THE SHADOWS OF MY PAST

Chapter Seventeen – Covert Missions

Timeline – 1951

Father Time had indeed made the hands of time travel fast.

Along with time were marked changes in the lives of everyone around me.

I, too, had gone through so many changes. Those changes within me were accompanied with new questions that blossomed in my mind. If there was anything that I hated most, it was being kept in the dark or being the last one to know about something so crucial that could change the lives of everyone.

During my life on Chijou, I have always done my very best to retain my principles and to do what I thought was right. Since I became a shinigami, however, matters took a different turn. What used to be black and white for me now came in shades of gray, and decisions which usually came so easily to me now required more time to deliberate.

This observation became truer for me the more lives that I have taken under Enma-DaiOh-sama's rule. At the same time that this internal change was happening for me, the more that I have been involved in complicated field assignments. Three years after my death and becoming a shinigami, I climbed through the ranks and my visibility within Enma-Cho increased.

Aside from my slow but steady rise in prominence at Enma-Cho, my skills as a kagetsukai also increased. Mako-san's training became more rigid. The old man was a cruel taskmaster at the training grounds, yet he was still the gentle and jovial fatherly figure I have known and love once the work was done. I could not help but notice, however, that the difference between his behavior as my mentor and as my father became greater as time had passed.

As to Asato, he and I have still been seeing each other as time would permit. As my assignments grew more complicated and longer, the less that he and I see each other. What used to be our once-a-week quality time together became once every two weeks if time and opportunity was generous enough to give me a small reprieve away from my assignments.

One could imagine how much Asato and I took advantage of every precious minute that we spend together. Every time that I was with him, I could not help but feel this ache from the deepest core of my being intensify then eventually go away once some of our longing for each other had been relieved through hungry kisses, ghosting touches, and other affectionate gestures – all of these deeds being a precursor to a long and much-welcomed session of passionate lovemaking.

Up to this day, no one knew about my relationship with Asato save for Mako-san. I wanted to keep it this way for as long as I could.

And now, here I am in Chugoku on assignment. I have been posing as a schoolteacher in an exclusive private school named Holy Innocents' Academy. There have been a series of suicides within the school walls and yet the souls of these recently departed never found its way to Meifu for judgment.

I sometimes questioned Enma-DaiOh-sama's motives in sending me to such assignments. There were shinigami specifically assigned to the Chugoku area yet he chose to use his freelance agents to such assignments. But at the end of the day, I dismissed the questions in my mind since this assignment came with a paycheck.

Paycheck or not, though, I miss seeing Mako-san and Asato. I miss being home in Meifu. By the gods, I even miss the hellish training regimen that old Mako-san subjected me to each time that he and I trained together.

On some nights while I lay in bed inside my dorm room, I could not help but ask that nagging question – why have freelance agents handle a case such as Holy Innocents' Academy? The part that was killing me inside was that I was not free to talk about it to anyone and I was doing my best to honor my word.

During the day while I take my lunch break, I look at the calendar. I was literally counting the days until the two-week school vacation. Each passing day made me happier inside since it meant that I would be able to resume training with Mako-san and see more of Asato without fear of compromising my assignment. What most especially made me happy was that I get to spend the Christmas season with my loved ones who now waited for my return in Meifu.

Today, however, set a different pace in my usually-mundane lifestyle during my undercover work. In the middle of my routine daydreaming, someone told me in an apologetic and gentle voice, "Excuse me, but you must be Tatsumi Seiichiro."

I blinked a bit as saw a young woman who smiled sweetly as she stood before me from across the table where my elbows now rested. I could not help but smile back as I confirmed, "Yes, I am. And you are…?"

The young woman's smile became more generous. She then bowed before me and said after giving me the respectful gesture, "My name is Kouya Isa. Today's my first day here at the Academy. Principal Tanaka told me that you would be my sempai."

Before a look of confusion totally veiled my face, Tanaka Koji – the Academy's principal – peered inside the teachers' lounge and smiled sheepishly. In his hand was a manila envelope and once he approached us, he handed me the envelope and said, "I'm sorry for not giving this to you sooner. It took me a while to select someone suitable and after long thought, I have decided this morning to have you mentor Kouya-san. I do hope that you don't mind, Tatsumi-san."

"No problem at all," was my reply along with a genial smile given to the school principal and then to my trainee.

