(Hello again! I want to thank everyone for their support and kind words as they mean very much to me and really keep me going when writing stuff like this. That being said, I own nothing and I truly hope you all enjoy this. God bless every one of you!)
The temple that had been Mana's home and the place he trained as a member of the Onmiyoji since childhood was a place of hard work and dedication but, more than that, it was a place of love.
Mana loved it there. It was a place of peace and prosperity where no judgment resided.
The young man often heard his friend, the Zoologist who lived a few miles down the path, say that he did not like his lovely home for many reasons, one of them being that, no matter who he snapped at or hit, no matter he broke or what he threw up on, there wasn't a single instant in which any of the members of the temple got angry at him.
It wasn't even like they were excellent at holding back their rage. That wasn't it at all. Mana knew better than anyone that the Onmiyoji were quite terrible at keeping quiet when they had something to say.
As Cross had said, it wasn't as though they were good at keeping quiet, but he saw it in their all too clear eyes that the emotion just wasn't there.
They didn't feel rage for Cross with all his bad habits and Cross himself could not stand it.
Even when a Yokai went out of control and killed one of their own, they cut the mad creature down not in rage but in pure unadulterated sorrow.
He knew what it was, though. He wasn't as stupid as some people might have believed.
Cross knew that Mana and those he stood with had abandoned fleeting and earthly emotions and desires long ago in their pursuit for true inner peace and happiness.
The Onmiyoji had left behind hunger or greed, jealousy or vanity, lust and hatred long ago. Some might think they lived a boring life with all those toxic flames snuffed from their lives but in truth, they actually felt life far better than most.
If the majority was anything like Cross, their anger and lust were strong and they could hide behind it to protect their fragile glass like being. It was easy, almost too easy to do, to evade the pain and breath just a moment longer.
Mana and those who trained with him weren't that way. They no longer let anger, lust, greed or vanity control them so, with those actions gone, all that was left to feel was love, happiness, and, more than anything, misery.
With the added effect of the fact that most usually became Onmiyoji to get out of the hold of depression after a loved ones passing or to find forgiveness for some serious crime, the Onmiyoji were usually quite sad people.
Their shields every human has to hide behind are torn down so everything life might just choose to throw at them is amplified one hundred times.
The worst part was that, for every hit thrown, for everything stolen, for every friendship broken, for every choking regret, for every life taken, they could never become miserable. They could never spiral into the hate and self pity Cross knew every single one of them wanted to feel, but rather they chose to pray to whatever god they chose to worship and thanked them.
They buried the human they once were, the only side Cross could manage to wrap his little mind around, and replaced it with the most awful sadness imaginable.
Perhaps that was why they were gifted with the ability to banish demons and purify ground; Because they had nothing else in this world.
It was compiled things and facts like this that, although bitterly, helped the Zoologist Cross to understand the Onmiyoji Mana just a little bit better.
And just when he thought he might escape the misery he knew plagued his friend, awful days like this one pounded the knowledge into his temple a thousand times over like a hammer does a nail.
Afternoon.
After slipping his ID card from the slot with ease, the little green bulb at the top of the out of place silver door in these mimicked tropics turned green and a slight vibration in the handle indicated that the exit of the Specimen Chambers was now open.
He opened the door like he had every day for the past seven or so years but this time, something was different.
Cross' first thought upon receiving the unwanted and utterly distasteful face full of dark pink feathers when unsuspectingly opening the exit to the specimen chambers was that it could not be Mana's stupid tengu because that tengu was red, the color of the blood he wanted more than anything to shed right now.
His head was forcefully jerked around, so quickly he thought he felt his neck snap, when the feathered creature fled from his face without so much as a single apology.
Cross the Zoologist began to fume with disappointment and rage upon catching a brief but painfully obvious glimpse of the familiar nuisances retreating form and letting the memory surface that, after being in the sun for too long, the bird child's feathers had turned a dark shade of pink.
The sound of fluttering wings faded into the vast silence of the chambers empty spaces, it's pink form disappearing into the light mist that clouded the ceiling like clouds in a genuine sky.
