Chapter Fifteen: The Land Song:

July 10th, 1983.

Daisuke sat alone on Kato's porch. Baby Anna slept peacefully in her crib in his room. He had just put her down for a nap. So much weighed on the dad's mind in this alone time.

"Hey!" someone shouted. Daisuke looked up to see Kato walking up the driveway with bags of groceries in his arms.

"Could you give me a hand?" he asked. The boy slowly nodded once, he walked over and took a bag. Once they got the groceries inside, the two men sat on the porch. Daisuke looked out on the yard.

"What's on your mind?" Kato asked. The young man turned rather puzzled.

"Hm?" he asked.

"You've been pretty quiet," the old man pointed out. Daisuke shrugged his shoulders.

"Not much," he said. "Just about my daughter and her mother." The old man raised an eyebrow at him.

"Her mother?" he asked.

"Yeah," he said nodding. The boy paused and glanced around for a brief second.

"Can you keep a secret?" he asked. Kato gave him a rather perplexed look.

"Sure," he answered. "What is it?" Daisuke leaned into the old man's ear.

"Her mother's still alive," he whispered. Kato turned his head with his jaw dropped.

"What?" he asked. "So, you mean..." Daisuke nodded as he prepared to expose the truth of Anna's birth.

Daisuke lied back onto the porch. "Where to begin with my story?"

"Any where you can," Kato answered.

"Okay...," the boy mumbled. He settled himself in place. The boy closed his eyes.

"It began after I ran away from home," Daisuke started. "I had just moved into student housing. I met two American girls during summer session. They both came from military families."

"Was one of them her mother?" Kato asked. Daisuke nodded in regret.

"I didn't want to continue my family's curse," he lamented. "I vowed not to have any children."

"So what happened?" the old man asked. "Love? Alcohol?" Daisuke shook his head humiliated. Kato became intrigued by this point.

"Then... what happened?" he asked. Daisuke's face burned red as mumbled the truth under his breath.

"I'm sorry?" Kato asked. The boy looked him straight in the eye.

“I ended up sleeping with her best friend on a double date!” he admitted with a bright tomato red face. Kato looked at him with a blank stare.

“How did that even happen?” he asked. Daisuke lowered his head as he replayed that night in his mind.

“I don’t know,” he admitted rather sheepishly. “All I know was that we were talking and drinking and before I knew it, I woke up in bed next to her.”

“Damn,” Kato said. “That’s just…” Daisuke suddenly lifted his head.

“In any case,” he spoke up. “Anna-chan can’t know who her mother is.” The older man gave him a strange look.

“Why is that?” he asked.

“Her mother was my fiancée’s best friend and besides…” the boy said aloud, as he clenched his fist to his chest. He knew this next truth would be painful, but he just had to say something. “I can’t have her dragged into my family.”

“Daisuke…,” the older man spoke.

“Every woman that’s married into my clan,” he admitted. “Has either gone crazy or lost their will to care. The only one who’s been lucky enough to escape so far is my oldest brother’s wife, but she ended up leaving behind my nephew as a price.” Daisuke nearly choked on the bitter rumors he remembered hearing about the boy. “I’ll tell you right now,” he said, “I might not really like Anna-chan’s mother that much and she may be scary-looking with that scowl and mismatched eyes of hers, but even she doesn’t deserve to be screwed up by those monsters!”

“So… where is she now?” Kato asked.

“California,” the young father answered. “Where I hope she stays!”

“But what will you tell Anna-chan?” the older man asked. Daisuke shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “She’s dead or something. I’ll work it out when I can.” Hearing that gave the older man an idea.

“You know,” he spoke up. “That could actually work.” Daisuke looked up at him with wide eyes.

“What?” he asked in alarm. Kato put up his hand to hush him.

“Easy now,” he told him. “I have some good friends that could help you out with this. Just leave everything to me.” That sentence did little to ease the young father. Who exactly was this man that he and his infant daughter were living with? Come to think of it, Kato did seem pretty sketchy at times. Something told him that the older man probably knew more about him and the Kimoto clan than he let on to believe. Daisuke resolved to keep up his guard for the time being around this man. Anna’s cries suddenly broke the afternoon silence.

“Your little angel needs you,” Kato pointed out.

“Excuse me,” Daisuke replied. He bowed and went into the house to tend to his daughter.