The screams of ayakashi filled the silent night air.

I could feel it from my skin…

The neck I grasped in my palm, vibrating in a high pitch scream as I mercilessly smashed the skull against the rock hard ground, shattering the bone. I stood, my hand still pressing down upon the dead body, my hand drenched with the corpse's blood.

The edge of my lips slowly curved upward.

I was smiling. However, I wasn't smiling at the corpse as I used to. Instead, I was smiling at myself…at how ironically boring I found this to be.

No, perhaps not boring.

What was it–…Disgusting?

Yes…

Disgust

I was disgusted at the crimson liquid staining my hands. Disgusted at the lifeless body I held, at the corpses scattered around me. However, I wasn't allowed much time to analyze anymore of yet another newly found emotion when I felt a presence coming from my behind. I stood, stretching my arms out as I yawned softly. I waited for the presence to come closer. Once it came to my range, I stretched my wing and it slammed into a youkai who was just about to pounce onto my back. I then shifted the center of my gravity to my palm that was still pinning the once-alive-thing to the earth. With a twist of my body, I performed a spin kick and sent the ayakashi around me flying.

"Hey, don't you think you're gaining a little weight there, Miu-sama?"

Jorougumo chuckled within the distance; her eyes locked against the lantern I've been holding within my left arm. I smirked upon hearing her words. With a flip, I flew into the air, returning to my feet as I landed upon the pile of corpses. "I don't need someone who drags her feet behind her back to lecture me about weight." I told her before stretching out my wings and gave a powerful flap. A hurricane of wind was whipped up around my body, my feathers turning and toasting violently in the current. With a snap of my finger, the wind disbursed, sending my feathers flying out from all different directions and into the open space. I stared with plain expression as my feathers' quills pierced through the remaining ayakashi and youkai like arrows.

I then raised a finger. My feathers that were scattered around the area – as though lifted by an invisible string – flew into the air and returned to my side. "Why don't we prove how fast you are then?" The minute I spoke the final words, my blood filled feathers shot towards Jorougumo. I stood, my smirk never leaving my face as I watched the quills of my feathers aiming to drill holes through that hideous form of hers.

However, my smirk was soon wiped off by a smirk of her own. Ironically, she stood still.

She was waiting.

I didn't exactly know what she was waiting for…but she was waiting with confidence. The Jorougumo I knew who always acted rashly whenever provoked, was surprisingly calm. It was almost as though she knew my feathers wouldn't be able to reach her or somethnig. I stared from my spot, my feathers only a millisecond away from piercing through her.

Then…that's when I saw it.

The split second before she did a sidestep to avoid my attack…I saw it.

I was so shocked by the scene that my body had frozen stiff. My mind was suddenly overwhelmed by horror…of that hideous colour that flashed within Jorougumo's right eye. I saw it clearly…that monstrous golden orb.

A hideous colour that only one being in this world have…

"You…can't be…"

I whispered softly before blinking to suddenly find Jorougumo before me. With a twist of her body, she threw her leg up for a blow towards my head. I saw through her attack quite easily so I simply raised my hand. I intended to grab her ankle, to twist it so that she may never walk upon that human leg of hers again.

But I saw it again.

It was as though the time had slowed. Right before I was able to grab her, I saw the colour of her iris morphing into the colour of amber. Then the leg that I had planned to grasp vanished from the corner of my eyes. I wasn't even given a chance to react before feeling a harsh blow against my head from the opposite direction. I fell from the mountain of corpses, falling wing first onto the blood stained ground.

"Sweet dreams, Miu-sama!"

Jorougumo's laughter filled the air. I quickly looked up to see her standing upon the spot where I had stood. Her body was stretched back. Her mouth wide open, inhaling the surrounding air. Being all too familiar with this pattern, I quickly leaped onto my feet and spread my wings. With a flap, I soared into the night sky. However, I wasn't able to get far when my back soon smashed against an invisible wall. "What is this…?" I gasped as I tried to move my wings, but found myself couldn't.

I was glued to the sky.

"This is…"

I whispered before quickly taking a closer look at the sky. I couldn't see it at first, but when a tiny bit of moonlight peered out from the gaps of the clouds, I noticed the air around me sparkled.

It was webs.

The entire area was covered in a gigantic spider web. "That's impossible…" I gasped before quickly looking back down at Jorougumo. I had been keeping my eyes on her while fighting and she never moved an inch. There was no way she could have spun a web at such large scale.

"If you think I'm the same as seven years ago, you're sadly mistaken."

Jorougumo snapped as I noticed her cheeks puffing up. I immediately began to struggle, violently trashing my wings in attempt to free myself. But no matter how I tried, I couldn't pull myself free from the sticky web.

"For Mouyou-sama's sake, I'll spare your face!"

When my glaze turned down, I saw nothing but a stream of greenish acid coming closer into my view…towards the lantern. I quickly spread out my wings as wide as I could and folded it in front of me as shield. The split second the acid reaches me, I spun my body as hard as I could on the web, turning myself sideways in attempt to protect the worthless object.

"AAAH!" I screamed. My arms clenched onto the lantern tighter. I could feel the burning pain, literally melting through the bones of my wings. My eyes were wide open, too painful to shut as I witnessed holes being melted through my feathery wings. The greenish acid was splattered all over the side of my body, painting half of me with its disgusting colour. I could feel the acid frizzling within the holes melted through my torso, ribcage...and eventually, the liquid reached into my lungs.

