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Black Maiden
Yuyuko Backstory [Contains OCs]
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[662 CE]
Two weary travellers see in the distance a young, beautiful sakura. One is an enchantingly beautiful sixteen-year-old woman with golden hair, wearing a white silken dress and nine months pregnant. Beside her is her Husband, young chap two years older than the lady. They have been travelling for over a year, looking for a good, peaceful land to raise their family in for the first half of their journey and going homebound on the second half.
The two are orphans, their families wiped out when a particularly warlike kingdom invaded their own. They met during their escape and, wounded by their tragedies, they found solace in each other. They slowly fell for each other and then, nine months back, made love under the very same tree that delight their eyes. It is in full bloom, the same as it was back then.
On the homeward road, is it really just coincidence that the very same tree where their child was conceived is to be the three where it is to be born?
The young man helps his young wife sit on the ground, leaning her back on the bark. The young man is thirsty and he knows his wife is too. Putting his love’s needs before his, he gives her his gourd. The lady smiles sweetly. However, just as she touches the gourd, a sharp wave of pain rocks her entire lower body, slowly spreading throughout her body.
The container breaks, wasting the precious drink. However, the lad pays it no mind and delicately lays her wife down on her ground. He gently takes off the dress and lower underwear to prevent any obstructions in the birth process and as the lady starts panting and groaning, he sets his eyes on his young wife’s lower hole as it slowly opens up. His eyes widen, his blood boiling, heartbeat and breathing speeding up with every passing second. NOt in perversion but in uncontrollable anticipation and anxiety.
The wife screams one last time, much louder than any she has let out yet. A moment later, the crying of her child takes over and blood stains the ground. The sakura’s blossoms suddenly turn red and start raining on the lad, his wife and new baby.
The young chap clenches his teeth, claws the ground and starts shaking. After a few seconds, he throws his head back and lets out a very anguished cry. “KUROMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
[677 CE]
Ten years later, a mansion is erected around the enchantingly beautiful tree, which has grown to gigantic proportions and gained a name for itself as Japan’s most beautiful blossom. The mansion is named Hakugyokurou and the Sakura, now named the Saigyou Ayakashi, is in the large, spacious garden.
In the view of the grand tree, a woman lies on the ground, surrounded by two midwives. Yes, midwives. Just like the woman ten years ago, she is also giving birth near the sakura and, unlike the one before her, her childbirth goes well and the mother smiles gently at her child. “It’s a girl”, the midwife holding the newborn says. “Mine hlafdige, hvat sceal been thy duchteres nama?” [My lady, what shall be thy daughter’s name?]*
Caressing her child’s head lovingly, she weakly says “Yuyu...ko. Yuyuko her nama sceal been ” [Yuyu...ko. Her name shall be Yuyuko.]
Right after, the mother falls unconscious, exhausted by her delivery.
Fifteen years later...
[692 CE]
“Lady Yuyuko!” calls out a servant of the Saigyouji household, running after her young mistress with her eyebrows raised in worry. “Stay away from that tree!”*
Under the sakura, a young maiden stands, melancholic eyes set on the fluttering pink blossoms. Hearing the call, she turns around and frowns at the servant. This is Saigyouji Yuyuko.
She wears a white kimono with a matching obi. Her hair a silky black waterfall of black beauty and her eyes are like brown sapphires, clear and glowing with the sparkle of life.
“What now?” Yuyuko asks with distain staining her lovely musical voice. Ever since her father died under the shade of the tree, people have been stopping her from going near it, not even to pay respects to her father’s soul. People from all over the land come to visit the tree and sleep at its roots though. They never wake up... but her father... he was already old.
The tree’s deadly attraction supposedly started when her grandfather, the great poet Saigyou decided to die under the fluttering blossoms.
Recalling the story, Yuyuko could not help but feel disdain for her grandfather. Why must her grandfather do such a thing? It’s turned the tree evil! ...still, she can’t blame her grandfather. He did not know the outcome, didn’t he?
