~Hakurei Shrine~ > Kosuzu's Grand Bookstore
Rising Star (Complete At Last)
Iced Fairy:
Hm... This didn't go as I expected. And a Hakurei eh? Interesting. I wonder where the peices will fall from here.
MysTeariousYukari:
Hoh boy... A Hakurei coming to seal away Byakuren, Shou and Murasa may end up bearing grudge's, even small ones, towards the Hakurei's cause of this.
FinnKaenbyou:
Rising Star. It updates almost as often as White Rose!
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The sound of clashing weapons echoed through the chambers of the meditation hall, almost growing stronger as it moved through the air. Byakuren flinched as it reached her, wincing as she maintained her upright stance.
It has begun...
Every clash felt like it was scratching at her eardrums, almost causing her physical pain. It was probably Shou out there, fighting for her sake against the shrine maiden. There was no doubt on how that fight would end, though - for all of her strength and training under Vaisravana, Shou didn't stand a chance. Misato was the latest descendant of the legendary Hakurei family, a human bloodline with magical power that even youkai couldn't compare with. Their presence took a few generations to grow, but now they were a name known across all of Japan.
And of course, it was the duty of any good shrine maiden to exterminate troublesome youkai.
The fighting outside grew louder. She could make out murmurs now, the sound of Misato's gang growing more enthusiastic as they saw their leader's power first hand. Shou was being pushed back, slowly but surely. She wasn't going to last much longer. An image flashed in her mind for a moment - the tiger looking down, seeing a gohei piercing her in the chest as she coughed up blood, her face wracked with pain-
No!
Byakuren put her hands over her ears, willing the sound to be silent. She couldn't accept this. She couldn't deal with this blood on her hands. Shou had done nothing wrong - she had simply followed orders, done what was best for her band of tigers, for her god, for her friends. For Shou to die for her sake...she couldn't deal with that.
Still...what could she do? There was no way she would get away unscathed - even if she were to fight, Misato had enough expertise and power to defeat her. Perhaps she couldn't die, but she could still be sealed away for the rest of time. Was there no way to win here...?
Despite her best efforts, the sound drifted past her hands. The fight came closer and closer, until she almost thought the pair were going to crash through the door of the temple and take their fight inside. Every hit was agonising, with Byakuren's mind coming to the worst conclusion with every strike. In her mind, Shou was being stabbed in the heart, in the stomach, in the eye, everywhere. It was too much, just too much. She was crying now, her sobs doing nothing to drown out the approaching sound.
It took her a few minutes for her tears to stop. Byakuren rose to her feet once again, smiling with an eerie calmness. She slowly started to make her way out of the room, feeling the weight lifting from her shoulders as she walked.
In the end, I only have one choice, don't I...?
-----
"Gah!"
This couldn't be happening. My arms felt like they were about to snap from the force being hammered into the spear. I was almost convinced that there was just a layer of paint over it, and the gohei in her hand was made of the hardest metal I'd ever seen.
"Shouldn't you be devouring me around now? That's what you youkai do, isn't it?"
There was no expression in Misato's voice. No anger, no fear, not even a hint of fatigue. Just sheer, utter focus in the task ahead of her - her mission to take Byakuren apart, and take me with her if necessary.
I was nowhere near as lucky - the fight was taking its toll, and she had slowly been pushing me up the stairs to the temple. The gang of thugs followed behind her, still too afraid of me to get in the way of the melee. I could see the hope in their eyes, the hope that Misato would be enough to help them get rid of these sick, demonic youkai.
I felt sick to my stomach.
"Ah-!"
I'd hesitated, and Misato didn't lose a moment in capitalising. I heard a deafening crack as the gohei slammed into the side of my chest. I had no doubt that a strike with that force would be enough to kill an ordinary man. My youkai pedigree was enough to keep me standing, but it sure as hell didn't do anything to stop the pain.
If I had the slightest chance, I'd have fallen to my knees and screamed, clutching at my side and pulling my hands back up with a small layer of blood covering my palms. But that would give her another opening, and I'd be finished. I settled for clenching my teeth until I was scared they would crack apart from the pressure.
"...Why?"
I thought I was hearing things as I was being knocked further back, but my ears hadn't deceived me. Misato had asked me a simple question, her voice barely audible over the clashing of our weapons.
"Why do you defend her? Don't you know the crimes she's committed?"
