Crimson Sakura Village: Kocho Sisters!

Crimson Sakura Village,

The mist was reluctant to leave, curling softly around the mountainside and veiling the cherry blossoms that covered it.

Brilliant light filtered through layer upon layer of cherry blossoms.

"Creak—"

The Kocho family's wooden door opened.

Kanae came out first!

The thirteen-year-old girl had long, glossy black hair, loosely tied behind her head with a plain ribbon. A few unruly strands hung beside her fair neck.

She wore light-purple clothes suited for walking mountain paths, with a haori patterned with simple butterflies over them.

The bamboo medicine basket on her back was finely woven, its rim worn smooth.

Then a figure slipped out from under her arm.

It was Shinobu Kocho!

The ten-year-old girl had short hair, with a few stubborn tufts sticking up and bouncing as she moved.

Her eyes were bright. Her medicine basket was smaller, which only made her look more petite.

"Kanae, Shinobu, are you sisters heading up the mountain again?"

The voice came from next door.

Grandpa Taro sat on his low doorstep with a half-woven bamboo basket in his hands, his aged fingers deftly turning the bamboo strips.

He looked up, a smile spreading across his wrinkled face.

"Mm, good morning, Grandpa Taro."

Kanae bowed slightly, her voice soft and gentle.

"What's so good about it?"

Shinobu's lips stuck out far enough to hang an oil bottle on ( ` H ´), and her clear voice burst out in a rapid stream,

"It's all Dad's fault!! He just had to say that a few top-quality evening primroses had sprung up on the cliff face behind the mountain this year, and that they'd lose their medicinal potency if they got too much sun, so we had to pick them this early."

"Even a monkey would slip trying to climb up there!!!"

"Shinobu."

Kanae called her name, a hint of reproach in her voice.

She turned to Grandpa Taro with an apologetic smile.

"Grandpa, don't listen to her childish nonsense."

"Dad was thinking how well that herb really works for the aches and pains in a few of the village elders' legs, and how rare a chance this is. We'll be careful."

Grandpa Taro burst out laughing, his booming voice startling two sparrows from under the eaves:

"That mouth of yours, Shinobu! Just like your mother's!"

"Take care on the way. There was a heavy rain late last night, and water's still seeping through the cracks between the paving stones. They're slippery!"

"We know—"

Shinobu drew out her answer. She had already hopped several paces away like a little sparrow, and now turned back and waved impatiently.

"Hurry up, sis!! If you keep dawdling, the sun will be shining on your butt!!!"

Kanae shook her head, her eyes full of indulgence.

She nodded to Grandpa Taro once more before quickening her pace to catch up.

After a few steps, she naturally reached out and straightened her sister's slightly crooked shoulder strap, giving it a gentle tug upward.

"How many times have I told you? Your basket needs to sit snugly against your back, or your shoulders will start hurting before you've gone far."

"I know, I know."

Shinobu's thoughts had already moved on. Her gaze had been drawn to a cluster of blue wildflowers trembling in the morning breeze by the roadside.

One sister steady, the other skipping with excitement, they followed the stone path, washed clean by the night's rain and strewn with crimson and pinkish-white petals, slowly making their way deep into the dreamlike cherry blossom grove.

The air in the mountains had a different kind of chill, carrying the crisp scent peculiar to the roots and stems of plants straight into their noses.

The smells grew more complex, too.

The heavy, earthy smell of humus, the damp coolness of moss... and faint, distinctive traces of medicinal herbs.

Her nose twitched like a wary little deer's.

"Shinobu, look here."

Kanae crouched on a patch of damp, soft ground in the shade, the hem of her light-purple clothes brushing past mud-spattered blades of grass.

She pointed at several small plants whose leaves spread out like stars.

"This is seven-star lotus. See these seven pale spots on the leaves? Don't they look like stars in the sky?"

"Be careful when you pick it. Dig it up together with its spindle-shaped root for the best medicinal effect."

Following her sister's example, Shinobu crouched beside her, her little face taut with concentration.

Clutching her small medicine hoe, she tried digging into the soil, but she used a little too much force and tore up a large clump of turf.

"Slowly~"

Kanae gently laid her hand over the back of her sister's and guided her to adjust the angle.

"Relax your wrist and use a deft touch. Yes, like that. Feel which way the rootlets run..."

Shinobu pursed her lips, feeling the warmth of her sister's palm and the steady pressure guiding her.

The soil was carefully pushed aside, revealing slender white rootlets tangled beneath it.

Holding her breath, she worked bit by bit until she had removed the whole seven-star lotus, its rootlets undamaged.

"I did it!!!"

Her eyes lit up, and she held up the muddy little plant as though it were some extraordinary trophy.

Kanae smiled and nodded, taking the herb and carefully placing it in a corner of the basket lined with soft cloth.

The higher they climbed, the steeper and rougher the mountain path became.

Shinobu's energy, however, seemed inexhaustible. One moment she was pointing and calling out at a colorful butterfly flying through the woods; the next she had discovered a cluster of brightly colored, oddly shaped mushrooms in a crack in the rocks and insisted on examining them up close for a long while.

Most of the time, Kanae simply watched with a smile, occasionally offering a gentle reminder:

"Shinobu, watch the path. That rock is loose."

"Watch your step. The moss is slippery."

