Disclaimer: Hakuouki is a visual novel game by Idea Factory. (They make a bunch of cute guys! Drools. So I always look up new series just so I can stare at them~) Hakuouki then was adapted into an Anime by Studio DEEN. And today, the Anime series is licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America. (I got this information from Wikipedia and I believe the information is accurate. I wouldn't know though!)

"Forever" will not keep us connected

Chapter 21

"Kanon, where are you?"

The little girl lifted her head up in a forest with tall dried grasses. "Over here, Aunt Akiko!" Kanon called. "I found a injured person!"

"Oh, Kanon, don't you…" a young woman merged from the tall grasses. She was a woman with very long brown ankle-length hair and her eyes were in the color of the brown earth. She had trailed off in her sentence when her eyes lay upon Kanon. And there was another girl on the ground.

Perhaps at the same age, the mysterious girl seemed unconscious. Her short hair was blond and bruises were covering all over her arms and legs. "I think she's still alive," Kanon pointed, looking at Akiko innocently.

"That poor child…" Akiko paced to them and kneeled down. She picked the girl with the blond hair and studied the young face carefully. The little girl was still breathing and her pained expression appeared as if she was having a bad dream. "Her hair… she really must have come from so far."

"Can I heal her?" Kanon pressed her cheek to Akiko, her eyes on the other girl.

With a soft smile, Akiko kissed Kanon's cheek. "No, but let's bring her to the village," Akiko suggested, standing up with the little girl with blond hair in her arms. "Perhaps we can do something to save her life."

Kanon beamed and her hand grabbed for Akiko's pink sleeve. "Yay!" she cheered. "Time to save another life!"

[…^…]

It was the next day. Kyou mentioned he met Haru in the same town before, so they were cautious about going back there. Simply checking how the enemy was moving. It was mostly Sanosuke's job to do that. They were certain Haru knew something about how they move as well, which was why Ryunosuke was teleporting them every now and then. They continued this for two more days. And the enemy had been silent for some reason.

Furthermore, there was one thing that was so out of the picture… Sanosuke had noticed Kanon had looked rather nauseated since the last two days.

"Kanon… I think you're pregnant," Kyou whispered.

His words hit her like a ghost running through her body. Kanon was sitting on the ground with her bare feet in the flowing river. Behind her were Kyou and Kyuuju, who stared at her frozen back. The other men had gone to bathe. As for Ryunosuke and Kosuzu, the two of them went to get snacks for everyone to eat.

"…I'm what?" Kanon's eyes were wide opened. She gaped at the waters and tried to be calm.

Kyou grunted, feeling uncomfortable. "I think… and I do think… you're having a baby," Kyou then nudged Kyuuju's arm.

"Yes," Kyuuju said, his voice clear and still.

There was silence and Kanon slowly covered her face with her hands. "…Noooooo," she murmured. "No, no, no…"

"Yes," Kyuuju uttered once more. Kyou nudged him again, lightly glaring to the tall Oni. Kyuuju did not respond to the bluehead though.

Kanon took a deep breath and turned in her seat with one leg out of the river. "How does that work?" she inquired with an upside down smile. "Was it because… um… Yuma… he…" her face turned red while the two Oni stared at her blankly. "Please don't tell anyone."

"Amagiri, don't you think it's too early for Kanon to have signs of pregnancy?" Kyou stared at him. He was not an expert on this topic.

"…Perhaps," Kyuuju nodded, looking at him. "But it may vary."

Whining, Kanon stood up and bowed to them. "Please, please, please don't tell anybody!" she begged.

"Okay, we got it," Kyou promised, frowning at her. "But really…" She fixed her eyes to him and he sighed. "If you're really pregnant, you can't hide it forever."

Kanon slapped her face and paced around in circles. This was truly a horror. "…In that case," she determinedly made a fist and lifted her chin up to the sky. "After we're done with Haru, I shall escape! No one will ever know!"

"Being a single mother is quite harsh," Kyuuju warned in a considerate manner.

"I can't bear to let any of them know!" Kanon walked toward him. She took Kyuuju's arms and tried to shake him, but failed to because he was as hard as a heavy stone. "What do you expect me to do? Get rid of the baby? Is there some kind of magic to make it go away?"

At the same time as Kyuuju had no comment, Kyou faced to her. "Kanon, you can't do that," he judged. (A/N: in Japan, abortion was legalized in 1948.)

