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Chapter 25
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"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HER!"
Jurōgumo howled in pain as Rin lashed out at one of her legs, using his sword to sever it from her torso in one sickening slice. The spider twisted around and flailed wildly as a blue blur ran up one of her remaining legs. He jumped from appendage to appendage, cutting wherever he stood before moving to the next. It was almost as if he had become deaf to any sound but the demoness' screams. He craved more.
Before even a minute had passed, the giant arachnid was toppling onto the ground, unable to keep herself up with the two legs that still functioned. The myriad of cuts on her body made it look like someone tried to slice her flesh off piece by piece.
"Well, the prince doesn't waste time," Aliza quipped, colourless eyes widened in both fear and amazement.
"Do. Not. Touch. What. Is. Mine," Rin growled in a low voice as held the point of his sword to the neck of the collapsed monster, "Understand?"
"P – Please! Have mercy!" Jurōgumo dug her human nails into the dirt to help her weaker limbs pull her heavy body away from the enraged halfbreed. A gentle hand grabbed his shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze, snapping him out of the spiteful haze he was lost in.
"Save some fun for me," Arai spoke coldly with an impassive look on her elegant face. She stepped forward, the spider demon's hand crunching under her uncovered heel like leaves on the sidewalk. Long nails, unkempt from years of imprisonment pierced through skin, bone, and muscle before returning with a beating heart dripping in crimson.
No one dared to speak as Arai froze the vital organ, then carelessly let it shatter against the ground while Jurōgumo stared on in horror. It didn't take but a few seconds for the light to leave her eyes, but Rin didn't have the patience. He ignited the spider half of the demoness, the glow of the cerulean flames stretching shadows across Arai's frowning face.
She loathed that oh-so-familiar heat. That brilliant blue had taken so much from her: family, friends, the love of her life. Yet, here she stood, grateful to see another used as its kindling. Her eyes traversed the form of the boy beside her, his body coated in destructive light. Who was he to hold power so wicked while acting so noble?
Do not touch what is mine, understand? His words invaded the older woman's mind like a preacher's sermon to the heart of a sinner. This overwhelming urge to protect and claim…she had only seen it (or felt it, rather) when she met Ichiro all those years ago.
"You," ruby eyes clashed with ocean blue, "You care for my daughter in ways humans and demons alike can only dream of. Thank you for looking out for her when I was unable."
"She's been the one looking out for me," Rin sighed as they finally turned to look at the frantic commotion behind them. He caught sight of Miyuki slumped against a large tree and immediately ran towards her.
"Don't take them out, it'll make things worse!" Mika was snapping at Yukio when they approached. Despite being older, the brunette clearly didn't want to pick a fight with her, so he backed away from the spikes sticking out of his student.
"Please tell me you killed that monster?" Shima asked Arai with a pitiful whimper. He was on the verge of pissing himself but no one needed to know that. Arai was left to answer his question as Rin's flames died away and he grabbed Miyuki's ashen hand.
"Yes, pathetic human. Jurōgumo is dead," she hoped to be of some comfort, but he only looked more concerned when she smiled. Her brow raised when Aliza ran through her legs, tails briefly holding on to her ankles as if to reassure her. They sat next to Rin, who had fallen to his knees and held the unconscious Miyuki's head close to his chest.
"She took in some sort of poison during that kiss. Her heart's slowing down," Mika explained with a grim expression. The reality of her words dampened the mood like a raincloud covering a sunny sky. Rin's hand came up to stroke Miyuki's hair that was stuck to her face with sweat.
"She's lost a lot of blood. Her regeneration will be too weak to combat the toxins and heal wounds," Arai nodded to Yukio, who immediately understood what she was implying. He pried her daughter from Rin's hands and laid her flat on the grass. "Everyone hold her down."
Following the older demoness' instructions, Miyuki's classmates and friends held down her legs and arms. Her mother planted a quick kiss on her cheek and then pulled one of the blade-like spider legs out of her abdomen. The once motionless girl burst to life, a blood-curdling scream tearing from her hoarse throat.
"Aliza, now!" Arai called as she barely lifted her shirt. The imp sparked their tails together and created a small flame that heated the snow-white expanse of skin. Everyone not of demonic origin had to step aside due to the frost that coated the grass beneath Miyuki's arching back.
She fell back almost lifelessly as the cauterization mark began to fade.
