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Chapter 11

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Miyuki looked around, confused by the white void on all sides of her. Her demonic features were gone, not hidden like usual, but completely gone. Just as she was about to call out for someone — anyone — a young girl in tears ran past her.

"It's okay children..."

Miyuki spun around, abruptly stopping when she glanced at the familiar building that had materialised around her. Stone walls, dark wooden floors, and holy memorabilia affixed to the walls.

"It was for the best," she heard the woman before her say.

"Kaiya...?" she mumbled, voice cracking slightly. It was as if time had never moved forward and she was still stuck watching the shaking children huddle closer to their protector, an older woman with flaming auburn hair. Kaiya.

"I – Isaki..." a young Mika sobbed, clutching a bloodied ice shard that might have once been her dear sister. Miyuki's heart sank. This was the face she remembered when she thought of her childhood friend, not the angry madwoman who had attacked her outside. Just as her first tear rolled down her cheek, a hand rested itself upon her shoulder.

"It really brings back memories, doesn't it?"

Miyuki spun around and widened her eyes. There before her was Isaki, the young girl she had turned to ice when they were just little kids. She looked exactly like she did on that fateful day: chestnut hair falling down her back, evergreen eyes full of kindness, and a smile as warm as a fireplace. At this point, she couldn't hold back the tears.

"Isaki..." she mumbled. The girl she thought dead giggled.

"Long time no see, Yuki. How's Mika?" she asked with an inquisitive tilt of her head. The demoness blankly stared for a moment.

"You're not...mad?" she asked. Isaki shook her head and grinned. She pulled Miyuki in close, wrapping her arms around her and hugging her tight. The noirette didn't dare move.

"Of course not! I understand none of this was your fault and I'm at peace with what's happened," Isaki let go of Miyuki, face more sombre than before, "but I can't move on until she does. She won't be at peace until she lets go of my death."

"And you won't be able to decide on your path until you learn of mine."

Miyuki raised an eyebrow, confusion visible on her face as Isaki nodded towards something behind her. The noirette turned around to find a man whose name she couldn't remember. His ash blonde hair and chocolate eyes were so familiar but she knew she had never met him before.

"Who are you?" she squinted in thought.

"You look so much like your mother," the man laughed, wrapping her in a tight bear hug, "God, it's good to see you, kid." His words made Miyuki stop completely. She had so many questions, yet they all seemed to disappear once they reached her lips.

"Dad…?" her voice came out like a broken whisper.

"In the flesh!" her father chuckled heartily, "Well, not exactly flesh, but you get what I mean. The name's Tanaka Ichiro, but please keep calling me Dad. It's good to finally hear it."

"But you're dead. Kaiya told me you and my mother were killed in some accident," her hands suddenly flew up to cover her mouth, "Am I dead?!"

"Well…yes and no," Ichiro shrugged.

"You're in limbo!" Isaki gestured to the world around them.

Miyuki's brows furrowed as she looked at the building surrounding them, like a frozen moment in time, "Limbo? Like the space between Heaven and Hell?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure why you're here. Arai made sure you were safe," her father mumbled to himself. The gears in Miyuki's head clicked into place at the mention of the name, like a faint whisper of a memory.

"Arai…My mother?" The words felt so strange coming from her own mouth. Her parents' deaths never seemed important before but if she stopped to think about it, they were the reason she ended up with Kaiya, then with Satan, then with True Cross.

"As I said, you look just like her," Ichiro brought a hand up to touch her face, but it was slapped away by the emotionally confused demoness.

"Why did you just leave me? This all could have been avoided if you just kept me!" she shouted, scarlet eyes burning with embers of hurt. Ichiro sighed before walking through a random door in the orphanage.

When Isaki and Miyuki followed, they found someone's bedroom on the other side. Patting the spot next to him on the bed, Ichiro motioned for the two girls to join him. Miyuki sat across from him and Isaki sat next to him, one more disoriented by the scenery change than the other.

