Absent Love

Chapter One

After having been brought back to Earth, simply seconds after my death, I remember feeling nothing but regret. Regret to have wasted my past life, searching for one who was destined to never ever even love me back. Their feelings would never come back to meet mine, no matter how far my feelings stretched out towards them.

Heartbroken and alone, I recall wandering out to the streets in my new form in this life, a crow-like creature, which seemed to reflect upon my final moments of my previous life.

A "tengu" is what many would call me, but such a name is painful to my soul. It hurts me whenever I hear it now. For, a tengu is a youkai. And youkai cannot die. Youkai are eternal up to a certain extent, and completely invisible to those who don't believe in them.

As it was in my past life, luck wasn't on my side, at all. That is...until a young couple spotted me as the sun was beginning to set...

~~~~
Sitting on a ledge to a mountain, Karamatsu twitched his tengu wings, grimacing as he felt a feather come loose, falling to the dusty ground beneath him.

"Loneliness seems to follow me everywhere I go..." Karamatsu thought to himself, pulling his knees to his chest. "All I want is to be loved by someone, so I may return that love to them...twice as strong. I've never been given the chance, either. No matter how hard I try, this world just isn't cut out for worthless youkai, such as I. Nobody believes in tengu anymore. At least, not the "species" I am."

"Little boy, are you lost?" the deep voice of a man called out from above.

Karamatsu screamed, shocked to have heard someone speaking to him. He had gone unnoticed for months, after all.

During that moment, the young tengu was at a loss of words. His small heart was pounding in his chest, about to explode.

"Please don't be false hope! Please don't be false hope! Please please please please!" Karamatsu prayed desperately, looking up to face the man. Quickly, he nodded his head.

"Give us a second, we'll be right down!" the voice of a female called out to Karamatsu. "Don't go anywhere. We'll help you get back to your home."

It was only moments before the man and woman stood before Karamatsu, worried expressions on their faces.

"Child..." the woman muttered sympathetically. "Your entire body is covered in dirt. How long have you been out here, dear?"

Karamatsu's wings twitched anxiously as he stumbled over his words, his voice cracking.

"I-I-I h-have n-n-n-noOOo h-home!" Karamatsu gasped weakly. His stomach growled a little, as if to emphasize his homelessness.

"Look at his beautiful wings, Charlotte," the man spoke to his wife. "He's the real deal."

"Woah..." Charlotte, the woman, whispered in awe. "To think he's all alone here? That's insane! The tengu is a very well known youkai! I suppose nobody believes in him anymore though..?"

~~~~

After only one week had gone by, I already felt as if this young couple was my family.

Every single day, they hugged me, continuously saying "I love you."

One would most likely find these actions odd, especially after having only known these people for a week. But, after living for months, all alone, I finally felt as it, perhaps, my eternal life wouldn't be so bad. Especially if I had these two humans as my family....

Two years later....

"Karamatsu!" Charlotte called out to her adopted youkai child. "We have something for you!"