IKEBANA
IKEBANA
Two different races... entangled lives… and a story of an everlasting love.
The year was 1944, I felt the light slowly fading away from my eyes as the pain in my leg which had always been my pride was burning. I touched the part that was giving me a huge deal of ache. It felt sticky and the smell reminded me of gun powder mixed with rust.
I gulped hard and breathed heavily feeling the whole sense of my being and taking in the smell of the earth. It was a mixture of fire, wet soil and blood.
I trained my ears to the sounds near the huge rock where I had been hiding. Gunshots… bomb flashes… shouts of fear… and the sound of death.
“Will this smell, sound, and feeling the last thing my senses will take in before I die? This is surely the worst way to die. To die in the middle of a foreign land without any assurance that one will be morally recognized, without a sense of anything good, without a proper burial… one doesn’t deserve such fate.” Those were the things that came into my mind at that time. It might had been abnormal for someone who was about to die to think about morals of dying but once you are there, there was nothing normal anymore.
I must had passed out since I lost anymore sense of what was happening around me but found myself in a hard yet comfortable bed.
I strained to open my eyes. It was bright. It hurt my eyes but I tried to see what was happening. Slowly, my eyes adjusted to the light. I was greeted by two black beautiful eyes. They were full of concern. I blinked as the light which blinded me a while ago was straining my eyes. I realized that the owner of the eyes was holding a lamp which she shone in front of me.
It was probably the most beautiful face I had seen in my twenty-five years of existence in the world. It was a bit tan, probably from working under the heat of the sun. Her face had a tinge of pinkish blush that was so natural that it was almost anomalous.
I stared at her reddish lips. I wonder how a face as tan as that could have such reddish lips. Once they were pinned together in an alarmed manner but then it formed into a smile. A very friendly smile, it was so surreal. She was smiling to a stranger and an enemy at that.
I tried to sit up.
“Hey, do not stand up yet.” She said in a very sweet and calm voice. There was concern in her eyes. “Your wound is not healed, yet.” She added and put her hand on my shoulders to lightly push me back to the bed.
“Who are you?” I asked hoarsely. I didn’t mean to sound stern but it was hard not to.
“I am Jhenie. I tended your leg while you are sleeping.” She answered.
I was sure I had been dead but how?
She must have had read what I was thinking since she answered. “My brother saw you on the ground. You are still breathing so he brought you here.”
I looked at her in confusion.
She put down her head. There was pain in her eyes. “It was a bloody field afterwards. All of them are not breathing anymore when he got there. It was such a heartache. Thanks God, you are alive."
I hated to see her eyes with that expression. I wouldn't want to see her looking so pained for the fallen warriors of the war. Half of whom are not even her blood.
Her caress on my wounds made me stronger from day to day. She never show any hatred against me for killing her race. She was more than capable of hating me, no, she should even detest me for I am one of those who made her people's life miserable.
Her happy expression whenever she gave me my medicine and tended my wounds made my heart flatter. She always smiled to me, and I felt like an angel was beaming down on me.
"I have to go. I have to look for brother." I heard her say that day. "Mama, don't let Elena and Maria go out." She said.
"But, it is already very late." Her mother said.
I looked at her from where I am sitting. I wanted to come with her to make sure that she'd be alright. I had already gained my strength. She must have read my mind thus she went to me and smiled. "Don't worry, I will be alright." She said. "Please take care of mama and the children." She told me.
I couldn't take my eyes off her. Though, I don't want to do let her be, I knew then that she wouldn't let me go with her thus she was giving me responsibility over her family.
She had already walk away when I gained courage and took her hands on mine. She looked at me. Her eyes full of concern. "Thank you!" she said. "I promise, I will be back." She said.
But she never fulfilled her promise. That was the last time that we saw her nor her brother. When I had totally recovered, I tried to look for her but I never saw her. I used all means just to see her again but I weren’t able to succeed.
As I was asked to do, I took care of her family, brought them to Japan with me, and adopted them as my own. Lovely Elena, her niece really reminds me of her having her auntie's eyes and lips. Her disposition was handed down to Maria. I love those children like my own for they reminded me of their aunt. They never ceased to amuse me and lifted my spirit whenever I wanted to see her.
They also brought me Tamao and convinced me to marry her. They knew how much I love their aunt but they knew that Tamao could bring me happiness as much as their aunt would. They supported me all the way and gave me the love of daughters for their father.
I never stopped looking for her though nor wanting to see her. I never gave up hope to find her even though I am already happily married. She is my first love and she will always be.
"Grandpa, I am happy that you met grandma and became happy." Daiki said.
Grandpa Arioka stared at his grandson. It was as if he was staring at his younger self. He smiled bitterly. "Hai! Me too."
The weary eyes of the elder Arioka stared at the flowers in front of him. He folded the sleeves of his Yakama gently and took the stem cutter beside the flower pot. "This is Jhenie’s favorite flower, shirayuri." He smiled while caressing the petals of the white lily.
The younger Daiki smiled and sat beside his grandfather. "Purity, chastity, that is what it means, right grandpa?"
The elder one smiled. "Like her, like my Jhenie." His smile reached his eyes as he stared at the flowers. "Even in the middle of war, she never failed to bring an arranged shirayuri for me."
He held a white camelia and cut the stem before placing it neatly near the white lily.
Daiki giggled as he saw this. "So that is why you always place a tsubaki beside the shirayuri." He commented knowingly.
The elder one smiled still tending his ikebana.
