Prologue: Sayonara Grandpa Unknown Forest Unknown Time
The air smelled sweet like cherry blossoms, and her aura filled the air around him. They were far from where they used to meet, far from the time when they had once been together, but here she was. He could feel it. She was waiting for him, just like the time before, and this time, he would be there for her. Kurama raced through the forest, the green scenery seeming to declare that it wanted him nowhere near her.
"Why do you hate me?" The woman's voice seemed to whisper throughout the land, a soft indistinct tone.
Still, he knew who was speaking, a woman who cursed his soul with each and every moment of the day. The breeze felt sharp on his skin as he raced through the forest, his heart wary.
"When did our heart become so dirty… stained with bloody betrayal…?"
The words cut like a knife, slicing through every sane part of him. He didn't understand his own motivations or why he kept trying to find this girl or why he didn't question it. "Where are you?!" He yelled but noticed a change in his normal tone, this voice not belonging to his human counterpart but the person whom he had cast off long ago.
Mind frantic, soul shaken, Kurama ran towards the sound of running water, knowing that it'd be closer to civilization. Closer and closer, he could hear himself getting closer to the water but the voice was neither closer nor further from him. Coming to a halt, he stalled as the lake reflected his very image like a mirror, his cold golden eyes tearing at his spirit and silky silvery colored hair glistening in the light of the moon.
"Shui-chan," the woman's voice came out clear and suddenly distinct, her tone proper and oddly, he felt calm yet nervous. He felt guilt and yet a longing for the woman behind the voice, mixtures of emotions that shouldn't have been there.
"Is that you, my priestess?" Kurama, without even a thought, responded.
"Sorry…" Soft hands touched his face while standing behind him and for a moment, he felt that he shouldn't turn around and see the person before him. "Sorry, my little Youko… I never meant to hurt you; I never wanted to leave you." Kurama could feel the warmth of her breath on his skin and suddenly he couldn't take it anymore. He had to see her. That voice, her touch, her scent, he knew those things from long ago, a time before anything mattered.
There was one problem. When he turned around him, she was gone and the only thing that stood before him was fog, the scent of white casablancas, and the world before him started to crumble away. He was waking up.
Minamino Residence Kurama's (Shuichi's Minamino) Room
"You keep cursing my dreams, don't you?" Kurama woke up, looked into the mirror in his room, only to find that he, the human boy, was staring back at him. It felt strange to be looking at his present state after having such a realistic dream, reminding him of the past that he had been trying to run away from for so long. Moving his hands across his cheeks, he felt himself, trying to make sense of reality.
With his green eyes low, he held some of his red hair in his hands almost expecting for him to return to his true form without trying. Why did he keep dreaming of her after so long? She shouldn't have even been a thought, but it seemed that, for the past few months, this recurring dream of the past kept repeating. He'd never been one to dwell on the past, not that he had ever forgotten the priestess, but why now?
"Shuichi-kun, could you help me with the groceries outside?" Kurama could hear his mother outside, calling him by his human name, the name that he, himself, had become so accustomed to over the years.
'Hai." He responded quietly as he rose up from his bed, surprised by his dreariness the past month, falling asleep mid-afternoon, shaking off the dream then hurrying to get up.
T.A. Academy: Private Catholic School for Girls
'I'll see you again, I'm sure!'
The voice startled Rei awake, her mind foggy and unaware of her surroundings. Her violet eyes looked around, only to see an unfamiliar set of eyes as confused as her soul.
"Hino-san, are you feeling alright?" A young girl whispered, her soft brown eyes genuinely worried for the odd Shinto priestess.
"I'm fine," Rei responded, her tone devoid of her emotions, sounding as strong and classy as ever. She straightened her back and waited for the nun to continue the lecture without causing any further problems.
She tried to erase the memory of that voice from her mind as the day went on, but all she could hear was that person with that voice speaking to her in that damn cheerful voice. She could still remember that sad smile trying to cheer her up before disappearing.
"Hino-san!" The same girl from earlier in class ran towards her, screaming her name. Rei turned and smiled as she was accustomed to doing while in school, being polite and formal. "I'm so glad that I could catch up to you! Who knew such a pretty lady like you can be so quick?" The girl giggled.
Rei didn't see it necessary to fake a laugh so she didn't. It was better not to encourage small talk although she knew it didn't really matter as Lina was going to do what she wanted to do.
"You've seemed down lately, Hino-san." Her short hair bobbed up and down as she tried to keep up, her dark brown eyes matching her hair.
"Do I?" Rei asked genuinely, remembering a time when people could hardly read her except her mother and her grandfather. Had she changed so much since becoming a sailor senshi? Had Usagi changed her that much? "Did you have a question for me?" The fiery priestess didn't want to be rude however, she had to keep to her guns, her original intent in getting home as quick as possible.
Lina, seeing Rei's impatience, took the hint and decided to forget about trying to have small talk until she noticed one of the nuns come running out of the private school, her eyes tired and worrisome.
"Hino-chan! Hino-chan! I have to speak with you." Sister Juniper called out.