What sort of question was this? Maybe she didn't expect an answer, given that her attacks continued regardless. I fought the pain for long enough to offer her an answer.
"If trying to help people out is a crime...then I may as well be a criminal as well."
"People? The only ones to benefit from her deeds are the youkai."
Again, absolutely no emotion in her voice. I would have been less afraid of her if she were filled with the righteous indignation that drove the mob behind her, but to be so completely in control of herself was something else entirely.
But there was no time for fear. We'd reached the top of the staircase, and the temple was right behind me. So I flipped the fear inside out and turned it into anger.
"So...you're saying that youkai don't count as people? Don't we have feelings, emotions, hearts just like you humans? Or do you honestly think we're all just soulless machines who you can kill off without a hint of conscience?"
Misato didn't respond to that one with words.
She just made the most of my anger, waited for me to get overaggressive, and parried my thrust elegantly.
"Wha-"
Time slowed to a crawl. My arm was still in front of me, hanging uselessly behind Misato. The miko closed in, dashing to within inches of my face. I could feel her breath on my cheek.
Then, a fist pounded into my gut.
"!!!"
That was it. That was the killer blow. I coughed, spitting out blood onto the staircase as my body failed me. Misato held me close for a moment, murmuring in my ear.
"They're afraid."
I managed to register confusion in the midst of the pain flooding every nerve I had. The mob finished climbing the staircase behind us, the relief on their faces evident.
"The majority of humanity is weak and frail. Your kind are a threat to us and our safety."
I wanted to answer. To say that we meant no harm, that we simply wished to stay to ourselves and live a simple life under the worship of Vaisravana. Even if I had the strength for it, though, I knew the words would be falling on deaf ears.
Ichirin's face flashed in front of my eyes. The Kumoi clan. Innocent. Well-intentioned. Still considered a threat and slaughtered anyway.
We spent an eternity looking at one another. I don't know what sort of expression I was wearing - a look of fear, stubbornness, agony, or maybe some sort of demented combination of all three. But still Misato's face didn't so much as budge.
She pushed forward with the tiniest force, and I slumped backwards onto the ground.
-----
"Toramaru-san!"
A voice from the bushes. Ichirin emerged from her hiding spot, jumping between me and Misato. She was shivering uncontrollably, but who could blame her? She'd just witnessed the shrine maiden tear me apart, almost literally.
"S-Stay back! I...I'll fight you!"
Unzan was murmuring in her ear. Even without hearing it, his expression made it clear that his advice was to run. She had no hope of holding the miko off, so all her sacrifice would achieve was more needless bloodshed.
Misato was unimpressed. She looked back to the mob she'd assembled, expecting them to run up the stairs and charge at the temple any second now.
Their enthusiasm was curbed by an anchor landing inches from the front of the crowd.
"Alright, kiddies, turn around and go back home. Captain's orders."
Murasa leapt out from behind cover as well, standing in front of the gang to stop them swarming inside. They stepped back down the stairway, cowering again at the sight of another threat.
Misato dealt with this new development like she always did - with an unimpressed sigh. She stared Ichirin down.
"Do I need to make an example of you as well?"
The gohei came out again, pointing straight at Ichirin's neck. The hooded youkai was still trembling, but her legs just about held her up. She must have wanted to respond, but the words couldn't come out.
"Look at ya, picking on a girl who just wants to protect her friend. Some great shrine maiden you are, kid."
I couldn't help but smirk at that one. Only Murasa would think that now was a good time to insult the girl who could singlehandedly take each and every one of us apart. The first hints of frustration started to appear on Misato's face.
There was a dead silence. Everyone's eyes were on Misato, waiting for her to make the first move. She could leap towards Ichirin, attack her in an instant and take her down before Unzan could defend her, or with a quick 180-degree turn she could take Murasa out. Even if the ghost's physical body was just a shell, there was no doubt the miko would be carrying exorcising amulets of some form. Either way, it was just a matter of who she attacked first.
The answer turned out to be neither, as the door to the temple slowly opened.
"I believe I am the one you are looking for."
Everyone's eyes turned to the doorway. Even I managed to tilt my head around far enough to catch a sight of it.
Standing there proudly, without a hint of resistance, was Byakuren Hijiri.
Demonbman:
A new and interesting development! Thank you a lot! I love your BA Murasa
Vicks:
wait,White Rose get's updated?
Also, great chapter. Short, but nicely filled.