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"The Third Soul"
Chapter 10: Storm.
Standards Disclaimers Apply.
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From the kitchen door, Kagome Yoshizuki watched Saito Hajime's wife, still behind the Sakura tree. The Sakura tree. Her late husband had planted that tree. Kagome turned around and sighed heavily.
Saito-san really should get his wife. The night has already fallen and she'll catch a bad cold sitting like this. She thought. I should tell him.
Nodding to herself, Kagome made her way out the crowded kitchen: it was almost dinnertime and everything had to be settle for when the hungry wolves would arrive. Lost in her thoughts, she almost bumped into Okita.
"Oh, Okita-kun! Gomen nasai." She smiled to him.
"No problem, Kagome-san." He grinned at her. "Ne, have you seen Tokio- chan?" Okita was the younger of the ShisenGumi Captains and the most easily to get along with. He was so kind and always willing to entertain her kids. Kagome almost considered him as one of her children.
"As a matter of fact, I was looking for Saito-san because I wanted to tell him to go and bring his wife back in the house. She'll catch a cold in that rain."
"She's outside?" Okita asked.
"Yes, under the Sakura tree." Kagome sighed. "Okita-kun, you should tell Saito-san to fetch her."
"Aa." The man cast a last glance at the kitchen back door and retreated inside.
The woman turned back to her kitchen. As she walked in, because one of the maids needed her help, a thunderclap could be heard, sending goose bumps down Kagome's spine.
I have a bad feeling about tonight… Something horrible will happen tonight.
Sadly, Kagome, once again, turned her gaze to the garden.
/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/
"Saito-san?" Okita asked, knocking at the door. "May I come in? I wish to talk to you about a major problem…" Okita's voice trailed off, as the young man eyed suspiciously one of the ShisenGumi men walked by.
What is that man doing here?
The man nodded to Okita as he passed him and disappeared round the corner of the corridor.
Saito slid the panel open and let Okita walk in, before closing it again. The room was drowned in darkness: the window was still open and as far as Okita could remember since the ShisenGumi had settled in this inn, Saito had never closed once his window. The dark clouds, pouring their water onto the city, still ran in the skies, being sometimes accompanied of flash of lightings and sounds of thunder.
A storm's coming closer.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a lighting flash filled the window of its light, revealing the three people. Kondo, sitting on the tatami floor, had his arms crossed on his chest and his frown hardened his face even more: the man was obviously preoccupied by Saito's rapport on the event that had occurred at the Temple.
Harada too was present in the room but he was leaning against one of the wall. Half lit up by the moonlight and the occasional lightings, his face was as hard as a stone.
Okita didn't know the third man: he was sitting opposite to Kondo. The lighting flash let Okita see a symbol on the man chest, kneeling face to Kondo, just above his heart: a symbol of power and fright, a symbol of unknown knowledge to common folk, a symbol that he had learned to respect fully. The Magami Symbol.
"Saito-san" the young man began, still looking at the unknown man, now hidden back in the shadows of the room. "You should pick up Tokio-chan. She's still outside, in the rain. Kagome-san has noticed her and she starts asking questions. She may not be the only to have notice her, behind the Sakura Tree."
"What is she doing outside, in the rain?" Kondo's voice was dull. As if the man has just been struck right to heart. And Okita remembered, the day before, something the ShisenGumi Head had said:
"Reiji-san and I are from the same Sword School. We've been friends since that day."
He's just lost another friend. Okita sighed sadly and squared his shoulders. We are soldiers, after all, in a wartime. We mustn't let our hearts guide our lives.
Without a word, Saito headed to the door. But as he put a hand on its frame to slide it open, the stranger spoke:
"Hearts, souls, bodies and minds. All linked to each other. If one of them falls, the rest will shortly follow. Her heart is sinking, Saito-san, you brought her once back. Bring her back again."
Saito nodded and went outside. And the man kept on:
"My name's Kamuro Magami, I am the Magami Clan First Elder. Pleased to meet you, Okita-san."
