An Unwanted Visitor
It took me a long time to be able to move a little more, and as I did, I realized what was leaning on the wall not far from my side. My sword, Shishio. I managed a weak smile at my find. Ranguren, my precious chimera Spirit Beast and only friend in this personal hell, bound to the sword as it was, was still by my side.
As soon as I could lift the sword a little, I tried to end my life.
And I found I could not.
Only then did I recall my previous attempts.
Me, attempting to cut my throat with Shishio in a dark alleyway. The Sesshouseki activating and preventing me from doing so: My sword met an invisible barrier just above my skin, rebounding off harmlessly in a shower of red sparks.
The Sesshouseki keeping me alive wasn't going to let such a thing happen this time either. I soon gave up, knowing what an exercise in futility it really was. I wasn't going to succeed at it, no matter how hard I tried to.
Soon after my suicide attempt, the Sesshouseki began to influence my mind again, though…it's influence felt weaker this time, compared to my memories of it. Part of me wondered why. It was easier to fight back against it now, though the amplified feeling of hate it brings with it was never far from my mind.
Soon after that, probably days later, based on my own sense of time, a voice spoke out in the dark cavern.
"So. I guess it wasn't a waste of my time to keep you here. You revived, after all, as I thought you might. Though…it did take longer than I thought…hmm…"
He had arrived. Somehow, my memories had returned of everything except him by that point. But as soon as I laid eyes on him in the dim light of my Death Stone, I remembered it all. His part in my past.
"Ah, don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just here to check on how my little project is coming along, that's all."
How he caused it all. How he injured me to the point where I was stuck in a hospital bed, unable to move more than my head and right arm, and unable to make a single coherent sound. How he forced the Death Stone on me in such a way, saying he could save me from the agony of my life, most of which he himself had caused, directly as well as indirectly. How the Death Stone he gave me corrupted me and twisted my mind to the point I no longer had any qualms about killing anyone in my way.
I glared at him with all the hatred I could muster with my one good eye.
"Good. Keep that look in your eye, so full of hate. And then gather all your hatred. Focus it. Use it. And do me the favour of using that hatred to destroy this wretched world. Or enough of it, anyway."
Kazuhiro Mitogawa. I never did learn much about him, or his past, excepting his name and mention of where he found his Death Stone. The Vatican. I always did wonder how it managed to get all the way there, on the other side of the world, but I never did find out.
If I could have spat at him, I would have.
"Though…something is odd. Let's take a closer look, shall we?"
With that, he grabbed my jaw, lifted my face up and stared at the Sesshouseki on my forehead.
"Well, well, well. It looks like your resurrection had a greater cost than I thought…I guess it's to be expected. Such a thing must take a lot of power, after all. And it does explain why you have been taking such a very long, long time to heal…"
I could barely contain my hate for him. I almost tried to bite him.
"But this just won't do. This just won't do at all. I'll have to strengthen it, I think."
Strengthen it? What did he mean by that? A mild panic arose in my mind at his words, making me remember the power the Stone had had over my mind when it was fully activated just before my "death".
"Like this, you wouldn't have the power to kill anyone. And that just will not do, now will it?"
I grit my teeth at his words, realizing he planned for me to continue my murder spree.
"But I think you're going to do nicely for what I have planned."
With that, he released my jaw and stepped back to look at me from afar once more.
"But not just yet. You're not ready for it just yet, and the timing is still a little off. But soon. Just stay here and wait for me a bit, okay, Yomi?"
A smile full of wicked mirth. My lips curled into an involuntary snarl. Calling me by my first name like that, as if we were ever anything even remotely close to being friends, or anything more than bitter enemies. How I wanted to slice his grinning head off in that moment. Or tear him limb from limb. That would've been nice.
"Now, now, Yomi. It's not me you should be angry at. How about hating the world that has caused you so much misery, instead?"
With that, he vanished in a burst of blue butterflies with a knowing, mocking smile on that sickening face of his.