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Pain shot through Yagyū's right eye as she regained consciousness. All she could see was red in part of her vision. Fighting against the nausea and pounding headache, she scrambled blindly for her eyepatch. What took seconds felt like minutes until she finally grabbed the familiar cloth and placed it over her right eye.
The pain gradually subsided, and color returned to her bedroom. She briefly stared at the ceiling, the early morning sun creeping in through the blinds.
“Not again…”
She murmured, placing a hand over her covered eye. Though it wasn' t common, she often had to deal with her eyepatch slipping off during sleep. The Devil's eye is far too unwieldy to leave unrestrained.
Yagyū accepted this life, not out of concern for her well-being but because she had already resolved to blind herself for her sister' s sake.
She refused to let Nozomi become a memory lost to time for as long as she lived.
However, this raised a question for her. How does one continue to live as a human while a demon's power slowly overtakes them as the years pass? Yagyū thought she could control the power through training, honing it as her own Secret Ninja Art. She could refrain from using its full power, but often found her body struggling to contain it all.
No, it was more accurate to say that she struggled to remain human as time went on.
Yagyū would have accepted this outcome before her enrollment in Hanzo Academy. She would have pressed on, fully aware of the risks if it meant achieving her dream for Nozomi' s sake.
However, she can't say that with complete faith after meeting Hibari. She would rather die than risk harming the girl she loved. Then there were the friends she had made after becoming a Shinobi.
She frowned at the ceiling, struggling to find the willpower to rise from bed. This was rare for the shinobi who valued honing her skills above all else.
“Nozomi… what should I do?”
She called to the heavens, knowing she could never get an answer, at least as long as she remained alive. Not even during the Kagura Millennium Festival did she have a chance to meet her departed sister. Nozomi wasn't a shinobi, making it impossible for her to appear on that strange island.
The reminder is painful, but Yagyū cherished that pain as a reminder that she has not forgotten her sister. The pain was one thing, but the fear of losing her friends was even greater.
She couldn’t remember how she managed to get out of bed. She believed it was likely her discipline that kept her from wallowing in misery in bed. No, misery wasn’t what fueled her. It was a drive to understand herself.
It could be seen as a reason for how Hibari defeated her in a sparring match hours later. It was the likely reason, even if she hated making excuses. However, there was someone who disliked the outcome more than her.
“Yagyū-chan! You held back again, didn’t you?” Hibari stood over her with an angry pout.
“Hibari…”
She wanted to deny her words, to reassure her friend that she was stronger than she gave herself credit. However, Yagyū couldn’t deny that there were holes in Hibari’s defenses that she could have taken advantage of.
However, the image of harming the one person precious to her was too much for her to bear.
“I’m sorry… I have no excuse,” She lowered her head to Hibari.
“How can I tell if I’ve gotten stronger if you hold back? That’s not fair at all!”
“You’re right… It’s not fair,” she closed her eyes. “I have nothing to say for my actions.”
Normally, she’d do her best to ask for Hibari’s forgiveness, but she couldn’t find the energy to.
“Yagyū-chan… You’re not acting like yourself today,” Hibari tilted her head before kneeling to her level. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just a little tired… I didn’t get enough sleep last night.”
Not the complete truth. She knew it was wrong to keep things from her, but it wasn’t something her friends could resolve. However, it brought up another question. If Hanzo Academy couldn’t help her, who could?
“Liar… You always make that face when you’re not telling the truth,” Hibari said as she flicked her in the forehead.
“Ouch!” Yagyū rubbed her forehead. “Am I really that readable?”
“I’m not leaving you alone until you tell me what’s on your mind! You better tell me or else… I’ll… uhh… hmm…”
Hibari snapped her fingers.
“I’ll go spend alone time with Haruka-san!”
Yagyū gasped.
“You wouldn’t…!! Hibari…!”
Those words sparked a fire within the shinobi, reminding her of what was at stake. Hibari’s innocence being tainted by the Evil Haruka.
“Grr…!! Fine, I’ll tell you!”
She was frustrated, but it didn’t stop her from admiring her classmate’s strength. She has grown from the Klutz she met during their first day of school. Hibari would likely have no use for her protection as time goes, but it doesn’t stop Yagyū from sticking by her side.
Hanzo Academy was not the best place for a personal conversation. Not when a certain third-year menace was still around. Asuka and Ikaruga could be trusted with secrets, but Yagyū knew she couldn’t go to just anyone with these worries of hers. It might go against everything they’ve gone through, but she didn’t want to worry her friends.
It was beginning to dawn on her how paranoid she had been as she recounted her morning and worries to Hibari. The two sat on the swings of a vacant park, having a calm conversation despite the severity of Yagyū’s worries.
“This eye… I want to believe it’s Nozomi’s power, but I still cannot control these feelings. These feelings of pain and grief held by her ribbon,” she held a hand over her covered eye. “I don’t want to misuse my sister’s gift and become a demon. I don’t want to… hurt you and the others.”
Her face relaxed as soon as she revealed her fears out loud, finally finding the nerve to tell someone of the Demon she was afraid of.
“Yagyū-chan…”
She turned to see Hibari wearing a contemplative expression. The younger shinobi pursed her lips, swaying from side to side.
“It’s funny… I thought I was the only one who feared their power. I know it’s a bad feeling… but I feel relieved that I’m not alone.”
Hibari didn’t need to explain any further. Yagyū was well aware of the Kagan clan and their mystic eye abilities. She witnessed that power first hand when her classmate accidentally controlled her during training for the battle against Gessen Academy.
“I see… Although, I wouldn’t want to compare my struggles to yours,” she shook her head. “It’s not fair to you, Hibari.”
“There you go again… We’re talking about you, not me.”
Yagyū felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Hibari pout. It made her worries slowly melt away. She dropped her stoicism for a moment just to laugh at the younger girl’s attempt at scolding.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re important to me. I will always make it about you,” she said as a matter of fact.
“So mean!”
“Ah, Hibari… Please stop pouting like that. It’s so cute.”
Yagyū sighed softly before gazing upon the afternoon sky, watching the clouds slowly pass.
“You don’t need to worry about your struggles alone, Yagyū-chan,” Hibari pulled the conversation back on topic. “You’ve saved me plenty of times, so the least I could do is be there for you.”
“...You’re right. I shouldn’t use this as an excuse to distance myself from everyone.”
It scared her to misuse this power, but it scared her even more to lose everyone that mattered to her. She cared about her senpai, even if they were a helpless lot
She curled her hand into a fist.
“Will you still accept me… even as a demon?”
“Yagyū-chan, you’re so silly…”
She felt a pair of hands grasp her from behind. Hibari’s breath trickling down her neck nearly caused the one-eyed shinobi her daily Hibari-induced nosebleed.
“You’re still the same Yagyū-chan, demon or not! I will always love you!”
“Hibari…”
She felt the heat rise to her cheek, and her composure broke at the closeness with her fellow first-year student.
“Thank you,” she said, placing a hand on Hibari’s. “I’ll become a demon then… if that means I can keep protecting you.”
“Nuh uh… I will get stronger, so you won’t need to protect me! Just you wait until we graduate and I’m an adult!”
“Hmph, we’ll see. If you cannot defeat me by then, you’ll have to go a week without sweets.”
“T-That’s so cruel!!”
Yagyū chuckled, relaxing in her classmate's arms. The fear of losing her humanity may linger, but she will continue to fight for her, her sister’s dreams, and those who matter to her.
She just needed to conquer the demon, but would she succeed or fall prey to the power within her eyepatch? Only time and the gods could tell.