A/N: Thank you guys for being patient with me. I just now got a new computer. I'm afraid this chapter is nothing more than a small drabble to prepare for the ending of the story. It's been so long I kind of have writier's block. So I understand if it ticks anyone off. Haha. Read and comment please!

Disclaimer: Again, I own nothing. Should be obvious by now.

Do you not appreciate my mercy? Do you not appreciate the chance to be with your darling Solar Priestess?

"Why did you do it? Why send me back, knowing how I felt about the situation? Planting idiotic false memories in my mind…making me play your game…"

You were living in the cesspool of your own mind, Priestess. Poisoning my temple with your grief and torment. I gave you what you wanted.

"I wanted my life to end, wanted my mind to shut down so that I never had to think about this again. I wanted to be a zombie. Shut forever in your shrine, I wanted to be lost in the darkness."

The longer you stayed, the more infected your mind became. Himeko doesn't belong in this world any more than you do, you know.

"What do you mean?"

Let her put your mind at ease. Talk to her. I'm sure you'll find she has her own guilt, her own regrets. I didn't allow much time for the two of you to speak, and I apologize for that. I wanted the battle finished quickly and efficiently.

"I can't face her again. Even after she…she killed me…I didn't feel like all had been said or forgiven. I feel she was trying too hard; forcing herself to forgive me just to end my pain. She was placating me!"

Talk to her.

"No, Murakumo. I'm tainted. Bloody…dirty. Her blood stains my hands, body, and mind…the taste of her innocence remains on my tongue…her flesh was violated and bruised from these horrid hands, and her mind was toyed with and wounded by this serpent's tongue. I'm not worthy to speak her name."

Why do you continue to punish yourself for crimes she understands and has forgiven? Why not take this opportunity that I have given and right the wrongs that you have done, to live in peace with your soul mate?

"Because she doesn't really understand. She doesn't really forgive. She can't possibly have forgiven everything, in a blink of an eye, just like that. She is a needy woman, she needed my presence and my familiarity. But I have a feeling she was just blocking everything from her mind in order to achieve that state of happiness."

But what if she DOES understand, Priestess? What if her spoken words of love and devotion and forgiveness were true?

"They aren't. They can't be."

Why?

"I can't be forgiven. I'm a monster."