The servant approaches her young mistress and kowtows. She is over thirty years older than Yuyuko, but she’s a servant and servants always kowtow to their masters. “Lady Yuyuko. I beg you. Your mother instructed me not to let you near the tree!”
“Oh~ Spoilsport!” Yuyuko groans as she fans herself. “Very well, go on ahead. I will follow shortly.”
The servant gets off the ground and, after a polite bow, turns around and walks back to the mansion. Yuyuko is about to follow. However, she hears someone call her. “Hey!”
Yuyuko turns around, but there is nothing behind her save the Saigyou Ayakashi. She tilts her head to the side, confused. “Someone there?” she asks, uncertain.
“H-hey!” says that someone again, voice soft and hushed. “Over here!”
Following the voice, she narrows her eyes and trails to the left of the tree. She sees a pretty young face hiding behind the tree, with hair of gold dotted here and there with pink strands and maroon eyes.
Yuyuko walks around the tree until she’s on the same side as the girl. From what she can see, she’s more or less her age, wearing a sky-blue kimono with white frills and a pink flower design. A dark-blue obi, two swords clipped onto the obi and, on her hands, a mob-cap matching her kimono in colour.
“Who are you?” Yuyuko asks. She’s curious... so far, she’s the only one who somehow does not feel drowsy staying near the Saigyou Ayakashi for more than one minute. This person in front of her is somehow immune to the effects as well: She’s touching the tree and while it takes one minute for the tree’s hypnosis by being NEAR it, touching it makes the hypnosis almost instantaneous.
The young girl politely bows to the young mistress. “I am Hayajini no Junreiuta, daughter of Kuromi. May I ask for yours?”
“I am Saigyouji Yuyuko.” The young mistress replies with a neutral tone. “Why did you call for me and why did you not fall asleep?”
“I don’t know myself,” replies Junrei. “I just saw you standing there and not falling asleep... so I thought that I may have somebody to talk to.”
Yuyuko approaches Junrei. However, the strange lassie backs up, horrified. “D-don’t come near me! Y-you’ll get cursed and die! You’ll become an onryou!”
“What are you talking about?” asks Yuyuko as she holds Junrei’s right hand with her left. In return, the human stiffens, shuts her eyes and lets out a cute gasp, absolutely sure that something bad is about to happen to young mistress.
However, the sound of the lifeless body falling to the ground does not occur and Yuyuko’s hand is still holding her own. Slowly, Junrei opens her eyes to the young mistress’ sweet, heavenly smile.
“Y-you’re not dead?” stutters Junrei, a look of combined disbelief and happiness on her face. Yuyuko did not die, and that is a great relief as far as she is concerned. How she managed to survive it is beyond her, but Yuyuko is safe and that means she has a friend she can truly interact with!
“Yes I am”, Says Yuyuko. “Let’s be friends!”
Overjoyed, Junrei falls on her knees, her eyes in tears as she raises her face and looks up at Yuyuko, clutching the young mistress’ hand between her own. “Thank You!”, she gushes.
However, their friendly time together just had to be broken. “Lady Yuyuko!” calls the servant. She had noticed that Yuyuko failed to follow her as promised and decided to remind her young mistress just in case—who wants to be scolded for failing orders? Well, there’s Tenshi, but…!
“Coming!” Replies Yuyuko. A bother, really, to be interrupted all of a sudden… but then it gives her an idea. “Hey, want to co- ehh?“
She tries to invite her new friend but, as soon as her eyes rest on where Junrei was a second ago, alas! The stranger was gone!
“Lady Yuyuko!”
Yuyuko does not seem to hear her servant, her mind working on the strange person’s sudden, stealthy disappearance and, for some reason, though she can no longer see her, she somehow feels that Junrei is still here. In fact, it feels like Junrei has been here all along…
‘Weird’, that’s all she can use to describe the current situation.
“Lady Yuyuko! Come back here or I will tell your mother about this!”
...!
