Please

“I, Hattori, Momo, hereby solemnly pledge—” The words echo in Kasumi’s mind as her fists tighten around the remains of rusty metal. She doesn’t register her fall, the lack of tension on the chain, or even the sharp edges stabbing into her hands as she clenches tighter and tighter.

“I have her!” she repeats over and over in her mind. “She’s mine. Only I can have her.”

Her flesh moves to replace the space freed by the deteriorating metal. Every second, her thoughts grow weaker, as if her fingers are squeezing her internal monologue instead of the chain, until there’s no chain left to hold. Her eyes and hands go wide at the shock. She opens her fists and watches the last crumbs of rust float away like dust in the wind.

“Momo…” she whimpers, scrambling to gather bits of chain still languishing on the ground around her. “But I… I held on so tightly… I never let you go…” Her mind is consumed with thoughts of Momo, so obsessed that she can’t even perceive the drama playing out next to her.

“What was that?!” Ichigo demands, grabbing the Diviner’s collar and screaming in her face. Despite the intimidating display, the Diviner only laughs, amused.

“Ahahahaha!” she cackles through mouthfuls of blood.

“What’s so funny, lying old hag?” Ichigo demands.

“To think it happens so quickly,” she says, rolling over in laughter.

“What happened? Explain yourself, or I’ll—”

“You’ll do nothing,” the Diviner finishes, rising to her knees. “You already lost. That girl was the only one with a faith strong and practiced enough to stop my summoning. Now she’s on the other side, and the two of you couldn’t hope to be half the roadblock she was.” Her bloody smile is sickening at a glance, only further emphasized by the voids in her eyes.

“You lied!” Ichigo accuses, reaching for his sword.

“I need no lies, boy. ’Tis true: one with a pure love for her might’ve been able to reel her in,” she says, pointing her bloody stump at Kasumi. “But it seems her love was more corrosive than even I could’ve imagined. To think such a pristine chain could be reduced to rusty flakes in mere seconds… Why, I’m not sure even I could’ve—” The Diviner’s words are cut short as her head falls from her shoulders.

Ichigo stands, eyes locking on Kasumi as she searches for bits of chain in the gravel. He steps forward, gravel crunching underfoot as blood drips from his sword. She’s so focused on finding the chain that she doesn’t notice him approaching, and neither takes notice of the portal still swirling above them. He reaches her, mind silent as he grabs hold of her by the hair.

“You…” he says, yanking her hair, but Kasumi doesn’t scream, as if she’s only confused about why the gravel’s gotten farther away. “You did this.” Ichigo lifts his sword high, ready to bring it down, when a voice calls out to him from the torii gate.

“Forget about her! Take care of the portal!” it says, drawing his eyes. There stands the same figure, clad in faintly glowing samurai armor. Rage overcomes him at that moment. This figure disturbs his sleep, forces him to sneak out of the church, and brings him to some pagan shrine to watch his sister die, all while he merely stands at the gate and barks orders.

“SHUT UP, OLD MAN!” Ichigo roars as an all-consuming rage boils over within him. He grips his sword, years of conditioning preventing him from throwing it, so he throws the only other thing he has at hand. Mustering up all his strength, he launches Kasumi, sending her flying toward the gate in an attempt to hit the glowing figure.

“Ah!” Kasumi cries, finally feeling the strain in her neck and scalp. She doesn’t realize she’s tumbling until she’s already stopped, focused solely on maintaining her grip on the chain links she’s grasped.

“What?” she asks, finally coming to a stop just outside the torii gate. She looks, desperate for any sign of Momo, but finds none. All that’s before her is Ichigo in his armor, sword pointed at the portal as his single demand echoes down the street.

“Return my sister!” he screams, gripping his sword in both hands. The portal remains silent, violet fog whirling around without response. Finally, it expands, bringing forth a new hand, open and empty, without Momo.

“AH!” Ichigo cries, rushing the hand and slashing with all his might. With each slash, blood gushes, but not from the hand. Giving in to a mindless rage, Ichigo’s blows are more than his body can take. Each strike reverberates within, tearing muscle and cracking bone. He cries blood as vessels burst in his eyes, until all he can see is red.

Kasumi watches, spellbound, unknowingly holding fast to the links she’s collected. They continue to rust in her hands, turning to dust and slipping through her fingers until only one piece remains.

“Mmph,” she grunts, feeling the metal jab into her palm and waking from her stupor. She looks down into her hand to see the only piece that refuses to rust. The crucifix remains solid and shiny, its edges fine enough to draw blood from Kasumi’s grip. Looking down at the upside-down crucifix brings back the moment she first saw it, when she first learned Momo’s name.

“I did something back then…” Kasumi thinks, the fog clearing from her mind as the memories flow. “I tried to stomp on it… To make her hate me… But she…” Kasumi recalls the moment when Momo stops her heel so easily. She thinks it strange at the time and only later realizes that Momo uses her Maiden powers.

