Work Text:
“How many times must I say it Seiji?” His fathers voice boomed so loudly he worried the force would knock him over. “You are to be the next head of the Matoba Clan, I can’t have you be this weak!”
The man who seemed as big as a house began to walk away. “I’m sorry father” Seiji had his head down, the small child doing everything in his power not to burst out in tears. “I wont disappoint you further” a response that made his father snort derisively. “I’ll-” however he was stopped short when a Shiki rushed in and whispered into his fathers ear.
“I see” he mumbled in return. “Come Seiji”
The child knew better then to question a direct order however he didn’t think his performance was so bad it warranted cancelling the lesson.
The two were whisked into a car with tinted windows and drove off at a surprising speed. The silence was thick and uncomfortable so Seiji decided looking out the window would be best. For most of the ride he could see trees or the odd Yokai running to hide from the imposing vehicle. Eventually they got to town, the local schools were ending for the day and all the kids around his age were heading home. Perhaps looking out the window was a bad idea after all.
He didn’t have much time to enjoy another bout of uncomfortable silence as they reach their destination. “The hospital?” Seiji couldn’t help but think to himself as confusion turned into worry.
“Seiji!” His father shouted and the boy was by his father's side in an Instant.
The walk to a private room was short and for the first time in his life his father looked a little nervous. He stopped outside the door and took a deep breath as he knocked. The voice that replied was soft and gentle “come in”
“Mom” The worry suddenly doubled in Seiji’s gut. Due to his training he couldn’t even remember the last time he saw her and now she was in this place? His father couldn’t possibly have opened the door any slower.
However the scene inside was calm, His mother was sitting in the bed holding a small bundle. “Come here Seiji” her smile warmed his frightened little heart. “come meet your brother” she moved so he could get a better look at the new addition to his family. He was impossibly small and a little funny looking, however Seiji knew that he would have to be the responsible older brother. He would become strong and protect him.
His father let out a stifled sob “ah he’s perfect, i’m sure he’ll grow up to up just as strong as his brother” and with that he gave his wife a hug and scooped up his new son to get a better look. Seiji felt something he wasn’t used to. There was a pain in his heart he just couldn’t place. His father never looked at him with those kind eyes. His father never smiled or laughed or doted on him. He would just need to work harder, be better and stronger then his father could ever dream.
They didn’t stay for long, his mother would be able to return later that day and apparently some preparations needed to be made. The drive back felt so much shorter and before Seiji could even ask what he could do to help he was whisked back to his training by his father’s Shikis.
He spent the rest of the day training. Just as his father walked in he finally managed to control the technique he had utterly failed that morning. “I did it! Look!” the child was grinning ear to ear.
“I beg your pardon? oh… yes I guess it’s passable.” he looked it over without caring too much. “maybe one day you’ll be able to do it without so many cracks and holes” with barely a flick of the wrist the spell was broken along with Seiji’s heart.
“Yes father” he just looked down, doing his best to not show his pain to his father.
“Your mother is home now, you are not to pester her while she is taking care of Kaname” Seiji looked up, so that was his brothers name. “when he is old enough I will expect you to help in his training” however there was a slight frown on his father face. “assuming he can even see” was whispered just loud enough for Seiji to hear.
“Yes father” Seiji replied a bit more earnestly this time. He hoped he would get to spend some time with his new brother but right now he just wanted to prove he could be useful. He just wanted his father to smile at him like he had he to his new little brother.
Months passed. Seiji continued his training with new found determination to improve. He would occasionally get to see Kaname but the visits were always too brief for his liking. Kaname spent a lot of time crying, Seiji noticed that the cries grew louder the closer a Shiki was however even hinting at that fact made his father very angry.
No matter how much he improved it never seemed to be good enough. The lessons were getting harder and harder however Seiji did his best to keep up, he would not let his father down anymore. One day after a particularity difficult lesson on binding powerful yokai to become shiki his father became so angry with his slowness that the lesson was cancelled and Seiji was sent to bed without dinner. “I cannot have my blood produce such weaklings” he shouted from down the hall. “At his age I was-” but Seiji refused to listen anymore. He placed his pillow over his ears and finally let out a frustrated sob.
“Why doesn’t he see how hard i’m working…” seiji muttered to no one in particular.
However a small laugh could be heard from the walls. “he certain is loud.”
Seiji was up and holding a small knife, he had to find the source of the noise. “whose there?”
“I’m sorry young master matoba,” a small Yokai appeared before him, bowed head and grin plastered ear to ear. “I couldn’t help but see his outburst at you… after you mastered all his spells.”
Unable to sense any malice he slowly let his guard down. “I… I was too slow for his liking, I need to be stronger.”
another giggle. “is that so? I think he’s just taking his anger out on you since your little brother has no gift”
In an instant Matoba had the knife against the yokai’s throat. “hold your tongue.”
