Family Business Ch. 02

Nigen-Sei, Ishikawa Prefecture

**SANTIAGO**

Sitting on the back deck of his backyard, thinking, he kicked his feet back and forth several times, then let the residual momentum swing his feet for him. His faithful and only best friend, Marlon Brando, lay beside him. The big black dog rested his head between his paws and occasionally looked up at Santiago, lost in his thoughts. Santiago smiled at his faithful companion and caressed the top of his furry head. His loyal companion and life-long friend lifted his head and up panted happily at him. There was love and only love in his dogs' eyes for him; despite being almost black, Santiago found light in them.

Santiago stroked Marlon Brando's back while still thinking many things to himself.

"Why on planet Earth did this have to happen to me. Out of everyone on Earth that this whole mess could have happened to, it ends up happening to me. Why was I born to this family just to be publicly humiliated? To bring shame to my family." He looked to his companion, who sat up and rested his head on his lap. Watching him brought some level of relief, but not enough to quell this heavy anxiety and guilt bearing down on his shoulders of what was to come.

"Why did Ena have to come back, Marlon. I thought she was kicked out of Nigen-Sei that night that horrible event happened to her. I went on living believing she was dead, but she was alive this entire time. To add on top of that, she's pregnant with the child of the town elder! God, if only Hana hadn't brought up the fact that I didn't have a girlfriend, then I would never have remembered Ena, and I wouldn't have acted out the way I did back in the damn bathhouse. I would be able to fulfill my fucking duty to my city, that of being damn a breeding bull."

Santiago slammed his fist down on the deck, fighting back the tears and the urge to yell out towards heaven until his voice turned hoarse.

Hana stepped out into the backyard in a terrible mood, appearing to be fighting an internal battle and losing. She saw her brother sitting on the back deck with Marlon Brando resting his head on his lap. She sighed deeply to herself. Pain gripped her heart, seeing him covered in bruises and bandages stamped and wrapped on his face and neck. She approached slowly but softly towards him and took a seat next to him.

"I heard about your punishment, Santi. I'm sorry that this happened to you. I also heard from mom that Ena was the one who delivered your sentence in person. I thought she returned to Toyama. I wonder when she returned to Nigen-Sei. Maybe she was allowed back inside. What do you think she did to get back inside Nigen-Sei, Santi?"

Santiago, like a lifeless statue, focused only on where he looked. Only his hand seemed to be alive, continuing to stroke the top of Marlon Brando's head mechanically. With sorrow in her eyes, guilt gripped her heart. She wanted to cry when he refused to say anything to her. She had an idea and placed a hand down on his as he stroked the top of their dog's head again. There must have been ice or a painful jolt of electricity on her hand because when they made skin contact for the first time in a long time, he pulled his hand back unnaturally quickly. He was distrustful of his sister and refused to look at her, let alone reply to any of her questions or comments.

"Santi, please--" Hana began to speak, but Santiago stood up and walked out of their backyard. Marlon Brando perked up, seeing the second master of the house walk away. He followed him, loyally staying by his side and wagging his tail excitedly.

Hana sighed defeatedly and followed him. She wasn't sure where he was going or if he just did this to stump her, hoping she would grow tired of following him and leave. She would not leave him; she was intent on speaking to him.

"Santi, I know you hate me for what mom and I did to Ena, but she told you why she had to do it!" Hana said regrettably.

He stopped, and it seemed he would turn and finally acknowledge her, but he didn't and kept walking with their dog by his side. Marlon Brando turned back to look at Hana and growled at her, telling her to keep her distance.

"Don't growl at me, old man," she told him. She ran ahead of her brother and stopped in front of him. he tried to walk around her, but she stepped right in front of him everywhere he stepped.

First, there was annoyance, then anger as he balled his fists and looked like he could sock her. She didn't miss the opportunity to remind him of his anger and its consequences.

"That's the reason you're going to get hurt today, Santi. Are you going to hit me too? If you did, I wouldn't tell anyone because I deserve it. If that's what's going to make you feel better, then I'm right here. Hit me across my face as hard as you can!"

