Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Tactics. They are the property of Kinoshita Sakura, got it?

A/N: This is my final chapter for "Breathe" and it will be followed up by an epilogue which you get with this chapter as well. XD Like I said before there will be unanswered questions because I want to leave that up to your imaginations. But who knows . . . maybe I might make a sequel that explains the unexplained in this story. (Now this is only a thought, I might not act upon it.) And I'd like to THANK everyone that has reviewed and I'd really like to THANK a tons to the ones that reviewed for every chapter thus far. It's because of those few that I have made it this far and finished this story. THANK YOU for the motivation. (.(Hugz).) :-D

Breathe
Chapter 25: The Story Unfolds
By: LadyYuina

Ever since the day Dirina was sealed away and Haruka's transformation back to normal, the spiritualist and the Tengu were feeling quite uncomfortable around one another. Many things were left unanswered between the two, and it was only a matter of time until one of them spoke first.

The carnation festival had sprung upon them without so much as a notice. Today at this very moment Kantarou was getting ready for it. Hidden behind a shoji screened door he quickly undressed himself of his usual attire to put on something more elaborate. Within the confines of the ricer-papered walls Kantarou held out a white undergarment to slip on. After that an extremely thin layer of a light red-colored robe came next, and lastly but not least a bright red carnation decorated kimono finished it off. Kantarou fastened a red sash around his waist and the outfit was complete.

"Today . . ." Kantarou said to himself, "I suppose I play an important role in this festival. It's been so long since I've participated . . ."

Looking down at a box beside his feet he took out a fan and hat to accommodate with his outfit. They weren't necessary but optional. He simply chose to choose them.

"I'm ready, Haruka." He slid the shoji screened door open and stepped out into the sunlight. Looking around he saw that Haruka was nowhere in sight. "Haruka?"

"I'm up here." Haruka peered down at his Master and blushed. He could actually feel his cheeks flaming with color. "You look gorgeous."

Kantarou, in turn, turned beet red himself and fumbled with his hands for a moment. Even though they were a couple in actuality, it felt like they had just met each other all over again. Sprouting out his black wings, Haruka flew down from the roof to stand beside the spiritualist. He tentatively rubbed a hand along the soft silk material of Kantarou's carnation imprinted kimono.

"Your kimono is really soft," Haruka whispered.

"Th-thank you."

Without looking at his lover, Haruka asked, "why are you participating in this carnation festival? Its there something significant to it?"

"Sort of, I'd rather tell you things through a play than words. It's a bit hard for me to speak about it, hopefully you'll understand."

"I understand. I'm just simply being selfish . . ."

"You're not selfish; not at all!" Kantarou tried to prove him wrong. "What happened to you or anyone, or whatever you did was not your fault! I know you were just trying to protect me!"

"That is quite selfish, Kantarou. I only thought about protecting you . . . no one else. And . . ." Haruka fell to his knees while tugging at Kantarou's kimono sleeves roughly, thus bringing him down with him, ". . .I took advantage of the privilege, and in the long run I only ended up hurting you and other people."

"It's all over already, Haruka, you're fine now. Trust me." Gentle tears fell from Kantarou's eyes as he cupped Haruka's cheeks with his soft hands. "You've been forgiven."

"Still, during the time that I was Rekkugen I'm sure that I must have hurt you in some way." Kantarou tried his best not to flinch, but it didn't work. "See? I did hurt you."

"No! Of course you--"

"There's no need to lie, Kantarou. It's a lot better if I knew the truth than you hiding it from me. Perhaps it'd help me better manage myself if I knew everything, you know?"

"Yes, I understand . You'll see everything later in the play I shall participate in. Till then please wait."

"Okay."

----------

Monk Sanji was in awe at the beautiful scenery of the festival grounds. What he had suspected wasn't it at all; the little girl named Mizu was a very smart child. She knew how to choose her words wisely, either way it was rather funny as well when he thought about it.

Feeling somewhat tired monk Sanji sat down on a nearby noodle stands' bench. It surprised him when he saw Mizu again. She was sitting beside him and smiling.

"Hi again!" she said. "Remember me?"

