When she misinterpreted the warning, everything goes downhill.
Souls destined to reborn again and again, carrying forgotten oath made by themselves in the past and holding an unwanted destiny.
One still breathing, never touched by the time itself.
O...
"I will address this, because I doubt any of you would have brought it up, or dare to." Aoyuri stare straight into everyone's eyes that present. "I will not lie to you, or deceive you."
Guardian of West was about to butt in with a nasty remark but Miko simply raise her hand, and the phenomenal wild white tiger really shut up. The rest watched their exchange gestures, fascinated, wondering how their first meet went that manage to give Byakko enough credit to actually respect her.
She has some effect on them without the need for power to put them on a leash, they had realized that fact with fondness, and wondered if that feeling actually run deeper than that — maybe this is love too? To crave closeness with someone without craving them in other ways. To protect from any harm and see them happy, without asking for anything in return.
"It's not because of honor or altruism," she murmured, "but simply because it would be foolish in the long term. If I deceived any of you, you would design a petty vengeance in a way that would lead to my downfall. The amount of my predecessors that died because they failed to grasp that simple, easy lesson is painfully shocking."
She refuse to admit out loud that she actually care for them, that little Miko.
.
.
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For the first and last she ever Spoke to them. Stay.
They were forced to stand and watch from the sideline.
"I've gathered them to me, by fate or happenstance, and they're my responsibility." Aoyuri said, her voice unwavering between coughs. "So I ask you: this generous offer you give to me, will you let them receive it in my place?"
Aoyuri had asked for death itself, in exchange that she thought it's a worthy one.
"There will be a choice," she once said to them, "between what we desired to do, and what our position demanded us."
A weight pressed down on their chest — the strain of unearthly trust. They had lived for so long that they had forgotten how it had felt before.
"I change my mind." He let out a lazy laugh. "I forgot that the owner of this body know you. If I walk out after killing you, it's still part of your plan."
"You will live, 'Dear Sister'," the Cursed impaled his claw inside her, sardonic smile beneath bloodshot demon's eyes. "Oh, so long and healthy, but it'll scar."
She looked above with a shaky breath, her smile looked as if the burden of years leaving her shoulders. Silent tears as Aoyuri managed to whisper. "God forgive me, but a monster that you are I still love you."
