Kohana's Wind

Kohana is a Sioux name that means "swift" and also a name of Japanese origin, meaning "little flower". As a child of both descents, Kohana, the swift little flower, does not tend to follow the crowd.

“Ugh, he can be so annoying sometimes…!” Kohana muttered under his breath, irked by his older brother’s bothersome antics. Just five minutes and five meters prior to his current spot at the clan’s camp entrance, Kohana and his elder brother, Kotori, were once again arguing about his reluctance to hunt and kill. He thought it was immoral to kill animals for food when people could spare the animals, eat the plentiful vegetation that grew all around them, and instead, live alongside the animals in peace and delectation. Meanwhile, even though his brother and the majority of his clan believed in living alongside animals, they would still hunt and kill them for food! 

Kohana did not understand their ways, so instead, decided to reject them altogether and live his own way of life, despite the pressure of his mother and elder brother to come to his senses and live as the rest of the clan does. He simply couldn’t take it anymore, and he had to get away. Sighing in exasperation, he shut his eyes and slowly ambled out of the cloudless defoliated area that was the main clearing of the Aniaoi clan camp, heading towards the soothing arms of the gentle, solacing wood.

“Kohana! Get back here! Where do you think you’re going?!” he was yanked from his reverie and turned his head at the voice, only to find his infamous elder brother storming towards him from across the clearing in a rage, yowling about how he was supposed to be out on a hunting patrol at this very moment with some of the other men from the clan. 

As he went, Kohana tried to ignore the minuscule solicitude pounding at the back of his consciousness that was practically screaming at him to turn back; to apologize to Kotori, to go on the hunting patrol, just to obviate the inevitable consequences that were sure to befall him when he returned from wherever he desired to go. But, he shoved those thoughts back in their rightful place; into the deep, dark abyss that was his never-ending pit of dreams and nightmares.

With a roll of his eyes and a blatantly disrespectful 180 degree turn on his heel, Kohana drowned out Kotori’s wearisome ranting with his drifting daydreams of the graceful wood, as he strolled casually out through the camp entrance and into the thick undergrowth that which he had become so familiar with over the lonely years, before sprinting at top speed towards his special solitude that was known all around. 

Kohana let out another deep sigh, but this time, one of complacency and lightheartedness, despite the rather distasteful scene he had so leisurely left behind him. He continued to run, feeling ecstatic at the liberating sensation of sprinting through the forest without any cares in the world, and embracing the necromantic scene before him. 

Suddenly, without warning, Kohana heard a strange noise that was unfamiliar to him, an exception being one time a short while ago when he was 18. Huntsmen had invaded their territory in the great Appalachian Mountains, during the spring, to take advantage of their population of gray foxes. 

Even after three years, he could always recall it vividly; the way they had shot a poor, unsuspecting fox, just for its coat. He agreed that they were beautiful, but knew they were definitely even more so in their elegant, luminous, and most importantly, living form. 

He remembered how he could only take refuge behind the trees and undergrowth, shaking and unable to do anything as they grabbed the poor creature and slung it over their shoulders to take away to some faraway place beyond his reach. 

Kohana never desired to experience that once more, so he slowed to a stop near the clearing where he had heard the noises coming from. He tilted his nose to the wind and recognized the unmistakable smell of gunpowder. Luckily, it was faint, so they hadn’t shot yet, but he knew very well what they were planning, and he didn’t like it.

Moving forward slowly, Kohana was distraught to see this sight before him: Two hunters had their guns pointed at a gorgeous gray fox that was sleeping innocently in a shallow foxhole at the base of a nearby Carolina Silverbell tree. Snapping out of his shocked stupor, Kohana silently crept closer, but his heart languished as he recalled his past near-encounter with hunters, and it shook him to his marrow with fear of being captured and at the same time, he clung to reality, thinking, knowing that this was one major climacteric in his life that he would not soon forget.

Going against his mind’s will and simply complying with what his body instinctively needed him to do, he leaped forward in a blur of fringed, sand-colored clothes, and long, black hair. He launched himself towards the slumbering fox and snatched it up, and at the same time, the huntsmen shot their guns. 

He saw the spot where the small mammal was just a second ago go up in a flurry of grass, leaves, and dirt, and his eyes widened in alarm, but he kept running as fast as he could. As he sprinted out of the clearing, the shots echoed throughout the forest for a split-second, before it set off a chain reaction that sent everyone and everything within a 3-mile radius into a state of panicked chaos and alarm.

