Naraku[The Mist]

You stared up at the sky, "I guess today is it...."


You sat up. Green grass clung to your back, telling you not to go. You stood up, defying the grass. This grass was your childhood, telling you stay as a child. No....you had to become a woman....


You walked to the house. Women bowed as you entered and escorted you to the bath.


You sat in the large bath, deep in thought about what was going to happen. Would everyone be happy if you went along with this? What is Takashi feeling right now? Was he happy, excited?


You stood up and were toweled off by the women. You were dressed. In a beautiful white and red kimono, a blue shawl rested across your shoulders. The ladies did your hair, a few had tears in their eyes as they smiled at you. You smiled back.


You followed one woman down the hall of the shrine. You saw the shrine maiden standing at a stone table, Takashi standing on the opposite side of him. You smiled nervously at him. You walked past the people, who parted for you. People smiled and some cried.


You looked at your hand, a ring sat on your ring finger.


You brought it up to your mouth and kissed it. You had to break that promise you made.


You stepped up to the table and the shrine maiden spoke, "Today is a....special day. We are here to see two people, two strangers, trust themselves...."


You held your chin up. You saw your mother wearing all black. Your father looked upset. Your sister was crying.


"Today....we see....two people.... sacrifice each other to the Land God...."


You breathed in.


"These people are chosen randomly every ten years. A young man and woman. Today, it is time they show how much they love their God."


You picked up your dagger. Takashi picked up his. You looked at him. He was stoic by nature. That day was no different.


Takashi breathed in and sliced his wrist. You watched as he gave one last smile to you and hit the ground. Takashi's family wailed.


Everyone's attention turned to you. You slowly lifted the blade and felt the side of it touch your wrist.


'Why are you doing this?'


You looked up and saw a beautiful man with long black hair standing over Takashi's body. Mist covered the floor, obscuring your vision. You gazed into his red eyes, and knew he was a yokai.


No one noticed him. Was he invisible? He walked to you and took the blade in his hand, 'You don't have to do this....'


His voice sounded like it was a dream, echoing over the noises in the real world.


"Is there something amatter?" asked the shrine maiden.


You turned to her, "N-No....j-just a moment...."


You turned back to the dream man, but he was no longer there. In your right hand rested the dagger, in your left a small scroll.


'If you choose the note, you won't have to die,' he whispered in your ear. 'You could live with me....We'd be happy together....'


You heard someone in the crowd whisper something.


'Why am I doing this?' you thought. Your hand grasping the dagger started to shake. The handle slipped from your fingers. It hit the ground and you fell to your knees, shaking.


"What is going on?" the crowd muttered.


'What is your answer?'


"P-Please....I-I'll go with you....I'll serve you....Anything....Just who are you?" you asked, heart beating fast.


He presented you with a small smile, 'You may call me Naraku.'


He knelt down and put his hand against your cheek, 'From now on, I'll make sure your life is comfortable. You'll be happy....The only thing I need you to do....Is to marry me."


You nodded between your sobs, "O-Of course! P-Please....I d-don't want to die...."


He put his hand over your eyes and said in a monotone whisper, 'Sleep.'


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Naraku~~~


She fell asleep. I caught her in my arm. Even her falling was beautiful.


I smiled and brushed some hair from her face. She was just like how I had seen her. That day....at the river.


My arm started to burn. It was the kimono she wore. It was laced with demon poisons. I couldn't touch her.


I removed the Invisible Mist from their eyes. There was a scandalous gasp from the crowd. My eyes moved to the side of the room, where the women who dressed her stood.


"Remove the top kimono," I told one particularly meek one.


She nodded and rushed over to __________. The shrine maiden was furious.


"What are you doing on this holy ground?! You are ruining our ritual!"


"What do you gain from killing such a beautiful girl?" I asked her. The shrine maiden grit her teeth.


"It's what the Land God desires!" she cried.


The meek woman removed the kimono and I picked ___________ up.  I held her in one arm, her head resting against mine, her shoulder leaning against my forearm.


"This girl is the most beautiful girl in the land....only second to you, shrine maiden. And you jealously chose ___________ as this year's sacrifice...."


I held the sleeping girl protectively in my arms.


"Wh-What?! That's outrageous!"


"Now....because of you....everyone here needs to die...."


The room filled with miasma. I walked out of the shrine, locking the doors behind him. The people screamed and beat on the doors, trying to get out.


They could not.


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You~~~


You woke up. You stared at the ceiling. You had been crying.


"That....couldn't have been....real...."


You sat up and pushed some hair behind your ear. The man from your dreams....Why was he there?


You looked around. The room looked like your room at your home, but something was off. It wasn't....quite right....


The rice paper door was slid open. You looked over your shoulder to see the man from your dreams, Naraku.


He smiled, "How are you feeling?"


You looked at your lap, "I'm fine...."


Naraku walked over to you, "You're safe here....As long as you're with me you're safe...."


You sat, hands folded in your lap and stared ahead. Naraku brushed your hair gently. He kissed the ends of you hair and said, "It's grown out since I last saw you.... Do you remember?"


"No I don't.... We met before?" you said, confused.


"You're wearing the ring aren't you? The one I gave you," he said.


You looked at your hand. Sure enough, the ring was still there.


"It was my way of keeping track of you...." he cooed against the back of your neck. "At the river, where I accidentally shot you with that arrow...."


'As an apology, I'll become your husband. Wear this....and I'll always....'


You covered your mouth, "Always....."


"What did you say _________?"


Tears fell down your face, you wrapped your arms around Naraku's neck.


"You said you would come...."


"And I did...." Naraku kissed the crook of your neck. "Don't cry....If anyone made you cry....Then I would make them suffer greatly for it...."


You sat in his lap, arms hanging loosely around his neck, "Naraku.... Do you....mean that?"


He nodded, "Every word....I love you ___________."


While you thought the poetic words of your protective lover was just for decoration, you didn't realize how serious he really was.


By the time you came to realize what your mistake was about loving this hanyō....It was too late.


You were in the village below the house you lived in while Naraku was away. You looked at everything. You spoke to everyone.


Then Naraku came back that afternoon and saw you weren't home. In a rage, he destroyed the house.


You saw him walking down the hill, just in the distance, but thought nothing of it.


He appeared behind you and covered your eyes. He whispered into your ear, "Sleep."


....When you woke up....Everyone in the village was dead. They were perched on sharpened sticks, entering through their back and exiting through their mouth. Row after row, all down the main road.


Naraku, covered in blood from his fingers to his elbow, smiled and said, "Let's move, shall we?"


And you went with him. All across the countryside, killing every town he came across. Eventually, lack of conversation made you go insane. You decided to leave Naraku and just run away.


It worked for about a week, but then he caught up to you and killed the family you had stayed with.


You couldn't leave him. Not Naraku. He was like a foggy mist you had curiously and desperately wandered into. You were now stuck within its belly, and wherever you turned, you couldn't see anything.


Naraku was the terrifying mist that you longed to disperse.

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