Chapter 10: They Should Have Known Better

It was chilling. Yama was a judge of souls, an expert in measuring them. They had repeatedly assaulted Onigumo with the Kōtotsu, removing everything that was foreign to him. They couldn't get rid of anything he had fully laid claim to, but at least they didn't have to worry about a cursed object worse than the Shikon or some immortal eldritch abomination bursting out of his disgusting body once he was free of the void. Yama shivers. It was so very chilling, until just a moment ago he would have sworn that the experience had broken Onigumo. That the exhaustion had leached the fight out of him, dulled his mind, and quelled the violence in his heart.

A single sentence, all it took was a single sentence and he was back; as if he had never left at all. One sentence and instead of the goopy ball of intestines and bone that the claw had lifted out of the void, he was in the shape of a man again; razor sharp wit glinting in his red eyes, ruthlessness in his posture and cruelty in the smirk on his face… just one sentence.

"To end the Shikon we will see your wish upon it granted."

Yama shakes the feeling off, turning to his security people, "Everyone, keep your spirit-cannons ready, Captain Shunjun, see this soul bound in chains and escorted to The Assembly. We have kept them waiting long enough."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

He was docile as they chained him. There was no point in resisting, not now when they were going to give him what he had been dreaming of for so long. He moved slowly, it was so strange to be subjected to gravity once more. It was almost embarrassing; the ache in his chest had grown to a sharp cutting pain before he remembered he would need to breathe now. It burned. There was so much to smell now, and the lights were so very bright. Slowly, step by step he began to feel more like himself. Until, quite out of nowhere, he finally, finally felt real. Because he was there and… it was her.

A room full of Kami and the ache in his body that still remained after the strange glowing beast had ripped so many of his voices away; went ignored as he gazed upon the miko. He called upon the power he had nearly forgotten he had, limp and weak but still enough to see him twisting and slipping free of the pathetic guards circling him. "Hey! Get back here!" He came to a stop before her, only a few feet separated them now. "What do you think you're doing? Go to your seat or we'll fire!"

His gaze was even, catching the slight movement she made as she flinched away from him, only to force herself steady. "Are you even listening?!" A forever in the void hadn't dulled his skill, he could see it in her eyes and the way she held herself before him, she feared him still, she hated him still. Oh… Oh... Contentment settled deeply in his heart, soothing a festering ache he had long grown used to...She remembered him. He had left enough of a mark upon her that here at the end of forever she remembered him.

The guards of The Spirit World point their spirit-cannons at him, glowing blue with power. He closed his eyes for a moment, savoring his next breath as he drew her scent in for the first time in so very long. There were other things bombarding his senses, but they were easily shunted aside, none of it mattered but her. Kami even the scent of her was peace incarnate.

His eyes fluttered open as the growls reached his ears. It was the insipid dog of course; his presence was a disappointing unpleasantness but not an unexpected one, without the Tessaiga he was useless and ignored easily enough. He loved her still, but his heart ached terribly as she leaned into the dog, seeking comfort. Once, there would have been cruel cutting words on the mongrel's behavior, but he found he had nothing worth saying. He was too tired to fight, and no words would change who she chose, they never had. His gaze was steady into the miko's eyes she slowly began to relax in the face of his stillness, her eyes and heart closed to block him out. "Fire!"

They should have known better, by this point he had been a yōkai for longer than he had ever been a human, and the red demonic barrier had always been a favorite of his. Even with the soul shackles on it flashed into existence around him easily enough. But he was tired, so very tired. And so the barrier shattered after reflecting the spirit-cannon blasts back to their owners who were subsequently knocked out. He could see her hand twitch, and he knew, if he took a single step forward she would attack him with her spiritual powers; and so he remained still, content to bask in her presence, if only for a little while longer. She was still so beautiful…

It was in the stillness that followed that the Shikon acted. Sensing its favorite host it flashed brilliantly, shattering its case and blinding everyone with eyes before shooting towards Onigumo and slamming into his chest.