The room stank of spilled sake, anger, and fear. Daichi's rage only grew as Reina stood her ground, refusing to move aside. Her trembling hands pressed against his chest, her body the only barrier between his violence and Sin's wide, terrified eyes.
"Move, woman!" he roared, spit flying, the veins in his neck bulging.
"No!" Reina cried, her voice cracking under the strain. "You will not touch her!"
His laughter was short, sharp, and cruel. Then his hand shot out, grabbing the bottle from the low table..... half full, glass slick with condensation. For a heartbeat Reina thought he might drink again, drown himself in his poison like always.
Instead, with a guttural snarl, Daichi smashed it against the wall. Shards rained down like cruel stars, the jagged neck still clutched in his fist.
Sin screamed.
Reina barely had time to shield herself before the jagged glass came down. It tore into her side with sickening force, hot blood soaking her robes as the pain ripped through her body. She staggered, but didn't fall. Not yet. Not while Sin still stood behind her.
"Mother!" Sin cried, her tiny hands reaching out, trembling.
Reina's breath came ragged, her knees weakening. She turned, her face pale but her eyes burning with something stronger than pain. She cupped Sin's face with shaking, bloodied fingers, forcing a smile through her agony.
"Listen to me, Sin… listen…" Her voice broke, but her grip was steady. "You must go… run… find a man… his name is Hiroshi. He lives in the next village, he has… he has a restaurant… He will help you. Do you understand? You must go, now"
"B-but I can't leave you!" Sin sobbed, clutching at her arm.
Tears welled in Reina's eyes, not just from the pain, but from the unbearable truth pressing against her chest. She leaned in close, her lips trembling as they brushed Sin's forehead.
"You are… beautiful, my Sin. So much like him… You deserve love… you deserve life… Run… please… before it's too late."
Her body gave out then, collapsing against her daughter. Sin felt the warmth of her blood soak through her clothes, felt the final, fragile breath against her cheek.
Reina's eyes fluttered once more, searching her daughter's face as if to etch it into her soul forever. A faint smile curved her lips.
Then she was gone.
The broken bottle clattered from Daichi's hand, his chest heaving, his face twisted in something between triumph and madness.
Sin's scream tore through the house, shaking the walls, piercing the night. But after it left her throat, silence fell.
She stood there, drenched in Reina's blood, her small hands trembling, her wide eyes fixed on nothing.
Daichi sneered, unbothered by her grief. "Pathetic brat," he spat, stumbling forward. "If she's gone, then what use are you?"
But as he drew closer, something about her stopped him cold.
Sin's eyes.... once soft and dark.... shifted. A crimson glow spread across them, two tomoe spinning slowly like a curse awakened. The air around her seemed to change, heavy, suffocating. She did not cry anymore. She did not tremble. She simply stared at him, her face blank, inhumanly still.
Daichi's breath hitched. His hand shook as he picked up a broken chair leg and hurled it at her head.
She tilted her head. The wood whistled past, missing her as if time itself had bent around her.
Snarling, he threw another shard, then another, until his arms ached. She dodged them all..... effortless, silent, graceful. Like death itself was guiding her body.
"What… what are you?!" His voice cracked with terror, sweat dripping down his temples. He stumbled backward, the jagged glass bottle still in his hand, his body shaking so badly it nearly slipped.
Sin blinked once, and the world blurred. In a flicker, she was no longer across the room. She was in front of him.
He gasped
... too late.
Her hands moved with speed he could not comprehend, each strike fueled by rage and the blood of her lineage. Daichi's screams tore through the night. The walls drank his cries, his pleas, his choking gurgles as Sin's awakening turned him from predator to prey.
When it ended, Daichi was nothing more than a ruin of flesh and fear, sprawled in the filth he had created.
Sin stood over him, her chest rising and falling, her Sharingan still glowing in the dim light. Her small face remained blank, streaked with her mother's blood and his.
She looked down at her hands.... shaking, stained red.... and for the first time, truly felt the weight of what she had become.