Note from the Author: Welcome to Courage to Feel. If you are a returning guest from my Butterfly Chronicles I welcome you and thank you for your patronage again. If you aren't then I welcome you all the same. If you are a Kurama fan you might find interest in my other stories about him that are under the Butterfly Chronicles. :) I would like to entertain you with a tale of a different sort this time and welcome you to relax back, grab some popcorn and ready about a young woman who can feel the feelings of others but fears her own feelings.
Without further ado, -ROSEY
Chapter 1-Enter the Empath
"Why are you putting yourself through this?"
She sat in the corner, watching as the operation was about to begin. She had her knees pulled up to her chest as she watched. She had told him he could die. He hadn't cared. The doctor that was doing it had said that it would be worse pain than he had ever felt. He hadn't cared either. He had a mission and wasn't going to let pain or anything else keep him from doing what he felt he needed to.
And then it began. She stood through it. The screaming, the pain, everything. Her eyes blurred as the tears that her friend was fighting came to her eyes. Sometimes being an empath could tear ones soul apart when something like this was going on. He hadn't asked her to stay. He hadn't ordered her as was his right being the leader's 'son' and all. He would tell her so when he got out of surgery. Finally it was done.
The woman blinked out of her memories as the keys to the cell clicked in the lock and opened the door. She stepped out of the cell and looked around. She looked at the ogre that had come to free her. "What is going on?" She asked, smiling gently at him. He was working hard at not being tempted by her smile. She frowned and sighed. This job took some dedication to be able to put up blocks against empaths.
They led her through the halls to a small room where the great and powerful Lord Koenma sat. He turned to look at the empath that entered. Her dark brown hair curled around her face and down her back. The alarming thing was the charming blue eyes that looked at him with interest.
"You have a deal for me." She said, sitting at the chair that was there. She looked around the cold walls that made up the interrogation hall. "But in return you want answers to why I broke in."
"If you know why I'm here why don't you go ahead and give me the answers. I do not have all day." Koenma said.
Impatience swelled over the girl as she looked at the corner and shook her head. "Don't you know how to treat a girl with respect and courtesy?" She asked, tilting her head as she looked back up at him.
"You are a demon that stole away in here and tried to access information on demons that are under investigation for stealing several things from the vault. Why and what were you looking for?" Koenma asked. She found him cute for a Lord. He was small and no taller than two feet and a half. He was a toddler really. Was she supposed to find him scary? If so, it would work better to have a fear demon in here. But then she wouldn't be able to talk straight anyway.
"He stole something form the vault of yours? Interesting." She replied and looked away again. That sounded like something that the man she was looking for would do.
"What were you looking for?" Koenma asked again. She could feel frustration from him. That might be a planted feeling though. She sighed and pushed up the shield that would keep her from having any of these feelings interfere with her thinking.
"I was looking for some information. That's all. I heard that you keep files on all us demons that go through your attention. I figured that he's probably gotten your attention by now and that'd you have a location for him." She replied. She looked down at her fingers as if finding something absolutely interesting in them.
"Who is this he Leila?" Koenma demanded.
She cringed at her name. She had worked so hard to keep that from him. She was trying to find a way to get out of it before an ogre burst in.
"Yusuke has found him! They found Goki and are fighting." He reported and she went ridged. If he had found one of them, he would most likely find the other two, which meant He would be found soon.
"Is that who you were looking for?" Koenma asked when he noticed the stiffening.
"Why would I be interested in a soul eater? They have a nasty habit of turning on you at the last minute because they are hungry." She demanded and stood, leaning forward with her palms flat against the table. "You should know better than to piss off an empath Koenma. We can do all sorts of things to your emotions. Let me out of here and I'll spare you that complexity."
"Tell me who you were looking for and I'll be glad to do that." Koenma told her.
She looked at him one last time and then sighed. It would come out one time or another. "I am looking for Hiei Jaganshi. I have news for him. That was what I was looking for. Now may I go?" She asked, standing straight.
Koenma looked at her and frowned. Why would this beautiful demon be looking for that little brat? While she was easily five feet ten inches, nearly a full foot taller than Hiei, and healthy looking, she had a dark gaze that could have killed anything if looks could kill. "You may go to Human world only if you plan to help us find Hiei." He told her.
