Summary: Feeling like he's the reason for all the harm that comes to the people around him, Gen is slowly loosing himself to a dark part of his heart. Can Yoshimori save Gen from himself? Or will he really become the monster he thinks he is?

Anime/Manga: Kekkaishi

Pairing: Yoshimori / Gen

Rated: T for mild inappropriate language

Genre: Romance / Hurt/Comfort

Disclaimer: Kekkaishi wouldn't have ended up the way it did if I owned it, so natural you should know who does.

Warning: This is a Yaoi, BoyXBoy, Male to Male. If you don't like it then you don't have to read it, please don't leave hate-comments. You have been warned.

.Monster Inside.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

He doesn't like silence.

It leaves him alone with his thoughts, leaves him alone with the memories and it leaves him alone with all the suffering he has caused. All of the people he has hurt due to his malicious tendencies and monstrous nature. He is a monster, there's no doubt about it. People live in fear him, good-they need to be afraid. People like to avoid him-great, they need to stay away. He hurts anything close to him, that's why they all need to just stay away…

And he's doing it again, thinking about it again.

He shakes the thoughts from his head, no; it's not the time for him to be thinking about stuff like that. Its better left for when he's home alone and doesn't have a job to perform. He needs to be at the top of his game. He has people depending on him now. 'The weather is starting to change…'

It's chilly, but not cold enough for a jacket as of yet. The autumn season would be here within weeks bringing its freezing weather and merciless winds, forcing people into warmer dressings and even warmer homes, but for now a long-sleeved shirt under his ninja garb was all that would be necessary to keep his body heat from dropping, being the half-ayakashi he was helped to in keeping his internal temperature stable in cooler climates, 'One of the perks of being a monster.' He mused to himself.

He really needs to stop that…

It wasn't like he would need a jacket anyways. Due to the lack of activity during the last half hour he was sure in a matter of seconds an ayakashi would appear and with all the running around he'd be doing going after it would warm him up in an instant, not that he was cold or anything. He clasped his hands together and blew into them with warm puffs of air. Really, he wasn't cold. He just didn't want his hands to feel all tingly in case of a sudden ayakashi attack…

CRASH!

His senses perked suddenly alert, ears listening closely for the sounds of an ayakashi. "Didn't I just get done telling you NOT to climb up into that tree? You're such an idiot!"

"I was only trying to get a better view of the courtyard! Oww...damn that really hurt!"

False alarm, it was only the chief's stupid younger brother and little girlfriend being unnaturally loud and obnoxious once again. 'Couldn't those two be quiet for two damn seconds?'

Not that he minded the distraction. He was actually is pretty fond of these two…

"It's your fault for being dense-headed and not listening to me when I tell you not to do anything stupid!"

"How was I supposed to know that I wouldn't be able to climb it while holding my milk?"

'Apparently not.'

He sighs as he jumps down from his position high up in thick branches of an oak tree that he has been resting in for the better half the night, opting to join up with his two comrades now and end their petty fighting rather than spending a second more with his darker thoughts. Also they all should discuss the absence of ayakashi in the area.—

—BOOM! !

The sound of an explosion erupts through the area turning the quiet night into ear-splitting one. The half-ayakashi covers his sensitive ears due the magnitude of its frequency, growling when it does nothing more than muffle the ringing noise. His head feels like it's going to split in half but not before his eyes dislodge from its socket, the pressure that's building within is skull is near the point of excruciating. That sound was going to cause some serious damage. His eyes flicker to about twenty feet in front of him to his partners—or partner, seeing as the youngest if the trio seemed to be missing from the action leaving his little girlfriend to fight the ayakashi alone. He notices how the ringing doesn't seem to be affecting her in the slightest and is left to wonder if the pitch is only meant to affect his exceptional hearing. The frequency slowly begins to die down, but the ringing in his ears does not. He figures his hearing will most likely be impaired for the remainder of the night and leaves it at that. He was wasting too much time thinking about trivial things when instead he should be finishing off that ayakashi. The longer it remained in the sacred land of Karasumori the stronger it would become and that damn thing was already irritating enough as it was.

