User blog:Ore-samma/My Karakasa-Obake

Hello Fans! Ore-Samma here!

This was written in appreciation for a fan!

Thank you so much for your comment on my other story!

Ever your servant-

Ore-Samma

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“Kaneko! Really!” my Uncle huffed. “You ought to replace that old umbrella.”

“I can’t, uncle.” I replied. “It belonged to my mother, your sister.” I looked up at the delicate waxed paper masterwork.

“Kaneko, that was just a silly little souvenir that my sister bought on a whim at the festival of the cherry blossoms. It wasn’t even meant to protect against the rain!”

I nodded, but didn’t listen. I always used my mother’s paper umbrella for days when it rained. And it rained often.

I couldn’t even remember the number of times that I had to make small repairs to my treasured keepsake, or renew the wax to keep the thin paper waterproof.

The umbrella had a depiction of a starry sky, and a space with no color to depict the moon when the sunlight shone through.

A thin pink scarf was attached near the apex on the underside that would flutter in windy days like this. A beautiful banner that seemed to draw everyone’s attention to the uniqueness of my treasure.

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“Kaneko! Oda! You two be careful!” One of the city guards called out. “There’s a heavy thunderstorm coming! The shops are going to close soon!”

We hurried along, buying the weeks vegetables and other items and were just beginning to head back when a flash of light blinded my vision, followed by an ear splitting explosion.

“Woah! Did you see that Kaneko!” My uncle cried out.

I blinked the after glare from my eyes and looked to where my uncle was pointing.

There, one of the taller houses got struck by lightning and was beginning to burn. I turned to my uncle and handed him the groceries.

“Uncle! Quick! Get to the house, I will help them put out the fire!”

“Oh no you don’t!” My uncle shouted! “That’s exactly how my sister and brother and law-”

His words were cut off by another flash of lighting and thunderous explosion.

“Go!” I shouted. “Unless you think you can climb up there and help! Lives are at stake, and I’m not about to abandon people who need help!”

My uncle scowled and shook his head. “No! I am staying right here! You go and be a hero if you have to!”

I nodded and folded my mother’s umbrella and rushed over to the building that was now burning in earnest.

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“Someone! Please! My daughter is in there!” A frantic Holstaur screamed. Her face was burned badly, as was her arms and legs. A group of people were trying to enter the house, but the flames were too intense at the entrance.

“Where is she?”

The Holstaur whipped towards me. “Her bedroom is on the second floor! She was hiding from the thunder! Please! Save her!” She wailed, sinking to her knees.

I slung my mother’s umbrella around my shoulder and behind my back, took a running heads start and jumped, and climbed the wall of the house.

What was I thinking? I thought. The heat was just as intense climbing the wall of the building as it was at the house’s entrance. Still I climbed, desperate to get higher.

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“There! There! That’s her window!” The mother Holstaur screamed. “Oh! Oh please! Save her!”

I paused at the window, there was so much smoke I couldn’t see. I smashed my hand into it-

“OwwwWWwww!” I cried out as the window shattered, slicing my hand and arm in the process.

Immediately smoke started to billow out, as well as a feeble coughing sound. I tried to delicately make my way through leftover shards, but I lost my balance and tumbled in, feeling lashes of intense pain streak across my side and back.

No time! I rushed in and threw the bed from the floor to see a small Holstaur girl trembling and coughing.

Without thinking I picked her up and screamed, praying that someone would catch me as I ran and jumped out of the room that had just begun to swept up in flames.

The world swayed and became muffled as I fell and tumbled, I heard people screaming, saying “catch him! Catch him!”

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The chaos swirled around and I felt my body being jostled around. I coughed, and coughed.

“Did she make it? Is she alive? Did I do it?” I remember mumbling, but couldn’t understand what was being said to me.

Eventually, I became aware of my surroundings. It seemed like the entire neighborhood gathered around me. I looked about and realized that I was heavily bandaged as an Arachne was busy at work suturing a large gash on my arm.

“Thank heavens there wasn’t any glass in this cut!” She breathed as she continued to stitch me up with her silk and needle.

“The girl?” I said.

“She’s fine. You did it!” My uncle said, edging into my view.

“Oh! Oh! Thank you! Oh my God! I don’t know what I would have done, if- if!” The Holstaur mother cried, squeezing me tight with one arm, and her daughter with the other.

“There. All done.” The Arachne breathed, and began to bandage the fresh suture with a batch of fresh silk. She looked at me with a somber face. “What is your name?”

“Kaneko.” I coughed, still trying to catch my breath from being squeezed like no tomorrow from the Holstaur mother.

“Kaneko, that was the bravest thing I have ever seen in my life. You are a good man!” She said straightening on her eight legs. “When you are better, please come to my tailor shop, I want to spin you some new clothes to replace your burned garments.”

“Burned garments?!?!” I cried out, realizing I had my mother’s umbrella with me. “Where-” I cried out, reaching for the strap.

“Kaneko….” My uncle said in a gruff voice, “I’m sorry….but-” He held out a sight that made me feel physically ill.

There was very little of the umbrella left. Only the main handle and few spokes, and one tuft of the parasol.

