Chapter Text
(Disclaimer: Kannazuki no Miko or Destiny of the Shrine Maiden is copyrighted and owned by the manga team Kaishaku, Kadokawa, Shounen Ace, TNK and is currently licensed to Sentai Filmworks. Please support the official release.)
Love is Worth the Wait
"I'll never forget!" Himeko cried out, holding on for dear life as not to let her one and only love go. "I won't. Neither memory nor appearance will matter! I'll never stop looking for you as long as I live, and I'll find you, Chikane-chan! No matter what, I promise I will!"
At 70 Years Old last Month, Himeko Kurusugawa looked healthy for her age. While her strawberry blonde hair had grayed to a dim yellow and worn into a fashionable hair bun and her amethyst eyes didn't shine quite as brightly as it did in her youth, many would describe her as cute or pretty, despite numerous age blots and face having several sagging areas and wrinkles.
A stickler for tradition, Himeko Kurusugawa grabbed her wooden cane and slowly raised herself up. Wearing a modest grey sweater and yellow skirt just short enough to cover her legs but not her brown shoes, the retired photographer took a deep breath, determined to resume her lifelong dream. Despite numerous suitors and prospective mates vying for her attention, Himeko refused all of them. Each and everytime, she gave them the same answer. "There's someone waiting for me and I intend to find them."
Strangely enough, Mahoroba had remained the sleepy little village it always was. Granted, there were subtle changes: cellphones gave way to smartphones, models of cars became sleeker and slimmer. There was even the occasional news of breakthroughs in technology. But at its core, Mahoroba remained the small town far away from modern society as though it were locked in a vacuum.
"Hey, Granny!" A boy with a green Mohawk, several nose piercings and a leather jacket walked up to her. "Don't you know there's a toll you gotta pay for sitting on this bench?"
"A toll?" Himeko looked up, bewildered. She'd sat on this park bench hundreds of times but this was the first time she heard of any toll. Was a law passed recently and she didn't read about it?
"Yeah, and you gotta pay up!" The boy said, rubbing his fingers together.
"I see," Himeko finally understood. The boy pretended there was a toll and was trying to trick her into paying him money. "That's very nice of you to tell me, but silly me, I've seem to forgotten my wallet. You know how forgetful I am at my old age."
"Then, we're gonna have a problem…" The boy cackled.
"Himeko baa-san!" A familiar voice called out. Himeko turned to her right, spotting a slender boy, wearing the Ototachibana school uniform and jet black hair, his golden eyes glared at the old woman. The boy could only be described as beautiful and feminine to the point where if a male student were to confess his love to him, it would seem only natural.
"Oogami-kun…" Himeko thought to herself.
Walking past the old woman, Oogami walked up to the other boy, took him by the collar and opened his mouth.
"The fuck's wrong with you, shit for brains?" He yelled, his saliva spraying over the other boy and his beautiful face disappearing under his hard lines and creased forehead. "What kind of goddamn asshole doesn't know how to respect his fucking elders?"
"You can't to me like that, you-"
Oogami's fist met with the other boy's face. The punch put the other boy on his back on the park floor, teeth and metal piercings lying in a pool of blood.
"And that's just a taste of my arsenal!" Oogami yelled at him, his fist still wet from his opponent's blood. "Now apologize!"
"I'm sorry!" The hoodlum said, holding his broken nose which bled all over his hand.
"Not to me, shit-for-brains!" The black haired boy said, before pointing to Himeko. "To her!"
"I'm so sorry!" The green mohawked boy pleaded on his hands and knees while Sousuke wiped his bloodied fist with a handkerchief Himeko gave him.
"I accept your apology," Himeko bowed slightly, letting the boy scramble up to his feet and run away.
"Damn, my hair's all messed up!" Oogami said, looking in a compact mirror he carried around. He pulled out a comb and a jar of the world's smelliest hair gel and combined them together and put it in his jet black hair so that he could comb it back into a perfect pompadour.
"There we go!" Sousuke Oogami said. The grandson of Souma and Makoto applied so much product into his pompadour, Himeko could 'smell' him from the next city block. Unlike his grandfather, the prince of Ototachibana Academy, Sousuke embodied the very image of a stereotypical Japanese delinquent and was well on his way to flunking out of school, save the influence the Oogami name held. After losing his grandfather, a police officer, in the line of duty and his parents to a car accident, the once promising Honor roll student succumbed to peer pressure. He drank, smoked, talked back to everyone and once uttered a chain of curse words so profane, it would've caused hardened sailors to blush.
"Damn, this thing's hot," Sousuke pulled on his uniform collar. In one swift motion, he undid his green tie, threw it aside and slid a finger down his navy blue jacket to undo the buttons. Before Himeko could blink, said uniform Jacket rested on Sousuke's shoulders with a white undershirt being visible. This, in addition to his prominent pompadour, transformed Sousuke from a spitting image of his grandfather to a character more fitting of a late 80's early 90's delinquent manga series.