"When Arai and I found we were expecting, I was over the moon. She was, too, of course, but some part of her seemed hesitant," the blonde paused, looking back up at his daughter. "She knew you were going to be special. Some would call you a halfbreed, or a tiefling, maybe even a monster, but you were our perfect little bean."

"During the time she was carrying you, Arai's powers wouldn't function properly. I came home one day during the later months of the pregnancy to find Arai levitating." As Ichiro spoke, the events he was narrating began to play out in the room before them. A young woman (the near spitting image of Miyuki) was lying in the fetal position, six feet in the air. The bedroom's temperature dropped to dangerous levels.

"It was freezing throughout the whole house and, for once, it was phasing her," Ichiro gained a sombre look as he looked to the ground, a younger version of himself bursting into the room and rushing towards his wife. "Her powers wouldn't cooperate with her until she had the baby. Even then, it was disastrous."

Arai faded away, only to reappear in the same bed screaming with Kaiya and Ichiro standing around her. Miyuki watched with wide eyes as the ice meant to protect Yuki-Onna from any danger tried to get rid of the source of her mother's pain.

"Are you saying...she tried to kill me?" she swallowed the lump in her throat, her infant self slowly becoming encased in ice and her skin turning blue.

"Oh, heaven's, no! Arai loved you more than you could ever know. A mother's love is something special, it truly is," Ichiro took her hands in his and pulled her away from the horrifying vision. "Her powers just decided to act on their own. She did the only thing she could think of and channelled them. Since no one of high power was present, she could use her abilities freely."

Just as he finished speaking, heavy snow began to fall from the ceiling and the floor was no longer visible from the layered ice and frost. Mere minutes later, all was silent except for the weak crying of a newborn baby. Miyuki and Ichiro turned to see that the snow had settled, leaving little flurries in Arai's hair. The new mother cried tears of joy as she held her bundle of joy close to her heart, ice descending back into her own body.

"It was all so perfect; we couldn't believe it," Ichiro smiled to himself at the fond memory.

Miyuki's eyes narrowed as she pointed out a flaw in his story, "That still doesn't explain why you gave me up."

"This next part…is better if I show you..."

Before Miyuki could ask what he meant, the illusionary people in the bedroom disappeared, along with Isaki. A slightly older Arai paced around the room while Ichiro bounced a one-year-old Miyuki in his arms.

"One night, your mother was called back to Gehenna. She didn't understand why and she didn't want to leave you..." his sombre look returned, eyes glossing over as he looked to Arai. She was crying, too.

"W – Well, how do you know he's calling you?" the younger Ichiro asked with a worried look.

"I can hear him, Ichi. He's in my head," Arai held either side of her head in her hands and pulled fistfuls of hair. Her distress was hard to watch.

"Calm down, Sweetheart. Stressing out about it won't do you any good," her husband used his free hand to hold her still and connect their foreheads. They sat there for a minute, breathing in unison until present Ichiro spoke again.

"Before she could even decide...my body was taken over by Satan himself," his tone was darker than it was before, disdain clear in his eyes as he watched the memory replay. Miyuki gave him a sympathetic stare, for she had already known what he was talking about.

"The Blue Night..." she murmured. Ichiro nodded when his past self suddenly hunched over.

"Ichiro?" Arai called, quickly snatching the baby from his arms. Baby Miyuki stirred slightly at the sound of her mother's fright.

When Ichiro stood back up, his eyes had rolled back into his head, with blue hell flames spewing from the corners of his mouth. A fuzzy tail whipped out from behind him and his dishevelled dad hair did little to hide the horns that had grown from his body. Arai's heart dropped.

"Yuki-Onna..."

"Satan..."

Ichiro's possessed eyes trailed down to the infant.

"You've been busy," Satan hissed. Arai narrowed her eyes, shifting so that young Miyuki wasn't visible to him.

"What do you want?" she spat, dropping the temperature slightly but not below zero out of fear for the baby.

"I was going to ask why you haven't been reporting back to me, but now I see why...You've taken a liking to the humans and their useless means of reproduction," Satan snarled, blue flames growing brighter around Ichiro.