"Shiranui is right," Kyuuju closed his eyes to heave a sigh. Kanon whimpered and hugged Kyuuju desperately, who was as still as a statue. "You are carrying a life, Kanon-san. You must accept it."

She groaned and slid her face down on his chest, slowly back away. 'But… I'm not ready,' she kept her thoughts to herself, playing with her fingers. And she was not ready to be a mother. The idea of it scared her and she tried to remain composed. And now she felt like shouting. She needed to find a way to let it out. So Kanon turned her body to the river. Cupping her mouth, she exclaimed, "Damn you, Haruuuuu!"

"What's wrong now?" Souji's voice was heard.

Kyuuju and Kyou shut their mouths right away as Kanon instantly moved her body, seeing as Souji was running his hand through his wet hair. He had just amble down along the river and he stopped when Kanon practically stomped right in his direction. Souji stopped walking, blinking as Kanon drew both of her short swords.

"Souji, prepare yourself!" she angrily shouted, dashing now.

"Hey—" he stared blankly. His hand took his katana as he quickly drew it out when she struck her blade. Guarding against her, her right blade hit against his katana and the two of them pushed against each other. He smirked as her eyes clearly were filled with a sudden rage. "I'm not your punching bag, Kanon."

She pouted annoyingly and struck with her left hand that held another blade. Souji's eyes shifted to it and he gave her a harsh push with his katana as he backed away, swinging his blade outwards to block her blade again. "Tsk!" she raised her left hand to have her sword slide up against the handle of his katana.

Within that instant, Souji snickered and his katana knocked her blade away easily. She was surprised and he commented, "That's strange, is your strength weakening?"

"No, of course not!" she retorted, blindingly charging forward to attack with other sword. Her grip was not strong enough when he seemed to have magically knocked it out of her hand as well. Souji used his left hand to grab her shoulder, twirling her around and pulled her back up against his chest. Losing a bit of balance, she blinked with a red face as he securely held her.

The reason she blushed was because being close to a man reminded her of Yuma. He had been the only one who was so close to her. Quickly, she tried to erase the process of that thought and anything with Yuma.

"I think you've lost your touch," Souji whispered with a smirk, enjoying holding her. "Kanon."

Saburo jumped from the air and kicked right into Souji's spine. "DON'T TOUCH HER!" Saburo angrily glared. His own hair was wet from bathing.

Kyou and Kyuuju ignored the scene as Kanon and Souji both almost fell off balance. She escaped at the same time and Souji steadied his footing and shot an irritated look to Saburo, who had put his hands on his hips. "Saburo-kun," Souji hissed with an eyebrow twitching.

After gaining her own balance, Kanon glanced back casually. She watched the two men sending sparks of war by staring at each other. That was when she realized it. 'Ohhhhh, god,' her eyes flattened. Though, she was not so sure. Maybe, just maybe… the two men had interests in her. She hated having to see them like this and thought, 'I probably should confess… about… the baby.'

You know. To make them stop fighting over her.

If she did not tell them now, they would have fought over nothing. And she had no desire to break their hearts. Should she tell them? Should she? Kanon could not bring herself to do it and only went to pick up her short swords from the ground. She just felt so humiliated for not looking after herself that certain night. And what if she really was not pregnant and just was sick?

When Souji returned his katana into its sheath, his back ached. "Ouch…" Souji mumbled, rubbing his back.

Saburo's eyes widened and he hurried to Souji. "Oh my god, are you okay?!" he panicked, looking really worried.

"Of course not," Souji grinned, winking to him. "You used too much force. If I known you were heartless, I would have kept my guard up."

"I'm sorry," Saburo cringed, feeling even worse. He did not mean to hurt Souji. It was out of blind fury. Saburo's eyes searched for Kanon, who stood a few ways from them. "Kanon-san, can you help heal Okita-san?"

Kanon let out a sigh, "Don't harm him if you're going to feel sorry."

"Please?" Saburo smiled nervously, putting his palms together in front of his lips.

She rubbed the back of her head with one eye closed while Souji smirked over to her. '…Lately, something has been strange about my healing power too,' she noted to herself. She could feel it changing inside of her. Thinking about the conversation with Kyuu and Kyuuju, she concluded, 'Is it because I'm carrying another life inside of me?'

"Kanon-san?" Saburo waved, making a blank expression.

Her eyes snapped out of it and she blinked a couple of times. "Uh, yeah, sure," she nodded, walking over to Souji. The green-eyed man could not stop smirking and Kanon narrowed her eyes with a second thought. Within a few more steps, she tapped her finger on his forehead.

