Chapter 4: Brighter Than The Sun
Hisui knew what he needed to do the moment that he returned home to the village later that morning. He didn't even go home once he had returned after his fight with the Chamaeleon demon.
He just returned to the slayers guild with his uncle and washed up there so that he was clean of the blood that had dried onto his skin after the fight. He also was able to clean his wound properly now before changing into some comfortable clothes to rest up in for a few hours.
He stayed in one of the extra rooms at the slayers guild. The slayers guild had many rooms that were meant for demon slayers to rest up in after long days. Some slayers even lived at the guild and there were still plenty of rooms left over for anyone who needed a place to stay for the night, which Hisui did from time to time whenever he would return back home to the village late and did not want to make the trip back home.
Hisui walked into the small room before sliding the door shut behind him and laying down on the small and comfortable bed. The sun spilled in through the small window that hung high above his bed as he allowed himself to fully think about what happened the night before.
It had to have been a dream. He thought.
There was no way that Setsuna had actually told him that.
"When I think about forever all I can see is you." Her words repeated over and over again in his mind as he stared at the ceiling for a long time.
It wasn't exactly a love confession but he knew what she meant.
He loved Setsuna. He has always loved Setsuna and now she spoke as if she felt the same way for him.
Heat rushed to his face as he tried to close his eyes and sleep. It was incredibly hard to sleep at the moment.
He had been so sure that Setsuna didn't see him like that. Over the years he had come to accept that what he felt was only one sided but Setsuna said that she never knew. He mentally kicked himself now for being so afraid to just tell her the truth all of those nights ago.
He should have told her how he felt then instead of just asking her how she saw him because if he had then he wouldn't be in such a bad situation now.
Setsuna returning his feeling was making him lose sleep as his mind wouldn't settle even when he tried. He was just too happy that she felt it too. What he had always felt whenever they were together and he couldn't help the feeling he would get whenever he recalled what Setsuna had told him.
He was wonderstruck but his heart also felt heavy because he was engaged. As he pondered more about what needed to be done he somehow fell asleep for a few hours and after sleeping on it his resolve to do what needed to be done had only increased more.
Even if Setsuna did change her mind before he would speak to her tonight. He couldn't continue on with this engagement to Princess Aiya. He didn't love her and even if she still wanted a marriage with him she didn't deserve that.
After getting to know the princess he didn't think that she was a bad person. Yeah she could be spoiled at times but she was far from a bad person with ill intentions and she deserved a better husband than him. Princess Aiya deserved to be with someone who's heart didn't already belong to someone else so even if he didn't end up with Setsuna at the end of the night he was going to set Aiya free so that she could find someone who could love her the way that she loved them.
Hisui woke up past 1pm and went straight for Princess Aiya's estate. Lucky for him the lord was out at the moment so he wouldn't feel his wrath just yet but he knew it would be inevitable.
Aiya ran into the sitting room the moment that she heard that Hisui had come to visit.
He didn't often visit unannounced like this. Their visits mostly consisted of scheduled meetings that they would always plan beforehand so she was excited to see him so spontaneously.
"Hisui." She smiled when she saw him. "How unexpected, maids go get us some snacks." She called with a smile.
"You really don't need to do that I only came to talk with you for a moment." He said.
His voice didn't betray him but he looked nervous and Aiya eyed him concerned now.
"Is everything alright?" She asked.
"Can we talk alone for a while?" He asked and Aiya nodded, ordering everyone in the room to leave them alone.
"My dear Hisui please tell me what's got you looking so down today." She said as she stepped closer to him and reached out to hold his face in her hand. He had only ever seemed happy to see her before.
His attitude now was such a stark contrast and she didn't know what to think.
He didn't let her touch his face to confront him either.
"Ayia. I think that we should break off this engagement." He said, outright. No beating around the bush or small talking in between. He just went straight for the kill and his words felt like blades unintentionally twisted into her chest.
Aiya felt her eyes well immediately. She couldn't hold the tears in even if she tried.
"You want to end our engagement? Why? If you want me to change, I'll do that. I'd do anything as long as you don't leave! Please." She pleaded.
"Aiya." He looked at her with sad, kind eyes and she hated it. She hated how she still loved him even now when she could tell that he was going to reject her.