"Shiemi, you know poisons, right?" Rin asked, a hint of a hopeful gleam in his glossy eyes. The blonde in question blinked confusedly before pulling out a summoning seal and bringing forth Nee.
"I don't know this specific poison, so I wouldn't know what herbs to give her but I can help ease her pain…" she made some sort of motion towards Nee, who grew the plants she needed. Once they were crushed down and mixed, Shiemi carefully fed the plants to Miyuki.
Worry grew amongst the group when she quit reacting to the removal of Jurōgumo's legs. She started to heal slower and slower, to the point where the burn marks left behind were no longer healing.
"I told her we were coming...she couldn't have waited a little longer?" Rin muttered so quietly that Arai wasn't sure he had even spoken at first. She gave him a sympathetic smile but he only furrowed his brows.
"You had a chance to stop her?" Yukio wasn't the only one shocked by the revelation.
"Knowing who's blood is running through her veins, she never would have let anyone hold her back. She was conditioned to survive by any means necessary," Arai's shoulders sagged, interrupting her perfect posture.
"And how would you know? Weren't you gone for her entire childhood?" Kamiki spoke up with her characteristically sour tone.
Arai's jaw hung open for a moment before snapping shut and tensing, "I did what I had to for my survival – for her survival. I wouldn't let Satan take anything else from me."
"You're doing a stand-up job, lady," the purple-haired teen snapped once again.
"Why the hell didn't she tell me she saw you?! I wouldn't have gone through with this plan if you guys were so close to catching us!" Mika scoffed, glaring at the exorcists-in-training. Suguro knit his brows together angrily.
"We wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't convinced her to run off," he stated matter-of-factly, unknowingly stabbing Rin in the heart. Mika shot him a glare that twisted the knife.
"I wasn't the one that drove her away," she hissed spitefully, tears forming in her evergreen eyes, "You told her that night that she didn't have to be afraid, that you had things under control. If that were true, you wouldn't have told her how you really felt when she was already so confused."
The room fell silent. Animosity, sadness, and guilt hung in the air like a thick blanket. The brunette's words only confirmed what the others had suspected and made Miyuki's deteriorating condition that much more painful.
"Why did you say you could protect her if you couldn't?!"
"I tried!" Rin exploded, snarling like a rabid dog, "I begged her to stay! I told her I didn't care about Amaimon or any of that other crap! I told her I knew what I was doing — "
"If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn't have kissed her in the first place!" Mika grabbed his shirt and pulled him onto his feet. Once he was standing, she pulled down his collar, exposing his bonding mark. "This was her goodbye! Why couldn't you leave it at that?!"
"Can everyone shut up?"
The shouting finally stopped. They all stared at Miyuki as if she had performed some kind of miracle. Her eyes were dimmer than usual and her skin was unhealthily pale, even for a snow demon, but she was awake nonetheless. Aliza jumped up in surprise, quickly stopping the burning of the young girl's flesh.
"Oh, Yuki…" Mika covered her agape mouth with her hands as her tears finally overflowed.
"You're awake!" Shiemi sighed with relief. Miyuki's eyes fluttered for a moment as her blurred vision corrected itself.
"How can anyone sleep with all this shouting going on?" she smiled despite the blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. Mika bit hard on her bottom lip to keep from breaking down, but it was useless. Arai took the girl in her arms, allowing her to cry into her shoulder. "I haven't seen you cry since we were kids," Miyuki spoke somewhat breathlessly.
"Y – You…" Rin choked on his words as he fell to his knees beside her. He grabbed her shoulders and held her at arm's length for a beat then pulled her in for a tight hug. Miyuki bit her lip and winced, bones aching in silent protest.
"Running head-first into danger really does get you killed, I guess," she laced their fingers together with trembling hands. She had never felt so cold before.
"Your jokes are horrible," Rin buried his face in the crook of her neck. Her airy laugh filled the air as she looked over the different faces around her.
"Oh, good. Everyone's here," a tired smile graced her sweaty face, soiled with blood and dirt.
"There's nothing we can do?" Konekomaru looked between Yukio and Arai. Miyuki registered his expression as one of disbelief and worry. He always was the scared one, but she guessed it was justified now. She would be scared too if she wasn't oddly euphoric right now.
"She won't make it to Hinode's doctor in time. She's lost too much already," her mother explained with an unreadable expression. She almost looked ashamed, as if she could have done something more.
"It's okay," Miyuki's laughing turned to wheezing, "I'm okay right here. I've got all I need." Her head tilted so she could kiss the top of Rin's head.
