[YUZUKI]
The separation from Rinko was a feeling that hit Yuzuki the moment that she stepped out of Kazuya's damned palace and out into the Yamashita air that had once been her favorite scent of the day.
Perhaps because at the time, she had always been happier, always with those whom she cared about. She hadn't had anything to worry about at the time, because regardless of how shit got, she had family.
She had people she trusted closer to her.
She had a whole support system that had reigned.
And yet that had all been stagnated from her in an instant.
Maybe that was why this seemed harder than she had anticipated, and she was suddenly not as confident as he had been in the room where Ayami had led her and Rinko to.
"Breathe, Yuzuki, breathe," the Kurayami queen mumbled to herself as she walked past the endless teams of wolves that had come for the mating ceremony. It was a beautiful thing to watch, and Yuzuki wished well at the moment.
She had nothing but hope, even as they stared at her like she was special to the enforcer of Yamashita. It took her a moment to remember that, and when she did, she walked with her head held high.
Not because she was the alpha of the slain Fukada pack.
Not because she was the queen of the strongest kingdoms in the realm.
But because she was someone that Ayami had gone the extra length to keep safe.
It was ironic to an extent, but it was a venture that Yuzuki now appreciated. But she missed Rinko's company. She missed the way that Rinko would probably be running her ears off with the titles of most of the people here.
However, that would fade soon enough, as she walked ahead in the direction of the one place that she had been waiting to pay a visit to since she had been brought back to life in this body.
"Oh, gods," Yuzuki sighed when she found her way to what had once been her home.
It was empty.
A huge field that went beyond where her eyes could reach.
It had always been that Fukada was the largest pack in the kingdom, so this wasn't surprising. But the fact that there was this extent of emptiness brought Yuzuki to her knees one more time.
She had been trying to hold on to what was left of her sanity in the month.
She had tried to live a life that would get her ready for this day, but nothing would ever have her ready for it. Nothing would ever have her at that point where he would embrace the past and what it had done to her.
She hated that for twenty-eight years, Kazuya hadn't bothered to clean up the pack and had left them to the hands of time.
There were skeletons scattered around, the remainder of the great massacre of a pack that had done nothing but follow all the rules of the Yamashita kingdom. It was something that Yuzu would forever remain to think of as an unforgettable past.
Her senses were constantly triggered, and it took her a moment before she could even focus on what was here.
Desperately, she walked across the field, holding back the urge to puke her guts out at how cruel their truths had been to them.
It hurt to know that she had been the sole survivor of that craziness, and that too just because she was filled with so much rage that the goddess probably assumed was too dangerous for the afterlife.
But it wasn't supposed to be this haunting.
"Swoosh!" came the sound of three blades whirring past Yuzuki, only to go back to their source, and there were sounds of people fighting behind her.
At that moment, Yuzuki was sure that she had lost her mind and that it was the memories of her past that were parting with her right now. She wanted to assume it, but she also knew she couldn't exactly ignore it.
Then again, she had walked into Yamashita as a servant of Kurayami who had come to seek a mate bond; if that cover was blown, then she would have to deal with much more than she could anticipate.
It was too much trouble.
So, Yuzuki carefully turned to look at where the blades had come from and to see for herself whether the battles that were being fought were all here hard or they were real.
It pissed her off to even think that, after all these years, blood was still being spilled on the Fukada grounds. It made her wonder if this was really the time to let the past come to life again.
She knew she would have to fight eventually, but gods did she hope not to start the fight herself this time.
She wasn't ready for that.
She would never be ready for it; not in the way that was supposed to calm and make her get what she wanted to deal with. So, when she turned, she had closed her eyes, like a chance at a last silent prayer before she had to blow her cover with whatever was fighting ahead.
She didn't have the strength for a fallacy right now. But when she opened her eyes and saw the two most unexpected people there, Yuzuki wasn't sure what this meant for her.
"What the hell?" she wondered when she saw Kujo, Ayami's friend, and Ayami, fighting a bunch of people who seemed to want a piece of Yuzuki, or maybe they had crossed the border into the facade.
Yuzuki wasn't sure if she had triggered some fail-safes that had been set up, but she was already cursing herself for thinking that her home would be thus abandoned just for the sake of it.
Fukada had always been the most fertile pack, be it their women and omegas, or even their farm produce; it was no secret, and for a moment, Yuzuki hated her lack of vigilance in this very crucial moment.
So, she just stood there, her mouth slackening like she was shocked that there was a fight, not in the way that she was shocked that Kujo and Ayami were here on this part of the pack with their blades whirring and slaughtering people.
Damn, were they good at their mastery of swords.
They were fast, the kind that Yuzuki had once been, long before the tragedy that had struck her home.
"Ouch," she winced when she subconsciously stepped on a thorn that was near her.
It had stood out, and she should have seen it, and maybe she really did see it.
But needed to use that as a distraction to gauge whether she was going to have her fight with Ayami this soon, or if she was going to end up in Ayami's bed as she had long planned the moment she had gotten the snippets of the Yamashita king's enforcer.
It was crazy how she had gotten here, but something had to give, right?
"What the hell?" Yuzuki voiced out, this time a bit louder, as she stared at her bleeding leg.
She hadn't expected this, but she could use it to her advantage.
So, while Ayami and Kujo kept fighting, Yuzuki did the only thing she could at the moment.
She knocked herself unconscious with her magic, letting the darkness take her while she hoped that Ayami and Kujo would buy this little act.
But what if they didn't?
What then?