Mizuki rushed into the dining room, aware of how much commotion she was causing (and how many pitying stares she was getting from how much she winced when she moved) but she didn't care now.
Aya set down her cup. "What is it, Mizuki?"
"H-hayato!" Mizuki forced out. "He's gone."
"What?" said everyone immediately, standing in unison.
Mizuki clutched her side, which had begun to burn with pain. "He's not in the room. I don't know -"
But they had all moved together out of the room and began a search of the house.
Mizuki was grateful for their help, but inside wondered what he could possibly be doing. He always took matters too far into his own hands. She stumbled after the others.
Taichi caught her and stood her up again.
"Lay off," Mizuki growled. "I'm fine."
"If you insist," Taichi said, raising his hands in the air in surrender. "Unless, that is, you want to find your brother."
"Do I look like I need advice from you?" Mizuki said. "I don't."
"All I am asking of you is that I can help you find him," Taichi said.
"And you want me to help you find him too," Mizuki added.
Taichi closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again. "Yes. That is true. You know the most about Hayato. So you would know best what he would do were he to run away."
Mizuki laughed a short laugh. "Yeah? You think that? I don't know him at all, Taichi. I never knew him." She tried to walk again, but winced in pain and Taichi steadied her. "I don't know people except for their assassination profiles. I don't have a family, and I don't have a brother. He's the one who decided that. Not me."
Taichi sighed and thought for a moment. "I think . . . that you should learn to forgive more easily."
"And this is coming from -"
"Someone feeling exactly as betrayed as you," Taichi cut in. "Because I also think that the unforgiven person is hurting as much as you are. And holding out something that could have been resolved long ago only continues to make the problem worse."
"Spare me the inspirational speech," Mizuki said. "I get it, I get it. Blah, blah, blah."
And so he didn't try again to lecture her. Maybe, he thought, it was something that was better found for oneself.
~~~
Hayato wandered without feeling any pain.
It had hurt, to come this far. But after he was so close to the thing that was calling him - whatever it was - the pain subsided and he only saw truth.
In the back of his mind, a little voice told him that only demons promised true truth, and that anything that seemed wholly honest like this could not be real. But it was real. It was very real.
He wasn't sure where he was, exactly, but it was okay. Spacial awareness was something he could do without now. And besides, he was so close . . . (He was so entranced that he failed to realize how little sense that made.)
And then suddenly there was a woman in front of him, and she smiled, and then -
Pain exploded throughout Hayato's body. He tried to call out for help, but no one was there.
It was worse than the pain of being stabbed. It was worse than the pain of loss. It was worse than everything. It felt as if his very essence was being torn in two.
And then he was running back through the nothing, and then he saw, faintly, the Sureiyazu castle, as if from far away, and then there was nothing.
But this time, it was a true nothing.
~~~
"Oh my gosh," Mizuki exclaimed sickly.
Some of the others were there, standing around him with her.
"Yurei, help us all," Aya muttered. "We have to get him inside!"
"What happened to him?" Mizuki demanded no one. And likewise, no one had an answer.
"He seems to be alive," Taichi said to himself. "Odd . . ."
Mizuki didn't want to look, but she couldn't look away. Here was her brother Hayato, staring dead-eyed at something far away. His skin was pale, and he was sweating. He didn't seem to be breathing, from what she could tell, but Taichi claimed he was alive . . .
"What the heck?!" Kasai had just appeared.
Yuuto had been nearby as well. "What was he doing -" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Let's bring him inside."
"I got the feet," Ryou volunteered. "C'mon, help me."
Together they lifted Hayato, who made no move to help them or stop them, and brought him inside the main hall where they sat him down. Why had they chosen a room that was so far from the entrance to be the hospital?
Taichi was rapidly checking things on Hayato. "Everything seems normal. And yet . . ."
"What the -" Heishi exclaimed. Now everyone was gathered around him. "You found him?"