The man didn't curse. The man didn't even so much as move.
Instead, Cross let out a heavy sigh. He had grown too used to this kind of irritation to even be too bothered by it.
He didn't know how or why the wretched bird child was here, as he had been informed not a few hours previously by Mana himself that the man was going to be out with, and I quote, 'his little white one' (A completely ridiculous name, if a name at all, that Cross still had yet to find the logic behind), all day.
Cross didn't know if he was being pranked somehow or if Mana had just done something terrible that caused the bird child to flee from him like a bat out of hell but Cross knew for a fact that the Tengu despised it here and would never voluntarily wonder in here.
Suddenly, he heard another sound and he began to instinctively search for the source, despite his movements begin slowed by impending coffee withdrawals.
But off course, his gaze fell yet again to the exit of the chambers only to find a second form standing inside the doorframe like Cross usually found him looking as guilty as he had ever seen him.
He didn't need another second of heavy cynical observations to know that his friend had done something very bad. He had grown very good at telling these things and his friend had grown even worse at hiding them. It was almost as though he wanted to be found out or something.
"Okay, fess up." He bluntly stated, making sure to speak every syllable as a anything but a question, "What did you do, Mana."
Standing in front of Cross like he hadn't just committed every wrong possible was none other than the Onmiyoji himself, wearing the usual silk robe and arriving at the usual most inopportune times. Mana was clearly exhausted, his chest heaving with heavy breaths and his skin coated with a thin layer of sweat. He was hunched over, resting his hands upon his knees, his pale face hidden by the long strands of disheveled hair falling forward.
But then, like he hadn't made such a messy entrance at all, Mana composed himself immediately.
He stood up so straight so suddenly, Cross thought he might have hurt himself. With a bright smile, he brushed his filthy rats nest of hair behind his ear and neatly folded his hands in front of him.
"Oh," He said in the kindest, softest of voices, the sort he only used when he wanted to sweet talk his way out of trouble, "Hello Cross. How are you doing this fine evening? "
"Cut the crap." Cross snapped, "What did you do? What's the bird doing here?"
"Why is it always my fault?" Mana muttered, looking slightly disgruntled.
"Because it usually is, now," He replied as he placed a hand on the fragile Onmiyoji's with a frighteningly tight grip, "Talk."
Giving way to his persuasion, Mana sighed heavily in a way similar to how Cross sighed before, and that was never a good sign.
"By your question," He breathed, eyes closed, "I can safely assume the white one is in here?"
"Yes. You missed him by a second."
"Ah, that is good. Excellent."
"You still haven't answered my question."
"Ah, right." Mana said with a slight jump on his ankles like he were preparing to run away, "You know Lenalee? Where is she this fine evening?"
"Lenalee? She is ast the usual spot. Wait, what does she have to do with this?"
Immediately, Mana's expression shifted from a sharp worry to the most fake glee Cross had ever seen.
"Oh nothing! It is nothing at all, really!" The Onmiyoji smiled as he dusted of his robe and collected the audacity to try to walk forward after Cross had had a rather difficult work day, "I think I'm just going to collect my white one and be on my way. See you soon!"
Honestly, he should have known better. Cross' hands had grown calloused over many years worth of this line of work and was not just about to let him go. He was capable of prying a Nure Onna's jaws open to remove a rock caught between its teeth without so much as getting scratched. What made Mana think hence couldn't crush his brittle little shoulder with his bare hands?
Mana groaned lightly in pain at the sudden tightening of his grip and stopped moving.
Alas, he caved.
"I have good news," He breathed, "And I have bad news."
And so, on the way to the place where Lenalee resided, the large rock by the man made lake, Mana told his friend everything; Every miserable patronizing detail.
"What, so the brat said something? "
"Not just something, Cross! He said his first word!"
"Well it's about time. I thought he would never mature past the infantile stage with the way you treat him."
"What's that supposed to mean? You sound displeased."
"Nothing. Just tell me the rest of the story."