"Useless? Really?" Arai smirked challengingly, "because I heard through the grapevine that you're having a child with a human."

"I belong to no one. I am free to do as I please while you, my dear, are under my control," Satan used his borrowed body to grab her face and pull her forward until they were an inch apart. "You were told to report back to Gehenna every day and give me a full report of True Cross's developments. We were to destroy them from within. You seem to have forgotten that."

"She had told me before about her true reason for becoming an exorcist, but that all stopped the moment she knew she was pregnant. She wanted to leave every part of Gehenna behind," Ichiro explained, eyes glued to the demonic version of himself.

"Yuki-Onna...I hope you didn't plan on raising this offspring here in Assiah. It must be properly trained in Gehenna, surrounded by demons and not — "

"I'm not going back!" Arai shouted. Satan narrowed his slitted eyes, a deep snarl rumbling his chest at her obvious disobedience.

"You're going to come back one way or another," Satan snapped before leaving Ichiro's body. The blonde collapsed onto the ground with blood seeping from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Arai took a shaky breath and waited for him to move but no response.

"I – Ichiro...?" she called in a broken whisper. Her reaction after checking for Ichiro's pulse was enough to tell Miyuki what she needed to know. Her heart sank as her mother dropped to her knees and sobbed over his body.

"This is where you died," she turned to her father. He nodded heartbreakingly and didn't say a word. Miyuki continued to watch Arai's story unfold. The woman was grabbing various items from the nursery and stuffing them into a bag. She filled it with a few essentials for the baby that still sat in her arms, and then ran out the door.

The scene faded away, only to be replaced by the kitchen of the orphanage Miyuki had grown up in. Kaiya looked younger, but also a lot more disoriented. Arai's visit might have woken her up.

"Are you sure you don't want any tea? You look so shaken up," she asked before taking a seat at the table.

"I'm fine, Kaiya. I just have one last favour to ask of you, not as a friend, but as a terrified mother," Arai wiped her runny nose with a tissue. She was a mess.

"Of course, dear," her redheaded friend smiled, placing a hand on her knee.

"You're the only one besides Ichiro that knows of my bloodline. I'm scared that now I have a child to care for, she might be targeted," Arai glanced over at her daughter, who was playing with a stuffed rabbit on a playmat.

"Why would you think that?" Kaiya asked, leaning a few inches closer.

"Because he killed him right in front of me! My husband is dead! Ichiro is dead," Arai choked back a sob and let her long nails dig into the skin of her arms. Her baby cooed as she rolled over onto her stomach and crawled to her, a tiny hand tapping her feet.

"About time."

"Excuse me?" Arai looked back up, noticing the shift in her friend's voice. Kaiya's lips were twisted into a large grin and her eyes were that same rolled-back white that Ichiro had when he was possessed. The snow-woman quickly stood up, knocking her chair over in shock.

"I have a proposition for you," Satan spoke calmly. His voice coming from sweet Kaiya's body felt wrong on so many levels.

Arai knit her brows together, "What is it?"

"I will leave with a Yuki-Onna one way or another. I can either take you, or you can offer the child," Satan motioned towards Miyuki on the floor.

"I'm not leaving and my child isn't either!" Arai shouted, ice growing up her hand. Satan waved his hand, allowing blue flames to shoot out and dispel her magic instantly.

"Then I'll keep killing them. All these puny mortals you hold dear will die and you'll end up alone. If I feel like it, I might just try to kill the offspring you're refusing me," his smile grew so wide that it looked like Kaiya's cheeks might rip apart. From on the ground, Miyuki reached up and pulled at her pant leg.

"Ma…ma," she called, her first word bringing Arai to tears.

"Fine...I'll go," her mother finally choked out through her clenched jaw.

"Great. Now we can put an end to this silly fantasy of yours." As soon as Satan clapped, Kaiya's body crumpled to the floor. Arai noticed her still breathing, so had likely been left alive. She hated to say it but she was grateful to Satan.

