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dum spiro spero (while i breathe, i hope)
D espite the exhaustion in her bones , for the first time since starting this (laying in dirt and letting men take turns satisfying themselves with her body, tossing coins at her with filthy leers) , Mio feels happy . Food, medicine, money, seeds for their rice paddy- things for the future (a good future, a happier one) .
(She ha s been selling her body before she found the children, but back then everything was a hazy gray. She never thought about a future- what was the point of dreaming when any second could be her last? What was the point when she didn’t own anything, not even her body? Then the children came, bright smiles on dark days, colors starting to bleed into her life until she blinked and realized that all the gray was gone, and she started to dream, if only for them. Because they- still pure despite the Hell that they are force to live through - deserve happiness.)
Tightening her hold on her goods, her smile turns shy, cheeks warming (not from the fading sun) , whispering softly, “Hopeful ly he likes it.” It was money that should have been saved, stored away for another day, but when she saw it , he immediately came to mind. Open face, curious dead eyes, cold prosthetic fingers gently touching her lips- her face had flushed a bright red, and the elderly woman at the stall asked her if she was feeling okay.
(She may not know his past, but it was no secret that he has suffered. From whoever took his body, from the demons he fights, from a world that he has never truly been a part of- and he doesn’t realize it, doesn’t realize that he has been wronged, always knowing what it was like to be incomplete.
He deserves something nice, at the very least.)
“ Hyakkimaru ! Hyakkimaru ! Where are you?! ”
Panic raises in her chest (where is he, don’t tell her he’s gone, he can’t be, he’s still hurt-) as she r aces up the last few steps, getting to the top to find the children running around the ruin temple, still calling out for Hyakkimaru . “What’s wrong? ” she almost yells (panic and fear still building and building, their claws sinking into her weak flesh) .
“Mio,” Dororo cries, running up to her, “ Aniki is gone!”
“Where could he-” she stops, as realization and growing terror strikes her, “You don’t think he would have?”
Dororo , eyes blown wide with fear and realization, coming to the same (likely, knowing sweet, headstrong H yakkimaru ) conclusion , “ He would. In a heartbeat. I’m going after him!”
“Take, gather everyone and all the medicine,” Mio yells as she hands Dororo the goods in her arms, rushing inside. Getting into the room, she drops to her knees, pulling up the floor boards, collected swords dimly gleaming in the dying light .
(She remembers watching the samurai burn her village to ash and dust , watching as they murdered her mother and father, both screaming at her to run, run, don’t look back, run run run . Even now, after all these years, the sight of a sword makes her sick to her stomach, blood splattering across her vision. But the children want to collect them, and she can’t deny them anything, so she always turns her head away, refusing to touch one.)
She carefully pulls out a few, handing some to each of the children and Dororo , before gathering the rest into her arms. ( Hyakkimaru is fighting, injured , for her and the children; she can swallow her past for him.)
“ Mio?”
She smiles as Dororo and Take, willing her hands to stop shaking (what if they’re too late, what if all they find is his spilled blood and lifeless corpse, if they even got that much, what if-) . “ Hyakkimaru needs our help.”
“Are you sure? He’s fighting a demon.”
She nods, “We can’t let him die.” (There’s a graveyard in each of them, made up of all the people they have lost, and she refuses to let a boy who asks for nothing but should get the world be added to it.) Standing, tightening her grip on the swords, Mio looks at Dororo , “Do you know where he is?”
“Vaguely,” the child nods, “the Monk told me how to find it.”
“Lead us, please.”
Off they went, a band of children carrying swords and medicine ( and each other when the land became too rough for those with one or no legs to wobble on) following a young girl and another child into the forest. Deeper and deeper they went, the light fading completely into night, until the sound of grinding dirt and sand, of something large (and dangerous, oh so dangerous, and Hyakkimaru is fighting it alone and injured) crashing into something, tugs at their ears . Speeding up (running, running, praying that it wasn't too late) , reaching the edge of the tree line, Mio feel s her blood freeze in her veins, her heart suddenly stopping in her chest (so focused on what’s in front of her that she doesn’t realize that it’s starting to rain) .
