaviness in his heart...
He had no pain remembering the last time his father had bashed him up like this. It had been when he was eight years old.
As per the tradition, when the children of the newest generation reached a certain age, a ceremony was organized in which they presented, all together, the animal form they have chosen for themselves in front of the whole clan.
And he had chosen a bat.
His father had taken him apart into the forest away from the ceremony and trashed him up, because he considered that the animal form Heihachi had chosen wasn't worthy of the future head of the Myōjin clan; his father would have preferred a predator.
As far as Heihachi could remember, he had always felt different from the other members of his clan.
"Why can't I have friends outside of our family domain?" he had asked his mother one day when he was six and she had replied, "We don't share the same status as the people of the village or the rest of the world. We, the Myōjin, who have an almost divine status; we don't mix with the common people! People owe us reverence; we've got nothing to do with their friendship."
The members of the clan placed themselves on a pedestal and they didn't mix with the outside people. They seemed happy to be like this.
But Heihachi, he wanted to explore the world, meet with people- other than the members of his clan- and create bonds.
And the fact that he had no friends within the clan made him want to go into the outside world even more.
Spending a lot of time alone, little Heihachi learnt to know the family domain in it's every nook and corner. And he would stealthily leave the family compound at night to wander by the nearby lake. There existed a tiny abandoned chapel over there where he took the habit of going to play, having domesticated the bats which had taken habitat in the dilapidate building.
These little animals had been his very first friends and he remembered having wished that he was a bat too, such that he could stay with them, he could fly over the lake; he could be free.
Heihachi Myōjin would feel prisoner within the walls of his family compound. He had the impression of being the princess trapped in the tower of a fairy tale.
After the ceremony, because of his animal-form choice, he was put to shame and ridiculed by the other members of the clan, especially by people of age. He became further ostracized by his cousins; but not only them, the adults of the clan ostracized him too. And his parents, who had always been cold towards him, seemed to find it hard to support his presence anymore.
He was considered as useless and was rejected by the Myōjin and this caused him to run away from the clan and give up his responsibility as future heir at the head of the family.
Instead of surrounding himself with people after that, he began to flee them. He found himself in complete solitude, alone with his insecurities and a constant feeling of insignificance.
When he met Shun Shutsuki, he finally seemed to have found his place in this world. Despite having parents and a family, he had always considered himself as an orphan. He found his real family in the red-haired girl. A lover in Hatsu.
Hatsu…
He pressed his eyes shut, trying to hold back his tears.
Where are you?
***
Meanwhile...
Hatsu Sho took a look backward at Shun Shutsuki who had fallen asleep since an hour, with her head rested on Tsunan's shoulder, in the backseat.
She hadn't closed her eyes for more than a few minutes ever since they had left Toda and it was twilight by now.
The red-haired girl needed to rest.
He watched as Tsunan placed her head down onto his lap, shifting her into a lying position, to make her more comfortable. Covering her with his coat, the doctor gazed at the girl's sleeping face.
Looking back around, Hatsu stared out of the window at the scenery defiling in front of his eyes, all his thoughts going for Heihachi.
***
In the evening…
'I doubt that they allow us to meet Heihachi that easily!' declared Master Kagami as we reached the Myōjin's family compound.
This, was found at the periphery of the village Kaneshiro, in a secluded area, surrounded by forest, with a small lake nearby.
The master was right.
Our best option was to intrude ourselves into the domain to try and find Heihachi on our own.
We didn't hesitate.
The Myōjin clan's territory was pretty vast and there were probably more houses within the walls of the family compound than in the entire village. Most of the houses were of Japanese traditional style, with only a sparse few made of concrete.
The domain was utterly silent in some areas and noisy at other places. We decided to avoid the noisy ones and we split up to try to find the dark-haired boy more quickly.
Tsunan paired up with me, while Hatsu and Master Kagami left each one on their sides.
***
A moment later…
Heihachi Myōjin's head snapped up when the door of the unfurnished room slipped open. He was sitting on the floor, with his knees brought up against his chest, his back pressed against the wall opposite of the door.
