It’s getting harder to breathe.
The sky is bloodred, there's crumbled buildings as far as the eye can see. Pools of blood paired with piles of bodies lie on either side of you as you make your way towards the commotion.
Ever since his disappearance, you and Isamu had been heartbroken and filled with determination for your two tasks. Isamu would find out what happened to his brother. You were convinced that this strange body wasn’t Senzai, that he was actually alive and could be in grave danger. As the news reporters on the TV kept issuing warnings about strange occurrences, culminating to a national emergency alert broadcasting to Tokyo that dangerous monsters had breached the barrier between Jigoku and the overworld, your fear only mounted that Senzai might’ve been alive before, but would he still be by the time you got to him?
Unlike your brother in law, you had absolutely no detective skills or even a clue as to where he went, other than that his body was recovered off the shore of a place called Aogashima. But nonetheless you continued venturing on, the feeling of adrenaline and pure terror fueling your every move.
But now each step was becoming harder to take. Your lungs burned, eyes watered, face stung as the hot air and bits of debris scraped by your face, making your forehead and cheeks raw. You almost ran out of water, and searching broken down markets was unwise after seeing…things roaming around the place, their faces bloodied and shrieking with unparalleled joy. Better to stick where it’s safer, albeit harder, to move.
You stop to take a drink of what little water you had left, and paused to catch your breath. Passing your hand through your now dirtied and disheveled hair, tears stung your eyes as you recounted all the events that brought you into this mess. Just a year ago, you and Senzai had finally been happy together. Even if Father was angry some nights, for the most part he seemed almost happy that Senzai got to live with his wife, even if his own Tamae was no more. You and Senzai had only grown closer over the years, studying and working together towards a future that you’d been dreaming of building together.
You were reminded of the nights you spent together, talking about nonsense and laughing together until the sun came up. You missed the way his tired eyes lit up whenever he saw you, how he’d always greet you with a kiss, how you two would totally not burn anything you tried cooking, how at night he’d always snuggle close and tell you how much you meant to him. You missed jumpscaring him with hugs at random, making him laugh right afterwards. You missed making him blush with random kisses in public, braiding his hair, hearing his voice every time Father would start screaming and breaking things in the house at night, trying to keep you and himself calm. You missed him, and nothing was going to stop you from bringing him back to you. And if the worst you feared happened, that he really was…you tried not to think about that, but also prepared yourself for what you initially thought was the worst case scenario.
You continue forward, scraping your hands and legs on the rubble, avoiding downed power lines and rebar sticking out at random.
A shrill roar echoes through the ruined city, causing you to jump. As you move closer and closer to the noise, you can’t help but notice a faint buzzing sound. The buzzing gets louder, and thats when your ears start to differentiate several separate voices making up the buzzing.
You’ve hidden behind a large part of a roof sticking up in the ground, and the space opens up into a circular clearing, and that’s when you finally see the source of the noises.
There’s almost an entire legion of monsters, the kind that Senzai used to draw, the ones that you knew for certain were just a myth. There was a young child with a sewn mouth, clinging to a large, lanky creature she kept referring to as 母, “haha”. There was a futakuchi-onna, with a mouth that screamed constantly, hair jerking every which way, causing her to walk in a jerking motion. There was a tenome, too, with purplish skin and a deep voice that made your skin crawl. A larger figure towered over them, with multiple heads and white horns crowning its head and sprouting from its mouth. The monsters seemed to be subservient to it, and at the feet of the tall white figure was…
It was lanky but definitely the most human out of all of them, with a black substance wrapping around its arms, eyes black and yellow, mouth twisted into an unnerving grin. Its long black hair fell loose around its shoulders…wait.
A crazy thought, but you couldn’t deny just how familiar it was. And as you observed more closely, and heard its voice, that's when it hit you: This…thing is Senzai? What happened to him? So he isn’t dead after all…but what exactly happened to him? Why is he with all those yokai?
A thousand questions swirled in your mind, but your musing was cut short when a gravelly voice whispered, “found you.”
That cursed tenome grabbed your neck and lifted you up, reaching another hand out to see in front of him, and dragged you to the center of the monsters. Your neck burned under his grip, your blood roared in your ears, feeling red-hot, and the world began to tilt and turn black. You heard the child say, “A human!” excitedly, as if it had been ages since she had last seen one.
So this is it, huh…I never got to see Senzai again. I hope little brother is okay, at least…I haven’t seen Isamu in a while. I hope he, at least, is still alive. Senzai, I’m sorry I failed you…
Not a plea, or a cry, but a commanding word. The tenome’s face looked surprised, but obliged with the spoken wish. He let go, and you fell to the ground, coughing and retching, tears streaming down your face as you inhaled the hot air, dagger-sharp in your lungs.
