Ebume, Mutsu Province, 1545

Sen stared down at the marker for his grandfather and felt nothing. The old man had tormented him for years, and now that he was finally gone it felt as though a weight had been lifted from Sen's shoulders. He was only thirteen. He needed someone to help him. He knew that, but at least it wasn't the old man anymore. That was a blessing. In the weeks since the old man had finally succumbed to his illness, he had begun spending more and more time at Hashi-ji and helping Hashi tend to the shrine there. It gave him a sense of purpose when for so long he had been used as someone else's workhorse.

Being at Hashi-ji was his choice, and something about that made him smile.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Hamu and some of his gang of bullies behind him, sneering at him as they approached. Sen felt his back stiffen as he slowly turned to face them, his long dark hair falling about his face and shoulders. "What do you want, Hamu?"

"What, smiling over your grandfather's corpse, demon spawn? Figured you would be. The priest says that you're the reason he's dead."

"Why do you care?" Sen muttered his counter quietly. He knew it wasn't him that did it, but he wouldn't have minded if he was the reason his grandfather died. It would be a solid payment for what he had done to him.

"I didn't hear you say you weren't," Hamu stepped forward and gave Sen a shove backward. "What's wrong, demon spawn? Not gonna fight back."

"Go away," Sen snarled out as he balled his fists at his sides. "Just leave me alone!" Myugou's lessons hummed quietly in the back of his mind. He couldn't let himself lose control. Not on someone like Hamu.

Hamu stormed forward and gave Sen a violent shove, making him stagger backward towards his grandfather's grave. "Fight back, coward!"

Sen bit his lip and felt his nails dig into the skin of his palm, but he refused to budge.

"The old priest was right," another kid snickered from behind Hamu. "Demons really are cowardly!"

"I'm not a demon!" Sen shouted back as Hamu grabbed him by his worn old kosode and began half-walking, half-lifting him towards the edge of the overlook.

"What's wrong, demon spawn? Scared?"

"Let go of me!" Sen grabbed at Hamu's wrists and kicked out with his feet. Hamu easily had him off the ground and kept moving backward towards the overlook. When he finally set Sen down, he could feel his heels slip down off the overlook and he seized ahold of Hamu's wrist as the realization of his situation kicked in.

"Go on, demon spawn! Use your magic!" Hamu shoved him slightly, still holding him, and Sen felt his feet slide further off the overlook. Hamu planned to kill him. He knew it. The look on that boy's face, the look in his eyes, that gleam.

Something inside of him slammed against the bars in his mind. It snarled and growled and jumped again and again at the edges of his mind. Sen was terrified, but that voice in his mind, growling and primal, was angry. He felt his meekness slip away as his vision slowly faded to black, and before he lost himself in the darkness, he heard Hamu gasp and shout as he felt his fingers tighten around his bully's wrists until he lost himself in the black.

---

When he finally regained some sense of consciousness, the other boys that had gone with Hamu were all staring at him, mouths agape, and looking at him as if he was truly a monster. He stared at them before he turned around and realized several things. The first thing was that he was no longer teetering on the edge of the overlook. Rather, he was standing almost level with the grave of his grandfather a decent way away from the edge. He hadn't remembered moving, only opening his eyes as the blackness had released him. The next thing he noted was that Hamu was absent. A cold pang of realization set in as he wheeled around and hurried to the overlook edge to peer over at the rocky riverbank below. There, lying broken and bloody at the base of the overlook, was the body of Hamu.

"W-wait..." Sen backed away in disbelief. He had only blacked out for a second. "I... I didn't mean..."

When he turned back, he saw Itsuki standing with them, and before any of them could speak, she ran forward and seized ahold of his wrists before she turned back to the crowd, "You all saw what Hamu tried to do!" She shouted at them as they all seemed to be coming out of their shock.

"He killed Hamu!"

"Hamu tried to kill him!" She shouted back as she placed herself between Sen and the crowd.

"I'm telling the priest!" One boy shouted and turned to sprint down the winding old path away from the burial site with the other kids in tow.

Itsuki wasted no time in spinning to Sen, who had begun to look down at his hands and started to shake. "Sen, you need to go!" She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "If they catch you..."

"I... I killed him..." Sen whispered as he looked from his hands up to Itsuki. "I... I don't know what happened! I promise!"

"Go to Myugou," she nodded at him. "He can help you, Sen, but you can't stay here." She shoved him towards the temple, and when he simply looked back at her with tears burning his eyes, she ran forward and shoved him again. "Go!"