"Yes, I remember you. You made me think--"

"That this town was a bloody bath town?" He dumbly nodded. "Hahahaha, you're so gullible, monk Sanji. Well, when I say something like that it's only during the red carnation festival. If you already knew about that, then you wouldn't been fooled, eh?"

"I suppose so," monk Sanji replied.

"I know you have reds sutras; give me, give me, give, give me one!" Mizu begged. "Please! I really want a red one! It'll match our surroundings more, ya know."

"First off, let me ask you questions, Mizu."

"Sure." Mizu sat more comfortably on the bench; it seemed like this was going to take a while.

"About this red carnation festival - why is it celebrated?"

"Ah, that's easy. This festival is a local one and its only for this town. Here we use the red carnation as a sign of a death flower. Later on when it gets cooler during the evening families that have lost loved ones bring red carnations to their graves and chat with them." Monk Sanji have her a perplexed look. "Not literally talk to them, but you talk in your thoughts and hope that your loved ones, or loved one can hear it wherever they are. After that, that's where the fun begins; if you thought it was all doom and gloom then you're mistaken."

"I see."

"And if you thought it was a celebration simply for pleasure you are also mistaken. To us it's a little bit of both, you can't have all the bad with the good, ya know. Oh, yeah." Mizu reached inside the slit of her obi and produced a thin ticket of some sort. "Please do come to this play event my father is hosting; it's free admission for you. Here." She handed him the ticket. "It starts at seven p.m. this evening so please be there, okay?"

"I'll come check it out."

"All right! Now that I've explained the festival to you I think I'll be on my way then. Bye-bye, monk Sanji, it was nice meeting up with you once more!"

"Same here. Take care, Mizu."

Monk Sanji turned around on his bench and ordered a steaming bowl of noodles. He vaguely noticed that Mizu left without ever getting a red sutra from him.

----------

"What's the matter, Muu-chan?" her husband asked of her.

"Mu-muu-muuuuu . . ."

"They're all right. They can take care of themselves; stop being such a worrywart about him all the time. I'm your husband, not him," Sugino made sure to note.

"Muuu-mu!"

"What of it?"

"Mu!"

"You wanna go, huh? Fine then, I'll go with you."

"Muu?"

"Yes, really."

Picking up his wife Sugino flew off into the distance towards the town bathed in the color red.

----------

Kantarou was quiet as he rode on Haruka's back towards the town of carnations. At this precise moment he took the time to reflect on the past events of the following week.

(LAST WEEK)

I can still remember the look on Suzu's face before she left me once more. She looked so cute with her precious smile - she was a dear friend.

"Kantarou . . . what happened just now?" Haruka asked, completely confused by all that had transpired.

"Dirina can finally rest in peace, after all these years she's finally found her true destination."

Indeed, she did find where she rightfully belonged. All this time when I heard that certain voice, it was hers . . . Why hadn't I realized it sooner? And the other voices that I've heard, they must have belonged to the other spirits. That one shadowed figure of a child, it must have been. Who would have guessed?

"You mean that was really her?"

"Yeah."

"Kantarou, I was him, wasn't I?"

Haruka did transform into Rekkugen . . . His old self was really scary. Rekkugen doesn't suit him - I think the name Haruka does. And no, he is not my slave such as Rekkugen claims, he is a lover and a friend. He'll never be a servant of mine. Sometimes even I wonder why we humans have the power to name certain beings and claim them as our own. It's almost like having children.

"I'm sorry, truly sorry for what you must have gone through." Kantarou shrugged. "It's not something to be taken lightly; while I was Rekkugen I could have killed you."

"Where were you when Rekkugen was here in this world?" Kantarou wanted to change the person of topic choice to Haruka.

"I . . . I was in a dream, it was very peaceful. In that dream we made love. I swore it felt so real."

Kantarou blushed and turned away abruptly, embarrassed to hear Haruka saying such a thing as he did.

So, during those times he was in a dream, huh? Yet, he wouldn't keep his mind out of the gutter; that's so typical of him. I shouldn't be surprised by something like that. I should already know how he acts. If . . . If I don't know this then . . . Then that means that I still have to learn more about him. There are still things I do not know that I ought to find out about.

"Kantarou."

"Eh?"

"About that little dream - we didn't make love. I was only joking."