Speaking of her mother, Yuyuko remembers something- an important guest is supposed to visit their mansion this evening! As for whom this guest may be… the young mistress has absolutely no idea.
And speaking of guests, she needs to dress properly in the name of honour… and this simple white kimono won’t do!
“Coming!” she says, and this time, she heads to the mansion immediately, shooting past the servant and rushing straight to the bath.
An hour later, Saigyouji Yuyuko emerges from her room, all primed up for the visitor. Her silky black hair is tied into a bun and held in place by two golden pins, Her face decorated with light makeup and on her body is an elegant blue kimono with expensive silver and gold inlays, all to appear respectable and presentable enough for the guest.
A servant walks up to her, bows, and leads her to the dining room, where other servants have readied a myriad of mouth-watering and expensive delicacies, ranging from expertly-made ordinary dishes to more… exotic meals such as a strange soup which was apparently made from water buffalo blood, rib meat, bone marrows and wasabi.
The aromas somehow blend together perfectly into a perfect perfume that effectively excites Yuyuko’s appetite, none too harsh or undesirable. A myriad of scents born from the individual odours of meat, blood, fish, wasabi and many more cooked by the Saigyouji’s most prized cooks. If this does not exude “world-class”, then what will?
The dining room seems to be fixed up for the awaited guest not only in the food department, but also in the d?cor. Normally a large room, it now looks twenty-five percent smaller, some of the space being traded for simple, but well-placed artefacts that make it look more like a room that you reserve only for meetings with the emperor. The table is placed at the exact centre of the room and to the right, a sliding door is open, showing the Saigyou Ayakashi in full bloom and, in a corner, chamber musicians have settled into their designated positions and are testing their instruments, which are the Saigyouji’s best Kokyu, Koto, Shamisen, Biwa and Fue.
Yuyuko’s mother enters the room from the same door that Yuyuko went through. A moment later, a third door opens and her father enters with a beautiful woman beside her.
She has golden eyes and matching wavy hair tied into a bun, pinned by a golden ornament that is best described as a disc carved into a butterfly’s shape and form. She wears a purple kimono considerably more stylish than that of Yuyuko, with intricate designs woven in with gold and silver threads mixed with silk.
She looks absolutely stunning in Yuyuko’s eyes. Her face has to have the most perfect angles in a person she has seen yet, with no feature bringing ruin and all working together to create a perfect symphony for the eyes.
Yuyuko and her mother politely bow before their guest and motion for their guest to take her seat on the table, opposite of where Yuyuko was predetermined to sit and beside the young mistress’ mother’s.
Once the family and their belle of a guest have seated, the musicians start playing and a very soft, gentle and relaxing tune pours out into the world, filling the room and reaching the Saigyou Ayakashi, where on one of its branches, a young lady, hidden by the shadow, hums along with an eerie tone, her own voice filling the garden and blanketing it with an ominous air.
Back in the dining room, Yuyuko’s father motions an open palm to their visitor and promptly introduces her. “My beloved daughter and wife, this is Yakumo Yukari, the very person who gave us the resources to have this mansion built around the Saigyou Ayakashi, which she desired to be done. She also was the one to give us the wards to partially seal the tree of death, which was her bidding as well.”
Yuyuko and her mother exchange pleasantries and are introduced by the man of the house to the visitor. When the formalities are done, Yuyuko’s father calls for the meal to commence and was obeyed right away when the three ladies chow on the repast with ladylike control.
After the meal, Yuyuko politely asks to leave and goes to the garden, standing before the glorious ever-blooming cherry blossom, enjoying a private moonlight hanami.
After a few minutes, a disconcerting humming slowly makes itself known to her ears, slowly fading in like a vocal ghost. For some reason, however, the young mistress does not feel the least bit frightened and instead, the normally spine-chilling sound calms her.
Behind her comes the gentle crunching of geta as someone casually approaches her.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” says a delicate female voice from behind the young mistress. “Beautiful, but deadly…”, she says as she gets beside Yuyuko, who turns her head to look at the person speaking, who does the same and looks at Yuyuko’s lovely face with a smile.
