Chapter 12
- Honor -

The honorable family will guard the claws
And give them to their future King
The Guardian's novice will come under her care once more
- The Prophecy of Ages

It was truly a tragic day, when Kirara had arranged the memorial service. Never before had a tragedy this major happened to the citizens

of Tokyo; most people living there knew Kei, or were taught by Kaoru, or had heard of Clow. It seemed almost unreal that they were

gone, but they were. The circumstances of their deaths were strange, at least to those who didn't know the truth; shortly after Tokyo's

rebirth, the bodies of the victims were found in various allies and streets, badly beaten. To add insult to the injury, Sesshoumaru's mansion

was found to be burned to the ground, with almost everything in it destroyed. Thankfully, the Kamiya dojo had survived.

Kirara was the first to hear of these tragic events, of course, and arranged preparations for a funeral.

It was an unusually chilly September day that the funeral service was to be held, and the sky was as grey as steel. The Kamiya dojo was

filled with people coming to pay their respects. Kirara wore a black robe that day, and tied her hair back into a modest bun; it was a

bittersweet feeling, looking at the people crying and saying kind words at the small shrines she had placed in the training hall.

Megumi had just arrived and bowed to Kirara.

"Hello, you must be Megumi," Kirara said. "I'm very pleased to meet you, after all Kenshin-san told me about you,"

Megumi nodded sadly.

"And I to you, only I wish the circumstances were more desirable,"

"I must agree," Kirara said. "Please, make yourself comfortable,"

Megumi nodded and went off.

"It's a bit surreal, isn't it?" Shippo said (he had reverted to his teenage form that he used in public). "Hard to believe they're gone,

yet...here we are,"

Kirara nodded. The door opened, and a young man entered that she recognized.

"Yohji!" she said, giving a hug to the young shaman. "Thank goodness you came,"

"Anything for you, Kirara-sama," he said. "What did you need me for?"

"I need to give you this," she said, reaching into her robe and handing him a necklace with three claws strung on it.

"What's this?" he asked, looking it over.

"They're my claws, three of them," Kirara said. Yohji looked at her in shock.

"Your claws? What are they for? Why did you do this?" he asked.

"In the next few generations to come, the Asakura clan will be blessed with twin boys around the time of the next Shaman Tournament,"

Kirara said. "One of which will be the reincarnation of Hao,"

"You can't be serious..." Yohji said. "What about the other one?"

"Have his necklace given to him," Kirara said. "He has a very important role to play in the shaping of this world, I have seen it,"

"How do you know this?" Yohji asked.

"One of the Seekers came to me," she said. "The Prophecy is slowly coming true, but we've done all we can at the moment. We have to

wait until the time comes for others to know,"

"I...I don't know what to say, or do..." Yohji said, looking at the claws and gently feeling their smooth edges.

"Make sure the story of the Asakuras are passed down, but tell no one else of this, do you understand?" she said. "These claws will offer

their protection to the heir of the Asakuras,"

Yohji was silent for a moment, them smiled and snuck it in his robe.

"Of course, Kirara-sama," he said. "Now, I'll go pay my respects, since I'm here,"

Kirara smiled and watched him approach Kenshin's altar, but the quiet scene was interuppted when the screen door from the courtyard

suddenly split apart and a bloody mess of a person fell from it.

"Oh my god!" Misao cried. "What in the world?"

Sohma Maoh hissed, but his grandmother gently restrained him with a hug as Kirara and Megumi quickly rushed over. Being as gentle as

she could, Kirara pulled the boy to her lap while Megumi examined him. He was barely alive and his breathing was labored, but his face

was easily recognizable, and they could all see who it was.

"Seta!" Aoshi said. "What are you doing here!"

"...Shishio...he..." he managed to say, before wincing in pain.

"Someone get me some cloth, NOW! I need to make bandages and stop the bleeding!" Megumi demanded.

"That boy you're trying to save once tried to kill Himura," Saitou said, watching with a slightly suprised look on his face.

"What would he be doing here, then?" Kirara retaliated, tearing off a bit of her mourning garment with her teeth and wrapping up an arm.

"Look! He's got the clothes of a mourner, he obviously came to pay respect!"

Maoh's grandmother, Juuko, handed Megumi her shawl, while Gou ran off in search of bandages with the another Sohma, a woman

named Houko.

"We've got to do what we can, regardless of who he is," Megumi said, ripping the fabric into strips and tying them to stop the bleeding.

"It's what Ken-san would have wanted,"

The many whose lives were changed by Kenshin realised that the medicine woman spoke the truth, and cleared the area as the two adult

Sohmas returned with bandages and hot water.