Between the demon’s giant pinchers is Hyakkimaru , swords braced against them, a leg caught in the monster’s fangs. Horrified, she could only watch as the monster bites down and pulls, shattering the wood brace. Hyakkimaru (smart, resourceful Hyakkimaru ) pulls away , revealing a blade that he promptly stabs into the monster’s mouth, green blood spraying everywhere. Could only watch as he flips into the air, could only scream out his name alongside the children and Dororo as he came back down, decapitating the beast in one clean slice. (Dimly she realizes the rain, just as it stops.)
She drops the swords in her hands, running to the edge of the hole, gr a bbing one of Hyakkimaru’s hands a s he pulls himself out of it, hissing in pain , the children and Dororo right behind her . “ Hyakkimaru ,” she drops to her knees, dropping his hand so she could cup the boy’s face ( the same way he cupped hers) , “don’t scare us like that!”
“Mio, his leg!”
His leg starts to violently twitch and shak e , and Dororo and Take drop their bundles to pull off the makeshift weapon. They watche in surprised horror as bone (solid and real) grow, muscle and blood and veins following right behind it, skin (pale white as the moon) wrapping and covering them. Rolling onto his back (her hands sliding down to his shoulders) , Hyakkimaru gives a curious flex, his toes curling perfectly (like they have always been there, not just grown out of thin air) .
“Does this happen every time he kills a demon ? ” Take whispers to Dororo.
“Sometimes . ” Dororo whispers back.
Mio pays them no mind, all her attention on Hyakkimaru , who meets her gaze with his own blank one. She leans down, pressing their foreheads together, cupping his cheeks, whispering, “ I was so scared .” His hands come up to grip her own, leaning into them, his fingers skimming her knuckles (like she’s precious, like she’s something to be treasured despite the sins on her flesh) .
“Mio.” (So rough, so scratchy, from no use.)
“ He said your name!”
“That’s the first time he’s spoke!”
“ Hyakkimaru ,” she replies back (her face flushed red, butterflies dancing wildly in her chest), “ Let’s move into our new home .”
The children all scream with joy, racing inside to claim sleeping spots. She giggles, and she can feel a soft smile underneath her fingertips. “Oh”, she exclaims, remembering, “Dororo! Could you bring me that package I gave you earlier?”
The curious child comes over, handing over the package. Hyakkimaru sits up, scooting over to press against her side, making her blush d a rken a t the warmth and closeness (honestly, she is starting to grow concern about how easily this boy make her blush) . Underneath curious gazes, she unwraps the package just enough to pull out the neatly folded gift before handing back to the child . “I was able to get more food and medicine and,” pausing for a dramatic moment, she couldn’t help but grin as the waiting children, both in and out of the hut, twitched with nervous excitement , “I got rice seeds.”
Mio ’s grin only got bigger as, Hyakkimaru cove red his ears , the cheers of the children r inging through the trees, his lip jutting out into what she could only call a childish (cute) pout. Watching Dororo run back to Take and others, all of them speaking at once about where to put things (about their golden seeds and how they should start planting them) for a moment , she turns back to Hyakkimaru , gently remov ing his hands (those butterflies starting to hum underneath her skin again) , so she could wrap the gift around his head, covering his ears, finishing it with a bow. “There,” she says, giggling as he gingerly reaches up to touch the cloth (a rich evening blue, the color of the sunset when just before it completely bleeds into the night) .
“I s aw it and I thought of you .”
Cold fingers touch ing her lips, that rough voice gently says, “Thank you.” Hyakkimaru stands up, gently gripping her hands and pulling her up to her feet. Closing the distance between them, he presses their foreheads together, closing his eyes, just taking this moment of peace in (who knows when it’ll come again) .
“Hyakkimaru.”
He opens his eyes, waiting.
“When you and Dororo leave,” because they’ll leave (because they are good people in a bad world, who give more than they take; because Hyakkimaru still needs to get the rest of his body back) , “promise me you two will always come back.” (Home, come back home, come back to them, come back to her.)
“Promise,” he breaks part way through the word, stumbling over it. He intertwines their fingers, raising them up. “Home,” he says, as he presses his cheek to their tangled fingers.
“ Home,” she agrees, feeling everything settled into place (feeling that everything was going to be okay) .