Catriona shuddered violently as the winds danced around her, making the falling snow dance around until landing on or around her. Snow landed in her hair & on her clothes, some spots of snow melting on her while others stayed in a frozen state. The weather was working for Catriona, hiding her scent from any youkai looking for a winter ningen snack, but it was also working against her; the visibility the snow caused making it hard for Hakkaku to watch over her.
She was fully aware that she would most likely get sick out here in this weather, but this weather is what she liked & missed about winters in New Jersey. She has always let herself catch a cold at least once during the winters, almost as if it were tradition to her. The whole routine started when she was eight-years-old & had found out that if she got sick, she got attention & there were no fights between her mother & father because they were too busy worrying about her life.
Her brother never seemed to take any interest in this activity of hers; he was normally too busy drawing &/or coloring a picture inside the nice warm home where he was safe from the �Frost Monster.� Her parents had made up this fictitious character to scare Josh aware from joining his sister outside, endangering his life as well.
After three straight years of purposely getting sick during the winter, often more than one time until she put it at once a year, it became mandatory to her system. She would often find herself going outside for any reason at all, making sure to do so without shoes, sometimes wearing shorts outside.
-Family.- The single word entered her mind & stayed there for a little while as she looked at the semi-frozen river. The top had a thin layer of ice, but she could definitely see the water flow underneath; a little thing that for some reason or another made her smile. The small smile soon faded away as she thought about her mother. -Would she have excepted Isamu as her grandson?- She questioned, resting her chin on her knees. -How would Jason react to him?-
She sneered at the thought of her father. -Who cares what that ass would have thought or felt? He doesn�t deserve to even be called my father.- She slid her hand under the thin blanket of snow that had built up & felt around for a small rock, doing her best to ignore the painful bite of the cold fluffs. When she found one, she withdrew her hand from the snow; the small rock clutched tightly in her hand as she laid her legs straight & threw the rock at the iced over river surface. She succeeded in breaking through the top layer of ice, forming a small hole the size of the rock, as well as cracking the ice around the hole.
�Hey.�
The soft voice heard over the howling wind made Catriona turn quickly, her hand buried in the snow already for another rock before her eyes settled on Koga, holding a thick wad of what appeared to be brown fur. She withdrew her hand & brought her knees up to her chest, looking at him.
�Sorry for scaring you,� he spoke as he squatted down beside her, draping the fur around her shoulders. �I brought this for you so you wouldn�t freeze to death out here.�
Catriona hugged it tighter around her & nodded to Koga. �Thank you Koga,� she spoke loud enough for him to hear over the wind. �I appreciate it greatly.�
Koga nodded & looked at the river where water had spilled out from the hole in the ice & was beginning to freeze where it was. He looked back at Catriona, who was also watching the water turn to ice. �Is there anything you want to talk about?� He asked, sitting down beside her, resting his tail against his hip.
Catriona was silent for a moment before she looked up at him. �I was thinking about my mother & father; wondering if they would have ever excepted Isamu?�
�Didn�t they ever meet him?� He asked, tilting his head to the side slightly, his ears shifting back.
Catriona shook her head. �No, they never met him...� She looked at his expression & realized he might know nothing about her past & why Isamu never met his grandparents. �Koga, would you like me to tell you about them?� When the ookami nodded, she scooted closer to him & undid the fur just enough to wrap it around him as well.
Koga held onto part of the fur wrapping & huddled close to her in attempt to keep them both warm; an idea that seemed to go well with her by the way she slid her right arm around him so they could get closer. He knew that this embrace meant nothing to her, or him, because it was only two beings trying to keep themselves warm.
Catriona sighed & sniffled softly as a natural reaction to the cold weather. By now the wind had calmed down enough to where she wouldn�t have to yell over it for Koga to hear her. The snowfall had also calmed down quite a bit, increasing visibility for Hakkaku who was looking down at the two, & for Koga who was watching out for visible signs of attack. The wind hadn�t died down enough for him to be able to sort out scent because it was blending too many to tell what was friend & what was foe.
�I don�t know how my parents met, so I can�t go that far into detail about them, but I do know a little bit about what went on after they met each other. They were friends for quite a while before my father, Jason, asked my mother, Catherine, to be his girlfriend. From what my mother tells me, he was a hopeless romantic that did everything for her whenever he could; anything she wanted, she got, simply because he could.