Marlon Brando growled, more challenging and more profound. If the first growl was a warning, then this second was a clear sign that he could attack her any moment. She glared at their Marlon Brando, who slowly backed down. He knew what she was trying to do and turned silent.

For the first time since being reminded of Ena, he locked eyes with her.

"He's gritting his teeth so much he's going to file them down to the very gums. God, his rage must be unquenchable right now. Let me take responsibility for my part in your pain, my beloved brother," Hana thought. Her initial smile was weak but transformed into pure determination.

"If I hit her, they'll take my head and balls off too. Why can't she leave me alone? God damn her and my mother. No. I can't, and I won't hit her," Santiago thought.

He unclenched his hands and walked around his sister, and continued down his way.

Hana felt something for a moment, and she was confident her brother did too. Was it a breakthrough? She followed him and Marlon Brando, who calmed down around her despite Santiago's anger still bubbling beneath the surface. When they came to a stop from their long walk, Hana became emotional. There was a river that was four feet deep and had the width of a school bus. This river's currents were always calm and never got too aggressive. Beautiful trees and rolling new hills adorned the surrounding landscape, forcing any visitor to view its natural grace to awe and appreciation. But Hana felt more than just awe and wonder because across the river was an isolated area of the woods that she considers special, even sacred to her.

"Do you remember the time we built a treehouse with dad? He said that kids in The United States did that a lot with their friends and parents. Building tree houses and forts in the woods. He said it was--"

"--An American thing," Hana said, finishing his thought.

Santiago relaxed and dropped his stern countenance and smiled, although weakly. He turned halfway towards her and spoke, "Do you remember why we asked him to build that treehouse?"

Hana stepped forward to be closer to him while being mindful to keep a reasonable distance between them to keep him as calm as he was now.

"I remember that Mom told us that there lived a Kitsune in one of the hills. Dad said there weren't any kitsunes living here; instead, he said fairies lived here, or as he called them 'Duendes.' We didn't know which of them was telling the truth, so we decided to have the house built, stay the night in it and see if we could find either a kitsune or duendes."

"Mom said the Kitsune would come out only a night and transform into a beautiful woman and bathe in the river," Santiago told Hana.

He walked towards the river and dipped his feet in, then his legs until he began to wade through the cool water.

Hana followed him and waded forward behind him. "Dad said fairies would come out in the evenings and night to collect water," Hana said, "and to bury their treasures."

When they reached the location of their now old, dilapidated treehouse, Hana and Santiago saw that despite the passage of time, it remained there like a defiant samurai, perched atop a mighty oak tree his father planted long before they were born. It was the perfect tree to support a treehouse the size of a family van. Its wooden structure was dull and covered in moss and old fishnet with tree leaves glued to it.

"I thought if it looked like a giant bush, we could remain hidden. Then the Kitsune or the fairies wouldn't know we were watching them. If the Kitsune was real, I could capture her and keep her as a pet. If the duendes turned out to be real, I could capture one and interrogate it into telling me where they kept their buried treasure."

"You thought you were going to get rich that way" she giggled then laughed.

Something about her laughter was genuine, not forced. Santiago had forgotten entirely that her laughter was oddly cute. He smiled and chuckled.

Hana's laughter died as she gently took hold of his hand. His face turned stern once more, and he tried pulling away from her, but she tightened her grip and spoke, "There's another place in this same forest I want to show you. You do know the place I'm referring to, right?"

Santiago looked stumped. He tried his best to remember any more significant memories they had here besides their now dilapidated treehouse. They used to fish here in the spring and summer. At one point, the river shrunk in size from a miniature drought that passed over the region, but there was nothing of real grand significance that reminded him of anything else. Had he just thought for a little longer, he would have caught it had he investigated the woods.

Hana led the way from this point on. The destination was out of the beaten path.

Owls hooted at the trespassers waltzing into their territory from atop the trees, and passing groundhogs scurried back into their underground homes when the duo approached. The pair came to a circular clearing in the woods free of trees, bushes, boulders, and animals. Santiago released his sister's hand and walked around the clearing, getting a good feel of this place.