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Saito difficulty went down the stairs. His wound was still fresh: only two hours long to be exact. He was holding his right side when he met Kagome- san, in front of the kitchen. She was holding food trays, obviously going to serve them in the restaurant. She stared at him for a while in silence. She, then, did something that surprised him: her eyes filled with sadness, and as she nodded to him, she stepped aside to let him go in the kitchen. Saito threw a glance above his shoulders, just before stepping out, in the rain, in the garden to find Kagome-san, still holding her tray, still staring at him.
Saito walked to the tree. The rain had formed some little rivers running into the garden but even though it was raining as if a sea was being poured on them, the night was still warm. It wasn't unpleasant to be there, under the rain.
As he reached the tree, Saito was already completely drenched. Tokio didn't even bother to acknowledge his presence: she kept her head on her knees. Saito stared down at her for minutes: head on knees, hair covering her face, water running down her limbs and face and eyes as empty as a dead people.
Dead.
But she wasn't: the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, evidence of her breathing, the way her hands, dropped at her feet, would shiver whenever the wind would caress them.
Saito gritted his teeth and sat down next to her. He turned his face to the skies and waited. Minutes or hours after, Saito couldn't tell, he felt a dead weight fall on his left shoulder. He sighed and put his arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to him. She put her left hand on his chest and let her forehead fall against his throat.
"Crying is fine, when you lose someone. But drowning in guilt and sorrow will never resolve anything. Pull yourself together, our war is not over, he will come back." Saito calmly said. He felt her take a sharp intake of breath and Tokio suddenly nodded against his chest. After a short moment of silence, she broke it, asking:
"Then would you let me cry for my father and for Tatsumi when it'll be over?" Her voice was devoid of feelings.
So unlike her… Just like me.
"Aa."
"Would you be with me?"
"Aa."
She nodded again.
Thunder roared in the skies. Lighting fell on the ground, lighting up a man with silver hair, sword in the hand, facing another man, wearing a light blue hakama. Tokio gripped Saito's gi.
"He's…he's out."
Immediately, Saito pulled her closer to his chest and said:
"Show me."
"I can't." She moaned.
"Tokio." His voice was firm and steady. He was looking straight ahead in front of him: a wolf, coming from the bushes, was sitting a few meters from them, waiting. On instinct, Saito looked up, at the tree branches: the white bird too was there. Saito squeezed Tokio a little. "Tokio. Let me." The bird took its flight and landed next to the wolf. Both animals stayed still, looking at the couple. Saito, then, lowered his head and whispered in her ear: "I have promised."
The world went upside down, spinning faster and faster than never before and when it settled, the Miburo wasn't under Sakura tree anymore, but in one of Kyoto streets.
I'm looking through her eyes. So his eyes.
In front of him, a man wearing a light blue hakama, whose blood was drenching his clothes along with the heavy rain, stood difficulty on his feet. He looked like ready to collapse any moment. But still, Muraki was torturing him.
"Oh! We've got a new passenger? Is that you Saito-san?" The other man's eyes widened and he looked around, hoping for one of his Captains to come and save him but nobody came.
Muraki. Bastard. He said my name on purpose.
The injured man lost hope, seeing no one coming to him, and he dropped his defense stance. Muraki stabbed him in the chest.
The dying man lying at his feet, Muraki absorbed his soul, in pure delight.
Screams. Someone close to him was screaming. Saito came back in the garden, holding Tokio. She was the one screaming. As if she could scratch Muraki's face, she had extended her arms, trying to reach out for an invisible one. Thunder roared again, covering her screams of pain. Saito buried his face in her neck and slammed his back to the tree because of his side injury. Through her hair, he could see the animals, still sitting there. But they had changed: the wolf had now a white stain on his chest and the bird's eyes were now gold. The wolf stood up and walked away, vanishing in the night as the bird flew away in the raging sky.
"Her heart is sinking, Saito-san, you brought her once back. Bring her back again."
Saito bit his lower lip, cursing Muraki to hell and came to a decision: he put his hands on each side of her face and stared deep in her eyes till her irises came to back to focus. His forehead was almost touching hers and their breaths were mingling. A sob escaped her lips:
"Help me…" she pleaded. "He's devouring my soul."