“It would’ve been better if she did hate me,” Kasumi declares, looking up from the crucifix and to the portal. “I never would’ve held her back. Queen Bee would’ve never gotten involved with the Diviner. The Diviner would’ve never gotten the pearl back. And Momo would still be… Be…” Tears fall on Kasumi’s hand as she grips the crucifix, clinging to it so tightly that the edges cut deeper into her skin.

“Why would you take Momo?” Kasumi cries, looking to the black sky above. “She did everything you told her to. She was nice to everyone, always doing everything she could to make others smile. If anyone deserved eternal life, it was her, so why? Why would you take her? Especially when…” Kasumi’s words catch in her throat as her whole body trembles. She has so much more to say but no strength to speak; her thoughts and tears continue where her lips fail her.

“Especially when it’s all my fault.” The words thunder in her mind louder than the shouts of Ichigo as he fights the demonic hand. “It’s my fault this happened. It’s my fault the Diviner got the portal. It’s my fault Marshal’s home got destroyed. It’s my fault Queen Bee and Saitō-kun got involved in this. It’s my fault…” Her mind freezes, something deep within compelling her to speak the words rather than merely think them.

“It’s my fault that Momo’s gone.” The world seems to disappear as the words leave her lips. For a moment, the world seems to be just her and her thoughts; nothing else exists, no other moment exists. The pain in her body and mind fades, save for one stab in her closed hand. She opens it, and the crucifix sticks to her bloody fingers. On the back, her blood surrounds a small engraving that displays text she doesn’t know is there.

“1 John 1:9,” the text reads. Despite not knowing the verse, the words pop into Kasumi’s mind.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The words echo in her mind, as if someone is speaking right next to her. The voice pauses just long enough for her to process the words and then speaks again.

“What do you want?”

“I want—” Kasumi begins, stopping her lips, but the thought continues in her mind.

“I want Momo!” She bites her tongue, knowing that’s the wrong answer. “What does he want me to say?” she wonders. Her mind races; unable to think of anything but Momo, she finally recalls the phrase she always says.

“What would Jesus do?” Momo always asks it, and yet Kasumi has never been able to make it stick.

“I don’t know what he’d do,” she thinks, trying to block out the mantra. “I don’t know who he is or why Momo would always say that. All I know is Momo—” Her thoughts cut short as the answer springs to her mind as a new question.

“What would Momo do?”

“I want his will to be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” The words spill from Kasumi’s lips, but they still feel like a lie. “I know that’s what I should say… but it’s not what I want… I want her… Even though I know it’s wrong, I want what I want… I don’t want to want her, but I do…” Kasumi’s tears fall into her open hand, splashing onto the crucifix. “So help me love as she did?” She turns her head, looking to the small cloud next to her. “Please,” she begs as her tears wash away the blood on the crucifix.

The cloud remains motionless and silent for a moment, as if unaware she is speaking to him. Finally, he turns, seeing her despite his lack of eyes and speaking despite lacking a mouth.

“So you finally understand,” it says, fading little by little as it continues. “You may have the gift of inspired preaching; you may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; you may have all the faith needed to move mountains, but if you have no love, you are nothing.”

The cloud fades, but it brings Kasumi no dread. She feels a new power welling up within her and stands. She looks through the torii gate, seeing Ichigo struggle to stand as the hand approaches him, and steps forward. Clouds swirl in the sky above as thunder roars. Sparks snap with each step as Kasumi walks through the gate, her power never fading even through the torii. Her amber eyes flash with the intensity of lightning upon the hand exiting the portal.

“Begone!” she commands, extending a single hand upward.

*ZRRRAKOOOM*

The crack of thunder shatters the shrine’s windows and sets off car alarms blocks away. The hand smokes from the strike but remains unmoved, as if barely feeling it.

“I said BEGONE!”

*CRSSHK—CRSSHK—THOOM!*

The strikes rattle off one after another, each one striking the hand with enough jolts to power a city. The hand’s red skin turns black and charred as it jostles and contracts. Kasumi remains steadfast, eyes never wavering even as her control wavers.

“And never return!” Kasumi shouts as the hand begins retreating through the portal. She maintains her intensity, but her aim falters with a smaller target.

*CRAAASHK—BOOOM*

Strikes begin going haywire, catching parts of the shrine in their arcs and setting the structures on fire. Ichigo feels a new rush of adrenaline, just enough to send him running from the shrine as lightning continues to crash around him. Kasumi never flinches, maintaining her strikes until the hand disappears and the portal closes. The thunderclouds dissipate as the purple circle fades, leaving only a smoldering ruin where the shrine once stood.

“What was that?!” calls a shocked voice from behind. Kasumi turns to look, her body collapsing just in time to see the Metropolitan standing in awe among the smoldering ruins.