Akuma nodded. "Something's off though. I can feel it somehow . . ."
Aya bit her lip. "It's as if something isn't there in him. Taichi says his body is working normally, except that he has a fever, but . . ."
"Hmm," Yuri thought. "I can feel it too. It's . . . off."
"Well I can't," Hachirou shrugged, reminding everyone that he was there. "But carry on."
Mayu knelt next to Hayato and moved a piece of hair out of his face. She sighed and looked up to the Sureiyazu. "Where was he?"
"Outside the castle, laying on the steps," said Taichi.
"Sprawled out like he was taking a nap," Ryou added.
"You didn't see what happened?" she asked. Taichi shook his head. She sighed again.
But suddenly Mizuki's shadow ran down one of the halls out of the corner of Taichi's eye. Seeing that no one else had noticed, he followed.
He thought he had been moving quietly down the hall until she said, "Stop following me, okay?"
He gave up all hope of stealth. "Why aren't you with your brother?"
"And why aren't you?" she asked, walking faster.
"Because there are lots of other people here who will tend to him," he said, speeding up to match her pace.
"The precise reason I'm not there," Mizuki said harshly.
"But -"
"Stop trying to act like you know me, okay?" Mizuki shouted, and ran down the hall.
Taichi didn't follow her.
~~~
"I don't know what did it to him," said Yuuto later that day as they all sat around the table. "But whatever it was, it won't go unpunished."
Mayu sighed deeply. "Which is why we've come to a decision."
"We have to go out and get revenge for him," Takara said.
"Kill it 'til it's dead," Shouta agreed.
"Hey . . ." Ryou said. "Why didn't anyone tell me about this earlier?"
"Apologies," said Yuuto. "We didn't want to have to say it multiple times."
"Laziness," Ryou laughed. "That's my brother for you."
"And besides," Yuuto added, his voice serious again, "if there is something of that power out there . . . we can't sit here idly and do nothing."
Aya nodded. "I understand."
Mizuki stared at the table.
"We should leave today or tomorrow," said Takara. "While it's still nearby, if we can even track it."
"Yeah," Akuma agreed. "I get it."
"It's cool," said Kasai. She grinned.
"We don't mind," Yuri shrugged. "It was fun!"
The Sobi-sha seemed greatly relieved.
"I'm gonna miss all the extra sparring partners though," Kasai laughed.
Mayu laughed along. "We will too. And the arena."
"You have me and that guy over there," Hachirou said. "You know, What's-His-Name."
"Don't mind me," Ryou said, offended, "I'm just the famous demonslayer Ryou Kiyozawa."
Hachirou nodded. "Oh, that guy. Yeah, the guy who all the ladies fall all over."
"You make it sound like I do it on purpose -" Ryou started, but Taichi cut him off.
"What about Hayato?" Taichi asked.
"Oh . . . right," Yuuto remembered. "We were going to ask if he could stay here. We don't have as big of a castle, or any wizards to tend to him."
Mayu glared.
"Er . . ." Yuuto said awkwardly. "We don't have any . . . wizards who know healing magic very well."
Mayu opened her mouth, but Aya spoke instead.
"He can stay here," said Aya. "We'll let you know immediately when he wakes up. If . . ."
The air in the room immediately felt heavier.
"I'll do everything I can to ensure he does wake up," Taichi assured them. The Sobi-sha nodded.
And when they departed that day, they waved until they became silhouettes over the hill.
~~~
"Aha," said Taichi.
Mizuki looked up at him from the stone floor of the wall around the castle. "What now?"
"You weren't in bed," Taichi said simply.
"Thank you, Mr. Obvious," Mizuki said sarcastically. "Any other enlightening revelations?"
Taichi sat down next to her. "Why are you so intent on having no friends?"
Mizuki made a face.
"That didn't sound the way I planned it," he said.
"I'm not intent on having no friends," Mizuki said. "I'm intent on having time to think for myself once in a while. Which you keep helpfully interrupting."