After a good deal of effort, they climbed onto a somewhat gentler slope and found a large, dry rock to sit on and rest.

Shinobu untied the water flask at her waist, pulled out the stopper, and tipped her head back to gulp down several mouthfuls.

A little cool mountain spring water ran down the corner of her mouth. Without bothering to wipe it properly, she brushed it away with the back of her hand and let out a long breath.

Kanae took out a clean handkerchief and carefully wiped the fine sweat from her temples and neck.

Her movements were as unhurried as ever.

Once Shinobu had rested enough, her eyes rolled around and settled on her sister.

Morning light shone through the sparse cherry branches, falling just so on Kanae's profile and neck. Her skin was almost translucent.

From the climb and the steadily rising sun, her cheeks had taken on a healthy flush, making her even prettier than the tenderest cherry blossom petals.

A mischievous thought suddenly popped into Shinobu's little head.

She shifted closer, deliberately giving her voice a mysterious lilt.

"Sis—"

"Hmm?" Kanae turned her head, her gaze gentle.

"Sis, you're thirteen this year, aren't you?" Shinobu blinked at her.

"Yes. Why?"

"A few days ago, I heard Aunt Kiku next door talking to Grandma Matsu by the well."

Shinobu drew out her words, watching her sister's expression.

"They said you're so pretty, sis, and as gentle as a jade maiden before a bodhisattva, and that you're just about old enough to start looking for a husband!"

"They also said they wondered which family's boy would be lucky enough!"

She paused and lowered her voice further.

"I think... I heard Dad and Mom whispering about it in the back room too, you know?"

"They said things like 'she's old enough' and 'we should start keeping an eye out'..."

Kanae's hand stopped wiping away her sweat.

A faint blush swept across her cheeks and quickly spread to her ears.

She lowered her eyes, her long lashes trembling like butterfly wings, and her voice took on a rare note of embarrassment and annoyance.

"Shinobu!!! You... where did you hear such baseless talk? You're too young to be picking up things like that!!!"

"How is it baseless? Aunt Kiku and Grandma Matsu were dead serious!"

Seeing her sister blush, Shinobu grew even more eager. Grinning, she edged closer, her gaze roaming over Kanae.

Suddenly, her hand darted out.

Her target was Kanae's chest—the place that had already quietly begun to swell, showing the soft curves of a young girl even beneath her somewhat loose clothing.

Through the fabric, her fingertips touched a fullness that was startlingly soft.

"Ah~!!!"

Kanae gave a quiet cry and instinctively crossed both arms over her chest.

In an instant, her whole face and neck turned so red they seemed ready to bleed.

Her usually gentle eyes were wide and watery, filled with embarrassment as she glared.

"Shinobu!!! You... what are you doing!!! That's outrageous!!!"

Shinobu was stunned too.

She had only meant to play a joke and startle her sister. She hadn't expected... the full sensation still lingering in her palm, so clear even through the fabric, left her little mind unable to catch up for a moment.

She looked at her hand, then at her sister's figure, still curvy even with her arms folded across it, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind:

"Huh?! That's... that's so unfair, sis!!!"

"You're... you're only three years older than me!!!"

"Why... why has this part... grown so... so..."

She traced an exaggerated curve in front of her chest with her hands, her little face full of disbelief and a baffled sense of unfairness.

"You... you still dare say that!!!"

Kanae was so embarrassed she was nearly fainting, her usual gentle composure shattered.

She took a deep breath, as though making a decision, and suddenly reached out too—her target clear as she went straight for her sister's waist and armpits, where she was most ticklish.

"It seems I've spoiled you too much. Today I'm going to teach you a proper lesson and show you what it means to respect your elders!!!"

Her voice was still soft and gentle, with even a subtle hint of a "dangerous" smile.

"Ah!!! Sis! Don't! Stop... hahaha... that tickles!!!"

"Help!!! I know I was wrong! I really was wrong!!!"

Shinobu was terribly ticklish. Laughing until her whole body curled up, she rolled back and forth on the ground, which was covered in a thick layer of soft grass and fallen cherry blossoms, trying to escape her sister's seemingly everywhere-at-once "claws."

For a while, the mountainside, quiet except for the wind and birdsong, was filled with the girls' uninhibited shrieks and laughter.

One chased, embarrassed and annoyed; the other laughed, struggled, and begged for mercy. Their hair became covered in bits of grass and petals from rolling around, and their clothes were disheveled.

After quite a while, Kanae finally stopped, panting, once both of them were too weak from laughing to go on.

She sat up, her chest rising and falling slightly and the blush still lingering on her face. Reaching out, she pulled up her sister, who was still kicking her legs and making a fuss in the grass, and carefully brushed the bits of grass and cherry petals from her back and hair.

"Look at you. You've been rolling around like a little wild boar that stole some honey and tumbled about in a grassy nest."

Kanae's voice had returned to its usual warmth and softness, though it still held a hint of laughter and exasperation as she gently combed her fingers through Shinobu's short hair, now as messy as a bird's nest.

Shinobu had settled down too and sat obediently, letting her sister tidy her up, though she still muttered under her breath, unconvinced:

"But it's true... you've just... secretly grown better than me..."

Kanae made as if to raise her hand again. Shinobu immediately covered her waist, stuck out her tongue, and put on a frightened expression, though her eyes were full of affection and mischief.