Chapter 4. Mission

She was sitting at the edge of the sofa, crying her heart out, and still thinking about our parent's death.

I don't know how to calm her anymore, 'cause I also feel the same way. If only I knew how to ease my pain, I would've done that to her as well.

But I couldn't help myself from not meddling. She's been crying for a whole day.

"Any other plans? Are you gonna sit there forever?" I asked, trying to keep up my cool and not let her notice my trembling voice.

I successfully caught her attention. She wiped her tears and looked at me with those glowing red eyes of hers.

My eyes widened.

"What do you want me to do? Dance?! While my heart is still crying out?! THE HELL! HAVE A BRAIN, DUDE!" she said in vexation and kicked the vase nearest to her towards me.

"H-hey! That's huge!" but still, she didn't listen and threw it directly at my face.

"AMAYA! It hit my fucking beautiful astonishing nose!" I said. She smirked and made a face to annoy me more instead of saying sorry.

I was supposed to get mad, but I stayed quiet and understood the situation. I felt a little peace in my heart to see her acting like a child. I'd rather see her enjoying annoying me instead of sitting there and crying the whole day.

But then, after hitting me, she sat again on the floor. Not crying at all. But she looked agitated again.

"I can't believe I'd face another day without them," she uttered while looking nowhere.

"10 years have passed, and you're still acting like a child. How can they walk passed through the river of heaven if you're making it hard for them to forget us?" I asked, hoping that could be the reason for her to stop crying.

It also makes me weak to see my sister groan in pain. For the past years, she'd never gone into the basement to receive moonlight and the curse because of what happened to our parents.

She didn't harm humans to stay healthy, but she always ate pears and wandered around the forest. She's being really careful not to be caught by the light.

But it's not enough. She's gone weaker.

"10 years only feel like 10 days to me. And this fucking shoulder, why does the pain suddenly disappear? It made me think that Kira and Loki kneel before the deities to remove our birthmark to not feel pain again and forget about them..." she said. Sighed.

Her wild imaginations are so overreacting. Tears come running down her face after realizing what she just said. I wiped them all out and hugged her.

"You looked like a chimpanzee when crying. Stop it already," I said and I received one sweet kick and slap.

"W-what's the noise?"

My eyes turned blue. "Fuck, who's the boy?!" I shouted at Amaya.

"You're awake?" Amaya asked.

"Who's that, Aya?! What's he doing here?" I asked.

But she didn't answer.

"Here, eat this to calm your stomach," she said and started to walk toward him.

I froze the guy and teleported to Aya.

"You know he might harm us, do you?" I asked.

She nodded and was about to unfreeze the guy but I held her hand to stop.

"Get your hands off me."

"Why are you so mad at me?! You know the consequences of not getting the moonlight. You have to stay away from humans if you're not eating one or it might make you weaker!" I said.

"Let her, Mune," the moon spirit suddenly interfered together with her water wings.

What is she doing here?

"W-what?!" I asked.

"What are you doing here?" Amaya asked while her eyes were red and blue combined but not mixed. She's raging but couldn't make it pour.

I held her hand to calm her down.

But this man smashed my hand and took her hands away from me. "Why are you holding her hand?" he asked.

"You have the guts to tell me that?" I said and took her back into my arms. "...you have no right to even step your feet in our house!" I added.

Aya claims her arms back. "I was the one who brought him. Now, this is not the issue here. But this spirit. What are you doing here, jerk? After rejecting my favor?" she said with her eyes glowing.

Shit! That man is looking!

"Don't mind him, he deserves to see my nature. He has something in his body that I need to figure out. We need to let him stay with us," Aya said through her mind. I listened to her.

"Because your wish is about to come true," the moon spirit said.

Aya suddenly became calm. Her eyes turned to their normal state, and she let all her tails out, wagging. What's her deal? What the heck is she doing?

"Just shoot it in the basket already and tell me what you're blabbing. I don't have a whole day," she said and rolled her eyes upward.