"Oh, well it was simply the cutest thing ever, Cross! You simply must understand! You see, I was baking a cake on the stove; You know, the usual double decker triple chocolate mocha cream sugar malt top with cherry bits recipe that you taught me, only not even mildly as good; But anyways, the sort of cake the little white one really really loves oh so very much and then he just-!"
"He just what? Just get to the point, Mana!"
"Pretty!"
"What?! Where?"
"Not where, Cross, but when!"
"What the hell are you trying to say?!"
"It's what he said, Cross! That was his first word!"
"What, pretty? That's it?"
"It was so adorable! Absolutely positively stupendously extremely adorable! His voice was so high pitched and it had so much character to it and he had such good pronunciation! He sounded just like a little baby!"
"Yes, tengu will develop the ability to mimic sounds and words in their early years, because their vocal cords mature and strengthen. It is really not that big of a deal."
"It is a big deal! I've never heard a white tengu speak before!"
"Will you stop being ridiculous for two seconds and finish your stupid story!"
"Oh, right. Well, um……"
"Yes?"
"At the time of him saying this, well…."
"Out with it!"
"Okay okay! Look, the day before, when I came to retrieve him from this place, I found him by the lake playing with Lenalee."
"Hmm. Unusual. She doesn't normally play with the other yokai. That could be a sign she is improving, but if your little troublemaker is involved, I don't think that's the case."
"Yes, well, I said the usual thing to keep her at bay but when I did, you know, call her ordinary, the little white one was quite angry at me. The poor sweet thing must have thought I was insulting her or something. Anyways, he stayed mad at me the whole day, so I thought I'd make him something to make him feel better. You know, I made him the cake. Anyways, while I was making the cake, making sure not to scare him, I tried to explain to him that, though she is pretty, we can't call her pretty or ugly, otherwise she might go on a rampage…."
"Oh wait. I think I'm starting to understand…."
"Well, then he spoke his first word and immediately took off to the chambers! Cross, I just know he is going to call her pretty! What if she tries to hurt the dear!? What if she scares him when he only wanted to be kind to her?! Oh no, Cross, you have to help me! You absolutely must-!"
"Calm down before you give yourself a heart attack!" He snapped before he retracted, running a hand through his flaming red hair, walking past the familiar sectors he knew all too well, "Honestly, why am I even yelling…?"
This particular area was quite tropical. One could tell just by the humid air but the general surroundings also told tales of perfectly mimicked tropics.
The reason Lenalee most likely loved this place was because no one except the Kappa Johnny lived here to fish and play his little guitar. He always gave others their own space, being the unnaturally kind and considerate kappa he was, so she most likely found solace here, if she found solace in any place at all, anymore.
Cross understood that much but, as heavy breaths racked his body, he wondered why that rock by the lake had to be so darn far from the entrance? Was this a design flaw?
But at the sight of the tropics, Mana's heart visibly skipped a beat and, like he hadn't expended any energy at all, the Onmiyoji who didn't do much but wonder and eat vegetables, took off in a wild sprint, quickly disappearing begins the trees.
"What…?" Cross heaved, before forcing his weak legs forward to follow his friend, "Wait up, Mana…!"
Honestly, he thought, all this for some stupid red tengu.
Mana was protective, albeit a bit overprotective but just protective of his pet turned adoptive child of sorts. It was only normal that he would be protective of such a creature when said creature, though dead annoying, was incredibly dear to him.
Cross had already seen him loose what was most important to him once before, he had already seen everything his friend was shattered to pieces and he didn't quite care to see it once more, so he did understand. As previously stated, the Zoologist wasn't stupid.
Still, Mana could not let His emotions and fears get in the way of his logic. He had to understand that tengu and kuchisake Onna have coexisted for hundreds of years and neither are the others natural enemy. They weren't just going to suddenly be at each other's throats just because the stupid bird child learned a word.
Mana did not have to shave years of his lifespan away for something like this.
He certainly did not have to shave years away from Cross' lifespan by exhausting him this much, both mentally and physically.
(It's not very good. Sorry about that.)