Sorry for not making comments on the other chapters-I'm new to this! If anyone thinks I am tormenting poor Kantarou too much, don't worry-I make it up to him and Haruka later on.
I don't own Tactics or the characters-but I am enjoying using them for my own creative license. If you like, review! They increase my writing hp.
Kantarou's POV
Kantarou dimly knew that he was floating in a dark sea of pain, but every time he tried to surface he kept sinking deeper into unconsciousness. He briefly heard Haruka's voice through the dark, and then an evil presence nearby made him moan as his scar reacted to it. His body seemed very far away, but he could feel his face and lips being caressed by cold hands as if from a great distance. It seemed so far removed from where his mind was that he couldn't force his body to move. A new sensation suddenly entered the darkness where he was, as he felt something pressed through his lips and his body instinctively swallowed. He could feel it start boiling in his blood, and a sudden agony beyond what he had ever experienced bloomed in his chest and spread through his veins. His muscles tensed and his back arched as he spasmed violently against this new pain. He screamed but his breath seemed to be boiling away along with what felt like everything else. The agony in his chest was so incredibly hot and he wondered in a small part of his mind why he wasn't dead from it yet. It felt like he should have burned up by now. The pain spread until every vein in his body seemed to be filled with flames, and then he felt a darker spike throb through his chest like a second heartbeat. Where was Haruka now? He felt completely isolated, and it terrified him more than the pain did. He couldn't hear or sense anything else except the burning inside of him. Another throb in his chest made him cry out once more, and then he felt something break open. His own spiritual powers surged up again from deep inside of him, a reserve he didn't know he even had, drawn out somehow by the strange burning in his blood-and then it spilled outwards. He couldn't control it or direct it-it flowed out as if a dam had broken. As it poured out of him, Kantarou felt his mind suddenly pulled upwards and away along with his power. He was ripped violently back towards consciousness, and then the darkness he was in exploded suddenly into dazzling gold light. He wondered briefly if this meant he had died-if so, it wasn't nearly as bad as he had expected given what he had gone through to get here. But…he could still sense his body, his heart beating…and he realized with faint annoyance that he could definitely still feel pain. So he wasn't dead yet, at least.
Kantarou noticed suddenly that the pain he was in was starting to decrease as his power continued to flow out of him, and he felt his body slowly begin to relax as muscles tensed with cold and pain finally released their tension. He realized again with a shock that he could now feel the light against his eyelids as he rose completely out of the dark he had been floating in, and he struggled to wake up completely. He found himself finally able to open his eyes, and as the light made them burn and tear up, he squinted, expecting to see the familiar stone walls around him. He prayed that Haruka was safe-he still couldn't sense his tengu's presence. The exorcist didn't realize that he was still being held carefully by Haruka's lean arms.
The tengu himself was still wondering what had happened to Kantarou. Haruka could see and feel Kantarou's power still flowing from him, surrounding both of them. He noticed with unease that the sealed stone pillar looming next to them in the cell seemed to be pulling his power into itself as well, and seemed to be taking on an ominous black glow, still barely perceptible. It reminded him of something, and he frowned as he concentrated. His eyebrows shot up as he remembered what it was-the black glow looked exactly the same as the dark glow he had been seeing on Kantarou's scar. Haruka glanced down at the exorcist's chest, confirming what he had noticed. Although the power surrounding them was Kantarou's, whatever was pulling it out of him was definitely not. Part of Ibaragi and Raikou's plan made sense now-it was obvious to him (and probably to Kantarou, although he couldn't say anything to confirm it right now) that they had found a way to use the exorcist's power to unseal whatever was confined in the pillar. He still didn't understand why Kantarou's past mattered in what was going on-forcing the man to relive painful memories might have just been Ibaragi toying with them. It definitely suited what he knew of her, anyway. He settled himself a little more comfortably to keep an eye on the sealed pillar and still hold the exorcist. The flow of Kantarou's spiritual power didn't show any signs of stopping, and he tried to think of any youkai methods for sealing or stopping something like this. If this kept on, the silver-haired man really would be drained dry.
