King Nikiforov eyed the little glass vial containing the recovery potion that highly excitable young man had brought to him just a bit earlier. It was a rather pleasing shade of purple, and when he removed the cap, was surprised that it smelled delightfully sweet. He looked over at Mila and saw that she had not yet regained consciousness. The young man, Kenjiro Minami, had been very adamant that the potion should only be given once the person is fully awake, lest they choke. The King looked over at the still-sleeping form of the Emperor and then back down at the bottle in his hand. Maybe I can give the Emperor a few drops of this to speed along his recovery. Someone will most definitely be coming into this tent at some point or another to speak to him, I don't think he'd want people worrying and fussing over him. The King stepped in closer to the Emperor's dozing form and carefully rearranged the pillows so that the man's head was tilted backward a bit. He was mindful to have his gloves on as he did so. He was still feeling a bit unsettled about what had happened earlier and wanted to wait and test things out to see if the Emperor would or could experience the same. He then meted out small drops of the potion and dribbled them painstakingly along the Emperor's lower lip. He then gently blew a few puffs of air on his lips, causing the man to lick his lips reflexively. The King stepped back and watched intently. He had no idea what to expect and was very curious as to how quickly the potion would work. The Emperor's nose twitched adorably and he mumbled something in his native tongue.

"おいしい…グレープ…"

The King's brows knitted together as he tried to decipher their meaning. He was at a complete loss as to the first word meant, but the second word kind of sounded like something he should know. Goo-ray-pooh…grape? Could he possibly have said the word grape? The King uncapped the vial again and sniffed deeply, then promptly burst out laughing. He looked down softly at the Emperor, the corner of his eyes still crinkled with amusement.

"Grape, huh? It seems that the Emperor spills secrets in his sleep."

A few seconds later, the Emperor's eyelids fluttered briefly before they lifted to expose a pair of beautiful brown eyes the color of polished mahogany wood. King Nikiforov stared unabashedly at them, transfixed by their depth of color. They were a bit unfocused at first, but became clearer with each passing second. When he noticed the King standing there staring at him, he immediately sat up straight, sending a shower of pillows to the floor.

"What happened? Why was I asleep?"

The King knelt down in front of the Emperor and smiled encouragingly at him.

"You used your power to save Mila's life and it proved to be a bit of a drain on your body. You fainted shortly after and I placed you in this chair to allow you to rest. After I was given the recovery potion by one of your servants, I decided to use a few drops on you to speed things up a bit."

The Emperor looked off to the side, eyes settling on Mila's unconscious form.

"Was I successful? Has the poison been purged from her body? Has she regained consciousness yet? Has she received the recovery potion?"

He moved to stand but the King put up a hand in front of him.

"Please sit, Your Majesty. I will answer all your questions."

Emperor Katsuki nodded and leaned back comfortably into the chair.

"Yes, the purification was a resounding success. The poison was fully expunged from her body and destroyed by your healer. I cannot thank you enough for expending your own power to save her life. Mila has always been like a sister to me, I would have been utterly devastated by her loss."

The Emperor bowed his head as he acknowledged the King's thanks.

"I had the power to save her, and so I simply did what I knew that only I could to do. She is well and simply resting, then?"

"Yes, she sleeps comfortably and does not appear to be in any discomfort. She hasn't woken yet, so I have been unable to give her the recovery potion."

"I see. May I ask…earlier on, when I fainted…did anyone other than yourself witness it?"

The King smiled gently as he shook his head.

"No, I was the only one. I made sure Mrs. Nishigori left the tent before you lost consciousness."

"Ah, thank you for that King Nikiforov. I didn't want my subjects to see their ruler being weak."

The King was shocked. Had he just heard the Emperor correctly?

"With all due respect Your Majesty, I doubt that anyone in their right mind would ever consider you weak. I certainly do not. Especially not after witnessing such a display of power from you earlier. No one is infallible, dear Emperor. I don't think anyone could look down on you for being human."

The Emperor blushed fiercely at the King's words as was rather thankful that they were indoors. Hopefully the muted lighting of the medical tent would be able to mask the telltale blush spreading across his cheeks.

The sound of approaching footsteps caught the attention of both men.

"Emperor Katsuki. It's Yuuko. May I please enter the tent? We have an emergency!"

The King and the Emperor stared in disbelief at each other before speaking in unison.

"Another one?!"

…

Yuuko entered the tent and bowed to the Emperor before turning and doing the same to the King.