Every man watched the light faintly flashing by and nothing else. She marched off and Souji gave her a weird face. "Kanon, what happened with the forehead-to-forehead?" he inquired curiously. He now recalled she also tapped on Kyuuju's head to free him from the mind control too.

Giving thumbs up without looking back, she said, "I got stronger."

"Really, powers grow?" Souji followed her, even more interested.

Kanon paused in her steps and Souji stood by her side. Folding her arms to her chest, she tilted her head, "You know what… I think they do."

With wonder, she tapped her finger on her chin as Saburo moved to face her. "Really?" he beamed, excited. "How will my grow?"

"I don't know," she shrugged and stopped thinking about. "No one told me about it." She had no other excuse because she refused to tell them about the change in her body. Which was why she had to make stuff up. "Maybe it's just me? …But if I notice one of you and the others' powers growing, then I can confirm it."

"What if it takes years?" Kyou asked. She shrugged to him and he then looked to Kyuuju. "…What's your power?"

"I do not need such a thing," Kyuuju remarked with his eyes staring nowhere.

Kanon chuckled, "Yeah, he told me not to tell him either. I haven't checked what kind of power he had… so…"

"Why don't you look anyway?" Souji nudged her. "Just in case we need an extra help when the time comes."

"Not a bad idea," Kyou nodded. Kyuuju said nothing as Kanon began to studied the tall Oni carefully.

Ryunosuke and Kosuzu teleported between them, both carrying baskets. "Old Man Fukui sneaked some fruits to us," Ryunosuke said, gesturing the basket to them.

Kanon looked away from Kyuuju. "How are they doing?" she inquired, walking to the couple.

"They're fine," Ryunosuke smiled with relief.

Kosuzu was smiling too and Kanon felt at ease. As long as the Fukui Family were safe, then nothing else really mattered. …However, finding Haru was still their first goal. Sanosuke had mentioned he could not find Yuma or Ren anywhere.

Just where did the enemies go?

[…^…]

"Hajime… correct me if I'm wrong," Sanosuke started. The two of them were walking back after bathing last. Hajime looked to the taller man at the corner of his eyes. "Shiranui was the one who watched over Kanon-chan that night at the brothel, yes?"

With a simple nod, he replied, "That is right." He wanted to ask why, but Sanosuke continued discussing.

"And Kanon had to 'free' Shiranui from the mind control too…" Sansouke rubbed his chin and his eyes serious. "Do you think he met Haru during that time as well?"

Hajiime collected himself first. It sounded possible. "I would assume that myself," he answered. "The reason I believe so was because he was with Amagiri before Shiranui said he would go and check on Kanon-san… Amagiri was under her mind control for some time, as we all familiar with. However… Shiranui may not have known about Amagiri." It was hard to analysis this without asking the Onis. Hajime was not even sure where his thoughts were leading.

"So, if Shiranui was under the mind control… and from what you told me just now, he offered to keep an eye on Kanon-chan… Do you suppose something happened to her that night?" Sanosuke stared at him. They both stopped walking and looked to each other to consider the matter. Hajime was dead silent and Sanosuke broke off the stare. "Never mind. Let's ask Shiranui if anything actually occurred when we were not around."

"Inform me of something first, Sano," Hajime wanted to say before they moved on. Sanosuke nodded, smiling to him. "Is there reason why you are asking these questions?"

Sanosuke emit a long, deep breath, expressing concern. "Have you noticed when we're cooking and eating?" he inquired. Hajime blinked and gave no answer. "Kanon-chan… looked like she wanted to throw up. I think I caught her running off and actually… vomiting."

"…And?" Hajime studied Sanosuke's face. He was not sure where Sanosuke was going with this, but he knew Sanosuke was worried about the situation very much.

After a long pause, Sanosuke's eyes met Hajime's. "She was always healthy. At least, to me, she was. …So, I feel that…" he slowly uttered. "I feel she may be pregnant… or something."

"Sano, this is not a joking matter," Hajime quickly said with his eyes widening a bit. "Why do you think Kanon-san is… with a child?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Sanosuke admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "Maybe she's simply sick … but she had been sleeping a little more often too, like she was always tired. And those two traits of Kanon-chan had me concluded them as signs of pregnancy. I know this is too much to think, and I'm not a doctor either, but…"

Hajime closed his eyes and shook his head. With a short train of thoughts, he opened his eyes and glanced away. "…That would explain one thing," he murmured.