"Thank you for rescuing me, Sou-chan," Himeko giggled behind a raised hand, as though she were a school girl in her teens rather than a septuagenarian. Because of how much of a resemblance there was between Sousuke and his grandfather, Himeko resorted to calling him the nickname she game Souma during their youth. But while Souma considered the moniker to be a term of endearment, Sousuke had a much different reaction to the title.
"What'd I say about calling me Sou-chan, Himeko-baasan!" The boy barked back.
A much louder and angrier reaction.
"You should be using –kun or –sama!"
"Still causing trouble, Sou-chan?"
Sousuke froze mid-step and slowly turned his head to face his grandmother, Makoto Oogami. As Makoto inched closer to Himeko in her 4 wheeled walker, he stood at attention as though Makoto were the world's harshest drill instructor. Himeko found it amusing that the only person that could intimidate Sousuke was his 70 year old grandmother wearing a bright pink tracksuit with rectangular glasses attached to a chain surrounding her neck, and her signature green ribbon wrapped around a portion of her now gray hair.
"This is the part where he yells a lot and tells me I don't know what I'm talking about," Makoto whispered to Himeko, once she got close enough.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Sousuke yelled, as though he had forgotten his fear in an instant.
"How's the world's most eligible bachelorette?" Makoto teased her, ignoring her grandson.
"I think you mean the world's oldest bachelorette…" Himeko said, suddenly becoming her usual self-conscious self.
"You're still on the market!" Makoto chuckled heartedly.
"And well past the expiration date…" Sousuke muttered to himself.
Suddenly, a pair of Makoto's wrinkly fingers clamped shut on Sousuke's left cheek, rendering him silent and in visible pain.
"What was that, my cute grandson?" Makoto said, in a rather demonic tone.
Tears immediately formed in Sousuke's eyes. Many people found the sight curious as Sousuke took items such as fists, glass plates, porcelain pots, and once, a metallic baseball bat to the skull and not so much as flinch but his grandmother's pinch to the cheek had him on his knees.
"Nothing..." He breathed a sigh of relief when Makoto's infamous "jaws of death" released its grip.
The three began their usual daily stroll around Mahoroba, something that acted as an exercise for Makoto and Himeko and a lively debate for Sousuke. As the trio walked on, they began their usual round of idle conversation.
"Objectively speaking, Jonathan is the worst Jojo," Sousuke said.
"I've always preferred the honest types." Makoto replied, no doubt a reference to Sousuke's late grandfather, Souma.
"He's boring! Even Giorno's better than him."
"Is that why you put Josuke over Giorno? I thought you hated Part 4."
"I put Golden Wind over Diamond is Unbreakable, but I think Josuke is better than Giorno," Sousuke clarified.
"I know you need to get over your hatred of Stone Ocean."
"It had the worst ending!" Sousuke retorted. "What kind of lameass conclusion is resetting the world and having a happily ever after in parallel universe? Help me out here, Himeko-baasan"
"Huh?" Himeko raised her head, as though her mind were lost in thought. "I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?"
Sousuke and Makoto exchanged a worried look.
"Nothing," Sousuke said.
"Don't forget our bet!" Sousuke leaned in to whisper to his grandmother, referring to the wager he and Makoto had made. Should Makoto pass away before Himeko found her special someone, Sousuke would take a small portion of money, 500 yen, from Makoto's will. But if Himeko did find someone special, Makoto would be declared the victor of 500 yen. The winner would, of course, receive the unwritten reward of bragging rights.
"You'll have to excuse me if I don't take financial advice from someone who preordered the Collector's edition of Jump Force," Makoto smirked.
"It seemed like a reasonable investment!" Sousuke retorted.
(Author's Note: It was, in fact, NOT a reasonable investment).
As Makoto, Sousuke and Himeko crossed the intersection together (Makoto leading, Himeko trailing behind her and Sousuke walking last to make sure Himeko didn't fall), Himeko witnessed someone that made her pause at the middle of a busy street.
Himeko's eyes saw knee length dark silver hair flowing through the wind. As her eyes looked up, she witnessed another elderly woman with slightly sagging skin, several age blotches and a deep cerulean gaze that would chill anyone else to the bone. The other woman wore a snow white outfit, covering all but her bony hands and orthopedic boots, no doubt the result of a wealthy lifestyle.
Yet, the elderly woman carried herself with a sense of poise and dignity. Despite the numerous lines on her face, she exuded elegance and fine breeding. The other woman stood straight and she didn't appear feeble or weak despite her aged features.
In that instant, a lifetime's worth of memories flooded into Himeko Kurusugawa's mind: meeting a blue haired princess in a Garden of Roses, being born a Solar Priestess, mistaking physical affections towards Souma for true love, being violated, feeling betrayed, realizing the other girl's true motives and, worst of all, the pain of being separated.
"Chikane-chan?" Himeko said, her elderly voice croaking, letting her wooden cane fall onto the street.
"Himeko?" The woman across the sidewalk called back, her voice much more strained because her aged vocal chords. .
