Part 28 - Follow your heart

It was almost 7 pm when everybody had the things set, it had lots of candles all around the ocean, and everybody was side by side ready to do the spell. They were with swords and very well protected, ready to enter in a fight.

Tara came with a paper in her hands, and everybody just gave hands to the person beside. Everybody was with face turned to the ocean, making a half circle, and Tara was sitting in the middle, also turned to the ocean.

"Are you guys ready?" Tara asked looking her behind.

Everybody nod.

Tara turned and started to read the paper…

umakuiku mo kudakeru mo kiai o irete

(Show a fighting spirit, when things are going smoothly, then they fall apart)

kyoo mo ikimasu doko made mo

(I'll go wherever today too)

hitotsu yamakoe mata umi koete

(Crossing the ocean, and again a mountain,)

baatto sekai ga LOVE LOVE hirogaru

(World's love love will spread.)

After reading it for the first time some light started to shine very brightly in the middle of the ocean and the more Tara repeated the spell the more the light started to go upper forming a circle around the whole ocean, after repeating it for the third time the circle of light disappeared blowing little lights from everywhere getting everyone's eyes, after some time blinking everybody that was there could see now a giant mansion in front of them, it looked like the ocean was never there, it was a huge, gold and silver mansion and with some Japanese gods on top each roof, there were thousand of green beautiful roofs on it. In front of the mansion here was a enormous garden where there were a lots of Sakura trees planted, it didn't seem like a demon house, it was so beautiful and colorful.

"Wooooow." Was what everybody was saying with their eyes shocked. "I wonder if inside it's the same as it looks outside." Buffy said.

Tara got up and looked at the gang. "We're going in. Giles, would you…"

"Oh yes sure." Giles said going near Dawn. "Dawn, we appreciate for your help but…"

"Now comes the best part and I can not be in this fight, bla bla bla, why I even bother to ask?" Dawn said interrupting Giles.

"Please Dawn, it's not that, when we find the demon and we get what we want we still don't know for sure what is going to happen to Willow and we need someone that we trust to be with her in this time. We've talked about it."

"Yeah, ok…"

"Thank you." Giles said taking Dawn to the hotel again while everybody started to get in the big mansion.

"Oh my god, Tara are you sure that this is the demon house?" Xander asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Tara replied.

"Because I feel like a Hello Kitty right now." Xander said with a weird face.

Getting a serious face from Tara and a hit from Buffy they got in the mansion.

Tara opened the huge gold door, and when they entered on the mansion they saw a huge room and in front there were 3 stairs where in the end they connected to the same place where it was able to see 3 doors. After admiring the mansion a well dressed demon appeared, from one of the doors and started to get close, as he was walking like a butler and it didn't seemed danger the gang put the weapon down. He got closer to Buffy and Tara who were in front of the gang.

"Konbawa."

"Oh crap…" Tara and Buffy said at the same time. "WE SPEAK ENGLISH!" Buffy said kinda yelling at the demon.

"Oh, sorry, I try to speak English since I came here. What me can do for you?" The demon said with a Japanese accent making some English mistakes.

Everybody was at the same time with a scared face to meet such a polite demon, and almost laughing for his accent and bad English.

After looking at Buffy to know what she should do Tara said "We are here to see Yakata."

And the demon replied. "Yakata do not get visits to see him, especially when people are with this pointing things."

"We are not visits, where is he?" Buffy said getting closer.

"I am sorry, but you will not be able to see him. He said he is busy."

Buffy making a "whatever" face ignored him and started to go in direction of the stairs, the demon hold her arms and tried to make Buffy go to the floor, but he did not succeed as Buffy took a sword that she had hidden and killed the demon saying "I'm sorry, you seemed a nice demon."

Buffy pulled the sword that was in the demon chest getting up, right after she got up a extreme noise started to appear and hundreds of demons wearing Karate clothes appeared from the 3 doors and also from parts from the walls that had hidden doors.

"Why do demons have to wear weird clothes here?" Buffy said sticking her sword into one of the demons that was attacking her, and already killing the other demon that was ready to kick her.

Everybody now was fighting, demons were coming from every place. Buffy as always doing her kicks and killing sometimes getting to the floor because of a karate attack, but soon she got up and killed some more.

All the slayers were doing fantastic, when some demons escaped from them, Xander and Giles got them cause they were behind the slayers all protected and with huge swords.

When the battle was over, everybody was ok some of them just with a few cuts in some parts, nothing big.

"Is everybody ok?" Buffy asked looking at everybody looking for some injure.