Saito bent his head closer to hers and whispered against her lips:
"Then, take mine."
Before she could answer, or rather before he could think better of it, Saito kissed her fully on her lips: he kissed her as if there was no tomorrow for them, letting his long-locked emotions stir inside of him and knock him out of his senses.
The shock of Saito's action finally sunk into Tokio's brain. And, as if she was only having a nightmare, the link she shared with Muraki was swept away for a moment.
He's kissing me!
The feeling of his lips against hers made her fell like there was the butterfly spreading its wings in her stomach. His tongue played across her lips to encourage her to let him in. Tokio was sure he could hear her heartbeat pounding at her ears. His warmth and the way his hands felt against her cheeks sent goose bumps down her spine.
All this along with the feeling of the rain running down her hands soothed her and freed her from Muraki's grip, even if it was only for minutes, but it helped Tokio to find herself again. She smiled against his lips and Saito broke the kiss but Tokio locked her eyes with his, still smiling. For once, in a long time, she felt whole again. She, then, kissed him.
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"Maybe you would like to talk with me, now, Saito-san?"
Kamuro Magami walked out of the shadows of the night; Saito was leaning against the bathroom door, arms crossed in front of his chest. After spending almost four hours under the rain, Tokio went back to the inn with Saito. Just when she and Saito were about to go upstairs to change, Kagome had caught her and sent her to the bath with a pile of clean and dry clothes for Tokio to wear. But the girl was reluctant to be apart from Saito, and so the man had no choice but to follow her. He had sighed and walked her to the bathroom.
A small roof protected the bathroom's fire and the bathroom door was right next to it. That was where Saito had been leaning for the past half hour. Kagome had brought him a yukata and he had taken off his hakama and put the yukata over his wet gi. But standing near the fire had almost dried it completely.
"And what would be our discussion topic, Magami-sama?"
"Maybe the heart of the little girl, behind the door." The first Elder answered quietly, walking towards the Miburo. Saito watched him with guarded eyes: the other man's aura was full of secrets; secrets that the Miburo needed to know to go on.
"Why are you here, Magami-sama?"
"Someone had to tell Tokio-chan about her father's death." Kamuro answered, sitting on a rock nearby.
"She already knew. You knew that too. We both know. Why?"
"Blunt questions, blunt answers..." The Elder shook his head. "You should work a little on your communication skills with other people, Saito-san."
The silence only greeted his remark. Kamuro smiled, sighing:
"Ah, well, I think i can't fool you. You are, after all, the Mibu No Ookami." Kamuro looked up at the skies. "I will tell you anything you want to know. There has been too many deaths, right now, and i may be damned forever but I can't keep this secret any longer."
"Why did Muraki attack your family?"
"First, he didn't attack our clan. He attacked the Head Clan family... But, maybe you should know that Atsuko is...or rather was Reiji foster mother. And his aunt." Kamuro looked down at his hands. "Atsuko had a twin sister, Arashi... Arashi who was killed by Muraki's mother."
Kamuro stopped and stared for a long time at his hands. "Identical twins, like Arashi and Atsuko, with power are a dangerous thing. These two together were the most powerful bomb of our times... Well, maybe Tsuzuki and Toya together could be stronger, but they aren't twins and despite the link that they share, their friendship I mean, they would never be as strong as Arashi and Atsuko. You may know that if one of the identical twins was upset, the other will automatically be as upset."
"Muraki's father was in love with Atsuko, or so she believed, and so was she, but he was an outsider and the Elders had suspicions about him. Even if his power was wonderful, their engagement wasn't accepted but Atsuko braved their decision and got married secretly. When the Elders found out, they got extremely piss off and so Atsuko was banished from the Magami Clan but she was denied the right to leave."
"Being the rebellious type, Atsuko ran away with her lover. Arashi who didn't like her sister's lover made some research on him. And she found out that he was already married and also a father. Without telling anybody, not even her own husband, she went off after her sister. When she found her, Arashi explained her everything. But Atsuko wouldn't believe her and it took her Muraki's father to try to kill her twin sister to make her come back to her senses."
