Prince of Tennis - Yanagi Renji - 068. Lightening..
Title: Dreaming To Remember - Make You Free
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Yanagi Renji, Sanada Genichirou
Prompt:68. Lightening
Word Count: 3,015
Rating: PG-13
Summary:
Overall: Even today, angels and demons are in a quiet war. These boys are entangled in a cycle of reincarnation, and questions from the past are now coming to light. And Yanagi Renji seems to be the center of all this.
Chapter: Sanada's dream and past is explain, and somehow, Kirihara Akaya is definitely involved in the angelic chaos of Renji's life.
Author's Notes:
My LDT found here
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A race continuing forever...
The Sanada residence was a piece of history and calmness in the face of modern times. The compound had traditional gardens, but of course the modern world couldn't help but intrude upon the quaintness of the residence. Inside the main residence, there were several examples of the modern world - phones, televisions and such. It always amused Renji to see such things in harmony like this.
Renji stepped onto the property, glancing around. He knew where he would find his friend, for it was rare to find Sanada Genichirou anywhere other than the dojo unless he was in his room or spending time with his family.
Renji quietly slipped his shoes off outside the door of the dojo and entered it quietly, sitting at the side, waiting for Sanada to finish what he was in the midst of, which was slicing a straw dummy cleanly in half. Sheathing the sword, Sanada looked over at him. "Yanagi." He greeted.
"Hello, Genichirou. Your technique is as clean as ever." Renji commented. He had never seen Sanada make an uneven cut with a sword. Sanada sat down across from Renji, just grunting an acknowledgement of the compliment he had been given. Renji raised an eyebrow. "So what is troubling you?" He asked, wondering if it had anything to do with his early morning encounter as well.
Sanada thought for a moment before he spoke. There were so many confusing things about this, that he wasn't sure where to start. Sanada finally cleared his throat. "Obviously, my family has been known to be great swordsmen for a long time. I just have one question."
"And what is that?" Renji asked.
"Should one feel the blood spilled on their ancestors on their own hand?"
Renji was taken aback by that question. "What do you mean?" There had to be a deeper reason for asking something as heavy as that.
Sanada sat back, debating whether or not he should Renji the whole story. The whole thing was ridiculous.
Renji watched his friends face for a moment before sighing. "I think I know." He said. "You're a part of this mess too, aren't you?"
Sanada looked up. "What do you mean?" He asked.
Renji chuckled. "I know it seems strange, considering religious things in general, but...have you been having dreams where you believed you were a Christian angel?"
Sanada's eyes opened wide in shock. How could he have known?
Renji bowed his head. "It's my fault." He explained. "I only learned more about this myself this morning." Renji smiled a little. "So even the archangels can become fallen as well..." He mused quietly.
"That still doesn't explain much." Sanada muttered.
"I shouldn't feel safe here, considering you were the one that took my life away once." Renji said.
Sanada leaned back, shocked. "I...I would never do something like that!" He protested.
"Not you, your former life. Gabriel and his holy sword. It's only fitting that you were reborn into an honorable, noble family of swordsmen, even if it's in a culture that doesn't really believe in that existence." Renji explained.
Sanada looked extremely confused at this.
"There is a gathering of fallen angels in the entire Kantou region, it seems." Renji continued with his explanation. "It seems most of us are seeking redemption for something. As to what we're redeeming ourselves for, that's only known to you." He said. "Apparently, my soul has finally redeemed itself that I can return to Heaven once this life is over. I just have a small catch." Renji said, smiling sadly. "It seems so far, that everyone entwined in this mess is close to me. You, Sadaharu, even Seiichi..." Renji trailed off.
Sanada frowned. "How could I have....been such a thing?" He asked. Though Renji's explanation did make things seem somewhat clearer now.
Renji shook his head. "It certainly makes you question life, doesn't it?" He said, as he rose to stretch his legs. He walked along the wall of the dojo, stopping in front of one of the katana that hung on the wall for show. Renji ran his fingers over the sheath, and turned his head back to Sanada. "You have a vague idea of what Gabriel's job was." He said, turning his head back to the sword. "It sounds like you don't know the entire story." Renji smiled softly. "Not that I do myself, but I think I know more of it than you."
