Without Light, Shadows wouldn't exist. Yet wasn't it because Darkness exists that it made the existence of Light even more pronounced?

xxx

A plate of side dishes, and a cask of... most likely rice wine. As well as a small cup to drink the wine. Beside it, sat the oddest looking middle-aged old man with slightly faded blond hair and a long braid. To be fair, the long braid did nothing to improve the look and the man used to spot a high ponytail last time!

The sliding door behind the man opened slightly.

"Master... please don't stay up too late," spoke a gentle voice hidden behind the sliding door. "You need to take care of your health."

The man turned his glance behind him as he acknowledged the concern from the owner of that gentle voice.

"I know. I'll do that once I've finished this."

"Also," the voice spoke again. "Go easy on the rice wine..."

A soft smile lined the old man's face. "I know, I know. Don't mind me and go to sleep."

A brief pause before the voice spoke again. "Well then... I should take my leave, Master."

The old man nodded as he glance back inside. "Goodnight, Kouryuu."

The sliding door close shut again as the old man turned around to stare at the ground.

.

He let out a disappointed sigh. Once again he failed to take a glimpse of the child Koumyou had taken in as their foster child. Somehow, in these few years of knowing the man called Koumyou, he never got to meet the much-talked-about foster child of that man. He thought by coming over unannounced he could get a chance to see the boy, but it turned out that he failed.

He finally stepped forward, announcing his arrival. The old man raised his head as if alerted by his presence, even when he didn't make any sound.

"I wondered why the moon would suddenly hide itself. So it turns out that it's because of you," the man smiled cheekily at him, "Ukoku."

He took off his straw hat as he addressed the man properly. "That's a mean accusation."

Koumyou shrugged at his surrounding. "See? Even the crickets had gone quiet."

"Alright, well excuse me," he spoke before taking a seat on the veranda.

.

Ukoku cocked his head at Koumyou as he tried to change the topic. "Was that the elusive Kouryuu I kept hearing about?"

"Yes," Koumyou replied with a smile. "He'll be seven years old soon."

.

It was a while after he had finished laughing before the old man started speaking again. Of course, the topic would be about the old man's favourite foster son.

"The boy has been growing up so well. Though I kind of missed hearing him call me 'Father'. That sweet child—"

Ukoku resisted from rolling his eyes at the old man. It's always like this whenever they ended up talking about the boy whom Koumyou had taken in as his foster child.

Yet, for some reason... despite having heard of the tale of the child found from the flowing river for so many times, he had never gotten a glimpse of the boy whenever he came to pay a visit to Koumyou. Was it a coincidence? Or was it that Koumyou had intentionally hidden the boy away from him for some kind of reason? If that was the reason, it just made him more interested to find out more about that child.

"Oh... it's a full moon." Koumyou spoke again as the clouds started to part again, revealing the moon to show its full glory.

Ukoku glanced back at the man before turning his attention toward the sky.

That man was like the Moonlight.

A disciple...

That's not something that interests him much, nor was it a priority to him currently. Besides, he only just recently received his title and scripture (if you still consider a few years to be 'recent') so it's still too early for him to even consider finding a successor. Not that he wanted to relinquish his hold on his Muten scripture any time soon. He's put too much effort into acquiring it to allow someone else to get a hold of it so easily.

The marketplace where he was walking past were loud with various noise of people throwing in bargains and offering service that he mostly tuned out. Because of that, he barely noticed a small child grabbing on his robes until the fabric start to pull on him. Ukoku glanced down to see who was it that dared to catch his attention.

It was a little boy, with shining golden-blond hair and an adorable face. There was a dark mark around the child's right eye—A bruise? A birthmark?—which may not appeal to others, but overall... the boy looked just like any other children he saw before, albeit a little frail looking. The boy was holding an old-looking doll in his hand.

So what does a child like this want with him?

"Hey! Don't bother people who aren't gonna be customers!" A burly man suddenly appeared to grab the small boy away from him. The man bowed apologetically to him.

"Sorry about that, the kid's not supposed to wander far from the shop—"

"Are you this child's guardian?" asked Ukoku as the man shrugged.

"I'm more like the owner rather than a guardian. The boy's parents let go of their child to me after failing to pay their debts. But so far the boy was nothing but trouble for me. With that face, ain't no one gonna buy him off from me. No matter how pretty the hair or the face without that mark."

A thought materialized inside of his head. Isn't this pretty convenient for him? Would it be possible for him to make use of this child for his own benefit? After all, it won't be strange for two children to meet each other by chance.

"—he'll be seven years old soon..."

A smile crept up to his face. Ukoku turned towards the man.

"This child, how much will you sell him to me?"

The man gaped at him in surprise.

"What? Do you want to have this child, Master Priest? I'll take however much you'd offer for him, I'd even offer him for free! The kid's bad for business so I'll be glad to have my hands off him!"

Ukoku grinned in satisfaction.

"I'm grateful for the offer. But do accept some compensation for your troubles..."

xxx

"I said take it!"

"I don't want to—"

He had used the excuse of trying to look for his newly acquired ward to excuse himself from Koumyou. It shouldn't have roused any suspicion. As luck would have him, his small ward already found himself a new 'friend'. Ukoku walked up towards the two kids who appeared to have a slight disagreement.

"You should stop. Girls won't like you if you're being too pushy."

His ward gave a jump before backing away, picking up his old raggedy doll that was dropped on the floor. "I'm sorry, Sensei," said the boy before bowing.

Ukoku lowered himself to take a closer look at the other child.

"You're a boy. I mistook you as a girl because you looked so pretty."

Golden hair and violet eyes. So this was the elusive Kouryuu.

Finally, we meet at last!

.

"Koumyou, if you're the moon and I am the night... which one will be consumed first?"

"Should we make a bet? On the next rising sun."