"Your Highness, the insurgent known as Michele Crispino has been found to be suffering from demonic possession, and is at the point where the dark energy has almost fully taken over his soul. We have rendered him unconscious at the moment, but fear that he will be fully turned the very moment he wakes."

The Emperor stood up and smoothed out his hakama and kosode. The King reached over to another chair and pulled out his kimono jacket, gently shaking it before offering it to him. The Emperor thanked the monarch and promptly donned the garment and tied it deftly with the matching obi.

"Lead me to him. I shall assist with the purification."

Two sets of voices echoed the same sentiment. Both Yuuko and the King uttered a very firm 'No'.

"Emperor Katsuki, I appreciate the offer, but you have already used your power today and do not wish for you to put your health in danger over yet another one of my subjects."

He then turned to Yuuko.

"Mrs. Nishigori, are you able to deal with this situation on your own?"

Yuuko looked the King squarely in the eyes.

"The situation is very dire, Your Highness. He may potentially already be too far gone. I surmise that there must be some sliver of his soul that still remains, otherwise he would have turned already. I won't be able to do it alone, no. But, the Emperor's assistance will not be required at this particular time and instance."

The King turned to the Emperor.

"You see, no Emperors needed this time around. As much as I appreciate the offer, I'd be much happier having you sit this one out."

The Emperor sighed dejectedly. He knew that he was outnumbered.

"Very well, I concede to your higher wisdom. What is your plan, Yuuko?"

"I plan on using the strong bond he has with his twin sister to purify him from the inside."

The Emperor nodded.

"I approve of your course of action. Let's begin the preparations immediately."

…

Yuuko was sitting down with Sara in the tent, feeling an increasing amount of pity for the young woman. She did not envy her position at all.

"So let me get this straight, my brother has a demon eating away at his soul, and unless we do something about it, will most definitely become a demon himself once he wakes up."

Yuuko nodded, hands tightening further around the bundle of her hakama she had in each one.

"And the only foreseeable means to save my brother is by putting us all in a trance and acting a spiritual bridge between us, so that I can force this demon from within him and save his life."

"Yes."

Sara closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"When do we start?"

…

They had opted to have the procedure performed outdoors, as it would allow them to maximize the number of people who could be counted upon to kill the demon once it left the young man's body. Three cots were placed on the ground and arranged quite close to one another. The young man was placed on the far left, Yuuko lay down in the middle and Sara took her place on the far right. Yuuko reached out and took a twin's hand in each of her own, forming the chain that would connect them all. The young male assassin looked a bit strange, with the four pieces of paper strategically tacked on to his body. Yuuko had explained that they were called O-fuda and were inscribed with the name of the great Goddess Amaterasu. They would keep the man immobilized during the procedure and prevent the demon from taking over. Yuuko instructed Sara to close to her eyes before she did the same. Yuuko flared out her power, wrapping all three of them in a powdery blue glow. She then chanted a few words under her breath, and the ritual began.

…

When Yuuko opened her eyes, she was standing next to Sara in a contorted dreamscape. The air was filled with the cries of young children and the angry shouts of adults, followed by the cracking of whips.

"Sara, what is this place?"

The young assassin woman trembled as she took in their surroundings.

"A place I never wanted to see ever again. Is this what Mickey dreams about? My God, why would he torture himself this way?"

"The ritual begins by taking us to the point where the demon first infected your brother's soul. We are here because this is a site of great importance. We must find your brother immediately."

Sara nodded and started walking toward an area with rows upon rows of rectangular one-storey houses. They made their way to a building that was last in a row of identical ones. Sara opened the door and recoiled at the sight before her. All the memories came crashing down on her at once. The filthy conditions they had been forced to live in, how one hundred children had been squeezed into a space designed for 20. How their beds had been dirty, parasite-infested blankets on a cold and unforgiving floor. They couldn't sense any smells in the dream, and for that she was grateful. She saw the rusty bucket in the corner of the room that had served as their toilet and practically gagged at the memory of the smell.

Yuuko was appalled.

"You…you lived here?"

Sara spat bitterly on the ground.

"Yes. Our parents sold us off into slavery once we became too expensive to care for. They had wanted to keep Michele around, since he was more 'useful' as a boy….but he threatened to run away and refused to be parted from me."