It was ironic, for that there was nothing but the word hollow inside this body of mine. Yet I could always tell, which organ of mine received the damage.

My cry was silenced, though my lips showed otherwise. Not long later, the voice that was supposed to flow through my dried lips was replaced by crimson fluid.

The fluid that carries the disgusting taste of copper.

"Hehehe...finally! After 12 years! We got her! We got her, Mouyou-sama!."

Jorougumo's muffled laughter of delight buzzed against my eardrums. Giving out another heavy cough, I slowly gazed down only to discover the lantern now half of what it used to be. "A-Ah…" I gasped, unable to hide the bitterness from my face. "You don't have time to worry about that silly lantern of yours." Hearing that irritating voice, I slowly turned. My eyes were narrowed in a death glare upon Jorougumo. There she was, sitting upon a gigantic spider youkai at the center of a larger web above me.

"So…the web is that spi-…!"

I broke into sections of coughs again, unable to properly finish my sentence. "You have certainly grown weak, Miu-sama. No, shall I say it's we who have grown stronger?" The spider brain exclaimed. "…W-…We?" I coughed softly upon her words. "Finally, Finally Miu-…" Jorougumo didn't finish what she has intended to say. That confident expression of victory was strangely replaced by shock as she stared down at me.

"What's with that face?" She gasped. It was then when I heard it…the soft cracking sound emitting from my own body. My eyes widened in horror. I quickly looked down at my arms to see that my body was filled with cracks. The damage was too much for the body to hold, it has begun breaking down. "…If I don't release it soon…!" I gasped before looking down at the lantern.

My eyes were then filled with hesitation.

"What the hell's going on…?"

Jorougumo whispered as she stared at a part of my skin that fell from my cheek. "It's empty…hollow…? This is…"

Within the darkness of the night, I saw it again. The colour of her right iris illuminating in a golden colour.

"A fake body?"

One sentence spoken from one pair of lips, yet two voices overlapped.

One belonged to Jorougumo…the other one so familiar that it sent shivers down my spine.

"What is this…explain yourself!"

Jorougumo's voice boomed as the spider youkai she was riding on gave out an ear piercing cry. "So…that's how it…is…" I whispered softly, getting over my shock as I finally solved the puzzle. My body went limp against the sticky web, staring motionlessly as thousands of webs shot out of the spider's mouth, aimed right at me. "So that's…how it is…!" I hissed. Ignoring the pain itching from my wounds, I raised the feather of the lantern that was clutched within my hand.

"W-What are you–…?"

Jorougumo gasped, seeming to realize what I was planning on doing. "Adios." I whispered before my muscles in my arm tightened. I gritted my teeth, the feather squeezed tightly within my palm. "I guess…" I whispered softly as I stared at all those hundreds of web that were melting together, becoming one. My glaze then softened. I found my thought drifting back…

Back to the wish I wrote upon my lantern.

"I'm an idiot after all…"

With a thrust, I aimed the quill directly towards my throat.

"Stop! Stop Stop Stop! Mouyou-sama stop her!" Jorougumo's screams filled the air.

Just before quill was able to drill through the thin flesh of my neck, I suddenly felt a force stopping me. "Wha…?" I gasped, my eyes snapping open as I slowly turned to see a large hand grasping at my wrist. The quill of my feather was scrapping against my neck, drawing out tiny bits of blood.

"Ah! My baby!"

Jorougumo screamed, followed by the cry of her gigantic spider. I slowly looked up only to catch a glimpse of blood splattering out of the spider. What happened next, I didn't know. The world before my eyes was in a blur. The wind slammed against me harshly that I couldn't open my eyes. All I was able to hear are the snapping sounds of webs.

By the time my eyes reopened I found myself at ground level – my body wilted within two pairs of arms. I was covered under the shadow of an umbrella. Out side of the shadow, rains of spider blood fell through the cloud covered sky, contaminating the scared land.

"Are you alright?"

A voice whispered within the shadow that snapped me out of shock. I slowly let my glaze trailed from the scarlet rain to my savior. The first thing that caught my eyes was those crimson eyes…eyes that I had dreamt of through those 5 long years. Though he had matured considerably, I could still recognize him.

That long, white and black hair, that confident look plastered over that face…

"…Do I look alri-ugh!"

My body quivered as I bit down on my lower lips to swallow back a scream. I panted softly, beats of sweat continued rolling down my forehead. Just when I was about to part my lips to ask why he was here; Jorougumo's scream erupted through the air.

"How dare you kill my baby! Who are you? Get out! Get out!"

I held the remains of the lantern tighter. Through my limited view of my perspective, I saw acids and webs raining randomly over the forest. Through my ears, I caught the sounds of multiple explosions. 'She can't see us?' I thought, finding it odd since we were standing in such wide open space.

There shouldn't be anyway that spider brain couldn't see us no matter how blind she was. Now that the sky was freed of blood rain, Rikuo tossed the umbrella aside, revealing the night sky with Jorougumo over the dead spider body upon the broken up spider web, screaming.

'I see…so this is…his fear.' I thought quietly to myself.

"Why…are you here?" I mumbled as Rikuo stared down at me. Then without a word, he held up a lantern…one I found myself immediately recognizing. After all, I did spent two nights glaring at it.

"That's…"

I choked form the shock as Rikuo slowly turned the lantern around to reveal the wish written on the opposite side.

Sake beneath the moon

That was the wish.

The wish I wrote upon the rice paper cover of the lantern.