Sen barely felt his legs carry him away from the cliffside and up towards Hashi-ji. His feet slipped on the dew-covered stone and he fell to his knees once, the air burning his throat as he desperately tried to regain some semblance of control over how he was feeling. His mind was in a state of pure panic and no one thought would remain in place for long as he shoved himself to his feet on scraped hands and bruised knees. He burst into the temple clearing and almost ran directly into Hashi, who looked down at him and grunted a greeting in surprise.

"H-h-Hashi!" Sen finally choked out as he flung himself against his friend and broke done into tears as he clung to the yokai and began bawling.

Hashi knelt down and held him at arm's length as he cried. The confusion scrawled across the yokai's face was asking a silent question that Sen was too distraught to answer, so he settled for flinging himself against the taller yokai again and breaking down into shaking sobs.

"Hashi? Sen?" Sen choked back a sob and turned his swollen, tear-stained face to Myugou, who was hurrying down the temple steps towards them. "What in the name of the kami is going on?"

"M-myugou!"

The monk knelt beside Sen and took him by the shoulders as he turned him away from Hashi, whose look of confusion had grown into one of genuine concern as he watched the boy.

"Sen, what happened?" Myugou asked as he reached up and wiped the tears from Sen's face with the sleeve of his robe.

"I... Hamu tried to push me off the overlook, but... something happened and I don't remember, and I... I must have..." Sen sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "They're gonna kill me..."

Sen watched Myugou's face as a look slowly came across it, almost like recognition if Sen had to guess. "No, they won't." He looked up at Hashi and jerked his chin towards the old temple, "Take Sen inside and lock the doors, Hashi. Then, grab your weapons and meet me out here."

Hashi carefully took Sen's hand in his own and led him into the main room of the temple. He sat him down in front of the glowering visage of Bishamonten and grabbed his naginata from a mount on the wall along with another spear that Sen had never seen before. The spearhead was wrapped in cloth, but judging from the way it was shaped, he had to guess that it must have been one of the three-pronged spears he had seen traveling warriors pass through with. Who had that weapon belonged to?

He heard the yokai leave and flip one of the wooden door bars down as he did, and he slowly scampered to the window and peered out from behind the window shade. He watched Hashi hand the spear to Myugou and the old monk pulled the cloth off of the weapon to reveal a gleaming steel head with three sharp prongs. A talisman was wrapped around the cording just beneath the blade, and it caught the light and danced as the monk maneuvered it to his dominant hand and seemed to sigh.

"How long do you think they'll take?" The monk looked up at Hashi.

Hashi made a short gesture. Not long.

Myugou nodded and sighed as he glanced once at his spear. "We won't have to do much to startle them off, I think. I hope that word has gotten to Ujiyo. Any little additional muscle counts."

And sure enough, it took them about just as much time as Hashi had signed for. It took them nearly no time at all to have their little group storming up the steps to the temple led by the old priest and the mayor, Yunosuke. Sen knew him, a hateful man who had despised Sen for no other reason than it being the fashionable thing to do. Myugou didn't so much as flinch as the man approached him and put his hands on his hips, "Abbot Myugou, I would be grateful if you would hand over the boy."

"And why should I do that?" Myugou asked him, his stance holding his spear never wavering even against so many people and Hashi stood firm beside him.

"Abbot, he killed another boy. Isn't that enough?" Yunosuke frowned and folded his arms over his chest. As he did, his haori brushed back to reveal an old sword at his side. Even then, from what Sen could see, Myugou looked unimpressed.

"I heard that Hamu tried to kill him," Myugou's reply was level. "I think that is well deserved if it's the truth."

"Step aside, old man!" Hamu's father dared to step towards Myugou, and Hashi took exception and growled as his hands tightened around the naginata. It made Hamu's father swallow and step back, suddenly seeming to lose all of his fight.

"Your son attacked Sen and he defended himself," Myugou narrowed his eyes. "If it hadn't been him, Sen would have been killed."

"Who cares if the demon spawn dies?" Another woman shouted.

"I do," Myugou stepped forward and narrowed his eyes, "and any who dare to come near this child will answer to me."

Something about Myugou seemed to change when he spoke and stamped his staff into the ground. There was something about his presence that was no longer an austere old monk, but a deadly warrior that stood between him and the crowd before him. Side by side with Hashi, he was invincible. Sen knew he was.