Taichi sighed.
"A wizard never did any good," said Mizuki. "Go away."
But Taichi did not go away. He thought for a moment. "That's true."
"Oh, so now you're agreeing with me?"
"You're still talking, so evidently it's working."
Mizuki growled.
"It's not my fault I was chosen to be a wizard," said Taichi.
"It's not my fault I was chosen, either," Mizuki shot back. "Leave."
"I didn't intend to be such a nuisance," Taichi said.
Mizuki laughed. "See how well that one worked out." But then she clutched her stomach because at laughing a sharp pain had shot up through her body.
"Do you need some painkiller potion?" Taichi asked, pulling a bottle from out of the picket of his robes.
"No," Mizuki said instantly. "I'm fine. I don't need your stupid magic."
Taichi shook the bottle. "Actually, it's alchemy."
"Alchemy, magic, it's all the same. It only fixes what it destroyed first. If it does fix anything."
Taichi put the bottle back away. "I'm sorry."
"Great, an apology. I bet that's rare from you."
He sighed.
"Much better. Silence. If you could cut the sighing I can pretend you aren't there."
Taichi stood. "I will only leave if you come with me. Your wounds are still bad. You need the rest."
Mizuki stood too, slapping away his attempts to help. "I could just as easily use Time magic to restore myself. I would have no wounds and no memories of you trying to give me help I don't need."
"But -"
"But I won't because I swore I'd never use it again."
"You're annoyingly stubborn," Taichi said, shaking his head.
"So?"
"You know it's impossible, don't you?" he asked.
Mizuki stumbled, but pulled herself back up using the wall next to her. "What?"
"You can't heal completely independently," said Taichi, watching her struggle to walk.
Mizuki stopped then. "Maybe I do know that."
"We both already know it, because we've both had to."
She shook her head. "I've been in pain too long. If I gave it up now, I wouldn't be me anymore."
Taichi put his arm under hers to prop her up. "Then you do not know yourself."
"No one knows themselves, Taichi."
"Time to start getting acquainted, then."
"Are you usually this positive around other people?"
"Your negativeness is causing my moderately positive attitude to seem much more positive than it is."
"Get used to being Mr. Positive, then, if you plan to keep bothering me."
"You act like nothing ever changes, Mizuki."
"Some things don't."
"All things change. Given time."
~~~
"There you go, Hachirou," said Kasai, putting extra emphasis on his name - something she'd been doing just to annoy him for the past couple of days, during which he had been staying at the castle, waiting for Kasai to finish his outfit.
She was standing in front of a mannequin which was wearing a long red coat the same color as the demon's skin that they had most recently slain. (Because, in fact, it was the skin from the demon they had most recently slain. Or, as much of it as Kasai could salvage. It had also had a lot of help from magic and other fabrics to revive it.) It had a high collar, and flared out dramatically at the waist. It was seemingly covered in pockets, as Kasai had sewn in as many as she could into it. ("So now it can look like you own things," she had said when she had told him about it.)
"It's . . ." Hachirou trailed off. "Dang, I didn't know you were this good."
Kasai rested Inochi over her shoulder. "Always assume I'm better at something than you think. 'Cause I am."
"Was it hard to make?" he asked, prodding it with his finger as if to see if it were real.
"Not really," Kasai shrugged. "But these -" (she pulled a pair of heavy black boots out of a box nearby) "- were." She threw them over to him.
"You're giving me these too?" Hachirou asked. "Seriously, I'm not a charity."
"It's nothing," said Kasai. "I mean, those are from a while ago when I was following the instructions from a book. I didn't think to put my own foot size in instead of the dimensions they used in the book."
"Your feet were too small?" Hachirou asked.
"No," said Kasai sarcastically, "they were too big. What do you think?"
"Well, they fit me fine," said Hachirou. "So I'll take 'em. You got anything else for me?"