The lady turned out to be Yukari, who, after that brief pause, walks over to the Saigyou Ayakashi. Gracefully, she lifts a hand and Yuyuko, knowing what she is about to do, warns, “Lady Yukari! Don’t! It’s dangerous!”
Yukari does not seem to mind and places her left hand on the gnarled bark. Yuyuko’s eyes widen in surprise as the visitor trails her hand down the tree, which was supposed to be able to kill on touch.
Taking her hand off the bark, Yukari turns around and, smiling, stares at Yuyuko in the eye with interest. Meanwhile, the young mistress, staring into those eyes of gold, could swear that somehow, they glow faintly in a very inhuman light.
“I see you’re surprised that I did not die, Yuyuko-san. It’s because I am more than the average human or youkai you see around here. I am Yakumo Yukari, the great youkai of boundaries and no tree of death is about to kill me anytime soon.”
Yuyuko is still too stunned to speak and having Yukari introduce herself as a youkai did not help. The youkai of boundaries, seeing that Yuyuko is unable to respond, says “It’s interesting that you don’t die on touching this tree… but what I really came here for is that I want to check whether the seals are still working. You might be thinking that you are the reason, but sadly, no.”
Yukari walks back towards the mansion, laying a hand on Yuyuko for a moment as she passes the young mistress. “Anyway, I shall be going”, she says just before she leaves the garden.
Every month after that night, Yukari regularly visits, checking the youkai tree’s barrier and slowly befriending Yuyuko. By the fourth month, the two have become very close and Yukari starts coming more frequently, sometimes almost daily and for reasons other than inspecting or repairing the tree’s barrier.
But say… doesn’t the tree kill still?
Yukari explained to Yuyuko that the barrier prevents the tree from spreading its influence beyond the Saigyouji mansion and delays its effect by a considerable amount.
Junrei also frequently shows up, always near the tree. Strangely, she seems to disappear when someone other than Yuyuko or Yukari is in the garden and no member of the Saigyouji household ever seems to notice her entering and leaving.
However, Yuyuko always meets the two near the Saigyou Ayakashi and somehow, that triggers a gradual change in her being. Slowly, she develops strange powers parallel to that of the Saigyou Ayakashi and by the time a full year has passed, the people outside of the household that by chance touch her die within seven days with a contorted face and a heart attack.
Because of this, the Saigyouji start restraining Yuyuko and forbid her from ever leaving their dwelling, which is not so bad, Yuyuko reasons, trying to comfort herself. She still has Yukari and Junrei after all.
Still, she’s quite sad that she can no longer meet her old friends from the outside. She ponders about this as she stands underneath the tree that might have ruined her life.
“Hee~y! Yuyu-chan!” Junrei calls out enthusiastically, hanging by her left leg from one of the Saigyou Ayakashi’s lower branches. “Quit moping and cheer up!”
Yuyuko looks up with a smile for her enigmatic friend. However, that smile soon turns into a look of shock as Junrei’s leg slips. “U-uwaaah!”, she cries, frantically flapping her arms up and down in an effort to slow down her fall. Of course, she fails but thankfully, lands on the ground feet-first on a pile of blossoms that cushioned her fall.
Junrei shoots up from the pile a second later, laughing nervously and scratching the back of her head with her left hand as she waves at Yuyuko with her right. Yuyuko sighs, relieved that no harm was done.
The young mistress walks over and helps her friend up, saying “Gee, Junrei, please be more careful next time, will you?”
“Of course I will!” declares Junrei as she stretches her hand to the side and falls on her back. As soon as her back makes contact with the blossoms, she cheerfully waves her arms and legs up and down. “Look, Yuyuko! Sakura Angel~!”
Yuyuko blinks twice, thinking ‘how silly…’, then, all of a sudden, cracks up and imitates Junrei: It’s a good thing that the household doesn’t clean the Saigyou Ayakashi’s blossoms for fear of death. Otherwise, she’d have nothing to do right now.