"Tell me anything you know." Sanada said, curious.
Renji returned to his prior spot. "Gabriel, Michael and Kuriel were the three highest angels, their initiatives given directly from God." He started. "They also served as the ones that judged the lower angels on any of their transgressions. The lower ones that went too far, the judgments were handed to those three from God. Michael read the decree, Kuriel would read the punishment....and Gabriel would proceed to enact the punishment. The worst punishment for any angel was to have their wings cut off and become human." Renji explained. "Several of them went through this...including myself."
"How do you know all this?" Sanada asked. Renji couldn't possibly know how all this happened - or even if it actually did. Renji was a rather good story teller when he wanted to be.
Renji smiled sadly. "There's been....a long time in which I've remembered these events. Sometimes they're nightmares, sometimes they're happier memories of a life that was simple and easy, with no worries other than the jobs you were entrusted to do." He said. "The faces may have changed, but the souls are still the same. There's just one soul that's the same, but he doesn't know who he is. I'd ask if you thought you knew, but...if you were Gabriel....You've destroyed the lives of many angels....You can't possibly remember just one of the many."
After Renji's explanation, Sanada sort of understood. At least, if Renji was correct, then it wasn't the blood of other humans he felt he had as a weight, but the blood and feathers of other heavenly bodies. He turned his eyes to Renji. "Why would one of the highest angels be seeking redemption?" He asked.
Renji rose, and strode to the doorway of the dojo. "You've already answered that, Genichirou." He said, stopping to put his shoes back on, and decided to head home.
"You seem tired."
The stern face looked up at his superior.
The memories of punishments meted out, of friends lost. That was a disadvantage to being one of the highest angels in Heaven. While the lower ranking angels forgot those that were punished by becoming human, the highest ones never forgot.
"I am tired, Michael." The other finally responded, turning his face to the other.
Michael sat down next to him. "Gabriel, my friend, you're just doing the work that God has assigned you."
"I know." Gabriel said, sighing. "I can't help but wonder why I do this anymore. It's not that I'm questioning God's will, but after seeing hundreds of our friends sent off to be human as punishment, well...." He trailed off. "I've done it so many times, sometimes I wonder why I haven't been punished as well, even if it is my fate."
"You want to become human?" Michael asked.
"I'd deserve it." Gabriel answered. "How much blood and feathers have these hands taken away? It's starting to weigh heavily on me. And then with....He was one of my closest friends."
Michael nodded. "You shouldn't let your feelings get in the way of your duty." He said, standing up. "Friends come and go, but God's will is forever." He said, leaving.
Two days later, there was a decree.
"Gabriel, you have been assigned to become a human. You are to guide....throughout his journey. You know what this means." Michael said.
Gabriel nodded, drawing his sword and handing it to Michael.
"Thank you." Gabriel whispered. Perhaps he could seek a redemption of his own. Closing his eyes, Gabriel spread his wings out, and waited for the pain.
"Good luck." Michael whispered, raising the blade and in a swift, quick motion, sliced off Gabriel's wings.
Sanada sat up, breathing a bit heavily. What was that? He thought to himself. Surely it couldn't have anything to do with what he and Renji spoke about earlier. Though the names were the same. Though it was odd that one name kept cutting out like a censor was keeping him from hearing it.
Sanada rarely had dreams like that. At least, not ones he usually remembered. And of course, recently since he was a teenage boy after all, the other dreams he had were mostly of the wet variety.
Sanada threw on his yukata and headed outside. The night was quiet and heavy with humidity. It was probably going to storm soon. He paused by the koi pond, watching the fish swim around in the water. They had such a simple life.
Was redemption something angels really had to seek out? Sanada mused on that question for a while. And Gabriel was charged with watching and guiding someone? It surely couldn't be Renji, could it?
One of the fish popped up to the surface, popped an air bubble and dived back down to the depths of the pond. Sanada let out a small grunt, and headed to the dojo. Perhaps meditating over this would help him clear his head and perhaps reveal some better answers that mad sense. Or at least made sense to him and not the strange things Renji had been speaking of. There were no such things as angels or God or.....or were there. The first step was to figure out whether or not these beings existed.