"Joking? You bastard!" Kantarou slapped Haruka soundly across the top of his head.

Then again, Haruka can be an ass sometimes as well. That I know more than enough of. Perhaps I do know Haruka more than I originally anticipated.

"You make it sound as if you wanted us to have done it in my dream."

"No!"

Haruka smiled. "Admit it."

"I have nothing to admit to; nothing at all."

Heh, it's already almost like a normal day when Dirina disappeared into the orb before my eyes not too long ago. I should be disturbed by all this, though I'm not. Shouldn't I be?

(BACK TO THE PRESENT)

Down below them Kantarou could already see a lot of people gathering round near the festival grounds. Even the seats for the play were fully occupied - there didn't seem to be a spot for Haruka. Scanning around some more Kantarou caught a glimpse of a monk, and by instinct he thought he was monk Nanao.

"Haruka, go closer down towards the crowd."

"I can't do that. Normal people will freak out," Haruka warned.

"So. Just go down there; I think there's someone I know down there." Kantarou squinted his eyes and looked at the monk more closely. He couldn't get a clear shot of his face so he couldn't be too sure. "Come on, Haruka, go lower."

"No."

"Come on! I'm your Master, surely you have to listen to me!"

"Hang on. I'll put you down soon enough. He's seated, so it's not like that friend of yours is going anywhere anytime soon. He's probably going to watch you perform," Haruka explained.

"You might be right." Kantarou bit his bottom lip in painful anticipation.

Once they were on the ground Kantarou had been situated behind the stage with the other performers. Once it was his turn to dance he stepped out onto the stage and looked around at the audience closely. His spirits fell when the monk he assumed was Nanao wasn't him.

"It's not him?" Kantarou asked himself.

The announcer spoke up then. "Here we have the performer known as Ichinomiya Kantarou." A round of applause could be heard. When it died down the announcer continued. "He is going to perform a dance that portrays something by the name of 'Rekkugen' . Sounds exciting, doesn't it?" More cheers erupted from the crowd. "Okay! Let the show continue!"

During the dance three beings amongst the crowd were transfixed by the dance. Three pairs of eyes, six orbs in total watched in fascination. One belonged to a girl, another to a monk, and the last to a Tengu. Each in their own way was affected by the dance. Once it ended Haruka understood everything. Kantarou did an excellent job of displaying the story through a dance.

The crowd applauded loudly when Kantarou waltzed off the stage while flushing clearly in the face.

----------

Kantarou felt all of his burden leave him; he was finally free. Even the child within him that clung to Suzu finally let her go. It was not healthy to cling to the dead. Back behind the stage Kantarou cried his eyes out - a new light was brought upon his life simply because he was feeling weightless. It wasn't that all his burdens were going to disappear though, more surely was going to come his way. However, for now, he was as free as a bird. Nothing could stop him from soaring high into the sky. Absolutely nothing.

"You did great out there. I thoroughly enjoyed it," Haruka said from behind him.

The spiritualist merely smiled and nodded.

----------

Muu-chan and Sugino never made it in time to see the play, but they did show up to the festival.

Mizu was overly captivated by the dance, for she was so amazed that she wanted to meet Kantarou in person. So she searched for him throughout the festival grounds.

Suzu remained with the other twelve spirits. She enjoyed her life as a ghost as she watched over Kantarou from above. After much abided time she received some respect from the oppressive spirit, Dasarani.

Rosary and Youko remained in heaven - they were ghosts in two different planes and times, yet they met new people, new names, and left their pasts behind them. Though they never forgot.

Hasumi resumed a normal life. After much mourning he allowed himself to let Rosary go when he heard her voice one night in his dreams. What he heard made him really happy and it was enough for him.

Monk Sanji never found out the answers he wanted to know about his fellow monk friend, Nanao. Still, it just so happened that he never saw him again. Sometimes some things can't be helped.

As for monk Nanao, he's enshrouded in mystery even to this present day. It was never told how he made Haruka revert back to the present Tengu he is now, and it is still unknown as he why he looks so young. Also, in Kantarou's heart and mind he was sure he'd meet this elusive monk again someday.

Maybe it might be on a rainy day . . . Maybe.

Chapter 25: END