Forbidden Love
Chapter 26: Care and Regret
"Gakupo! Where are you?" Len thought as he ran through the woods under the blood-red moonlight.
He thought about what Luna told him moments before he ran away from the cave to find Gakupo.
"Don't worry, Momo-san. After the second Providence, I will feel much better," Luna said with a menacing smile on her face, shocking and worrying Len and Momo.
"I'm going to get revenge on my selfish husband."
Luna stroked Momo's hair as she looked at her with evil eyes.
"What do you mean?" asked Len, a drop of sweat rolling down his cheek from all the suspense.
"Once Luka gets out of the Ama no Iwato, all of your memories of being human would be gone. You would all remember the sacrifices that you made just to protect her. Luka will get out of that cave as Amaterasu with her beautiful ray of sunshine," Luna said with a hopeful smile.
"But, I'm going to obtain her powers and kill my husband," she continued, her smile being overpowered with the scariest grin.
"How will you obtain her powers?" Len asked, clenching his fist.
"I'll kill her, of course," Luna stated as if it was nothing important.
Momo gasped to what Luna shared, realizing that all her lies to help the Providence become a success would lead to the death of her dearest friend. Len kept his cool, remembering that he had already made a pact with Luna that he would never betray her.
"I see," Len replied.
"Len, I want you to stay here and keep watch while Momo-san and I get ready for the Providence that will be occurring very soon," Momo said, turning away from the cave and walking away.
Momo followed her without saying a word in fear of getting hurt over something small while Len did as he was told. He watched their silhouettes fade away as they returned to the shrine.
Len looked into the cave, remembering that Luka was still asleep, however he saw nobody. He didn't find Luka's sleeping body on the ground where he left her.
"Could she have heard everything?" he thought.
To make sure, he walked into the cave to look for Luka. When he saw a small spark of light, he followed it, not minding what he was stepping on.
"Luka?" he called out, making sure that it was her.
He finally got close enough and realized that it wasn't a candle or a flame that was causing the small spark of light. It was the memories that Luka was watching that would complete her transformation into Amaterasu and would complete the Providence. He didn't want her to make the Providence a success for he knew that Luna was planning on killing her.
"Luka! Dame!" Len exclaimed as he ran to Luka to cut her off of the trance.
Len gasped when he saw the lifeless yellow eyes that replaced the beautiful shade of blue that her eyes once had. He shook her body to try and break wake her up from the dangerous trance, but it was useless.
"Tsukuyomi never came because of his painful heartbreak," Len told himself as he doze off to remember what Luna said about the cause of the first Providence's failure.
When he looked over at Luka, he saw his face in the soundless memories that she was watching. He didn't know why his face was there so he continued watching to find some more clues about himself.
"That's me—no, it's my true self, Hikoboshi," he thought, looking at the bright memories.
He saw himself clench his fist when Luka told him something with her cheerful face. Then, he saw him yell at Luka which caused her to cry with her shocked eyes and trembling hands. She ran away from him and ran to the cave where she hid for thousands of years.
When Len realized what his true self had done, he felt a sharp pain in his heart. His eyes widened in surprise while his hands quivered in fear.
"I'm the admirer that told Amaterasu about her forbidden love with Tsukuyomi," Len said, mortified.
"It was my fault that all of this is happening," Len thought, panting as he ran faster.
"I shouldn't have fallen for Luka."
Suddenly, Len felt another sharp pain in his heart which caused him to stop running. He covered his mouth when he started coughing hard. When he felt something on the palm of his hand, he held it out to see splotches of blood on his palm.
He was surprised and scared, but he kept on running for he knew that what Luka will be going through would be more painful if he doesn't make it in time. Len kept on running despite of what he saw. On his way, he found Miku and Rin walking together under the red moonlight.
"Rin!" Len yelled out, surprising the two.
"Len?" Rin called back.
Len and Rin ran to each other for they couldn't wait to see each other again. They exchanged hugs with each other while their hearts beat together.
"Rin, are you alright?" Len asked as he stroked her hair way from her face.
Rin nodded with her shimmering eyes and relieved smile.
"What about you?" she asked.
"I've been okay. Thank goodness you're alright!"
"Do you understand our situation, Len-kun?" Miku asked as she approached the siblings.
"Yes, Konohanasakuya-hime," he said, calling Miku by her true self's name.
With what she heard, she knew that Len was informed enough of what was going on.
"Is Luka-chan with you?" Rin asked with hopeful eyes.
"No, why?"
"Well, I wanted to apologize for ignoring her because of everything that had been going on ever since you left. I shouldn't have ignored her," Rin replied, handing Len a sheet of paper with writings.
Len read the letter, realizing that it was from Luka.
"Dear Rin, I'm sorry for everything that I've done. I'm sorry that I was the reason why your relationship with Len-kun got bad and I'm sorry for being the cause of his running away. But I want to let you know that when he gets back, I will assure you that I'll be gone away from here. I'll probably return to the city where I came from so that I wouldn't be a bother anymore. I heard some of our classmates say that you thought it was your fault that Len-kun was gone, but I want to assure you that you're wrong. Len-kun loves you more than anything in this world. Why do I know that, you ask? Whenever I look at him when he's talking to you, I can see his eyes shining even in the dark. He looks really happy whenever you talk to him. I know that he loves you so much and I don't want to ruin anything that both of you worked hard on, so I'm really sorry. Please forgive me. Take care always. Sincerely, Luka," Len read in his mind, his eyes rolling from one side to the other.
He looked at Rin, whose hopeful eyes shimmered under the moonlight, and realized that Luka was right. Luka was right about how he was really in love with Rin. He looked back on the past and realized that the only reason why he thought he was in love with Luka was because he didn't want to accept that he was in love with his own sister because of the fear of taboo. Len realized that Luka wanted him to acknowledge his feelings for Rin because Luka wanted neither of the twins to get hurt.
Len clenched the written letter in his hand in frustration and regret for he knew that he was the one at fault. He knew that he had hurt Luka more than anybody else. Len knew how much he made Luka worry and how much she cared for him through the letter that she left for Rin. Len looked down on the ground when he started tearing up to hide it.
"Rin, I'll be back," Len said, returning the letter to her after he pulled himself together.
"Where are you going?" Miku asked as she watched him run off.
"I'm going to help Luka!" he yelled back.
Rin and Miku watched Len disappear through the forest, not knowing when they'll ever see him again especially with the circumstances they were in.
"You cared so much about me and yet, all I did was hurt you," Len thought with Luka's face in his mind.
"I'll protect you, Luka. I'll show you that all the things that you've done for us won't go to waste."
Author's notes:
Ama no Iwato- heavenly rock cave
Amaterasu- the sun goddess of Japan
dame- "Don't!"
Tsukuyomi- the moon god of Japan
Hikoboshi- Orihime's lover; a knight
Konohanasakuya-hime- Princess Konohanasakuya; blossom princess in Japanese mythology and symbol of delicate earthly life