Kamuro paused and his gaze got lost in the contemplation of the past.
"I've always believed that Muraki's father had cast a spell on Atsuko, but she wouldn't tell anything about that. I was sent after Arashi when we realized she was missing. When I arrived at Atsuko and Muraki's father hiding place, I found the two sisters hugging themselves and crying their eyes out, Muraki's father lying at their feet… They made a pretty sight. On our way back to the Magami Estate, Atsuko and Arashi were inseparable like when they were little girls. A woman showed up, at night; we had to camp. Maybe she mistook Arashi for Atsuko or maybe the main goal had always been Arashi, but in her sleep, Arashi was murdered. Atsuko and I arrived too late to save her, but Atsuko killed the woman before she could escape. She was Muraki's mother."
"How did you know who she was?"
"When we got back to the Magami Estate, after a few days, we got an anonymous letter telling us he would come to avenge his mother."
Saito was still leaning on the bathroom door. He was looking up at the skies, which were slowly clearing up a little. He could almost see some stars. "So, I guess Atsuko raised the child as her own, after. That's why Muraki attacked him and not Atsuko directly."
"Yes… But something that wasn't in his plan happened: he actually fell in love with Tokio… Do you understand, Saito-san?"
"Understand what?"
"Muraki's love. Do you understand that he will never stop unless one of you is dead?"
"So, you know about me."
"I saw you from your window."
"It stopped raining…"
"Saito-san."
"You knew that would happened. I don't blame you. It's just that I don't know what exactly I feel for her. Is it because of our link? Or just because of me? I don't know anymore. You were right, I don't know anymore where I start and where she ends."
"I'm impressed…that's the longest speech I got from you…" Saito turned back to face the Elder and shot him a dirty look. But Kamuro only smiled back. "That, my young friend, is the core issue. If you don't find an answer, you won't be able to save her. And yourself in the meantime."
At Saito's shocked expression, the First Elder's face softened.
"He won't let stay alive after what you've done to Tokio. Kissing her like you did." Kamuro shook his head, smiling broadly. "That surely did piss him off. And plus, you managed to break completely his control on her. Even if it had lasted for minutes, or rather for the time of a kiss, you did break it. And what you did once, you can redo it." Kamuro stood up and stretched his limbs. "Ah, my old bones are screaming to get home."
"You're not that old, are you?"
"I am. There is a spell cast on me. Power never fades with age, it can old grow stronger but the body doesn't follow anymore. So the First Elder has to remain young, till his candle of life is over."
"I suppose there is a price to pay."
"There is always one. " Kamuro smiled sadly, before turning away to leave.
Saito studied him for a long time before saying: "You were Arashi' s husband."
Kamuro's shoulders dropped. "He was too small to actually remember me as his father." He whispered. Regret and sadness overwhelmed him. Regret that he never got the chance or the courage to tell his son who he real father was. How he met his mother and his love for her would last forever. Sadness for his grand-daughter who paid for her grand-parents faults... Regret on what he would have been able to possess but has never had the chance to. And when he turned around a last time to face Saito, the latter saw, for the first time, the First Elder real face. The one of an old man, wounded by the turning wheel of Fate but still standing up and hoping for a better fate for his descendants.
"Goodbye, young man. Even those without power have a price to pay at the end for their gifts. Yours will be great but it only depends on you to keep my grand-daughter at your side forever."
On these last words, the First Elder of the Magami Clan retreated and disappeared from Saito's sight.
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Whaouh! It's finally over……… Gosh, I think I'll rewrite the kissing scene, I'm not satisfied with it. What do you think, minna? When you were reading it, did you feel like there was a butterfly in your chest? (If you don't know what I'm talking about, then read one of Anonym story on Tsuzuki/Hisoka relationship…. It so beautiful. It always make my heart ache for them….. I want to be as good as her, that's why your comments means so much to me! Thanks again, btw!)
