Tsunami of Dead Tears: Part 1

Chapter 16

Finally, after a bit of consoling, Rika left the room with tears in her eyes.

"Kids these days..." Douma chuckled, looking back at Shinobu. "So ambitious, but once the moment presents itself, they hesitate."

Shinobu frowned, not answering back. Douma left the room, and after a moment, Shinobu decided to try and sleep.

Before she could, though, she saw Rika walk back into the room. Instinctively, she crawled away from the potential threat, but Rika didn't look threatening, or dangerous, or even angry. She just looked sad.

Rika sat in the middle of the room silently, looking at the ground in shame.

Shinobu waited there for an awkward while.

"Lord Douma ordered me to stay here and set aside our differences..." Rika said, as if she could read what Shinobu wanted to know.

"There's no need for such a thing." Shinobu replied. "I've fought worse."

Rika didn't say anything else. She just sat there.

Shinobu, remembering what she said, spoke again. "What did your parents look like?"

Rika looked up and hesitated, but managed to answer the question. "They... they were both about the same height. They always went together, no matter what it was. The last time I saw them, they wore matching red and blue kimonos with flowery patterns..."

Shinobu thought hard, then finally recognized them. Back when she stabbed her way through the Pit. In a fit of rage, she didn't think about their faces before killing them. Now, as she relived the memory, she could see both of them vividly. The father had a blue kimono and was holding his wife's hand, who had tears on her cheeks.

"I..." Rika said. "I didn't even get a chance to say sorry before they left... I was so mad at them... I don't remember why, but..."

Rika stopped. She needed a minute to grieve, and Shinobu understood that more than anyone else.

"Lord Douma..." Rika said after taking a deep breath. "said that... anger would only make the pain worse... he said that I needed to learn how to cope by learning how to forgive... he said that revenge would only leave me empty..."

He said that?

Shinobu couldn't help but think of Giyuu. Countless times, he tried to discourage her vengeance, going so far as to destroy her only chance at killing Douma, saving her in the process. She couldn't fathom how a person as good-willed as Giyuu would share the same beliefs as a monster like Douma.

Rika said nothing more. She just sat there. Shinobu felt like she needed to do something.

What would Kanae do?

"Y'know..." Shinobu said. "I met a man like that once. A man that couldn't let go of his anger. He despised a certain person so much that he hunted the person down for years. But then he met somebody. Somebody that suffered the same way he suffered. That somebody tried to pull the man away from his quest for vengeance, but to no avail. Finally, that somebody told him that when he finally found the person he was looking for... he should come back. Alive."

Shinobu chuckled. She realized that she was describing everything that happened with her and Giyuu.

"When he came back, he looked... satisfied... I never really understood why."