He is able to tune out the frequency mostly, though the pain in his head is reduced to a vicious throb this time, and prepares to launch himself at the monster, with its back turned to him he can't really tell what he's up against but he figures a fatal blow to its backside should end things quickly no matter the ability the monstrosity controlled. The half-ayakashi gets down on all fours and pushes off the ground with such force the earth cracks slightly. Claws detract and raised high above his head for a stronger swing. "GEN WATCH OUT!"

In an instant a barrage of spikes are shot towards him in his mid-aerial attack. 'No time to dodge…!'

He braces himself for the impact. "Hōi! Jōso! Ketsu!"

Gen is instantly surrounded by green.

He watches as the spikes hit the green box surrounding him, falling to the ground after a pitiful attempt at trying to penetrate the kekkai. He looks to his female teammate and nods as a sign of appreciation for saving his ass and also a request to release him. The girl makes a quick survey of her enemy and the distance between her and Gen before making a mad dash towards him, releasing him in the process. "Kai!"

He hits the ground with a dull thud and waits for the running girl to reach him before pulling them both into the safety of the trees, nearly missing another barrage aimed precisely at the two. He gives her a moment to catch her breath before asking, "Where's that idiot run off to?"

She straightened herself from the hunched position locking eyes with Gen. "He sensed another ayakashi near the main gate. It's so far away from the baseball field that he figured it would have too much time to absorb Karasumori's power therefore making it stronger than what I could handle alone. He told me that I should be able to hold off this one off until you showed up. Stupid brat underestimated me again…" She made a face before continuing, "Anyways, what should we do about that?"

"That" being the ayakashi who'd almost made a pin cushion of Gen only moments ago.

Finally, he decides to give his enemy a good look-over. The monster was at least a good fifteen feet in height, give or take a few inches, and very thick length wise. Its shape resembled somewhat of an hourglass figure, its lower half much thicker than its round head. Spikes, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, protruded from every possible space across it's body but seemed retractable seeing as they only shot out of them when they ayakashi sensed or was in danger. As far as he could see it seemed the only other thing the monster had was a long row of spiky teeth. No eyes or ears were visible, but just by looking at the style in which the monster fought. He had a hunch the ayakashi could sense them through its root system.

That would make things very difficult.

Any type of movements could be felt just through the simple vibrations they gave off with every step and the father the roots went the more area this thing would be able to sense. Plus there was no way to tell how far its roots reached already. Ground based attacks seemed out of the question, the Yukimura girl would never be able to cast a kekkai big enough to enclose the ayakashi and its roots, however far they may reach, and his usual head-on attacks wouldn't work if he needed a running start. That left only one option:

They needed to attack it from above.

He had, had the right idea before when attacking it from above, only if he hadn't applied so much force into his jump maybe the thing wouldn't have sensed him but that's what he gets for underestimating the enemy…

"Yukimura, I have a plan." His tone is shot and bitter; he's ready to just get rid of the damn abomination already.

"Tokine," she corrects, "my name is Tokine."

"Tokine, whatever. Are you going to listen or what?"

She leans in and proceeds to listen to his plan…

"Ready? GO!"

"Hōi! Jōso! Ketsu! Ketsu! Ketsu! Ketsu! Ketsu!"

An array of five individual kekkais' appears in a path towards the ayakashi, one after the other appearing slightly higher than the last. Gen wasted no time in jumping up on to the first one, with Tokine silently watched him from her own kekkai perch. They both quietly waited for a reaction.

The beast let out a low whimper. Turning its head side to side in distress, the lack of knowledge to where its enemy had disappeared must of scared it senselessly because a few seconds later it started to shooting off randomly into the night, spikes flying into ever direction except for the location they resided in. 'Victory is within my reach.' He cracked his claws in anticipation.

With one swift swipe he'd be able to obliterate the monster and its roots no matter how far they reached down. This was almost too easy. "We're approximately twenty feet away from that thing; do you think you will be able to keep a path going that far?"

Tokine smirked, "We'll just see won't we."

That was a good enough response for him. "Here I go then."

And he took off without a moment's hesitation, leaping quickly to the next kekkai gaining altitude through the process. He was gaining speed, moving faster and faster until he was almost there.

"Ketsu! Ketsu! Ketsu! Ketsu—!" Tokine's voice rang from behind him, sounding slightly strained. "Ketsu!"

The next step he took almost made him fall.

