Work Text:
The first time Hisui met Setsuna wasn’t a memory he could recall but a story affectionately passed between his parents and her mother. It was the night of the new moon when the twins were born, and everyone anxiously awaited news from Grandma Kaede’s home. Hisui doubted his one-year-old self was interested in more than sleeping next to Kirara or trying to escape his minders’ sight long enough to reach for the leather straps of Hiraikotsu. But his father insisted on that night that he was the most attentive of any of them, looking to the lightless sky as if he were waiting for something.
And then Lord Sesshо̄maru came.
Descending from the sky in rippling white and vaporous gold, he landed in the front yard outside of the chief's home within the heart of the taijiya compound and waited as everyone filed outside. His father told him that Hisui must have been waiting for Sesshōmaru's arrival, but no one could accurately depict what the daiyōkai lord thought of it. Without a word, he led them from the outskirts of the village to where Grandma Kaede’s hut sat at the base of a sloping hill. Even from outside, a baby's loud wails pierced the somnolent night. So loud that Hisui’s father hurried to cover his ears, fearful he would burst into tears from the noise.
Yet, his eldest sister Kin'u told him he didn’t cry, despite being so prone to it at such a young age. Instead, he stared with wonder when they were allowed into the hut. The sheer number of their group engulfed every inch of space, but with the windows open and a cooling tonic given to his Aunt Rin and her children, there was little danger.
His father brought him to his mother once she finished cleaning her hands from the assist with the afterbirth. So taken with her from a young age, she said it surprised everyone when Hisui’s attention wasn’t on her but the swaddled babes cradled in his Aunt Rin’s arms.
The wailing one with silver hair, Hisui now knew to be Towa.
Yet, the other, dark-haired and lost to sleep with a little smile, was Setsuna.
His second elder sister Gyokuto said when his aunt introduced the children to him, he clumsily patted the top of Towa’s head just as Gyokuto did to him when he cried. While it didn’t do much to ease Towa's weeping, it did quiet her wails into confused whines.
But when he asked what he did when acknowledging Setsuna, for he couldn't forsee a life wherein he didn't acknowledge her presence in some way, his sisters shared a laugh while his chuckling father pulled his reluctant mother in into a one-armed hug. Hisui almost thought he heard his father say that it was funny in hindsight. With a roll of her eyes and a slight quirk of her lips, his mother seemed to agree begrudgingly.
Blinking confusedly, with Kirara sleeping in his lap, Hisui supposed it was better that he didn’t remember.