"Death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely. All created things must pass. Strive on, diligently. This body is a shadow, fragile and impermanent, and destined to perish."

- Buddha

Wheels of Rebirth

The sounds of blaring ambulance alarms.

The taste of iron at the back of his tongue.

The cold chill that embraced his body.

The feeling of his clothes soaked.

And the absent sense of his left arm.

Something wasn't right.

He tries to open his eyes but finds it hard to do so. His eyelids feel so heavy, not helped by the lack of sensation. He could only see through the small gaps of his eyes and eyelashes, seeing the overwhelming light of red faintly which gave him an outline of a figure.

A girl, he assumed.

Ah…

She must be the owner of that dog…

The tears dripping down from her face glistens under the light of the sun. Contrary to his own beliefs, someone other than his own family could actually be sad with his passing…

Was this the thing?

Was this...the genuine thing he was looking for…?

He was able to see it…

Finally…

With a satisfied look on his face, the one known as Hikigaya Hachiman closed his eyes. In that moment of darkness and content, the last breath was drawn. Marking the tragic end of a loner who wasn't able to connect with others.

And marking a new beginning of an ancient shinobi who thought he had fulfilled his lord's desires…

死
Death

October 10th, 2017. Boy H was reported to have been involved in a traffic accident and received very fatal injuries; broke a few of his ribs, a concussion and lost his left arm due to it being crushed under a truck's tyres. Reports further elaborates that the boy had flatlined for exactly three minutes but miraculously regained heartbeat.

The mysterious beeping sound awakens him. His body felt heavy and reawakened his senses disoriented his vision after sleeping(?) for so long.

No, that wasn't right.

He was supposed to be dead.

After condemning the last immortal being himself and freeing his master from the curse of undying, he should've been dead by now. He made sure of it, killing was what he does best after all.

Hikigaya Hachiman blinks confusedly, he looks around to see himself in a bed and in a room that was both familiar and unfamiliar. He observed the sunlight that permeates through the curtains, the smell of sanitized hallways overwhelming his nostrils. Yet again, the scent was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

As he tried to comprehend what was happening, his mind began to recount the events of his life as Hikigaya Hachiman. A loner who was rejected by others due to a superficial reason, walking in the path of life alone with only his younger sister helping the stability of his mind, refusing to connect with others due to his own ego and his search for something and in general, a life that was...very peaceful in comparison to…

The boy shook his head, this wasn't right.

These memories were not his, what is happening?

Confusion brewed more but before he could make sense as to what was happening, a sound of something crashing down to the floor snapped him from his stupor. He blinks slowly before he turns toward a girl who had a shocked look on her face as she held her hand over to her mouth in disbelief.

Komachi...was it?

"O-Onii-chan?" Her lips quivered as she made her way towards him, her steps unstable and her legs shaking. "ONII-CHAN!"

She jumps and hugs him by his abdomen which elicits sharp pain as he winces and grunts out in slight pain. He might be a shinobi but that doesn't mean he can't feel pain. In fact, feeling pain was what enabled him to master the art of deflecting and stealth.

"S-Sorry!" The younger sister of Hachiman, Komachi, apologizes before she withdraws and begins looking frantically for something. "Where's the button, where's the button!?" She finds it and clicks on it repeatedly.

The boy could only watch as the nurses came rushing into the room, surprised and asking Komachi to leave the room for them to tend him.

For the third time, what is happening?

Ookami (Wolf) or sometimes known as Sekiro (One-Armed Wolf) had dealt with many strange things in his service as a shinobi. He fought apparitions, he encountered the Great Serpents, fought infested undead and even killed a few vitality-crazed Palace Nobles at Fountainhead as well as getting the Gracious Gift of Tears from the Divine Dragon itself. But this might be the strangest thing he had experienced so far.

While dying was pretty common for him thanks to the Blood of the Divine Heir, resurrecting as someone else was a completely different thing. What makes this even more baffling is that he was supposed to be dead, he used the Mortal Blade (Fushigiri) to behead himself as a way to completely sever any ties of immortality. So reincarnation should not be possible.

He is known now as Hikigaya Hachiman, a young man with a family of four including him. He is now in Chiba Prefecture, one of the many prefectures of Japan. More specifically, modern Japan. The gap between Sengoku period and Heisei period is massive, it's over 500 years in between. If that isn't strange enough, he does now know what is.

"Onii-chan, are you really okay?" Komachi, his supposed younger sister, asked worriedly.

Ookami being who he is not helped by the fact that the original Hachiman was not one for conversation, could only give a slight nod. "...yes."

The confusion between two different lives does not make this any easier, he finds it hard to convert his dialect to a modern one.

"..." Komachi stares at him intensely before releasing a sigh. "I should be glad you're still alive but you seriously need to change that loner attitude."

"..." Ookami remains silent.

"Well, chewing up you like this isn't good for your health. Recover quickly so that I can scold you!" She gave him a smile as she giggled.

With a smile like that, even he could understand why the original Hachiman wanted to protect her at any cost. It reminded him of how Lord Kuro, the master he served, smiled whenever he made those sweet rice balls and watched him eat them.

"...of course."

Which made him wonder now...why did he reincarnate?

償
還
Redemption

One of the ideas I've discussed with my friend besides Bloodborne Hachiman and even Unkindled Hachiman is if Sekiro or Ookami reincarnated as Hachiman. It's an interesting idea and we had fun discussing it. Like how I did with Bloodborne Hachiman dubbing him Lone Lantern, we went with Hachiro with Sekiro Hachiman. But Sekiman does sound good too.

So both Hachiro and Sekiman goes, whatever you want to call him.

Hope you guys enjoyed it, this is just something I wrote after I replayed Sekiro (it's fun as hell bro) with another friend. Like he said, trust. Trust in the process lol