The kekkai shattered slightly beneath his heavy footfalls before disappearing completely. He just barely made it make to the last one he'd step off before the other was out of sight. He turned around to face his female comrade. Even with the distance between them he could still see her struggling to keep her position up upon her kekkai, she looked out of breath again. And then he noticed something else. Each kekkai that he'd previously walked across were still in a path towards the ayakashi, he counted at least ten or fifteen of them. "Hey," He suddenly called out to her, "can't you release the kekkai too as you summon them?"

She gave him a weary look. "Kind of? It takes twice as more concentration and slightly more power then I'd like to waste…"

"I can't walk across your kekkai if they are just going to break under my feet. And the more you seem to create the weaker the newer ones seem to be." He responded bluntly.

Tokine sighed, already feeling much more drained than she should. "Sorry. Okay, I'll try to keep a path of only three going. One in front, one in behind?"

He simply nodded.

She raised her pointer and middle finger in front of her face. "Kai!"

All boxes disappeared excluding the ones she and Gen stood upon. "Ready? Ketsu! Ketsu! Ketsu! Kai…"

And the patterned continued.

Gen continued on his path towards the ayakashi. He wasn't going to gain as much speed as he would've liked but the speed he was gaining now would suffice enough for a decent blow. And that's all that it was going to take to finish it off. He was almost there; two more steps and it would all be over…

One more final step.

"Ketsu! Ketsu! Kai! Ketsu! Ketsu! Kai! Ketsu! Ketsu! Kai—ah!"

The next kekkai he steps on shatters completely without warning. He hits the ground with a thunderous SMACK which isaccompanied by a groan afterwards.

He was going to feel THAT in the morning.

"Gen!"

His eyes snap back towards Tokine only to find she's not in her original spot anymore. He looks around frantically, not seeing her anywhere on the ground. "Gen! Up here!"

Gen looks back at the ayakashi then up and finds her—hanging from her waist fifteen feet above him just waiting to be dropped at any given moment.

"What the hell—"

"Guardians of Karasumori, heed my request for if you do not I will be forced to drop this girl to her death." It's almost comparable to the hissing of a snake; the voice that fills his ears, high-pitched just like its screech but soft and almost inaudible, but he's hearing was still in the fritz so he really couldn't judge. "Will you listen to my tale guardians?"

The half-ayakashi pressed his fingers to his throbbing temples. 'Great, just what I needed. A killer headache accompanied by another ayakashi who thinks their existence in the world matters.'

"I was created in a laboratory on the eve of the first snowfall quite a few years ago…"

For once, he was glad his hearing had been impaired because it made it so much easier to completely ignore the thing. Instead he focused on finding just how the thing was able to find Tokine so easily when she was nowhere near the ground.

Squishhh.

"What the…?"

He stared at the monster for a moment before realizing there was a pair of eyes staring right back at him. That thing had sprouted an eyeball just to be able to find them. That thing could see them now. And now that he thought about it, that thing was able to talk now too.

This wasn't good.

The ayakashi had spent too much time in Karasumori and it was starting to get too strong, if he spent any longer there Gen feared he and Tokine wouldn't be able to handle it anymore. 'And that idiot is still nowhere to be found.' Gen thought bitterly.

He needed to finish this now.

"…and when I was two my little brother—"

"God, do you ever shut up?"

Before the ayakashi can even blink with its makeshift eye, Gen's in the air and already on the attack. He pulls out ten shurikens, five per each hand, and proceeds to throw them. Two of them go straight forward, four to the left and the other four to the right flying quick and smoothly hitting their target with ease. Or at least they would have if the ayakashi hadn't shot them down with a weapon of its own. "Dear guardian, I pity you so if you thought that, that would have any effect on me what so ever."

"It got the job done so I can't really be complaining." The half-ayakashi smirked.

"I beg your pardon—"

"Hōi! Jōso! Ketsu! Ketsu! Ketsu! KETSU!"

"ARRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Skinny, spear shape kekkai pierce through the demons body as Tokine takes easy steps down the kekkai path she created for herself, jogging over quickly to Gen's side once on the ground. The monster looks at the duo almost appalled. "To retrieve the girl was your true motive?"

"She would have been in the way of my attack had I not." His claws cracked in what could only be described as a blood-lust.

"Guardian I advise you against that less we forget what my thorns could do to you in a matter of seconds." It detracted its spikes for added emphasis.

