Gou Ookami shook himself and took and unsteady step forward on useless paws. His long black fur was gone. In its place, charred skin peeled away in strips, revealing raw red flesh. The illusion he had cast at the last minute had sapped away all his strength, but he had managed to escaped with his life. Somehow.
Once out of the fray he had run hell for leather for the opposite shore, with nary a stray glance at the catastrophe behind him.
Now, miles away on a distant shore, his steps slowed as he sighed in relief.
His wounds were grievous, but with time, care, and nurturing, he would heal. At least he was alive.
All he had to do was to find a place to rest, a safe shelter, perhaps a crevice in some cliff....... or a den.....or a....
"That wont be possible, unfortunately...." Behind him as if reading his mind, a strange voice cut short his thoughts.
Gou Ookami instantly tensed, his heart skipped a beat as his breath hitched in his throat. Then, slowly and warily, he looked up.
Behind him, a figure stood on a rocky out cropping, silhouetted by the twilight. (Trans-Note: This is going on concurrently with Touda's outburst, so the sun hasn't set yet.)
Her face was in shadow, but Gou Ookami didn't need to see her face..... he knew.
"A....Aki...Ka....Kasumi....." His voice quivered.
His hated enemy, the one who had sealed him so many years ago only smiled,... a cold, sadistic smile
"I dont know who broke your little seal, but if you had been a good boy and returned to whatever land you came from, perhaps you could have gotten away with your life......."
The silvery white strands of hair, golden in the sunlight drifted lazily on the breeze. Her eyes, a light lunar gray never left Gou Ookami's form as she took a step forward from her place on the crag.
"Oh, my little Gou Ookami, I cant tell you how much I regret those days. I was young then, If only I hadn't been lazy and inattentive, I would have dispatched you so nicely and cleanly."
(Trans-Note: Okay, Aki Kasumi's gender is unclear, the narrative pronouns refer to her as female but she refers to herself as male.)
"Oh sweetie, don't try to run away. You certainly have a good imagination, thinking you have a chance."
Gou Ookami stood rooted to the spot, petrified by fear, as she swept forward.
"You should be proud....I didnt think it was necessary to dirty my hands personally with you, but it looks like I have no choice."
Mere inches away, she lifted a hand as pearly and white as alabaster, and closed her eyes.
"Wha?...What are you....?"
Gou Ookami couldn't finish as a shock wave tore through him, rending flesh from bone and bone from tendon. layer by layer, he peeled away until he was nothing more than dust on the drifting breeze, settling silently into the sea.
"I feel like Gou Ookami is merely a plot device for Touda to regain his memory, not that he has, he is quickly disposed of.")
The white creature's body shuddered violently. He kept his head lowered, and after a silence, a cold and small voice drifted to Masahiro's ears.
"......Guren......"
"eh?" Masahiro hadnt heard.
The white mononoke spoke up again, a little louder this time.
"Call me Guren..."
Masahiro was stunned, his breath hitched in his throat, as his heart seemed to skip a beat.
"Haven't I told you? You can call me by name."
The small creature in the corner seemed to struggle with his words. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but the words never came out, swallowed back by the tremors now shuddering through his form as he awaited Masahiro's reply.
"................"
Masahiro made no sound. Was he still dreaming? If so, he never wanted to awaken.
The silence of the room weighted heavily on his heard and at last it was too much for the white mononoke. He tried several times, until the words shaky and broken formed in his throat.
"....I..... "
And then the words died in his throat. There was simply too much to say, so much to tell him. But all he could see as he stared down at his own paws were the hands that had hurt him, the hands that had done unspeakable things to him.
He was the light that pierced his darkness, the one that through his kindness drove away the endless shadow that seemed to reach his very soul. Masahiro.... this child.... had reached into this life and put an end to the eternal night, giving him the only light that he had ever known.
A voice pierced his thoughts.
"....I......"
The creature held his breath, bracing himself for judgement. No matter what, he must hear the boy out. His sins were unforgivable.
"....I..... Ive lost my vision." (ie. his Kenki ability)
The white mononoke's eyes snapped wide, as he lifted his head to meet Masahiro's eyes.
".... Lost your vision ?...."
Masahiro nodded wordlessly, then he continued.
"Rikugou and Taiin purposely made themselves visible to me to show their support."
"That's how I can see them."
"But I can no longer see any of the Youkai."
"Things are going to become very difficult."
"But I will become an onmyouji. The best onmyouji."
Masahiro hesitated, and then he smiled.
"....But...."
"I dont know why, but I can see Mokkun. Ive always been able to see you....Even from the very beginning."
Prior to thirteen years of age, Masahiro's latent onmyouji abilities had been sealed by his grandfather. It had been sealed when Mokkun had fallen from the tree before him. He shouldn't have been able to see him.
Masahiro looked down at him and frowned.
"Even though you don't remember me, you still appear before me in this form." "Mokkun, you were the only one Ive always been able to see."
His voice broke before he finished his sentence.
Mokkun's eyes..... eyes the color of twilight............ eyes filled with warmth.
Masahiro wanted nothing more than to see those eyes clearly, gazing into their depth, but the world seemed curtained by a watery gauze, blurring around the edges until all that was left was the dull colors of the room. (Trans-Note: He's crying)
"I WILL become an onmyouji."
"The greatist onmyouji."
"Even though not being able to see will make it very difficult for me, but I will. "
"Because I promised Guren......I will work hard.......so....."
Masahiro closed his eyes, vainly trying to hold back the tears that fell.
"Mokkun,...Will you be my eyes?..... "
"............."
Will you be my eyes? Masahiro had asked this of him a year ago, near the end of spring. It has been a year, and spring was ending again. Much has happened over the course of the year. There were good time, bad times, triumphs and tragedies. And after all thay had been through, Masahiro had repeated the same request to him.
"Lets go home.....Akiko is waiting for us. She's always asking me when Mokkun will come home. She will be disappointed if we don't return together. "
The white mononoke squeezed his eyes shut at the words as Masahiro continued.
"Lets go home together..... I wouldn't know what to do without you. "