"When Storm Yuna's essence entered you..." He paused, struggling to continue. He quickly composed himself, meeting my confused gaze before he continued.
"You went into shock and died. Your 'friend' James had to use a large amount of healing magic to resuscitate you before Haru was able to stabilize your organs and body functions long enough to contact your parents."
"Who came to help?" I needed to hear it with my own ears, some type of confirmation that my father had been the voice I heard that urged me to give up.
"Your mother. She arrived with a team of medics and you were transferred back home. You were in a coma and needed constant monitoring until yesterday. She's been by your side the majority of the time," Yoshi explained.
I frowned, fidgeting with my hands in my lap. Uru moved slightly to rest her head in my lap in a show of comfort. I smiled, petting her softly.
"Oh!" I realized something.
"What's wrong?" I was intrigued by the concern in his voice.
"My father was the one who wanted me to give up, wasn't he?" I whispered.
"You heard that?" Yoshi looked sad at the thought.
"Yes," I replied, remembering the voice that didn't hold an ounce of emotion. I could already envision the happiness that would blossom on his face with my death. Then, nobody would be able to bring down his reputation and status with the constant reminder of my existence.
The other part of me was even more depressed about that situation. It broke my heart that the side of me that had always craved a father’s love was robbed of such a comfort.
"Are you and your father on bad terms?" Yoshi inquired.
Uru growled before I could even answer.
I smirked at her defending me, petting her till she calmed. Having her with me in the flesh was helping to calm my anxiety and nerves. Also, now that I'd been introduced to Yoshimitsu, I wasn't as scared to be alone with him as I’ve been before.
"If you haven’t guessed already or heard about it during your stay here before...Storm's passing, I should probably tell you I’m known as the disgrace of the Arashi family. I'm their only child and I'm human. Not a shifter like my mother or a great magician like my extra-loving father. Because of what I am, it has been really hard for my father to achieve his goals. He worked twice or maybe three times as hard to gain the seat of power he holds today and blames all his struggles on me."
It felt nice to vent about my past and it also helped delay the conversation I knew I would have to have in order to figure out what was going on with me.
Yoshimitsu nodded, encouraging me to continue. I gave him a small smile.
"Because of this, I was always treated like a burden. I didn't get spoiled for being the only child of strong parents, and I wasn’t given special training and opportunities at an early age, like others I knew. I did everything on my own. I would sneak into the shrine teaching hall and listen to the instructors teach the other shifter students. Little by little, I taught myself how to read and eventually write. By the age of ten, I started sword dancing with my senpai, Hakua.
“Right before all this happened with Storm and the watch, I got into an argument during family dinner and confronted my father." I paused, giving Yoshi time to process my words.
"Hakua was both my trainer and friend, but my father forced her to move to the outskirts of Homatomashi, which meant no more training. He said there were skilled shifters who deserved her lessons there. Not a pathetic human like me who should do what other humans do and go to medical school. I basically said what I had to say and walked away. That was the last time I saw him. I don't regret what I said. I just wished I had someone to fight for me. To defend me for once and say 'Hey, the way you're treating her isn't fair or right,' but no one ever did anything. Everyone agrees with his opinions about me and judges me for it. They don't know the real me or appreciate the hard work I do. No one cares." I had to laugh and give myself a mental pat on the back for all I’d accomplished despite the deterrents and obstacles thrown at me.
It was just amusing how my father complained all the time about how he had to work harder because of me, but didn't care that because of him and his judgment, I had to put in so much more effort to become the person I was today.
"I care," Yoshi whispered.
I looked up into his eyes; the gold lines that danced in his irises were more prominent than before. He looked upset, and my other memories told me he was absolutely furious based on his body language.
"I've met your father with Storm and the others and I'm rather impressed that you are nothing like him. I can see a huge resemblance to your mother, though. I will say that man should not be in the elevated position he is in. He complains that his life has been hard because of having a human child? Not only did he make your life just as hard or even harder, he's ruined your name for the sake of gaining sympathy!" Yoshi’s tone was accusing.
"You’re the first person to see my point of view. Sad to say, he is my father and my ancestors must have felt sorry for me and gave me 99.9% of my mom’s genes to make up for him in my life. They definitely took pity on me." I grinned, thinking it was rather funny if our ancestors did watch out for us and took pity on a little human like me.
"I'm glad you didn't take after him at all. You should be proud of raising yourself to be the humble woman I see before me."
My cheeks grew hot from his praise, having rarely received compliments from anyone. I'd be lucky if James said I was hot in sexy lingerie when he was sober.
"Thanks," I mumbled, glancing down to Uru still laying in my lap, looking relaxed as her tail moved back and forth.
"You feel a little better now?" Yoshi asked.
I met his soft gaze. He must have wanted me to vent a little so I could then focus on the situation at hand. "Yes. I think I'm um...me...again? I think."
"Crimson?"
"Yes. I remembered my parents and now I don't feel confused. What’s going on with me?" Now that I felt slightly more like myself, I needed to find out as much information as I could before I got confused again.
"We're rather stumped on exactly what happened to you, Crimson. You shouldn't have been able to open Storm's watch to begin with. Even we couldn’t get it open," Yoshi revealed.
No one can open it but me? The revelation reminded me of what Storm had said near the cherry blossom tree.
"Yes. The pocket watch was mine," Storm confessed.
"Yours? But wait. The initials were C.S.," I pointed out.
"I'm aware of that. I got it engraved the morning of my death," Storm admitted.
"Whose initials are they?"
"Ours," she revealed.
I was meant to open the watch, but why? Storm knew she was going to die and got it engraved that morning, but she couldn't remember why. There had to be a reason.
Yoshi waited for me to meet his gaze before speaking. "That night, Malachi mentioned seeing you in the alleyway and Akihiro went to make sure you were okay once we lost that thief's trail. He saw you open the pocket watch and when we arrived seconds after, you were already falling to the ground. Many people have tried claiming powers from the deceased and it always ends up in failure. There are only two possible outcomes when you fail: insanity or death. Adding in the fact you’re a human only made the stakes higher. No offense," he added the last part quickly, making me smile.
The mention of Malachi and Akihiro piqued my interest. Something, possibly Storm’s memories, told me that Malachi was the black male who had been the last to run past and called me ‘Hottie.’ As for Akihiro, his name called up the image of the green-eyed male who'd warned me not to open the watch.
"Why didn't I di— actually, I did die. But if I was dead, how could Haru resuscitate me? Couldn't he have done the same for Storm?"
Yoshi looked sad at my words and I immediately wanted to apologize.
"I'm sorry if that came out offensive."