"My back hurts, but I'll survive." Giles answered.

"What do we do now?" Paula asked.

"Now we find Yakata." Tara answered bravely and started to go up the stair being followed by the gang.

There were 3 doors at the end of the stair, so they decided to split up so they could find the demon faster. As they were 9 people they formed 3 groups. When they were ready to go into the doors a similar move of earthquake started while a dark voice came from the middle door. With the ground movement everybody went to the floor and a lot of smoke started to appear, none of them could see anything but white dust. The voice said out loud and slowly "Koko de tatatte".

Everybody was so busy trying to get up and try to see something and find someone around that they didn't pay attention to the voice. Only Sayuri that knew what the demon was saying got her eyes wide open and started to look for something.

After the dust had lower down and they could see things again. Coughing Buffy asked looking around the room "Are you guys ok? Wait, where are we?"

"Don't know…" Tara asked cleaning her clothes because of the dust.

"It's beautiful though." Xander said looking around.

Sayuri didn't cared about her clothes, she was only looking for something all around. And she said "Hear?"

"What?" Tara asked getting closer to her.

"Did you hear?" Sayuri asked with her eyes wide open.

"No… what did you hear?" Tara asked looking at her eyes.

"The demon… said… koko…de…tatatte…." She said slowly. "It means, fight… here…"

As soon as she finished talking, Yakata appeared, it wasn't a normal demon, as they had already realized. Yakata was well dressed, very different from when Tara saw it for the first time. But what everybody got impressed, was that Yakata was wearing a Kimono, a cloth that Japanese women wear. It was a pink dress with a lot of detail. And for everybody astonishment, it spoke in English.

"I was waiting for you."

´'´'´'´'´'´'´'´'´´'´'

Everybody froze to see that the demon was wearing woman clothes. Yakata was levitating and softly she was at ground, bigger then everybody in the room, her appearance was a calm demon, which ironically made the gang more scared.

"I was wondering when you would appear." Yakata said looking to Tara while she approached the gang stopping a few meters from them. The gang kept quiet but with their weapons still in guards. And Yakata continued. "I bet the redhead is having a wonderful time with her…"

Tara interrupted her. "Shut up!" She said with her face angry and her eyes burning of anger.

The demon sounded impressed and said "Oh look, how cute is the lover saving her girlfriend… and look, she brought her stupid friends with her." Yakata said looking to the gang.

"Wanna see what her stupid friends can do?" Buffy said with confidence. Running towards the demon she tried to attack her but not even moving from the floor Yakata just moved her arms and Buffy flew in direction of the gang hitting Xander and Giles that fell with her. Everybody in state of shock to see the demon power they created more strength and the whole gang went after her, and one by one she easily waved her arms and everybody ended on the floor.

"You have to learn how to listen sometimes." Yakata said waiting everybody to get up.

"You don't know us. You don't know what we can do." Buffy said angry helping the girls to get up.

After a little laugh the demon said "I know you better then you know yourselves Buffy."

Everybody widely opened their eyes and looked strangely to the demon. And she continued. "Do not talk until I let you so."

"How do you know my name? And who do you think you …." Buffy started to talk and Yakata just looked to her and she suddenly kept her mouth shut, Yakata made Buffy stop talking just by looking to her, and everybody just pay attention to what Yakata had to say.

"That's how I like it… it's quiet now… everybody is so talkative, they want to tell you what to do, what to say and tell us how to fell, but they never care about how we truly feel, they don't let us feel for ourselves. You can only gain respect when you have something more powerful than others. They don't obey you because you're Buffy, they obey you because you are the slayer. It wasn't something you earned, it is something that it was given. You have a life that none of the people here can understand. You live in your world and this world you want to protect, but not always ends as you wanted to be. And you had to understand that. And you did. You understood how life is, how some people have to live and some people have to die… but seemed that somehow you could bring someone to life again. "

"That doesn't give you the right to take Willow's life." Tara said staring at the demon.

"You are right, I was supposed to take your life, Tara." After some time looking at her everybody started to get nervous and started to look at each other but the demon continued and everybody looked at her again.

"Tara you happened to die in a terrible way, always a right girl, never did anything without thinking about someone's good. You didn't even got to the black magic, not even when you had a tendency to, your mom, your girlfriend... people very close to you were attracted to the dark side of the magic, and you still stayed away. You have a great mind, I would say even the best mind in the group that you hang. Only that your thoughts and ideas stay inside your mind, and you are afraid of showing them, afraid that you are wrong or that people won't agree with you. You only show the power that you have inside you when it involves what you love the most, this way you are not afraid of showing them."