"This can't be happening," Shiemi was next to let go of her tears. Shima silently wrapped her in a secure hug, knowing that both of them desperately needed a hug. Kamiki was uncharacteristically quiet, Miyuki noticed. She opened her mouth to speak, but Rin beat her to it.
"I'm so sorry," he blurted. His trembling hands gripped fistfuls of her red-stained shirt, snapping her out of her shocked stupor. "I should have stopped you! I could have made you stay, and we could have been happy together, and then...and then you wouldn't be — "
"None of this is your fault. My choices led me here," she raised a hand to cup his cheek. The wet stains that streaked down his face made her chest tighten uncomfortably.
"I wish it were me, I wish it were me, I wish it were me," her raven-haired friend repeated as if it would magically come true. It hurt to think about how they would never get to be anything more, but she knew he'd move on eventually.
He has to.
A sigh ghosted her lips, "This was always going to happen. The only difference is I'm not alone."
Rin stared at her as if thinking of what to say. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, but he never made a sound. A few seconds ticked by and he simply stared at her with a strange expression. Miyuki turned to Yukio with a pleading glance.
"I…think I broke him — "
"I love you."
There was no time for her to even process his words as his hands came up and cupped her face. Her eyes grew wider and wider until the distance between them was gone. Soon, she allowed them to close.
Miyuki sunk into Rin as if she hadn't felt his warmth in a millennium. He stole her breath, yet she kept pulling him down into her with trembling arms that snaked around his neck. The night she left, he tried to tell her to let herself feel and she refused to take his advice until now.
He loves her? That was unfortunate. Was she so bad at carrying out tasks that she made the boy she was meant to kidnap fall in love with her? Usually, no, but in this case, she would allow it.
"I'm scared, Rin," she whimpered via their telepathic link. Rin held her tighter despite the tremors that racked her body.
"I know. It'll be okay. You're gonna be okay," he whispered aloud, finally breaking their kiss. Everyone else was oblivious to their conversation. A strange feeling welled up within Miyuki's chest. Anger? Despair? Confusion? Whatever it was, it brought forth the tears she had so despairingly tried to hold back.
"I love you too, idiot," she admitted with a heavy sigh. Her scarlet eyes finally left Rin to settle on the faces surrounding them. "Alright, I'm only going to say this once, so everyone shut up," she took a deep, painful breath. "You," Her hardened eyes narrowed in the direction of Mika, "Quit thinking everyone else is against you."
"W – What?" the brunette sniffled and wiped the snot from her nose with her sleeve.
"I know the world has given you plenty of reasons to hate everything that walks on it but lighten up. Make some friends, find someone to love for fuck's sake. Enjoy life," Miyuki snapped, chest rising and falling more dramatically as her breathing became shallower.
Mika nodded, teeth digging into her bottom lip to keep herself from crying again. Her depressive fit only made Arai hold her tighter; the feeling of a motherly hug was something she hadn't felt in a long while.
"Now you," Miyuki turned to Aliza, who was still sitting at her side, "are the embodiment of chaos. No matter what, don't forget who you are. No one owns you, capiché?"
"Yes, M'lady," the feline-like imp bowed their head. When Miyuki raised a dark brow, they straightened up. "Yes, Miyuki."
"All of you," she then turned to Kamiki, Konekomaru, Shima, Suguro and Shiemi, "I don't blame Rin for who his father is and neither should you. He isn't some monster that works for Satan. It's not fun being an outcast, and that's coming from someone who has actually killed people."
"This is…unbelievable," Suguro clenched his fists at his sides, not quite crying but shaken up.
"All of you will forget me eventually, that's how time works…Just make it sooner rather than later, yeah?" Miyuki's head tilted so that it was resting on Rin's shoulder. He noticed her body growing colder and held her hand tighter. "Yukio, I'm sorry. You'll be going home without a Yuki-Onna to hand over to Mephesto."
Yukio didn't say anything, but she swore she saw a watery film over his eyes. Eh, maybe it was just the glare of his glasses. He turned to take out his phone, undoubtedly making a call to a certain demonic headmaster that one of his little pets wasn't coming back.
"Hey," Miyuki called, lifting her head to watch Rin through thick lashes.