A growing feeling of dizziness slowly began to wash over him as he sat pressed against the damp stone wall, and he wondered if his own mind was being affected by Kantarou's proximity. Haruka knew that the other man could sense when the tengu was nearby, and he also knew that some people with strong spiritual powers could easily put others into trances or pull them into dreams. It was logical to think that if someone with powers like the exorcist lost control of his powers, he could easily influence others without conscious thought. Maybe Ibaragi expected Kantarou to pull Haruka's mind into his memories with him? It would be a good way to incapacitate both of them, with the exorcist locked in his own mind and the tengu dragged along for the ride. He growled deep in his throat, irritated at how they had walked into all of this. Shouldn't Kantarou have better intuition? Haruka resisted the now-familiar urge to shake the silver-haired man and instead adjusted him to rest more comfortably against his chest instead. And although he didn't want to admit it to himself, he was curious about Kantarou's past. Just a little. He hoped he would be more help in the man's memories than he had been so far this evening…it was a dismal performance by his standards. The truly aggravating part of the entire mess this had turned into was that he knew Kantarou wouldn't blame him for any of it. He would just smile his enigmatic, impossible to interpret smile, and pat Haruka's shoulder and shrug it off. He sometimes wondered if he would be more useful to Kantarou if he only knew a little bit more about the man. Still….he tried to shake his head to clear it. This wasn't the way he wanted to learn more about the exorcist that called himself his friend. He shook his head hard enough to let his long black hair fall across his eyes, and tried to keep his eyes focused between keeping an eye on the stone pillar and on Kantarou's condition. The pillar was glowing an ominous black now, the color slowly deepening like a bruise. Kantarou at least seemed to be only sleeping now, his face and body relaxed in Haruka's arms-but he was getting colder to the tengu's hot skin as his spiritual energy continued to flow out through the now black scar on his chest. The feeling of light-headed dizziness continued to creep over Haruka, slowly enough that the tengu didn't even notice when it became an inexorable and irresistible urge to close his eyes and just let go of his thoughts. Haruka struggled to keep his eyes open and his mind clear, but Kantarou's spiritual energy eventually overpowered him and he gradually faded out of consciousness. It felt like he was falling into a dark abyss (had it felt like this for Kantarou, he wondered), but as he fell deeper, instead of grower darker he seemed to see a growing brightness against his eyelids. Just when the light grew overpowering, his eyes suddenly opened. What the hell? The stone cell he knew they were both trapped in was no longer around him.
Meanwhile, Kantarou struggled to see as his eyes adjusted to the light dazzling them. He had expected to see the walls of stone surrounding them, and hoped that Haruka was nearby. But he noticed with a shock that he didn't see stone or even walls around him once his eyes cleared. Instead, he found himself looking out at a very familiar landscape-as it had looked many years ago. Before he had received the scar on his chest. He was looking out over a small cliff at the village he had been born and raised in-he knew that if he turned around, he would see a vast forest of dark pines and a white trail leading to a small temple deep within the woods. He had been here many times before when he was young-it didn't hold many good memories for him. Kantarou tried to look around at his surroundings to orient himself and make sure of where he was, but found another unpleasant shock when he realized he couldn't move his eyes. It was as if he was looking out of another person's eyes…but he had a feeling that it wasn't just a stranger's eyes. Well…this just gets deeper and deeper. I thought I was finally awake too...the exorcist sighed inwardly as he realized he was still trapped and still at the mercy of whatever elaborate plan was going on. It seemed like whatever had forced his powers to respond had also forced his unconscious mind to respond as well-he thought that this might be one of his own past memories that he was trapped in. As the owner of the eyes he was looking out of looked downwards, he felt dread chill his mind-it was without a doubt, himself that he was looking at. Small pools of water were scattered across the top of the cliff edge from recent rains, and as the eyes he peered out of looked down, he caught a glimpse of a young man's reflection…one of himself. His bright crimson eyes and silver hair were impossible to mistake, although this was a much younger Kantarou. He managed to feel a little disgruntled that his appearance hadn't matured all that much in the years since he had been to this place.
Still…he felt a thread of uneasiness as he took the chance to study his reflection. This younger version of himself bothered him, but he couldn't figure out why. As the younger Kantarou leaned down to look closer at the pool of water, he figured out what it was. This memory was of him before he had gotten his scar-as the younger form of the exorcist leaned over his plain grey robes slipped open slightly, revealing a smooth, unmarked chest. Kantarou felt a shock run through him as he realized he didn't recognize this memory. He knew that he must have been injured close to the time of this memory-he could remember that he had been about this age and still living on the outskirts of the village down below when it had happened. He thought hard for a minute, trying to place this memory. A cold chill hit him as he tried to remember what exactly had led up to his receiving the scar. It was strange….he remembered vividly how long his recovery from it had been, and he wasn't that surprised he didn't have clear memories of the actual event. But his memories of what led up to the injury just...weren't there. What the….why don't I remember what happened?