-Vol 6: Dusk of An Era-

-To Tokyo(3)-

“What do you mean she will live for to her 30s only? Please explain!!” Kenshin became flurried as he wasn’t expected something like this to hear from Tar’el’s mouth. He was prepared for some weird thing to pop up, but nothing of this sort.

Kenshin looked worried and glared at the tiny fairy once again. With an almost pleading expression, he said, “Tar’el, please tell me that what you just said is a joke. I can take it, don’t worry.”

Tar’el looked at Kenshin in pity. In her mind, Kenshin, her contractor, was a very strong and have an iron wall-like willpower. But now, his majesty, his will power, all gone and he was reduced to this begging mess, after seeing this she couldn’t help but sigh, thinking, ‘love indeed can change people, without them knowing it…’

“I am sorry, Kenshin, but what I said is indeed the truth. Her body is, for lack of better terms, now a key to open a certain door. And every time that door was attempted to open by using this key, a huge amount of energy was spent. Where does that energy come from? It's from her life force…”

“No, I am not asking about the working of that shit, what I am asking is why? Why does it have to be taken from her life force? It doesn’t make sense… she isn’t even a hunter!!” Kenshin became desperate as the day of his parent’s death, as well as his first-ever team’s untimely demise, both came to his mind. A voice rang in his mind, ‘am I going to lose my loved ones again?’ and this exact notion made him desperate. After losing so many of his people, he didn’t want to lose his love too… not to these circumstances.

“This is the sinisterity of the key… and that’s only the half of it. To make this key, a sacrifice of no less than 20 people has to be made, and the runes are to be drawn on her body with the blood of those twenty people. And you know, that’s not the only thing. Not just anyone’s blood would do. Those people needed to be her friends or acquaintances, or else the compatibility wouldn’t be much, and there would be a chance of failing the rune process… you get it now, how sinister is this Key Making process?”

Kenshin was struck speechless, as he processed through Tar’el’s speech. Then he gave Yuki a sidelong glance, which she avoided. Her shoulders trembling nonstop as she remembered her traumatic past. Until now, she had suppressed all these things inside her heart, but it was lay bare by this tiny fairy, who was with the man she loved the most. She had never revealed her this traumatized past, as she figured it would only make the matter worse between them… or maybe she was afraid that Kenshin would hate her if he ever comes to know this.

Suppressing his trembling heart, he gently placed a hand on her shoulders and massaged them, trying to convey to her that everything was alright. His eyes felt misty as he balled his other fist, trying his hardest to not lash out. If he did lash out with all his might, this train compartment might just collapse under his strength. While rubbing her shoulders, he also took a deep breath, trying to calm down his racing heart.

“You have any way to stop this from happening? Her time, I mean…” Kenshin asked the most important thing for him to do for now was to stop her untimely demise, one way or another. He couldn’t let her die for something like this.

“Kenshin, listen to me… calm down first. Take a deep breath and calm down, alright?” Yuki patted Kenshin's cheek, trying to calm him down.

“You… how can you so calm… wait a minute, you knew it already, aren’t you? You already knew you could only like to your thirties, right? That’s why you are so calm about all this…” Kenshin looked at her, and Yuki avoided his gaze, having not enough courage to face him. She just sighed miserably, “I am sorry, Kenshin, for hiding such a huge matter from you… but… but… I just wanted to live the rest of my life with happiness that I always longed.”

Yuki’s voice trembled as she started to cry silently. Tar’el quietly returned to the sword, feeling the atmosphere getting too awkward for her to stay between them. Kenshin looked at Yuki’s eyes, finding only pain and longing in there. Letting out a sigh, he hugged her tighter,

“I, I am sorry, not realizing this sooner, Yuki. I am sorry for making you uncomfortable with this conversation, even though you didn’t want to have it. It's just that I was too horrified to let you go like this. After my parents and those guys, I can’t handle the loss of any more of my loved ones… not to these circumstances at any cost. I love you, Yuki, I really do. I always thought of getting old and wrinkly with you as we watch over our grandkids peeing all over us… but this…”

“Please don’t say that, Kenshin. I also love you very much. In fact, even when we have separated all those years ago, I never kept you out of my mind. I have never stopped thinking about you. You are literally in my heart, even when I tried to think of other guys to forget about you. Last year when I come to know about my remaining life expectancy, I always planned to come and reunite with you and live the rest of my life with you… I never had any other intention for hiding this truth, Kenshin. I did all that so that you don’t feel burdened by the inevitable…”

Hearing her made Kenshin feel even more miserable. He balled his fist in anger as a faint trail of red energy leaked from his body as they floated above his skin like boiling lava, “those damn bastards!!” he yelled, triggering all his anger towards those so-called Elders’ Council. His eyes literally spewed fire when tiny embers sparked in them due to extreme anger compelling his WIL to manifest into reality.

Yuki gently laid her hand on Kenshiin’s balled ones. The WIL in the form of molten lava above his skin did nothing to harm her or stop her in her tracks. Feeling her hand, Kenshin came back from her anger spree and looked at Yuki’s eyes that looked as calm as water, “Don’t let your anger cloud your judgment, Kenshin. Don’t go pick a fight with them. It won’t change anything. It will only set you into a course of one way to hell and misery. Also, what happened to me is my own fault… at least a half of it.”

“What are you talking about?” Kenshin asked, not sure where she was getting at.

“I… my old self was so obsessed with success that she literally signed a contract with the devil. It was during the second year of my appointment in the main assembly of DCB, I was just a normal office employee with an ambition back then. When presented with an opportunity, I garb held of it despite knowing the effects it would have on me… I still signed that contract while fully aware that it would ruin my life and my heart… the seat of power held that much allure to me back then.” Yuki finished as she looked at tear stricken face of Kenshin. Her own tears too fell nonstop as she looked back to the desperate self that made her go through all those gruesome period… she could never forget those four months of her life… those four months of absolute hell she endured in the name of a greater good.