-Prologue-
I whirled around as I heard the telltale steps of someone coming up behind me, my golden hair whipping around to hit the stone wall with a light swish and my amber eyes flashing with surprise. When I saw who it was, I relaxed visibly, lowering my sword from the defensive position it had been in.
"Suzaku! Don't do that to me!" I said exasperatedly, glad it was just my student. The young demon shuffled his feet in an apologetic manner.
"Sorry, Master." He said, lowering his head. I smiled and reached out to lift his head so I could look at his face.
"It's okay, Suzaku. Just try to remember to announce your presence before you approach me next time." He nodded and joined me at the window I had been looking out of. For a moment, we were both silent, the Suzaku spoke without looking at me.
"Master?" I glanced at him.
"Yes?"
"Where will you go when you've finished teaching Seiryu and I?" His voice seemed to me to be the voice of a child losing something beloved. I sighed; I hadn't wanted to bring up the subject until I had to, but Suzaku had always been rather impetuous.
"I don't know." I said finally, looking back out of the window. We were in a building that I had found many, many years ago, long abandoned by its original owners but suiting my needs perfectly. The past three decades, I had shared the space with my two students, Seiryu and Suzaku. The western windows, which was where we were at the moment, looked out over the great Tibador Plains. "Maybe I'll go back to wandering."
"I've heard that the king is dying and that there'll be a tournament soon." He said, still not looking at me. "Will you compete in it?"
"Maybe." The idea had occurred to me a couple of weeks ago when I had gone into the nearby town for supplies. The one demon that could defeat all of the other contenders for the throne would be crowned King or Queen of the whole Makai realm. I had gone so far as to get the sign up forms, but I hadn't been able to bring myself to actually send them in. Now that the end of my time with the two young demons was in sight, I thought that maybe I actually would send them in, after all.
"I think you could win, Master." Suzaku's voice was full of confidence in me. I smiled, a bit sadly.
"I probably could." I replied, not so sure as he was. I scanned the darkening horizon, putting thoughts of the end out of my mind. There would be time later for this discussion. For now, all I wanted was to spend some time with the two demons that meant the most to me in the whole Makai.