In the midst of all the discord and pandemonium, the gray fox had woken up, and he did not seem very grateful to the Native American that had just saved his life… The small creature blinked open its sleep-foggy eyes, and in a split-second, had Kohana’s forearm clamped in between its jaws in a vice grip. Despite the self-evident fact that it must have hurt him, Kohana kept on going until he was sure they weren’t being followed on their way, and only then did he begin to even notice that the small fox had latched onto his arm. The poor man hadn’t even taken notice of the blood dripping from his upper forearm to his wrist, and then onto the ground. It was quite a disturbing sight to see as he sped through the trees.

“Aish, what is this?!” Kohana exclaimed in alarm as he finally looked down at his forearm to see the stream of blood that remained there. Shaking his head from side to side, he frowned slightly and attempted to clean the mess with some nearby leaves, but only succeeded in eliciting a growl from the gray fox. Sighing in exasperation, Kohana placed the animal into his lap and stroked it from its ears, down to its tail. He seemed to appreciate that, and his grip on Kohana’s arm had loosened a bit, so he decided to continue. After a few more minutes, he had the fox rolling around in his lap, practically purring. 

Seeing this, Kohana smiled in satisfaction and leaned back against a tree in contentment, then reached to his hip to pull out his flute, but was dismayed to find that it wasn’t in its usual spot. He began to look around in alarm until the fox got up from his lap and walked over to something that Kohana soon recognized as his lost instrument. The fox nudged it over to him with his nose and looked up and met black eyes with hazel ones. The small animal tilted its head to the side cutely and Kohana laughed in earnest as an imaginary atmosphere of sparkles suddenly appeared around the gray animal. 

Sadly, their time together was cut short as Kohana suddenly realized the time. It was almost sundown, and he was a long way away from camp. Kohana jumped to his feet, and after waving goodbye to the fox, who was still sitting in his spot, he began to run home, eager to lose himself in the cold nighttime solitude of the forest. It wasn’t long before he was nearly home, because of his swiftness, hence his name, but something was strange… He thought he heard another set of feet following him. Or more like, another set of paws. 

Kohana turned around cautiously and what he was met with surprised him greatly; the gray fox that he had just rescued, the one that bit him so hard that he bled, had been following him all this time, and now he was almost home, and he was still on his tail. Kohana loved to make animals friends, but he had to go home now, and he wasn’t sure if he could sneak an animal past his mother and Kotori, much less play around with it in camp, so he tried to get the fox to go away, at least for now, but he wouldn’t budge. Kohana let out a deep sigh for the third time that day and trudged into the camp with a gray fox on his heels.

Kohana wandered into camp silently, looking around for his brother, and when the coast was all clear, quickly ran to his thatched roofed hut on the outer border of the camp. He walked into his quarters, thinking that he would be able to let the fox run around inside the privacy of his own home, only to find Kotori leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed dangerously. Kohana immediately knew something horrible was about to happen, just from the look in his brother’s eyes.

“Get out here. We need to talk,” Kotori said roughly, brushing past Kohana with a glare at the fox, who was currently hiding behind his legs and growling softly.

Kohana followed his brother out of his house and into the camp clearing, as he said, and crossed his arms, waiting expectantly for Kotori to start talking. 

“We need to talk about your obsession with animals. It is interfering with your human relationships, and you are unable to provide the clan with any meat to eat, you only forage, which is the women’s job,” Kotori said, pretending to care if Kohana interacted with people in the clan.

“Well, I’m sorry that I don’t want to hurt animals. I love them, and they have treated me better than any of you ever have! Why shouldn’t I want to protect them? I don’t understand!” Kohana yelled at Kotori and his mother, who had just emerged from her hut to see what was happening, and at the same time, he gestured to the crowds of people that were starting to come and investigate. Kohana was well aware of the fact that this was going to be a game-changing argument, and afterward, he would be wandering and destitute, but he was strong enough to fend for himself, wasn’t he…?

“Do you know what, younger brother? I have had enough of your attitude; it affects everyone in this clan, and while it pains me to say this, I think it’s about time you leave, Kohana,” Kotori said in an ominous, menacing tone. Kohana inwardly flinched, but his face remained straight, though he was getting anxious as to what the clan chief was implying.

