Partly inspired by the heartbreaking Xtv episode 16. I felt almost as bad watching it as i did when I first read Volume 16.
Shells
He could not say that he had been troubled when the sudden knowledge came to him. These days few things could spark his interest. Interest? He walked on, day after day, going mechanically through the motions of breathing, of sacrifice and burial. The only feeling still in his heart was that of almost painful sweetness whenever he thought of those last words.
…he gave this to me. he is still with me, for every new corpse under the sakura is a declaration of my love and the blood on my hands is always his, a reminder of his having chosen me to be his special person…
The sakura warned him. It looked out for its survival, through what instinct or ancient magic he could not tell, but it would not allow anyone with even the slightest chance of hurting it to come near without alerting its guardian.
He did not particularly care, but it would be a break from his routine. He now understood better why the Bet had been made, for the deaths already seemed mundane and meaningless. Anything unusual, in search of something to occupy him, if not to fill the void where his heart had been. So he drifted to the park.
He saw that she looked even more lost than he could remember. The calm composedness had been replaced by a certain hopeless despair. The latter was fading already, too painful to be reminded of what once had been and no longer was.
She did not turn, but he knew she heard his footsteps. Then she made a slight sound, perhaps a sob, and raised her hand towards the sakura.
"You know, Sumeragi-san. You know what it is like, losing your special person. Seeing that person fade away, his blood on your hands, and being aware for every one of those last seconds that nothing you can do can bring him back."
He shivered, though not from cold. With the sakura so near it was impossible not to feel warmed by the restless spirits trapped inside it, their futile struggles providing further pleasure for the sakura and strength for him.
…"you never said any of those words, even when i expected them from you…" he held him desperately, trying to cling on to the hope that it wasn't over, everything would be right now that it had been said. it was hard, too hard, as the sound of breathing slowed down, the body went still, and even the blood was no longer warm on his hands…something broke inside him and with his powers he could feel it, more tangible than any physical wound could have been…
"Yes." There was no bitterness in his voice. He was past that, beyond the reach of any emotion save those caused by thoughts of that person. "It seems you have learned, as I did."
"I pray…I pray that the people I once cared for never find true love. That is the greatest cruelty there is, for if you lose that love nothing remains." She turned after those words and somehow he found it fitting that the two of them should be facing each other like this.
"Take me to our Kamui. I can no longer find anything in this world worth protecting."
He knew why she asked that of him. He knew it because he looked at her
and saw them both for what they were, beautiful mirrors reflecting vanished
dreams.