bakatachi’s alcove

Ceres thought she caught the scent of her husband when she found the girl Aogiri Suzumi that she wanted to take over. But she didn’t see him. Just as well. She would need a strong physical body before she can fight it out with Mikagi.

It was the 2nd half of the Hour of the Rat. They still had a little less than 23 hours before they would lose themselves. While Kyoichi tried to let it all out by practicing with his katana in the back garden, well out of sight from Suzumi, the girl indulged in the slow but slightly calming process of helping her long-lost Mother to clean the tea ceremony utensils.

"I thought I was born in Nagano…how could I have been a twin of Kyo-chan…," Suzumi willed herself not to cry. I have to be strong. Kaede paused. "Certainly, it was a lie to make you think that you never were siblings. Of course you can’t be twins if you were born at two different places but at the same time. And of course," Kaede took in a deep breath, "you are actually my daughter. You were born here in this very house. Only a few minutes before Kyo-chan was…I’m sorry to abandon you like that. To have sent you off all the way so far from home and from your blood family. Did they treat you well, your foster parents?" Suzumi still kept her passive face, "My Aunt and Uncle, you mean? Yes, they were wonderful parents to me."

Mikagi was thrilled at the idea that once the boy he chose was old enough to contain him, he would have a body of substance to search for his wife. He longed to touch her, hold her…and use her again.

"I’m truly sorry, my son", Kazuma finally spoke after watching Kyoichi swing and thrust the katana skillfully for quite some time. He is very much stronger now than when I last saw him a year ago. He thanked the darkness of the night for shadowing his bleak expression from his son. Kyoichi stopped. Still breathing heavily, he turned to his father standing behind him. "Is that why you’ve always given me the freedom to do anything, everything except to take Suzumi as my bride when I asked for your permission on this day last year?" Kazuma could not bring himself to answer. He had put his son in a complicated dilemma. Kyoichi simply bowed and left the garden.

Ceres stood close by her chosen girl, eager to use her body in only a day’s time. She watched her every action, every expression, hoping to learn something of this Suzumi while waiting, just to pass her time.

Mikagi was proud of himself for having picked such a well-built, strong, and not to mention good-looking boy. Kyoichi is it, his name? Well, who cares. He’s just a body that he was going to possess in a couple of hours. Mikagi decided to leave the boy alone until the time finally arrives.

Team Tsuki’s Commander Ueno had given the team a new task - to find the spirits of two people, one a celestial and another, a mere man, and destroy them both for the sake of humanity and mankind. The team’s combined spiritual power would react to the waves emitted by the two possessed bodies of the spirits, but first they had to research on them.

Kyoichi’s and Suzumi’s 17th birthday was in three days’ time, but they both had no time to celebrate it, due to their time taken up by the research. Knowing this, Kyoichi’s parents had the both of them called down to the family house in Niigata. They set off the very next day, arriving there at night. Kyoichi’s father, Aogiri Kazuma, invited them to the midnight tea ceremony, to break to them an important piece of news…

Ceres found it. The girl that she could possess. And to make it worse, Mikagi had also chosen a boy to contain his spirit in…

"The two of you…", Kazuma started, "you’re siblings. Biological siblings."

Aogiri Kaede, Kazuma’s wife, started sobbing. Suzumi dropped her chawan of traditional green tea. Kazuma calmed himself and continued, "We had to separate you at birth, when we sensed overpowering negative spiritual powers. We could not decipher it at first, but we, the Clan of Aogiri, have been trying within all our abilities to contain it. But no longer. The spirits have taken over both of you, beyond our control. Tomorrow…" he started to wince as if in deep pain. Kyoichi went to his father, tears welling in his eyes, expecting the worst.

"Tomorrow they will relive their spirits in your bodies…the spirits of the legendary Ceres and her husband Mikagi."

Now both the parents couldn’t hold themselves any longer. They cried together. Kyoichi tried to console his father, even though he was too thrown aback to say anything. Suzumi sat still, stunned by all the almost-impossible information that she had to process. Finally, Kaede mustered what strength she had left to finish up what was to be said. "Yes," she said, with a streak of pain in her voice, "they are the spirits of the two which your Team Tsuki is supposed to destroy. Your teammates should be able to sense it, and would come by anytime tomorrow, once the power is released in you both. We’re very sorry…the Aogiri cannot help anymore."

The spilt green tea from Suzumi’s chawan continued to get soaked into the tatami flooring. Everyone in the room remained silent, trying to compose themselves.

The birds outside continued to sleep on.