disclaimer- i do not own any of the characters to Yami no Matsuei. i make no money from this story. all rights and whatnot belong solely to the original author.
Chapter 27: Despair
It has been ten minutes since Tsuzuki was wheeled into the operating room and they have yet to hear from the doctor. Tatsumi paced the hall back and forth worrying about his friend. He sighed heavily as he leaned against the wall beside Alicia's staff. He looked over at the shiny metal rings and felt his heart break. She was gone and he would never see his silver haired angel again. He wanted to cry but there will be time for that later. First, he had to make sure his friend and the child will be fine.
Tatsumi took hold of the staff and held it before him. He stared at it for a second before closing his eyes and resting his forehead against it. Before a comprehending thought could form in his mind, the doors to the entrance opened. Everyone stood to stare as Damia and Damien's mother and father rushed into the building.
"Where is he?" asked Aleejah worried.
"He's in the operating room," said Tatsumi. "We think he might be going into labor."
"We should go before the doctor do something stupid." She turned to her husband and the tall figure quietly strolled into the operating room. Just as Aleejah was about to walk in behind her husband, Hisoka stopped her.
"Wait," said the young guardian worried. "Is something wrong with my partner? Is he going to miscarriage his child?"
"Well, when Damia and Damien were born, they were early also," she said smiling. "I think it's because of their dragon blood but this is too soon. Your friend is under a lot of stress and I'm afraid your doctor won't be able to stop him from having a miscarriage."
"Poor Tsuzuki," said Watari sadly. "Not only has he lost his husband he will lose his child as well."
"No, we will not let that happen." She turned from them. "That is why we are here." Then she walked into the operating room.
During the long night, Chief Konoe had stopped by to see how his number one guardian was doing. He left as soon as he was told Tsuzuki was still in the operating room. He had to organize the clean up and put out a cover story to justify what happened last night. The older man was certain millions of people saw the explosion and the huge dragon in the sky. Tatsumi did not envy the chief at this moment.
The sun was just rising over the horizon when the nurses rolled Tsuzuki's unconscious body out of the operating room followed by the doctor, Lord Enma, Aleejah and Oberon. It was Christmas morning but no one felt very merry or jolly as they stared into the pale face of their friend. During the night Chief Konea had came by to see how his number guardian was doing.
"Is he going to be all right?" Hisoka asked jumping to his feet staring down at his partner sadly. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed a slight blue aura that surrounded the unconscious man.
"Take him to his room," Enma said to the doctor. The man nodded his head and left. "Now, as for your question, Asato will be fine. Thanks to Oberon."
"What do you mean?" asked Watari.
"Well, in order to stabilize the child, Oberon gave a transfusion that was delivered directly to the baby."
"Did this transfusion work?" asked Tatsumi.
Enma smiled. "Yes. Both Asato and the baby will be all right."
"Thank God," Hisoka sighed in relief. "I thought for sure he was going to lose the baby. I don't think he would have survived if he lost Muraki's child."
"Muraki?" Aleejah asked staring at them confused.
"That's right, you might not know," said Enma. "Kazutaka Muraki is the name Damien was going under."
"And Damia was called Alicia Muraki," said Tatsumi smiling sadly. "He adopted her while in the states during his internship."
"I see." Aleejah smiled sadly at the blue eye secretary.
Oriya was still upset. "What is wrong with you two? How can you just stand there being calm while your children are . . . dead?" It took Watari and Tatsumi to hold the angry swordsman back. "How could you have done nothing when your children were fighting that evil alone? They are dead because of you cared nothing about them!"
Oberon placed his hand on his wife's shoulder and gently moved her behind him. The great dragon stared into the fierce eyes of the swordsman. "You think we don't care for our children?" His demeanor was calm as those silver serpent eyes seem to pierce them to the core of their souls. Even now, those eyes were intimidating. However, Oriya refused to back down.
"I know you didn't care about them."
