Return to the Tower

'I.. you don't remember me?.. I was one of those kids who were caught six years ago! You have to remember that surely.' Taichiji laughed half-heartedly when he finally realized, Yaimo obviously didn't recognize him at all. This was going to be difficult. 'I... Just don't have my mask this time.. I'm not here to play you see,' He looked to the ground again. How could this have happened? Yaimo had become a shell of his former self, or so it seemed.

Taichi grummbled a bit when he heard something in the distance. 'Not again! NOT YET DAMN IT!!'

Taichiji was wide-eye. Maybe he could help Yaimo recover after all! 'Y..Yes! I was! Noshiga was the heavy kid and Suku was there too.. we.. we all had masks too.. like yours and the twins!'

He heard the noise getting closer and he asked the others, for thier safety to hide and for Chitori to come by and stand with him. Not only were the odds better that way, but he felt a bit safer almost, like he did at his place back home with his dog. Now, he stood and waited, tensing his hands into clenched fists from anger.

'I know that Inmu, Yanku and I made it out. Apparently you did too. And another... the young girl who saved me.. the one who was oni first.. six years ago..before Hikora... nevermind.' He figured he should stop trying to explain.. It didn't seem to be getting him anywhere at the moment anyhow and just seemed to confuse Yaimo more then ever.

"Run, Akihito," Yanku told the boy, "Go now."

Frightened by the noise coming towards them and the tone of Yanku's voice, Akihito ran off into the dark outskirts of the city. With any luck he would escape alive.

Then, Inmu and Yanku readied their weapons and came to stand besides Taichiji. They would not hide and allow their friend to face the danger alone.

They cast a glance at Yaimao, but turned back to the dark broken gate. There would be time to thank him later.

A small bell rang and Oshira-sama, her eyes glowing, stepped out of the darkness. She was followed by a large demon with four legs, three arms and a wheel on his back: Komitori.

"You are all very bad boys," she sang, her voice both the girl's and demon's.

Chitori whined and quickly moved in between the demons and his new human friends. He wasn't sure what to think of Yaimao but if Taichiji was happy to see him then the young man must be okay.

"Chitori," Oshira-sama said, "Don't make me hurt you."

The lion demon shook his head and planted his feet. He would not allow his friends to hurt each other. Not while he was there to prevent it.

Chitori turned his eyes on Yaimao, filled with a strange sense of gradituted. He remembered seeing the young man when Yaimao was a boy, attached to the tower, surrounded by the bodies of those that had come before him. He remembered hearing him scream and, back then, he hadn't done anything to stop it because taking the boy's energy, letting him be killed, had been necessary. Now he hoped that Yaimao or Taichiji, or even Inmu and Yanku would never scream like that again.

Inmu and Yanku nodded to each other. Yaimao may have lost his memories, but he was still Yaimao, no doubt about it.

'I remember you," she said to Yaimao, staring into his eyes, "You were very brave but foolish. Although, your foolishness let me have Hikora. If he had run then you would have become Oni and he would have died, so I thank you for that."

She giggled.