AN: My story Frienships Last Forever has a legend of a miko and a youkai. This is the story. You don't have to read FLF to understand this, or to read this to understand FLF. However this might give deeper understanding of the story.
Warnings: First of all, there is a death scene (I actually cried when I wrote it and I don't cry easily). There isn't that much violence, but a couple of scenes are quite graphic, thus rating M.
DISCLAIMER: World of IY isn't mine, but Amiren, Tsuhana, Kiri are mine. And the legend is mine, too...
The Legend of a Miko Who Fell in Love with a Youkai
By Calimestelitava
"Tsuhana! Somebody find Tsuhana!" The voice was filled with distress, as a young man ran into the village as fast as he could, carrying a young child in his arms. The child's face was pale, and she was sweating heavily.
Hearing someone calling her name, a young woman in miko garb rushed out from her hut. "What is-" Her voice faded as she recognised the little girl. "Hurry, bring her in!" She stood aside to allow the young man to bring the girl in side her hut.
As soon as the girl was lying on a futon, Tsuhana turned to the young man. "Kiri, what happened to my little sister?"
The young dark haired man didn't have the courage to look into the young miko's grey eyes; instead he kept his gaze at the child as he kneeled beside her. "I am sorry, Tsuhana-sama. I was asked to take her into a nearby field to pick flowers, but we were attacked by a youkai snake. It managed to bite her before I killed it."
Tsuhana kneeled next to her sister to examine the bite marks on her arm. The area near to the marks was turning dark red. She laid her hands over the wounds and began to heal her. Kiri was looking with an expression of pure worry, as the little girl's body began to glow purple. He began to feel a bit of hope, as the girl stirred a bit, and the reddening area began to turn back to its normal colour.
Tsuhana moved her hands to her laps as soon as she was finished. After a short silence she looked at the young man. "Kiri, tell my father that my sister is now in magically induced sleep. The poison has done a lot of damage and with the herbs and skills I have now, this was the only thing I could do for my dear sister."
"What are you planning?"
"There is this flower called light flower. It has an ability to purify even stronger youki, and its healing powers are greater than any other herb. My sensei told me about a miko called Midoriko, these flowers can only be found if the seeker's heart and soul are pure, and have no darkness. According to my sensei, Midoriko herself is the only miko so far who has been able to find one of these flowers."
"You're going to look for this flower?"
"Yes." She stood up. "I will not let her die. Not for some low life youkai."
He stood up as well. "Let me come with you."
"No, I must go alone."
He took her slender hands to his own, bigger ones. "Tsuhana, please. There are many evil beings in those woods, and not all of them are youkai. Allow me to travel with you."
She shook her head and pulled his hands from his. Their eyes met and seeing the pleading look in the young man's eyes, she smiled reassuringly. "Worry not, Kiri. I won't let anything happen to me. Just keep an eye on my sister, for me. I will return as soon as I can."
With these words the young miko took her bow and arrows, left her hut, her village and headed towards the mountains, fully intending to return home with a certain magical flower.
After travelling for a day Tsuhana suddenly felt a presence of a youkai. With a fluidity given by years of training she notched an arrow, pointing it at a gap between two tall trees. "Youkai, come to view. I know that you are in there. You can't hide from me."
With a rustle of leaves her enemy, a mountain dog youkai, padded to the road to stand in front of them miko. This youkai was as big as a horse, with red burning eyes, sharp claws, and undoubtedly deadly canines.
The two observed each other for a while until the youkai growled and attacked. She dodged the first attack and fired her arrow. It missed, and her attempt to evade the creature's claws threw her backwards, and she landed on her bow, breaking it.
She stood up quickly, broken bow and her quiver in her hands. She looked at the bow, then at the creature, before throwing the useless weapon away. Then she considered her position. She was alone, and armed only with her powers and a few arrows. The situation began to look slightly desperate, but then a familiar face came into her mind.
Tsuhana realised that if she didn't make it back from this journey with a light flower, her sister would die. This thought drove away her rising fear and she was filled with determination. I won't let my sister die just because a youkai decided that I would be a good meal.
As the youkai attacked her again, she charged one of her arrows with her purifying powers and stabbed the creature with it. Nice plan, even though it didn't work as she was hoping it to.
The youkai roared in anger and pain when the arrow pierced its side, but it didn't care about that small wound, and hit the girl with its huge paw, intending to slash her open. Tsuhana was able to evade the claws, but to do so she had to move a bit forward, causing the paw to hit her, and she flew to a tree, hitting it with a sound of broken bones, before bouncing off and falling to ground.
