Several hours before...

Not even she could believe what she was doing. Arashi squeezed her hands on her lap and continued with her head slightly tilted to the window, feigning to admire the scenery that passed by fastly in front of her, being, actually, totally absorbed in her thoughts. There she was, in a train to the Wakayama prefecture, without having a clear idea of what she was going to do. Before her eyes crossed an image of Sorata, laughing, some time before the Promised Day. It had not been his usual loud laugh, but a blithe and sincere one. All the Seals had ended up laughing too. Even she had smiled softly, although he never knew it... When Arashi saw her reflection on the window glass of the train, she realized that she was now smiling too, although it was only a slight curve of her lips. She sighed. Her character had changed remarkably in the last weeks. From being the reserved and serious young woman she was before, now she revealed her feelings, not showing them openly, though. And it was his fault. She remembered the first time Sorata and she had met, his naughty smiles, his countless declarations of love... and repeated in her mind the words that had foreordained his destiny.

"I've set my heart on you."

When she had asked him about the meaning of that sentence, she expected any answer but the one he gave her. She remembered his smile and his calmness when he said to her that he had chosen the woman for whom he would give his life. And how she had tried to avoid that at all costs. If he was going to die for the woman he loved, it would not be for her. She did her best to distance him from her. She was cold and severe, ignoring all he said or did. But it had been futile. He had raised as her protector and always accompanied her wherever she went. And the worst thing was that she did not dislike his company. For the time the Dragons of Heaven had lived together in the Imonoyama mansion, the young priest had managed to break the mask she always wore. He had read her thoughts, but neither her feelings nor her desires that, however, did not go unnoticed to the others. In part, that had relieved her, thinking that she had achieved her aim, but the night before the Promised Day, she realized that her efforts had been useless. Before entering his bedroom, Sorata had looked into her eyes and had told her that he loved her once again before wishing her good night.

The Promised Day... She frowned slightly and her eyes darkened when she remembered the bloody body of Sorata above hers, protecting her, his weak smile and his words...

"I told you that I’d protect you, that I’d give my life for you..."

Then, those eyes, always so full of life, had lost their spark and Sorata had collapsed heavily on her. She felt a knot in her throat and had the feeling that the world had already ended. She felt rage, despair and threw at Nataku after lying softly the young priest’s body on the floor. The bioroid barely had had time to react. Thinking that both Seals were dead, it had let its guard down. It had dodged Arashi’s attack, but the young woman did not fail the second time. She had impaled her opponent with her sword to the hilt.

"For Sorata," she whispered when Nataku’s body had leaned over, lifeless.

She took the sword out of the corpse and went to help her comrades without looking back. Only when everything had finished, she headed with the others to the place where Sorata lay. She stood behind, watching how Seiichiro got closer to him. She felt empty, as if that scene did not have anything to do with her. She could hear Yuzuriha’s sobs behind her, and Karen’s whispers, trying to console her. And then...

"He’s still alive!"

Everybody looked astonished at the magazine editor, who had turned to them with a smile in his lips. One of his hands was on the young man’s chest, over his heart. And she could not remember anything else. That moment became blurred, too confused. She could not say if she had gone to Sorata with the others or she had stayed where she was, still, not being able to react; or where they arrived at the nearest hospital. However, she remembered the long sleepless nights, watching his sleep, when the doctors did not give any hope for his life; caressing his hand and suddenly stop doing it, scolding herself for her weakness and giving into her impulse. However, his will of living had overcome death and Sorata woke up a week later. And he continued being the same. Lying on the hospital bed, he went on joking and cheering up everybody as before. She did not have changed too. Not even in those moments she had been able to offer a look or a smile back...

The voice in the loudspeaker announcing the next station where the train would stop cut in on her thoughts. That was the end of her journey. She took the small suitcase in which she carried what she needed to spend the night there and walked to the door, ignoring the looks and comments of a group of boys sat a few sits behind hers. Arashi go off the train and after leaving her case in the left luggage office, she went to the ticket office of the station to ask how she could go to Kouyasan. There, they showered her the way to the buses that carried the tourists who visited it in summer, that were not far from the station. However, the office was closed. She would have to look for another mean of transport. It did not take her long time in finding a taxi.

