Reincarnation

› twenty-seven: numb.

❝i have licked the fire and danced in the ashes of every bridge i ever burned. i fear no hell from you.❞

— nicole lyons. 

———

“It’s been a while.”

Alone, you stood in front of the marked graves of Mother and Grandmother, located in the courtyard of your old home.

Your village was never recovered after the massacre—you weren’t sure why Ubuyashiki didn’t do anything about it. Not like you’d want that in the first place—too many memories were associated here…

You sigh, bowing your head and placing your hands against one another, muttering prayers to your precious family members.

“I have a lot to tell you, Mother, Grandmother…since I last visited you two after I regained consciousness from that mission with Uzui,” you began, sitting in a cross-crossed position, with your unsheathed sword on your lap. “I’ve talked about Hashibira Inosuke before. The boy I’m…courting.”

You cleared your throat at the mention of the word, feeling a swell of giddiness in your heart as you polished your katana. “I went out with him…we went to some river and he swam a bit, then we ate and did some talking. He even gifted me a tessen fan. It was really…sweet,” you sigh, thumbing over the kanji etched onto the shinogi of the sword, reading, Destroyer of Demons. “Inosuke is right…I’m not the best at expressing my feelings like this. But in short, it was refreshing. But when we were heading back…”

You paused for a moment, closing your eyes—the image of the ink-black demon’s head whispering those words to you with a malicious grin on her red lips, the orange lily and begonia glittering underneath the moonlight as she disintegrated, petals shifting slightly at the night breeze.

“We were attacked by two demons. One of them, a winged one, took me and separated us. When I beheaded her, she...left behind some sort of messages. One, she told me I look like someone. Then, an orange lily and begonia were left behind.”

Placing your sword back into its sheath, you fiddle with the cloth. Your mind constantly went back to that day—images replaying in your mind, even in your sleep.

It felt like, somehow…those demons did that on purpose. They attacked you, knowing that they would die—and leave that message for you. That it was planned.

You sincerely hope that you are over-analyzing it, that your intuition is wrong.

Because for once, you did not want to face the person—demon—behind them.

You stay silent for a moment, staring at the name engraved into the stone.

Tsugikuni Mizuki.

Your grandmother.

It was a tradition for the women in the Tsugikuni family to keep their last names, even after being married. Your mother didn’t change her last name, either, after marrying your father.

However, when it came to you—your father didn’t accept it. Despite being a girl, he wanted you to have his last name, as your mother couldn’t birth any more kids—so when he married you off to some shrine priest, he would take your last name and become the head of the clan and shrine. 

Your grandmother didn’t say anything about it, so you didn’t either.

Maybe…now that he’s gone, I could go by that family name?

You pursed your lips, shaking your head.

Am I even worthy? The Tsugikuni Clan has had so many strong warriors…will I ever catch up?