Seeing the miko injured, and smelling her blood, the youkai approached her. Tsuhana raised her head to see the glowing eyes, when she felt the creature's hot reeking breath on her face.
She tried to stand up, but the pain in her leg prevented it. She winced as she realised that this was it. She was going to die. Closing her eyes to wait for the final hit she suddenly saw her sister's face again, and she felt tears flowing from her eyes.
Her sister's face still in her mind she opened her eyes and looked up to the creature. "I'm sorry, youkai. I can't let my sister die." With these words she threw her hands forward, whispering ancient words.
The youkai only saw sorrow in the girl's eyes as a bright ball of light shot out of her palms and hit it, purifying its youki in an instant.
As soon as the youkai was gone she collapsed and the pain form her injured leg shot through her body. She felt comforting darkness shrouding her in it. At the verge of losing consciousness, she felt more youki approaching.
She only had a time to see a blurry figure crouching over her, and to feel two strong arms lifting her off the ground before everything went black.
The first thing Tsuhana felt as she regained her consciousness was the tingling sensation of youki. She opened her eyes and as soon as her vision cleared she saw a man -no, youkai- kneeling next to her prone form.
She realised that this youkai was a very beautiful, more beautiful than many women in her village, in fact. She took in his silver eyes and pitch black hair. That was when she realised that he was looking directly at her, causing her to gasp.
The youkai smiled reassuringly and spoke. "Do not fear, lady miko. I will not harm you."
She sensed the truth in his words and relaxed. "What is this place? Who are you?"
"My name is Amiren, and this mountain is my home. I found you and brought you here. What were you doing in this area?"
"Thank you for taking care of me. As for my reasons, a snake youkai bit my younger sister and now I need light flower to save her life."
"And you thought you would find them in here?"
"Yes."
He smiled at her. "Then you're right. I can't find them myself, but I know that one of these fields has light flowers. I'll take you there as soon as possible."
"A youkai is willing to help a miko?" She sounded genuinely curious.
He grinned at her, part of he had expected that the moment she woke up she would have tried to purify him. Her curiosity intrigued him. "I have nothing against any humans, as long as they are not trying to harm me."
She was never one to judge people by their blood, but by what they did, thought, or said. "My name is Tsuhana. How badly I was wounded?"
"Your leg is still slightly wounded. I was afraid that it might be broken, but your ankle is merely strained. It should heal enough you to walk within couple of days. I hope your sister can wait that long."
"She can wait for some time. I purified the poison and was able to prevent further damage, but it already had damaged her body. She is in magically induced sleep for the moment, to make sure she survives for a week or so."
"I am glad to hear that. I hate hearing children suffering because of my kind." She could see a flash of genuine sorrow in his eyes before she lost her consciousness again.
After the miko fainted again, Amiren studied her with his eyes. She is nothing like the other priestesses I have encountered so far. Her soul is purer than anyone else's who I have met thus far. I think I like her already.
When Tsuhana woke up some hours after Amiren was there next to her, a bowl of something in his hands. "How are you feeling, miko? This is for you." He held out the bowl for her to take.
She sat up carefully and after dizziness passed she took the bowl and smelled it. "What is this?"
"My mother used to make this to me when I was badly injured. It has some berries, meat, and several healing herbs to help your body to heal faster and to give you your strength back."
She smiled at him and took a sip from the bowl. She was surprised to notice that it tasted good, and she was starting to feel the effects immediately. "This is good and it's working. Thank you." She drank the rest of the bowl's contents pretty hastily before giving it back to him.
As their hands touched, she suddenly felt tingling moving from her fingers to her stomach, causing her to blush. She turned her gaze downwards, failing to see that also his cheeks were turning red.
He stood up and smiled at her, still slightly blushing, even though the torches in the room didn't give enough light for her to notice it. "Get some rest, I will be back soon." With this he left the still blushing miko alone in the cave.
She lay back down to the futon while thoughts were running through her mind. What was that about? That tingling… I've felt it before. Am I attracted to him? He's very good looking, but my father would never accept that I could be attracted to a youkai, no matter how kind the said youkai is.
She heaved a sigh. What if it's more than merely attraction? Is t possible that I could be falling in love with him? I felt the same way towards Kiri once, but that feeling turned into friendly love. I don't know what to feel or think.
