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 23
Two young women were standing in the middle of the wildness, facing west and waiting patiently. They were the same people from the Blooming Flowers Brothel, one still dressed in yellow and the other in pink. Tall trees surrounded them and the sun bright in the sky over their heads.
Currently within sight, a black carriage showed up down the road, dragged by two black furred horses. Before it even came close, the woman in the pink kimono beamed to the one in yellow. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she inquired.
The one in yellow smiled faintly and her yellow eyes met the woman with the pink eyes. "Yes," she nodded. "I want to go back."
"Alright," the pink-eyed young woman nodded once. "…Then there is no going back after all of this."
"…We've already come this far," the young woman in the yellow kimono stated quietly. "Of course there's no going back… Right, Lady Haru?"
Haru's voice rung in their heads, 'Obviously.' Her voice was strong and decisive. And no regrets. The two young women looked back to the black carriage, which drew nearer. Haru then visualized, 'No one is going to remember in the end. Perhaps only Kanon and I will remember.'
The yellow-eyed girl lowered her gaze and felt a bit saddened with a silent thought. 'Sorry… Ayumu-kun,' she closed her eyes to relax them, hearing the carriage closing in on them.
There was no lament. This was the egotistic path they all had chosen.
[…^…]
The sound of horses galloping was suddenly heard close by as if from nowhere. Souji looked to the left and saw Ryunosuke returning with Kyou and Saburo. They must have just teleported there, which would explain the sudden noises of the horses.
And the next strangest thing was, an enormous red light passed by, touching the ground and high above everybody, which colored the sky purple.
Kanon looked up first, confused, "What the hell?" Was it Haru's doing again? What kind of trick did she have up her sleeves this time?
"Hey, guys!" Ryunosuke called, waving his hand. "The bandits—"
"We know already," Souji quickly told him and pointed back to Sanosuke. He and the two girls were on the horses.
Ryunosuke blinked and made his horse slow down. Over with Saburo, Kyou was standing on the horse behind the seated Saburo. While Kyou was staring at the purple sky oddly, Ryunosuke fixed his gaze to Kosuzu and Kanon. The two girls shared a horse and Kanon was holding the reins.
"Is it just me, or is that Haru's doing?" Kyou narrowed his eyes that were still staring at the sky.
"Of course it's her doing!" Kanon pouted. "And I think I should still confront her alone."
"Shut up, Kanon," Souji remarked annoyingly without looking at her. He could feel her glare after that. "Turning the sky and its color… what kind of power is that?"
Ryunosuke grunted with no answer to let out.
Sanosuke sighed, "Haru must have a lot of people helping her…"
"But that make no sense!" Saburo cried, complaining. "Who in the world would want to help someone like her?"
"Unless she's using her mind control over them?" Souji shrugged, his hand gripping on his own arm. He was struggling to calm his nerves down, but something just felt so wrong about… everything.
Sanosuke frowned and used his power, but then it did not activate. He turned his body around and tested his power again. '…Why is my power not working?' he shockingly asked himself. There was nothing happening when he tried once more. And still nothing.
In Kosuzu's view, she saw the figures belonging to Hajime and Kyuuju. Hajime was riding his horse from the area where more trees were. Kyuuju's figure leaped over a great amount of distance and he landed by Saburo's horse. "Good, everyone is back together," Kosuzu sighed with great relief.
"Sano," Souji glanced to him and noticed the confusion in his friend's eyes. "…Sano? You look pale."
"…I…" Sanosuke gulped, trying to shallow something. "…I can't seem to use my power."
Silence gloomed. However, Ryunosuke blurted out, "Hey, I can't teleport either!" He looked at his hands and glared. He wanted to teleport all of them away, but… something was gravely wrong.
Kanon furrowed her eyebrows cautiously and she fixed her gaze to Kyou. "Try using yours," she suggested, wondering if all of them somehow lost the usage of their power.
The Oni looked to the right to the free area. Raising his hand, he brought it down casually. And no results. "Uh…" Kyou blinked with no clue how to make of it.
Saburo panicked, "Kanon-san, what happened to our powers?!" He even tried to use it while they were not looking, but he too was not able to summon his blood to harden.