Your vision returned, and your neck was definitely bruised from the monster’s sheer force. Why were you spared? Who ordered it? You looked around, and saw that all the monsters were seemingly just as curious, too. Their eyes looked over your shoulder, and you heard lighter footsteps behind you.
“I…know you”, you rasp. The figure says nothing, a snarl on his face. You couldn't tell if that was his normal face, or if that anger was directed at you. His eyes were a little unfocused, as if he was suddenly bored of whatever activity this was.
“Do you?” His voice was almost mocking, and that’s when it hit you that he couldn’t recognize who you were. Whatever emotion was possessing him right now–based on the past, it had to have been envy–was preventing him from actually seeing who you were.
“Yes. You’re Senzai Uchiumi. My husband.” Your voice shook at that word, and you couldn’t help but feel betrayed that all this time he had been siding with the very beings that were destroying the world, killing all hopes of the future you once had planned together.
A sharp inhale came from Senzai’s mouth. His voice no longer retained the layered effect that demons all had. Maybe from surprise, or from distrust. “Prove it.”
You held up your left hand, shaking from exhaustion and bleeding in several places. The wedding ring still remained there, the skin around it just as battered.
That’s when it finally hit him. You saw the horror in his eyes, and the tears that immediately welled up.
“Yeah”, you breathed, sitting up and wincing in pain. “Sorry that I look a little different. Got a new hairstyle, and everything.”
“You’re lying, I saw your mouth twitch just now.”
“You’re insufferable.” He said this last bit with an almost full smile.
The banter warmed your heart a bit, and a laugh erupted from your chest. Senzai’s expression was pained but also calmer, as if he’d been despairing about you this entire time, too. His voice shook as he whispered, “I missed you. I’m so sorry for leaving you behind. I-I was…it was too much. Father–you saw. He hurt me, and instead I hurt you. I'm so, so sorry…”.
You raised one hand to touch his face, brushing his hair away to get a better look. This face was not the same as the Senzai you once knew and loved, but the love was still there. Your thumb glided over the side of his forehead, and you could feel the ridge where the glass had sliced him, leaving him as broken as his skin was. Despite everything, it was still him. You smiled weakly, and knew in your heart that everything that happened wasn’t entirely his fault. You still held a bitterness from his betrayal, but it was quite easy to understand why things turned out the way they did. You just wished there were less monsters and carnage that came along with it. Perhaps that’s where your bitterness sprung from—the hurt knowing that his pain was the reason for Tokyo’s misery. But if this was the white-boned demon’s plan all along-–to ravage Japan completely—then you doubted that Senzai was the main cause and rather an unfortunately placed catalyst for the havoc these creatures wrought.
He seemed to understand this silent gesture, and that's when the tears came and kept coming. He sobbed into your shoulder, perhaps from relief or fear or love–you’d never know, but hugged him as tightly as your arms allowed you to. Part of you felt strangely nostalgic, remembering the earlier times where he’d hug you this tight back when you used to cry after Father would fly into a drunken rage and scream at and hurt everyone in the house. As bad as that was, that situation was definitely better than what this was.
Senzai suddenly looked up. The white-boned demon (who you learned is called Enzukai) beckoned him forward. He glanced at you, holding your hand briefly before walking over to the demon’s feet. The other monsters seemed to have gotten the message to not attack you, which you appreciated. The less dangerous-looking ones (or you hoped, at least) came to inspect you, and the ones with tongues introduced yourself. The little girl, whose name you learned was Chihiro, talked to you about the other members of the Kiiroibara Clan (this seems strangely similar to an American incident you read about a month or two ago). Despite this newfound and conditional kindness, you kept your guard up, at least until Senzai came back to shoo away the annoying onlookers.
Senzai told you that a certain human they hated was approaching, and soon a battle would commence—one that would kill any other human left in this vicinity, including yourself. The news terrified you, but Senzai said that Enzukai could send you somewhere safer to get you out of the zone of destruction. You asked what other human could possibly be alive in this mess, and he looked away, eyes darkening. He said nothing, but insisted you sleep here. Under his god’s watchful gaze, the two of you would be safe. As safe as one could feel, knowing that the world was about to end.
Morning came, and the energy was…alive, but in a vicious, violent way. The human was coming, Senzai told you, and now it was the time for the final battle. He asked you if you were excited.