"That's why you took Willow from me! You took her because you wanted me to learn how to show myself? You know… you're not a bright demon, you don't know what love is. You don't now how I felt when I was with Willow. She made me who I am today."

"No… you're not thinking right Tara. You weren't even supposed to be here. And love, yes, love is the reason that we are all here, isn't it?"

"Oh look, a demon that can love, how beautiful is that." Buffy said with a laugh tone.

"You don't know what are you talking about. Buffy." Yakata said.

"Show me what you got. And then I'll show what a really fight is."

"This is so pathetic." Yakata said.

"What? You don't believe me? You demons are always so unfair that…" Buffy said.

"Unfair? I'll show you what unfair is…." Yakata interrupted.

"What? Are you gonna tell us a story?" Buffy asked.

"It's not just a story… it will make you understand. In 1945 I was out of town, I was celebrating my victory on school that I had been accepted in, it was the greatest school in the world, I was about to be a doctor. I've never been so happy in my life. My family stayed home waiting for me to come back with the biggest smile on their faces. It was in August 10th , I was planning to came back, when in day 6 Hiroshima was attacked by the bomb. This bomb exploded where I lived, It not only killed thousands of people, but it killed my family, one 10-year-old sister, and a little brother that was about to be 1 year old the following month. After I woke up that day I was told about my family. I lost everything that I loved in 1 minute, and I didn't even got the chance to be with then because I was studying outside of the country." Everybody still was paying attention without any interruption, so she continued.

"That, THAT is unfair. I stayed in a hospital for a year because of the state of shock that I was, I was so in shock that I lost my baby, I was pregnant with my first baby, and it was only 5 months. I was guilty for the lost of my son, I killed him. My boyfriend at that time got so mad with me, that he left. He wanted that baby so much, and so did my father, he got so happy when I told him, he wanted so much a grandson. After I got for some time in the hospital for the state of shock, one guy started to visit me almost everyday, he said he could change me. I was 20 years old at that time, he said that nobody else could understand lost better than me. So he gave me powers. Immortality is one of them, and he taught me about life. I spend this whole time learning about life and death. And there was one girl that could bring dead people back, this person didn't understand death, and I am not talking about you Buffy. Willow, she had a power that violated the death circle. And she broke it."

"And taking her life would make everything back to normal?" Tara asked.

"No, I tried to take her life because she can alter death in the future." Yakata answered.

"You mean that you job is to take people's life that have a great power?" Buffy asked.

"My job is to keep the world in the perfect circle, to not let anyone interfere on this circle. When Willow brought Buffy back I felt her, and was looking for her until I felt what she tried to do when Tara died. I felt her even more so I could find."

Everybody was getting the point now. This wasn't a normal demon, it was actually the circle of life and death. After some time Tara asked.

"Why did you run when I found you with Willow?"

" Don't you see? I planed this. I knew you would find me, I knew all gang was going to be here. And you brought Paula, saved me some time, a strong person that had a lost in your life."

The gang now was looking at Paula and she kept looking to Yakata impressed by the demons' words.

"You lost someone also didn't you? Someone loved. One best friend." Yakata said to her, Paula just nodded as she knew what she was talking about.

"I was with her at the time, she said to say something to you, she said to tell you that it wasn't your fault and she knew you loved her even though she was gone before you say that. She told you to be strong for her, she would be happy to see you happy." Yakata said softly making Paula with tears in her eyes, but she was too proud to let everybody notice that, she just wiped a few tears and nod.

"What was that? Can you see future?" Tara asked as the other girls comforted Paula.

"Yes, this is why I waited for Willow. I knew about your death, and I was going to sense Willow's reaction to it. After I sensed I was sure about Willow's powers. I know everything. I can understand life and death, and for it's simple as it is it's one of the things that human will never be able to understand or accept." Yakata said.

"This guy that you made you who you are, who was he?" Giles asked for the first time. He was so curious about the demon that he was trying to understand her. It was the first time that Giles had seen something like that.

"He made who I am now, some people say I am a demon but I like to say that I'm death or just Yakata. He changed my appearance, he is now my father. Before I took this job he was the one that was doing it. Sometimes even the immortal demons have some troubles so he wanted to rest and was looking for someone to continue with his job. And then he found me." Yakata answered.

"How can we have never heard of you? You're name was found in some places but never I thought that there were this kind of demons…what we knew about you is nothing compared to what really is." Giles was surprised.