"This is all my fault." He said sadly. " I'm sorry that I made you go through with this for so long. I tried to be someone that could love you as much as you loved them but I just can't. My heart has always belonged to someone else so even if that person doesn't want me it would be selfish of me to go through with this marriage to you when I don't love the way that you love me."
"What if we waited? Do you not still think that with time we could be happy together?" She cried.
"Aiya, I don't think that getting married would make either of us happy anymore. Wasting more time with me would only get in the way of you finding true happiness with someone else."
"It's Setsuna isn't it!?" She asked through tears. "I knew you'd choose her. I always knew you wouldn't choose me. Just go!" She spat as her tears kept falling.
"You say that you can't love me then fine I never want to see you again." Aiya told him.
She didn't want anyone else but it was clear to her that he didn't want to stay and she couldn't make him so begging more wouldn't change anything. She just wanted to be alone now.
"Setsuna is the only name that my heart has ever beat for but Aiya, You are a princess that deserves better than what a marriage to me would bring and not just materially. You deserve better than me who could never love you properly." Hisui said seriously, his eyes never once leaving hers as he spoke and then continued on.
"Over this last month I've learned that you can be very elegant when you want to be. You're funny, much more funnier than I ever thought that a princess would be and you are extremely interesting. There's so much more to you than others know you're more than just some pretty princess and that's why you deserve to be loved just as much if not more by the person you marry. I'm really sorry but that just can't be me."
He bowed his head down low in apology.
"I understand if you can't forgive and I'll do anything that you'd like me to in exchange for ending our engagement."
Aiya only looked at him for a long moment even in this situation she couldn't hate him because Hisui was Hisui and even now he was like a prince to her always trying to make things right. Even when he couldn't. Hisui just wasn't her prince but then again she had gotten engaged to him knowing that he loved someone else. So she took a deep breath and tried her best to hold back more tears from coming as she wiped her face.
"Rise, your head." She managed to say sternly and he did so ready to face any consequence that she chose for him.
"My father will kill you if he hears that you broke my heart so as far as everyone else is concerned, I got tired of you and called off our engagement myself. Today was the day that I finally came to my senses and realized that I deserve to marry a noble more similar in status to a Princess." She said before her expression softened.
It hurt to admit but she wasn't completely without blame here either and this wasn't only his fault.
"I already knew that you loved someone else but you at least tried to be my fiancé and I was happy that you were mine even if it was fake. So you don't need to do anything for me in return for ending our engagement. We can just agree to part ways." She said with down turned eyes.
"Aiya I —."
"I still never want to see you again. But I hope that you can be happy with or without Setsuna." Aiya said.
"Thank you. I hope that you can one day be happy too. The way that you deserve." He said sincerely.
"I'm sure that I will be. Now please leave." She said and he did as she asked, silently leaving her estate.
Hisui had hated breaking Aiya's heart. He didn't want to be the cause of her hurt like that but he couldn't help the incredibly free feeling that he now felt as he left her home.
He was finally free to be with Setsuna if she wanted him too. Now all he had to do was explain himself when he saw her next. Hopefully she would still have him after everything. He was going to tell her everything that he should have told her before but was too afraid to say on that night before he accepted Aiya's proposal.
XXXX
Setsuna hadn't been injured badly by the chameleon demon and the moment that her demonic power returned she could feel her body already starting to heal itself.
She went straight home that morning and her mother had attacked her with a huge hug the moment that she walked through the door.
"I was so worried about you! The night of the new moon passed and you never came home. And now you've come back like this!" She exclaimed.
"What were you thinking? Going out on a mission in that state?" Her mother scolded.
She must have gone looking for her at the slayers guild the night before. Setsuna thought.
"Oh Setsuna's back." Towa yawned as she entered the room. "Mom and I were up pretty late waiting up for you."
"She really let Kohaku have it too once she found out that he asked you to go out on a moonless night." Towa smiled sleepily.
"I didn't plan to be out that late, the situation just changed. Kohaku asked me to go with Hisui to check up on an old man so I did. It wasn't supposed to be a normal demon slaying job. Last night's fight had been unavoidable. I'm sorry mom, I didn't mean to worry you."
Rin ran a hand through her hair. These girls were going to be the death of her stressing her out like this.
"Just go wash up and get some sleep, we'll talk after you've rested properly." Rin sighed and Setsuna walked past her mom to the back of their home.
