Disclaimer: The usual, I own nothing except this story.
Note: Yes, I'm alive! It's me, old friends. Alive and kicking—err writing I mean. And another chapter of "Through the Eyes of a Child"
Through the Eyes of a Child: Yataragasu:
Yataragasu's POV:
My name is Yataragasu. My name is as close as any of the Hime's Childs that will be anywhere close to my true name. A name that means hatred, a name that means devastation, a name that means death.
I am Yataragasu, in my previous life, in the dimension where we Childs used to exist before we were summoned by our mistresses for the Hime battles, I was used on a regular basis by other powerful Childs to carry out errands and destroy the less powerful Childs of our lands.
The way that I drew my power was by feeding on the hatred and envy that all the other Childs felt for their superiors. My powers exist because my evil exists in every heart, Child and human alike.
Their black hatred is my pure life force.
What a miserable, pitiful, evil creature I am. I wasn't always like this, you know. I had a pack of fellow Childs over 50,000 years ago that I loved as my own biological family, but they were destroyed right in front of me.
A very powerful Child named Kagutsuchi destroyed all of them.
My mistress, Shiho Munakata, a Hime most worthy of my terrible powers now summons me once more.
There is one problem with my powers. I am a being that is summoned by someone with nothing but hatred in them. A corrupted love if you will. As a result, because the emotion that summons me is so severe, and people tend to wish that those terrible feelings don't exist, Shiho has not realized yet that she is summoning me.
In other words, she's summoning me without fully realizing it. I think she's starting to suspect it, but I can't be sure.
I'm summoned again and I sadly look over at my mistress. She is beautiful in her own deranged way. Her beautifully colored hair flies around her head as her unique gold eyes stare wordlessly at the night sky.
She is holding that terrible instrument; the flute that is used to summon me.
I will soon hear that chilling tune that all crows hear, the tune that make all crows into bringers of death.
Is she even aware that I'm capable of sentient thoughts like she is? If so, does she realize that I'm worried for her?
Even if she was doing this consciously, with her knowledge of doing it, surely doing what she's been doing has been killing her inside. She must be feeling some kind of guilt.
I tell myself this, hoping to find some goodness in my mistress, though by now I know I'm only fooling myself. I know what's at the pit of Shiho's soul.
A rotted and hollow core.
Shiho Munakata is dead. A hollow vessel with a dead core. Is she even aware of this herself? Of course not. She is so sure that these actions are the results of the "pure" love she feels for that human male; Yuuichi Tate.
What a foolish girl.
Then again, I was selected to be compatible with her because of similar power signatures, not because of similar intelligence.
Really, I sometimes wonder, not just about her intelligence, but her sanity as well. Her mind is crumbling. She loves that human male so devastatingly, yet the only thing that has been devastated is her precious sanity.
I've seen her memories you know. She used to be a completely innocent child. Maybe a little mischievous, but very gentle. Her love seems to have warped her. Made her into something she wasn't supposed to be.
She wasn't supposed to be a monster.
Back in the world we Childs and Orphans came from, I might have been ruthless, both before and after Kagutsuchi murdered my family, but at the very least I had my sanity in check, at least my soul was intact.
This girl, I don't know how much of either of those are left with her. She's such a different person than from when I first was summoned by her.
Back then, she was only protecting herself.
Back when there had been Orphans summoned by that fake Hime Alyssa Searrs, Shiho only summoned me for the first time so as to protect herself from those very Orphans.
Her mind was curious and unguarded back then, however, over time, as she's been hospitalized, her feelings for Tate have warped her. She's become less and less like the person I idolized myself working under.
Death, pain, destruction, hatred….that's all that seems to be left in her soul. And she uses it to summon me to carry out her rage and the jealous hate she feels for that other Hime, the Hime of fire, Mai.
Kagutsuchi's mistress.
At this rate, I realize that I might not be able to bring myself into making the choice of looking after Shiho when she dies.
You're probably wondering what I mean by "choice of looking after Shiho when she dies." Well, let me explain that.
When a Hime's Child comes to meet the Hime for the first time, the Child meant to protect the Hime is left with a choice. The choice is whether or not the Child will look after the Hime's soul even in death or not.
The Childs that decide to follow their Hime will be able to look after their respective Hime's souls forever. They will enter the land of the dead with their Hime's souls to look after the Hime.
On the other hand, if the Child decides otherwise, decides not to follow his or her Hime, then that Child will be condemned to remain forever on earth, reincarnated again and again with a somewhat human body.
This is the case with a previous Kagutsuchi.
The Kagutsuchi that was used in the previous Festival wasn't brave enough to follow his Hime.
In fact, the Hime that used him was fine with that, but instead, her companion, the Crystal Hime chose to stay on earth and absorbed the old Kagutsuchi's abilities.
That is how much of a coward the old Kagutsuchi was. He was too scared to follow his respective Hime, instead he melded with another Hime, the winner of the Festival before; the Crystal Hime.
