Sparrow and Swallow

It’s sunny in our monochrome world of Mugenri. Just outside the shrine lays a swallow. It doesn’t move nor flinch. It just lays there. Motionless and breathless. A small sparrow buries its beak inside its belly and it exposes the swallow’s insides. The sparrow sings a beautiful song while it guts the poor swallow. A grim augur of the tragedy that was about to befall the shrine.

It’s been less than a month after the trio resolved the incident caused by the Imperials and Dragonflies and peace was restored. Suzumi Kuzu the culprit had her plans foiled and retreated to her hideout. It is now quiet at the Senri shrine and Yabusame plays with Shion in the yard, while Tsubakura stays inside to look after the bills and her inventions.

Despite everything being all right something felt off for Tsubakura. Something about the last encounter with Suzumi seemed strange. The way she slimed after being defeated. It was something she did always. That grin, twisted and dark. Cruel and demented. Able to send chills down the spines of the brave and tears to the bold. Suzumi wasn’t just defeated, she made a tactical retreat, and Tsubakura knew that. She knew Suzumi would strike back, like the poisonous snake she was.

A thud is heard and the door is open widely. Behind it is Yabusame, crying because he fell over and bruised his knee. He hugs Tsubakura tightly and cries. Tsubakura takes him outside to the veranda and patches his bleeding knee. She kisses Yabusame’s forehead and sends him to play with Shion.

Tsubakura relaxes on the veranda and looks at the two playing and smiling. Suddenly from the other side of the yard and just underneath the tall tori appears Mitori and Sanra. The shrine residents stop and look at the two, walking along a paved road the divided the yard. As they reach the veranda, Tsubakura asks for what business the Emperor came to visit. Sanra leaves a growl and clutches his fist, but Mitori much calmer answers: “There’s a job we need the protectors of the Senri shrine to carry out for the Emperor.”

“And what would that be?” asked a skeptical Tsubakura.

“After the incident that the traitor Suzumi Kuzu caused, she ran off somewhere and we want you to bring her to the Capital, so she will be judged and punished for treason.” Sanra informed Tsubakura.

“So you want us to bring her back to you? We are not interested” claimed Tsubakura

“Why you little…” growled Sanra

“Now, now Marshal no need to get all worked up.” Said Mitori calming Sanra down. “I guess the Senri shrine has truly lost its nerve. Now they are a bunch of weaklings and fools who eat all day.” Continued Mitori mocking Tsubakura.

“Hey we are not fools!” exclaimed Yabusame.

“Yes, and we don’t eat that much…” continued Shion, “Yabusame-san? When is lunch?” he turned with a clueless face toward a grinning Yabusame.

“By God Shion are you something! Don’t worry we’ll have lunch soon, ok.” Answered kindly Yabusame, and left a hearty laugh.

“What did the Shitodo say?” asked a stern Tsubakura.

“Surprisingly mister Kuroji refused to accept the job, turning down a generous payment.” Answered Sanra.

“That’s strange. Kuroji isn’t the kind of person to refuse a big stack of cash.” Pondered Tsubakura. “I’ll do it.” She continued.

“Your services are appreciated” smiled Mitori.

“I’ll set off immediately.” Said eagerly Tsubakura.

Smiling Mitori and Sanra flew off to the distance. Tsubakura looked as they were leaving and let out a sigh. Yabusame pulls on Tsubakura’s sleeve and with a big smile shouts.
“We’ll come with you! We want to help and find that bully Suzumi.”

“No Yabusame. You and Shion will stay and take care of the shrine.” Said in her usual stern way Tsubakura.

“But you can’t beat her alone.” Complained Yabusame.

