Haku, wake up
"Who's there?" Haku thought, being unable to see anything. He couldn't move his body, he couldn't open his eyes, everything was pitch black.
Haku, wake up
The voice kept calling out to him, but he couldn't reach it. Droplets, droplets of water dripped on his hand, was the owner of the voice crying?Something about the voice made Haku wanted to wake up and embrace the owner of the voice and tell him/her, probably a her, everything was alright.
"Master Kohaku!" Suddenly Haku saw a boy, around 11, with red eyes and hair the colour of the midnight sky, running towards another him. It was like watching a movie. The boy was his apprentice, not Shinano but before him, Tone. Tone was a genius, who could build up spiritual energy twice as fast as other spirits.
Spiritual energy in simple terms, is the power of a spirit. It is what determines if a spirit is strong or weak. A strong spirit would have a lot of spiritual energy and vice-versa. Spiritual energy is trained, however, depending on each spirit, the time needed to build up the same amount of spiritual energy differs. Just like how some humans can master martial arts easily while some humans needs to train twice as hard to obtain the same level, some spirits can gain a lot of spiritual energy in a short period of time while some need to train much harder than usual spirits.
Tone falls into the first category.
Tone was not only strong for his age, he was the most talented spirit anyone ever saw. The only one who was said to be as talented as Tone, was the one and only Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi. No one knew who Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi was before he became Yubaba's apprentice. Some says he was the most talented spirit ever borned while some say he trained 24/7 to become this powerful. Which was true? Nobody knew. Not even Haku. His memory had been sealed by Yubaba, even after the events 7 years ago, all he remembered was a pink shoe, the little girl and of course, his name. He couldn't even remember where his river was, much less how he had once train. Whatever the case, the fact was Haku was now a legend, just like all the other Masters had been.
And Haku was training Tone to become the next legend. Yes, it might sound weird for Haku, who was only a year older than Tone, to train Tone. However, it was a world where your ability comes first and your age doesn't matter.
"Master Kohaku look at this trick I just learnt!" Young Tone controlled some water in a glass he was holding to rise. He looked at Haku with eyes full of hope waiting for his comment. Haku smiled gently at him, something he seldom did to Shinano, and snapped his fingers. All of the water in the glass shot out of its container and flew circles around them like a dog chasing its own tail. The water then changed its shape into a butterfly and fluttered its water wings. The butterfly than perched on the glass and turned back to its original form and returned to the glass again.
"Oh my god! Teach me how to do that!" Young Tone looked up from the glass with eager eyes, and the Haku patted Tone's head. The scene flashed. It was again Young Tone, now 12. Young Tone and Haku just had a friendly battle. Haku's fist was barely an inch away from Young Tone's face who was on the ground.
"I'm only one year younger than you, why can't I ever beat you" Young Tone grumbled while allowing Haku to help him up
"I told you to practice defense. Your defense is zero"
"Nahh, defense is for weaklings"
"If only you would practice defense... you would be much more harder to defeat you know." Haku tried to talk Tone into practicing defense for the dozenth time, which of course ended in the same result:
"No thank you, Master Kohaku"
The real Haku felt a little happy, though unable to smile or whatsoever. It was such good memories. There was Young Tone learning about how to disguise as another type of spirits. A trick that few had succeeded in. It was unknown how long it took Haku to learn it, but he apparently, does. Oh there was where he learnt how to control his energy, to only knock the opponent out without harming him/her. And there was where Tone learnt how to use spiritual energy during hand-to-hand combats. Haku had taught him almost everything he knew, the only things he didn't taught him was due to the lack of time. Remember, Haku had become the Master of an area, which makes him have limited time to teach Tone.