In the background, Hajime had already tried to control water in his body. Even he could not bring out his own power and he only kept his eyes opened for any ambush. As for Kosuzu, she had not bothered to try anything on Kanon, assuming her own power was not functioning too.
With Kyuuju glancing around for possible enemies, Kanon slightly turned the horse and Kosuzu held around her waist tighter. To the sky, Kanon glared, "Something… or someone… must be doing something to make our powers useless…" She then raised her palm to look at it. Her power felt dried as well.
This was not looking good.
"Alright, let's just make a break for it," Sanosuke told them, making his horse turn to face west. "We don't have time to figure this out."
"Yeah, good idea," Ryunosuke agreed with a firm nod. After all, there was still that group of bandits heading toward them.
Kanon watched the men turned around first and let out a soft sigh. Making her horse following their lead, they all begun to head west and the horses soon picked up their pace when they were ordered to. Kosuzu held onto Kanon securely as well. '…Kosuzu can't hold me back now that her power is not working,' Kanon thought to herself, still bent on confronting Haru.
The whole group rushed through the small woods for some time. No one was sure if the bandits was on their trail or not, but as soon as they all heard a bullet fired into the sky, they realized the bandits seemed to be a lot closer than they had anticipated.
"Damn," Souji cursed, slightly looking back. There was no one behind them, although they were running along down the hill. So his view on the horizon was blocked. Souji was between everyone else, with Ryunosuke and Sanosuke leading. Kyuuju and Hajime were the next pair while Saburo and Kyou were together. The two Onis ran as fast as the horses, which amazed the humans.
Behind Souji was Kanon with Kosuzu. 'Hm?' Souji noticed Kanon quickly covering her mouth, looking a bit disgusted.
Kanon groaned and Kosuzu inquired, "Are you alright, Kanon-chan?"
A muscle pulled around Kanon's right leg and her hands grew weary right in that very moment. The reins she held fell out of her hands and Kanon felt her head was spinning in circles. And then Kosuzu saw a black misty light surrounding Kanon's body.
"Kanon!" Souji exclaimed rather angrily.
With eyes rolling back, Kanon begun to fall towards on the right side. Kosuzu gasped, grabbing onto her, but the two of them only fell off the horse together that still ran at a fast speed. Kosuzu wrapped her arms around Kanon in hopes to shield her from the fall. The two of them landed with a loud thud and rolled a couple of times as their horse slowed down by itself.
All of the men looked back and Souji was the first to abruptly stop his horse. "Kosuzu!" Ryunosuke cried.
Souji rushed off of his horse and dashed for the girls. Kosuzu moved to sit up and realized Kanon was unconscious. And that black light that moved like smoke… it kept on glowing around Kanon.
"Kanon-chan?" Kosuzu put her head on her lap.
Saburo was now calling out, "Kanon-san!"
The moment Souji slammed his knees on the ground next to the two women; he took Kanon in his arms to shake her. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked loudly. But Kanon did not respond and her eyes remained shut. "Kanon! Can you hear me?!"
"What the hell is with that black light surrounding her?" Kyou's voice asked.
The group moved together and Ryunosuke jumped off of his horse as soon as the pace was slowed. "Kosuzu!" he cried, seeing dirt on her face.
She looked up and Ryunosuke lowered down to wipe her face to clean it. "I am fine," she winced, feeling the pain in her right arm and her back. Ryunosuke aid her to her feet and she looked away. "But Kanon-chan…"
Sanosuke remained on his horse and called out to them, "Ryunosuke, take Kosuzu with you. Souji, you take Kanon-chan. We have to get out of here."
A gunshot opened fired. A bullet had just pierced through Saburo's chest, who had fallen off the horse because of the impact. "Saburo!" Hajime shouted while Sanosuke got off of his horse right away.
All of the horses were almost alarmed by the loud sound that seemed to have gotten even closer. Kyou glared and charged forward to where the bullet had shot. Kyuuju followed him right away, and before anyone else yelled at them, the Onis disappeared as they leaped into the air.