"You're looking rather confused, Genichirou." Renji said, taking a seat next to Sanada at lunch.
Sanada looked up at Renji, then back down at his lunch. "Just a strange dream last night." He said, hoping Renji would leave it at that.
"What was it about?" Renji asked. Sanada looked at him. So much for that thought.
"Nothing important." Sanada answered, trying to get Renji to leave him alone.
"I beg to differ." Renji said, standing up. "What exactly are you seeking, Gabriel?"
Sanada looked up at being called that name. Renji really must be able to read minds. Renji continued on. "Redemption is not something one of the chosen ones need." With that, he left the room to leave Sanada to think about that.
The basically human body fell from the sky, instinct telling him to wrap something that no longer existed on his body around him. A fall that would have killed an ordinary human left this man on the ground, injured as though he had only fallen a short distance out of a tree.
Getting to his knees, then to his feet, it looked as though he had landed near a war zone. Several dead bodies, some with weapons still in hand or attached to their belts, some with death wounds, or missing limbs which had caused their body to lose too much blood we lying all around.
The few that were still alive wouldn't be much longer. The people that were crying and moaning in pain, their cries grew weaker and weaker. The new arrival turned his head away, holding his breath. The stench of blood and death was overwhelming. Luckily, he had not had anything to eat, but that didn't mean he couldn't have a slight case of the dry heaves.
What is this mess? He thought to himself. What had these humans fought over? Whatever it was, it was most likely trivial as usual. Looking down at the nearest dead body, he took the weapon from it. He won't need it wherever he's going. Tying it to his own belt, he made his way away from this bloody scene. What a greeting upon his arrival on earth.
Trekking through the forest with nothing but a katana at his side, the man went as far as he could for the day. Sleeping would have to be done at a minimum. Who knew what could lie around the next tree in this forest.
Not even knowing where the nearest village was, the man wandered for days. He finally came across some nice country folk who took him for a simple soldier who had lost his army. It was good enough for him.
After that night, he was back on his own. A young lad challenged him. The older man just laughed. "Challenge me again in a hundred years." He said, turning, becoming face to face with the young one's blade. "So you're serious." He said, taking a step back, drawing his sword, knocking the challenger's out of the boy's hand and to the side, and replacing his in the sheath all in the same smooth move.
The young man just stared in awe at that, ignoring the fact that his sword had embedded itself into the wall of the building behind him.
"Excuse me, I have things to do." He said gruffly. The kid followed him. He looked back. "I have no use for you." He said, hinting for the kid to go away.
"Will you teach me?" The younger one begged.
"Why would I want to do that. You can't even keep your weapon in your hands."
The kid looked disappointed, but eager. He rose his eyes, a determined look burning in his eyes. "I'll be your equal one day. And when that day comes, I shall surpass your talent and all like you." He promised.
The elder just snorted and began his wandering again, the eager child at his side until his dying day.
"Sensei....even though I never surpassed you in this lifetime, I will someday."
"Free yourself of the bloodied chains, and the other weights holding you back. Only then can you surpass your destiny.." The old man said with his last breaths.
This night's dream was different. It seemed to be about real people this time, but...who were they, why were they, and what was Sanada Genichirou doing dreaming about them?
"Yanagi." Sanada greeted the other at school the next day, staring at him expectantly.
"What's wrong, Genichirou?" Renji asked, wondering what brought Sanada to him.
"How do you answer one question without raising more?"
Renji's lips quirked up in a smile. "Whatever do you mean?"
"You asked why I'd be seeking redemption if it wasn't necessary. That question only brought about more questions and more weird dreams." Sanada said, frowning at his friend.
"I can't solve everyone's problems, Genichirou. If in answering one question, you develop more questions, then perhaps those questions are just as important or more so. We're in an endless cycle of birth and rebirth. Paths will cross in many lifetimes. This time the number of paths crossing is larger than usual." Renji said, sitting in his seat, looking up at Sanada with his calm, closed eyes. "We all have our part in this larger cosmic opera, Genichirou. You've just found one more small piece to it." He paused for a second. "So what was this dream about."