Days went by. Every day that she spent in his care the two began to feel closer. Amiren had never before really understood what some youkai saw in humans, but now he knew, for slowly he began to realise that he wanted her to be with him. Ne never told her this; he couldn't take her away from her sister.
Tsuhana blushed now every time they touched each other, no matter how brief the contact was. She understood that she was indeed falling in love with him, falling hard. She was even beginning to consider telling him of her feelings, but she just couldn't tell when she had the chance.
After a week she was well enough to continue her search, and Amiren was more than happy to take her to where he had heard that light flowers bloomed. During their way the field he carried her on his back, while running through the forest.
Tsuhana didn't mind to be this close to him, she was already considering taking the flower to her sister, healing her, and then returning back to him. However, she decided against it. She was a miko of her village, and she had responsibilities. She couldn't just leave them.
Very soon the two arrived at the huge meadow in the middle of the forest in between the mountains and Tsuhana's village. She climbed off of his back and began to search for the flower she needed.
At first she saw only more common flowers, but then she suddenly saw it. Right next to group of purple flowers she saw a flower with five petals. The petals seemed to be glowing with inner light. A quick glance proved her, that there were no other flowers like this.
Amiren had followed her across the meadow and when she stopped by the purple flowers, he couldn't understand it at first. "Did you find it?"
She turned to look at him. "You can't see it? The flower next to those purple ones look like it's shining with light of its own."
He shook his head, he couldn't see it. But then she grabbed something that looked like air to him, and pulled. As the flower left the ground he saw it. It was just like she had described it to him. "It is beautiful."
She could only agree. "Yes it is. The fact that this is going to save my sister makes it even more beautiful in my eyes. I just wonder if you couldn't see it at first because you are a youkai."
"Most likely so. Come, climb on and I'll take you back to the village."
Some time later the two were able to reach her village's border. "This is where we shall part, miko."
She climbed off of his back once more before facing him. "Yes, it is. I'm afraid you can't come closer to the village, my father would do everything he could to kill you."
"That does not surprise me. Now, I must return. I hope everything goes well with your sister. Before I go, there is something I must tell you."
She looked at him curiously, urging him to continue.
"During our time together I understood that I fell in love with you. I enjoyed your presence and our little conversations. However, we cannot be together. I have no right to take you away from your people. I can not ask you to remember me, but I sincerely hope that we could meet again. No, I promise that we will see each other again."
After his words he gave her a chaste kiss on her cheek before taking off, leaving one flabbergasted miko to gape after him. As soon as she could speak she whispered words that she believed he could hear, which was true. "I also fell in love with you." She touched her tingling cheek.
Then she ran off towards her hut, only to meet Kiri and her father in there with her little sister. "How is she?"
Both men turned to look at her, but her father was first to reply to her. "There is no change. I see you found what you were looking for." He looked at the flower in her hand. "What took you so long?"
"I was attacked by mountain dog youkai and was injured. Not badly though, I merely strained my ankle. I was able to get into a cave to wait until it healed." Her words weren't even untrue, she just failed to mention a few details.
The two men nodded at her story and she dropped the flower into a small bowl of water, watching in interest how the light from the flower seemed to move to the water. Soon enough she took the now normal looking, yet very beautiful, white petal flower from the bowl, putting the flower aside. Then Kiri raised her sister so that she was half sitting, and Tsuhana took the bowl to the child's lips.
She dipped the bowl, carefully at first, but soon she practically poured the liquid to her sister's mouth. When the bowl was empty she put it away to observe the patient. Soon enough she began to glow faintly and after a moment she coughed and opened her eyes. "Nee-chan?"
Tsuhana hugged her sister happily. "You're okay now, sweetie." She released her to reach for the flower. Then she held it out for her. "This saved you. Take it and look after it, sister. It's yours now."
Months passed and she never told anyone but her younger sister, and eventually to Kiri, what really happened during her trip. The younger girl thought that the story was almost like every fairy tale she had ever heard. When anyone else asked her about it, she told them the same thing she told her father.
During the time she couldn't forget him, his words, or the kiss. Even though the kiss was just to the cheek, she still dreamed about it, and him, every night. What she didn't know was that he couldn't forget her either. Every day he thought about getting into the village and taking her with him, but he knew that he couldn't do it to her, not ever.
She still wanted to meet him again, and so each time she had a good excuse to go closer to the mountains she left. However, this made her father suspicious and he had called his closest men to meet him.
"Men, as you have noticed, my daughter is acting suspiciously. Before her sister was attacked she never went to the mountains unless she had to. Then, she got attacked there and now it seems that she wants to go there."
