Love's Long Journey Chapter 1: Reflections
"Reflections"
The ominous wind whistling through the trees sent a chill down his spine. He raised his head to see if he could catch any strange scents, but he detected nothing out of the ordinary. He still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.
Sajin Komamura lifted his eyes to the heavens to gaze at the cold beauty of the stars. They were a comfort to him. Those celestial bodies never judged him by his appearance, like the people of Rukongai did. Komamura rose from his resting place near the river to walk down to the water's edge. Once he got there, he crouched down next to the water, and as he did, he glanced at his undulating reflection in the slow current of the water's surface, something he tried his best not to do.
The image that glared back at Komamura was that of an anthropopomorphic wolf. The fur that went from the tip of his muzzle, over his head and dog-like ears, down his neck, and into his cloak was a medium brown, with flecks of gold highlights where the moon light struck it. From the bottom of his jaw, down his throat, including what was visible of his chest, was that of a rich cream color, like that of the lightest hues of the dawn. His eyes were the color of the purest honey, which contrasted well with the darker shade of the surrounding fur. His wet wolf-like nose was a dark brown color, and he had whiskers along the line of his top jaw.
At that instant, Komamura swiped the surface of the water with his large hand, which was covered with the same brown fur as his face. With that he angrily stalked back to his previous resting place against an ancient tree, that was far enough away from the shimmering surface of the water, so he couldn't see his cursed reflection. Once he sat down, his golden eyes drifted once again to those comforting orbs of light in the sky as he remembered what took place earlier that day.
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He was walking down to the very same river he was sitting in front of now, when he caught sight of a group of people milling about the water's edge. He decided to move up river a little ways, so as to not disturb the small crowd who were doing daily chores, such as washing clothes, fetching water, and the like.
Once Komamura arrived at his desired spot of the water, he dipped his hands into the crystal clear water; he cupped some of the refreshingly cool liquid to wash his face. Just as he brought the water to his face, he heard the men from the group down river raise his voice, saying, "Dammit! Now that monster is going to get his stinking fur all in our drinking water! Why can't he have the decency to keep his beastly appearance and nasty fur away from us normal people?" The man finished with an angry grunt, which was met by nods agreement.
Then suddenly, another one of the men stood up, closed about a third of the distance between him and Komamura, and then screamed, "Yeah! Why are you even here, you monster! Why don't you go back where you came from?!?"
Then one of the women of the group joined the man and added, "You better get outta here before we have to chase you outta here, if you know what's good for you." but the look on her face showed that she really didn't believe they could do anything to make Komamura leave, what with his animalistic appearance and huge stature.
With that, the woman picked up one of the many coin-sized river rocks that littered the banks, and hurled it at Komamura, striking him right above his left eye, which left a cut where the rock struck. With blood streaming down his face, Komamura raised his arms to protect his face from the oncoming volley of stones the others in the group had thrown after the woman's initiative.
After being pummeled by the flying stones, and after amassing a handful of cuts and bruises on his face and along his arms, Komamura heard a timid voice ring out above the hateful cries of the villagers, "Stop! Can't you see you're hurting him! Stop it!" At this, Komamura and the villagers looked around to see where the voice had come from.
The villagers were the first ones to find where the voice came from, and the man who had first yelled at Komamura said, "Shinryu, you little bitch! Why are you sticking up for this monster?" Komamura caught sight of whom the man was referring to.
It appeared to be a silver-haired boy of about thirteen or fourteen. In response to the angry men and women, the boy said, "Y-y-you were h-hurting that man. H-he didn't do anything to you, a-and y-y-yet you were throwing rocks at him! So I told y-you to stop!"
One of the men replied, "Ahh, whatever! If you wanna help this monster, go right ahead! But don't expect us to help you if this monster tries to eat you!" with a cruel laugh, the man retrieved his things from the riverbank, and headed back to the village, laughing all the way. With that, the rest of the villagers started to disperse, giving the boy dirty looks all the while.
When all of the villagers were out of earshot, the boy ran up to Komamura, but stopping just short of arm's length away. Up close, Komamura thought, the boy was actually kind of handsome. He had silver hair that grew down to his shoulders, which contrasted well with his tan skin. The most remarkable thing about this boy, though, were his eyes. His eyes were two different colors, the right one being as black as the midnight sky on a starless night, the left one as blue as the river that flowed serenely beside them. Around the boy's neck was a pendant held in place by a leather cord. The pendant was made of a stone as black as the boy's right eye, engraved with an archaic insignia on it.
After a brief moment of awkward silence, the boy bowed and said, "I'm sorry for the way the villagers treated you. May name is Shinryu."
Shinryu placed his hand in front of him, which Komamura took in his own larger hand and said, "No, it is I who should thank you for stopping them from injuring me further. My name is Sajin Komamura." After their exchange, the two just stood where they were, looking at each other, realizing that both of them were outcasts because of their appearances, and feeling a sort of kinship because of it.
After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, the boy reached into the bag that hung from his shoulder, and took out what looked like a simple roll of clean, white cloth, and said, "Here, so you can bandage some of the nastier cuts. Oh, and here," the boy then took the black pendant from around his neck, and placed it on top of the cloth, "I want you to have this. I know it's not much, but I want you to have it."
Totally surprised by this unexpected act of kindness, Komamura just stared at the boy for a moment, and then stuttered, "Y-you don't have to do this, I-I'm used to people like that. I can't take these from you, boy!"
Then the boy said, "It's okay, I want you to have them, and please, call me Shinryu." And with that Shinryu placed the roll of cloth and the pendant on the ground at Komamura's feet and walked off, headed in the direction of the village. Once Komamura lost sight of the boy among the trees, he bent over and picked up the items, and once he straightened, he slipped the pendant over his head, making sure not to catch his wolf-like ears and said, "Thank you...Shinryu."
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Komamura was still looking at the stars, fingering his pendant, and with a slight smile on his black lips he said, "Thank you, Shinryu."