The library
I walked down the dark winding road, looking around myself. I thought of how greatly things had changed in the last few centuries. I closed my eyes, feeling the wind and the rain cool against my face. It almost felt as if I had lived through the end of the world, and now this was all that was left of it. These ashes.
Music, there was music playing, I could hear it somewhere far off. A tune to match my sorrow. It had been so long ago, and still the pain was fresh in my mind. His smile, his eyes, they were lost to me now. I would never again run a hand through his long red hair, never feel his cool touch upon my cheek. I shook away the thought. Just because he had been alive did not mean that I would have been able to do those things anyway. Now that he was dead it made little difference. I frowned, he had love me once, he truely had, but time can be cruel, and the the world does not care about us. Then again, Youjakai cares even less.
The wind blew icily cold as I stood outside of our home. He was late again, and I was beginning to become impatient. Just then I saw the lantern glow heading up the hill toward us. Kawako ran out of the door to stand behind me, her arms wrapped around my waist. I looked down at her, smiling.
"Is daddy coming home today?" she asked in that eager way that children do.
I nodded, "Yes, he is, I believe that would be him," I pointed to the bobbing lantern.
Kawa-chan giggled and jumped up and down as the lantern got closer and closer. I waited, feeling almost as joyful as my little daughter, but it was not proper for a lady to act like a child.
Then his face came into view, we ran to him and he hugged me then picked Kawako up into his arms. I loved him so much.
I came back to the present with a start as my foot slipped slightly. I looked down, there was no ground before me, I had walked to the edge of a cliff. I stepped back, wondering how I could have been so careless. The music drifted around me, and I found my gaze drifting back to the edge. Maybe I am meant to, I thought looking over. I had been alive for so long, and maybe this was a sign that I was not meant to be any longer. I frowned again, not noticing the hot tears which streamed down my face. No,I thought, I would not lose all that I had worked for. I turned away from the cliff and began to walk in the opposite direction. The wind blew over me harshly, I could feel a presence, one that was all too familiar, and all too dark.
I scanned the darkness, there was no sign of anyone, no sign of the dirt road either, had I been walking for so long? "Where the hell are you?" I yelled into the empty darkness. I was answered only by the cold howling of the wind, and then.
"Enjera," a deep and dangerous voice whispered. I whirled around to face the owner. No one. I headed back in the direction of the cliff, searching everywhere for where he would be.
"Enjera," the voice called myname once more, and then I saw something, something shining out in the air, the music was louder here. The shimmering then became brighter and I could see the outline of a woman forming, she had something before her, which I soon recognied as a koto. I became confused. The voice had not been hers, it had belonged to another, but her energy seemed as dark as his.
"Who are you?" I asked her, trying to discern what was wrong with her face. She simply continused her playing, shrouded in the shadows of the trees.
That was when another figure stepped out from the opposite side of the cliff, just like that, from open air. His hair was long and silver white, and his eyes were a beautiful shade of blue. There was nothing beautiful about who he was though, I recognized him immediately.
"Speak of the devil," I whispered under my breath. He smiled at me, a sort of evil dangerous smile.
"It has been a long time Enjera-chan," he said in an almost mocking tone. I glared at him.
"There is nothing more for us to talk about Arago." I said, my voice equally mocking.
"Oh but I think there is," he smiled and stepped forward to stand beside the strange woman. "I believe that I have something you want."
I looked at him questioningly, I could hear the seriousness in his voice. "And what would that be?" I asked him glaring daggers.
He held up a small glowing ball of light, "I am back Enjera, and I will have this world as my own. We can either make this easy or difficult, it all depends on you." He floated the light up in the air, and I could almost hear it call to me.
"Kawako!" I shouted and ran toward it, but no sooner had I reached it than it vanished. "Bring her back!" I yelled at him, losing the cool I had built up over the many years. He only smiled.
"You have one day to decide," he said, and then vanished, leaving only the light of the moon, and the softly terrible music of the ghost's koto.
I have seen alot in my lifetime. I have seen my family die and be taken away, and I have seen many sets of friends dead. That is the price you pay when you are condemned to live for such a long time. I waited for my love to return to me for so long, and now there is no way that he can, Koma Toshitada, Shuten Doji, is dead. They will not come back. My name is Koma Enjera, I was once married to that man. Now I am alone, but I will still fight for love.