Tsubakura with a straight face, devoid of emotion grabs small Yabusame by the hand and brings him close. She proceeds to removing his coat and shirt revealing bruises and faint scars, remnants of a dark time before Mugenri. Tsubakura asks:

“What are those! Do you remember what happened the last time Suzumi got a hold of you!” Tsubakura breaks her straight face and starts to tear up while she remembers those horrible times. “I don’t want you to suffer because of me!”
Yabusame starts to weep and hugs Tsubakura. “Please! Don’t go!” he cried.

“I have to. It is time she faces the consequences of her actions.” Replied Tsubakura while stroking Yabusame’s head.

“Besides you two will be fine here and if you were to come along Shion would starve.” She said while cleaning up the tears that flowed down little Yabusame’s cheeks and pointed at Shion who was rubbing her tummy.

“It’s ok, I guess. But take care please.” Said Yabusame. “Come Shion let’s go eat something”

That afternoon Tsubakura was as stressed as ever. All kinds of bad thoughts came to mind as she left the two behind. The road to the last remote of the shrine road was long and hard to tread. It would take 3 days to reach it flying, even more by foot.

Thus she set off in search of a devious individual capable of harming anyone she loved just to satisfy their wicked needs. Suzumi has been after Tsubakura ever since her mother’s grizzly murder. Seeing Tsubakura’s face filled with sorrow and despair Suzumi took great pleasure and got addicted to that desperate display from first sight. In order to please her twisted craving she had caused great suffering to both Tsubakura and her friend Yabusame.
The first night in the road Tsubakura set up camp by a small stream with flowing water and stood by the fire she had just made. The atmosphere was humid and it was evident that it was going to rain. While looking at the fire Tsubakura remembered that time Yabusame was used as a tool for Suzumi’s sadistic intents of causing them to fall in despair. It played as a movie projection under the dim light of the fire.

It was a day of autumn. Cold and monotone. The rain was falling and the wind brought down the leaves. Tsubakura was coming back home, when she saw the front door wide open. Running upstairs she found a ravaged home and a bloody note, reading “I got Yabu-kun! Now Tsubakura-sama must come find me…”. When she found Yabusame, he was in a horrible condition. Bruises and cuts by knifes. For a while after the incident Yabusame was unable to walk straight. Tsubakura was in great pain that day, as she was afraid for her friend. Yabusame opened slightly his eyes and smiled at a weeping Tsubakura, standing next to him in the hospital bed.

Suddenly the day breaks once more in Mugenri and Tsubakura sets off once again towards the farthest remote of the shrine road. In her way she met old friends, like Jun and Shou who were playing in the puddles and Hibaru who flew towards a nearby village. The sun was shining but an ominous darkness befalls her as she reaches the entrance to the grove that had become her destination. Only way to reach it was by foot. About half way through the entrance the trees and vines start to shift and move, making all sorts of sounds and making the exit impossible.

Suddenly a laugh. It echoes throughout the grove. A figure emerges from the dark shadows. It looks like a girl. It’s dead silent, Tsubakura looks toward the figure. The silence breaks a giggle.

“Is Tsubakura-sama paying little old me a visit?” giggled the voice

“Show yourself, Kuzu!” shouted Tsubakura

“But I’m right here. Didn’t Tsubakura-sama notice poor Suzumi? That’s ru…” the figure is shot down by a small but well placed volley of bullets.

“That wasn’t nice.” Giggled once again Suzumi while the figure rose to its feet.

“Your tricks won’t work on me Kuzu!” replied Tsubakura and started shooting again.

The figure got shot again, only this time it split up to ten more and charged Tsubakura from all directions. With a swift move of the hand and fast maneuvers, Tsubakura dodged and shot all ten of the assailants. With all foes extinguished it was only Tsubakura and the thick forest.

“Right behind you.” whispered a voice and before having time to react, Tsubakura is hit with a knife on the shoulder. A split second after that, Suzumi jumps on Tsubakura and hits her head with the hilt of a knife and knocks her unconscious.