Still, Yunosuke went for his old sword, but when he drew it from its sheath, a quick light sped forward and wrapped itself around the weapon, causing it to tremble and jump forth from the mayor's hand and spin across the ground. That was enough to make the man jump and give a shout of surprise. Sen saw a figure bend down and pluck the sword from the ground. It took Sen a moment before he saw the old onmyoji standing there holding it and looking it over as he plucked a shikigami off from the sword's blade.

"Huh," he looked up at Yunosuke and frowned, "this is a sad old blade. What did you think this would do against a speech like that?" He gestured to Myugou with his fan and shook his head. "Honestly..."

"Stay out of this, onmyoji!" The priest jabbed a finger at him. "This doesn't concern you!"

"It is a matter of magic, so yes, guuji, this does concern me," Ujiyo turned back to him. "The person this doesn't concern is you. Run along back to your shrine and pray that the kami have mercy on your poor, ignorant soul. They sure know that I won't."

Sen hadn't ever seen the priest look anxious before, but in that moment the wizened old man seemed even more uncomfortable than he usually did as he glanced at a terrified Yunosuke.

"You... You can't just..." Yunosuke was trying to dig up words to say, but he seemingly couldn't find any as Myugou took a step towards him, prompting him to take yet another step back and look anxiously at the crowd behind him, who also seemed to have lost their fervor at the sudden appearance of the onmyoji in their midst.

"Leave," Myugou frowned. "And do it quickly. The boy is under my protection."

Hashi stepped towards them and let out a long, low snarl that made the few peasants who had brought makeshift weapons drop them and begin to back towards the stairs. Yunosuke gave a growl of frustration as he turned with a huff, dragging the priest along with him as they made their way down the stairs, avoiding meeting Myugou's gaze.

After they were gone, the monk laughed as Hashi's shoulders slackened and he made his way to let Sen out of the temple. "I appreciate the timely intervention, Ujiyo."

"What can I say? I hate Yunosuke," Ujiyo chuckled as Sen scurried out in front of Hashi to stand beside them, looking between the two older men. "Will you be alright?"

"I doubt that he'll try anything else," Myugou smiled down at Sen, who in turn smiled back up at him. "Yunosuke is a coward at the end of the day. He won't do anything unless he's sure he can win."

It didn't make Sen feel much better, and it was when Ujiyo turned to him and furrowed his brow that he felt a prickle of anxiety build up inside of him. "What happened, exactly?"

Myugou looked from Sen to Ujiyo and sighed. "That's... what I need to speak with you about." The two men glanced at Sen before Myugou turned his face to Hashi and smiled, "Take Sen down to the river for a while, Hashi. I need to speak with Ujiyo alone."

Sen wanted to ask if it was about him, but he felt his hand get taken up by Hashi's, and he looked up at the yokai as he peered down at him from his great height, and he slowly acknowledged that this discussion was not for his ears as he was led away.

---

Ebume, Mutsu Province, 1546

From that day on, the onmyoji became a constant figure in young Sen's life. What few possessions he owned were moved from the house his grandfather had owned and into Hashi-ji, where he soon found himself living beside Hashi and, for at least most seasons, Myugou. The onmyoji made frequent visits, teaching Sen the ins and outs of his magic and how to avoid potential scenarios like the one that happened with Hamu.

The magic was far from easy. If anything, Sen found it more difficult than almost anything else. Hashi and Myugou had gone about teaching him how to use weapons, and he found that the odachi came easiest. Longer than a katana and usually needing two hands, the weapon felt right for him somehow. His first sword was one Myugou managed to procure from a traveling merchant for a meager sum of money, but he treasured it as if it was made by the greatest smith in all of Nihon. The lessons gave him stability, a schedule, and some order in a life that had been aimless for so long, and he enjoyed it. Yokai came frequently to the temple once Myugou, Sen, and Hashi had gotten it repaired, and Sen found himself taking solace in the creatures that he found so much like himself. Some were refugees chased from their villages by war, others were simply wandering and needed a place to stay, but all of them stayed away from the town. Several kappa had taken up residence in the river below, and a Jorogumo had decided to make the temple her temporary haunt until things could calm down.