"Funny you should ask," Kasai smiled. "Because I do. I've got a men's shirt I made for some reason, and some pants I made for Aya as a joke."
"You made Aya pants -"
"Don't ask," Kasai cut him off, turning to retrieve the clothes. "Just don't."
"You know I was kidding, right?" Hachirou asked.
"About what?" came Kasai's muffled voice from inside a chest.
"About if you had anything else for me."
Kasai returned holding the shirt and pants. "Look, I really don't care, okay? These things were never gonna see the light of day. Now they will. Ta-da. Magical."
"And about the making the demon skin into a coat," Hachirou added.
"Yeah, well, truth is, that was actually kind of fun," Kasai said matter-of-factly. "What'd you want me to do now, anyway? It's already made. Just take it."
"I'm not saying I won't take it," said Hachirou. "It's just, you know, weird for someone as tough and mean as you to go making people things and giving your stuff away for free."
Kasai looked immediately offended. "'Tough and mean'?"
"Yeah, that's how you try to act," Hachirou shrugged. "You're always sparring, and acting like you don't care about other people and stuff."
Kasai looked away.
"But then you go away to watch the sunsets, and you make coats for homeless guys you've only met like once."
"So?"
"I don't know," said Hachirou. "Doesn't seem like your style, I guess."
"My style?"
"Yeah."
But then Kasai laughed. "My style is whatever I feel like making it at the moment, Hachirou. I don't have an image. I'm just me."
~~~
If someone had told Akuma that someday she'd be holding open a dead man's mouth so someone else could feed him, she wouldn't have believed it.
But that was what she was doing now.
"What is that stuff?" she asked Taichi, who was pouring something that reminded her of mud into Hayato's open mouth.
"You would not want to know that," was all Taichi said.
"Okay then," said Akuma.
When all of the mud-like substance had been poured down Hayato's throat, Taichi announced that he needed to get something else from another room and left to get it.
"Well that was abrupt," Akuma said to herself.
Hayato just laid there and said nothing, staring off at something far away.
Akuma wondered for the thousandth time what had happened to him. He was definitely alive, but he didn't respond, and he still felt . . . wrong, somehow.
She wondered if he could think, in this state. Maybe he was aware, but couldn't move. Maybe he could feel them touching him but he couldn't see them. Maybe he could see them. Maybe -
No. She closed her eyes. If she kept thinking like this, she would drive herself insane.
But when she opened her eyes, something very strange happened.
She wasn't in the room with Hayato anymore.
Akuma was standing in the middle of a city street, but it was all so white that she couldn't make out anything specific. But to her left . . .
The entire city she was standing in was crumbling away, falling against gravity into an empty black space. Chunks of it were falling away, but somehow most of the city was still intact, along with much of the sky.
But the weirdest part were the people. They were all Hayato, all walking blankly around the streets, all not seeing that she was there.
"Excuse me," she said to one of them.
He looked up at her. "Hello."
"What's going on?" she asked.
"A part of me is gone," he said.
"What?"
"A part of me is gone," said another. More Hayatos joined in.
"A part of me is gone."
It became a bizarre chant, said unfeelingly and without expression.
"A part of me is gone."
But what was this? Where was she?
"A part of me is gone."
This made no sense . . .
"A part of me is gone."
And then the chant changed.
"Find it. Find it. Find it."
And then Akuma felt that she was being shaken, and then the room came into focus around her, and Hayato was laying in the bed, and Ryou was in front of her, holding onto her shoulders, and Taichi was to her left.
"What was that, Akuma?" Ryou demanded. "You just had the ultimate space-out."
"You could call it that . . ." Akuma said feebly.
"It is good to know you're back to reality," said Taichi.
"Yeah," Akuma agreed. "I think I need some sleep."
But as she walked to her room, all she could see was the lifeless way the Hayato's walked; all she could hear was their weary chant:
"A part of me is gone. Find it."