Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho is owned by Yoshihiro Togashi

Shadow of a Rainbow

Once upon a time, there was a boy. Whenever he looked into a mirror, he was content to find himself staring back from inside the glass. After all, it was this self that upheld justice in the world. Like good and evil, his reflection was one of the constants upon which he based his life.

However, as the boy grew older, things became less clear and simple.

One day he met a demon. He prepared to kill it, as was his job, because such creatures did not belong in the human world, and brought evil intentions with their illegal world-crossing. But then, a most peculiar and unexpected thing happened.

The demon made him laugh.

Confused and intrigued, the boy let it live, and so the demon continued to seek the only thing it wanted—to follow the human.

When the child next saw his reflection, it seemed a little off. He paid it no heed.

He continued with his divine duties, his demonic companion always at his side, until his final mission. Final, because what he found shattered his world, tipped the scales of heavenly justice until the balance was reversed. A terrible secret had lurked behind a mansion's door: that the "good" humans he had always protected were in fact as terrible as the "evil" demons he had saved them from.

He'd run away, unable to face the conflicting ideas, and was left to pick up the pieces alone.

The demon stood beside him, unable—refusing—to interfere. The boy wouldn't be able to understand that the world wasn't black and white. And in forcing him to change his fundamental beliefs, it would destroy his personality. It didn't matter what the demon thought, what he wanted. He was happy to be the human's shadow, and shadows are silent and compliant.

So the boy sought his own answers, and made his own truth. And when he emerged, confident that he now was right about the world again, he was a man.

He intended to see his plans through to the end, fired with renewed zeal—but he could not. Although his end was just, his means would go against everything he was.

Many would assume he was now defeated, or that he soiled his soul for his insane purpose. However, there is always a way; most people are simply too weak-willed to find it. Sensui was very determined.

Left alone to struggle, he transformed himself into something greater than he was.

In the void of a mirror, his reflection was merely a lifeless copy. If he moved, so would the image. If he spoke, the image soundlessly mimicked his lips. If he left, the image vanished.

The picture in the glass, he realized, was always changing with the light, with his own willed motions. So he put a bit of himself into the mirror, investing a part of his soul into the reflection. The lines between appearance and reality blurred, and he began to take the image and manipulate it. Then the reflection said to him:

"I am Sensui, but I can do what Shinobu cannot. I will do whatever it takes to bring justice to the world."

By the time Sensui could accomplish his goal, there were seven—one true soul and six reflections.

Wherever there is a mirror, light is needed, and so there shadow will also be. In the same way, wherever he goes, so I will follow.

Shadows are, because of their very nature as docile attachments, stubborn, fiercely independent, and strong-willed. But some things are more important, more intriguing, more valuable than freedom.

Would you give up your hands to fly? That's what the birds did.

I know that the world is not black and white—it is full of beautiful colors. And I do not wish for the demise of the human race, I do not believe in this "disease." But what I want is to follow Sensui to the ends of the earth. So I'll swallow up myself, to watch his self bloom.

Unaided, a child's potential grew to be a man, and a man, to something more. I have watched, and there is nothing I'd rather do.

Devotion is a force that moves mountains, no matter its form. When pushed, it shoves back. When ignored, it is tenacious. And when it is not needed, it is silent, although always there.

I suppose you could call his a fierce love for justice. I suppose you could call mine a love for him. But few are interested in looking into subtleties.

After all, when presented with a rainbow, who would look for its shadow?

…
Owari
…

-Windswift Shinju