They drifted deeper into the room and came upon younger versions of Sara and her twin brother. Sara vaguely recalled the ordeal. She was sick for a few days, and delirious with fever. She had been flogged for working too slowly or something, and her wounds had become infected. Of course the slaves didn't have access to doctors or medicine, they were expendable. If five of them died, the masters would have twenty more by the next day. Many countries were suffering badly from poverty and starvation at that time, and the children had borne the brunt of it. Parents sold off their own flesh and blood, convinced that they were giving them a chance at a 'better life' but were really just condemning them to slavery and a miserably slow death. The slave masters never had to worry about a lack of new slaves.

As Sara watched, she saw the look of sheer rage and hatred on Mickey's face. He clutched desperately at her hand as tears streamed down his face, leaving tracks of clean skin on his grimy face.

"Those fuckers, I hate ALL of them! I wish that they would all just DIE. Especially the one who hurt Sara and made her sick! I wish….I wish I had the power to do something about it!"

Sara sobbed as she watched. She wished she could remember this, but she didn't have any memory of the incident. She had been out cold with a fever. Yuuko placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry that you must watch this, I truly am. But it's absolutely necessary."

Sara wiped the tears from her eyes as she nodded. She looked back over at Mickey, and that's she saw it.

A dark cloud drifted in from the window and wrapped itself around Mickey's malnourished frame. Sara and Yuuko could both feel the malignant energy radiating from it.

You seek revenge, little one? Aren't you a bit too young to have such…deliciously murderous thoughts?

Mickey was startled by the sudden presence and voice. He looked around the room and then noticed the dark glow around him.

"Who's there?"

I am…a friend, and I'm here to help you. I can give you everything you need, little one. I can help make all your wishes come true. I will help you get revenge on the one who hurt your loved one and show you where to get the medicine that will save her.

"You would do all that…for me?"

Yes, yes, of course I would. You're my friend. I'll even help you escape from here once she's better. You'd like that, wouldn't you? To leave this horrible, horrible place?

Poor, young and naïve Mickey's eyes lit up with so much hope that it nearly broke Sara's heart.

You just need to let me in…here. The black cloud gathered over the young boy's heart, swirling excitedly at the prospect of the tasty soul inside it.

Sara cried out, knowing full well that her brother couldn't hear her. "Oh Mickey, no!"

The amount of guilt she felt washing over her was overwhelming. Her illness had caused her brother to make a deal with a demon! Sara felt a reassuring squeeze from the hand on her shoulder.

"Do not blame yourself, Sara. Demons are experts at sniffing out people during their greatest times of weakness. They tell people exactly what they want to hear and promise them all the right things. Your life here was beyond challenging, it is not so shocking that your young and innocent brother succumbed to the temptation."

"I accept. You can live in my heart for however long you want, as long as I can save my sister and protect her."

Excellent, truly excellent! You are the best friend I've ever had.

The swirling black cloud swirled angrily before pushing itself into Mickey's body via his mouth and nose. Mickey's eyes swirled with black energy and a sinister smile briefly formed on his lips before fading away. The young boy stood up and stepped over the sleeping bodies of other children before walking out of the room. Sara was inconsolable.

"Mickey, caro amore, you've been living with a demon inside you all this time! How did I not notice? How could I, as your sister, not have known that something was wrong?"

"Sara, believe it or not, this is actually really good news. The demon took over when his soul was still young and undeveloped. It grew with him and stayed in his body while feeding off the obsessive love energy. The demon was certainly behind those feelings and the acts your brother carried out in their name. But because your brother's soul was not yet mature when the demon infected him, he was not able to take full possession of it. I imagine that's what it's trying to do now. There's hope!"

Sara nodded as she covered the fox woman's hand with her own.

"There's hope...there's hope...c'è ancora speranza!

Sara suddenly felt a strong sense of foreboding. She looked up and saw her brother return to her side. Shivers ran down her spine when she saw her brother's malicious smile. She then looked down to her brother's hand and nearly fainted. Had this been happening in the real world, she'd be throwing up. In her brother's hand was a bloody knife. Mickey had killed.

terminology_

おいしい (oishi) - Japanese: delicious

グレープ (gurepu) - Japanese: grape

O-fuda (御札) - is a type of household amulet or talisman issued by a Shinto Shrine, hung in the house for protection, a gofu (護符). It may also be called shinpu (神符). It is made by inscribing the name of a kami (god) and the name of the Shinto shrine or of a representative of the kami on a strip of paper, wood, cloth, or metal. (護符). It may also be called shinpu (神符). It is made by inscribing the name of a kami (god) and the name of the Shinto shrine or of a representative of the kami on a strip of paper, wood, cloth, or metal.

caro amore - (Italian) dear love

c'è ancora speranza! - (Italian) there is still hope!