The Vessel of Dawn

"W... up... wa... up!"

There was an inaudible sound that kept on echoing inside his head.

"Bro... er... wa... up!"

There it echoed once again, but it was a bit louder than before. Pestered by the noise, he attempted to open his heavy eyelids, but was only met with a blurry figure.

A blurry figure of a girl.

As soon as he saw it, he instantly remembered his sister causing him to panic and gain conciousness.

"Brother, wake up!"

He then abruptly woke up palpitating heavily as he- all of a sudden- lifted himself into a sitting position, shocked by his own dream.

"Uhh?" She uttered in confusion as she witnessed her brother's actions. "It's already past nine brother, father will be disappointed."

Disappointed...

There was something about that word that made him realize that he's not in a dream anymore; that he was back in reality.

"Thank you... Kagura, I'll be ready in a moment." He said.

"You better be! You're already late."

Kagura was calm- elegant rather- as she said those words then left her brother's room. Although, it was obvious in her tone that she was sulking; mostly because he was being a disappointment again.

Again...

It then clicked in his head what he was and who he was.

He was the first born of the oldest and the most powerful line of Onmyouji and the successor of the sacred art of the Yin and Yang that was passed down through generations. However, he was unfortunately born with the inability to take full control of the power, hence, turning him into a disappointment.

But his father believed that his son could redeem himself, thus, naming him Kurusu, meaning "The Vessel of Dawn" where he would soon recover his ability to control the power as he continues to grow up.

But to their dismay, nothing changed; until now. He was still the unfortunate child that has brought disgrace to their ancestry.

"Disappointment" and "Again." These are the words that he kept on hearing in his entire life and, being the supposed successor, this made a huge impact to his mentality.

"What was I late for again?" He thought to himself as he sat silently on his bed, trying to remember with his newly awoken dazed mind what he has forgotten.

Then his eyes widen and his heart raced as soon as he recalled his lost memory, "The expedition!" He yelled in a panic as he hurriedly jumped off from his bed and readied himself up.

He was preparing in haste- since he didn't want to be late- as he grabbed everything he deemed useful for the expedition then mindlessly tossing them into his sack; without a care if it could fit or not.

After he was finished packing, he ran out of his room then recklessly sprinted across the hallway. Being part of the oldest and most powerful line of Onmyouji, their home was huge, almost mansion like, that he was already breathing heavily before he could even reach the front door.

However, as soon as he was about to exit, Kagura stopped him in his tracks then cried, "Brother, wait!"

Kurusu was then put to a halt by the time he heard his younger sister's voice. When he looked back, he saw her face wanting to tell him something but instead, she just looked down and frowned.

He smiled at his sister's fainheartedness, that it made him approach her then pet her head lightly. "Everything's going to be alright." He said attempting to cheer her up, "I'll come back alive, I promise."

Kagura then raised her chin and started giving a smile of relief, "That's a promise, okay?" She happily remarked; confident that her brother would keep their promise.

"That's a promise!"

Kurusu then stood up straight- causing her to look up as she was only about as high as his chin- and waved goodbye to her as he was turning around.

* * *

The camp was already filled with Onmyouji and Shikigami, and at the far end where everyone was gathering, was his father standing near the podium while talking to his subordinates. Kurusu then cautiously approached him while looking down to the ground, nervous with the idea that he'll berate him once again.

"Father, I'm sorry I'm late." He said while trying to fake a smile to make it seem like it was alright to be thirty minutes late- but just ended up making a fool of himself.

His father didn't utter a word, he just stood there and stared at Kurusu with a heavy atmosphere, making him feel like wanting to hide from where he was standing. His father then turned around without even looking back and stepped on the podium; still not uttering a single sound, not even a disappointed grunt.

He let out a sigh of relief as his father did not condemned him, right infront of everyone, from his misconduct again. He must've had enough of his son's actions or time might've been running short, either way, he was lucky.

His father then gathered everyone's attention as he started explaining what the expedition would be about. He opened the scroll that was on his hands and read, "An unknown race of demon has appeared at the vicinity of a village near the mountains, luckily it didn't hurt nor attacked the villagers. The village will be located north-east of our village and would take roughly half a day, or less, to reach it."

"I am tasking twelve of you, Onmyouji, and your Shikigami companions to go there before the afternoon arrives to investigate and ask questions, and then exorcise the demons on the morrow." He said as he rolled the scroll back to what it originally was, and then continued, "I'll be appointing one of you as the leader."

As soon as he heard the word "Leader," his heart echoed all throught his chest as he was being filled with anxiety. In his entire life he was never appointed as leader, but things might change today. He watched nervously as his father looked at everyone at the camp, and then his spine shivered as his father locked his eyes on him, causing him to look down awkwardly; only to bring it to the person right beside him a second later.

"Haru, my trustworthy apprentice, I am appointing you as leader." He heard his father utter those words as his heart grew heavy. "So this is what disappointment feels like?" He thought to himself with a sad sigh as his expectations were immediately crushed.

"Yes sensei, I would gladly." Haru replied full of confidence and pride.

Now that everything was finally settled, Kurusu's father gathered the group and prayed them luck and good health for their dangerous expedition. He then led them to the north gate to see them off and bid farewell.