"Waiting... a white tsubaki... a white camelia... it means waiting." Daiki murmured.
It was then, the sliding door opened and a servant peered in. "Daiki-sama, someone is looking for you." She said.
The younger one curiously looked at the guest. She was probably the same age as him. She was very pretty. Her soft features was highlighted with her smooth fair complexion. She seemed very familiar to him though. It was as if he had saw her somewhere already.
"How may I help you?" he asked.
The girl though looked at him in confusion. "Are you Daiki Arioka?" she asked in English while tilting her head.
Daiki blinked at her. She was looking for him and yet she doesn't know him? Who would look for him and yet doesn't know him. He was Arioka Daiki for pete's sake. He was from a seemingly popular group. Their popularity must have extended towards some other parts of the world some way or another.
“Ah, yes, I am Arioka Daiki.” He answered in an accentuated English.
“Ah, I am looking for Arioka Daiki-san. The former Japanese General.” She said confidently.
Daiki’s eyebrow shut up. So, this girl wasn’t looking for him. He thought in disappointment. She was looking for another famous Arioka Daiki, his grandfather.
Upon hearing this, the former general looked at the guest. He was taken aback when he saw her. The emotions that he had inside him welled when he saw her face. It was that family face of an angel he saw decades ago.
“Anou, watashi Jhenie-desu.” The girl introduced herself in broken Japanese.
“Jhenie?” the elder Arioka asked in a quiet whisper. “Really!? What a coincidence, I once knew a girl with your name.”
The younger Arioka looked from his grandfather to the girl in front of them.
Jhenie, on the other hand beamed at this. “So, you really know my grandmother? I was named after her.” she asked happily.
“Grandmother?”
“Jhenie, my grandmother.” Jhenie looked at the box in her hand, “she asked me to give this to you before she died.”
Daiki stared at the box. He was taken aback by the news that he heard.
“Please, sir, take this.” She said. “My grandmother wanted to thank you for taking care of her family but she couldn’t get in touch with you.”
The older Arioka took it. She stared at the splitting image of her Jhenie. “What happened to her?” he asked in a very soft voice. He was choking on his own heartache and wanted to collapse there and then.
Daiki must have known the feeling of his grandfather thus he helped him take a seat on the couch.
The older Arioka though stared at the box in his hands.
“Grandmother had an amnesia.” She answered.
The two Arioka looked up.
“She was caught up in a bombing when she tried to look for her brother. She tried to run away from the site but she stumbled into a cliff, she fell. She lost her memory. It was very long before she could remember everything. The war was long finished, her mother and nieces were gone, you had came back to Japan.
“She couldn’t do anything, she was already married then to the man who saved her. She didn’t want to bother him anymore thus she kept this her secret. She didn’t have any means to locate you or her family.
“It was a long while before she heard about you. You became the general of the military force. She learned that you took care of her family and she was very thankful for that. She was happy that you are well and so was her family.” Jhenie looked at the box in his hands. “Grandma never failed to write a letter to you, to thank you, to tell you how she feels. She always write to you, for every occasion even though she knew that you will never be able to read it.” Jhenie said. A single tear fell down from her eye. “Grandma always tell me that she hopes that you can read them all.”
“How did she…” The elder Daiki couldn’t continue the question but Jhenie answered knowingly. “She died a natural death. She’s old and weary.
He nodded and took the lid of the aluminum box. On top, there was one white lily that she must have preserved. Underneath were more than a handful of letters, all inside a clean white envelope, browned due to time.
He opened one. Seeing the hand writing, the elder one let his tears flow.
“Ah… anou…” the younger Daiki started. “I’ll introduce you to Aunt Elena and Aunt Maria, they will be happy to hear about this.” He said addressing Jhenie.
She stood up and bowed to the older one politely.
“Daiki,” the older one called his grandson. He smiled. “I have finished the ikebana, you may bring it with you now.”
Daiki smiled at him and took the ikebana from the table. He carefully lifted the dainty arrangement in his arms.
When they were out of earshot, Jhenie asked in curiosity, “Where are you going to bring that? Is it really done already?” she asked looking at some protruding branches and leaves that were clumsily blocking the small lavenders.
Daiki smiled. “In the zen garden.” He answered. “Grandpa didn’t need to finish this anymore. His wait has ended today.” He said smiling at the girl who looked away and busied herself looking at the scenery surrounding the Japanese mansion.
Daiki smiled in amusement. “By the way, don’t you really know me?” he asked.
Jhenie looked at him seemingly annoyed at his question. “Why?”
“I am famous, you know.”
Jhenie looked away from him. “I’m only here because I brought the package to your grandfather. I didn’t know that he would have a famous grandson.”
“Ah really?!” he chuckled. He stopped in his tracks and faced her forcing her to look at him. “Then, why do you have a Hey! Say! Jump! and Daiki Arioka phone accessories?”
Jhenie’s eyes widened in shock. She grabbed her shoulder bag and saw her phone sticking out from one of the pockets. And there they were, her phone accessories, totally giving her away. She blushed realizing how stupid she was.
Daiki laughed at her.
Still blushing, she looked at him and gave him a murderous stare before stomping away.
“Hey! Wait!” Daiki called after her. “This girl, she doesn’t even know where to go.” He whispered happily to himself.
“Hey! Better slow down or you’ll also bump your head and get amnesia. When you remember me, I won’t accept your letters anymore, I get a lot of those from my fans already.” He shouted at her back.
Comments