In the darkness, he couldn't see who it was until he heard Hatsu's voice, which said, 'Hai! Don't cry anymore! Your knight in shining armor is here!'
'Hatsu!' he exclaimed with exuberance, and blond male stepped into the moonlight. If he didn't have a twisted ankle, Heihachi would have jumped at him to give him a bone-crushing hug. 'You've come! Is Shun here too?'
'Yes. Tsunan and Master Kagami also.'
'Hatsu,' he said, then, shame-faced, filled with guilt. 'I'm really sorry for having hidden things from you. It's not done!'
'Well, I do hope that you're sorry like hell 'cause you're going to pay me your little secrecies and that in bed!' Hatsu told him, getting down onto one of his knees in front of the dark-haired boy.
'Big pervert!' muttered the latter, on the side.
Hatsu smiled, happy that he had had succeeded to bring the younger boy out of his depressed mood. Heihachi had seemed to be plunged in emotional distress when the blond's eyes had fell upon him from outside of the window.
He put a finger onto the dark-haired boy's lips and the latter looked at him again, meeting his eyes.
'But first, I have a question to ask you,' Hatsu told him. 'Think properly before you answer me. It's very important; you have to be perfectly honest. Heihachi, do you wish to stay here or not?'
Heihachi stared at the blond. No one had ever asked him his opinion about anything ever before. No matter what, Hatsu was aware that Heihachi shared a blood tie with these people, and the blond was taking it into consideration. Heihachi found his boyfriend truly admirable.
'No! I don't want to be here!' he declared, loudly and fearlessly. 'I want to go back with you and Shun and Tsunan and...'
His voice trailed off.
'Alright!' said Hatsu, with a grin. 'I hoped that you'd say that! I'm taking you along with me!'
He stole the dark-haired boy a kiss, before he picked him up in his arms, having noticed that the latter's ankle was twisted.
'Hatsu, what are you doing?!' exclaimed Heihachi, panicked and flushing up in embarrassment. 'I'm a guy! It's embarrassing! Put me down!'
His words fell on deaf ears.
Hatsu carried him outside of the house, smiling broadly, his eyes determined. Heihachi struggled and this caused the pain in his ribs to flare up.
The blond looked down at the younger boy when he heard the latter wince and his eyes fell onto the start of a bruise right under Heihachi's chest on the left.
'What the-'
Without any warning, he put the dark-haired boy down onto his feet. The latter stumbled a little due to his twisted ankle. Hatsu pulled the collar of the younger boy's kimono completely apart to have a look at the injury. The bruise was large and it was of a different color that all the others.
'This looks more recent! Who did this to you?' he demanded, angry. 'Is it your cou-'
'It was me!' stated a raucous voice, in Heihachi's place, in all of a sudden.
Hatsu's eyes zeroed onto the man who strode out of the line of trees towards them.
The man in question was short with broad shoulders, his skin, ivory, and his hair, black. He was clothed in a kimono, his face devoid of expression.
'I have the right to give a good correction to my unworthy son, yes?' he said, stopping a few feet away from them.
'Chichi-ue!' breathed Heihachi, his heart shuddering.
'You!' Hatsu's teeth gritted together and his hands balled up into fists. He was about to cross the distance between Seimei Myōjin and them to punch the man one for what he did to Heihachi when, the latter intervened.
Wounding his arms under Hatsu's armpits from behind, Heihachi restrained the blond by his shoulders, begging him, 'No, Hatsu! Please, don't!'
Reluctantly, the blond male stopped; he was still fuming though.
'Your friend here was ready to hit me! Is this the kind of people you go around with?!' Seimei Myōjin demanded at his son in a reprimanding tone.
Heihachi stepped back from Hatsu, declaring with guts, 'Hatsu is not a friend! He's my boyfriend!'
Hatsu stared at younger male, shocked at the latter's sudden boldness.
'How dare you? My son is not gay! Take back your words!' snarled Seimei Myōjin, furiously.
Out of the blue, came the sound of a slash from a katana, followed by that of a splash of blood, and a loud thud, as a body hit the ground.
Thank you for reading!