The principal seemed greatly relieved from hearing my answer. After giving me a friendly pat on my back, he said, "Good. I have no doubt that you two will get along well. If either of you run into any problems, please let me know. Starting today up to the time that Kouya-san's training period ends, I'm giving both of you an hour reprieve before classes end each school day. That one-hour reprieve would be used so that you two could meet. I expect both of you to turn in a weekly report based on the outcome of your one-hour-per-day meeting. Kouya-san's report will pretty much be a self-assessment of her progress during training. You, Tatsumi-san, will also assess her performance and her progress. The three of us will meet once a month so that we have time to discuss matters openly. If there's anything that you need, especially in your dorm arrangements then please let Tatsumi-san know about it."

Once the principal bade goodbye, I rose from my seat and along with Kouya-san we then gave the principal a genial bow before he left the teachers' lounge.

The new teacher smiled. "So I guess we're meeting at four o'clock every school day, Sempai? I'll see you later. And please…call me Isa."

I gave Isa a nod and a grin. As she left the teachers' lounge to take care of her affairs, I could not help but feel a semblance of fondness towards her. Her sweet and respectful demeanor reminded me so much of my younger sister Inari during better and much-happier days.

----

Before the crack of dawn the following day, ear-piercing screams broke the silence.

Although groggy, I grabbed my robe and joined the many that ran towards the source of those screams.

I saw Mori Anzu, another fellow teacher, kneeling on the dew-moistened ground. Her eyes were wide and her entire body shook from sheer shock. Meanwhile, Anthony Pedroni – another fellow teacher who had been part of the Academy for a couple of years now – looked up and had his eyes fixed on the very cause of Mori-chan's shock.

My eyes scanned the surroundings and then transfixed on the two sorry figures that were now new additions to the victims' list for this case – Angelica Pedroni and Francis Sanders, who I call Angie-chan and Frank-kun respectively…or should I now say called?

As the gasps and sobbing grew louder, I could not help but absolutely not believe that the two victims who were still in their early twenties had their lives cut so short. However, this incident did not look like a suicide.

Frank-kun lay on the ground with his throat slit so deeply underneath one of the sakura trees. He lay in a pool of his own blood. Above him hung Angie-chan, her wrists slit deeply, her neck now raw with rope burns, her eyes wide, and her face as pale as a sheet.

My eyes caught sight of Isa along with the other teachers, all of them shocked and speechless. Their silent tears were the only indication of what thoughts were running in their minds. My heart clenched at the sight before me even though I have seen such scenes far too many times in my life and afterlife, so I could hardly imagine the shock and horror that everyone else was feeling at this time.

"What in Enma's name is going on here?" I asked myself as I saw Anthony-kun fall on his knees as he cried for his fallen sister and dear friend.

End Chapter Seventeen

Author's Notes

Ah, what is this fic all about...

Little is known of Tatsumi Seiichiro's past - not just to us fans, but also to his fellow YnM characters.

Using the pieces of information provided by YnM's mangaka as well as my imagination, this fic is my attempt to fill in those many "holes" about his past. This fic is also my interpretation on why he is the person that we know, love, and fawn over as YnM fans.

By the way, the timeline for this fic is after the Gensoukai story arc. Since Gensoukai is still pending, I'm going to take the position that the Gensoukai arc is over, Hisoka succeeds in getting the powerful dragon shikigami, Tatsumi and Tsuzuki - even though they are in more comfortable terms now - still have unresolved differences from Tatsumi's prior dumping of Tsuzuki, and Tatsumi and Watari's relationship becomes deeper and more intimate.

Readers who have been following this story will find this chapter to be a rather abrupt turn from the pace that it had been enjoying. There is a rhyme and reason for this, so please have patience. Secondly, one may notice that some of the names in this chapter sound familiar. Yes, their names appeared in Apocalypse Rising - another Yami no Matsuei fanfic that I have been working on. One does not need to read Apocalypse Rising to understand what is going on in this fic since this fic stands alone. For avid readers of Kyoto Files Revisited and Apocalypse Rising, I strongly believe that the "continuity" between the three fics is a nice treat.

Happy reading and Happy New Year.

Normal Disclaimer

Yami No Matsuei (Descendants of Darkness) and its characters are copyrighted properties of Matsushita Yoko. This fan fiction and the minor original characters that appear within this fan fiction belong to PJ Zatken.