Sen liked them and they liked Sen. It was something Myugou had noticed, a certain pull that the boy had among yokai – it was a unique gift common in onmyoji and few others, but his struggle with magic left the monk wondering if perhaps there was something more to this attribute than met the eye. He had his own suspicions as he watched the boy interact with the Jorogumo, carefully tending to her injured leg, and laughing at jokes being told by a nearby noderabou. The more yokai came by the old temple seeking refuge, the more and more sure that Myugou became of his suspicion of being correct.

One evening, Myugou turned to him as he finished cleaning his blade and smiled down at him, "Sen? Could you do me a favor?"

Sen beamed up at him and nodded, "Yeah. What is it?"

"Run into town and talk to Goemaru, will you? I have something there for you that I think you'll like." The monk's eyes beamed at him as a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth when the boy beamed back at him and jumped up off the veranda.

"Is it a present?" Sen asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he spoke.

"Hm... You know... I don't remember..." Myugou answered almost coyly as Sen hurriedly sprinted off the temple grounds and made for the steps into town, leaving the monk alone with Hashi.

Myugou watched after him with a fond smile before he turned back to Hashi, "I didn't want him to be here when they came. You understand, I hope?"

Hashi watched him with his great yellow eyes and finally gave a small nod after a time.

"They're after the sword and me, by extension," Myugou turned to his old friend and gave a small nod. "When they come for me, you know what needs to be done."

Hashi hesitated a moment, his great clawed hands pausing and tightening around one another as they did, making him frown before he gave a slower, less sure nod.

"You must protect Sen for me if the worst comes to pass," Myugou reached out and placed a hand on Hashi's forearm. "He is special, Hashi, even if he may not be..." There was a sound from the trees and Myugou stopped, his eyes going to his old spear before flicking back to Hashi. "No matter what happens," he breathed to the yokai, "they cannot know. Promise me, Hashi."

The yokai didn't get a chance to respond before the masked men leaped from the trees.

---

Sen's bare feet slammed against the bridge as he crossed and made his way to Goemaru's old smithy. The townsfolk all kept clear of him, likely due to Ujiyo's intervention on his behalf. He knew that the old onmyoji likely made a litany of threats ranging anywhere from curses to demonic summoning... even if Sen was half convinced that he was a hack. Goemaru, however, had always been civil – even friendly – to him, and for that, Sen was grateful. The blacksmith was too good for a town like Ebume, but it was where he and his wife had thrown down roots and seemed to be where they were staying for the rest of their lives. Their shop was open-faced with a small counter where Goemaru would place his finished pieces, and the forge kept the area around it remarkably warm even in the coldest of winter months. It wasn't the fine studios of blacksmiths in big cities, but the small wooden shop had gotten the town through thick and thin despite everything.

Sen trotted up to the front of the shop and saw Goemaru standing back and smiling at Itsuki, who was finishing up at the whetstone with a remarkable-looking tanto. It took the smith a moment to realize that he was standing there, and he wiped his hands on his pants and walked over to Sen with a nod, "Hello there, Sen. Here for Myugou's pick-up?" Sen simply nodded, and before long Itsuki was there beside her father, grinning at him and holding the tanto in her hands, now slipped into a lovely sheath. She bounced excitedly and looked at her father. "Well, go on! He said to give it directly to Sen!" he gestured to him.

Itsuki stepped forward and proffered out the blade with both hands and a massive grin on her face, "I made this for you!"

Sen stared down at her hands and then back up at her, "You... made this?"

"Yep! Myugou came with the commission and Chichi let me make it myself." She watched him expectantly as Sen took the tanto from her and slowly pulled it from its sheath. "Do you like it?"

Sen looked up at the expectant look on her face, and he couldn't stop himself from breaking into a smile along with her. "It's amazing!" He laughed and turned the blade in his hands before he sheathed it and gave Itsuki a hug that she returned.

As they parted, Sen went to speak when another voice spoke first, "Sen." He turned around and saw Ujiyo hurrying up to him in his wooden asagutsu and his rather formal robes. "Sen, did Myugou come with you?"

Sen furrowed his brow and glanced at Itsuki and Goemaru before he turned back to Ujiyo and shook his head. "No. Why?"

A low rumble of thunder sounded in the distance as the wind began to pick up. The air began to smell of an incoming storm, and as it did, Sen saw Ujiyo's eyes widen as the man swore quietly under his breath and turned to Hashi-ji. "Dammit, Myugou!" He hissed as he began to take off as fast as his wooden shoes would let him towards the old temple.