Now, see you in next part!!
mikim
"The Third Soul"
Chapter 10: Storm.
Standards Disclaimers Apply.
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From the kitchen door, Kagome Yoshizuki watched Saito Hajime's wife, still behind the Sakura tree. The Sakura tree. Her late husband had planted that tree. Kagome turned around and sighed heavily.
Saito-san really should get his wife. The night has already fallen and she'll catch a bad cold sitting like this. She thought. I should tell him.
Nodding to herself, Kagome made her way out the crowded kitchen: it was almost dinnertime and everything had to be settle for when the hungry wolves would arrive. Lost in her thoughts, she almost bumped into Okita.
"Oh, Okita-kun! Gomen nasai." She smiled to him.
"No problem, Kagome-san." He grinned at her. "Ne, have you seen Tokio- chan?" Okita was the younger of the ShisenGumi Captains and the most easily to get along with. He was so kind and always willing to entertain her kids. Kagome almost considered him as one of her children.
"As a matter of fact, I was looking for Saito-san because I wanted to tell him to go and bring his wife back in the house. She'll catch a cold in that rain."
"She's outside?" Okita asked.
"Yes, under the Sakura tree." Kagome sighed. "Okita-kun, you should tell Saito-san to fetch her."
"Aa." The man cast a last glance at the kitchen back door and retreated inside.
The woman turned back to her kitchen. As she walked in, because one of the maids needed her help, a thunderclap could be heard, sending goose bumps down Kagome's spine.
I have a bad feeling about tonight… Something horrible will happen tonight.
Sadly, Kagome, once again, turned her gaze to the garden.
/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/
"Saito-san?" Okita asked, knocking at the door. "May I come in? I wish to talk to you about a major problem…" Okita's voice trailed off, as the young man eyed suspiciously one of the ShisenGumi men walked by.
What is that man doing here?
The man nodded to Okita as he passed him and disappeared round the corner of the corridor.
Saito slid the panel open and let Okita walk in, before closing it again. The room was drowned in darkness: the window was still open and as far as Okita could remember since the ShisenGumi had settled in this inn, Saito had never closed once his window. The dark clouds, pouring their water onto the city, still ran in the skies, being sometimes accompanied of flash of lightings and sounds of thunder.
A storm's coming closer.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a lighting flash filled the window of its light, revealing the three people. Kondo, sitting on the tatami floor, had his arms crossed on his chest and his frown hardened his face even more: the man was obviously preoccupied by Saito's rapport on the event that had occurred at the Temple.
Harada too was present in the room but he was leaning against one of the wall. Half lit up by the moonlight and the occasional lightings, his face was as hard as a stone.
Okita didn't know the third man: he was sitting opposite to Kondo. The lighting flash let Okita see a symbol on the man chest, kneeling face to Kondo, just above his heart: a symbol of power and fright, a symbol of unknown knowledge to common folk, a symbol that he had learned to respect fully. The Magami Symbol.
"Saito-san" the young man began, still looking at the unknown man, now hidden back in the shadows of the room. "You should pick up Tokio-chan. She's still outside, in the rain. Kagome-san has noticed her and she starts asking questions. She may not be the only to have notice her, behind the Sakura Tree."
"What is she doing outside, in the rain?" Kondo's voice was dull. As if the man has just been struck right to heart. And Okita remembered, the day before, something the ShisenGumi Head had said:
"Reiji-san and I are from the same Sword School. We've been friends since that day."
He's just lost another friend. Okita sighed sadly and squared his shoulders. We are soldiers, after all, in a wartime. We mustn't let our hearts guide our lives.
Without a word, Saito headed to the door. But as he put a hand on its frame to slide it open, the stranger spoke:
"Hearts, souls, bodies and minds. All linked to each other. If one of them falls, the rest will shortly follow. Her heart is sinking, Saito-san, you brought her once back. Bring her back again."
Saito nodded and went outside. And the man kept on:
"My name's Kamuro Magami, I am the Magami Clan First Elder. Pleased to meet you, Okita-san."