"Chikane-chan!" With the vitality found more in teenagers than a septuagenarian, Himeko leapt and embraced the other woman with a firm grasp, to which the other woman reciprocated. Tears ran down Himeko's face, finally finding the other half of her shell.
"Have you gone completely Senile?" Sousuke yelled, holding the dropped wooden cane. "Himeko-baasan, you can't just hug strangers on the street!"
With both Sousuke's shouting, as well as several angry honks of blocked cars, the four relocated their meeting to a nearby park.
"Could you two give us a moment?" Himeko asked, while not breaking her gaze with Chikane's.
Just as Sousuke was about to say something rude and indecent, Makoto's fingers clamped on his right cheek, rendering him deadly silent.
"Of course!" Makoto snickered, dragging her grandson to a park bench not too far away.
"I don't know where to begin," Himeko started, reaching into Chikane's body for a mutual hug to which Chikane gladly returned.
"I could say the same thing," Chikane said when they finally separated their bodies. "What have you been doing all these years? Have you been happy?"
"I worked for a newspaper as a photographer. My life was perfect except I missed you so much. Where have you been?"
"Wasting my life rejecting suitors and teaching piano, Himeko." Chikane said, with a rather sad look on her face. "I just came back from Otoha's grave."
"I'm so sorry…" Himeko said, wiping away a stray tear from Chikane's face. "I'm glad Otoha stayed by your side for as long as she could."
"My only regret is that I couldn't show my parents or Otoha how wonderful you are, Himeko. I'd trade all of my wealth, -no, all the wealth in the world just for a few precious moments with you."
"I must seem so unattractive to you," Himeko said, finally feeling self-conscious about her age. For the length she had waited for Chikane, Himeko's beauty no longer held the vitality it once did. Her skin sagged, age spots appeared everywhere and her once illustrious golden hair had become a dull blonde with several streaks of gray. .
"Your beauty surpasses your physical appearance, which is stunning."
But a familiar hint of despair was found in Chikane's voice as she broke eye contact.
"After all, I am the ugly one…" Chikane said, her eyes deliberately avoiding Himeko's gaze. "I must look like a wicked witch meant to frighten young children into behaving correctly."
"That's not true!" Himeko said, her amethyst gems collecting water.
"It's only fitting that my outward appearance should match my inner ugliness," Chikane shook her head.
"You are just as beautiful and kind and gentle and lovely as the day we parted, Chikane-chan," Himeko said.
"But all those awful things I did..."
"You did them for my sake," Himeko said.
"But, look what I've done to you, Himeko!" Chikane yelled, her elderly voice cracking further. "You've wasted your life waiting me to return when you could've been so much happier with someone else."
Himeko took Chikane's bony hand and placed it on the blonde's chest, having Chikane give out a gasp, feeling Himeko's heartbeat.
"Chikane-chan, I've waited lifetimes just for the chance to be with you. What are decades compared to that? These heartbeats that have lasted for 70 years are because of your sacrifice."
Himeko took Chikane's hand that was placed on her chest and laced her fingers together. "Besides, this lifetime has been filled with so much joy and happiness that I owe it all to you. This moment, this wonderful moment was thanks to you. Now, won't you at least enjoy this with me?"
Chikane gave a wrinkly smile, tears forming in her cerulean eyes.
"You always know how to brighten up my day..."
"Well, I was the Solar Priestess, so I know a thing or two." Himeko chuckled.
With every sagging flesh of skin, with every blotched age spot, with every wrinkled crow's feet appearing, Chikane Himemiya's smile convinced Himeko there was no other beautiful sight in this world. With that conviction, Himeko raised herself on her toes and planted a very soft kiss on Chikane's, to which the other woman reciprocated.
As Makoto saw the two women kiss, she felt a warmth in her heart. She had seen Himeko through life and helped her find her special someone. Now, at last, Makoto could depart this world without any regrets. There were so many times Makoto worried Himeko would pass on before she met the love of her life. All those fears were now dispelled and Makoto could feel a stray tear beginning to form at the corner of her eye.
"They kind of look like two pugs making out. It's so ugly, it's actually sort of cute," her grandson interrupted.
"There's one thing I've always wanted to say," Makoto said, wiping the tear from her eye.
"What's that?" Sousuke said, playing along.
"You owe me some money!" Makoto grinned, reminding Sousuke of the bet they had made whether Himeko finally found her special someone.
"You suck, grandma!"
(A/N: Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken or Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is copyrighted to Hirohiko Araki, Shueisha, Weekly Shounen Jump and is currently licensed to Viz Media and Warner Brothers Entertainment.)
(A/N: I've always had a fascination for Japanese delinquents and Sousuke was my way of experimenting with that. For those wondering I used "Sou" from Souma and "suke" based from 2 of my favorite characters, Josuke from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho.)
(A/N 2: For the curious, Sousuke's personal list of Jojos from best to worst are: Josuke (Part 4), Joseph, Jotaro, Joylene, Johnny, Josuke (Part 8) and then Jonathan).
(A/N 3: The only characters I own here is Sousuke as well as his brothers, Selph Insurt and Donut Steel)