With her side of the bargain made, the demoness ran to grab a pen and paper so she could leave her goodbye. Once finished, she grabbed a basket and some blankets, placing baby Miyuki inside. The swaddled bean giggled as she put her hands on her mother's face, almost whipping away her tears. Arai managed to smile and laugh through all the pain of the night. She had created something special and she couldn't be prouder.

"I love you more than you could ever know. You're destined for great things, Snowflake," Arai whispered. She could sense a gate to Gehenna opening somewhere outside. Her eyes closed for a moment, "I have to go now...but I hope you'll know that I will never stop trying to come back to you. Be careful, my love. Survive, be good, never give in..."

The baby, too young to understand what was happening, simply smiled as her mother kissed her forehead and then disappeared out the door. She had sealed her fate for the sake of her firstborn.

The scene dissipated in front of teen Miyuki's watery eyes. She stood in silence, throat so uncomfortably dry that she was unable to speak.

"Now do you understand? Neither of us chose to leave you," Ichiro explained quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder. She quickly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him with her face buried in his chest. He returned the gesture, giving her her first dad hug.

"I'm sorry I made you relive that..." her voice failed her. Ichiro smiled sadly.

"You needed to know. Besides, I know that if I was in Arai's position, I'd have done the same thing. She made the right choice," he stroked her head, then placed a kiss on her forehead, just like her mother. Miyuki sat in his arms for a long while, breathing in his bergamot scent so she could remember it forever.

"You know, we didn't die in vain," Isaki clarified, appearing once again. "You're part of something bigger. You are destined for great things."

"Where did you go?" Miyuki sniffled, whipping away her tears as she moved to keep her father in a side hug but also face her childhood friend.

Isaki shrugged, "Eh, it wasn't my place." Miyuki nodded in understanding.

"So, am I dead?" She noticed the way Isaki and Ichiro glanced at each other with knowing eyes.

"That's why we're here," Ichiro nodded. Miyuki raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know if this is a new power or a freak accident, but you're not done, Yuki. Your friends are waiting for you and you have yet to fulfil your true purpose," Isaki took her hands and held them up between their chests. Miyuki tensed, remembering the situation back in the realm of the living.

"Rin!" she gasped. Ichiro raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"I've been watching over you, kid. He's a keeper," he elbowed her in the side playfully. Miyuki opened her mouth to chastise him but was interrupted by Isaki.

"Tell my sister to let things go and stop being so hard-headed. I don't know if she'll forgive you, but I think you can help her accept it. Just show her the way, and maybe you can be friends again," Isaki begged, big doe eyes shining like an emerald in the sun.

"I'll try," Miyuki nodded understandingly, squeezing her hand and hugging her before letting her run off further into Limbo. She still felt bad about what she did to that sweet girl, but knowing she had come to forgive her took an immense weight from her shoulders. With a sigh, she faced her dad.

"You're powerful, kid. Maybe more so than your mother," he chuckled, "but you still have a long way to go. Your true purpose has yet to present itself to you. When it does, all those friends you've made will be there with you and you'll become even stronger. As Arai said, you'll do great things."

"Thanks, Dad," Miyuki couldn't help but grin like a fool at his words. He made her heart warm but also break at the same time.

"Keep that Okumura boy around. They say opposites attract, after all," Ichiro winked. Miyuki rolled her eyes but knew he had a point. She had become good friends with Rin and felt that she was just better around him. Whatever this true purpose was, it wouldn't stand a chance against them.

"I love you, Snowflake," he gave her one last hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you too, Dad." Miyuki took a deep breath as she watched everything around her dissipate. She didn't cry, but instead closed her eyes and waited to return to her aching body.

"You're not the last one."

Her blood-red eyes snapped open and she whipped around to see her father smiling at her for a split second before completely fading. She wasn't able to ask him what he meant but she managed to piece it together before everything went black. She wasn't the last Yuki-Onna.

Her mother was still alive —