Promise
Disclaimer: Samurai Deeper Kyo (c) Akimine-sensei.
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The night was not quiet and not all that dark. Like a white lantern, the full moon hung in the sky, illuminating an inn and the tops of the forest trees nearby. Crickets and frogs, who had no concept of measured time and therefore did not realize it was half past two in the morning when humans partook of a ritual called 'Sleep', kept up a crescendo of croaks and chirps. The night breeze created tiny ripples on the mirror surface of a pond, breaking the reflection of the moon and making the lotus plants sway gently.
A dark reflection blocked half the moonlight in the water. The breeze ruffled dark hair and rustled night hued cloth. Beneath the bangs of moving hair, gleamed a pair of dark ruby coloured eyes, concentrating on nothing and everything at the same time. He had been in silent conversation with the other soul within him and it had not been a conversation he liked.
So… now they knew.
The man called Kyo and the other called Kyoshiro were in fact one and the same. Both had been part of one soul, both had been each other. Now with Kyo's body destroyed…
He had to return back into Mibu Kyoshiro.
The problem wasn't fusing back into one soul.
The problem was who would emerge from the clash between them: the bumbling medicine peddler or the erratic, dangerous Onime no Kyo.
Kyo gripped the hilt of ever-present Muramasa.
The simple truth was that he didn't want to leave. He refused to give up the individual life he had. To be given a physical body, lead a separate, different life and then be told that he needed to return to what he originally was and lose every thing he had…
He wouldn't allow it. Not for anything.
Kyoshiro was aware of this. But he wanted his body and his entire soul back. No one could blame a man for wanting to be whole once again. Kyo understood this perfectly.
But it didn't mean he wouldn't fight with every ounce of strength and every drop of blood he had for his right to live.
Although… no would die per se. It was just the question of who would emerge at last out of the gray ashes of battle…
It was a dangerous question.
The Hijiri warriors had no doubt Kyo would emerge the victor. It stood to reason. This was Kyo they were talking about. He couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't lose. Even Benitora agreed whole heartedly.
But Kyo remembered that Kyoshiro was him and he was Kyoshiro. It would mean fighting against himself. Fighting against the same mind, the same power, the same speed and intelligence… the same spirit.
Could he really win?
Kyo's red eyes glowed back at him from the water. Then for a moment, the red flickered to blue, changing Kyo's piercing glare into Kyoshiro's deep frown. It disappeared as quickly as it had come and Kyo snarled involuntarily. Kyoshiro was beginning to actively fight back for control. It was all so strange yet familiar at the same time.
His thoughts turned in a different direction. Supposed he lost… just how much would he lose if Kyoshiro won?
Akira, Akari, Hotaru, Bontenmaru, Yukimura, The Ten Sanada Braves… his memories of them all, he knew, would not be his any longer.
It would probably be like faint, vague shadows at the back of Kyoshiro's mind – like memories of faded dreams.
And what of…
He looked away, refusing to continue that thought. It persisted but he blocked it out entirely, declining very curtly to entertain it.
But in the end, it managed to quietly sneak into view.
What of her?
Muramasa's hilt was gripped harder, so much that his knuckles paled. He continued to stand silently by that pond, the sounds of the night deafened by his thoughts.
So immersed in his musings was he that Kyo didn't really hear the snapping of twigs or notice the crackling of dry, dead leaves being trod underfoot. But hardened senses eventually got through to him who it was before they reached him.
It was why he wouldn't turn, pretending to stare at the trees to the east.
His visitor stopped about two feet away, hesitant and afraid. Not of him but… of a prospect of what could happen to him. It had frightened the visitor the first time it occurred to her. It had been quickly and silently dismissed… but a glance at a silent Kyo had brought it all back. Perhaps the Hijiri warriors had known him long enough to be so confident that he would win.
But she didn't know him that well not to fear for him.
Either that… or the others didn't know him as well as they thought.
The notion had disturbed her sleep, nagging at her enough to render her an insomniac for that night. In order to try and allay her fears, she had gone to find him, seek him out so she could reassure herself that all was well, that all would be well.
His room door had slid open to an empty room, with an untouched futon on the floor. Puzzled, she had searched over the entire inn with no luck. She had happened to look from an open corridor to the inn garden when she saw him.
Moonlight illuminated his dark figure and she had glimpsed his expression in the pale light.
It scared her.
For she had not seen Kyo in that flash of light…
But Kyoshiro.
Now that she had hurriedly come down to the garden and gotten closer, she could see it was Onime no Kyo standing there with his back towards her. His straight, brooding but unyielding stance indicated as such. But for that one fleeting, frightening moment…
"…Kyo…"
There was no sound from him.
She gripped her hands together, staring at the back of his head. Gathering her courage, she spoke again in a low tone.
"You… you won't leave… will you?"
A heavy pause, filled with things that words wouldn't have been able to convey, followed her murmured query.
Then…
"I won't."
She was not convinced, taking one worried step forward.
"You won't what? You won't leave or…"
She swallowed down a lump in her throat.
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"Or you won't stay…?"
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His silence amidst the chirrups of insects, and the deep breath that he inhaled and released said it all.
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He couldn't promise her what he wasn't certain of himself.
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She felt something grip her heart and squeeze tightly, as if wanting to crush it. Everything suddenly just felt so… cold. Like one of Akira's attacks…
Life without this man who brazenly insulted, demeaned and aggravated her day after day without end to the brink of her wanting to murder him to end all her misery, yet kept her safe and in his own ways, showed that he did somehow, in some way, cared about her well being…
Kyo suddenly felt two thin arms surround his waist, hugging him as hard as she could, as if he would blow away with the breeze if she let go.
She pressed her face against his back, eyes shut tight in an effort not to cry.
It couldn't happen. He couldn't leave.
Because… he was Kyo.
She may have met Kyoshiro first. But it was Kyo who had saved her, Kyo who had kept her safe, Kyo who had protected her despite his harsh exterior and Kyo whom she, in ways she couldn't understand, had fallen-
…How could she remain with him as Muramasa had asked of her, if he didn't come back?
Her whisper was almost lost in the night sounds and the echo of the wind.
But to Kyo, she had filled all his senses. Her faint scent and the feel of her against his back already overtaking him, her voice was so easily heard by his ears.
The samurai gave no verbal reply. But he lifted one hand slowly and placed it over one of hers, grasping her hand firmly in a silent, cryptic answer.
Yuya could only hug him tighter, whispering again as a tear escaped her.
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"…Kyo… please don't leave me."
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The End.
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A/N: Rather unsure about where this stands but it does bring up the issue of the eventual last battle between Kyo and Kyoshiro. That or I just wanted to write romantic angst.
...yeah, probably the latter. Anyhoo, manga-based (although not totally since this is AU-ish) so this has no bearings on the anime ending. Thanks for reading and make sure to catch the companion piece to "Promise" by EnigmaticWind, "Pledge"!