Well, it couldn't hurt to share. Maybe Renji could help figure this out. "A warrior and his apprentice." Sanada said. Renji cocked an eyebrow at that. "His unwanted apprentice. He kept trying to get rid of him, but he kept coming back, saying he'd surpass his master one day. He said it until his master's dying breath, whereupon his master told him to free himself from his bloodied bonds." Sanada said.
Renji frowned. "Does that sound like someone you know, Genichirou?"
Sanada thought for a moment on that before answering. "Akaya." He said. Renji nodded.
How was it that Akaya had a connection to this rather strange and sordid story? The boy could barely atone for his acts as a human in this lifetime, how could he make up for past lives? He only seems to be digging his eternal resting place deeper and deeper. Renji wasn't even sure Hell would want him.
This was more complicated.
"You have an apprentice, it seems." Renji said, as the bell rang.
Sanada stood up to go to his own class room. "He can find another master." He said, leaving the classroom.
Renji shook his head. "That's where you're wrong, Genichirou. He can't, and you can't refuse. Neither of you have a choice in this matter." He said quietly, settling in for the first half of the day. It was debatable if Sanada had heard a word he said as he had walked out the door by that time.
I wander the world, seeking something I may or may not deserve.
It may be granted, but there is not a guarantee.
I seek the answer to a question I never asked.
In answering, I will receive that which I may or may not want.
Praying will not help.
Where has reality ended?
I want my life back.
But which life is it I want?
Renji wrote this in a secret journal he hid within a notebook filled with the more boring stats of his friends. He sighed. Everything was as complicated as it seemed, and yet, it also seemed so easy.
Settling into bed, he curled up, hugging a pillow to his chest. What kind of dreams would he have tonight? Would he have any tonight? Would one explain the presence of Akaya in Sanada's dream? He sighed.
To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question Renji thought to himself. Sleep, have strange dreams and worry over what they mean, or don't sleep and be cranky and sleep deprived for a while before succumbing to the call of the night.
With a weary sigh, Renji closed his eyes and prayed for his mind to not know more than it already did. There was nothing or no one that could save his soul, so why even bother with this silly quest. Though perhaps with the others, saving them might not be a bad idea.
He would have to think on this some more. Soul searching was not a pastime Yanagi Renji usually pursued.
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Yanagi Renji, Sanada Genichirou
Prompt:68. Lightening
Word Count: 3,015
Rating: PG-13
Summary:
Overall: Even today, angels and demons are in a quiet war. These boys are entangled in a cycle of reincarnation, and questions from the past are now coming to light. And Yanagi Renji seems to be the center of all this.
Chapter: Sanada's dream and past is explain, and somehow, Kirihara Akaya is definitely involved in the angelic chaos of Renji's life.
Author's Notes:
My LDT found here
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A race continuing forever...
The Sanada residence was a piece of history and calmness in the face of modern times. The compound had traditional gardens, but of course the modern world couldn't help but intrude upon the quaintness of the residence. Inside the main residence, there were several examples of the modern world - phones, televisions and such. It always amused Renji to see such things in harmony like this.
Renji stepped onto the property, glancing around. He knew where he would find his friend, for it was rare to find Sanada Genichirou anywhere other than the dojo unless he was in his room or spending time with his family.
Renji quietly slipped his shoes off outside the door of the dojo and entered it quietly, sitting at the side, waiting for Sanada to finish what he was in the midst of, which was slicing a straw dummy cleanly in half. Sheathing the sword, Sanada looked over at him. "Yanagi." He greeted.
"Hello, Genichirou. Your technique is as clean as ever." Renji commented. He had never seen Sanada make an uneven cut with a sword. Sanada sat down across from Renji, just grunting an acknowledgement of the compliment he had been given. Renji raised an eyebrow. "So what is troubling you?" He asked, wondering if it had anything to do with his early morning encounter as well.
Sanada thought for a moment before he spoke. There were so many confusing things about this, that he wasn't sure where to start. Sanada finally cleared his throat. "Obviously, my family has been known to be great swordsmen for a long time. I just have one question."
"And what is that?" Renji asked.
"Should one feel the blood spilled on their ancestors on their own hand?"
Renji was taken aback by that question. "What do you mean?" There had to be a deeper reason for asking something as heavy as that.
