No Time For Tears
By Yume Arashi
I can't believe that he's gone. The pain of the past echoes in the pain of the present, and I wonder when I'll ever stop hurting. For the second time, I've lost my best friend. I've always felt a little apart from most of the other seishi, both because of the difference in age between us and because of the difference in our pasts. But more then any of the others, Mitsukake understood me. He had brought peace to the woman he loved at the cost of her life. He and I both knew what it was to be the cause of a loved one's death, despite the differences in our situations.
I don't want to believe he's dead. I begged him not to go, and he wouldn't hurt me like that. He would never do that to me. Or to any of us, for that matter; to cause pain was so foreign to his nature. There's only three of us left now, but still I can't help feeling that it's not over. Who will be next? Tasuki? Hotohori? Me? Will there be any of us left at all when this is done? I almost think it would be better if there weren't. How hard would it be for the survivor to carry on alone, burdened with the ghosts of vanished friends?
I'm screaming now, raging at some soldiers who would start the fighting anew. How dare they render vain his gift? The man who once turned his back on humanity gave the last breath of his soul to save these people. For them to kill each other now is to deny his last wish, and I will not see that happen. I will not see his sacrifice wasted.
The fighting has stopped. I dry my eyes and go back inside. After all, this is war, and in war there is no time for tears.