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Saito difficulty went down the stairs. His wound was still fresh: only two hours long to be exact. He was holding his right side when he met Kagome- san, in front of the kitchen. She was holding food trays, obviously going to serve them in the restaurant. She stared at him for a while in silence. She, then, did something that surprised him: her eyes filled with sadness, and as she nodded to him, she stepped aside to let him go in the kitchen. Saito threw a glance above his shoulders, just before stepping out, in the rain, in the garden to find Kagome-san, still holding her tray, still staring at him.
Saito walked to the tree. The rain had formed some little rivers running into the garden but even though it was raining as if a sea was being poured on them, the night was still warm. It wasn't unpleasant to be there, under the rain.
As he reached the tree, Saito was already completely drenched. Tokio didn't even bother to acknowledge his presence: she kept her head on her knees. Saito stared down at her for minutes: head on knees, hair covering her face, water running down her limbs and face and eyes as empty as a dead people.
Dead.
But she wasn't: the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, evidence of her breathing, the way her hands, dropped at her feet, would shiver whenever the wind would caress them.
Saito gritted his teeth and sat down next to her. He turned his face to the skies and waited. Minutes or hours after, Saito couldn't tell, he felt a dead weight fall on his left shoulder. He sighed and put his arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to him. She put her left hand on his chest and let her forehead fall against his throat.
"Crying is fine, when you lose someone. But drowning in guilt and sorrow will never resolve anything. Pull yourself together, our war is not over, he will come back." Saito calmly said. He felt her take a sharp intake of breath and Tokio suddenly nodded against his chest. After a short moment of silence, she broke it, asking:
"Then would you let me cry for my father and for Tatsumi when it'll be over?" Her voice was devoid of feelings.
So unlike her… Just like me.
"Aa."
"Would you be with me?"
"Aa."
She nodded again.
Thunder roared in the skies. Lighting fell on the ground, lighting up a man with silver hair, sword in the hand, facing another man, wearing a light blue hakama. Tokio gripped Saito's gi.
"He's…he's out."
Immediately, Saito pulled her closer to his chest and said:
"Show me."
"I can't." She moaned.
"Tokio." His voice was firm and steady. He was looking straight ahead in front of him: a wolf, coming from the bushes, was sitting a few meters from them, waiting. On instinct, Saito looked up, at the tree branches: the white bird too was there. Saito squeezed Tokio a little. "Tokio. Let me." The bird took its flight and landed next to the wolf. Both animals stayed still, looking at the couple. Saito, then, lowered his head and whispered in her ear: "I have promised."
The world went upside down, spinning faster and faster than never before and when it settled, the Miburo wasn't under Sakura tree anymore, but in one of Kyoto streets.
I'm looking through her eyes. So his eyes.
In front of him, a man wearing a light blue hakama, whose blood was drenching his clothes along with the heavy rain, stood difficulty on his feet. He looked like ready to collapse any moment. But still, Muraki was torturing him.
"Oh! We've got a new passenger? Is that you Saito-san?" The other man's eyes widened and he looked around, hoping for one of his Captains to come and save him but nobody came.
Muraki. Bastard. He said my name on purpose.
The injured man lost hope, seeing no one coming to him, and he dropped his defense stance. Muraki stabbed him in the chest.
The dying man lying at his feet, Muraki absorbed his soul, in pure delight.
Screams. Someone close to him was screaming. Saito came back in the garden, holding Tokio. She was the one screaming. As if she could scratch Muraki's face, she had extended her arms, trying to reach out for an invisible one. Thunder roared again, covering her screams of pain. Saito buried his face in her neck and slammed his back to the tree because of his side injury. Through her hair, he could see the animals, still sitting there. But they had changed: the wolf had now a white stain on his chest and the bird's eyes were now gold. The wolf stood up and walked away, vanishing in the night as the bird flew away in the raging sky.
"Her heart is sinking, Saito-san, you brought her once back. Bring her back again."
Saito bit his lower lip, cursing Muraki to hell and came to a decision: he put his hands on each side of her face and stared deep in her eyes till her irises came to back to focus. His forehead was almost touching hers and their breaths were mingling. A sob escaped her lips:
"Help me…" she pleaded. "He's devouring my soul."