"I can't do this," he buried his face in her hair, taking in her wintergreen scent, "I spent all this time trying to find you, just to lose you again." His pained wince didn't go unnoticed and Miyuki's eyes travelled down to the mark on his neck. Her mark.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" she frowned, one hand coming up to cover the snowflake-shaped bruise. His expression softened and gave her all the answers she needed. "I'm sorry about the mark…It'll hurt long after I'm gone."
"I'll take care of that," Arai spoke, one of the few to not yet lose her composure. Her stone-cold face held this serene sadness, like a gloomy lake frozen over in the wintertime.
Miyuki nodded, "Thank you. I…I love you, Mama." Arai took a deep, stuttering breath then returned the gesture.
"I love you too, Snowflake. I'm sorry our reunion isn't what you expected," she knelt and took one of her daughter's hands. The glittering snowflake necklace that had helped her find this place began cracking down the centre in unison with Miyuki's next coughing fit.
"You know, it's a shame…I wonder what powers our kids would've had," she mumbled, lidded eyes getting harder to keep open as she rubbed circles on the back of Rin's hand with her thumb.
"Powers or no, they would've been awesome," he brought her hand up to his cheek and nuzzled it.
"M – Mika…" she called quietly. Her chocolate-haired friend dropped down next to her with blurry eyes and a lip that was now bleeding from how hard it had been gnawed on. "I need you to do something for me…"
Mika put her ear to Miyuki's lips and listened to her rasp out a few words, then snapped her gaze in the direction of Rin. "Are you sure?" she swallowed the lump in her throat. Miyuki nodded.
"Mmhm," her answer felt more like a drunken slur as her head drooped to the side. She leaned on the chest of the boy she had so stupidly fallen for. He looked up at her, noticing how heavy she suddenly felt.
"Sh – She's…"
"She's tired," a hefty sigh ghosted Arai's lips. She moved to stand up but paused when she noticed Miyuki's hand shaking.
"I – I want…clouds," she rasped quietly. Rin looked up at Arai for confirmation before moving. When she nodded affirmatively, he wrapped his arms around Miyuki and rested her head in his lap.
"I'll always love you," he kissed her frozen lips for a long while, swallowing her affirmative hum. She watched the gold, red, and orange streaks in the sky like they were an inferno rolling in the sky, mesmerizing her with their dance.
"It's so pretty…" her eyelids fluttered closed for a brief moment, "Don't you think so...Isaki? Dad?"
"It's beautiful, Sweetheart," her father smiled softly as he helped her to her feet. Isaki took her other hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
Miyuki didn't know how to describe what she was feeling. She had read plenty of stories where death was described as nothing more than painlessly fading into a warm glow. It was Emily Dickinson who wrote, "And if I go while you're still here, know that I live on vibrating to a different measure, behind a thin veil you cannot see through."
That was what death felt like.
All those authors who never experienced the separation of the soul from the body were right to some extent. The act of dying didn't hurt at all. Living was agony, but dying was painless.
Miyuki's scarlet eyes glanced behind her, peeking through that "thin veil" to glance at the hazy images of her classmates, her mother, her best friend, and the boy who she probably would have married. Was it dumb to think that at such a young age? Maybe, but it gave her something to focus on instead of just sitting in the emptiness of this void.
"You're not ready to go yet, are you?" Isaki asked, looking up at the noirette with her bright, emerald eyes. She nodded as the orphanage they grew up in materialised around them like the first time they met in Limbo.
Miyuki smiled bittersweetly and took a seat on one of the beds. Three colouring books waited for her on top of the covers, one for each spirit. On each page was a colourless image of various moments in their lives.
Miyuki saw still memories of her first murder, her training sessions with Strix and Aliza, when she first met Rin, fighting Noihaus on the roof, Kamiki's birthday, etc. She stopped turning the pages when a beautiful image of her first kiss with the lovable idiot greeted her. With the falling snow and the full moon high in the sky above them, it looked like a scene straight out of a movie.
"Are we staying?" Isaki turned to Ichiro. He shook his head with a smile and flipped through his colouring book. His gaze softened when he looked down at the picture in his hands: his home, his wife, his daughter, his happiness.
"Ask her," he said. Miyuki hesitantly picked up a crayon and placed the sharpened tip on the page. Without making so much as a mark on the paper, every feeling associated with that memory crashed into her like a tsunami.
"Not yet," she whispered and finally looked up from the book. The wooden walls of the orphanage had never looked as bright as they did now, the beds never as soft. Here, she decided, was where she'd remain until the time was right. If she were going to move on, she'd move on with those she loved most.
"I have to wait for them."
