What Should Have Been
A Painful Tomoe and Nanami Short Story (with a quick appearance from Noragami)
Nanami sighed as she closed her brown eyes and listened to the chirp of birds while sitting on the front steps of the shrine. Mumbling could be heard from within, and she sighed again. "What's the matter, Tomoe?" Something crashed to the floor before the door slid open. "Onikiri and Kotetsu bailed and left me to do the cleaning today. Again." Nanami turned her head and opened her eyes to see her fiancé disheveled. There were leaves in his hair and tail, his clothes were dusty and ripped, and the head of his broom had fallen off. She couldn't help but laugh at him. He scrunched his eyebrows and glared at her. "What's so funny?" Nanami stood up, brushing her hair away from her face as she got a better look at him. "You're usually so fabulous, and this is just too much!" She continued to laugh as a faint blush rose on the familiar's cheeks. "Just go back to whatever you were doing." Nanami smiled, her cheeks rosy red. "Sure thing, sexy!"
With a grunt Tomoe retreated back into the shrine, and Nanami turned her attention back to the birds. A few moments later Onikiri and Kotetsu appeared with a newspaper in hand. "Lady Nanami! We have bad news!" Nanami looked down at them worriedly. As she opened her mouth to ask what the news was, Tomoe could be heard from within the shrine. "I've got bad news for you too, jerks! You're gunna die!" Shrieks erupted from the two critters as Tomoe ran out of the shrine, violet eyes blazing with anger. Onikiri held up the front page of the newspaper and stopped Tomoe in his tracks. "Look master! Shrines around the city are being burnt down!" Tomoe took the paper and looked at it more closely. "These symbols…" Tomoe whispered just loud enough for Nanami to hear. "It's Yato, the death God. He's been a major influence on wars in the past, but never received his own shrine. I'm assuming he's tired of being ignored." Nanami gasped. "Are we in any trouble?" The familiar shrugged. "Who knows. I'll go out looking for him tonight. Just keep an eye out and yell for me if you need me." The white haired familiar leaned down and kissed Nanami on the lips and smiled before running off into the city in search for the death God. Nanami sighed, seeing how the sun was going down already. "Guess I should get some sleep."
Sleep took Nanami quickly, and in the midst of a sweet dream she awoke to the smell of smoke and the sound of a dull thud. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, she gasped at the sight before her. Onikiri and Kotetsu lay in a pool of blood, the two of them slashed and decapitated. Nanami felt her pulse speed up as she scrambled to her feet, still staring at the sight. The rancid taste of vomit filled her mouth, but she forced it down and looked away, only to face a wall of fire consuming the only entry into the shrine. She backed away from the burning flames as she heard an evil laughter coming from all directions. "You deserve this fate, wench!" She runs for a window only to have a fiery beam fall from the ceiling and block her path. Smoke clouded her vision and burned her lungs. She bent over in a coughing fit and whispered the name of her only hope.
"Tomoe…"
Mere moments later the white fox familiar burst in through the doors, fire catching his clothes. He ran for Nanami who was doubled over on the floor coughing when another beam fell, this time directly on top of Nanami. Her pain-filled scream pierced through Tomoe's heart. He pinned his ears back as he gently lifted the beam off of her, which only made her pain worse. She coughed again, this time accompanied with blood. Tomoe's heart sank as he tried to carefully pick her up only to make her gasp and cry with every touch. Tomoe felt his heart skip a beat as he glanced up to see a young man with black hair and haunting blue eyes staring at him with an evil smile. He held a katana in his hand and it was dripping with blood. "YOU DID THIS!" Tomoe was about to raise a hand and kill the God with a single swipe, but found his hand wouldn't obey. Nanami was holding onto his shirt with one weak hand. "Don't, Tomoe. Life's been unfair to him, it's not his fault." Tomoe felt tears running down his face as the light slowly left her eyes. "OF COURSE IT'S HIS FAUILT! HE DESERVES TO DIE!" Nanami shook her head and weakly smiled. With another glare, knowing he couldn't kill him unless Nanami said otherwise, Tomoe left the building before it collapsed. He gently leaned against a tree while holding Nanami in his arms. The demon God Yato appeared before them again, still smiling. "All of these shrines… they should have belonged to me!" He laughed hysterically, as if burning down the shrines would make them all resurrect in his name.
Tomoe's violet eyes shone with rage. "AND NANAMI SHOULD HAVE BEEN MY WIFE!" Nanami brings her weak hand to his face, bringing his attention back to her. His tears streamed down his face as he looked into her brown eyes. Those brown eyes he loved, whose sparkle was fading. She spoke quietly, and Tomoe help his breath as she spoke. "Don't cry over me, Tomoe. You know I love you." Tomoe kissed her forehead, forcing a smile as he saw the blood soaking into her shirt from various places, and blood dampening the ground beneath her. "We were going to have a fabulous family one day." She nodded. "I know. Besides," She took a deep breath, wincing. A trickle of blood escaped her lips as she continued to smile. "I was your wife the moment you asked me to marry you." With the end of her sentence she sighed, and her eyes closed. Tomoe bit down on his tongue as she failed to take another breath, and failed to reopen her eyes. The fire burned on in the foreground as he held Nanami close, weeping into her shirt for a miracle.
He never got a miracle.
Yato disappeared and hadn't burnt down another shrine since that day. It had been a couple weeks since the loss of Nanami, Onikiri, and Kotetsu, and a new shrine was already being built. Nanami was buried where the new shrine would stand, so she could always watch over it. "That's what she would have wanted…" Tomoe sighed, watching from a distance as the roof was being put together. A white haired man he knew too well made his way across the road and stood beside his friend. "Mikage…"
"I'm really sorry for your losses, Tomoe." The two of them watched the construction process in silence before Mikage made a comment. "The two of you would have had a beautiful family." Tomoe nodded, his frown never faltering. "Yeah…" Mikage chuckled. "I bet your son would have looked just like you." Tomoe looked at him for the first time, eyebrows curved up in a questioning manner. "What makes you say I'd have a son first?"
Mikage's heart sank as he looked into Tomoe's eyes, realizing what he had just done. "It would have been better if you never knew." Tomoe glared at him, taking a defensive pose. "Know what?! Tell me already damnit!"
"Oh Tomoe…"
Birds chirped happily, unaware of the painful scream they would hear moments later.
"She was pregnant."
The End