The moon spirit is holding herself back. I can feel her raging soul is about to come out because she has a temper. But she's holding back for her. She knew what she was doing, and she came prepared. I could see it within her.

"You can stop the curse."

Her tails glow, and so are mine. I couldn't help myself to show my tails. 

She smiled.

I don't know what I should feel, or how I should act. For the first time in nth years, hope is finally on our way.

After Hiro was brought by Aya to her house, Yna was left alone in their little tent that his brother built. She didn't see that her brother was gone because she was too busy unpacking her things.

"HIRO! STOP THE PRANKS AND COME OUT ALREADY! IT'S TOO DARK HERE!" she shouted while crying. She's scared because she's been left alone in their tent.

Suddenly, she heard a rustling sound coming from the tree, outside her place.

"Who is it?! COME OUT! Do you think you could trick me?!" she said while holding a piece of a branch of a tree.

Kent appeared.

She was startled so she brushed him using her hand continuously while shouting.

"Who are you?! Maniac! Pervert! Leave me alone!" she said and Kent has gone mad.

He pushed her away causing her feet to get stung by the branches.

"See what you have done?!" Kent said.

Yna lifted her head with a furious face and threw a piece of a branch at him as well.

Instead of getting mad at what she did, he instantly noticed her glorious beauty. He was so mesmerized by her that he couldn't move an inch.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!" she shouted, and that made Kent furious, and came back to his senses.

The grumpy Kent became so soft-hearted with her. "S-sorry. Here, let me heal you," he said and held her feet.

He closed his eyes and focused on healing her. He calmed himself and gathered all his energy. Yna was so confused and began to feel the fuming emotion inside her. So she tapped his hands away.

"Ouch! You just interrupted me! I'm almost there!" he said, trying not to get mad at her.

She shook her head. "You're just duping me. No human can heal another one just by touching the infected part. Also, this is a sting! You have to get the branch out of my foot manually! Didn't you know this?!" she said.

He cleared his throat before answering. "I..." he stopped for a while and looked at her like a scaredy-bat.

"...don't."

As soon as he said that, her hand perched on his shoulder.

"You're such a fool! AAAHHH! I can't believe I got stuck here by a dumb," she said.

He smiled to see her annoyed like that. He's gone crazy. "You're a cute woman," he said.

She just rolled her eyes. "Stop stating the obvious. I knew it from the start, okay? I was born with this beauty. Maybe that's the reason why you got so dumb all along," she said and rolled her eyes upward again.

This time, Kent imitated her and rolled his eyes upward as well.

She twitched his ears.

"What?! You dare to roll your eyes in front of me?!"

"Ouch! Stop it, you're hurting me!"

After he said that, Jennie and Ryujin appeared.

"What are you doing to our master?!" Jen said.

"Master?"

"Are you okay? I heard you from above, Kent. Someone must've hurt you, and I assumed it's her," Ryujin said and faced her.

"Oh, so you're a prince being protected by a mere GIRL and a skinny man? Come on! Use your muscles, dummy!" she said.

Two of them snap and try to attack her, but Kent stops them.

"She's not. She made me laugh and smile. I was the one who hurt her. Bring her to the headquarters and I'll treat her."

"Yes, master."

Jen and Ryujin were about to cling onto her arms and assist her to their home, but she pushed them all away.

"All of you, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" she said and slammed the door after kicking them all out to her tent.

Her tent, which Hiro built, isn't a normal tent. It was built with durable materials that looked like a house.

"I don't need other dummies in my house!" she said.

Inside her heart, she was really scared of them. She knew that they had the ability to kill her, so she used her wittiness to get out of the situation. 

Her tears come running down her face. Wishing his brother would return. Even though she's just another baggage to him.

The moon spirit unrolls the note that was written on a canvas with a wooden handle on it.

"To attain your goal, you will have a mission to fulfill," she said.

She made a water-based vase, a gigantic one, and gave it to me.

"Amaya, since you're the one who came to my place and gone wild, I will appoint you to be the headman of this mission," she said and gave me the gigantic vase I couldn't even hold by myself!