"I don't make my appearance like that. I can be invisible mostly of the time… I can also appear to the witches that have the powers to alter life, I opened an exception for you." Yakata said.

"What about Willow?" Tara asked.

"I'm gonna take her. Finish my job. Won't take much. I was just waiting for you." Yakata said. Tara got closer to Yakata and seeing her very closer she said "NO, I won't let it."

"People really can't face death, can they?" Yakata said looking to Tara.

"I understand death, or your job. But you're taking her away for something that I was also a part of it, so you should take me too. Willow wasn't the only guilty in this thing, and she got better. She got away from the dark magic, I don't understand why you are still after her." Tara said.

"Tara, sometimes people don't change, and I saw how Willow was when you were dead."

"But sometimes people change! And Willow is changed." Tara said.

"Take a look at you Tara, look what you've just said. When I took Willow, she was crying, she was crying cause you didn't realized what she had passed when you died. You did this to her. When I took her powers she was already hurt inside." Yakata said looking to Tara with a calm voice.

"She was hurt, she was not dead. I would fix it." Tara said angry.

"I fixed her first. You missed your chance." Yakata said replying Tara.

"You can't… she's mine…" Tara said almost crying.

"Don't you think it's a little too late to realize that?"

"This is not fair, I didn't have time to think about it… it was just so fast and…" Tara looked down and said "I am sorry Willow…" Tara said crying now. Buffy went to comfort Tara.

"She can't hear you." Yakata said.

"Yes, yes she can, she will hear me saying that when she wakes up, I'm gonna bring her back. Even if it's the last thing I do." Tara said lifting her face up.

"I'd like to see you trying that." Yakata said in a laugh tone.

"You know…" Buffy started to say, Yakata turned her face to her. "You talk like it's so easy for us, so easy to accept one's love death. People don't accept one death because we have feelings. Knowing that we can't see ever again the people alive, or hear their voice it makes us miss. It makes a hole in our hearts that not even time can fix that again. It's not easy, and it will never EVER be." Buffy paused a little with some tears in her eyes thinking about her mom and the people that she loved that was dead, or died once. Yakata just seeing Buffy let her continue. "Taking Willow from us, because she wanted us back it's not a reason. Everybody would do if they had Willow's powers. And having powers it's not a crime. She's one of the best witches that I ever known, she earned the power. I know her, and she wouldn't be such a good witch if she didn't have problems in the past. She learned from them… and I learned from her. You can know our lives, what we did, but you don't know why we did, what we felt or even how we feel." Buffy stopped saying.

Everybody in the room was with tears in their eyes. There wasn't a single person in that room that hadn't experienced the lost of a loved one. Xander had lost Anya, Giles lost Jennifer Calendar, his girlfriend, Buffy lost her mom, Paula lost her best friend in a car accident, Carol lost her mom in a demon attack, Sayuri lost her grandfather some months ago she found herself as a slayer, Ashley had her father killed by a murder, that's why she became a person with strong personality, to try to hide how much she missed her father, Kennedy didn't lost any of her parents nor brothers or sisters, but losing Willow, was already a great lost for her. And Tara, she had lost her mom, and she was about to lose Willow.

The demon looked to every person in that room and their faces were with tears for remembering their loved ones. And Yakata was about to say something when she was interrupted by Tara "I don't care… about your job, I just want Willow back. I will make her happy and teach again about magic. I promise."

Yakata approached to the gang, with a little smile she said. "I am proud of you Tara, finally the moment that I waited for so long has come… my plan, my goal, I succeeded, Buffy exposed her feelings, what she was afraid to feel or say, she felted and I sensed. And it was the first time after her travel back to life." Yakata turned to Tara "You already said the words that I wanted to hear. And because of your way to act and for the way you are, I will make your wish come true. You will have your Willow back. I already sensed everybody's change, so my work here is done. Follow your heart Tara, you won't be disappointed. I promise. I wouldn't lie, besides, my job is to take people when it's their time, and it's not Willow's time yet. Enjoy life… the fight ends here."

After these words Yakata started to disappear. And Buffy yelled "Fight? We didn't fight! And what you mean is done? You're just gonna disappear like that? What about Willow's powers!"

"We did fight, you all fought against your greatest fear, fought with your thoughts and yourselves. I released Willow's powers. The power is looking for some place safe to stay. Just go get it and give it back to Willow…." Yakata was almost no more able to see when she whispered some words.

"Follow your heart… always."