First thing after Tsubakura came to, was a throbbing pain on her right temple and a gushing wound under her collar bone, next to her left arm. The pain was sharp and as she came to her senses she found herself in a dimly lighted place. Despite being strapped on a wooden chair she could still move her head quite a lot. All around the room, where Tsubakura was held, there were knives set up in lines on tables and weird mechanisms-maybe for torturing- along with a fire pit. In front of Tsubakura was a hallway towards a set of stairs leading upwards. Suddenly a creaking noise is heard and a door on top of the staircase opens. From it emerges Suzumi smiling and full of vigor, she makes her way towards the chamber and eventually her guest.

“It seems Tsubakura-sama is awake and well.” Suzumi smiled.

“Where are we Kuzu?” asked angrily Tsubakura.

“Oh you must feel dizzy and in pain by that knife. Don’t worry I’ll take it off!” smiled Suzumi again while  starting to pull the knife out. “Hm, we should clean the wound so it won’t get infected. Let me grab my tools” said Suzumi, while grabbing a red hot knife from the fire pit and placing it on Tsubakura’s wound.

The smell of burnt flesh swept thought the chamber and a loud grunt came from Tsubakura. But still it wasn’t enough to break her and she continued to look Suzumi with disgust and nothing more other than that. For her Suzumi was nothing more than trash. Suzumi knew that very well but her need to see that despair filled face, which was shown to her many years ago that fateful night, was worth all the time in the world.

“Now you’ll be fine!” giggled Suzumi.

“Why don’t you just kill me?” asked Tsubakura with stone cold eyes and a face devoid of emotion.
Straightening her face Suzumi replies: “Because you have something I want. And you’re not dying until I see it.”

For the next days Suzumi tried her best to make them the most painful for Tsubakura. She punched and kicked Tsubakura in the stomach and gut. She broke three of her ribs. Then she strapped Tsubakura’s hands tightly and proceeded to pull off her fingernails. The chair had long arms making the spreading of one’s hand easier and at the edge were five straps to hold down the fingers and prevent their movement. Then using a pair of pinschers she grabbed the nail of the index finger and pulled, steady and slow to make the pain greater. Tsubakura’s face despite the pain didn’t flinch. Then next was the middle finger. Emotionless Tsubakura stared at Suzumi grabbing on her nail and once it was off, instead of blood a sharp line of ink pierced Suzumi’s hand resulting in dropping the pinschers to the ground.

“You bitch!” shouted angrily Suzumi and hit Tsubakura in the nose with her knee, breaking it. “You won’t get off just yet.” She continued and punched Tsubakura in the face.

For as long as Tsubakura had fainted Suzumi took a break, and went for a walk in the woods. For long she was lost in thought about that night she found Tsubakura, wailing and moaning over her mother’s dead body. That face was precious for Suzumi and made her squirm in excitement only by thinking about it. Suddenly a faint voice can be heard in the distance, a very familiar voice to Suzumi. There along the brown and green branches an old friend can be seen and he’s right on time for the second act.

In her dream Tsubakura saw herself and Yabusame together, happy, away from the sorrows of the past. Mugenri was inescapable but it would be their new home. They ran along the big yard of the shrine. Everyone of their new-found friends were there. Little Shion, Aoji, Hooaka, Clause even Kuroji. But as every dream must come to an end this one was cut short. As Yabusame shouted louder and louder “Tsubakura”, she soon came to, only to be greeted by a cruel sight.

Opposite to her chair was a Yabusame crying out her name. He was strapped on a cross and the only thing he could do was look at Tsubakura whilst shouting her name, crying. After a small bit Tsubakura grasped the fact that Yabusame was in front of her. Inside this hell hole of Suzumi’s only God knew what she was planning to do.

Suzumi enters the chamber with a big smile and knife in hand. Whistling a happy tune and moving around playfully. She stands in front of the two. “Look, Tsubakura-sama, who came to pay us a visit!” she giggled. “I found him in the forest and thought it would be a good time for us to remember the good old times, don’t you think so too!”