Curious and his chest tightening, Sanosuke queried, "Explain what?"

"…Regarding the way Yuma and Kanon-san were acting toward one another the other day," Hajime fixed his gaze to Sanosuke again. Sanosuke looked surprised as it hit him. Hajime mentioned this because he was watching the whole scene that time. He was not standing around for nothing. "I am positive of how they both were hesitant toward each other."

Sanosuke's hand covered his mouth and his eyebrows twitched. "…No…way…" he grumbled quietly. "Do you think… Yuma and Kanon-chan…? Does she know about this herself? I… would imagine her telling us… or…" What in the world could have happened?

Hajime now sighed and lowered his eyes. "…If Shiranui had not mentioned it—"

"But what if he doesn't know either?" Sanosuke raised the question cautiously. "Oh wait… you said he kept an eye on her… oh, but maybe he never did either." He ran his hand in his hair and tried to make sense of the conversation.

"Whether any of them know or not," Hajime shifted himself to face away. He heard Saburo's laughter in the distance. "We should ask Shiranui and Kanon-san about it."

"Hold on," Sanosuke grabbed his shoulder, squinting his eyes. Hajime slightly stared at him silently. "What if Kanon-chan does know? Since she and Yuma were… you know. And what if she didn't want us to know?"

"Do you suggest we wait until she is ready to tell us?" Hajime inquired.

Sanosuke was taken back and his hand returned to his side. "…I think we should," he nodded faintly. "…She might break down if we ask… And if we talk to Shiranui, he probably lied as well. He's the type to do that after all."

"Very well then," Hajime gave him his notice. "In the meantime, we should focus back to locate Haru."

The air felt uncomfortable. Sanosuke let out groan and tried to smile. "Yeah… let's do that." That was all they could do. If Kanon needed help, Sanosuke believed everyone would assist her no matter what. "But what if she really doesn't know? She's still young and probably—"

"Sano," Hajime looked to him seriously.

With teleportation, Ryunosuke appeared before them and frowned. The two men stopped talking right away. "Geez, hurry up if you're both done taking a bath," Ryunosuke told them, but teleported them anyway. The three of them were now with the other group, who were eating apples. "We're going to eat everything without the two of you."

"Heh, thanks, Ryunosuke," Sanosuke patted on his head. At the back of his mind though, Sanosuke was still very concerned for Kanon. His eyes laid on her and she was giggling with Kosuzu about something.

Saburo waved to them, "Shiranui-san was just about to talk about how Haru looked like… Although, I'm sure Amagiri-san had a clearer image of her."

"Oh?" Hajime walked to them. Kosuzu went up to them and offered him a green apple. Hajime took it with a nod to regard her and she went to Ryunosuke. "How does Haru appear like?"

"Probably the same age as Kanon," Kyou shrugged. "Slightly older, maybe?"

Kyuuju nodded, "The length of her blond hair is as long as her shoulders… and her eyes are pink."

Kanon blinked, '…Blond hair and pink eyes?' Where had she seen someone like that before?

"Some woman at the same age as Kanon?" Souji raised an eyebrow. "…And she could use her mind control that well?"

"Yeah, sounds fishy," Ryunosuke thought out loud, throwing an apple to Sanosuke. Even Ryunosuke could not use his power as well as how Haru constantly used her.

"Perhaps…" Sanosuke caught the apple whilst thinking hard. "Perhaps Haru was saved by Kanon-chan's clan long ago?"

Kosuzu touched her chin, blinking to Sanosuke. "That is highly possible," she agreed. Her eyes drifted to Kanon and she inquired, "What do you think, Kanon-chan?"

Kanon dropped her eaten apple, frozen in her spot. "Shit," Kanon looked like she just realized it. "I think… I met Haru before…"

"Eh?!" Saburo shockingly looked at her. Everyone all did the same, but for Kyuuju had a lighter expression. "Kanon-san, are you sure?!"

Souji stared to her and was just completely surprised.

"Uh… yeah," Kanon nodded, rubbing her head with her palm. "I believe so … except… I was still under the age of ten… maybe I was nine?" She could not recall it, but Kanon felt so sure about a girl from that day. And it creep her out. "But I remember those strange pink eyes… and her hair was as yellow as a straw hat. Her name wasn't Haru either… Or was it?"

