Day 5: Yin & Yang
Souma returned to Gandarahja late in the evening, the blood from one of Kisshouten's errands still on her hands. It was rare that Kisshouten asked her to kill, but Souma welcomed the opportunity. Each death brought her that much closer to Taishakuten, and justice for her clan.
Each time she killed, she forced herself to think only of justice.
Below the castle, she stopped to wash her hands and arms in a spring. It wasn't that she needed to hide the evidence of what she had done – she and Kendappa had no secrets from each other – but she didn't like it. Kendappa was so pure, and beautiful, like a sun-warmed breeze. Souma didn't want to sully her with her own darkness.
Sometimes Kendappa did have to kill, if a spy slipped past the guards and into her home. Souma always reproached her for it. The thought of Kendappa's gentle hands bringing someone to their death was too much to bear, but Kendappa's promises to leave it to Souma the next time only lasted until the next time actually came.
Souma shook her hands dry and leaped up to the moving castle itself. She'd just have to do better. She might have become a killer living only for revenge, but at the very least, she should be able to protect one musician from the monsters in human form that lived in Tenkai.
That night, after Souma had fallen asleep, Kendappa sat up alone beside her. She brushed a lock of Souma's hair gently over her ear.
Dear, dear Souma. She was so sweet. She tried so hard to take care of Kendappa. Even when she fought, she had only the best of motives. Nothing like Kendappa at all.
She could never find out that Kendappa had dedicated herself to Taishakuten's strength. The truth would break her, poor soul. Souma really was too pure for Taishakuten's Tenkai.
Kendappa sighed and wriggled down into the sheets beside her lover, pressing a kiss to Souma's forehead. "Good night, Souma," she murmured. I wish i could be the innocent you think i am.
But, of course, even with her lover asleep, she could never say that part out loud.