One of his men frowned. "What do you want us to do about it?"
"I want you to follow her the next time she leaves the village. Don't let her see you, and report to me everything you think might matter."
A week later Tsuhana volunteered to find some roots that are needed to conserve some of the meat. After all, these roots grew near the mountains. So she left, followed by two of her father's closest men. Of course, she had no idea that she was being followed.
Her father's men couldn't get anything to report, until she had found the roots and picked some, and sat down on a rock. It was then that she began to whisper one word. A name. At first her followers couldn't get the word, but soon enough they heard it. Amiren.
As soon as the miko and her followers returned to the village, the said followers rushed to meet her father. "Milord, we have something."
"Then speak."
"After she had found the roots she took a moment to rest, or so we thought at first. But then she began to whisper just one word. She repeated it many times. The word was Amiren."
Hearing the name the village head's eyes widened and he glared at his men. "Do you have any idea who Amiren is?"
"No, milord."
"Amiren is an inuyoukai who lives at the mountains. So my daughter, a miko, lied to me."
"Milord, she can't lie. I think she merely failed to tell every detail."
"It matters not. I do not want my daughter to stain the family honour by falling in love with a worthless youkai. I'll have to make some plans. The youkai must die."
Several months later Tsuhana's father had a plan, which would make a certain hanyou, who has yet to be 'born' look like a very nice person.
A little before it had been one year since the incident concerning his younger daughter and a snake youkai he sent a considerable amount of his loyal men to the woods in order to follow his plan. If everything went as he planned, his daughter would see her youkai lover dying, but wouldn't be able to do anything.
Before noon the men left the village and headed towards the mountains. Riding as fast as they could, they reached the youkai's home within only hours. They entered it, finding it empty. This didn't matter much, for they began to search for him.
An hour later they found him in a clearing, skinning a boar. As soon as Amiren smelled them he turned to look at them warily. "What brings you to this forest, humans?" His voice held no threat in it, merely curiosity. This made the men hesitate for a moment, before they remembered their orders.
"You tainted our miko, you foul youkai. For that, under the orders of the village head, you must die."
He stood up, and tilting his head to the side he stared at the men for a few seconds before realising what they were talking about. "I have not 'tainted' any miko. Yes, I have met a miko from the village not too far from here, but I did nothing to her. I merely took care of her."
"You're lying!" One of the men rushed at him, but the youkai side stepped the human's attack easily.
"I am in no mood for fight. Please leave. Or at least do not attack me again."
The men attacked him all at once, from different sides. He slashed at them with his claws, with no intentions to kill, but merely wound the foolish humans. He concentrated on dodging the attacks without spilling too much blood, that he failed to notice that another group of men approached them.
The new group of men surrounded the fighters, placing sutras around them effectively creating a purifying barrier which quickly began to purify Amiren's youki. As he weakened, his attackers were able to injure him.
The bleeding youkai knew that his wounds wouldn't heal in time if he didn't get out of the barrier and fast. Still weakening, he checked the barrier and the ones who made it. The priests were outside the barrier, making it impossible for him to harm any of them. The sutras were partially inside the barrier, which was fairly strong one.
His clothes were already slightly torn, and mostly coloured with his own blood. He almost gave in to desperation, but then he realised that there was a way out of this wretched barrier. Without hesitation he suddenly attacked towards one of the sutras, destroying it. This weakened the barrier a bit.
Again the men managed to injure him, but he was able to rip two more sutras into pieces with his claws. This weakened the barrier enough to allow him to escape. As soon as he was outside of the barrier he felt how his youki returned, and it began to heal his wounds. He ran towards his home, when he suddenly smelled her.
Temptation to go and see the miko was too much for him, even though he wasn't completely healed yet. He ran towards the scent and soon he found himself in a meadow, the same one Tsuhana had found the light flower from.
However, Tsuhana wasn't there now. Instead, he saw an older man. "Who are you?"
Tsuhana's father smirked at the youkai. "I am the father of your miko lover. I came here to slay you."
"I have no miko lovers."
"You lie."
"I do not lie. I came here when I smelled a miko nearby. Where is she?"
"Oh, but there are no one here but me."
"I can smell her, human." He was starting to get angry, for he was worried that this man, obviously Tsuhana's father, had done something to the young miko."
"You smell her blood on me."
Amiren's eyes widened before they turned red. "What did you do to her?" He snarled at the man, in verge of losing control.
The man merely sneered at him. "That is something you can ask her, when you see each other in Hell!"