What a coward. However, I vaguely wonder if I will be following his example soon. You see, those Childs that do not follow the Hime's souls after the Hime's death are considered in our society to be cowards, traitors even.
For you see, following and protecting our Himes is our duty to the very end, even in the afterlife.
The Kagutsuchi from the previous Festival, however, didn't have the courage to do that. He stayed behind with the Crystal Hime.
I now wonder why he stayed behind. Did he see something in his own Hime that wasn't worth protecting? And what happened to the Crystal Hime's Child? Where was Hermes? Why wasn't he here?
Hermes….ah, like the Greek god he had been named after, was a very cheerful Child. You would never have met more friendly creature, well outside of that little Hime that summons Miroku.
But why wasn't Hermes here to protect the Crystal Hime?
Had she given him up? When had she acquired Kagutsuchi's spirit powers? Back in the world of the Childs and the Orphans, Hermes had been one of my dearest friends, but now I didn't even know where he was.
However, I wonder….if he left the Crystal Hime? Could I also leave Shiho then? Leave her and find Hermes?
I'm sure that if any other Child was witnessing my thoughts right now, they'd call me a coward. But believe me, they'd withhold their accusations if they saw the thoughts that I saw in Shiho's mind.
This poor depraved girl is only thinking about one thing right now; killing Mai Tokiha, the present Kagutsuchi's master.
Well, I can't really say I'm complaining about this Kagutsuchi being destroyed. This Kagutsuchi was the one that murdered my family. The other one, the one that melded with Hermes' master, the Crystal Hime did nothing to me ever.
Mai's Child on the other hand…..destroyed my life.
He killed my family. Now I would help kill him. I could withhold my judgments towards Shiho till later. I wanted Kagutsuchi to suffer now.
(Hello, Kagutsuchi,) I almost growl in telepathy, (Long time, no see as the humans say.)
(Yataragasu,) Kagutsuchi said calmly, (It seems that the blood from Childs and Orphans are not enough. You want my Mistress's too.)
I seethe at this. He's the one that destroyed my life 50,000 years ago and he claims that I'm bloodthirsty? What a joke.
(Kagutsuchi,) I spit out, (You've existed long enough. We will destroy you.)
(Yataragasu,) Kagutsuchi said in a wavering voice, and for once I'm startled. Since when has the great Kagusuchi wavered? (Don't do this,) Kagutsuchi almost pleaded, (You already killed my mistress's brother Takumi.)
(That wasn't my fault!) I yelled angrily, (Shiho ordered me. You would have done it too if Mai ordered it. I didn't want to do it. That boy was an innocent.) I know what he's talking about.
Gennai, The giant toad Child that the Hime Akira ordered was able to be summoned by Akira's love for Mai's little brother, Takumi. When I destroyed Gennai, I killed Takumi.
I wish there had been another way. Takumi seemed like such an innocent child too.
However, what I was doing now, I was doing of my full pleasure.
I had been hesitant to fight Mai until I realized that Kagutsuchi would be summoned. When Shiho first started to summon me, I didn't want to help her. She was going to terrorize Mai to get her way, but now Kagutsuchi was about to be summoned, and I now had no qualms about attacking.
Mai might have been innocent, but her Child sure wasn't.
However, there was one problem; the human male Tate was with Mai. He was an innocent. If he got hurt here…..
Shiho removed the ghostly white veil she had thrown over her head to disguise herself, revealing to both Mai and Tate who she was. The shock on both of their faces is clear as dawn.
Shiho is declaring her mad love to Tate, trying to make excuses for her insane actions.
At that moment, I realize that I can no longer feel any sympathy for my mistress. I might fight now because of my hate for this current Kagutsuchi, but Shiho has lost her mind, clearly.
"Disappear." She whispers, bringing her dreaded flute out. The flute which held a tune I must obey. Bringing it to her lips and playing the accursed tune, I am brought forth from the shadows, opening my gigantic, ebony wings.
My wings of death were the last things thousands of my victims, human and Orphans alike saw before they were destroyed.
As the fight commences, Kagutsuchi and I clashing, I watch as Shiho shows more and more signs of her dementia. Tate, the human male begs Mai to destroy me so that the fight will be over.
Poor Mai, seeing what she'll have to do.
I am also aware that Duran's mistress, Natsuki is here and that her powers have returned. Don't ask about that. My sister Kiyohime sent me a mental message that Natsuki was unable to use her powers for a while.
I also sense that Miroku's mistress, Mikoto is here.
I at first think nothing of this, until Mikoto springs forth, unleashing her weapon on me.
Instantly, after the blow from her sword is given, I feel tremendous relief and gratitude. Thank you, Mikoto, Miroku. Now Shiho can't use me for evil anymore.
I might be destroyed now, but for those who know of me, I am Yataragasu, and I am death. I am the evil in every being's heart. When you hear my scream of desire for blood, beware, your time is up.
Author's note:
Wow, it's been a long time. Well, back to work! Now let's see, let's look at the list of things I need to update. (Wipes dust off of monitor)