Everything was bringing the fairy-tale dream life she had wanted all throughout her childhood to life; nothing was out of place with her & Jason. Now, my mom told me that after four years of dating, my dad eventually asked her to marry him, bonding her to him that way a mating would.�
�It would make her be his until they died?�
�Or until the bond was broken by what ningen in my time call a divorce. It makes it seem as though the marriage never existed, depending on whom you got married through. If you married through the churches, a place of worship for one�s religion, then when you get a divorce it still hangs over your head. But if you get married through the courts, people who makes lawful decisions, even if they�re not the best at it sometimes, then you can act as if you were never �bonded� to anyone. Is there anything you don�t understand?�
Koga shook his head. �No, I think I pretty much get it. Go on.�
�One more thing, I don�t know about here, but in my time when a couple gets married the female can choose to keep her last name, change her last name to that of the husband�s, or the husband can take on his wife�s last name. My mother chose to keep her birth name & chose to give me mine, while my father gave Josh his last name instead of mom's.�
�Alright.�
�Okay. Anyway, not much longer after they were married my mother gave birth to me during the month of August. My mom & dad waited until I was six months old before they began having sex again, & it didn�t take long for my mom to get pregnant with dad�s child once more. Joshua, my brother, was born in the month of November, meaning I�ve missed his birthday while I�ve been here. But anyway...
By the time I was five, mom & dad seemed to be at each other�s throats almost all the time, upsetting both Josh & I; but we were young & couldn�t do anything.� She sighed softly. �I�m sorry, I have to change something I just said for what I�m telling you to stay true. Dad was the one at mom�s throat. The little thing would set him off & no one could do anything because the neighbors didn�t know what was going on & Josh & I were never hit enough for the school to investigate.
By the time I was eight, I had heard enough of the fighting between them, so I decided I was going to run away & when I made this decision, it was the second month of winter, & it was frigid. I packed up a little sac of clothing & set out, running as fast I could from the house, big mistake. By the time I got to the end of my road, I was out of breath because I had inhaled so much cold air at a rate that it was hurting me to breathe.
My mom found me almost an hour late in the ditch, hiding in the storm drain, but by then I had begun to show signs of hypothermia & she had to rush me to the hospital, a place for sick people to rest & be treated or what ails them. When the hospital let me go home with my mom & dad, I was still a little sick, but it wasn�t dangerous for me anymore. My mind was distorted, nothing was coming in clear, but one thing did. There was no fighting, no more dad hitting mom for every little thing that went wrong.
I decided from that moment on that I would get sick whenever I could & it stopped the fighting until I got better & was safe from slipping back into whatever I managed to get sick with.�
�You were pretty smart for a kid,� Koga chuckled softly, & nudged her side lightly with his elbow before a small shiver shook his body. �Go on.�
�Well, as the years went on my father began to treat my mother worse. So finally I began stepping in, & he knew he couldn�t lay a hand on me because I would be the first to either call the authorities, people who punish bad men like him; or tell the school or neighbors so they would do something. As time went on, this continued & every time it seemed to piss him off more & more.
One time he stopped beating my mom for a full three months, because Kagome was staying with me while she visited my country as a program for her school. One year later, I was on my way over to see Kagome because I wanted to see my friend again. My mother had been nice enough to pay or me to leave, because she knew it was what I needed & deserved for putting up with dad for all of these years. Something told me not to come across seas in the first place, like it was the last time I would see my mother alive. I found out I was right when my brother, Josh, left word with Kagome�s mom that during the late part of my third month visiting that my mother & father had killed each other.
I don�t blame my mom for killing him to get back at him for all those years of pain & torture, I just wish she didn�t have to lose her life in the process. I had Isamu later that year, several months after returning back to my home country from visiting Kagome. I wish my mom could have met my son before she lost her life...�
Catriona was brought from a daze she had begun to slip into by a soft weight pressing against her left side; the side Koga wasn�t next to. She looked to her left & tears filled her eyes before she left he fur wrap, leaving Koga along in the fur, as she practically jumped onto the person next to her, hugging him tightly.