Sanada sat back, debating whether or not he should Renji the whole story. The whole thing was ridiculous.
Renji watched his friends face for a moment before sighing. "I think I know." He said. "You're a part of this mess too, aren't you?"
Sanada looked up. "What do you mean?" He asked.
Renji chuckled. "I know it seems strange, considering religious things in general, but...have you been having dreams where you believed you were a Christian angel?"
Sanada's eyes opened wide in shock. How could he have known?
Renji bowed his head. "It's my fault." He explained. "I only learned more about this myself this morning." Renji smiled a little. "So even the archangels can become fallen as well..." He mused quietly.
"That still doesn't explain much." Sanada muttered.
"I shouldn't feel safe here, considering you were the one that took my life away once." Renji said.
Sanada leaned back, shocked. "I...I would never do something like that!" He protested.
"Not you, your former life. Gabriel and his holy sword. It's only fitting that you were reborn into an honorable, noble family of swordsmen, even if it's in a culture that doesn't really believe in that existence." Renji explained.
Sanada looked extremely confused at this.
"There is a gathering of fallen angels in the entire Kantou region, it seems." Renji continued with his explanation. "It seems most of us are seeking redemption for something. As to what we're redeeming ourselves for, that's only known to you." He said. "Apparently, my soul has finally redeemed itself that I can return to Heaven once this life is over. I just have a small catch." Renji said, smiling sadly. "It seems so far, that everyone entwined in this mess is close to me. You, Sadaharu, even Seiichi..." Renji trailed off.
Sanada frowned. "How could I have....been such a thing?" He asked. Though Renji's explanation did make things seem somewhat clearer now.
Renji shook his head. "It certainly makes you question life, doesn't it?" He said, as he rose to stretch his legs. He walked along the wall of the dojo, stopping in front of one of the katana that hung on the wall for show. Renji ran his fingers over the sheath, and turned his head back to Sanada. "You have a vague idea of what Gabriel's job was." He said, turning his head back to the sword. "It sounds like you don't know the entire story." Renji smiled softly. "Not that I do myself, but I think I know more of it than you."
"Tell me anything you know." Sanada said, curious.
Renji returned to his prior spot. "Gabriel, Michael and Kuriel were the three highest angels, their initiatives given directly from God." He started. "They also served as the ones that judged the lower angels on any of their transgressions. The lower ones that went too far, the judgments were handed to those three from God. Michael read the decree, Kuriel would read the punishment....and Gabriel would proceed to enact the punishment. The worst punishment for any angel was to have their wings cut off and become human." Renji explained. "Several of them went through this...including myself."
"How do you know all this?" Sanada asked. Renji couldn't possibly know how all this happened - or even if it actually did. Renji was a rather good story teller when he wanted to be.
Renji smiled sadly. "There's been....a long time in which I've remembered these events. Sometimes they're nightmares, sometimes they're happier memories of a life that was simple and easy, with no worries other than the jobs you were entrusted to do." He said. "The faces may have changed, but the souls are still the same. There's just one soul that's the same, but he doesn't know who he is. I'd ask if you thought you knew, but...if you were Gabriel....You've destroyed the lives of many angels....You can't possibly remember just one of the many."
After Renji's explanation, Sanada sort of understood. At least, if Renji was correct, then it wasn't the blood of other humans he felt he had as a weight, but the blood and feathers of other heavenly bodies. He turned his eyes to Renji. "Why would one of the highest angels be seeking redemption?" He asked.
Renji rose, and strode to the doorway of the dojo. "You've already answered that, Genichirou." He said, stopping to put his shoes back on, and decided to head home.
"You seem tired."
The stern face looked up at his superior.
The memories of punishments meted out, of friends lost. That was a disadvantage to being one of the highest angels in Heaven. While the lower ranking angels forgot those that were punished by becoming human, the highest ones never forgot.
"I am tired, Michael." The other finally responded, turning his face to the other.
Michael sat down next to him. "Gabriel, my friend, you're just doing the work that God has assigned you."
"I know." Gabriel said, sighing. "I can't help but wonder why I do this anymore. It's not that I'm questioning God's will, but after seeing hundreds of our friends sent off to be human as punishment, well...." He trailed off. "I've done it so many times, sometimes I wonder why I haven't been punished as well, even if it is my fate."