“Saaaay, Yu-yu-ko-chaaan! Guess what?”, she asks in her trademark cheerful tone. “I’m going to be sacrificed to seal this tree forever and ever!”
Yuyuko, of course, stops her merrymaking and freezes as a myriad of emotions race inside her head. “Junrei? Being sacrificed? Why did she speak about it in such a cheerful manner?”
“Yuuup~ Yukari’s going to bind my soul to the Saigyou Ayakashi~ And you will no longer be able to cause death~ Yuyu-chan will be free~ And the price will be merely my breath~” Sings Junrei with a bittersweet smile on her face. One can hide feelings in their voice and manner, but never on their faces.
Sayu shoots up and shakes Junrei, her eyes wet with tears. “When!? Why!?”, she asks, her voice ridden with deep sadness.
Junrei’s smile and cheerfulness wither away and, with solemn eyes, she says “Tomorrow, when Yukari comes to check the border.”
Yuyuko lets go of Junrei and clutches the withered blossoms on the ground. The enigmatic human has been her companion for over a year and is as dear to her as Yukari and her family. She has comforted her and made her laugh more than just one time with her carefree and silly antics… and now, she’s going to offer herself as a sacrifice for her sake?
Sorrow takes over her entire being at the thought of losing one of only two very, very close friends, and her head fills with angry screaming.
No, literally, there is screaming. Outside the mansion, a mob has formed with the intention of raiding the Saigyouji mansion and killing Yuyuko, who they have dubbed a freak and a murderer, with not a few among them bloodthirsty and more than just willing to avenge the deaths of the people Yuyuko accidentally killed.
The gate in has been closed and is under assault. The servants, willing to defend their homes, fill gourds with flammable oil and sake, plug them with cloth and then toss them onto the other side of the gate, creating small explosions and burning a considerable number of the invaders. However, this enrages the mob even more and they ram the gate with increased fervour.
The Saigyouji’s guards, assisted by those staff of the Saigyouji that were once warriors do their own offensive as well, shooting poisoned arrows at the mob, which consists of nearly the entire town. In addition to that, they toss small cups full of rotten vermin corpses mixed with excrement as well in hopes that the vile smell will at least weaken the mob’s morale somewhat.
It does demoralise a few weak individuals, but eventually, the gate gives way and the mob storms in, cutting through the few Saigyouji guards that had their swords drawn and flooding into the mansion, killing each and every person –be it a lady or a gentleman- that they meet, even a few of the younger servants experiencing violent, rough, and excruciating rapes before their demise.
The murders were brutal, with not a few being literally twisted to death and others being slashed open by a sword being stabbed into their anuses. Still yet a few were thrown into a deadly bath of sewing needles, where the tiny bits of steel dig into their skin by the thousands, killing them either by bodily damage, blood loss, or from the unbearable pain.
Yuyuko’s parents have rushed to the garden in the meantime, ready to guard their daughter’s life with their own. Junrei has fled, climbing up the Saigyou Ayakashi with surprising agility. However, Yuyuko could not and slides down the smoother upper section of the tree on every try. Junrei couldn’t even try and help Yuyuko, as she herself would slip if she were to try.
Before long, the crowd storms out of the mansion, bloodied and hungry for death. Yuyuko’s father, being a nobleman, finds this gruesome sight disgusting and could not resist asking, “Are you sure you are gentlemen, hmm?”
The crowd does not entertain his question and storm forward, cutting Yuyuko’s parents in half. This does not seem to satisfy them and they toy with the bodies, a few even going as far as ripping their organs out and stabbing their poor bodies with pitchforks.
Yuyuko’s emotions skyrocket to new heights, having witnessed the brutal and merciless death of her parents at the hand of the crowd. In her rage, she lets all of her killing intent loose, even going as far as bypassing Yukari’s boundary.
The everyone except Yuyuko and Junrei cough fiercely, sputtering blood all over the place. They fall to the ground, one by one, and start crawling in agony. Finally, their faces contorted and they all suffer simultaneous heart attacks.