The youkai's control snapped and he attacked straight at the man, unbeknownst that this man had had the guts to have his sword blessed by a priest, to make sure that any damage it would inflict on a youkai could not be healed.
Amiren managed to draw the first blood, by wounding the human's right arm. As he felt his claws digging through the fabric to the soft flesh, he growled excitedly.
The human backed off a bit to inspect the wound, which began to heal instantly. Now he was glad he had made the little pact with that dragon youkai Ryuushin. He had given the human a bit of his blood. Not enough to be noticed, especially by a youkai in his full youkai rage, but still enough to heal any non-major wound quickly.
The seething youkai attacked the human again, and again. He didn't notice that every wound he inflicted on this low life human disappeared immediately. He also failed to notice the scent of a dragon youkai's blood.
The village head allowed the youkai to it him a few times when waiting for the right time to attack. Soon he knew it was the time, and in the middle of the youkai's attack he thrust his katana at the youkai, piercing his body. As he pulled the sword out he backed of to avoid the spray of the youkai's blood. He didn't want to dirty his clothes in blood of filth now, did he?
Amiren fell to his knees, hands trying to stop the blood from pouring, but the bleeding didn't stop. As he was gaining the control his eyes took their normal colour, and he was wondering why his youkai blood didn't heal his wounds. Then he smelled it, and he growled. "Ryuushin's blood is in your veins."
"So you can notice it now? Right, a dog. Handy isn't it? You will die soon enough, so I will tell you. You see, I wanted to make sure that my daughter stays away from the filth like you. She's on her way here, and will see your last moments. As for my plan, all I had to do, was to make sure that I would stay alive long enough to kill you. Thus I made a deal with the dragon. His blood in my veins heals the wounds, you know.
"After that deal I had this blade blessed. That wound won't heal. The next part of my plan was to lure both of you here, and get the timing right. Oh yes, I wouldn't want my dear daughter to get here too early or too late. Also you had to be weakened."
"You wretched coward!" Amiren snarled again as he was still clutching his abdomen trying to stop the bleeding, but to no avail. Very soon he fell to the ground as he caught her scent again. Then he heard her voice calling his name."
At the time that Tsuhana's father's men left to find Amiren, the priestess herself was in her hut, tortured by her confusion. Her heart told her to leave the village and go to Amiren to live with him for the rest of her life. The voice she can only think of as the voice of her reason kept telling her, that she was a miko with responsibilities. She had no choice but to stay in the village.
She was still fighting with herself when her younger sister came in. "Nee-chan, what's wrong?"
Tsuhana looked at her sister with weary eyes. "I want to go to him, but I can't. A miko can't leave her responsibilities."
The younger girl approached her sister laying her hands on the older girl's shoulders. "I have a suggestion. Go to look for him once more. If you can't find him, you weren't meant to be, and you can return to us. However, if you find him, you were meant to be together. In that case stay with him. I will miss you, but I hate to see you like this."
Tsuhana looked at her sister. "Are you sure you're the younger one?" Then she enveloped her younger sister into her arms. "Thank you for your wise words, I will leave today. I will come back to see you if I find him."
As the younger girl was about to reply to her, Kiri entered the miko's hut. "I'm sorry, Tsuhana, but your father wants to see you right away."
"Alright. Kiri, I might go to Amiren."
"What?"
"My sister showed me her wisdom, by telling me to try to find him once more. If I am to find him, we were meant to be, and I'll stay with him."
He hugged her. "I'm happy for you. I really hope that you will find her. What will you do if you won't?"
"I will return home and never think about him again."
As Tsuhana entered her father's hut she saw that he had his sword in his hands. "You wanted to see me, father?"
"Yes, dear. I have a duel tonight, and to ensure my victory, I would like to carry something of yours."
Tsuhana nodded and took a small piece of fabric from inside of her kimono. "I had a nose bleed earlier today, so this is bloodied, but I hope it doesn't matter."
He took the fabric tying it into his sash. "It doesn't matter. Now, I need you to do one thing for me."
"What is it?"
"During my absence I want you to help your uncle to check his horses. I know it's not something you usually do, but he told me that they had been sick lately. Afterwards you can do anything you like."
Tsuhana was checking her uncle's horses when he slipped that his wife had been ill for a while. Since the horses seemed to be fine, she agreed to check her aunt, too. Apparently the older woman had heard of light plants, and was hoping that she could get one for her, since she was feeling quite weak.