Rei sighed exasperated, wondering why it seemed everyone wanted to keep her in this school. "Yes, Juniper-san." Rei smiled before meeting her eyes and before she could say anything, "Sister, is there something wrong?"
"I'm so sorry, my child!" The often soft-spoken nun cried out, tears lacing her cheeks.
"What do you mean?" Rei smiled gingerly, hugging the nun to her chest, comforting her. "I'm really okay. Did Lina say some-"
"Oh, you're so strong and to be here, of all places…"
Another nun came walking towards them, her eyes focused on the two and with one hand, she told the other young girl to go to her on-site dorm. "I'm sorry about your grandfather." The woman kept on speaking, but Rei didn't hear a single word; time seemed to freeze as she looked at the nun moving her lips but nothing making sense.
What did she just say? Sorry? Grandpa? Rei's mind went into a frenzy as she tried to keep her calm, listening but not hearing the woman.
"Wh-What do you mean by 'sorry?'" Rei asked, her eyes begging for the explanation to be different from what she knew what was coming.
"Oh. I thought that you knew. Your father told us this morning that your grandfather expired."
"No, that can—No, that can't be true. He was okay, just this morning… H-He told me that he felt…" Her voice trailed off, her throat caught, memories flashing through her mind. She couldn't imagine him any way besides smiling and telling her that it would be okay.
Without a second thought, she ran out the courtyard, not daring to cry. He couldn't be dead. They were mistaken. Maybe, he fell down and someone just got it wrong. How could someone so wonderful, so powerful, and so kind die?
Rei couldn't deal with losing another important person. She had already lost too many!
Minamino Residence
Kurama smiled slightly, his face slightly red from the surprise of seeing all his friends with mother, helping her out.
"Yo Shuichi!" Yusuke grinned as he handed off a paper to him, no doubt from Reikai, possibly Koenma wanting him and the rest of the team on a new mission. Kurama smiled to himself; being around humans for so long, he'd begun to treasure his friendships deeper than he'd ever done. Even if they were here for merely a mission, he found himself somehow happy.
"Hey Bo-chan," Shiori Minamino called out to Botan from the kitchen, "can you help me in the kitchen while the boys finish with the bags."
"Sure, Minamino-sama!"
"Bo-chan, you're so formal!" Shiori giggled, the young looking woman's laughing lines becoming visible, "But I guess it's better than saying Minamino-obasan!"
"Minamino-sama, you're too young to be called that!" Botan shot back almost immediately. The two continued on that way for some time, insulting themselves then complimenting the other. It was the usual way that Botan and her acted around each other.
"Bo-chan, you're going to make a wonderful bride for my son one day!" The older woman exclaimed before clapping her hand over her mouth, embarrassed. The red-headed teen's face turned the shade of his hair as the girl mentioned just seemed to smile shyly at the accusation.
Yusuke walked past the blushing teen, jumped over the couch into its cushion, grabbing the remote, powering on the television in some of the quickest movements ever known to man as Shiori Minamino frowned disapprovingly.
"Yu-kun, please don't do that."
"Gomen nassai Obasan!" Yusuke called out nonchalantly, his mind already on the sights on the screen. He kept turning the channel until finally he heard Shiori ask him to stop on the news channel.
Kurama's eyes widened at her asking to watch the news. She'd never been one much for watching the news, claiming that it was just so negative, never positive.
"Shuichi, that girl…" Her voice trailed off, her eyes suddenly saddened. "That's Hino Rei, the governor's daughter."
Hino Rei? He turned and tried not to give any hints to whether he had known her before. Still, he was sure that his mother was just talking as that girl had never been the type to allow the media in on any parts of her life.
Walking over to the couch, he slid himself comfortably into a cushion, his eyes never once leaving the screen, never leaving the girl on the screen. It was definitely her. It was definitely Rei.
Hino Residence Hikawa Shrine
Rei climbed the stairs to her temple with Chibiusa running behind her, the little girl out of breath but knowing better than telling her. She didn't know what was going on but knew it wasn't good. She had never seen her like this before, showing her emotions so abundantly to the world around her.
Finally, she couldn't take it and stopped, feeling as if her lungs would collapse if she kept trying to keep up.
Rei turned, her eyes sad and lacking its usual brilliance, and smiled for the little girl. "Sorry Chibiusa. Wait right here, please."
"Okay."
"Catch your breath, okay-and I'll be right back." She tried to sound as comforting as possible, a tone that she had mastered the last few months but was failing at this moment. Something said to say something else to ensure that everything was fine but her mind and soul failed to listen as she instead continued up the stairs.
"What a shame! What a shame for something like this to happen!" Rei could hear a familiar voice speaking as she got closer, a low husky voice with a prim and proper matching her own. "In a perfect world, situations like this would never happen to good people, a senior citizen having spent his entire life selling luck and romance to the public, praying for the goodness in everyone."
"Papa?" Rei thought aloud.
"Ah, here's my daughter! Rei-chan, she must be here to pay respects!" The politician said upon seeing his daughter, the cameras and lights shining like a movie set, the star being her father. "Come here, Rei-chan! I was saying, if I am elected as prime minister, I will ensure all my citizens that I will do all in my power to provide better healthcare!"