"You want to become human?" Michael asked.
"I'd deserve it." Gabriel answered. "How much blood and feathers have these hands taken away? It's starting to weigh heavily on me. And then with....He was one of my closest friends."
Michael nodded. "You shouldn't let your feelings get in the way of your duty." He said, standing up. "Friends come and go, but God's will is forever." He said, leaving.
Two days later, there was a decree.
"Gabriel, you have been assigned to become a human. You are to guide....throughout his journey. You know what this means." Michael said.
Gabriel nodded, drawing his sword and handing it to Michael.
"Thank you." Gabriel whispered. Perhaps he could seek a redemption of his own. Closing his eyes, Gabriel spread his wings out, and waited for the pain.
"Good luck." Michael whispered, raising the blade and in a swift, quick motion, sliced off Gabriel's wings.
Sanada sat up, breathing a bit heavily. What was that? He thought to himself. Surely it couldn't have anything to do with what he and Renji spoke about earlier. Though the names were the same. Though it was odd that one name kept cutting out like a censor was keeping him from hearing it.
Sanada rarely had dreams like that. At least, not ones he usually remembered. And of course, recently since he was a teenage boy after all, the other dreams he had were mostly of the wet variety.
Sanada threw on his yukata and headed outside. The night was quiet and heavy with humidity. It was probably going to storm soon. He paused by the koi pond, watching the fish swim around in the water. They had such a simple life.
Was redemption something angels really had to seek out? Sanada mused on that question for a while. And Gabriel was charged with watching and guiding someone? It surely couldn't be Renji, could it?
One of the fish popped up to the surface, popped an air bubble and dived back down to the depths of the pond. Sanada let out a small grunt, and headed to the dojo. Perhaps meditating over this would help him clear his head and perhaps reveal some better answers that mad sense. Or at least made sense to him and not the strange things Renji had been speaking of. There were no such things as angels or God or.....or were there. The first step was to figure out whether or not these beings existed.
"You're looking rather confused, Genichirou." Renji said, taking a seat next to Sanada at lunch.
Sanada looked up at Renji, then back down at his lunch. "Just a strange dream last night." He said, hoping Renji would leave it at that.
"What was it about?" Renji asked. Sanada looked at him. So much for that thought.
"Nothing important." Sanada answered, trying to get Renji to leave him alone.
"I beg to differ." Renji said, standing up. "What exactly are you seeking, Gabriel?"
Sanada looked up at being called that name. Renji really must be able to read minds. Renji continued on. "Redemption is not something one of the chosen ones need." With that, he left the room to leave Sanada to think about that.
The basically human body fell from the sky, instinct telling him to wrap something that no longer existed on his body around him. A fall that would have killed an ordinary human left this man on the ground, injured as though he had only fallen a short distance out of a tree.
Getting to his knees, then to his feet, it looked as though he had landed near a war zone. Several dead bodies, some with weapons still in hand or attached to their belts, some with death wounds, or missing limbs which had caused their body to lose too much blood we lying all around.
The few that were still alive wouldn't be much longer. The people that were crying and moaning in pain, their cries grew weaker and weaker. The new arrival turned his head away, holding his breath. The stench of blood and death was overwhelming. Luckily, he had not had anything to eat, but that didn't mean he couldn't have a slight case of the dry heaves.
What is this mess? He thought to himself. What had these humans fought over? Whatever it was, it was most likely trivial as usual. Looking down at the nearest dead body, he took the weapon from it. He won't need it wherever he's going. Tying it to his own belt, he made his way away from this bloody scene. What a greeting upon his arrival on earth.
Trekking through the forest with nothing but a katana at his side, the man went as far as he could for the day. Sleeping would have to be done at a minimum. Who knew what could lie around the next tree in this forest.
Not even knowing where the nearest village was, the man wandered for days. He finally came across some nice country folk who took him for a simple soldier who had lost his army. It was good enough for him.
After that night, he was back on his own. A young lad challenged him. The older man just laughed. "Challenge me again in a hundred years." He said, turning, becoming face to face with the young one's blade. "So you're serious." He said, taking a step back, drawing his sword, knocking the challenger's out of the boy's hand and to the side, and replacing his in the sheath all in the same smooth move.
