Torn Scars [Private]

Taji hadn't slept much the night before. Her older sister had found her sitting at the kotatsu, slumped over besides some half prepared herbs. Two mugs of cold tea sat on the table's surface, forgotten.

Looking over the scene before her, Anzu frowned and shook Taji awake.

"Taj, what are you doing?"

The younger of the two women sat up, blinking a few times to get her bearings. "An-chan?" She looked around rapidly, recalling the events of the night prior. "Where's Riku?"

"She isn't here?" Anzu frowned. "It's not unusual for her to leave early, Taji."

"No, she didn't leave early, she left night before last and hasn't returned since." Taji stood, distraught. To busy herself, she began clearing the table.

Anzu helped by stringing up the semi-scattered herbs to hang over the fire pit in the kitchen. The portable fire pit was used to dry out herbs and, when needed, to cook as well.

Taji hung a pot over the fire to boil water for rice.

"What happened?" Anzu questioned her sister. It couldn't be a usual visit to the Ryuutei compound, that was common enough that Taji didn't worry. Despite being so permissive, however, her younger sister kept close tabs on Riku's comings and goings.

"We have made a mistake by keeping the girls from their family." The younger sibling kept on the move, measuring rice into the pot of water and covering it, selecting herbs for morning tea.

"The Hozuki?" Anzu stiffened.

"Kishi." Taji took some eggs from a basket on the counter and rinsed them off.

Anzu's face paled. "She was upset, I take it."

"Anzu, the girl hasn't seen her uncle in six years. She hasn't had anyone to help her deal with memories of her father. She thinks we've been trying to erase him."

Taji looked down at her hands. The eggs were broken.

Anzu remained quiet.

"She deserves an explanation. I told her my part, but she needs to hear it from you as well." Taji's voice was firm.

"Alright."

Breakfast was laid out in relative quiet. Tsughi joined them at the table.

"Ba-chan? Kaa-san?" Tsughi looked between her mother and aunt. "What's wrong?"

"We've done some things that need to be talked about. We've hurt you and your sister terribly," Taji explained.

"Hurt me? You've never..." the girl's face scrunched I'm confusion.

"Do you remember when your father died?" Anzu asked.

Tsughi frowned. "Yeah... It hurt a lot, but that wasn't your fault. Onee-san was there for me and she helped me a lot. And then Anzu-oba came and helped everyone."

"That's not all there was to it." Taji took a breath to steady herself. "I wasn't there for either of you. I was consumed by my own feelings and left you two to suffer alone until Anzu knocked some sense into you. You were both hospitalized because of how badly I neglected you."

"We were all sick, Kaa-san. How can that be your fault?"

"You got dehydrated. Your bodies began to shut down and reverted to half liquid forms... I wasn't taking care of you properly so I didn't know until I almost lost you." Tears flowed down Taji's face at the admission.

Tsughi sat quietly, unsure of what to say.

"After that, we didn't talk to you about your father or take you to see his family at all."

At that moment, the youngest of the Mizushima family began to feel upset. "We have more family?"

"I'm home!" Riku's voice startled everyone.

Tsughi stood and ran to her elder sister, hugging her tightly. "Onee-san!" she wailed.

Riku hugged Tsughi tightly and then began patting her down for injuries. "Tsu-chan? What's wrong?"

"We have more family and we haven't even seen them in years!"

Riku held her sister tightly, understanding immediately what was going on. This, at least, meant that Taji was serious about doing better.

"It will be okay, Tsughi. Kishi-oji will be happy to meet you."

"You've seen them?"

"Only Kishi-oji-san. I got curious and went to go see our old home and he recognized me. Come, Tsu-chan, I think we all need to talk." Riku guided her sister back into the dining room. She nodded towards their mother and aunt before taking a seat besides Tsughi.

Taji watched her daughters, nervous. Anzu appeared calm, but that was likely a fascade.

Riku simply poured herself some tea. "If we're going to move forward, we need to stop pretending Tou-san never existed and stop ignoring our family."

Tsughi looked at her quietly, mind spinning from the rapid changes. She hadn't been prepared for any of this information.

"Tou-san is still important to me and I don't want to forget him," Riku continued, "but it's been years since we talked about him. This can't go on. We can't shame him like this."

"We understand," Anzu spoke up. "It was selfish of me to take you all and carry on as if they didn't exist. I had my own reasons to leave, but there was no reason for me to keep you from them.

"My ex husband was a Hozuki as well. After we separated, I moved away and kept my distance. When I brought you to live with me, I never thought Taji would want to go back."

"And us?" Tsughi asked, frowning.

"I was more worried about your physical health and mental stability at the time. It was also easier not to go back, not to think about all that went wrong."

Riku's hands clenched.

Taji bowed. "I am so, so sorry."

Anzu began to look contrite as well.

"I don't want your apologies. I want you to do better. No amount of guilt will make what happened go away. I just want to move past this and heal."

Everyone agreed.

"Now, can we eat please?" Riku asked, exasperated and coming to the ends of her tolerance for being emotional.

Everyone was more than happy to move on to lighter topics and eat.

[//Thread Exit]