Sen had no idea what was happening, but judging from the onmyoji's urgency, it must have been important. Without so much as thinking, Sen took off after him despite Itsuki and Goemaru's protests. The low roll of thunder and the sharp white pricks of lightning seemed to grow ever closer the more he ran, and when his feet hit the bridge he could hear the rapids below slamming against the bridge posts. It was as if the world itself had become angry.

He rounded the small corner and passed the little stone altar bearing the figures of two jizo that looked out for travelers, his feet slamming up on the moss-covered stone as he raced to catch up with the remarkably quick onmyoji. He only caught sight of him when he finally made it to the top and passed under the arches of tree limbs that gave way to the open grounds of Hashi-ji. At first, he didn't know why Ujiyo had frozen and stood still at the top of the stairs until he looked past him and saw a figure dressed in dark robes lying on the ground, head covered by a zukin.

"Myugou?" Sen stepped forward and felt as though he was watching his body move. He felt as though he was floating in a dream as he took another tentative step forward. "Myugou?" he asked again as he heard himself start to beg. The closer he got, the more he recognized. The beautiful outer robe of finely woven silk, and the amber beads around his neck, all belonged to Myugou. "Myugou!" Sen sprinted forward and slid up to the monk's body on his knees, pulling the cloth-covered head into his lap.

His face was peaceful and serene, and the cause of death seemed to be a stab wound straight through his stomach despite his body being riddled with other wounds. He didn't want to believe it. This couldn't really be Myugou.

"Myugou! Get up!" Sen shook him, but his body merely rocked limply from side to side, his head falling to rest against Sen's stomach.

He didn't know what to do. Myugou had been one of the few good parts of his life, and now without him...

Ujiyo knelt beside him, "I'll go to find Hashi. Whoever did this may still be here and he may know who they are. Wait here!" The man left as quickly as he had come, but Sen barely registered that he had even been there at all as he held his mentor's body in his arms.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there holding Myugou's body before he heard a commotion behind him. When he turned, he saw who it was. Yunosuke and the old priest appeared at the head of a crowd of people, and almost before he could breathe, the old priest threw a hand out and pointed an accusing finger at him, "The demon child has done it! Just like I said he would! He killed him!"

"What?" Sen clutched Myugou's body tighter to him as he felt tears stream down his cheeks. "No! I would never hurt him! It wasn't me!" How could they think it was him? How could they? After everything Myugou had done for him?

"Once a killer, always a killer," Yunosuke snarled as he strode forward and grab Sen by the arm, dragging him to his feet as two other men joined in. One, Sen realized, was Hamu's father. "Here's what we should have done a long time ago!"

"Yunosuke! Stop this!" Sen heard Goemaru behind him as he thrashed and tried to break free from the hold that the three men had on him.

"You all have given this demon child too much free reign for far too long!" The old priest screamed back at them. "This ends now!"

Sen looked around for anyone to help, and he briefly caught a glimpse of Itsuki as she shouted his name and went running to him. Her father caught her by the shoulders and pulled her back right before Sen felt them swing him back and launched him over the side of the overlook to plummet down to the dark churning waters below.

He hit the water hard, and for a moment he saw stars in his vision before he managed to force his eyes open and saw the swirling water whipping around him as it slung him downriver. The water was dark and it was hard to see exactly what was happening until he felt the rapids slam him into a rock, knocking what precious little air he managed to keep from his lungs. He clamped his mouth shut hard against the water as his body hit another large rock and was dragged around it by the strength of the currents around him. He swore that he saw something long pass his vision, catching the glowing evening light of the setting sun and the flashes of white lightning overhead.

He was going to die. His breaths of air when his body would get launched to the surface from time to time were few and getting weaker and weaker with every passing moment. His body ached, his hands and feet bleeding and scraped from grasping at slippery wet stones and from being dragged across the riverbed. He knew what was coming and closed his eyes against it, hoping that he could at least wouldn't see it happen.

Something coiled itself around him, and when he forced his eyes open, he saw what it was. The face looking back at him was of a young man, whose long dark hair was swept by the currents, but the body from the torso down which had coiled around him was that of a serpent or a snake. Sen wanted to scream, do something, but terror had ahold of him and, perhaps even more so, he knew that if he opened his mouth that he was going to die. The face watched him curiously before it smiled and glanced briefly up. Sen felt another hand grab him by the kosode and haul him up from the water as the long body of whatever being had held him released him. "Be unafraid," a voice whispered in the water after him as the hand which held him yanked him up out of the water.