Once she finally laid down all she could think about was Hisui saying that he loved her. It was all that she could think about all that she had dreamed about during her brief sleep that day.
What was she going to do? She couldn't possibly ask him to break off his engagement when he'd be gaining so much from marrying Princess Aiya. Accepting the fact that he was going to be getting married had been crushing once she realized that she loved him but he said that he had always loved her too. It hadn't just been in her head after all.
She thought back to that night she had called him out. He was trying to tell her then. She rolled over in her bed.
Even if she did love Hisui, could she really be with him when being with her ment that he would be losing so much? She couldn't offer him anything close to what Aiya could even if she loved Hisui. He'd never become a lord if he was with her and his family wouldn't benefit as much from him and Setsuna being together. Maybe she was being selfish by loving him since she'd be gaining more than he would. She honestly didn't know.
Setsuna wasn't good at this kind of thing and knew nothing about romance and matters of the heart. She needed advice but she had no one to talk to about this. If she told Towa she would know the truth immediately and it's not like she knew much more about the subject than Setsuna did herself.
If she asked her mother she would pry and then she'd have to tell her the truth too. That left Setsuna with only one option.
Setsuna got up from her bed past 2pm that day and put on one of her summer kimonos before making her way to her Aunt and Uncle's house. Her Aunt Kagome was good at giving advice and she wouldn't pry into what she was asking if she asked correctly.
Setsuna knocked on the door before going into her aunt's house. Setsuna was lucky to find her aunt at home and not at the temple this afternoon. It seemed like she was home alone as well. Since she couldn't hear any of her cousins running around and Her uncle wasn't near either.
"Setsuna." Her aunt said her name happily.
Typically Towa would hang around their cousins house more than Setsuna tended to so Kagome was happy wherever she got to see her other niece over as well.
"You're a little early for dinner but I think we may have something sweet leftover if you want a snack." Kagome smiled.
She was sitting down with a book in her hand while drinking tea.
"I actually came over to see you Aunt." Setsuna said seriously.
"Oh." Kagome clapped her hands. "What did you need sweetie?"
"Umm well. You see. I'm reading this book." Setsuna lied.
"Is it good?"
"Um, I think so. I'm almost on the last chapter. It's a romance book and the maiden of the story has a choice to tell the boy that she loves how she feels. The boy loves her too but he's already engaged."
"Wow, how dramatic. I bet the stories has been really gripping." Kagome said.
"It's been frustrating and hard to understand." Setsuna answered short. "But the girl in the story thinks that the boy probably wouldn't have gotten engaged if the maiden had only realized how she felt sooner. Now she has a chance to tell him how she feels but if she does that he would probably break off his engagement and he would lose more than he would gain by being with her. I was waiting to read that last chapter because I didn't know how I felt about the choices that the maiden had to make so I want to get others' opinions too before I finish the book. What would you do if you were the maiden?" Setsuna asked seriously.
Kagome placed her hand on her chin. Setsuna was not sly in the slightest.
Kagome smiled. "I might not be the right person to ask about this because if it were me I would do anything to be with the person that I love. If the boy in the story really loves that girl there's no way that he'd ever be happy with anyone else except for her not really. So I would tell him how I felt because it's better to speak up when you have the chance rather than for the both of you to make mistakes that can't easily be undone." Kagome said and Setsuna let her words sink in.
If she were to reject Hisui again so that he'd stay with Aiya and become a lord would she be taking away his happiness of being with someone that he loved, since she was who he loved?
She wondered, well she knew she'd never be happy to see him with someone else but was it really the same for him?
"I think that if both the maiden and the boy love each other then the maiden should tell him and let the boy decide if he wants to love her too. Even if the boy doesn't break off his engagement in the end at least they both won't have any regrets since they were both honest in the end." Kagome added.
"Thank you Aunt Kagome." Setsuna smiled. "I think that I can finally finish that book now."
"Don't forget to tell me how it ends after you finish." Kagome smiled and a light blush covered Setsuna's cheeks.
"Yeah, I'll make sure to do that." She said before hurrying out of her Aunt and Uncle's home.
The rest of the day she contemplated in her head what she was going to say. That night when she would see Hisui again, would he even really still like her after she had unknowingly rejected him before? That had to have hurt even if she didn't know back then.