Oberon shook his head sadly as those intimidating eyes softened. "That is where you are wrong, young one. We loved our little twins very much. They were truly one of a kind and a blessing." He smiled fondly. "When Damia was finally born, Damien would not let anyone hold her for two weeks. He only gave her to their mother and that was only to feed her. He spent every day with her." Then the smile dropped from his face. "As they got older, they began to change. They became arrogant because they were my children. You do not know what it was like to hear that your children did not protect their Guides from danger and to hear them say that it was their Guides fault because they did not get out of the way of danger. They never once took blame for what was their fault. To them, they were above blame and they did not have to care for the humans that were put in their care."
"It . . . It still should not matter. They were your children and you should have been here to protect them no matter what they did in the past," said Oriya.
"We understand what you are saying," said Aleejah stepping forward. "But you have to understand that we were afraid for them."
"What do you mean?" asked Watari frowning.
"We were afraid that one day they would snap and fall, becoming devils." Crystal tears fell from her lovely dark eyes. "With the power they possessed, they would have begun to think like Satan. They would have begun to believe that they would make better gods. We lived with that fear for centuries."
"And we also knew that another war against the devils and demons would have been disastrous for the angels," said Oberon.
"What do you mean?" asked Tatsumi.
Enma sighed sadly. "Well, the first war with Satan left the population of the angels on the verge of extinction. It took centuries to repopulate Heaven. If those two had fallen, I'm not sure if there would have been an angel left in heaven."
"So, to prevent that future from occurring, we agreed to have them punished," said Oberon. "Their punishment came in two stages. The first part was to have them inprisoned inside the void for almost a century, and the second part would have been to reincarnate them on Earth where they were to live as humans."
"But why didn't . . .?" Watari started to ask but Aleejah raised a hand silencing him.
"I know what you are about to say but there are some things that you do not need to know," she said.
"You were hoping to accomplish what?" asked Hisoka. The young guardian could feel the tension in the air. whatever Watari was going to ask them had the angel, dragon and the lord of Hades unnerved. So, he decided to pick the conversation up where it was left off.
"We wanted them to know that humans were not worthless creatures. We were hoping that their stay on earth would soften their hearts and that they would find someone to love and that person would love them in return," said Aleejah.
"But the plan almost backfired on you when the demons attacked, didn't it," said Tatsumi.
"Yes. We were so afraid that the devils and demons had their souls, and that they were training our children to destroy their home." She leaned into the arms of her husband. "We searched for them for so very long. We searched the past, present and future for them. We even searched on other worlds but it was like they had disappeared."
"Then one day Cygnus appeared to us to tell us about this young dark skinned girl, with silver hair and silver eyes that looked exactly like our Damia had somehow summoned him." Oberon smiled gently. "Imagine our surprise when we realized that it was our little girl. Then our surprise turned to joy when we found out that she was with her brother." He chuckled softly. "I always knew that whenever you found one the other would be near."
Oriya looked away sullenly. He guessed he could not blame them. After all, they were parents afraid for the corruption of their children immortal souls. All his righteous anger melted out of him as he looked into the sad faces of the two heavenly beings. 'I shouldn't be too hard on them. After all, they haven't even had time to grieve the death of their children. They had come immediately to Tsuzuki's aid.' "Hey," he stared up at them frowning. "How did you know about Tsuzuki's condition?"
"Enma had informed me about Asato's dangerous situation," said Oberon. "Asato will be fine. The baby is stable but he has to stay in the hibernated sleep my blood has placed him in."
"Hibernated sleep?" asked Hisoka puzzled. "Is that why there was a blue aura around him when he came out of the operating room?"
"Yes it is. Enma told us how upset he was and how he was going into premature labor," said Aleejah. "I think it is best that he remains in this state until after the baby is born."
"Why? asked Watari.
"Well, he has just lost his mate. Do you think he will be stable after watching the person he loves die?" She looked at the young men sadly.
"No," said Hisoka. "I remember when Muraki first died. He would walk through the halls like a phantom." The young guardian shivered as he remembered how his partner seemed to turn in on himself not getting excited over anything. Even bringing him homemade apple pies did not bring him out of the sullen mood he had fallen into. "I never want to see him like that again."
"Then he will remain asleep. He shall be ready to give birth in three more months," said Oberon. "We've already talked to the doctor. Once the time comes, the doctor will take the baby while Asato is still in the hibernated sleep. It's best that he remains asleep."