The young man just stared in awe at that, ignoring the fact that his sword had embedded itself into the wall of the building behind him.
"Excuse me, I have things to do." He said gruffly. The kid followed him. He looked back. "I have no use for you." He said, hinting for the kid to go away.
"Will you teach me?" The younger one begged.
"Why would I want to do that. You can't even keep your weapon in your hands."
The kid looked disappointed, but eager. He rose his eyes, a determined look burning in his eyes. "I'll be your equal one day. And when that day comes, I shall surpass your talent and all like you." He promised.
The elder just snorted and began his wandering again, the eager child at his side until his dying day.
"Sensei....even though I never surpassed you in this lifetime, I will someday."
"Free yourself of the bloodied chains, and the other weights holding you back. Only then can you surpass your destiny.." The old man said with his last breaths.
This night's dream was different. It seemed to be about real people this time, but...who were they, why were they, and what was Sanada Genichirou doing dreaming about them?
"Yanagi." Sanada greeted the other at school the next day, staring at him expectantly.
"What's wrong, Genichirou?" Renji asked, wondering what brought Sanada to him.
"How do you answer one question without raising more?"
Renji's lips quirked up in a smile. "Whatever do you mean?"
"You asked why I'd be seeking redemption if it wasn't necessary. That question only brought about more questions and more weird dreams." Sanada said, frowning at his friend.
"I can't solve everyone's problems, Genichirou. If in answering one question, you develop more questions, then perhaps those questions are just as important or more so. We're in an endless cycle of birth and rebirth. Paths will cross in many lifetimes. This time the number of paths crossing is larger than usual." Renji said, sitting in his seat, looking up at Sanada with his calm, closed eyes. "We all have our part in this larger cosmic opera, Genichirou. You've just found one more small piece to it." He paused for a second. "So what was this dream about."
Well, it couldn't hurt to share. Maybe Renji could help figure this out. "A warrior and his apprentice." Sanada said. Renji cocked an eyebrow at that. "His unwanted apprentice. He kept trying to get rid of him, but he kept coming back, saying he'd surpass his master one day. He said it until his master's dying breath, whereupon his master told him to free himself from his bloodied bonds." Sanada said.
Renji frowned. "Does that sound like someone you know, Genichirou?"
Sanada thought for a moment on that before answering. "Akaya." He said. Renji nodded.
How was it that Akaya had a connection to this rather strange and sordid story? The boy could barely atone for his acts as a human in this lifetime, how could he make up for past lives? He only seems to be digging his eternal resting place deeper and deeper. Renji wasn't even sure Hell would want him.
This was more complicated.
"You have an apprentice, it seems." Renji said, as the bell rang.
Sanada stood up to go to his own class room. "He can find another master." He said, leaving the classroom.
Renji shook his head. "That's where you're wrong, Genichirou. He can't, and you can't refuse. Neither of you have a choice in this matter." He said quietly, settling in for the first half of the day. It was debatable if Sanada had heard a word he said as he had walked out the door by that time.
I wander the world, seeking something I may or may not deserve.
It may be granted, but there is not a guarantee.
I seek the answer to a question I never asked.
In answering, I will receive that which I may or may not want.
Praying will not help.
Where has reality ended?
I want my life back.
But which life is it I want?
Renji wrote this in a secret journal he hid within a notebook filled with the more boring stats of his friends. He sighed. Everything was as complicated as it seemed, and yet, it also seemed so easy.
Settling into bed, he curled up, hugging a pillow to his chest. What kind of dreams would he have tonight? Would he have any tonight? Would one explain the presence of Akaya in Sanada's dream? He sighed.
To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question Renji thought to himself. Sleep, have strange dreams and worry over what they mean, or don't sleep and be cranky and sleep deprived for a while before succumbing to the call of the night.
With a weary sigh, Renji closed his eyes and prayed for his mind to not know more than it already did. There was nothing or no one that could save his soul, so why even bother with this silly quest. Though perhaps with the others, saving them might not be a bad idea.
He would have to think on this some more. Soul searching was not a pastime Yanagi Renji usually pursued.