Hell Butterfly

That night after Saemon killed the purple-eyed ninja, he had stayed awake for the rest of the night. He couldn't even close his eyes, not when he could still see those purple butterflies fluttering their wings before his eyes; when his ears could still hear her calling him a foreign name, "Yashamaru-sama…"

Her voice was as frail as a butterfly's wing but his keen ears heard her anyway. And he was awfully aware that he wasn't the one that she had been calling so tenderly with her last breathe. When she held out her partly chopped-off hands towards him (he chopped them off) , something in him cracked a little which he dismissed or rather denied without a second thought (it doesn't matter anyway because her time is up). In the end, he just stood there and watched coldly as she fell into the abyss.

He wondered briefly if she had become one of those butterflies that flew up to the sky (or is it heaven?) or if she has united with her lover somewhere up there. Then it suddenly struck him that she does not deserve a place in heaven. If there is anyone that deserved a place there, it should be Okoi. That Hotarubi woman was an enemy. Most of all, she was the bitch who has killed his comrade and contributed to his sister's death. (How could he ever, ever forget that?)

His resolution returned and he steeled his will once again to his sole purpose in this journey that ultimately leads to nowhere but hell. He would walk in hell if that was what it takes to drag his enemies with him. With that, Saemon left without glancing back.

Afterwards, as he closed his eyes one last time (after he was speared by those samurai cowards), he thought he caught a glimpse of a pair of purple wings fluttering at the corner of his eyes. Then he suddenly wanted to laugh out loud but couldn't (the spears went through him). His last words died in his throat.

"Hell it is then."

-END-