"To Kouyasan, please."

The taxi driver looked at her briefly, but did not say anything. He started the car and followed the road. Arashi looked in at the window and sighed. The truth was that Sorata had changed her life. He had awakened a part of her that she thought it was buried forever. Since she had begun her training as priestess, she had restrained her feelings until making them invisible to people’s eyes, but that mask had cracked in her stay in Tokyo. And it had broken little by little. When she returned to Ise, she thought it would be easy to go on with her life, but she was wrong. Sorata was still there. And the more he appeared in her thoughts, in her dreams, the more she tried to hide it, so nobody could suspect anything. Only one person realized what was happening, the woman who had found her on the street, among the dustbins, the one who convinced her to live.

Kaede had entered the room where she was meditating in front of the fire. She was carrying something in her hands, something Arashi could not see clearly because of the shadows projected by the flames in the darkness of the room. The priestess had kneeled in front of her and had looked at her in a way that had disturbed her, bringing memories of a six year old girl next to a woman from whom she barely remembered the face. Like a mother looked at a daughter. After some moments of silence, the woman had started to speak. She was direct and precise, and with each word, Arashi’s heart beat faster. Kaede knew her secret, she knew that something tormented her, that she was escaping from something... or someone. The woman put what she had brought with her between them. It was a big, thick parcel, wrapped in paper and tied with a very thin rope. Arashi looked at it confused.

"Open it."

And she had complied. Inside it, there were some clothes, which she separated carefully. A skirt, a jacket and a polo-neck jersey. She could not distinguish the colors well. She had lifted her head to the older woman, a thousand questions in her gaze. But Kaede had smiled, her eyes full of understanding.

"Look into your heart and find out what you desire the most, Arashi."

Without saying anything else, she had got up off the ground and had left the room, leaving her confused, and, not knowing why, feeling guilty.

"Miss, we’re here."

Arashi lifted her heart and looked at the driver, being taken aback for a second. Soon, she regained her composure and paid for the trip. When she was going to open the car door, she realized it was raining. Fortunately, she had carried an umbrella with her. The taxi turned round and started the journey back to the village, leaving the young priestess in front of the enormous stone staircase that leaded to the temple. She breathed deeply. There was no way back. She started to go up the first steps, slowly.

-And now what? she said to herself. -You are here. What are you going to say to him?

Arashi moved her head softly, removing those thoughts from her mind, and breathed deeply again, trying to calm her nerves when she saw the end of the stairs.

The clearing was empty, and there was no trace of anybody, not even the monks. Everything was closed. She walked for the surroundings without any result. Once, she thought she saw a shadow, but it was something so fast that she could not say for sure if it was a person. She could not go beyond the buildings that surrounded the clearing, the rest of the place was private. Well, at least she had tried. It would be better to return to the village and look for a hotel to spend the night. She would try again in the morning. She had time, the train to Osaka did not go past until the afternoon. Suddenly, when she headed for the stairs, the rain became heavier, falling so hard that the umbrella seemed not to resist the force of the shower. She sheltered under the great tree that grew next to the temple entrance. Its thickness barely left the water pass although from time to time some finest raindrops fell on her hair or her shoulders. She sighed. The questions returned to her head, filling her mind with doubts and she frightened. The best thing was to return to Ise and try to forget all that, keep Sorata’s memory as one of the best of her life and carry on being the Hidden Maiden of her Shrine. She looked at her right hand palm, symbol of the lethal weapon she hid in her body.

“Your hands are really soft...”

Arashi closed her eyes. His voice again. She breathed deeply and started to walk while she opened her umbrella. She was going to end with that foolish once and for all.

She did not heard footsteps behind her back, neither she felt that somebody advanced towards her. Suddenly, a voice made her stop and her pulse quickened when she recognized it.

"I hope you didn’t get very wet miss, but we didn’t expect any visitor today, and..."

It was he, he of all the priests in Kouyasan who had gone to meet her. She turned slowly and watched how the smile drawn in Sorata’s face froze, and his eyes reflected an enormous surprise. And she heard again her name in his lips.

"Arashi..."