Saito bent his head closer to hers and whispered against her lips:
"Then, take mine."
Before she could answer, or rather before he could think better of it, Saito kissed her fully on her lips: he kissed her as if there was no tomorrow for them, letting his long-locked emotions stir inside of him and knock him out of his senses.
The shock of Saito's action finally sunk into Tokio's brain. And, as if she was only having a nightmare, the link she shared with Muraki was swept away for a moment.
He's kissing me!
The feeling of his lips against hers made her fell like there was the butterfly spreading its wings in her stomach. His tongue played across her lips to encourage her to let him in. Tokio was sure he could hear her heartbeat pounding at her ears. His warmth and the way his hands felt against her cheeks sent goose bumps down her spine.
All this along with the feeling of the rain running down her hands soothed her and freed her from Muraki's grip, even if it was only for minutes, but it helped Tokio to find herself again. She smiled against his lips and Saito broke the kiss but Tokio locked her eyes with his, still smiling. For once, in a long time, she felt whole again. She, then, kissed him.
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"Maybe you would like to talk with me, now, Saito-san?"
Kamuro Magami walked out of the shadows of the night; Saito was leaning against the bathroom door, arms crossed in front of his chest. After spending almost four hours under the rain, Tokio went back to the inn with Saito. Just when she and Saito were about to go upstairs to change, Kagome had caught her and sent her to the bath with a pile of clean and dry clothes for Tokio to wear. But the girl was reluctant to be apart from Saito, and so the man had no choice but to follow her. He had sighed and walked her to the bathroom.
A small roof protected the bathroom's fire and the bathroom door was right next to it. That was where Saito had been leaning for the past half hour. Kagome had brought him a yukata and he had taken off his hakama and put the yukata over his wet gi. But standing near the fire had almost dried it completely.
"And what would be our discussion topic, Magami-sama?"
"Maybe the heart of the little girl, behind the door." The first Elder answered quietly, walking towards the Miburo. Saito watched him with guarded eyes: the other man's aura was full of secrets; secrets that the Miburo needed to know to go on.
"Why are you here, Magami-sama?"
"Someone had to tell Tokio-chan about her father's death." Kamuro answered, sitting on a rock nearby.
"She already knew. You knew that too. We both know. Why?"
"Blunt questions, blunt answers..." The Elder shook his head. "You should work a little on your communication skills with other people, Saito-san."
The silence only greeted his remark. Kamuro smiled, sighing:
"Ah, well, I think i can't fool you. You are, after all, the Mibu No Ookami." Kamuro looked up at the skies. "I will tell you anything you want to know. There has been too many deaths, right now, and i may be damned forever but I can't keep this secret any longer."
"Why did Muraki attack your family?"
"First, he didn't attack our clan. He attacked the Head Clan family... But, maybe you should know that Atsuko is...or rather was Reiji foster mother. And his aunt." Kamuro looked down at his hands. "Atsuko had a twin sister, Arashi... Arashi who was killed by Muraki's mother."
Kamuro stopped and stared for a long time at his hands. "Identical twins, like Arashi and Atsuko, with power are a dangerous thing. These two together were the most powerful bomb of our times... Well, maybe Tsuzuki and Toya together could be stronger, but they aren't twins and despite the link that they share, their friendship I mean, they would never be as strong as Arashi and Atsuko. You may know that if one of the identical twins was upset, the other will automatically be as upset."
"Muraki's father was in love with Atsuko, or so she believed, and so was she, but he was an outsider and the Elders had suspicions about him. Even if his power was wonderful, their engagement wasn't accepted but Atsuko braved their decision and got married secretly. When the Elders found out, they got extremely piss off and so Atsuko was banished from the Magami Clan but she was denied the right to leave."
"Being the rebellious type, Atsuko ran away with her lover. Arashi who didn't like her sister's lover made some research on him. And she found out that he was already married and also a father. Without telling anybody, not even her own husband, she went off after her sister. When she found her, Arashi explained her everything. But Atsuko wouldn't believe her and it took her Muraki's father to try to kill her twin sister to make her come back to her senses."