He coughed and sputtered as he was pulled up onto the shore and looked up to see Hashi, covered in blood and looking terrified, holding him. Ujiyo hurried down behind him and Sen saw that his usually pristine robes were soiled with dirt, twigs, and leaves. He really had run to get Hashi for him. The onmyoji paused and stared straight ahead and Sen saw what he was staring at. The creature which had saved Sen was coiled around a large rock, its long body sitting high above the water. It looked like a dragon, and yet not, with long flat scales and a mane with two horns that seemed to be made of polished river stone. Sen heard voices behind them as he turned his eyes from the creature before him and looked to see Yunosuke, the priest, and the other villagers come to a halt behind him, their faces taking on sheer looks of terror when they realized what they were looking at.

"Wh... what is that?" Yunosuke shouted as his voice cracked, and the creature responded in kind by opening its maw and launching a geyser of water at him, slamming him back into a tree.

"A mizuchi..." Ujiyo muttered as his voice spoke both terror and awe.

The creature spoke, but when it did, it was in a tongue that felt both familiar and foreign to Sen's ears. It just felt... old, and ancient, and it certainly wasn't a tongue he had heard before. Hashi seemed to understand, but all it did was make the old priest rush forward and begin pointing at it.

"It's a demon! Fiend! Polluting our river!"

"It's a water deity, you old oaf!" Ujiyo snapped over his shoulder. "This is Ebume-no-kami! Remember the old stories?"

Sen remembered. He knew the tales of a mighty dragon god who ruled the rivers of Ebume, who jealously guarded his people, and who allegedly created a being like Hashi to defend his home and shrine. The creature looked from Hashi to Ujiyo, its amber-colored eyes fixating on him. Sen looked between the two and Ujiyo seemed to be listening to something, but what he was, Sen couldn't even begin to guess until the mizuchi turned to look at Sen. A language flooded his mind that he couldn't understand before it slipped back into the water and vanished between the churning rapids.

Hashi didn't even bother to look at the priest and Yunosuke before he hefted Sen up in his arms and passed through the crowd back to the temple. The priest ran after them, shouting all the way before he finally had them all back at the temple, where Hashi stood Sen up beside him and looked over his shoulder at the raving old man, clearly more annoyed than anything else as he wrapped his outer robe around Sen's shaking shoulders.

"You fiends! The kami will see you all punished for this! I am their servant! Me! I banish you from this village-!"

Hashi paused before he spun around and grabbed the old priest by the throat, walking him over to the edge before he flung him over the cliffside and turned back to Ujiyo, who was standing off to one side away from the crowd of people. The onmyoji looked back at the crowd and folded his hands before him, "If this man is a true emissary of the gods, then they will come to aid him. Ebume-no-kami will throw him back up on land, surely."

Sen waited for what felt like an eternity as everyone paused and waited for the priest to reappear to no avail, and they stood there with a sense of anxiety slowly brewing around them as time slowly seemed to pass by. After a time, everyone seemed to exchange glances as if they had all realized at the same time that the priest wasn't going to be saved. Hashi moved forward to stand before Sen and face the crowd, "I... protect... Ebume," he snarled out, his yokai throat working hard to make the sounds of a human voice. "I... protect... Ebume... even... from... you," he held out one clawed hand towards the crowd and stamped his naginata into the ground. "Sen... stays. Ebume... kami... commands... it."

Yunosuke went to protest before Yato, the old hunter Sen knew from the town, stepped forward, "Forgive us, Hashioni. We won't trouble you any further. Please, give our apologies to Ebume-no-kami for being so ignorant and allowing the priest to stay as long as he did." Much to Yunosuke's seeming horror if the look on his face was anything to go by, the other townsfolk all did the same before backing away and leaving the temple grounds. The startled mayor followed when he realized he was the only one left standing there.

Sen looked up at Hashi and took his hand, "Did he really say that?"

Hashi looked down at him and smiled with a nod before gesturing to himself. Me, too.

Ujiyo sighed and looked back at the two of them, "We need to bury Myugou. He deserves better than this."

Sen looked over at the body of the old monk lying beside the little pond. He looked so peaceful there, almost as if he had gone to sleep. "We should bury him here," he turned to Ujiyo. "I don't think there is anywhere else he'd rather be." He paused when he heard footsteps and looked up to see Itsuki watching him with a puffy, tear-stained face. Neither of them said a word as she ran forward and wrapped him up in an embrace.