A Millions Souls For You To Be Mine

Chapter 3

For four months, the both of them made their way around the Nordic countries, collecting souls as Tenumi explores. If Tenumi was all by himself, the souls he would've collected at this rate would only be around a hundred. With Aku's ridiculous luck though, they managed to accumulate at least eight thousand worth of souls. Of course, with this many souls around them, other Death Collectors are out to get their hands on them. This was the current case.

Surrounding them were three other Death Collectors. Aku and Tenumi ran into a car crash in which four people died (three pure souls and one tainted soul) and three were injured. Unfortunately, one of these Death Collectors were in the vicinity when it happened. The both of them were the one that got to the souls first but the other Death Collector was persistent and still fought for them. A couple minutes later, another two arrived, bringing us to our current situation.

"Tenumi, we can easily escape..." Aku stated, trying to persuade Tenumi to just run away. "Aku, how many times do I have to tell you that I don't like running away?!" Tenumi exclaimed as he continues the fight. This scenario was common to them for the past two months. Aku would also always try to persuade Tenumi into just getting away but the answer was always the same, no.

Aku sighs as he dodges one of the attackers. In his peripheral vision, he notices another Death Collector join in. He was done with this. Tenumi might not admit it but Aku can clearly see that he was struggling. Unlike his fight with Kairu, Tenumi is sluggish. He is also careless with his use of magic unlike the first time around.

Aku didn't want Tenumi to suffer any longer. He yields his opinions and participates in the fight. "Fine, I'll fight..." He mutters to himself as he appears next to Tenumi who was in the middle of it all. "Aku?! What are you doing here?" Tenumi was surprised at the sudden appearance. Luckily, it didn't made him lose focus, he was able to dodge an attack from the new Death Collector. This very action made him bump into Aku. He expected that he would immediately move away because of the contract but he did the opposite, he hung onto him. At first, Tenumi thought that Aku was trying to stop him until he then noticed that Aku's eyes were glowing a really pale yellow. He has seen this before, when Aku grows his wings in Heavenly. Confused and curious about what's to come, he doesn't protest and remains still. Their enemies seemed to have noticed as well as they suddenly lose their colour. "As cold as loneliness, I call upon a blizzard...!" Aku mutters. It was quiet enough for even Tenumi to not hear but he did notice Aku's eyes turn pale blue when he said the last word.

Curious at what Aku did, Tenumi (reluctantly) tore his eyes away from Aku. Almost instantly, cold air rushes through them and the other Death Collectors begin to shiver from the cold. They try to get away but the wind was preventing them from doing so. It also revealed other Death Collectors who were hiding around the area. Only seconds later, the ones near them were now frozen, while the ones around the vicinity was blown away. Surprisingly for Tenumi, he didn't feel anything not even the ice-cold air. He can see the heavy snowfall and the chilly winds but nothing was effecting him, like they were just watching a movie. Tenumi looks at Aku who had his eyes closed. A couple seconds later, they open to reveal that his eyes were back to normal. Looking around, the blizzard was also gone along with the bodies of the other Death Collectors that were probably buried underneath the thick snow.

"That settles it..." Aku says as he let's go of Tenumi. Meanwhile, Tenumi was just staring at the one who caused all of this. The quietness of his companion was somewhat unsettling for Aku. "Tenumi?" He calls out, waving a hand to his face. He doesn't respond though and just continued to look him straight in the eye. Aku didn't know what to do. Should he try to get him to respond or does he just let him be completely silent? Of course, he also doesn't know how to get a reaction out of him so he was somewhat forced to go with the latter route.

"...A-Aku... you didn't tell me you were this strong..." Tenumi was finally able to speak a word after what seemed like forever for Aku. He sighs in relief knowing that Tenumi was alright. Tenumi in the meantime, was both scared and excited about his powers. "I noticed you were struggling. I had to step in." Aku answers as they went into the Heavenly realm for their next destination. Tenumi was surprised since Aku wasn't exactly touching him. He then remembered the golden ribbon connecting them together. "That means that he could've forced me to leave whenever... but he didn't" Tenumi thought. He then remembered the time he pinned Aku down. "He could've also just push me away with his powers..."

"I didn't force you to retreat because I respected your decision to stay and fight." Aku answered as if he read Tenumi's mind. "I didn't push you away because... I was... scared that I would hurt you..." He completed, turning beet red and looking away at the last series of words. Tenumi, rather than being happy that Aku cared about him, was surprised that he knew what was inside his head. "Can you read minds?" Aku shook his head at the ridiculous question. "Of course not. I just, well, guessed what you were thinking with everything that has been happening. I'm guessing I got it right?" Tenumi laughs as an answer and stares of into the distance.

It was peaceful compared to the past couple months. Tenumi has his head on a different place though, a place that he (unwillingly) grew out of, the Spiritual realm. He missed that place and a certain someone as well. "...Can we go to Spiritual?" Tenumi looked back at him as he voiced his words. "We can rest there and we could also deliver the souls so they'll count as mine." He sounded his reason. Having no reason to deny, Aku nods and accepts his request.

Once in Spiritual, they first made their way to a soul deposit to free the thousands of souls they got in the past months. "Okay, that puts my soul count into... Eleven thousand, five hundred, sixty eight?!" Tenumi exclaims as soon as he sees the sudden rise of his soul count. "That would've taken me at least ten years to collect that much!" Happiness was more prominent in his feelings as he looks at Aku. Feeling a need to do so, he nods as a sign of approval. "Ah, you really are like a lucky charm!" Smiling even more brightly, he prepares to Aku into an embrace but stops midway. "Oops, sorry. Almost forgot that you hate physical interaction..." Tenumi's smile turned into a sad one. "Actually... it's fine. Just warn me if you ever plan on doing so." Aku shows a rare reassuring smile as he places a hand on Tenumi's shoulder. Surprised and happy with Aku's words, he pulls him into a tight hug. "Thank you! I really really love you!" Tenumi says as he continues the hug. Aku's face warmed with Tenumi's words but luckily for him, Tenumi didn't see anything.

After some time, Tenumi pulls away. "Well then, we should probably find a place to get some rest. I'm pretty sure you want a moment of peace after all this action. I know just the place." Tenumi suggests. "That's a good idea. Where is this place that you want to show me?" Aku agrees and is quite curious to where Tenumi wants to take him. "I'll lead the way. Oh, and-" Tenumi moves swiftly around Aku, careful not to go too far as to not pull Aku along. "-since I'm from Spiritual, I can move fairly quickly here so you don't need to carry all the burden of being our main transportation." Tenumi finishes as he goes back to Aku. "There's also someone I want to see but I don't exactly know where she is. It's been so long..." Tenumi exclaims as Aku just nods, taking in the information Tenumi has given him. "Well, let's go!" Tenumi says as he holds onto Aku's hand to lead him.