“What exactly am I meant to take that as, brother?” Kohana said defiantly, raising his head and staring his brother in the eye.

“It means… You are to be banished, Kohana. It has already been decided, I’m sorry,” Kohana’s eyes widened at the declaration, and his head dropped as if someone had hit him. Feeling unjustly vilified, Kohana raised his head slightly, just enough to glare at the other members of his clan in hatred, a burning fire lit in his hazel eyes that everyone seemed to hate so much. As he did so, he overheard the whispers of the other clan members, and he swore they were doing it just loud enough for him to hear on purpose.

“Look, it’s those eyes. They’re evil,” one woman whispered to her husband, not so quietly. Kohana narrowed his eyes at the comment and thought about what was so different about their eyes, except for their color.

“Haha, he looks so strange… Those eyes aren’t normal, and neither is he. He deserves to be banished,” said another in malice. Kohana gritted his teeth and barely resisted the urge to jump at them and force them to stare into those eyes of his that they all thought was so shameful and vile. Kohana had noticed this a long time ago, but people could be so censorious sometimes, and he hated it. He thought it was as if people would use any means necessary to find a reason to asperse him.

Kohana knew better than to believe he was being banished just because of his refusal to hunt, seeing as there were others that were similar to him, in terms of not wanting to kill animals. He knew it was because of the way he looked; he was too tall, too unapproachable, and his eyes… Oh, his eyes… They were a bizarre hazel color, and nobody in the tribe had them nor had anyone ever seen them before, except for his father, who had the same eyes. But, there was a massive difference between him and his father, and it was that his father had become chief, despite the way people made fun of him and hated him. He was always a kind person, never bitter, and he managed to win over everyone in the clan.

“Kohana!” he was distracted from his memories of his father by Kotori’s firm voice calling him. He looked up and into Kotori’s eyes, hoping to find any hint of him backing down or changing his mind, but found nothing. 

“Kohana, you must leave at once. Pack your things, take your fox, and leave the mountains,” Kohana was surprised at his brother’s softening tone of voice. It was very different from his usual shouting and yelling. He nodded to his brother silently and walked back to his hut to pack his things, with the fox close behind. 

After packing his things, Kohana stood at the camp entrance for a long time, just beholding everything in a new light, looking at it for the last time. After standing there for a good ten minutes, he turned to the fox and smiled.

“This is a new life for all of us, so how about we do something big to start it all off? If you’re going to come along with me, you’re going to need a name, huh?” Kohana thought for a little while, before coming to a conclusion, “Kajika would be a suitable name for you, seeing as I only noticed that you were following me home after a long time, and it means ‘walks without sound,’” Kohana said to the staring fox. He laughed as the newly named “Kajika” bobbed his head up and down, as if to say he understands. After one last look over his shoulder at his old clan camp, he smiled and both Kohana and Kajika set off to start their new journey together.

…

It had been ten years since Kohana and Kajika had left their homes together, side by side, and they had experienced many different adventures, most consisted of Kajika protecting Kohana from mental and physical abuse from other people that they had come across, and of Kohana practically guaranteeing that Kajika would live to a ripe old age because of his constant weariness of huntsmen. But now, they were on their way back home, because Kohana had heard a rumor among other clans that his brother had died from a deadly illness, and he wanted to see if it was true.

As the two of them headed up the mountain once again, they recalled old memories of their last day in that place, and when they reached the camp, it was exactly as they remembered it, except Kohana’s brother was nowhere to be seen… 

“I suppose it really was true after all,” Kohana said, disheartened. He knew that they were always at each other’s throats, but they were brothers, and they cared for each other. Though they had already been apart for ten years, it always comforted Kohana to think of the fact that his brother was with the clan, and hopefully being happy. Now, it was as if a fissure had been opened up in between the two of them that he would never be able to cross again. But, he will become the next chief, and he will continue to live on with the wind of his family by his side.

Reviews

[A.Tarek]

Oh man, doesn't it have a part 2 ?!
I liked it so much, great comforting and refreshing piece of work

[Azureta]

It seems like a small part of a longer story. As a stand-alone piece, I would omit the last part, because it belongs much further in the story, but that's only my amateurish opinion. Will it continue? I'd love to here adventures of Kohana and Kajika.

[Hannie Angel]

Yeah, I'm planning on removing the end to make it longer so that I can describe what happened in between it all. I was rushing when I wrote it, so I'll fix it soon!