The previous gunshot caused Kanon to open her eyes as if the bullet had hit her instead and the black light vanished within that instant. Souji was relieved, "Kanon…"
She took a moment and felt his arms tightening around her. Her face turned red and she immediately pushed him away. "W-Wha…?!" she glared to him. Keeping his hands to himself, Souji frowned and Kanon looked around to take note of her surroundings. What just happened? But as she found Saburo being helped by Sanosuke to stand, she saw his bleeding chest. "Saburo!" she hurried up on her feet.
Yet she wobbled and Souji got up to help her stand. "Kanon, why did you suddenly—" Souji wanted to say something, but she pushed him away once again. 'What is wrong with her?' he thought, annoyed with her shoving him.
Kosuzu had moved help Kanon stand instead. Saburo smiled weakly, "I'm fine, Kanon-san." His hand was over the wound on his chest.
"You're bleeding!" she shouted, worried about his opened wound. Quickly taking more notes around her, she turned around and moved away from Kosuzu. She managed on her own two feet and asked, "Where's Kyou and Kyuuju?"
Sanosuke put Saburo's arm around his shoulder and replied, "They ran off… probably to give us some time to run."
Kanon's eyes glared to him, "What?! How could they?!" She was concerned and was about to walk off, but Souji grabbed her hand and pulled her back. When she turned her head, she continued to glare, "Let go, Souji!"
This was not the time for arguments. "They're Onis," Souji reminded. "I'm sure they can escape more easily without us."
"Still!" she tried to shake him off. Another gunshot was fired and everyone lowered their bodies and the horses were freaking out. Kanon hurried to think fast, but she felt sick again and covered her mouth. Acid formed near to her mouth and her eyes became teary from feeling ill. 'Damn this baby,' she cursed, closing her eyes.
"Souji," Hajime's voice grabbed attention. The green-eyed man looked over his shoulder. "Hurry and take Kanon-san. She's too weak to ride a horse."
Ryunosuke took Kosuzu's hand and they both headed to the horse close by.
"No," Kanon grumbled, still covering her mouth.
"And I'll take Saburo," Sanosuke nodded to Hajime.
Saburo stopped Sanosuke before he wanted to tend to his wound. "No, it's fine," Saburo told him, closing one of his eyes from wincing in pain. "I… can always reproduce more blood when my power comes back."
"But we won't know when we can use our powers again," Sanosuke told him, worried. "And I don't want you to faint along the way. Do you understand how much of a burden you'll be if you knock out?"
Saburo chuckled nervously as his only respond.
The sky remained in the same purple hue as before and the silence seemed to have fallen for a mere second. Kyou landed right beside Saburo and said, "Kanon, the one leading the bandits requested to meet with you."
"What?" Souji queried with a light glare. Sounded like a trap.
Kyou nodded, folding his arms to his chest. "And he said he won't let anyone open fire," he notified, his eyes scanning around. When he saw Saburo, his eyes widened. "Oh wow, so one of the bullet actually got someone."
A sigh came from Saburo's pouting lips and Kyou ignored him causally.
Ryunosuke frowned at the Oni and looked around. His eyes now caught sight of people in the distant, but most of the trees remained in the way. "It has to be a trap if they want to see Kanon-san," Ryunosuke believed, looking to the others.
"I'll go," Kanon gave her firm answer.
With Souji glaring with disapproval, Sanosuke was the first to say, "Kanon-chan, you can't."
She messed her hair from frustration. "Okay, listen to me," she pleaded, bowing her head. "Please… please let me do this. Haru will follow us wherever we go… so this is why I want to meet her, if I can." She lifted her eyes up and still found most of their expression disagreeing with her.
"Kanon-chan," Kosuzu whispered, holding her own hands tightly.
"Everyone," Kanon begun to use her brain again. "Let me do this, okay? Once Ryunosuke's power starts working, Sanosuke can always find me again, right?"
"But the enemies were hiding somewhere before and I could not even sense them," Sanosuke countered, narrowing his eyebrows. "If that does happen, how do you suppose I can track you?"
"I'll be sure not to be locked away somewhere?" Kanon shrugged, shaking her head. Her legs felt tired from standing and she slightly felt ill once again. "And I'll have Kyuuju and Kyou with me. I'll be fine."