All is quiet for the next few minutes, for shock has petrified Yuyuko and Junrei has passed out from witnessing the brutal dismemberment of Yuyuko’s parents.
Yuyuko crawls forward, moving in a daze and, finding her father’s sword, she walks over to the Saigyou Ayakashi and leans back on it. Tears pouring from her eyes, she stabs herself, the blade piercing her heart and digging into the Saigyou Ayakashi’s wood.
The dead mistress’ soul wraps around the Saigyou Ayakashi’s being and binds it, sealing the tree, which then ties Yuyuko’s soul to itself in a strange form of double-torture.
The next day, A black rip in space, full of an ending array of eyes and swirling ether opens a distance away from the Saigyou Ayakashi and, after a second, Yakumo Yukari walks out of the gap, all smiles. She steps on something soft and her face instantly hardens, her cheery smile giving way to a look of shock and terror. Slowly, she opens her eyes, and what meets her eyes is a scene straight from hell that makes even her, the great youkai of boundaries, flinch in terror.
The Saigyouji mansion is in ruins, much of the main building having collapsed and the walls blasted to oblivion, bloody splinters spread across the garden, through which a river of drying blood flows, the sources being the innumerable pale, bloodied bodies spewing dark blood through each and every orifice in their body.
The corpses themselves mostly lay face-down, but a few lie face-up, their faces warped in what might be overly exaggerated looks of pure terror, as if they had seen a being that should not exist just before their death.
She can make out the only living body in the mass genocide—a young white-haired swordsman she identifies as Kompaku Youki. A breed of half-phantoms, the Kompaku family has been in the Saigyouji’s service long before Yukari came into their lives and the mansion was set up. Youki is face-down and bloodied like all others, but he is still visibly breathing and might as well had been merely knocked out cold and was about to be killed when his attackers suddenly died. It’s evident that he was about to turn in for the night when he was attacked, since his swords are not with him and he’s wearing night clothes already.
With credits to Yukari’s youkai sight, she can see that the bodies within the mansion died in a different way, most of them showing inhumane torture by human hands and even a few suggesting their being raped before their bloody end. Amongst the bodies within the garden, Yuyuko’s parents died differently too, from what the youkai sage can make out, being completely shredded and with a few internal organs being far, far away from the roughly halved bodies.
In the midst of the destruction, Saigyouji Yuyuko lies pinned against the Saigyou Ayakashi with her own father’s sword, as beautiful in death as in life and a true sight for sore eyes. Unlike the other dead around her, the corpse of Yuyuko shows no sign of torture and perfectly unblemished save for the single stab through her chest. Her face, once smiling and so full of life, now is raised to the sky, with blank eyes silently gazing at the blue yonder and her mouth open in everlasting, silent song.
“My God, Yuyuko…” Yukari gasps, stumbling with arms stretched forward as she approaches Yuyuko’s lifeless body with teary eyes. “How did this happen? How!?”
“The Saigyou Ayakashi did this, didn’t it?” says a low and sad female voice from behind the grieving Yukari. “I couldn’t save Yuyuko. she sealed the tree herself…”
Yukari turns around and sees Hayajini no Junreiuta, staring off into space, her eyes red and swollen, as if she had been crying since the break of dawn. “When did this happen?” demands one wretched youkai sage.
“Last night,” says the second of Yuyuko’s only friends. “The villagers came, bloodthirsty for the deaths the Saigyou Ayakashi did through Yuyuko.”
Yukari collapses on her knees, immediately figuring out what the Saigyou Ayakashi’s intentions were. ‘It wanted to kill those sealing it. However, the wards I placed on the Saigyouji and their servants rendered them immune, so it resorted to slowly channel its powers through Yuyuko, who always stays near it.’