"My husband is right," said Aleejah smiling. "I was in labor for nearly three days before I was finally able to give birth. It is a feeling I would not want little Asato to go through while awake."
"Well, since everything is okay here, we must get back to get things prepared." Oberon took his wife by the hand.
Aleejah looked at Tatsumi and smiled sadly at the young man. "And don't you have something to do as well, young one."
Tatsumi frowned slightly wondering what she could be talking about. He followed her gaze to the staff he clutched tightly in his hand. The promise he made to take her staff back to her village. "I wanted to make sure Tsuzuki was all right before I left."
She smiled gently at him. "Take care of yourself." She walked over too him and kissed him on the forehead. "Good-bye." Then she and Oberon walked out of the building.
xxxxx
It was close to midday when Tatsumi arrived in Hokkaido and another ten minutes for him to get to the forest outside of Nayoro. Oriya had offered to go with him but the secretary wanted to go alone. Tatsumi stared at the forest. It was as Alicia said. A strange mist surrounded the forest. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the forest disappearing within the mist.
Tatsumi felt as though he has been wandering through the mist and forest for hours but he knew better. It has only been ten minutes since he walked into the mist. He sighed heavily as he let his mind wander to the day when his dreams of happiness died. 'It was only yesterday . . . or was it last night.' He frowned trying to get his thoughts in order. It was so hard for him to think clearly since his mind and heart was in turmoil. 'Yes, it was last night. Today still is Christmas. How I miss you, my Alicia.' Suddenly he was pulled from his thoughts when he found himself surround by six young men. They all carried staffs but they had no rings dangling from them.
"Halt! Who are you and what are you doing here?" asked one of the men.
Another of the men noticed the staff the secretary was holding. "Where did you get that Staff?"
The other men narrowed their eyes suspiciously at the stranger. "There are only five of these particular staffs," said another man. "And there is no way, any of the zero class warriors would let their staff go unless. . ." The men stared at Tatsumi in shock waiting for an answer.
'They must be the sentry Alicia talked about. Well, here goes.' He took a deep breath and repeated what Alicia had told him to say. "The Southern Star has fallen." Was all Tatsumi said.
The six young lowered their weapons and stared at the stranger in shock. It was impossible. They young men could not believe what they were hearing. The invincible Alicia Muraki is dead. Then they looked away sadly. "Come, we will take you to Master Takakura." They led him to the hidden village.
It took them no more than five minutes to reach the large village in the center of the forest. Tatsumi was amazed at the size of it. It was like looking at a small town. Although the homes where simple buildings he noticed that there were modernization all around the village. There were electric poles sizzling with activity. So it's safe to say they weren't living in the dark. There were cars and telephone poles. Some of the homes had chimneys and the others he guessed used central heating. Some homes had satellite dishes and he assumed that the other houses probably had cable. He couldn't imagine the houses of today not having televisions or radios. As he got closer, he noticed the homes were not as small as he had first thought. In fact, they were all nice size buildings and they looked very modern from the outside. As the sentry led him through the street, people began to come out of their homes and businesses to see the stranger that has come to their village. They began to whisper and some gasped in shock when they saw the staff in his hand. But the question in everyone's mind was, whose staff was that.
Tatsumi paid the villagers no mind as he raised his head slightly to look up the middle of the street. Perched on top of a huge hill, he guessed, was the monastery for the Kurenai Warriors. He stared in awe. It was made like a Japanese pagoda from ancient Japan. The three-story structure was huge and very elegant looking.
xxxxx
Tatsumi was led to the council chamber where six elderly men walked into the room each taking a cushion. Then another elderly man with a bald head and a long white beard and mustache walked into the room. He took the cushion in the center of the other six.
Master Takakura stared at the young man before him. He could tell this was no human that sat before him. He knew exactly who this young man was. This was a shinigami, a guardian of death. Just from looking at him, he had to smile. Alicia's description of the secretary was right on the money. But Master Takakura noticed the sadness in those blue eyes. He did not like the feeling of the air in the room. Even before last night when Alicia called for a Code Orange-Omega 13, he has been having a feeling of dread. 'I wonder.'' Then he stared in wide-eyed horror at the staff. 'No, it can't be.' Suddenly he felt a stinging in the corner of his eyes.
