Note: I'm probably jumping the gun but I just read the second chapter of Donten ni Warau Gaiden so I was inspired to write this.

Resolve

Tenka stared up at the cloud covered sky listlessly, only half an ear turned to the words his fellow Yamainu mates were saying. Sousei was smiling easily as if satisfied with the words that had drifted to them through the doors. Tenka's father, Taiko, was speaking to Ashiya, and the topic was by no means a simple or light matter.

Taiko had admitted that he would cut down whoever was the Orochi's vessel, even his own family. It hurt to hear that, even though Tenka knew he would carry the same burden if any of his friends or family turned out to be the vessel. A question beat around his head, searching wildly for an answer yet finding none: could he do it? Could he truly carry out the task?

He followed his father home with these thoughts on his mind, bouncing between two options. He was of the Yamainu; his duty was to suppress the Orochi, no if's, and's, or but's. He was the eldest son of the Kumou family; he had a duty to his family, to love and protect them, especially his younger brothers. What he did, he did for them. For everyone around him.

Seeing their faces as he and his father walked to the temple, Tenka's heart cracked and broke. Their bright smiles, hearty laughter, and blind trust made him want to cry. He would do anything to fulfill his dream. Together with the others of Yamainu, with Sousei and Kiiko, he would protect the world. But he would do that and more for his family.

There was just no way... no way he could do what his father could. He couldn't cut down his own brothers.

Watching them as they slept, he was already thinking of the consequences of his actions. Sousei would be furious. They had been together for such a long time. Surely, he would think this was a betrayal. He wouldn't waver, though. He was a brother first, "dog" second.

Everything would be for them. Whatever holes his parents left behind, he would fill them to the best of his ability. He would become strong – the strongest around – and show them the world he knew. He would share with them the love he was gifted with when it was just him and his parents.

There would be no emptiness or pain, only joy and laughter, even under the cloudy sky.