Kamuro paused and his gaze got lost in the contemplation of the past.
"I've always believed that Muraki's father had cast a spell on Atsuko, but she wouldn't tell anything about that. I was sent after Arashi when we realized she was missing. When I arrived at Atsuko and Muraki's father hiding place, I found the two sisters hugging themselves and crying their eyes out, Muraki's father lying at their feet… They made a pretty sight. On our way back to the Magami Estate, Atsuko and Arashi were inseparable like when they were little girls. A woman showed up, at night; we had to camp. Maybe she mistook Arashi for Atsuko or maybe the main goal had always been Arashi, but in her sleep, Arashi was murdered. Atsuko and I arrived too late to save her, but Atsuko killed the woman before she could escape. She was Muraki's mother."
"How did you know who she was?"
"When we got back to the Magami Estate, after a few days, we got an anonymous letter telling us he would come to avenge his mother."
Saito was still leaning on the bathroom door. He was looking up at the skies, which were slowly clearing up a little. He could almost see some stars. "So, I guess Atsuko raised the child as her own, after. That's why Muraki attacked him and not Atsuko directly."
"Yes… But something that wasn't in his plan happened: he actually fell in love with Tokio… Do you understand, Saito-san?"
"Understand what?"
"Muraki's love. Do you understand that he will never stop unless one of you is dead?"
"So, you know about me."
"I saw you from your window."
"It stopped raining…"
"Saito-san."
"You knew that would happened. I don't blame you. It's just that I don't know what exactly I feel for her. Is it because of our link? Or just because of me? I don't know anymore. You were right, I don't know anymore where I start and where she ends."
"I'm impressed…that's the longest speech I got from you…" Saito turned back to face the Elder and shot him a dirty look. But Kamuro only smiled back. "That, my young friend, is the core issue. If you don't find an answer, you won't be able to save her. And yourself in the meantime."
At Saito's shocked expression, the First Elder's face softened.
"He won't let stay alive after what you've done to Tokio. Kissing her like you did." Kamuro shook his head, smiling broadly. "That surely did piss him off. And plus, you managed to break completely his control on her. Even if it had lasted for minutes, or rather for the time of a kiss, you did break it. And what you did once, you can redo it." Kamuro stood up and stretched his limbs. "Ah, my old bones are screaming to get home."
"You're not that old, are you?"
"I am. There is a spell cast on me. Power never fades with age, it can old grow stronger but the body doesn't follow anymore. So the First Elder has to remain young, till his candle of life is over."
"I suppose there is a price to pay."
"There is always one. " Kamuro smiled sadly, before turning away to leave.
Saito studied him for a long time before saying: "You were Arashi' s husband."
Kamuro's shoulders dropped. "He was too small to actually remember me as his father." He whispered. Regret and sadness overwhelmed him. Regret that he never got the chance or the courage to tell his son who he real father was. How he met his mother and his love for her would last forever. Sadness for his grand-daughter who paid for her grand-parents faults... Regret on what he would have been able to possess but has never had the chance to. And when he turned around a last time to face Saito, the latter saw, for the first time, the First Elder real face. The one of an old man, wounded by the turning wheel of Fate but still standing up and hoping for a better fate for his descendants.
"Goodbye, young man. Even those without power have a price to pay at the end for their gifts. Yours will be great but it only depends on you to keep my grand-daughter at your side forever."
On these last words, the First Elder of the Magami Clan retreated and disappeared from Saito's sight.
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Whaouh! It's finally over……… Gosh, I think I'll rewrite the kissing scene, I'm not satisfied with it. What do you think, minna? When you were reading it, did you feel like there was a butterfly in your chest? (If you don't know what I'm talking about, then read one of Anonym story on Tsuzuki/Hisoka relationship…. It so beautiful. It always make my heart ache for them….. I want to be as good as her, that's why your comments means so much to me! Thanks again, btw!)
Now, see you in next part!!
mikim