Sureiyazu

Episode 12: Final Rest

All of the Sureiyazu were standing around their fallen master. Aya still held her hand over her eye, and Kasai and Yuri were both looking weary and had cuts all over them. Only Akuma was unscathed.

None wanted to voice what they all were thinking.

Shi opened his eyes. It was only a slight movement, but they all gasped with joy. He tried to smile at his gathered students.

"Finish me," he told them. Aya choked back her tears. Kasai's hands trembled. Yuri closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Akuma swallowed the lump in the back of her throat.

"N-no, master," Aya said desperately, her voice quivering. He only smiled sadly.

"I've been through much," he croaked. "But it's time for me to join Asuka."

"M-m-master!" Aya cried, tears streaming down her cheeks like a waterfall. She held his shoulders as if to anchor him to the human world.

"Finish me," Shi repeated. "I've seen all that I wish in life. I've lived longer than most men, and living is a burden more than anything. Finish me."

"Why?" asked Kasai. She wasn't asking anyone in particular; she was asking the universe, who ever controlled death. Whoever had decided that their master needed to die.

"Kasai," he said. "Follow your heart. Don't let your search control you." He shifted to look at Aya. "Aya, be strong. Yuri. Find happiness. True happiness. And Akuma, may you bind this powerful team until the day you die." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

Akuma knew what she had to do. This time it wasn't hard.

She held out her hand, and a soft beam of light swept over the master. He let out a sigh, and it was the last breath he ever took.

The Domain melted away until the castle appeared again, and light filtered in through the windows. It was wrong that the world should be so light, when Akuma felt so dark inside. She understood Kasai: "Why?" Why was the world so cruel? Why did the master have to die? Why were four teenagers supposed to carry this burden, this burden that was too much for a one hundred twenty year old man to carry?

They buried Master Shi next to Asuka's grave, and sniffed away their tears as they laid his gravestone on the pile of earth that was all that was left of him.

Master Shi

Greatest Sureiyazu Demonslayer

Died in battle against a mass of demons,

too many to count.

A Remembered Hero for Eternity

The spirit of Asuka was present for the burial, and stayed by Shi's grave every minute of the day, hoping that his spirit would appear. It never did. This partially worried Akuma, but she hoped he had moved on, and was happy. But, she thought, if that was the case, why was Asuka's spirit still here? She tried not to think about it.

Akuma thought, as she walked past his grave yet again, that this would only add to the many scars she had acquired throughout her life. Every day she kept an eye out for the master's spirit, and every night she couldn't sleep because she wanted to keep watch for him. He didn't show, though, and as the days went on, she doubted he would ever.

She tried to explain to her teammates that she couldn't see Shi's spirit, but Aya only slipped deeper into sadness, Yuri deeper into silence, and Kasai deeper into anger and hate.

Akuma felt helpless again, and to blame that she hadn't seen his spirit, even though she knew that it wasn't her fault that she hadn't seen him. She couldn't help wondering where he was, and if he cared that the Sureiyazu were falling apart without him.

It was one of the hardest times in her life.

But this was only the beginning.

~~~

"I need you to bring her back," instructed the woman to her guards. Her golden hair was neatly tied into a braid, and her purple robes swished as she paced the marble floor. "I've found a way to save us both - and our reputation."

One of the guards, whose armor was shiner than the rest and wore a purple badge on his chest, replied, "Yes, m'lady. And should she get out of control? Like bef -"

"Don't speak of that!" screamed the woman, her robes whipping through the air as she turned to face him.

"Sorry, m'lady, so sorry," apologized the guard.

"That's alright, Heishi," she said, her gaze growing softer. "It brings back memories, to talk about . . . the incident." Everyone knew you didn't mention the eighteenth of May, unless you wanted to anger the queen.

"Now," she began again. "She needs to be unharmed, if possible, but, of course I need her back at all costs. Everyone has been wondering where in Sekai the princess of Hana Firudo has gone. We need to assure them all that it was nothing, that she is fine. If word got out that she had become a demonslayer, of all things -"

"Yes, m'lady, I understand. We will bring her back."

And with that, the guard of Hana Firudo set out to find their princess. They only hoped they would make it back alive.