"Well, are any memories coming back to you yet?" Hana looked at him, brushing her hair back with her hands.

Santiago glanced over at her, then back to the surrounding trees revolving around them like stern imposing Japanese samurai generals. Something was coming back to him, but it was faint. There was something about a specific tree that he passed twice now. The tree was different from the rest now that he stared at it. It was a Pine tree! Whereas the other trees were Japanese pine trees, red, white, and black. The pine tree Santiago analyzed was a Mexican weeping pine. It was not native to these shores or this part of the world.

He crouched down and walked around the tree. He let his hands touch and explore the surface of the trunk and felt three deep impressions made in the back. With the aid of the light of the sun shining down from above, he saw two letters cut deep in the bark with something sharp long ago. The letters were H + S.

"You and I were here when we were kids, right?" he said with a restrained surprise from behind the tree.

"Yes, we were. And do you know how those letters got there?"

"Either you or I cut them into the tree," he responded.

"That's pretty obvious. But do you know why we did that?"

Santiago thought about it but couldn't remember ever being here, let alone with his sister. "I'm at an impasse, Hana. I can't remember. Tell me."

"Close your eyes and think hard; you probably blocked it out of your memory by now. So many years have passed that it's okay if you forgot."

Santiago sighed, annoyed, and closed his eyes, and focused on his breathing. Darkness gave way to images of everything that happened the year before. He thought back further when he and the whole family went to the town fair for some family fun time.

Hana filled her entire head with cotton candy and let him eat from it. Not to be outdone by his daughter Santiago chuckled at this passing memory. He thought back further, and memory from when he was fifteen popped up. It was when he attended Duality High School, or DHS for short. As the only boy around, he was the target of much bullying and intrigued by the other teenage Futas.

The muscles in his neck twitched, remembering a giant teen futa who led a gang in high school and was targeting Hana for going out with one of her ex-girlfriends.

When she was called out to the school's roof to answer for her sudden interest in her ex, Hana was jumped, but Santiago knew something like this would happen and called the principal before it got out of hand.

Fighting between Futas, inside and outside of school, were grounds for severe punishment. An outsider, let alone a man striking a Futa, would lead to a public execution. Even if he was born here, his gender made him and his father social outsiders. Santiago smiled to himself, thinking fondly back on this memory.

Mustering everything he had within him, he broke through the self-erected layers he placed on his mind long ago.

***

One spring morning, when the air was alive with the buzzing of honeybees and butterflies flying around, Santiago and Hana sat down behind this tree while their father played hide and seek with them.

Santiago and Hana hid together behind a different tree not far from the one with their initials. Their mother was also playing with them, but she hid behind a bush not far from them. Hana remained half focused on the game since the other half of her attention was drawn to something else. She snuck through bushes and dashed around trees, skipping over small squirrels and groundhogs. Santiago followed her and saw her trying to reach a rare flower guarded by a ring of terrifying-looking brambles.

"Found you, honey!" Santiago heard his father's voice from far off.

"Hana, what are you doing?" Santiago whispered.

"There's this little flower that I wanted for a long-time brother, but I could never reach it."

"That's because it has these spiky things protecting it. We're supposed to be hiding right now. Dad is going to find us if we stick out like sore thumbs here."

"Get it for me, brother, get me the pretty flower, and we can hide together!" Hana said excitedly with a broad smile that accompanied her innocent excitement.

"What? Aw, man! Do I have to?"

"Santi, Hana, I'm coming for you; where are you?" Gael shouted, his voice echoing through the woods.

Santiago stomped his foot and reached through the brambles, cutting his arm and hand in the process. At first sight of blood trickling down from his arm, Hana changed her mind and begged him to forget about getting the pretty flower. But he was close, so close he reached further in, cutting himself deeper and shedding more blood. He grasped the stem of the rare precious flower and pulled the flower out, root and branch.

He yanked his arm back and presented his sister with the rare and precious flower. It was like a giant sunflower in length, but its petals were unlike a regular sunflower. There were six pedals, purple with red and white markings around the base of each petal revolving around the flower's pistil that was black and fuzzy with antennae sticking out with tiny balls of white fuzz. Behind the six petals were four giant orange petals with black markings behind each pedal.