“Let him leave!” shouted Tsubakura on top of her lungs and a tear flowed down her cheek.

“Oh my God!” Suzumi pointed with surprise at Tsubakura’s tear. “That is what I want! Yabusame please help me achieve my goal!” she gave a twisted smile to Yabusame and pulled out a knife.

With a swift move Yabusame’s coat was cut open and revealed his torso. Suzumi commented on how young and tender the skin feels and that it would be a shame if something was to happen to him.
Tsubakura unable to do anything kicks and swears toward Suzumi, but with no effect. Yabusame cried while Suzumi raised her hand and quickly stabbed his arm. Yabusame felt an acute pain as the knife went through cutting flesh and muscle only to continue with a punch on the bone. The same process of stabbing the arms at random went on for two minutes, while Tsubakura screamed and wept over the torment of her friend. Suzumi was laughing a laugh out of this world. It was ecstatic. Tsubakura on the other hand was starting to lose her mind, seeing her best friend being cruelly tortured, the tears flowed down her cheeks and her eyes turned red, her wrists where were beaten by the frantic movements and the friction of the leather and started to bleeding.

Suddenly a stab to Yabusame’s stomach. The knife smoothly cuts though the skin and penetrates deep. Yabusame stops crying and is in shock by the pain. He tries to breathe as Suzumi slowly turns the knife around. Then she takes the knife out and stabs again, lower this time. The pain as sharp as before and the turning of the knife makes it even more unbearable. Tsubakura’s tears continue to flow and the wailing gets louder. No one has ever been forced to go through such hardship.

After a while it’s dead silent and Suzumi loses her mind, not hearing the desperate screams of Tsubakura, quickly removes the knife from Yabusame’s abdomen and shoves it inside Tsubakura’s eye. The soft tissue of the eyes breaks as the knife’s point enters it and moves deeper into the socket. Then a jab and a pull removes the ball from its socket and is followed by a loud scream. Blood starts to flow from the destroyed eye and socket while Suzumi in a whim of ecstasy and desire kisses a motionless and silent Tsubakura. Oh the sweet face she got painted in red blood and the tears that were flowing. Like a piece of art, that grotesque grace of the ravaged soul projecting like a film on the blank canvas that had become Tsubakura’s face.

The time seemed to have stopped for Suzumi as she lived the dream of a lifetime. Getting to see Tsubakura in despair and tasting those dressed with pain and sorrow lips. A sharp feeling though puts an unexpected end to Suzumi’s dream as Yabusame stabs Suzumi with a blazing hot knife in the left side of her back right underneath the shoulder. The burning pain leaves Suzumi incapacitated and on the floor as Yabusame unties Tsubakura.

A portal is opened and the two disappear in front of Suzumi. Extending her hand she tries to grab at Yabusame but as the portal shatters, the hand is cut clean off from her arm and gets lost in the void. The scream that Suzumi let out was one of pain and loss. She had lost the swallow right from her grasp and now her left hand as well.

Finally Tsubakura and Yabusame reach the shrine. Just outside the entrance was a dead sparrow. Eaten by worms and no more did it sing. Shion seeing the two in a bad condition darts to find help. Yabusame embraces Tsubakura and cries. Tsubakura raises her hand cleans Yabusame’s tears and smiles to him warmly.

After so much pain it was finally time that the two found peace. Many months after the incident the two are sitting in the veranda looking at the vast world of Mugenri stretching far into the horizon. They enjoy a cup of warm sake and soon they are joined by Shion who grabs the small plate with dumplings and runs away from a shouting Yabusame. In the end Suzumi managed to slip from the Capital’s grasp but at least they managed to fend her off. From that day onwards life in Mugenri became enjoyable with the occasional incident, whether it was some of Kuroji’s antics or the attempts of the Dragonflies and the Imperials to rule Mugenri.

The swallows returned to the shrine and they sing, soothing the pain of our Monochrome World.