Paradise Lost

Chapter One: Energy Flow:

Can a lost paradise beget one that is regained? So many flowers are born from the lifeless earth once the snow melts. Art can be created from garbage. Even wealth can be built from poverty. However, the paradise regained must come from the paradise that was first lost. How does the original paradise become lost to begin with? So many factors play into its destruction. One of the most common ones is trauma. This trauma can be self-inflicted or external. Monsters can come along and destroy a once-proud paradise into such an ugly ruin.

One such story is one of Kimoto Daisuke, who died at age thirty-four on Halloween night in 1999. Before that fateful night in the paradise that would be reborn, he lived in a nightmarish Hell for the first seventeen years of his life. So many factors played into the rebirth of his paradise, one of which would be his daughter, Anna. However, they cannot be explained in just tiny sentences. This story will make sense when it is played back from the very beginning.

Kimoto Daisuke came from the Eda-Kimoto clan. Around 730 AD, their ancestor, Sen, made a deal with a powerful seven-tailed kitsune. He wanted a way to cure his dying fiancée when all else failed to save her. In exchange for saving her life, the descendants would give over a daughter after every forty generations. Because of this contract, the family became kitsune-tsukai. In between the generations of the Mother’s grand return, each of the descendants get a copy of the great kitsune. Because of this, they don’t really live long. As a result, from the Meji Era and onwards, the clan started to kill people to feed their souls to their kitsune.

The history of the Eda-Kimoto clans sets up the story of Daisuke’s early misery.

The year 1965 started off with the birth of Kimoto Akio and Haruka’s fourth son. The mother went into labor while visiting her in-laws for the New Year’s Eve holiday. The family managed to get the thirty-year-old mother to the hospital in time. By New Year’s Day at three in the morning, the couple’s fourth child, a son, was born. Akio named him Daisuke after his great-father who sparked his interest in the occult in the first place. His older brothers, Yasuo, Shichiro, and Nobu, didn’t get to meet their new brother until four days later. Yasuo wasn’t so welcoming towards the new baby like Shichiro and Nobu were. The only other person that didn’t enjoy having a new baby was Haruka herself.

She never wanted to get married nor have children in the first place. After the suspicious death of her twin sister, Juriko, on their birthday, Haruka ran away from home on Christmas and came all the way to Kobe. She chose that city as her destination because her father loved it so much and spoke highly of it before World War II destroyed his mind permanently. In Kobe, she found the freedom she so deeply desired. However, it became short-lived when she met Kimoto Akio in Suma-ku on New Year’s Day in 1951. Because of her background with the Eda clan and his love of dark magic, the boy found himself smitten with her. At first, she didn’t want anything to do with him. But that didn’t turn him away from trying to have her. His presentence and angelic-like charm won over the young ice queen in the end. Years passed, now married with four sons, they became a family. However, there were ulterior motives in this arrangement.

Despite not enjoying being tied down the way she was, Haruka did find some uses in her husband. In the beginning, she saw the young charming Akio has her errand-boy. As she had to say was, “Akio, I need…” Saying it in a fake, sugary tone made her teeth feel like they were going to rot out of her mouth.

“Why do you act so fake around that boy?” her landlady asked. “He probably already sees the real you.” Haruka after her young tenant sent him off to buy her more soap. Haruka only shrugged.

“He’s a dumb pawn little that,” she muttered under her breath.

“Excuse me?” her landlady asked. Haruka shook her head and went back into her apartment. Her little fanboy didn’t mind being used by her like this. He was just happy to be of any use to his crush. After all, she gave him mind-blowing pleasure in the bedroom. In fact, it was her that seduced him in bed when her kitsune needed to feed. Killing him wouldn’t really benefit, so she decided to feed off of him in the alternate way.

Akio and Haruka’s relationship started off as purely physical. He would do tasks for her and she would sleep with him in return. If his parents weren’t home, Akio would sneak his “girlfriend” into the house and use his parents’ bed for sex. In his mind, the boy saw this as dating while she didn’t want to put a label on it. That didn’t stop Akio from trying to take the relationship further. Haruka only went with it just to shut the boy up.