The time flew by and after dinner and one last scolding from her mom. In the dead of night her feet were now carrying her out to the bone eaters well.
There was a well known legend that all of the villagers knew when it came to the bone eaters well.
Get too close and you might just disappear forever or even be eaten by demons. It had almost happened to lady Kagome so why couldn't it happen to anyone else. Everyone was always too afraid to get too close to the well.
Those were all rumors for kids but the superstition still deterred even most adults from venturing too close to the well, but because of these rumors the bone eaters well was the perfect place to go when you didn't want to be found especially at night. Which made it the perfect place for Hisui and Setsuna to meet.
Hisui had arrived first and Setsuna was just now arriving at the well. He was staring up at the stars as he sat on the edge of the well before he heard her footsteps getting close to him.
He turned his head and smiled once he saw her.
"Hello Setsuna. Did you sleep well this morning?" He asked.
"Barley." She said honestly.
"Same here." He said nervously.
"How are your wounds healing?" She asked.
"They're fine. I'm just glad that you were alright."
"I only had minor injuries. My wounds have all healed now that the moonless night is over."
"I'm glad." Hisui smiled as he stood from where he had been sitting and got close to her. Grabbing both of her hands into his before speaking again.
"Setsuna, from the moment that I met you I have found it incredibly easy to be myself. As we grew up I couldn't help but want to be around you more and more. The older we got the more I enjoyed simply just being near you but in a way that was different from how I felt when I was around Moroha and Towa and then one day I turned 17 and I realized that I might like you way more than I thought because there was nothing simple about the way that you made me feel. The way that you have been making me feel for almost all of our lives. When I finally realized that I loved you I didn't think that you would ever return my feelings for you. So it has always been enough for me to love you on my own without ever telling you anything. That still would have been enough for me even now had the engagement never happened. The night that I asked you how you saw me I thought that I was making sure that you didn't love me too. You called me your best friend and that's how I believed that you saw me. So I thought that my engagement wouldn't affect you in the slightest but the more time that I spent with Aiya the more that I realized that I would never be able to love her the way that I love you. If I continued on with the engagement I would only be hurting all three of us because I'm never going to love anyone as much as I love you. I couldn't even if I tried. Setsuna I have loved you for almost all of my life and I will love you for the rest of it. I'm sorry that I didn't outright say it before but I'm saying it now. Setsuna I love you, my heart has only ever belonged to you."
He told her so honestly that his voice shook and her heart felt like it was going to stop. A Month ago she would have never imagined that he would ever say such things to her and that she'd feel so many sparks fly within her in response to his love confession.
Even though she already knew how he felt about her, hearing him put it into words made her wonder how she never noticed before. Never noticed that he loved her and that she loved him just as much.
She squeezed his hands back as she spoke in response.
"Hisui, I wish that I could say something that could even half compe to what you just said about me and how that made me feel but I love you too. I just didn't know it before. I love you, Hisui. I love you when you can tell that something's wrong with me when no one else can. I love you when you're quick thinking gets us out of trouble. I love you when you're sulking because we didn't stick to your well thought out plans. I love you when you're just sitting next to me smiling and talking about nothing. I just love you for you and I understand that it might be too late now that you're engaged but I had to tell you that I am unbelievably hopeless when it comes to how much I love you." Setsuna said.
Hisui got closer to her his eyes never once leaving hers as he moved one of his hands from hers to her shoulder and he inched closer and closer until she could feel his breath on her skin just inches away from her face.
"Setsuna can I kiss you?" He asked and she lost her voice to the anticipation only managing to give a small nod of her head as she stared at him with half lidded eyes and he finally kissed her.
Hisui kissed her soft and slow, savoring the feeling of kissing the girl he loved for the fists time and she squeezed his hand as his lips softly touched hers and she kissed him back. Perfectly brushing her lips against his and getting just as lost to his touch as she brushed her fingers across his face.
Hisui surprisingly pulled away from her first and she looked at him annoyed which made him laugh as he just held her hands again now.
She was his and he was completely hers.
"I only wanted to tell you that I already broke off the engagement. I'm completely yours to have or to not. Setsuna." Hisui said.
"You what?!"