He cleared his throat and spoke. "The sentry said you had . . ." He could not finish.
Tatsumi placed the staff before him on the floor and bowed his head. Gasps of shock filled the room. "The Southern Star has fallen."
Tears of sadness fell from the elderly man's eyes. "That silly little brat, I told her to be careful." The other council members closed their eyes and began to say a prayer for their young warrior.
Suddenly there was a scream of sorrow that split the air. Everyone turned to see a teen with dark hair leaning against the wall crying his heart out. "She can't be dead. She was going . . . to take me to . . . Tokyo to live in her . . . apartment building so I can . . . can go to school." The boy fell to his knees sobbing in his hands.
"Subaru," said one of the other council elders. "You shouldn't be in here." The man didn't have the heart to truly scold the teen. They watched heartbroken as the boy continued to cry.
Tatsumi felt his heart break as he stared at the weeping child. Then he turned his attention back to Master Takakura. "Master Takakura, she also wanted me to give you this message. She said to tell the old man thank you for caring for me as though I was his child. Tell him that even though my memories of them will be sealed away that I will love him and everyone else forever."
The elder man sobbed loudly as tears flowed from his ancient black eyes. She was truly gone. His sweet lovable troublemaking brat was gone. Then he raised his tear stained face up to stare at the young guardian and smiled through his tears. "Did you see them? . . . Did you see her wings?"
"Yes, I saw them," Tatsumi said smiling through his own tears. "And they were beautiful." He lowered his head and continued to cry. He noticed some red thread wrapped around his hand. As he looked at his arms he noticed that the red thread was wrapped all around him and it was glowing. Suddenly the threads began to unravel and disappear. "What's going on."
"That is the red thread of fate," said Master Takakura sadly. "It is unraveling because the person you love is gone."
"No, no," said the secretary panicking as he tried to hold on to the delicate threads but there was nothing he could do. The thread continued to unravel.
Master Takakura and the others looked on with saddened hearts as the young man tried to hold on to the thread. But they knew that nothing the shinigami tried would stop fate from unravel the thread.
Once the last of the red thread was unravel and disappeared all that remained with a golden string of light and that slowly disappeared as well. "No," he said sobbing as he wrapped his arms around his body holding himself. "Now I have nothing of her to remember. Nothing." And he sobbed helplessly as the teen walked over to him and held him tightly in his arms.
Suddenly the sound of a bell rung through the village informing the citizens that one of their own has died.
xxxxx
Later that night, there was a funeral in remembrance of their fallen warrior and members of their village. All of the warriors had returned to the village when they heard that one of their own had fallen. Mizuki was heartbroken when she heard about her friend and was frightened for the well being of Tsuzuki. It was a surprise to all of them that the first to fall was Alicia. Tatsumi was surprised to see Oriya was there along with Watari. The funeral pyre was huge as a picture of Alicia was placed on it along with her staff. Beside her picture was also a picture of her brother.
"Tsuzuki would have appreciated what you are doing for Kazutaka," Tatsumi said to Master Takakura.
"Both Alicia and her brother were members of this village," the elderly man said smiling sadly. "They have done so much for all of us. It's like I have lost a granddaughter and grandson. Wherever they are, I know that they are happy since they are together."
Then Subaru walked over to him holding Alicia's staff. Tatsumi was puzzled. Wasn't the staff on the pyre. Master Takakura smiled at the confusion on the young man's face. "The one on the fire is a copy. This is her staff. I think she would want you to have it." He placed the staff in Tatsumi's hands.
"Thank you," he said clutching it to his chest and watched as the picture of his love burned in the fire.
xxxxx
It was four weeks after the funeral and Tsuzuki was still in his hibernated sleep. Tatsumi would go and talk to his ex partner about what was happening. Life in Meifu was slowly going back to normal but everyone knew that nothing would be normal ever again. The New Year came with less enthusiasm since Tsuzuki was not there. Even Terazuma missed heckling his violet eye nemesis.
Tatsumi was sitting in his office doing some paperwork when there was a knock on the door.