Souji grunted, "If you're that eager, then I'm sticking with you." She snapped her head to him and wanted to object. "Since Saburo is injured, he should find a doctor if his power doesn't return anytime soon." Now he looked back to Sanosuke, "I'll leave Hajime and you to do that, Sano."
"I don't want to be separated from Kanon-san," Saburo stated under his weak breath. "And we shouldn't be too far from her, remember?"
With a small smirk, Souji gestured with his hand to Kanon, "She's God now. I'm sure we can be even more further away from her." Souji eyed to Kanon as if he saw through her. And she only stared back at him quietly. "Isn't that right, Kanon? Your power is growing, right?"
There was a pause and she nodded, "Yes…" Smiling to assure Saburo, she told him, "Don't worry, Saburo. I'll be fine."
"But Kanon-san," he stepped forward, but was held back by Sanosuke who was still helping him stand. She made it sound like she was okay with Souji staying with her. Saburo wanted to be by her side too.
Kosuzu then spoke, "Kanon-chan, you can't possibly believe Haru will not harm you, do you?"
"I do believe so," Kanon nodded, staring at the ground. Everyone stared at her and she looked sure about something. 'If Haru and I met back in the village…' Kanon deeply thought to herself. 'Then I am definitely sure she will not harm me any more than she already has…'
Haru had already done enough damage. What more could be taken away from Kanon aside from her friends she made?
And Kanon had not forgotten… Haru started to make her move after she heard of her brother-in-law's death. No matter how much Kanon thought about it, she felt there must be a reason for Haru to push herself to commit such sins. All of the pain Haru was causing seemed to be much more than to revive Kazama Chikage.
Because if Haru just asked nicely, Kanon would have done her best to help out no matter what. And if Haru was the same child from before, she should have known Kanon would lend a hand since they 'know' each other. Even though Kanon could not recall much about Haru.
"If anything happens," Sanosuke murmured. His voice was heard given that everyone all turned their gaze to him. Sanosuke tried to smile and said, "If anything happens, and if it's gets out of hand… let's meet in Edo."
Hajime was surprised, "Sano, are you saying we should split up?"
"I will just have to trust Kanon-chan," Sanosuke quietly judged, his eyes staring to Kanon. Her lips curled up into a small smile. "But… are you really sure?" He wanted to have faith in this young woman who was born under such a fate.
She smiled wider, happy to hear his approval as if he was her father who granted permission. "Totally!" she gave him a thumbs up.
"I still want to stay by Kanon-san's side," Saburo cringed, pressing his wound harder.
"Too bad," Souji smirked to him.
Saburo pouted and was not about to give up. "Harada-san, please let me go," Saburo requested as he begun to struggle. Sanosuke made sure Saburo was not getting out of his grip though.
Kanon frowned, "Saburo, it's fine! My power is still growing. I highly doubt I would get hurt."
"But I'm worried!" he shouted to the ground, making Kanon jump from the tone of his voice. "I want to be with you! We never left each other's side for more than a year now!"
"Oh, sounds like someone's clingy," Souji joked.
Kanon slapped Souji's shoulder and he just chuckled. Saburo whined and Kyou let out a loud sigh. Ryunosuke and Kosuzu had already gone to sit on a horse together and waited for further decisions.
"Okay, Saburo can stay," Kanon walked to them as Saburo looked up with a bright smile.
Souji squinted his eyes, "He will only lag us behind, Kanon."
"Then Kyou can help carry him," she said, which caused Kyou to make a face. Sanosuke seemed to hesitate whereas Kanon took Saburo. "Can you stand, Saburo?" she asked.
He pulled himself away and clearly was strong enough to stand by himself since he was now going to be stay by her. "Yeah," he smiled. And then he flashed a victorious smirk to Souji, who returned a smug look. To the side, Kanon sighed annoyingly at their ongoing rivalry.
"Alright, hurry up," Kyou finally said. It seemed they all decided, so now they had to hurry. "That man, Aki-something, might attack if we don't go now."
'Aki?' Saburo blinked, his eyes shifting to the Oni. For some reason, Saburo had the strangest feeling about that particular name. '…Akio? …No way.'
Hajime watched Sanosuke moving to get up on his horse, Kanon desiring to heal Saburo, Ryunosuke and Kosuzu slowly started their way toward west, Kyou facing the other way, and Souji approaching to Saburo.