“I figured you had guessed as much” the knife didn’t seem to bother the yokai, if anything it just made the giggle more persistent. “It truly is unfair, you didn’t choose to be born as the son for the clan leader… I bet you would rather spend you days playing with the other normal children.”
He felt his resolve waver a bit, the yokai wasn’t wrong.
“What if I told you that there was a secret path to a local park, you could go play for just one day.” the yokai continued to grin.
“F-father would be furious” Seiji managed the speak without stumbling too much.
“He’ll be furious either way.” the Yokai shrugged and pulled away from the knife. “besides he never needs to know, with my help you could fool him into thinking you aren’t feeling well… then you could go play and be back before he is any wiser.”
It was tempting, however just as he was about to decline his father could be heard complaining about the pitiful power level of his sons. “I guess I could take one day off… it wouldn’t hurt”
The yokai clapped. “excellent” the small creature reached into his pouch “tomorrow at sunrise take this… it’ll give you a small fever and then you can go and play just like any other human”
He was still full of uncertainty however his sadness and hurt kept telling him that one day off wouldn’t hurt.
The next morning he stared at the medicine. His stomach rumbled from the lack of a proper meal and he still felt hurt after listening to his father shout most of the night. After a deep breath he down the medicine and the world spun around him.
He had no idea how long it took for someone to finally check on him, it felt like an eternity. Eventually his father came and after what must have been a very loud rant stormed out of the room. Soon the world went dark and he grumbled about the yokai must have tricked him. However when the room was empty he felt himself wake up and feel fine. “good morning master Matoba, this way” The yokai bowed and waved for the boy to follow.
The plan had worked… and he didn’t even have to listen to his father shouting. The park wasn’t even that far down a hill and the kids were happily playing tag. He watched for a bit until one of them invited him over to join.
Granted he was terrible at the game, having no training for speed or endurance they eventually switched to hide and seek to give the poor new kid a chance. He played and played until the sun started to set. The other children started to leave and he knew it was about time to do the same. The yokai that had led him there was nowhere to be seen.
He could see the villa and the hill wasn’t that steep, he didn’t need some Yokai to help him back up. He started the trek back home after having had one normal happy day.
The scene he saw upon arriving back home however was not what he expected. The smell of blood was thick in the air and he could hear sobs from a person he had figured was unable to cry. As he rounded the corner his heart dropped through the floor. “mom?” he stumbled forward. Ignoring his father protests he touches her hand, cold and stiff. “m-mom?” he could hear his voice cracking though not completely sure why,it hadn’t been his first encounter with death but surely his mother was not… he looked around. Blood covered the floor and not too far was a bloody stroller his mother would carry Kaname in. His little brother was nowhere to be seen. “what hap–”
“ah you made it back” The yokai laughed. “I was hoping to end this back in the park however the look on your face was worth this miscalculation” the grin somehow widened as he dove towards the child with outstretched claws.
Before Seiji could even begin to start the spell to banish the yokai his father was up on his feet and protecting what remained of his family. “you wont take my son from me!” and with that there was a bright light and the yokai fell to the floor.
“it’s good to know the Matoba clan will come to ruin… all thanks to that weak Child… opening his heart to a yokai? You humans deserve–” before he could say anymore he turned to ash and scattered to the wind.
His fathers back looked so small, the man slowly turned to Seiji and the look in his eye set a shiver down his spine. This was his fault, he had listened to the Yokai… he had trusted it for personal gain and now his mother was dead and his brother, well he didn’t actually know but he sure wasn’t there. He closed his eyes, expecting to be hit or yelled at but what actually happened was the biggest surprise. “I’m so glad you are safe, when you weren’t in your room… after being so ill” he held the boy tight and simply sobbed. “I’m sorry for sending you to bed like that… I’m sorry for working you to the point where you got sick… I’m so sorry.”
It was too much for Seiji to bear, his father was apologizing for something that was entirely his own fault. He couldn’t find his voice to protest, he couldn’t tell his father to blame him for all this death. He just cried and vowed in his heart to never trust a yokai again. Never let them in your heart, never let someone else let yokai in their heart. He would carry this blame for the rest of his life, he refused to let anyone else suffer.
He set his mind to it, he would train to be the best exorcist he could be. No longer would he hope to be like other children. Now he vowed to protect those that could not protect themselves. He would try and gather many strong exorcists in order to obtain this dream of a world without evil yokai tricking humans.
~Menawhile~
The monk couldn’t believe his ears, the sound of a child crying so deep in this remote forest. He followed the sound to find a baby, no more then a few months old. “what are you doing out all this way young one?” the monk carefully moved over pick up the child, he didn’t seem to be injured but there was blood on his out outfit.
As carefully as he could manage he made his way back to civilization, he would make sure the boy wasn’t harmed and try to find his family. Until that day he woulds happily take care of little Kaname, the name just seemed to fit.