His parents didn’t really approve of the relationship because of the Eda name. They feared the worst for their son when they noticed unsettling changes in him. He hadn’t been eating or sleeping too well. Their son looked frail with his complexion looking like powder. Doctors and priests worked to nurse him back to health. When they learned that the boy had taken Eda Haruka as his lover, everyone, including his parents, tried to separate them. Akio didn’t care; he was living out his long-time dream of being with one of the descendants of the powerful kitsune-tsukai clan. In spring of 1952, he decided to take the relationship even further.

Throughout the whole summer, Akio proposed to his girlfriend. Haruka didn’t want to wed and kept turning him down. In August, she finally said yes just to shut him up. By October first in 1952, the couple was married. Her kitsune was overjoyed by this turn of events. You see, her mistress’ mortality clock started ticking loudly. Her kitsune had a dream that the Mother would return in two more generations starting with her mistress.

“My lady,” Aki, her kitsune, whispered in her ear just days before she was to wed. “You need to start having children soon.” The young woman frowned with such distaste at that suggestion. Her kitsune’s sweet, babyish tone made her grind her teeth.

“Why?” she asked. The silver kitsune snuggled with her mistress in her futon.

“Trust me when I say this,” she whispered. “The Mother will return through your grandchildren.” Haruka rolled over, sneering at such a story.

“Whatever,” she mumbled half-asleep. The young woman shoved the kitsune’s arm off of her shoulder.

“This is really important,” the kitsune tried to reason with. Haruka sat up, frowning at her.

“Look,” she said, “I don’t want children. It’s bad enough that I’m getting married. Don’t add on more crap that I don’t need, okay?” Aki lowered her head.

“Alright,” she said softly. Haruka pushed some of her bangs out of her eyes.

“Can I go back to sleep now?” she asked.

“Yes, mistress,” the kitsune murmured.

“Thank you,” the nineteen-year-old said. The kitsune’s face dropped in disappointment as the bride-to-be laid back down in her futon. Aki decided to go through Akio to get the Mother’s will executed. On the day before the wedding, she went into her human form sent the groom-to-be a little message. She told him to meet her on the beach. When Akio found his note on his futon, he rushed out to the beach late at night.

When he found her, Aki only wore a sheer white sundress. The young man tried to contain himself when he saw her body. His cheeks colored over red as he tried to think of something to say.

“You called for me, miss?” he asked. Aki looked at him with an angelic look in her eyes as she sat before him on the sand like a queen.

“I need you to help me with something,” she said. Her voice flowed out of her like honey raining from a blackened heaven. Akio felt himself being drawn deeper in as she spoke.

“What can I do for you?” he asked with brightly colored cheeks. Aki smirked as she gracefully rose to her feet. Her target’s heart raced as she walked closer. The kitsune cupped his right cheek in her hand. The seventeen-year-old boy gulped as her lips lightly graced his ear.

“Please give me children,” she whispered. Akio’s face burned over bright red at such a request. Her words alone were enough to make him fold in her hands like clay. The kitsune rested her fingers to his lips before he even had the chance to speak. His eyes stayed locked her piercing blue eyes.

“Don’t say anything,” the kitsune whispered in a husky flirtatious tone. “Just do it for me, please?” The boy slowly nodded his head up and down in response. Aki’s lips curved into a rich seductive smile.

“I thank you,” she whispered. The kitsune moved in and planted a light kiss on his lips. That look enticing request became the driving force for Aki to have children with his bride. Haruka refused at first, but the young man won her over with his charm like he usually did.

“I love you so much,” he said. “I just want to have children with you.” He wouldn’t back off with his request. Again, his wife went along with this plan just to get him off of her back. Sadly, one child would not be enough for Aki and the Mother. It seemed as if the two kitsune were looking for the perfect carrier for the paradise rebirth. Years and three more sons later came to Daisuke’s birth.

When they first saw this baby boy in Haruka’s arms, they already felt pity for him already. For they already knew of the Hell that would ruin the newly-born paradise they witnessed before them. For now, the boys would keep this to themselves and show as much love and care to the baby before he would witness the Hell of the Eda clan for himself.