Hana by Tam MacNeil

Author:Tam MacNeil [MacNeil, Tam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Queerteen Press
Published: 2015-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

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Jao’s sitting on the veranda when Yamamoto comes out of the service wing of the house and goes up the garden path to the stairs that go to Masahiro’s office. He’s looking serious. Jao sits back and grins. He’s got enough problems of his own; it’s nice to see somebody else with some. Even better when that person isn’t Jao’s favourite person. He’s just feeling really good about that when Hyan appears from the same direction, with almost the same expression on his face.

“Uh-oh,” Jao says and Hyan turns the full force of that glower on him.

“I have to talk to you,” he says.

Jao blinks. “Okay.”

Hyan comes over and glares at him, like Jao’s done something to him personally.

“So?” Jao asks.

Hyan’s glare changes just a bit, eyebrows rising over the bridge of his nose just a bit, mouth twisting. Edge of tears. Hyan doesn’t cry easily, and never in public. Jao’s stomach plunges. “Is Yamamoto going to Hitori about something you did?” he asks softly.

“No. It’s about Hana,” Hyan whispers. His voice is very small. His mouth twitches and he swallows.

Jao isn’t the kind of guy who spends a lot of time at shrines, but if he’s ever pleased a god, maybe they’ll give him a kind and neutral expression now. “Is Hana hurt?” he asks.

“No,” Hyan whispers.

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Maybe after I tell you you’ll hate us,” Hyan says. “And then you’ll make us leave.”

Jao gestures to the place beside him. “I don’t think that’s very likely, do you?”

Hyan doesn’t sit.

“Hyan,” Jao says. He sighs. “You’re upset. I want to help. But I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s wrong.”

Hyan hesitates, then he kneels down, first one knee, then the other. He puts his hands on the floor and leans forward until his forehead touches the polished wood. “Please do not let them take Hana away, sir,” he says. It’s the first time Jao’s ever heard the kid use formal language. He didn’t even know Hyan knew how.

“Hey,” Jao says. He catches Hyan’s arm and pulls him sitting upright again. “No one is taking Hana away from us. Who told you this was going to happen?”

Hyan swallows. “The man at the gate, the one who used to work here.”

The creep. Otoya. Jao goes very cold. “What did he say to you?”

Hyan shakes his head. “Not to me. But everybody knows he wants to buy Hana. He’s been trying to get Yamamoto to sell her.”

Jao feels sick. He might not like Yamamoto but at least he knows that the reason he went to Hitori is because there’s a dangerous creep hanging around. Hyan doesn’t. Hyan only knows that harmony matters in the household, and Otoya is disrupting it because of Hana. “No, listen, Hyan—”

“No, he is.”

“It’s not—”

“It’s because of what she can do,” Hyan blurts. His hands come up to cover his face, like he’s mortified. “I told her to be careful. I told her not to let anybody see.”

Jao can’t remember what he was going to say. “What?” he asks.

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