'I want to stay here,' Hajime mentally said at the back of his mind. He did not want to leave with Sanosuke, Ryunosuke, and Kosuzu. However, everyone was already deciding for themselves and there was no more room to voice his opinion. So he kept it to himself. He did not wish to put any burden on them.
The sky continued to be purple. Kosuzu was observing it for a while since she sat behind Ryunosuke on the horse. Her arms were around his waist and he nudged her. "Hm?" she looked to him.
His eyes were over his shoulder, "What's wrong?"
"…The sky bothers me," she replied seriously. "If I'm not mistaken, our powers stopped working the moment that red light flashed by and colored the sky in that hue."
"Then," Kyou smirked over to them. "Perhaps it's some kind of 'barrier' to stop us from using the powers of the Time Healer?"
Sanosuke smiled, "That sounds right. Well then, if the sky returns to normal, hopefully soon, Ryunosuke will teleport us right away."
"Sounds like a plan," Souji let out a carefree smile. And he would be expecting that to happen because he actually feared something bad would happen if their powers were not returned to them.
[…^…]
In the large hill of trees, Kyuuju was standing with his arms folded to his chest. His eyes stared the small army in front of him. To the far right, bandits were lined up all the way to the far left. The only bandits who had riffles were the ones at the front. And at the same front line, there were about ten more men behind each person. In the center of the bandits stood a wooden carriage, which was sealed up with doors and only an insignificant bandit was sitting there with the reins in his hands.
The most person who stood out to Kyuuju was Akio, who was on a horse and slightly ahead of everyone else. Kyuuju and Akio never meant each other before and they stared at each other quietly. The wind soughed between them, but very soon they heard horses galloping behind Kyuuju.
Kyou fell from the sky and landed steadily by Kyuuju. "Alright, Kanon's here," Kyou informed the man in the black armor.
Slowly, Akio's eyes went to observed the people Kyou had brought along. There were three of them. Two males and one female. Akio's eyes slightly twitched and he raised his hand with a finger pointed up. The bandits behind him lowered their riffles and when Akio moved to get off his horses, every single bandit had done the same on his signal.
'What are they doing?' Kyuuju remained on alert. He sensed no murder intent either.
Souji was riding by himself and his eyes were on Kanon and Saburo. She held the reins while Saburo was sitting behind her, arms around her waist. Souji was keeping an eye on them since Kanon seemed to have fainted before back there. And then he noticed Saburo's face getting pale. Was he losing too much blood so soon?
Kyuuju glanced back and all of the two horses stopped at the same time. "Kanon-san," Kyuuju softly sighed. He rather wanted her escape than to meet with the bandits.
"Whoa, hey," Kyou uttered and nudged Kyuuju, who turned to look back at the bandits.
Akio had gotten on his knees and his hands on his knees. Bowing his head, he voiced loudly, "Saburo-sama."
"Eh?!" Kanon's eyes widened. Every bandit was in the same position as the man in the black armor.
Saburo smiled nervously, unable to hide his face now. 'Dang it,' he thought, his hand pressing onto his wound harder.
"So you're alive," Akio expressed with relief, still keeping his voice loud and firm. His head was still lowered. "Thank the heavens I have met you once again, Saburo-sama…"
"Saburo," Souji looked to him, raising an eyebrow. Saburo gulped and his mouth was kept shut. "…Do you know them?"
"I… uh…" Saburo faked a cough.
Kyou smirked and turned his upper body to the humans behind him. "Well, since the cat's out of the bag," Kyou stated with a snicker. He gladly explained, "Saburo here is actually the Emperor Koumei's cousin."
Akio lifted up his eyes and warned, "Do not address Saburo-sama so lightly."
Slightly recalling, Kyuuju blinked calmly, "I remember now… You, Kazama, and I have seen Saburo-san once at the palace, haven't we, Shiranui?"
"That's right," Kyou grinned, nodding to the taller Oni.
"…What?" Souji continued to stare at Saburo's pale face.
The wind seemed to whistle. Kanon gaped at the bandits for a while and she was not sure how long she was staring at them. 'Saburo… is a royalty?' she asked herself, completely shocked.
Thanks for reading!