The scent of the flower was powerful, smelling like a mixture of fruits. Hana's eyes bulged and nearly popped out of her head upon receiving the flower from her brother's bleeding hand. Tears filled her small but round eyes. Hana leaned and kissed her brother as thanks for suffering to get her this once-in-a-lifetime gift.

Santiago remembered his father finding them behind the tree moments after the flower retrieval. He panicked, as did his mother, who cut the game short and attended to his bleeding hands and arms.

***

Santiago stared at both of his arms and hands in the present world and saw his faint scars peppered the length of his arms and hands. There was a total of 33 scars of varying sizes and thicknesses decorating his skin. He only did that for his sister because she wanted that damn flower. He watched Hana smiling at him with her hands clasped behind her back, waltzing further into the woods.

"Hana, wait up!" Santiago called out to her. "Wait, why did I say that?"

He followed her and saw her on her hands and knees, sticking her arm through a bush. He raised an eyebrow, confused. He heard her grunting in pain and the sound of twigs snapping as she pulled away. He watched her turn and presented him with the same flower he gifted to her all those years ago.

"I'm truly sorry for everything that has happened to you, little brother, and I'm sorry for what you're going to have to go through later today. No matter what happens, I want you to know how truly sorry I am, brother. Please let's go back to how things used to be between you and me." Hana's voice was breaking, and her ability to hold back her tears escaped her.

Santiago took the flower from her hand and stared at it. His tears welled ran down his eyes just like Hana. He pulled her in and hugged her tightly. Hana smiled and cried at the same. She forgot how strong her brother's arms were, just how tight his chest felt against her lean body. She didn't know what type of body spray or cologne he used, but the scent was intoxicating enough for her to start feeling different towards him.

"Santi..." she said his name, her breath hot and husky. In her pants, her cock was starting to harden, forming a stiff tent.

He felt this and chuckled at her, "Hana, would you like--"

Hana wrapped her arms around the back of his head and pressed her lips on his eagerly. Her eager tongue spread open his quivering lips and slipped her tongue inside him. His eyes bulged as he felt her pull both of them to the ground.

**HITOMI**

White steam billowed from a pot of boiling water that was sitting on an electric oven. Gael turned the stove off and poured the water in two cups to prepare some coffee for him and Hitomi, who was on the phone with someone in the living room. Gael approached Hitomi, who had her back turned to him. She was looking out the window while continuing to talk. He wrapped an arm around her stomach, pulled her in, and pressed his crotch against her shapely ass.

She turned to him and shot him a soft smile. She took the cup he handed her and swayed softly from side to side with him. Gael listened to the conversation between his wife and the other person on the other line.

"What do you think, Masako? How terrible of a beating is my son looking at." Hitomi asked her friend.

"The last time a public beating happened in Nigen-Sei, was in 1980, and that was a domestic dispute that got out of hand. The last execution was in 1950, and in that case, a Futa raped and killed another Futa. The penalty for taking a life was the cost of one's own life. I don't want to toot my horn here, but You're very fortunate one of my sisters is a member of The Long Board; otherwise, you'd be burying your son tomorrow. I can't say for certain how bad it will be for Santiago. The public beating in 1980 was pretty severe, but the Futa lived. I think she's still alive to this day but lives alone."

"Who did the beating back then, and who do you think is going to do it now?"

"This is the unique part of our society, sweetheart. Nigen-Sei does not keep records for the public, or rather, makes it public unless explicitly told by the Japanese government or deemed the public worthy of knowing. The victim's family and relatives performed the beating in the 1980 case. If that is our only point of reference, then it's safe to assume that the Futa who your son struck will have her family and relatives there to dish out the beating."

"Why did this have to happen, Masako? Why to my boy, my only boy." Hitomi's voice broke, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"We both know why it happened. PTSD is a bitch. I'm not going to say this is entirely your fault, but you do share some of the blame in his suffering. All I can tell you now is to do everything in your power to repair the damage between you and your son. Where is he, by the way? Can I talk to him?"