Knowing the thoughts crossing Yukari’s mind, having gone through the revelation herself many hours ago, Junrei says, “It wanted to kill people through Yuyuko so that people will curse the Saigyouji and attack. It had hoped that the upon the Saigyouji’s death, the barrier you made them watch over will collapse, freeing it and allowing it to establish its reign of terror once again.”
Yukari looks up at Junrei as the human sighs, taking a short breather before she continues, “The thing is, it did not expect Yuyuko to gain powers of death herself through excessive will and hatred… that, and Yuyuko sealing the Saigyou Ayakashi with her soul and body.”
Yukari slowly stands up and, facing Junrei, she croaks, “Yuyuko… the tree is torturing her in hope that she’ll undo her seal, isn’t it?”
Junrei chuckles, a dark and sad sound that fills the gloomy garden of corpses and, turning her face to meet Yukari’s, she says, “torture? Worse. The tree is enraged at Yuyuko and is trying to rip her soul to shreds.”
That little bit of information shocks Yukari speechless. Yuyuko? Being destroyed by the very tree that ruined so many lives?
Her time with Yuyuko flashes before her: drinking tea on the porch, laughing and enjoying the world like there’s no tomorrow… dancing with the young mistress in the moonlight, black hair flying in the wind like an angel’s shadow… and many, many more wonderful memories. In each and every one, Yuyuko’s kindness and sweet, sweet smiles overwhelm everything else.
She snaps out of her thoughts when the dull thump of a lifeless body hitting the ground reaches her ears. In one quick movement, she turns around and sees Junrei –or rather, her ghost- hovering a foot above her lifeless body.
“Junrei! What are you doing!?” shouts a surprised and confused Yukari. While she had known that this particular human, with her close ties to the Saigyou Ayakashi knows Astral Projection perfectly, she had never expected her to do it ever.
“I know how to save Yuyuko”, declares Junrei in monotone. “What-how-why?” asks Yukari, who allows some happiness and relief to seep into her.
Junrei rests a cold hand on Yukari’s shoulder and, flashing a sad ghostly smile, she says, “I will use my ties with the Saigyou Ayakashi to bypass its personal defences and approach Yuyuko’s essence. Once I have touched it, I will allow you to work your boundary manipulations through me. You will sever her essence from her soul and transfer it to mine.”
Yukari’s eyes widen at this. A being’s essence is even harder to remove from the soul as the soul is to the body. It’s very dangerous and even if she succeeds, then that means that both Yuyuko and Junrei will share a soul. Not attractive at all. “What about you?” asks the astonished gap ha- err, mage. “What about you? Won’t it be a problem if both you and Yuyuko share one soul?”
Junrei replies without delay. “No. When Yuyuko’s soul is severed from her essence, the tree will no longer recognise it as Yuyuko’s and allow it to go and go for slowly devouring the body’s seal instead. When that happens, I will force my essence to leave my soul and enter what was Yuyuko’s and with that, I will re-enter my body.”
Yukari thinks it over. It’s actually a good idea, since that means that Yuyuko and Junrei won’t have to share a single soul with that and leave the tree to work on the body. The soul switch is genius as well, since the Saigyou Ayakashi won’t recognise Yuyuko as Yuyuko, since her essence is residing in a different soul, meaning that Yuyuko’s and Junrei’s signatures mix and throw the youkai tree off track. The same with Junrei, who, Yukari is sure, will be the target of the Saigyou Ayakashi’s wrath after Yuyuko’s essence is freed.
That leaves only the seal to work on. Somehow, Yukari already knows what she going to do about it: she will renew Yuyuko’s barrier and permanently seal the Saigyou Ayakashi with her dead body and dead body alone.
“You got yourself a deal!” says Yukari, enthusiasm in her voice. However, Junrei still looks sullen. “What’s the problem?”, the gap sage asks, noticing the look on the projected ghost’s eyes.
“This plan… has a downside”, says Junrei with darkness still in her voice. “Yuyuko and I… we both will lose all of our memories, save for personalities, native language and maybe our names.”
Yukari feels herself going down once again at this revelation. Still, it’s better than having Yuyuko disintegrate into nothing, right?