-/-

It was a matter of minutes before Megumi had Soujirou stablized and taken into one of the rooms; her time with Dr. Gensai had surely

helped, and she was pretty sure that he was going to be okay. Kirara gave her thanks, and excused herself until the guests had all left.

"Kirara...?" Shippo called, walking down and looking for her. "Everyone's gone, Kirara,"

He found her in the room they laid Soujirou in; she was kneeling at his side and looking at him sadly.

"Hey, what's the matter?" he asked.

"I feel his past," she said. "It's so painful..."

"What do you mean, 'feel his past'?" Shippo said, un-transforming and walking next to her. "I don't get it,"

"It's okay, Shippo, it's okay," she said. "Well, I suppose I should get dinner started,"

"Kirara...I wanna talk to you about something," he said.

Kirara looked at the small face that hadn't changed in over 3 centuries of time.

"What?" she asked.

"I...I wanna go," he said.

"Go where?"

"Somewhere else," he replied, sitting down. "I wanna go places, meet people, do...things! It's been a curse that I've been stuck like this,

but I don't act like a kid anymore. You know that,"

"I do,"

"You think that I could still go to Demon World?"

"Shippo!" Kirara said, astonishedly. "Why would you want to do that?"

"I'm stronger than I used to be," he said. "There's so many places to explore, and treasure to find, and people to meet...I want to go

there!"

"How would you get there in the first place, Shippo?" she asked, with a slight laugh; no matter what he said, he still sounded like a little

kid with impossible dreams.

"I'll find a way, I know it," he said.

A small pattering behind them indicated that it was raining.

"Nothing's impossible, you know that," Shippo said, watching it fall.

Kirara nodded. "With hope, yes, anything's possible,"

"Then why not for me?" Shippo said, suddenly sounding very angry. "I should have the right to follow my own dreams! Why can't I?"

"I..I don't know, Shippo," said Kirara, her shoulders sagging a bit as she sighed. "Nothing can explain why you haven't changed or grown

at all, so we'll just have to keep waiting, I suppose,"

"How long, Kirara? HOW LONG!" Shippo screamed, his small voice shaking with rage. "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR 300 YEARS

FOR CHANGE, KIRARA, AND I HAVEN'T GOTTEN ANY! NONE!"

"Shippo, please calm down..." Kirara said, almost crying; she knew in her heart there was nothing she could do, but she still wanted to

help him.

"I WON'T!" he growled. "I've had enough of this, Kirara. We've been through a lot, and I'm sick and tired of being the one left out! I

could have done something!"

He stomped outside and into the rain, looking up at the clouds and letting the rain fall on his face. Kirara watched him helplessly, her heart

full of pain.

"WHYYYY!" he screamed, and started to cry.

"Don't be sad, brave one," said a soft male voice. Both Kirara and Shippo looked up to see a dusk-colored figure kneeling in the rain, a

single red rose in his hand.

"The King!" Kirara said, and bowed in spite of herself.

"King...?" said Shippo, looking at the man.

"You have suffered under my seal long enough," he said. "I came to release you,"

He handed the rose to Shippo and smiled.

"This rose shall protect you," he said. "as you enter the world of the demons,"

Shippo gasped with a slight smile.

"Enter Demon World?" he said. "I can do that now?"

The man nodded and began to fade away.

"Become the stuff of legend; they'll be talking about you centuries from now," he said. "Farewell, brave Warrior. Have faith, beautiful

Guardian,"

With that, the misty king had vanished.

It was then Kirara noticed that Shippo was not looking like himself.

Rather...he started to grow taller, his hair turning silver, and his limbs lengthening. A beautiful robe of pure white silk replaced his simple

mourning garments, and a shining tail of silver quavered in the rain.

Standing before her was Shippo, as he should have been, clutching the rose and staring in disbelief at his new body.

"Kirara...I..."

He ran over and gave her a hug.

"A seal...? That's what it was?" he said, hugging her tightly. He smelled slightly of roses, Kirara noticed. "Oh...I've never been so happy in

my entire life! If only...Inuyasha could see me now,"

"You know...I bet he is, right now," said Kirara, smiling. "You kind of turned out like him,"

Shippo smiled and looked out at the sky.

"Y'see that, you old dirty bastard? HA! I'm not little anymoooooorre!"

He let the last word ring out loud and echo in the empty courtyard.

"Well, what am I waiting for?" he said. "I can finally get out of this place!"

"What did he tell you?" Kirara asked. "The King, I mean,"

"I heard his voice in my head telling me that if I used the rose, it would let me get to Demon World." Shippo replied. "Huh! How did you

know?"

"...nothing, I just assumed," said Kirara. "Shippo, I-"

"You know, I don't like that name anymore," Shippo said thoughtfully. "I think something a bit smoother, a bit cooler..."

