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Emerald eyes stared through a mirror, a mirror that seemed to exist in their minds, but ceased to in reality. One was exalted, black hair, pale skin, a god. The other was condemned, dark skin, teal locks, stripe-marked, a demon. The moment of their reunion was finally here.
“I have finally found you. I have been searching for thousands of years. “
“You’ve been searching for me…?”
The instance almost seemed to be like when one realizes that they have another self, an alter ego, only that the alter ego is actual flesh and blood, the feelings of shock, fright, and confusion rushing through the mind while the body attempts to react.
“I expected a different reaction from you,” a baritone voice rang, “I was told about your emotional instability and your seemingly fleeting mental state…how are you going to handle the fact that I’m in your life again?”
The older closed his eyes, his long black braid hanging over his shoulders. “I-I don’t know…I don’t know what I will do,” he looked up again, meeting the identical eyes directly, “What do you suggest?”
The young man growled in disgust, his fox-like ears turning down as if threatened. “Of course you would ask that, you were never considerate of me before, yet all of a sudden you care…it’s very…two-faced of you…Chonglin…or should I say, Xueqin?”
He shot back in surprise from not only the retort, but the fact of how he was addressed. Only she knew his other name…only she did. He frowned.
“You never were one for respect…I guess that side of me rubbed off on you…but I know how it feels to be lost, Yong-Li…” he finally addressed him by name, also.
A snarl of contempt was the response. “You don’t know what you’re talking about! You are a q’ilin, a god, one that humans look up to and bow to when they are in your presence. I’m a demon, I was never treated with kindness except by my own mother, even the members of her tribe looked at me with hatred. How would you feel if even blood-sucking dogs condemned you? You don’t know what being truly lost feels like. I belong nowhere! I’m not kumiho, not q’ilin, not even baihu. I don’t fit in anywhere…and I never had anyone to look up to.”
“It seems you don’t understand.” Chonglin said gently, “You at least had a mother to look after you, and I’d be wary to call her people “blood sucking dogs”. You never had to fight with your own mind and wonder if you or the people you loved would still be alive when you came to. I left you because I didn’t want to harm you…nor did I want you to see that side of me. I didn’t forget you. I…” he paused “I thought it would be easier for you if you just never knew I existed.”
Yong-Li’s shoulder’s relaxed slightly. “I guess I can understand where you are coming from…but, it would have been nice to have a father…”
“Yes, I know. But I would have liked you to just have one father instead of two…a father who cares and loves you, not one who was constantly in a dark state of mind. One who would want to protect you instead of hurt you.”
The younger’s eyes shifted to the side. “You saw it didn’t you…you saw where you were going to hurt me…you tried to escape. “
Chonglin was surprised at his son’s knowledge of his alter ego’s psychic abilities. He smiled faintly in response. “Yes, you are right…”, he said, his voice becoming shaky, his hair turning white and blue-violet stripes appearing across his skin, “And that’s why I tried to keep you from me…but, but you never listened. You never listened!” Chonglin looked at his son, his eyes now a bright yellow with a feline air, “I guess you are just like me…”
Yong-Li smiled, his aqua-toned hair brushing against his cheeks where stripes also had their mark, his green eyes too becoming cat-like. The two men stared at one another, and then he chuckled, “I guess I am…” he then displayed his nine vulpine tails, silver, and covered with the same stripes that adorned his skin. “But I got a little bit from Mom, too.”
A tear ran down Chonglin’s cheek, the first time he ever cried not as Chonglin the q’ilin, but as Xueqin the white tiger. For once…and thank heavens for once, his psychic vision never came to pass.
((This for Katie's writing prompt thingy. This is where Chonglin encounters his son Yong-Li for the first time.))
 Chibi-Speck · Sat Sep 12, 2009 @ 08:21pm · 0 Comments |
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