Yay! Distraction!
He had always been marked by the cherry blossoms, even his name belonging to the flower. It was not only him though; not only the one person.
His mother had been marked too. Until she perished.
He never mourned her death. Why bother? He had simply fulfilled his duty, and there was never time to shed tears over the dead, no matter who they were or how important.
It was the curse of his blood line, nothing more. Why bother fighting against the predetermined? You would simply be wasting time and effort in a foolish venture, which would accomplish nothing.
Why fight the flow?
Yes, he was in service to a demon, a monster in the form of a tree, but if he simply let his duty be, never collecting the souls needed to feed the monster, it would surly start snatching up the passersby. It wouldn't bother to regulate it's meals, simply consume anyone who strayed too near.
He didn't particularly care about those strangers, why should he after all? He just ... didn't want to risk an onmyoji being summoned to exorcise the tree; his life was linked to the tree's life. He may as well keep the damn thing alive so that he stayed alive.
He had been what, eighteen, nineteen, when they had first met? It had been right after a feeding, the little girl's corpse still fading away within the tree branches.
Such an innocent little boy. He had been drawn near by the cherry tree.
More specifically, the evil aura surrounding the cherry tree.
Only nine years old, and a most powerful onmyoji; what was this world coming to that such a child was so entwined with magics? Not only that, the boy was the head of a family, a prestigious family at that, the boy on a level so much higher than other children his age.
Not on the same level, but above it.
That is no different from being left out.
He was tempted to kill the boy; snip the threat in the bud before it had a chance to bloom. But something prevented him from doing so. Something that screamed in his head, that, under no circumstances was he to kill this child.
It may have been the fact they were both alone.
Surly the boy would be surrounded by family, and given chances to play with other children, but the boy was most certainly alone. His power and duty separated him from others, even another of similar skill.
The tree had begun to grumble, sensing the power hidden away within the youth's tiny form. It spread it's coils and dived for the child, the child barely able to summon a shield to protect himself.
He barely even moved as he remained sitting in the branches.
The tree kept attacking the child, and the boys' shield grew steadily weaker. Eventually, the tree would consume the boy whole.
He's not sure why he protected the boy; just that he did. Maybe he couldn't accept that some one, or some thing, else could take the boy's life.
He ended up putting his marking on the boy, before whisking him away, back to the safety of his home.
The tree would no doubt be displeased, and require several sacrifices before it calmed down, but he didn't mind; the little one in his arms was safe.
The boy hadn't wanted him to go, scared for his sake should he return to the tree. It made him smile; the thought that someone would worry for him.
He promised to return to the boy.
He never found out why he made that promise. He is even less sure as to why he kept it. But he did return to the boy, many, many times.
The days turned into weeks, months, years. Still he would return to the child, teen, man. When the young man entered in with the wolves, he entered as well, making sure to keep the young man from dying at anyone else's hands.
Or so he told himself.
It was more like what the young man's sister had claimed; that he felt possessive over the one he loved.
Love.
What a useless emotion for a killer. All it did was make it harder to kill a target, to slay the chosen sacrifice; what use did it hold for a murderer?
Yet ... when the young man shyly smiles at him, face a deep crimson from embarrassment ... his heart - a heart he isn't supposed to have - will beat just that little faster, and feel just that little fuller. When they sit and talk, his smile is just that little more real, and his eyes just that little more kind.
And when they wake up together, his fate seems just that little bit less certain, and his actions just that little bit less sure.
But with those words-
I love you, Sei-chan.
-that decision from long ago to spare the child-
And I you, Baru-kun.
-remains as steadfast as ever.
I am sorry for the deviation from the main story, but review anyway?
Toodles and Love
Oky Verlo