Forbidden Love

Chapter 28: A Tear Full of Sorrow

"After I ran away without letting any of you know, I learned that the reason Izanami wasn't turned into a human was because Izanagi didn't plan for her being in the Sacred Occurrences. Izanagi also told me that she was planning something that will ruin the Providence."

Gakupo remembered that night when he ran away from the shrine to hide away from Luna. That same night, Izanagi also revealed to him that Kaito's true self was Ninigi, Miku's was Konohanasakuya-hime, Rin's was Orihime, Len's was Hikoboshi, Momo's was Toyotama-hime, and Neru's was Tamayori-hime. After that night, the pearl became useless to him after it was shattered into pieces when it was struck by a spell-bound arrow.

It was Momo that shot the pearl, making Izanagi disappear. Luna, who already knew that Gakupo found out about her true identity, was the one that commanded Momo to destroy the only thing that could help Gakupo.

While Gakupo paused his narration to remember that night, Kaito didn't mind for he was also lost in his own flashbacks. He remembered how that night, Luna called them over to the shrine and told them about their true selves. She also included the lie that the reason Gakupo ran away was because he tried to kill her for she was going to help them make the Providence successful. After that, all of them despised him, but Kaito was the one that held the greatest anger on him because Gakupo didn't tell him anything about their fates.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kaito asked, returning to his confronting Gakupo.

"Why didn't you tell me about our fates?"

"Because I didn't want any of you to be involved in it."

Kaito was once again shocked of what Gakupo said.

"None of you knew about your true self, and I wasn't planning on revealing it to any of you because I didn't want you to get involved."

"Still! You should've told me! I thought you trusted me! I thought we were best friends!" Kaito roared.

"Because I didn't want you to be aware of my pain the way Luka was!" Gakupo yelled back, showing Kaito a different side of him.

Kaito had never seen Gakupo's other side for he was always gentle and kind. They never had a single argument and Gakupo had never shown this side of his to Luka or to anybody else.

"What do you mean…by Luka was aware…of your pain?" Kaito asked with no fear, but hesitation.

"Luka would always hide her happiness from me because she didn't want to be the only one to feel happy in our relationship."

Gakupo remembered those times whenever Luka would show a fake smile in front of him and how she would always look out into the distant after showing him a smile. He also recalled that time when Luka revealed to him that his eyes captured her heart and soul because they were so full of misery that she became more and more curious about him.

"Luka was able to sense my misery. She was able to see it in my eyes. I did all my best to hide that misery from everyone else especially from her, but she was able to see through me. That's how I fell in love with her."

Len, who was still eavesdropping behind the bushes, listened to the truth that was being laid out in front of him. This gave him more help in realizing that he and Luka weren't meant to be.

"I was in misery because I was despised by my childhood friends and I was fated to break Luka's innocent heart even if I didn't want to. I was meant to be hated and begrudged on. All those times that I was with Luka, I planned for all my feelings to be false. I planned to keep my heart from breaking. They were all supposed to be just an act…but before I even knew it…they became genuine. Before I even knew it…Luka had already captured my heart," Gakupo confessed, his eyes getting watery.

"I love Luka with all my heart and soul, but I didn't want her to get hurt…so I wanted to get the Providence over with so she wouldn't have to suffer any longer. Breaking her heart was the most difficult thing I had ever done."

Kaito had a grudge on Gakupo until he saw something he thought he would never see in a million years.

A tear.

A tear left Gakupo's eye. Kaito knew that the tear that came out contained all the feelings Gakupo always hid inside his cobalt eyes. Gakupo wanted those feelings to disappear and just feel happiness, but because it was his destiny to be hated and feel all the worst pain, he strongly held them inside, only showing a gentle smile and a kind personality to everyone around him.

"Suman."

Kaito walked towards Gakupo and placed a hand on his shoulder to show his sincere apology.

"I didn't know that you've been in this pain for so long," Kaito said.

Gakupo looked at Kaito, seeing his blue eyes shine under the blood-red moon. Gakupo knew he was sincere because Kaito would always look like that whenever he would apologize to Miku.

Gakupo and Kaito gave each other a friendly and brotherly hug which was something they hadn't done for a long time.

"No, I was the one at fault, Kaito," Gakupo said, patting Kaito's back.

Out of nowhere, they heard heavy coughing from the bushes nearby. The two ran to the bushes where they heard the noise to find Len coughing up blood.

"Len!" Kaito and Gakupo exclaimed, helping Len up.

Len didn't look very well judging from how much blood he had already coughed out. There was a puddle of it, the red color matching the crimson moon.

"What's wrong?" Kaito asked as he placed Len beside a tree for his back to lean on.

"Wakaranai," Len said, feeling more pain in his chest.

"You need to rest," Gakupo suggested.

"No…we must return…to where…Luka is," Len said, pausing every now and then to catch his breath.

"But, you're—"

"No! I'm…fine! We…n-need…to…get to Luka…as soon as possible."

"Why?" Kaito asked.

"Luna…no…Izanami…is going to…kill…Luka," Len revealed, coughing more blood.

There was much more blood than the puddle he coughed out near the bushes. The blood was now all over his hands and lap. Gakupo and Kaito didn't want to leave Len behind so they carried him on Kaito's back. They ran to the direction of the cave as fast as they could, feeling their true selves fully coming back.

"This isn't good," Gakupo thought as he saw some of his memories of being Tsukuyomi.

"She's going to come out any time soon."


Author's notes:

Izanami- deity and wife of Izanagi (Luna)

Izanagi- deity and ancestor of Amaterasu

Ninigi- Sir Ninigi; husband of Konohanasakuya-hime (Kaito)

Konohanasakuya-hime- Princess Konohanasakuya; blossom princess in Japanese mythology and symbol of delicate earthly life (Miku)

Orihime- Princess Ori; weaving princess (Rin)

Hikoboshi- Orihime's lover; a knight (Len)

Toyotama-hime- Princess Toyotama; Princess Tamayori's older sister (Momo)

Tamayori-hime- Princess Tamayori; Princess Toyotama's younger sister (Neru)

suman- masculine and casual way of saying "sorry"

wakaranai- "I don't know"/ "I don't understand"

Tsukuyomi- the moon god of Japan (Gakupo)