“No….” I whispered, delicately taking the smoldering keepsake back.

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The crowd slowly dispersed. Thankfully no one else was hurt in the blaze, and the Holstaur family were able to find lodgings with her extended family until the house was rebuilt.

I barely ate that night, I just stared morosely at my food, feeling my wounds throb and ache.

“Uncle, I’m going to bed.” I moaned.

“Hey, Kaneko… It’s going to be okay! Everyone thinks you are a hero! You saved that little girl when no one else could! I am certain your mother would be so very proud of you.” He sipped his tea. “You know, today, above all days… you reminded me of her so much. She had a caring heart, matched only by her bravery when she set out to help others in peril.”

“I know, Uncle.” I said nodding. “I just wish I had the sense to just leave the umbrella behind when I went after her.”

My uncle shrugged. “Kaneko, you didn’t see what everyone else saw.” That umbrella may have saved your life. As you fell, it kind of opened up, and- call me crazy, but it almost seemed like it grew five times its size. It slowed your fall, and we were able to catch you!” He sighed and placed his teacup down. “All the same, I am sure you will come to realize that saving an innocent life was more than worth it. That little girl, and her entire family will know a full and happy life, thanks to you.”

I felt a warm rush well within me, making me feel better. “Thanks Uncle,” I said and nodded and headed to bed, falling asleep as I watched the single piece parasol twirl around as I slowly spun what remained of the umbrella above me as I waited for sleep.

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“Kaneko.”

I shifted, feeling as though someone was shaking me.

“Kaneko”

I stirred and opened my eyes and gasped.

There sitting on my bed was the exact visage of my mother…. But it was strange. She was younger, and she had this funny hat that looked like my umbrella with a long pink scarf wrapped around her neck.

“Mom?” I whispered.

The woman shook her head, “I am Aiko.” She gestured to her body. “But I knew your mother when she loved me, but more than her….” She leaned forward to me “....I know you…. Keneko, the one who loved me most of all.”

It was too much. Her gesture, mannerisms, speech, even her voice was too much like my mothers.

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I felt my eyes burn with tears that left ice-cold streaks on my face. The pain from my fresh cuts dug into my body and were magnified by the pain of my still-fresh grief.

The nostalgia, the warmth exuding from Aiko conflicted with the agony of a loss…. that was so suddenly soothed by a sense of reclamation from this desperately needed apparition….

“Aiko….” I whispered as I leaned into her arms, feeling her gently stroke my body that was wracked by agony two-fold. "It hurts.... it hurts so much...."

“There, there my dearest one.” She whispered, taking me deeper into her arms. “You have been such a good boy, so strong and brave. And I am overjoyed to see you grow into the fine young man you are today.”

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I noticed the folds of her umbrella close upon us, and the scarf unwound itself from her neck and around me.

“Am….” I took in a deep breath and held it. “Am I dead? Is this real?” I said looking about our small space, illuminated only by a small depiction of a moon that seemed just before my face, but an eternity away.

The dim light within almost gave the atmosphere a cold vibe, but it was well-contrasted by the warmth of both our bodies.

Aiko shook her head again, “No, you are very much alive, you are very much real… as am I...” She finished her sentence with her mouth still open, drifting towards me, and I met her lips and tongue with my own.

“Kaneko….thank you” She whispered. “Thank you so much for loving me, and taking care of me.”

“I-” I took in a breath, unsure of what to say. “Of course...” I breathed. “I don’t know how- but it feels so right when I say that I love you too…. I think…. I’ve always loved you….”

Aiko cried out in rapturous joy. Her face turned a deep red and she trembled all over. “Yes…” She whispered. “And now…. Let me take care of you, like you did for me… let me love you, like you have always loved me.”

As the folds of the umbrella closed upon us completely, I felt a strange weightlessness. My hair and hers seemed to drift upon unknown, unseen currents amidst the air. Aiko alternated between her deep kisses, and kissing my body… slowly unraveling the bloodstained silk bandages.

She ran her fingers upon the sutures and began undoing them with her teeth, adding a kiss upon the wound like a signature, a delicate flourish to her ministrations. She pulled the thread with her teeth, and as it unwound from my flesh, they appeared to be swept along the intangible currents in our small space. I was slightly alarmed, wondering why she was undoing them, when I saw that they were rapidly healing into thin pink and red lines.

“There.” She breathed with a final kiss to the last wound on my chest. “You are well, happiness fills my heart, and joy fills my soul.”

I nodded, and felt a surge of heat erupt within my body. I locked my eyes with Aiko, and without speaking, we both knew…. we both knew what we wanted…. what we needed.

With gentle motions and gentle hands, like a craftsman repairing a treasured heirloom, we undressed each other. My simple lounge pants, and her exquisite black-and-gold kimono, with artwork depicting a sky filled with floating lanterns and umbrellas.

Our first coupling was a slow and gentle melding, our motions as lazy and as carefree as branches swaying to the wind.

Our passions seemed to last forever, with the climax seeming to gently sweep away both our consciousness versus knocking it cold with explosive force.

So much pleasure, so much warmth.

Oh! Her heartbeat, her arms, her hair…….

In her arms… I was home at last.