Disclaimers: I don't own Fushigi Yuugi.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Narrator's POV
He had killed her. He had killed his own daughter. How... How could I?' Einosuke Okuda asked himself. He stared at the knife in his daughter's bosom and then at the blood an his hands. Well, at least her death was quick unlike the way that it would have been if he had just let Genbu devour her. Still... He had murdered someone. No... Not just anyone He had murdered his daughter. His Takiko. Now, he had nothing.
Ever sense his wife died in a car accident years ago Takiko had been everything to him. He had sworn on his wife's grave that he would die before he let anything happen to her. And then he had killed her. Great way to keep that vow. Yep. Really great. But... Now that he thought about it... That vow had already been broken. He had allowed her to get sucked into that book and inside it she had gotten hurt. Really hurt. Or did that even count? Oh, he didn't know. He never seemed to know anything.
He didn't want to be alive anymore. His wife – his Yoshi – and Takiko – his only daughter – were dead. One, had died at the hands of another. The other, died by his. Both, were murdered.
For years he had hated the man that had killed his wife with a passion, but how was he any better. No. If anything, he was worse. The other man had been driving while drunk. He hadn't meant to kill Yoshi, even if he had made some very bad decisions. But Einosuke had meant to kill Takiko. So what if she had asked him to, that have him no right to murder her. Nothing gave him that excuse.
I should die,' he thought. I should die for my sins.' He looked at the knife. I could do it. I could kill myself. It's better than being here, without Takiko and Yoshi. Anything is better that that. And if I'm lucky, the gods will let me see them again before sending me to hell where I belong' He picked up the knife and positioned it above his heart. But then. he stopped. No. He couldn't do it yet. He had to make sure that the book fell into no more unfortunate hands. He grabbed it and tried to rip it in half.
Nothing.
He tried to rip a page.
He couldn't.
He lit a fire and threw the book into it.
It didn't even get hot.
What won't anything I try work?' he thought. This book... It can't be destroyed. But I can't make any young girl have to go through what Takiko went through and I can't make any parent stand by and watch while they do, not able to do anything like I had to.' There was only one thing that he could do. He sat down at his desk and began to write.
Takago Oosugi,
You're the only one I can count on now. There's no time left. I discovered a certain book. A sutra know as Shi Ji Ten Chi Sho. However, the book pulled my daughter Takiko into it. The book itself seemed to possess some magical power. My daughter became the heroine of the story, summoned the god Genbu and then returned to me. However, her body was wracked with pain. As her wishes were granted, her body was being devoured by Genbu! If my daughter was to be devoured, I decided I'd rather kill her by my own hand and then take my own life. Before carrying it out, though, I wanted to destroy the book. But even after I tried to set it on fire, it would not burn! I believer the book is waiting for the remaining priestesses to follow. For the priestesses of Byakko, Suzaku and Seiryuu.
My friend, I beg you. You must seal this book away in my place! Please, this is my final request to you.
Einosuke Okuda
There. He didn't have time to tell him everything, so he told him everything that he could. Now, all that was left was to kill himself. He put the letter in the cover of the book and the book in a box. Then, he wrote out Takago's address and put it in the mail. He could only hope that he would do as he had asked.
Einosuke picked the knife back up and held it to his wrist. He then cut deeply into the vein there, watching the blood spill out, down his arm and onto the floor. He didn't try to lessen the pain. He thought that he deserved all of it. He was committing another sin by killing himself, but he didn't care. Soon, he would be with Takiko again. Soon, he would see Yoshi for the first time in ten years.
Einosuke dropped to the floor. Slowly, he crawled to where Takiko laid on her bed.
For...give me... my daugh...ter..... I did... it on...ly out... of love.... My... last act... of love... for... you........ His eyes slowly slid shut and he slowly breathed his last breath. His heart beat one last time, and he was gone. Gone to join his daughter and wife in the heavens above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uruki's POV
I was at a loss for words. The room was beautiful. No... It was beyond beautiful. Everything seemed to almost sparkle. Compared to the dull part of the cave that we had just been in, this room was heaven on Earth.
It... It's beautiful... I breathed.
Yes. It is, said Hikitsu. I jumped and turned. I had forgotten that he was there! Then, I nodded and turned back to the room.
Hikitsu said and he lead me to the center of the room. There, was a small shrine type thing. Place the shinzaho there, he told me, pointing. I took it out and placed it where he had said. Like the rest of the room, it seemed to sparkle, and somehow I could tell that it was very powerful. It just had the sort of aura. Isn't it strange. I never thought of things having auras. That always seemed to be a thing that people had. Oh, whatever. I guess that doesn't really matter.
Hikitsu lead me out of the room and once again we were in a cold, damp, dreary cave, not a magical room.
We sat in silence for a while. Tomite was still somewhere, but I did not know where. Finally, I gathered enough courage to ask the question that had been plaguing me since he had died.
What did you want to say when you were dying. You said, Uruki... I have always lov....' but you couldn't finish. What's the ending? What were you trying to say? God. That sounded dumb, even to me. Somehow, I knew that the answer was obvious and I was just to dumb to see it. Maybe I was just an idiot.
It doesn't matter, Hikitsu replied.
But it is to me. I want to know.
Please, Hikitsu. Maybe it's not that important to you, but it is to me.
But..... Okay. You're going to think that it's stupid, but I wanted to tell you that I... I could have sworn that his pale features grew red as he spoke. That I love you
Wh-What? I think that I just heard you wrong. Can you repeat that? Now I was sure of it. He was definitely blushing.
I wanted to say that I love you. He wasn't looking at me anymore. Was he embarrassed? I couldn't imagine such a thing.
Weather he was embarrassed or not, my heart had filled with joy. He was in love with me! He was in love with me! He was in love with me! I had been in love with him for so long, and now I finally found out that he was in love with me too! But now he was speaking again and so I tore myself away from my thoughts to listen to him.
I know that you don't feel the same way, but I've been in love with you for a long time now. I-If you don't feel that same way, we can just go back to... being friends.
To my surprise, and I think his as well, I laughed. O-Of course I love you to! I said. I've loved you for a long time! I... I'm just so happy that you feel the same way!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~End of Chapter 48~
To be quite frank, I don't think that this chapter is as good as most of my others. I like that first half, but I'm just not good at love confessions.
Well, Uruki and Hikitsu finally confessed their love for each other. Probably not in the way that most of you thought that they would, but I've actually been planing this for a while. A long while. I hope that none of you mind how cheesy it ended up being.
More coming soon! Please review!