"It wasn't fair to keep Aiya hanging like that, not when I have always belonged to you. So I asked her if we could end our engagement this morning. She agreed but everyone has to believe that she ended things with me. A fair price to pay as long as you don't mind me being ex engaged."
"I don't mind. I just can't believe you already broke the engagement off this quick. What if I had said that I didn't want to be with you? Then what would you have done?" She half scolded him.
Hisui shrugged. "We'll, I don't know. I'm happy that that didn't happen." He smiled and now Setsuna felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips as well.
"What am I going to do with you?" She said pretending to be annoyed but he saw straight through her.
"Just say that we'll be together." He asked and his dark eyes lit up underneath the starlight.
"That's already a given." She said.
"Can you just say it, please?" He asked again.
"Fine, Hisui we're going to be together now." She said seriously and he kissed her again this time even more sweeter than before and she kissed him back just as sweetly as he held her close now resting his hand on the small of her back as she looped her arms around his neck.
Hisui brought one of his hands up to her face soon after and cupped her cheek as they kissed and his other hand held her firmer as the kiss grew more passionate. The feeling of his hand bringing more warmth to her cheek made even more sparks fly inside of her and she couldn't help but want to be even closer to him.
He kissed her harder and she unconsciously let out a small gasp that made him smile as they were kissing. She kissed him with even more eagerness now that they truly knew how they felt about each other and she was glad that this kiss was lasting longer than their first.
Setsuna's arms slid from around Hisui's neck down to Hisui's shoulders and his hand caressed her face lightly brushing against her skin and up her cheek until his fingers gently pushed back her bangs in the front of her forehead.
She sensed the air change in an instant and smelt the faint scent of someone familiar to her.
Her eyes immediately shot open and she pushed Hisui away from her before looking around her as well as up in the air.
"I have to go." She said hurriedly. With a flushed face.
"Cold feet?" He questioned sadly. His face just as flush as hers was.
"What? Never, I smelt the air change my dad is visiting. If he sees us like this you might be dead before the end of the night." She said seriously.
"Oh, well you had better get going then." He smiled. "Will you come here again tomorrow night?" He asked.
"Maybe." She said hurriedly before turning away from him and starting in the direction towards her home before turning around again.
"I love you. I'll see you tomorrow." She said with pink cheeks.
"I love you too." He smiled all love stuck at her and she was happy that she had told him one last time before going home.
Setsuna went back home and found that both her father and Jaken had come to visit. Towa was undoubtedly in their room pretending to be asleep. Lately she had been acting like she didn't care when their father came to visit.
"Setsuna, I thought that I sensed you near." Her father said.
"Good evening father." She said with a small smile.
"Look, your father brought you girls some new kimonos." Her mother smiled. "I've never seen these kinds of intricate designs before it must be a new style." Rin said.
"Lady Setsuna you and lady Towa continue to get bigger each time that I see you. I wonder if you'll be done growing soon. At least you won't have to worry about looking too old anytime soon." Jaken smiled.
And then it hit her the one thing that Setsuna had never considered before. People who had demon blood didn't age the same as humans did. Her dad was already hundreds of years old and he didn't look it at all and her Uncle who was half demon just like her and Towa were was who knows how old. One day she would outlive Hisui and she would barely look her real age too.
When she thought about forever all she could think of was him but the way that she would age was not the same as him. She'd never be able to give Hisui a normal life together with her.
The dark thought then came to her mind that maybe she should have just let Hisui marry Princess Aiya quietly because now that they were together she had officially stolen Hisui's chance at being able to grow old with someone normal and live the way that humans did.
A.N:
So I decided to post the update a day early since I've had this story finished for a while now. Thank you for reading until the end. When I started writing Yashahime Bloodlines I had skipped over how Setsuna and Hisui got together so I just wanted to write a small side story for them. For any who want to read what happened next my story Yashahime Bloodlines picks up 3 months after this story takes place and has already been posted. Setsuna and Hisui share the spotlight with Moroha and Towa in my other story but they still have plenty of moments. Bloodlines follow Setsuna and Hisui as their relationship matures and they both work through the different insecurities that they each have and learn how to be there for each other in a different way. Also this whole story was loosely inspired by the song Untouchable by Taylor Swift. To me anytime that I write for these two this song just always comes to my mind. I listened to it a lot while writing this last chapter and towards the end of Yashahime Bloodlines chapter 1.
