Bound by Choice

"Haruka?" I say. I dread, yet feel how he'll reply.

"That name no longer holds power over me."

"Who is your master now?"

He says nothing.

If it is anyone of the Minamoto clan, they will kill him. I will have to fight for him, even if he is ordered against me...

Do I have the power to impose another name?

"Are you safe?" I whisper so that my voice cannot crack.

"Are you safe?" he says, fangs revealed by his smirk.

"That's not important," I say.

"It is to me. I am free. And you are still my friend."