"Enter."
The door opened to reveal Mizuki and a young man dressed in an expensive suit carrying a black leather briefcase. He smiled as he told them to come in and take a seat.
"Hello Mr. Tatsumi, how have you been?" Mizuki asked.
"I've been . . . okay," he said smiling sadly. "It's been hard. Sometimes I expect to see Alicia walking through that door to drag me out of my office to go have lunch." He sighed sadly as he fought back his tears and the sadness that was threatening to overcome him. "So who might this young man be?"
"My name is Chitose Koizumi. I am the lawyer for our village," said the dark hair young man.
"A lawyer?" He frowned in confusion at the man. "Why are you here?"
"A couple of weeks before her death, Alicia had changed her will." He opened his briefcase and took out some papers.
"Her . . . will?"
"Yes. I'm not going to bore you with all the mundane details because I know you are busy. I'll just say that in her will she left the bulk of her estate to you," said the lawyer.
"Me?" Tatsumi stared at the young man like he had grown another head. "I don't understand."
"She left her estate to you. She did leave the village a tidy fortune. That was something she did not change. But the apartment building, the island in Hawaii, land she has here and in the states, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, shareholdings, everything else was left to you. She only asked that you continue to let the people from the village stay in the apartment complex rent free," said the lawyer. "I went ahead and finalized everything for you. All you have to do is sign these papers and if you want you can move into her apartment." He placed the papers for him to sign on the desk.
"H-How much are we talking about?"
"Her estate is worth 15.3 billion dollars."
Tatsumi nearly fell out of his chair as he stared at the young man sitting across the desk from him. He could not believe what he was hearing. He always knew she was rich but he never knew exactly how rich she was. But he would gladly give away every drop of the money to get her back. Could he take what she had worked all her life to amass. Maybe he should just tell the lawyer to disperse it out to all the charities around the world.
Mizuki seeing the dilemma in the older man's eyes spoke. "She would want you to have it."
Tatsumi stared down at the papers dazedly and then back up at the two sitting before him. Mizuki smiled nodding her head. He picked up his pen and signed the ten forms that the lawyer placed on his desk. Then the young man took the papers and placed them in his briefcase. "Thank you, I'll have copies made and sent to you."
"Chitose, can you wait outside for a moment," said Mizuki. The young man stood, bowed and walked out. "Now, tell me, how are you really doing?"
"Well, I feel as though my heart has been ripped from my chest and I feel numb all over." He shrugged his shoulders. "But all in all, I guess I am doing as well as can be expected."
"If you need anyone to talk to you know you can come to me or to Master Takakura." She smiled at him.
"Thank you."
"So, how is Asato doing?"
Tatsumi sighed. "Well, he is still in his hibernating sleep. The doctor said the infant is stable so all we have to do is wait for the time for the baby to be born."
"How long?" asked Mizuki.
"According to what we were told by their mother, in about two months and one week. It might not be that long."
"Well, I'll be back to see him. If it's okay."
"Of course," said Tatsumi smiling. "I'm sure he will be happy to hear someone else's voice besides mine."
Mizuki smiled as she stood up. "You shouldn't be sad. Alicia wouldn't like seeing that look of sorrow on your face." Her smile became bright, warm and wide. "She would want you to smile and enjoy your afterlife. She would also wish for you to move on and not to mourn her passing."
"Thank you for the advice and I will take it." Tatsumi removed his glasses and sighed sadly. "But for now I would like to mourn her just a little while longer." He turned to look out the window. Although it was a bright sunny day and the air was filled with cherry blossom petals, it was dark and storming in his heart. "You know before all this happened. I was going to ask Alicia to marry me. Now, it's too late." He lowered his head as tears fell from his eyes.
Mizuki walked up behind his chair and rest a hand on his shoulder. "Remember, you are not alone. You have everyone here supporting you."
"I know," he said continuing to look out the window. "Again, thank you and good-bye."
Mizuki sighed sadly. She said good-bye and left him alone.
Tatsumi watched as Mizuki and Chitose walked away from the building. He sighed as he stared up at the blue sky. "I miss you so much, Alicia."