“Why would I be excited? Wouldn’t this result in more destruction? You can’t have much of a future if the entire world is about to end.”
“We’re so close to our future…just give me more time, (y/n), and we can be together again, just like old times. Please, trust me.”
You looked away from him, shaking your head. The monsters were falling into their ranks, through instructions from Enzukai communicated through Kyogi, the tenome. This was not the future you wanted, but how could you tell him? As far as you knew, he was still a yokai, still capable of switching into a rage just as any of the other monsters here.
It’s time. Enzukai’s voice boomed above them, and he began to stride away in the direction of the mall. The boy is there. The other monsters shrieked in delight, and Kyogi, Rin/Mio, and Tsukiya followed suit.
The boy. A realization struck you, almost knocking the wind out of you. If these monsters aggroed this easily when they saw me, it meant they didn’t expect me to survive. I was gone because I was looking for Senzai. Which means the only survivor…
Senzai’s head whipped around. “What?”
“The boy. It’s Isamu, right? Why would you agree to hurt him?”
Senzai’s snarl was back, and his eyes clouded over slightly once more. “Why wouldn’t I want to? After everything that happened, you should know why I hate him so much. He sided with Father, against ME, when he was the one who suggested I should tell Father about the letter. YOU SAW WHAT HAPPENED.” His voice was a practical roar, and caught the attention of other monsters, who immediately looked away and pretended to be busy. It would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so serious.
“Senzai, that is our BROTHER. You’re going to risk everything—-people’s lives, Tokyo, our future, our little brother—-because of an event in the past?”
“That event in the past ruined my LIFE. None of this would’ve happened if Isamu had taken my side when Father was screaming.”
Your argument was cut short by loud stomping. Everyone looked up and backed away as Enzukai returned. The boy escaped. He will be back. Be ready.
You turned back to Senzai, eyes desperate and pleading to make his god do something, to call off the carnage, to keep little brother safe. He looked away.
Enraged, you took a threatening step towards Enzukai. “How DARE you try and hurt Isamu. You think that killing all the people around you would make him more likely to submit? Killing his spirit is not so easy. He is a kind, noble man, and if you want to kill my little brother, KILL ME FIRST.” You felt yourself stumbling over the words that left your mouth, and knew this would actually result in your demise, but you didn’t care. At the end of your sentence, you picked up a rock and threw it straight at the creature’s face.
A sharp cry erupted from the monster, and it immediately roared at you, teeth bared, ready to attack—and then remembered that Senzai seemed to favor you, for some reason. Traitorous, ignorant whelp. I will not waste my energy on a narrow-minded fool. We will prevail, and a world ruled by yokai is coming. If you are not with us, you are an enemy. He paused, looking at your face, still seething with anger. It seemed to realize that you weren’t just angry for the carnage or the threats against Isamu, and glanced at Senzai, his eyes full of so many emotions—swirling guilt and pain and anger and heartbreak all at once. Such a confused ally would be of no use to him. I will spare you. But you will leave, far from here. You distract my most important member, and I will not allow you to hinder our victory.
You stood back for a bit, fearful for Isamu. You turned, eyes still lit with anger, towards Senzai. The two of you stood across from each other, with Senzai unable to hold your gaze.
You heard the shrieks of monsters being killed, and your eyes filled with hope. “He’s here”, you breathed, as Enzukai let out a cry of rage. It glanced back at you, and snapped its fingers. Senzai’s eyes widened, and he took a step towards you, letting out a shout of fear and alarm. You were suddenly whisked away, to a place in the mountains, with trees everywhere and a low-clinging fog. You knelt, silently, and prayed that your brother and Senzai would be okay. All you could do is wait.
An hour passed, then two, and then suddenly you were back. Back in the middle of Tokyo, back where the interaction between you and the Kiiroibara first occurred.
He looked up at you, and back at his brother. He sat at his head cradling it, shrieking with sorrow.
You also began to cry. This horrible war, this demon, took away everything from you. You and Senzai sat together with Isamu’s body for a long time, until law enforcement arrived. The two of you looked at each other, knowing what awaited Senzai, knowing that your relationship would never be the same again, that even in death, you would never be able to be together again. Senzai would be banished until he proved his worth to enter heaven, or even sent to Jigoku for all eternity. He has damned you both, and all you could do now was pray that the gods would be merciful upon the Uchiumi family.
First fic kinda nervous 👉👈 sorry if its badly formatted or full of typos I tried ok 😭
Shoutout again to @niyoriix for peer pressuring me into posting this thank you twin ✌️