She wanted to kill him. She had only been here to find the demon and deliver a mission. If she helped this stupid Spirit Lord, she'd be lowering herself to an attack by anyone from demon world who found out. She'd be branded a traitor by people she had never known. Her own group would disown her. Then again, they probably already had after her being locked away here for almost a week now. She sighed and agreed.
She soon found herself in human world at the apartment of Yusuke Urameshi. She looked at the clothes she was wearing. A blue school uniform covered her to the knees. She looked up to the second story to where the Spirit Detective had been taken after his run in with Gouki. She looked around before starting up the stairs. A woman walked passed her. To the trained eye, she was drunk. She opened the door to the room that Leila had been told to go to.
"Oh excuse me, is this the Urameshi residence?" She asked, running to catch up to the woman.
"Oh are you one of Yusuke's friends from school? Yes, come in." the woman said with a slight slur and led the girl in. "Botan is here too it looks. His room is off to the right."
"Thank you ma'am." She told her before going to the door and slipping in. She looked around. Humans were so weird. Living right on top of each other like this was strange to her. In demon world there was enough room for everyone to live without seeing each other for at least a few hours. Her gaze turned on the two women that were sitting next to the bed where an unconscious form slept.
"Oh excuse me, is one of you Botan?" She asked, bringing their attention to her. One was rather plain looking. With brown hair and eyes, Leila wondered who she was. It was odd to see such a plain girl. She would not blame the famed Spirit Detective to choose a girl like that. She could easily feel the love that was swelling in the girl. That and the worry.
Botan was the one with the blue hair and cotton candy colored eyes. "Righto! You must be Leila. Keiko this is Leila a school friend of mine. I asked her here because we have a project we have to do." Botan lied, seemingly effortless to this human. That was okay with Leila. She didn't really mind Humans, but their constant twisted emotions were always a bugger for her kind.
"Hello Keiko." She replied and went to look down at the bed. "This is Yusuke? He sure is hansom." She was teasing. He was young. Fifteen, maybe sixteen. His hair was ruffled from sleep. However his skin looked like it could have gone through a blender. She could feel the jealousy rise up in Keiko and she turned to look down at her.
"You are a very lucky young woman to have such a cute boy." She then stepped away from the bed and sat next to Botan away from the young woman.
When Yusuke woke and Keiko went out to get food for him, he looked at the girl and then Botan. "Who's the new girl? Did Koenma send her?" he asked.
Botan turned her gaze to Leila and paused. She looked sick. In fact, Leila was feeling horrible. She felt as if he had taken her and thrown her in a blender as well. "Are you okay Leila?"
"No." she whispered. "I need to go outside for a moment. I'm sorry." She rose from her seat and rushed outside, gasping in air as the pain faded. Strong emotions and sometimes feelings could jump over her walls and get at her whether she wanted them too or not. Botan joined her soon enough.
"Koenma said you were an empath. I just didn't believe him. Most empaths work for him. I've never heard of one going rogue and living in Demon world." She said softly. "Much less one surviving to have a child there."
"Well my mother did, and I'm all the better for it I think." Leila said softly looking over at her, defenses up. She was used to this. Botan was correct. Most empaths worked for Spirit World or found good jobs in Human World. They were human except for the high spirit awareness they had. Which was what made them so appealing to demons.
"Well we won't really need your help to find Hiei until—"Botan started.
"I'm here to find him. And if we find him before Yusuke is ready then that is your fault and you should be in there getting him ready." Leila said sharply, looking away from the woman who had simply been trying to be nice. She felt horrible about it the second later. "I'm sorry. There's an old man upstairs that just got hit in the groin by his dog. He's none too pleased." It didn't excuse her though. She had better control than that. It had only been that Hiei's name had jumpstarted a weird sensation in her; one where she lost all control of her barrier.
"That's fine." Botan replied before heading in. The girl walked away from the house going to the small apartment she had been given while her stay on Human World was still active. On the way there she bumped into a human with red hair and green eyes. Unusual for a human to have such vibrant—and then it hit her. This wasn't a human at all. He was apologizing but she didn't hear a word.
Pictures of a woman, hurt, in a hospital was running from this demon in human form. He was hurting because of it. He wanted to save her but couldn't. And then she saw Hiei from this man's perspective. She gasped softly and broke eye contact with the stranger. "I'm sorry it's really my fault. I should have been paying attention to where I was going." She replied and rushed off, sending one last glance at him. He'd seen Hiei and yet was still alive? That must have been the second man that had helped him sneak into the vault, Kurama.