One day, as she was walking through a forest, she found a man lying on the ground. Thinking he may be injured, she went over to help him. As she leaned over him to check for wounds, the man awoke. Their eyes met, and Misaki lost her heart to the man who lay before her. His eyes were a brown so dark and deep, that they appeared to be black. In them, she could see the pain and suffering of a hard life, but also the strength and devotion that he was capable of.
When the man saw Misaki, he thought that he had died in his sleep. Misaki assured him that he still lived, and asked him who he was, and why was he sleeping in the woods. The man told her that his name was Hiroshi. He had been out hunting one afternoon and when he found nothing to hunt, he decided to go a little deeper into the woods. He became lost when night fell, and was forced to spend the night in the woods. Misaki smiled and told him that she had been in these woods many times, and that she would lead him out of them.
So she did and when they came to Hiroshi's home, she stayed with him. She had never met a human before, and she found Hiroshi to be fascinating. Eventually, they fell in love and were married.
Meanwhile, another tennyo named Ayane was fretting over the disappearance of her beloved Misaki. She had not seen Misaki since she had descended to earth for one of her frivolous walks. Ayane worried that she had been trapped and was forced to remain on earth with a human male as she had heard had happened to other tennyo. For years, Ayane searched the earth looking for Misaki. Then, just as she was about to give up hope, she found her.
Ayane quietly observed the scene she came upon from the top of a tree. Misaki was not wearing her hagoromo, which had made it hard to track her down. She was playing with some children in a river and looked happy. She saw Misaki turn to the right, and Ayane followed her gaze. Coming towards Misaki over the rocks that lined the river was a human. A male. Ayane watched as Misaki ran over to him and threw her arms around him. The male picked her up and swung her around, setting her down and then kissing her on the lips.
This was more than Ayane could bear. She felt the fury rise up inside her. Screaming her rage, she flew down the tree top towards Misaki. Misaki was hers...she belonged to her. Ayane's eyes dripped with tears. How dare Misaki betray her like this! She would have to pay.
Misaki heard the enraged cry, and looked up to see Ayane flying towards her. She remembered her children, and saw that they were directly in Ayane's path. Her children were too frozen in fear at the sight of the angry tennyo, and couldn't move. It didn't look like Ayane was about to stop either. Without another thought, Misaki thrust out a hand. She cried out Ayane's name, and pleaded with her to stop. Ayane kept charging, all the while screaming.
Misaki had no choice. She shot a ball of fire straight towards Ayane. Ayane saw it coming, and swerved to the right. This gave Misaki and Hiroshi time to gather their children. While scrambling over the rocks, one of the children slipped and fell into the river. Hiroshi dived into the water after their child. Misaki tore her gaze from her husband and child, to search for Ayane. She found her headed towards them at full speed. Nothing was going to stop her this time.
Misaki made a decision. She took the child with her by the hand, and had him crouch down among the rocks. Searching the riverside for her husband and other child, she found them on the other side of the river gasping for breath. Hiroshi looked up as Misaki gazed lovingly at him. With tears in her eyes, she sent a message to Hiroshi. "I'll always love you."
Hiroshi called to his wife to stop as she raised her arms slightly and began to float in the air. With a determined look on her face, she charged Ayane.
The two tennyo clashed in a brilliant flash of light. Blood splattered the rocks below. When the light receded, Hiroshi saw his beloved wife falling in slow motion from mid-air. There was a hole through her chest. The blood from the wound stained her clothes. Hiroshi watched as Misaki hit the water with a sickening splash. Hiroshi jumped in the river to rescue her, and prayed that somehow, she was still alive.
When he reached her, her body was cold and pale. He cried her name over and over and touched her cheek. She couldn't leave him like this. They had two children...he needed her...without her...
Hiroshi let out a sob as he slowly realized that he had lost the one woman he had ever loved. He looked up towards the sky to curse the heavens that had taken her away from him, and saw Ayane. His eyes narrowed as he saw the blood dripping from her right hand. Misaki's blood.
Ayane fixed Hiroshi with a cold look as she spoke, "I have taken from you what you have taken from me. Your punishment will be to have known what is like to have had her, and live out your days with only her memory." With that, Ayane flew away, leaving Hiroshi clutching the body of his dead wife.
Several years later, Hiroshi stood at Misaki's grave. The children were grown up and on their own. He bent over Misaki's grave and lay down flowers. He smiled briefly, knowing that soon it would be over and that he'd be with her once again. Raising a sword to the sky, he plunged it deep into his chest, in the exact spot where Misaki had been wounded. As he slumped over the grave, his dying wish was to be with Misaki once again.