"Hey Master Kohaku, would you support me if I wanted to do something" It was another day after practice when Tone was 12
"Where did this come from?" Haku raised his eyebrows
"You see, I want to write a story, but well you know... Everyone looks at me as the most talented spirit and that I should be training 27/7" In that moment, a hint of loneliness was shown in Tone's eyes. Haku smiled and placed his hand on Tone's shoulder
"I will support you in anything you want to do all the way"
Before Haku could feel touched by the scene, the happy memories came to an end. The scene flashed to the year Tone had become 13 and was able to talk during meetings. Haku prayed for the memory to stop playing, he didn't want to continue watching. He wanted it to stop, he knew what was going to happen next, and he didn't like it at all.
"I suggest that we expand our territory towards the World of the Living" It was too late, Tone had said it, the tragic memory had begun
"That is against the rules!" The officials who were jealous of Tone's talent and ability had finally got the chance to chase Tone out of the story, and they definitely won't miss this chance "Lord Kohaku! He should die for what he had said!"
"Master Kohaku, I know it's against the rules but don't you think it's about time to change that rule? We have followed the rule , but have the humans? Your river was destroyed by humans, they have polluted the Earth, it's time we take back control!"
"Do not talk to Lord Kohaku with that tone!"
"We should face the facts!"
"The rule is rule, you ought to have your head sliced off in public!"
"You are all denying the truth! You lot just want me dead!"
"SILENCE" Haku's voice boomed through the room, the room quickly quiet down. The real Haku was watching nervously, this was where he struggled to make the final decision. To choose between his apprentice or the peace of the court. For greater good, Haku made his decision:
"Tone, you have broken the law, but as you had given much contribution to us, you will not be killed as the rule says, but only have your spiritual energy absorbed and thrown out of the court" Haku said, ignoring all complaints from the other officials. Haku knew, that was all he could do to keep Tone alive, but it was just hard to make the decision.
"Master Kohaku!" Tone tried to protest but Haku raised his hand to silence him. Tone was taken away and at the last moment before Tone left the room Tone said: "You will regret this, Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi" And he saw Tone glaring up with tears in his eyes. Haku could tell Tone felt betrayed and hurt; was angry and sad. But that was all he could do to help him... His apprentice, destroyed by his very own hands.
Forgive me, Tone
Haku didn't even try to fight against the darkness that started to engulf him again. He had broken his promise to Tone. Maybe, he should just stay here forever. Maybe, that would make it up to Tone. Maybe, he... was the reason Chihiro was endangered
He could feel it, his lord wasn't unable to recover but unwilling to. He sat by his lord's side, Chihiro Ogino asleep upstairs. Shinano watched as Lord Kohaku's chest rise and fall at an even pace. What was keeping him from awaking? Who was that Tone guy? What was the backstory of Lord Kohaku and Tone? Shinano had so many questions but no answers. The only person who could give him answers was the person infront of him which refused to wake up.
Shinano started thinking about Tone's actions. Judging from the spiritual energy, Shinano was sure that the weak spirit he engaged at the river was Tone, but becoming so strong in less than a week was impossible, even for the most talented. Therefore Tone must had hid his spiritual energy. But just like how he had wondered during his previous encounter with him, too many parts didn't make sense. Shinano clenched his fist tightly, all of these weren't making any sense! First Tone's relationship with Lord Kohaku, then Tone's weird actions. It all didn't make sense!
Something clicked inside Shinano's mind, and an idea emerged. Shinano cursed himself for not thinking about it earlier, it was so obvious! How could he not have seen it! The puzzle was beginning to fix itself. That was it! It was all part of Tone's plan.
As for Tone's motives for doing such a thing, based on the conversation Tone had with his lord, Tone held some grudge towards Lord Kohaku. So Shinano's guess was it was for revenge. Tone held no interest in possesing Chihiro to get invincible power, all he wanted was revenge on his lord. Shinano had absolutely no idea about their backstory, but the person in front of him did. There was another thing that he had absolutely no idea. Why did Tone looked at him with eyes filled with guilt before he attacked? There was only one who could possibly answer that.
Wake up, my lord.