by Ylva Rane » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:39 am
‘I haven’t forgotten. My reason is still here.’
The locket was still against her pale skin, cold and lifeless, but filled with those souls she endeavored for. Yukino’s fingers lightly brushed the elegant pattern engraved into the gold, breathing in slow, meditative rhythms. She felt she had to remind herself every once in a while, remind her heart of the shattered memories, the broken remains of the past. Accept it all over again.
…But that was bad, wasn’t it? It worried her sometimes.
‘That trinket is completely worthless. I’ll be glad when you finally lose it.’
Trinket. How dare he refer to her precious possession in that manner! It was essential. It must always be with her, or her life would hold no meaning. It would become empty. Emptiness…the worse pain. How could she continue living if that ever happened? As if she would lose it. Yukino’s, or rather his, eyes glanced at the shadow curled around her left shoulder, around her neck, resting. That’s right, he was just a demon, and lacked a certain degree of emotion, and a rather large quantity at that. How could he comprehend the locket’s worth to a weak, mere human such as herself? He couldn’t. He was incapable of understanding.
Gaenor the demon, the apparition, the ghost invisible to all mortals except Yukino. Possibly the one thing she feared. He gave her power, leverage, a path to follow when all others slammed doors in her face. For that, she supposed gratitude was in order. However, the price was aggravating, and challenged her every waking moment: the war for her soul. Just because they held a contract, it did not mean she was completely sold her soul. Just because he let her act with her own justice, Gaenor did not have control over her being.
For now, Yukino was her own entity, a person who could think, decide, and act as every other normal being. Only…she really wasn’t. Her eyes, forever closed to hide that there were none, and the tattoo that once decorated her left eye now embraced her left socket, scarlet as it was in the beginning, were proof of her abnormality. She was never able to hide what she had done, who she was, or who accompanied her. No one would approach, or everyone would attack her. It was a little of both, actually, but more of the first. Yukino has had limited interactions with demon hunters due to her efforts trying to avoid them, and normal people in general. She didn’t want to risk killing them. Her targets, after all, were only criminals, and a few people who made it their business to prevent her from killing those pests. It was an obstruction of justice. That was against the law, after all.
Cities were very…populated places. Yukino didn’t do well in crowds. The outskirts were better, bordering the heart of the forest while its limbs scattered within and around the man-made buildings. No one would actually try to bother her out here. Seclusion was the most probable. She brushed aside the bangs falling into her face and stared down at the bottle in her hand, lightly touching her tattoo with the other. Perhaps with this cover-up, she could hide the obvious proof of her identity, and go unnoticed easier.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the pictures I use. Credit goes to the artists.
I've been dumped a boatload of work to do before college, so I will post when I can. Life is my nemesis.
'Tis the season! Here, a lovely song in commemoration of the holidays:
Oh Come, EmmanuelA wonderful interpretation by a couple of guys who just enjoy playing music.