He thought for a bit.

"Kurama...yeah, I like that name," he said. "I've been thinking about it lately,"

"Kurama...it's a name that people will be talking about for decades to come, I think," said Kirara.

"Centuries!" Kurama said happily, and gave her another hug. "Well, here goes,"

He closed his eyes, and began to fade away.

"G'bye, Kirara!"

That was the last she saw of him for a very long time.

-/-

Soujirou awoke sometime later, to the smell of delicious food. He was badly bruised, and it hurt to move, but he managed to get out of

the blanket and where the smell was coming from. A youngish woman, perhaps in her early twenties, sat in front of a pot and hummed a

faint, yet strangely familiar tune. Her pale blonde hair glinted in the faint light of a lantern nearby, and he quietly closed the door behind

him.

"Oh, glad to see you're awake," she said, taking a spoonful of the dinner and sniffing it. "You can sit down, I'm almost done,"

Soujirou sat down.

"Thank you, for what you did," he said. "I honestly didn't think I would live,"

"You were meant to live, for the moment, at least," said the woman, placing the soup into a bowl and beginning to fill a new one. She

turned to face him and put a bowl and chopsticks in front of him.

"Go on, eat. You must be hungry," she said, her dark brown eyes sparkling.

"Thank you," Soujirou said, and slowly began to eat.

"Please tell me what happened," she said. "You said something about Shishio...what did he do to you?"

"Hmm?" he said, halfway through sipping his broth. "How do you know about that?"

"There's a lot of things I know," she said with a smile, taking a slice of radish out of her bowl and nibbling on it. "I'm a very mysterious

person,"

Soujirou laughed in spite of himself; he did not know this woman, but somehow...he felt he could trust her.

"He attacked me, while I was going to pay my respects, after I had heard that Kenshin-san had been killed. But he's dead, how can..." he

said, but trailed off. "It sounds impossible, I was probably hallucinating or something,"

"I don't think you were," the woman said, her innocent brown eyes piercing his mind. "There's lots of things that seem impossible going on

right now,"

"What?" he said.

"Oh, nevermind," the woman said. "So, your name is Soujirou?"

"Yes, Seta Soujirou," he said. "I'm sorry, but may I ask yours? You haven't told me yet,"

"My name is Kirara," she said. "I hope you're okay,"

"I think I am, I feel a lot better now," Soujirou said with a smile. "I thought I was going to die!"

"You might have," Kirara said. "You were wounded very seriously,"

There was a bit of silence.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Kirara finally asked.

"No, I was a wanderer, like Kenshin-san," Soujirou replied.

"Then you should stay here for a while," she said. "For one, you aren't healed yet, and two...well, wandering isn't exactly the safest thing

for you right now,"

"But..." Soujirou began.

"Please, I'm only doing what's best for you," she said. "Don't worry, when things get safer, you may leave,"

"I...understand," he said, although in truth, he didn't really. He returned to his room shortly afterward, his mind filled with confusing

thoughts.

In the year to come, Soujirou would grow to almost love Kirara. She nurtured him until his wounds were healed, and served him dinner.

They told stories, she held him when he cried from the pain of his wounds when she changed his bandages and the skin stuck to them,

and seemed to be the mother he never had. He began to understand things; how Shishio could materialise, how he was safe in her

prescence. And somehow, he knew that she understood his past, his pain.

But even with her love and compassion, he grew weak as the days passed, because of a slow poison the ghost-Shishio had seeped into

his blade before his attack; it was a well-planned attack, designed to kill by slowly letting the victim waste away if the initial attack failed.

It was a chilly fall day when Soujirou lay with his head in Kirara's lap, watching the fall leaves slowly drift to the ground, his breathing slow

and measured.

"Kirara-san, may I ask you something?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"Will you take care of me?" he asked.

"I care for you now," Kirara said.

"No...I mean, in the next life..." he said. "You do believe in..."

"Yes, I do," Kirara said. "Soujirou, I don't know,"

"It's okay..." he said, and closed his eyes. "I know you'll find me; it wasn't coincidence that I came under your care,"

He opened his eyes again.

"The leaves are so beautiful..." he sighed. "I'm glad that...I got to see them turn before I left..."

He closed his eyes again.

"Make a promise to me, Kirara-san. History repeats itself, and I don't want to serve under...Shishio again," he said. "I want you...to care

for me again,"

Kirara looked at the pond in the corner, and gently let out her breath.

"I promise, Soujirou," she said. "Everyone deserves to feel belonged,"

"Thank you...so very much..." he sighed. His heart slowed, and his breathing stopped, his spirit gone from his body and into the next

world.

Kirara buried his ashes in the garden, underneath a willow tree.

Next
- Catalyst