Gen didn't seemed phased in the least. "I figure getting hit by one or two of those things are worth it if I can rip you damn head off."

And with that he was running blindly at the ayakashi again, no caution, no plan just absolute adrenaline and an urged to kill. The kick of power feels almost overwhelming. He's running faster than he's ever before and it just feels so good! The sudden urge of power, from where it came from he's not entirely sure but he's definitely not going to complain, it makesis mind go hazy and his imagination takes off into something wildly…pleasant? Over and over again his watching as he tears through the damned ayakashi, each time being cloaked in blood that's not his own and strangely…it's very satisfying. His claws begin to call out for it, yearning for the blood. His teeth ached for a quick bite, and his entire frame shook with pure pleasure-a feeling of pure excitement filling every fiber of his being. He wanted, no, he needed to tear the thing apart with his bare claws. He wouldn't be sedated until it was raining in its blood—and the monstrosity would disappear forever. It deserved it though; it never should have existed in the first place.

But who was he to judge; he was as much as a monster as that ayakashi was.

The world around him is spinning.

He really was a monster…!

Tokine watches in utter horror as Gen comes to a stop standing absolutely motionless in front of the ayakashi about to attack him. "Gen! GEN!"

He doesn't even twitch, utterly unresponsive to her cries of terror. His facial expression is one of pure fright; one could only imagine the thoughts going on in that thick-head of his. "GEN! GEN! MOVE GEN! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Tokine sees something that he is completely oblivious to.

Simply it looks to be a spike, protruding from the ayakashi's body just like the other hundreds around it but looks can be deceiving. She can feel it, the doomed-filled aura that is starting to surround the ayakashi; it's starting something-preparing an attack against the motionless half-ayakashi before him. And suddenly the thorn…gets longer?

And then it gets thicker…

And it is pointed directly at Gen…

Directly at his…heart.

"GEN!"

The ayakashi fires.

Her screams are violent, making her hoarse in seconds. But she doesn't stop; she continues to scream trying to get his attention trying to get him to move out of the way of the spike barreling at him at an unnatural speed. Though it's pointless, because she is too far away to reach him in time, she runs towards him still screaming, still hoping she can somehow save him. 'It's not working! He can't hear me! Gen's going to—!'

"Hōi! Jōso! Ketsu! Ketsu! Ketsu! METSU!"

A large smoke sheet fills the area and the sound of bodies smacking against the ground is the only thing heard. Gen sits up with a start, awoken from whatever trance he was trapped into, and curious to what the hell has just happen. The smoke has reduced him to a coughing fit, eyes watering up from the stinging sensation but he still attempts to try and see through the fog. He can vaguely see the outline of a body.

"Tenketsu!" He recognizes that voice as Tokine's so the body in front of him should be—

"Y-Yoshimori!"

The smoke is gone, sent through the gate to the other world and the area is visible once again.

He really wishes he was still blinded by the smoke.

The body of a young boy comes in to view that looks to be no older than fourteen, with that nice, plump, cherubic face of his. He is sprawled out across the ground, lying on his back side with his dark brown eyes facing up towards the sky. He lies there silently and motionless, laying in what seems to be a red-liquid pooling around him—laying in blood.

His own blood.

All the air seems to leave his lungs in a rush leaving him utterly speechless. He just stares dumbly at the body a mere foot away from him, eyes wide with horror. The boy shifts a little, turning so now he and the half-ayakashi are eye to eye, and Gen can see how his dark brown orbs have hazed over. He also notices from the corner of his eye the blood trials from the others mouth, dripping off into the already dangerous pool of blood surrounding his body. And before he can even think to say a word, utter something remotely intelligible, Yoshimori speaks—

"Are you alright, Gen?"

A/N:

So here I go again.

Another attempt at a chapter story. I have written about...five? And never completed a single one. So what makes me think that this one is going to last? (This is the second time I have posted this one too!)

Nothing. Absolutely nothing wills me to write this. But, with motivation from friends (and maybe some suggestions from you readers?) and family I think (hope) I can go somewhere with this!

So reviews really, really, really will help! Fill free to tell me any of my mistakes and give me some suggestions too! I will more than likely put them in the story if it fits into my theme.(:

Hope you'll stick around for an ending! -I'm still hoping I can write an ending! xD

~RAWRsuzie