The gap sage pulls herself together and, with a determined air about her, she declares. “Let’s do it.”
Several minutes later, Yukari is all set, a hand on the shoulder of Junrei’s perfectly humanoid ghost.
The projected ghost closes her eyes, which are maroon as opposed to the pink of those on her body and concentrates. Slowly, she projects her presence into the Saigyou Ayakashi’s own, which accepts her as a part of itself due to their link. She carefully moves around, trying to find Yuyuko’s essence: she can’t be too hasty or the Saigyou Ayakashi will find out what she’s up to and suck her own soul in.
She keeps on probing, and then slowly picks up traces of Yuyuko. However, at that moment, the tree’s presence tenses up, almost as if she had just been found out. After a few seconds though, it seems like it was merely a false alarm and allowing herself a ghostly sigh of relief, Junrei probes on until finally, she finds Yuyuko’s essence, vibrating in hellish torture.
Having found her target, Junrei nods silently to Yukari, who nods herself in confirmation and closes her eyes, slowly splicing the boundary linking Yuyuko’s essence to her soul. A success and Junrei hurriedly merges Yuyuko’s essence with her soul as she frees the young mistress’ own.
The tree groans, having found out at last and starts to destroy the barrier Yuyuko’s body is supporting. Knowing she has little time, Yukari creates a new, everlasting barrier on the Saigyou Ayakashi, using Yuyuko’s body as the root. She finishes the new barrier just in time, for Yuyuko’s significantly weaker barrier is completely dissolved by the raging tree a moment later.
Yukari adds another barrier, also using Yuyuko’s body as a root, this one intended not only to limit the tree’s powers, but seal it completely, as Yuyuko’s original barrier had done and protect the young mistress’ body as well.
The youkai sage stumbles backwards and collapses, having spent most of her energy on enacting the two powerful barriers. She was weaker back then after all.
Meanwhile, Junrei frantically tries to sever her essence’s ties to her soul herself and finally, after what must be an eternity, her essence splits with a hell-load of stress and pain and shoots towards the blank, featureless ghost that was Yuyuko’s, merging with it and falls into her body, which was just below Yuyuko’s soul.
Yukari loses consciousness and for an hour, the three were out cold, Yukari shocked from a near-complete magical drain and the other two adjusting to their new souls.
Junrei is the first one to wake. Without memories, she’s completely clueless and casually walks away, innocent to the state of the corpses around her and apologising to each and every one that she steps on or walks over, noisily complaining to the dead more than once about their strange sleeping habits and apparent lack of hygiene.
Yukari is the next to wake up, followed closely by Yuyuko.
The gap sage shoots up, having recovered her magical reserve completely. She hears Yuyuko in her new soul gasping for breath… somehow beside her.
She turns around, all smiles as she caresses the dead mistress’ innocent face. Yuyuko, of course, had the expected memory wipe as well and, with eyes raised in wonder, she asks “Who are you? Where and who am I?”
The gap sage closes her eyes, bittersweet tears welling from within her closed eyelids as she holds Yuyuko’s astral form against her body. “I am Yakumo Yukari and you…”
Yukari turns Yuyuko around and stares into those maroon eyes that were once Junrei’s.
”And you… you are…”
She could not help but think of Junrei when she looks at Yuyuko’s new form. Still, she still feels like herself, so there’s no doubting it, so she says with full confidence,
“You are…
Saigyouji Yuyuko.”
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Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice
Junrei(uta) (Eastern name order: Hayajini no Junreiuta) belongs to Zurocha. *
Written by
Zurocha, the Blood-Tea-Lovin’ Vampire of Ragnar?k for the MotK WWC
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I wanted to add an omake along the lines of "And so, Junreiuta took on the name Sadako, created the cursed video for LULZ and started the ring series trololololol"....but then I remembered this story's purpose so...
EDIT: For some reason, my spaces and formatting got messed up when I posted. I had very little time to fix this as well, so It's not the same as the .DOC version.