Mune helped me to lift the vase.

"Of course, your partner for this mission is your brother Mune. But this young man here, you have to count him in," she said and smiled. A smile that will make you wonder.

"W-why?" I just asked what's bothering me.

Her smile began to widen. "He was the reason why your parents were killed."

I looked at the moon spirit with a confused face.

"What are you talking about? 10 years ago, I'm sure he's just a boy," Mune said.

My heart started to thump so fast. I don't know what the hell is she talking about, but my guts are also making me believe it.

"Me?" he said.

"Remember this scene?" she said and splashed water on her side to serve as a screen.

She was present there the moment when Kira and Loki were not yet killed.

"My Kira and Loki..." I uttered.

Mune held my shoulder. He knew that it'll make me weak again. I'm sure he felt the same.

The moon spirit closed his ears before continuing talking.

"The family that your parents attacked is Hiroshima's family," she said and smiled.

My eyes turned red, and so is Mune.

"We can save the boy, bring him to the ambulance."

"Kill them!"

"I'm sorry my child, my girl, my boy... I couldn't save you."

"You can save her, ma'am!"

"Really? Then please bring her too!"

As soon as she gave birth to her daughter, my beast's parents attacked the couple and killed them both.

Hiroshima's eyes were also concealed by the moon spirit so he couldn't see what was going on.

"KILL THEM!"

A group of people harmed my parents. Although they transformed into a human form, those insane people didn't stop.

"He was also the one you encountered, snatching your pears that night before they died," she said and present that exact moment when our burn suddenly hurt.

"...you're bound to meet over and over again," she continued.

Tears come running down my face.

"You know it, but why did you just watch? You can save my parents. But you just watched from above, from the moon!" Mune said while his hands were trembling.

"How could I? I'm not in the position to do so. You have your own free will."

"Free will? Does being a horrible wild beast can make you choose between right and wrong? Do we have control of our bodies at that time? Are you realizing what you're mumbling?!" I said.

Both of our tails came out.

"It's your fate. Do you want to do your mission and stop the curse, or not?" she said.

"Is it important now? We don't have anyone to protect anymore," Mune said.

"Not even her?" she said, pertaining to me.

Mune suddenly became quiet, like he was guilty of what the moon spirit said.

"Face reality. Your fate has been made. Blame your ancestors for being resentful! Nine-tailed foxes like you are always born with a vengeance spirit who always wants to bark at your enemy no matter what the consequences are. You even tried to eat Hiro, Amaya! Why? Because it's your nature, for being such an ANIMAL!" the moon spirit said.

Mune was shocked, but it didn't shake his trust in me. 

I don't know how to respond. Why does it hurt when she says we're animals? It's true. But it hurt my pride.

"Tell me if you want the mission. It's now or never," she said.

Venus, the moon spirit, freed Hiro from his concealed eyes and ears.

"Who did that to me?! Come out now!" he said and posed like he was ready to fight.

Tch, lame.

Venus was right. After knowing that Hiro is involved, my soul feels like I want to attack and kill him. It isn't what I want, but that's what my body wants. It's like breathing. I can't control my natural emotions, like a boar.

"F-fine. I accept the mission," I said.

"What?! Are you crazy?" Mune interfered.

"I want to put an end to all of this, Mune. Other nine-tailed foxes might be put into danger as well if we don't start an action," I said.

Mune nodded.

"Okay, so here's the deal. You will be the grim reaper into the human world and animals. I will give you a paper each day with the beings you will assist whether it's hell or paradise. And all of the vengeance spirits, you will suck its energy and put it inside the vase. Once you fill the vase until the lid, you will be freed," she said.

"...remember, you have to include Hiroshima with your mission. AND DON'T GET SWAYED BY YOUR EMOTIONS! Or the vase will decrease its volume," she said and teleported. I don't know where she's gone.

Or what to feel.

"What is she talking about that I have to get involved in?" Hiro asked.

"Quit your job, you will become our helper."