Tsuhana agreed, telling her that she would try to get one for the older woman sooner or later. As she left her uncle's hut she went to her own to pack her belongings. As she was packing she changed her mind and took nothing with her.
So, she headed towards the meadow she had found the other one, intent to pick a light flower, and to find Amiren. She decided that if she found him, she would take the flower to her aunt later. If she wouldn't find him, her aunt would get the flower the same day. It didn't really matter if she got it the same day or later, as her situation wasn't dangerous.
She walked for a few hours before she sensed a familiar youki. The thought of seeing him again lightened her face up and made her smile. She spoke his name all over again. She ran towards his youki until she saw him, and her face turned white. The sight in front of her eyes made her gasp as she rushed to his side.
The youkai was lying in a widening pool of his own blood, his clothes torn and stained in blood. She kneeled at his side whispering his name, as her eyes were filled with tears. She took his head into her lap, stroking his dark hair. Her clothes were soon stained with his blood but she couldn't care less. It was his blood after all.
"What happened to you, Amiren?" Her voice is calm, but as Amiren turns to look at her he can see that her eyes have turned cold.
"Your father… His men… pact with…youkai… blessed…blade… he laid… a trap for…me."
Tsuhana looked into his eyes, seeing them glazing over as his end is near. "I will heal you, I just find a light flower-"
Amiren shook his head. "Blessed…blade… made these… wounds. I can…not… be healed…" He stopped when he had to cough blood.
Tsuhana could feel her heart braking as the she took in his words. She felt tears flowing from her eyes as she stroked his cool cheek. There was nothing she could do. Nothing at all. So she gazed into his eyes. "I love you, Amiren. I was coming to find you today to live with you."
Her voice was no louder than a whisper, but he heard it still, through keen ears. "Tsuhana." He spoke her name as he felt his end nearing. "I love…you. I am…glad, that… that I am… able to…spend… my last...moments… with you."
After the last word he sighed once, before closing his eyes. And then he was gone. She felt like she was dying too. The only thing she was able to do was to just hold his head and allow her tears to flow. Her tears fell on him, mixing with his blood, as she cried for her lost love.
Some time before the sunset a group of men from her village found her cradling the dead youkai in her lap, his cold face leaning at the crook of her neck. As she noticed their arrival she raised her eyes at them.
The look of hurt, despair, sorrow, and anger made her eyes blaze with inner fire, and it told the men that she knew what had happened to the youkai. This look they wished they never would have to see again. For the first time in their lives these men were afraid of a human, not a youkai or wild animal, but a human woman.
Tsuhana spoke to them, with a voice full of pain. "Why did he have to die?" She asked the question over and over again. At first the men didn't want to answer, but then they gave her the reply she had known to expect from them.
"Your father thought that this youkai had stained you, so he wanted him dead. That's what he told us."
Betrayal flashed in her eyes as she carefully lowered the youkai to the ground and stood up. The men stepped back in horror as she allowed her blue holy aura to flare around her. And as the men watched, her aura turned into dark blue as she was tormented by feelings of betrayal, hatred, anger, pain, and grief.
Suddenly she was screaming at them, her flaring aura pulsating at her words. "He didn't have to die! He didn't!" And then she let out a scream of anguish as her aura expanded knocking the men out.
When the men came to they saw her body lying next to the youkai's body, seemingly dead. Then the men felt a surge of energy as something lifted the bodies a few feet above the ground and a voice, seemingly coming from nowhere, spoke.
"All of your families, as well as mine, will be cursed to unhappiness and pain in every aspect of life. Of course only those who accepted our love will be unaffected. This curse will not be lifted until our souls are free. To free us must darkness and light work together as one, trusting each other. This is needed to pass the three tests. You must pass them all for happiness to return. Failing just one will mean death."
The voice was full of agony, and it rejected into the men's hearts. This pain was enough to make them faint once more. As soon as they woke up they saw that the bodies were gone.
The men returned their village, noticing that the once peaceful village had changed. People were fighting for no obvious reasons, betrayed everything they could, deceiving everyone. Unhappiness had landed in their village. Most people, except for Kiri and Tsuhana's little sister, alongside with the families who had nothing to do with Amiren's death, had suddenly become very selfish.
Throughout the years one by one the families involved ceased to exist as no new children were born into these families, with only one exception. Tsuhana's sister married Kiri and one of their children eventually had a descendant called Leisha, who became a quite strong miko.
As for the village itself, deceit and selfishness are things that happen everyday, as the village waits for the two opposites who can set them free.