Everyone was quiet. And stumped. Kanon had met Haru as a kid? How small was the world? Even though it was a given, because Kanon's clan only lived in one place, but… they would have never guessed this.

"Do you suppose her power grew over these years then?" Kyuuju inquired, his eyes on Kanon.

Saburo snapped his fingers, "That would make so much sense! Did anyone even realize how long she used her mind controlling powers over Ren and Yuma? …That means powers do grow over time!"

"Then Haru's one of a hell of enemy," Sanosuke commented, narrowing his eyes to the ground. "If Kanon-chan said she was around ten years old… and Haru was about the same age as her… that would mean Haru had her power for at least five years."

Kanon frowned to herself, 'I don't remember if that little girl from back then even knew about her power… none of the villagers would have told her either.' Would that mean Haru somehow learned about it herself? 'Wait, did any one even healed her?' Kanon continued to ask herself. The past was such a blur.

Kyou's mouth dropped. He looked to Kyuuju and inquired, "You know Haru more, right? Have you noticed or heard anything strange about her? Like if she used her power over the Kazama Clan… or anything of the sort?"

Everyone gazed to Kyuuju and his eyelids flinched. "…No, I never heard such a thing," he told them. "However, it would appear she begun to use it when Kazama Chikage was found dead."

Hajime closed his eyes to that statement. "How did she learn of Kazama's death?" he queried.

Kyuuju answered normally, "I do not possess that information."

A sigh escaped Ryunosuke's lips. He was too confused about everything and tried very hard not to say anything. The same with Kosuzu, but she was more calmer than he was.

"Heh," Souji smirked, sneering. His arms folded up to his chest and he glanced around. "I say Haru can't use her power forever. She isn't a God. Her power is bound to stop working from overuse, am I wrong?"

Sanosuke nodded to him, "I think so too. And when that happens, it would be our chance." They would just have to find her before then.

Everyone had a moment of silence. They all appeared to be thinking really hard. Kosuzu's eyes moved to Kanon and she noticed something. "Kanon-chan?" Kosuzu called, almost moving her feet to walk to her.

Kanon winced and wrapped her stomach with her arms. "Sorry, I need to go to take a dump!" she embarrassingly ran off quickly. "No peeking and don't follow me! You too, Sanosuke! Don't use your power to check on me!" She did not want to hear their reactions and rushed away from them as fast as possible.

No one followed her and she ran a little further just in case. Her legs were shaking and her stomach hurt. Or was it something else? Kanon went around a big tree and placed her left palm on against the tree. Lowering her head, her other hand clenched her clothes around her belly. She bent her knees and closed her eyes with her nails clawing the bark of the tree. Sitting on her ankles, she begun panting and held her stomach with both arms once more.

The air felt cold. A dim black light glowed around her and moved like an ashy mist. She opened her eyes and felt a sweat coming down her face. 'What's wrong with me?' she thought to herself, studying the black light. Her body was shaking from the pain and she tried to hold in her groan.

She shut her eyes again and concentrated. Beginning to trace her own power within her, she breathed quietly. But then something snapped in her head and she opened her eyes. The black light was gone and she covered her mouth when she felt ill. Struggling to soothe her whole body, she breathed back and forth slowly. Her muscles felt really tired and she barely wanted to move.

'…Yuma's an Oni,' she thought, forcing herself to stand up. 'Does me feeling this sick have something to do with him?' There had to be an explanation, for there was that strange black light. And when she looked into her own power a few seconds ago, something seemed to have blocked her out from it. Her right hand ran down her belly and her frightened eyes became watery. '…Is it the baby?'

Kanon stood very still and was unwilling to budge. Her power was all over the place as she tried to hold it back. She covered her mouth again when she felt more unwell as she carried another thought in her mind. It would seem her power was growing too fast. She could tell that Saburo, Souji, Hajime, Kyou, and Kyuuju were able to be away from her in a longer distance now. That was good she could grasp her power was growing.

But what if she was unable to stop it if it got out of hand?

Beginning to understand why this was happening, she bit her lower lip. 'I… need to get rid of the baby,' Kanon reckoned. She felt no attachment to it. Therefore, the sooner she rid of it, the better.

She feared her power was going off the chart because of the new life inside of her. She had the cursed Oni blood … and she carried a child with Yuma, a true Oni. That truly was not a good match.

What she miscalculated though, Yuma came from the same Oni Clan who had cursed her family line in the first place.

Thanks for reading!