Chapter 16: The Tower

"And loneliness has crushed me…" Hibiemi whispered as she suddenly collapsed. The porcelain doll in her arms shattered into pieces. Teardrops glistened an eerie blue light as they fell from her eyes. As they hit the floor, they seemed to flash into green ripples.

Quietus awoke from his temporary death. His emerald eyes still foggy from death.

"I'm not supposed to be alive…" He murmured.

"But you are." A familiar voice answered him.

"Toki-san? Why are you still here?" The former reaper looked at whose lap his head rested on, "And more importantly, why did you care?"

"I can understand why you killed yourself tonight." Toki said, looking away from the brunette immortal's eyes, "Loneliness… Pure loneliness. By the way, why did you cry when you told me that you weren't Hakkai?"

"I… I…" Quietus sat up and started to walk away. He paused and took a deep breath. Looking into Toki's stern sapphire eyes, he told him, "I didn't want to break your heart."

Toki continued to focus his eyes on the brunette immortal's forlorn expression.

"There's something about you that reminds me of him…" Toki began, "But I've never imagined you'd remind me of him with such a sad face."

Quietus' lips formed a smile, "Toki-san… You have no idea how jealous I am of him…" He sat down on the garden bench and looked at the stars. Toki continued to follow the immortal with his eyes.

"He's got Sanzo… Now he's also got you… That makes me so jealous of him." Quietus closed his eyes and sighed, "I've always been alone my whole life. I wonder if it's like that for most immortals…?"

A shooting star streaked across the sky. With his head still held towards the sky, the immortal made a wish.

"What did you wish for?" Toki asked the brunette.

"If I ever told you, it wouldn't come true…" Quietus smiled kindly at his blonde companion. Off in the distance, he found his bloodstained katana lying on the ground. He summoned it to his hands and sheathed it.

Meanwhile, back at Hoshizora Manor, an eerie voice seemed to fill the whole mansion. The young immortal looked out her window. She found a young maiden in glistening white robes kneeling near her father's grave. From Hibiemi's sight, she seemed to be the one singing the eerie song. Quickly, she made her way down to the foot of the hill to have a closer look at the mysterious maiden.

"Who are you?" She asked as she approached the maiden. Her robes seemed to be blinding white, a perfect parallel to the immortal's black outfit. But in a way the two looked similar. The only difference was that the maiden had forest green eyes and her hair was longer and split into six thin tails. The maiden smiled and disappeared, leaving blue specks of light that turned into green ripples before they hit the ground.

"Perhaps this is a sign of sorts…" The immortal murmured, curious of why the maiden and her looked so alike. Summoning a shovel to her hand, she began to dig up the remains of her deceased father.

While the immortals continued their work, Hakkai continued to sit at the porch, waiting for Kouryuu to return.

"Kouryuu… I pray you are safe…" He put his hand upon his heart, praying for his lover's safety.

On the other hand, Kouryuu lay awake in the temple where he shared the room with the other immortals. Worried about Hakkai, he couldn't go to sleep.

"Hakkai… I love you…" He whispered as if the wind could deliver his message. The wind blew gently through the window of the room. Carrying Kouryuu's words, the wind gently blew on Hakkai's face back in the temple.

"And I love you, too…" Tears trickled down Hakkai's face. Thankful for the sweet words the wind had brought him.

"Arara… Someone's controlling the wind…" Quietus sensed, "And it's an aura of a celestial being…"

"What do you mean?" Toki asked.

"The Silver Apocalypse is about to rise… And the one to save us is also about to rise. I don't know what it may do… I'm afraid that if it awakens, it may kill Hakkai…"