Rei slowed down, her heart racing, her mind running even faster. For a moment, everything felt still as she looked to see, as if on cue, her grandfather being carried out the temple walls in a body bag. She could hear her father babbling, his words beautiful and poised, insincere at best.
She tried to gather her thoughts but a part of her felt an intense burning inside her. Why was her father saying these things? Why wasn't a single tear in his eyes? Why hadn't he come home before today?
"In the wake of this tragedy, I'm here for my daughter; she and I will be the one comfort for one another after losing now my wife and father. Nothing can express my innermost feelings."
If looks could kill, the whole crowd would've been assassinated by Rei. "You're a liar." She whispered, looking at her hands then the ground. The thought of his man using her grandfather's death as a means for re-election spat at his grave before he could even be laid down to rest. Hissing, she screamed, "You're a liar!"
"Rei, my daughter, what are you saying?" He asked as he motioned for the camera to be turned off.
"You're a liar, and you know it! How can you say those things and still, your conscious don't bother you?" She seethed, the fumes in her heart coming out, "Mama died…. Mama died and now, my grandfather. You practically pulled the trigger and allowed to bleed out!"
"Stop saying nonsense!" he shouted, his eyes looked as if they would pop out of its socket. "You're just speaking emotionally! Haven't I taught you better—"
Instinctively, Rei slapped her father with every force she had in her body which fortunately for him, it wasn't very much due to her exasperation. "Don't you dare take any credit for teaching me anything! That man, the man who raised me with his very last breath, the one you had given me up to when mother died, he did everything for me!"
She could see her grandfather smiling and telling her that one day, she would understand what it meant to be happy! She could remember when he comforted her when she found out how Kaidou had been engaged to another woman of her father's choice.
Tears in her eyes, she screamed, "Why didn't you call back!? Papa, why didn't you come see him when he asked you? All he wanted to do was see his son once again before he passed away! I asked you to pay for his medical treatment… that wasn't too much! Now, he's gone! He's gone! The only person I have left in this world is gone!"
Everyone was gone. They were all gone. She found herself thinking about Usagi and her grandfather, her heart aching. Usagi disappeared, and her grandfather whom moved on to a world that she could no longer see his tender smile.
"Rei, I didn't know! I'm so sorry! I'm so—"
Rei stopped herself upon seeing Chibiusa coming up the stairs, holding Luna-P close in hand. Her eyes couldn't meet her father's or the little girl whom put on a brave face, pretending not to hear a word that she had spoken.
"I'm sorry, Papa. You're right. I said things that I didn't mean. I guess I'm just a little bit emotional." Rei corrected her posture, her fair skin sweaty and she bowed low to the earth in apology, deciding to not make a fool of herself.
The cameramen, outside of her father's media camp, went crazy, staying on the temple grounds even after her father left, trying to get the scoop on the world inside the politician's daughter's world.
It wasn't too long before they had left, deciding that she would not bother with trying to be in the limelight.
Minamino Residence
"Stupid onna…" A cold voice iced through the air, a tone that belonged to a teen that Kurama didn't even realize had even come into his home.
"Hiei?" Kurama turned to see his short friend behind him, his red eyes as cold as they were the last time he had seen him. It was strange to see him with his mother being there as, for as long as Kurama could remember, they had never met in front of his mother, possibly because of the protection that he wished for his family.
Without a single word, Kurama wordlessly asked him, "You remember her?"
With a nod, the answer was obvious however a worded answer made it even clearer. "Your distraction."
Botan looked up and pretended she wasn't listening to their conversation.
Three hours after the incident at the temple
Rei walked into the governor's office, having put Chibiusa to sleep and warding off the temple, her face as beautiful as it had always been, her poise as true as one could be. She looked like she could be the trophy wife, or in this case, the trophy daughter.
"Ah Rei. You're here to apologize, I assume." She didn't respond. Her violet eyes gazed into his crystalline blue eyes, wanting answers that weren't there. "Well, it's okay. My media manager will handle all the issues here, and I'll continue paying for your schooling and for your well-being."
Rei smirked. "I didn't come for any of that. I am sorry for making a fool of you and of myself, but that's not why I am here."
"Then why?" His voice was soft, despite the veins in his neck looking like they were ready to pop. His cold blue eyes didn't bother looking up at her, rather he stared at a calendar on his desk. He opened his laptop, appearing to make sure he looked like the tool she thought he was.
"Today was the last day that I'll be treated as your trophy daughter. You and I are a lot alike, you know that?" Rei asked, her fingers running across his books. "You've never done anything for me nor have I done anything with you in mind."
"I have always done everything for you. Rei, you know that. It's been for the memory of your mother, for my little girl, and for my daughter to take care of you all." He looked over to the side as he were seeing someone next to him then nodded in agreement as if to show approvement for his own statements.
"And yet the only picture that you have in this office is of your mistress and the child you bore with her?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Rei…"
"I'm quitting my high school… There's no need for me to continue doing as you please as you will never do anything with me in mind if it doesn't help you somehow. A Shinto priestess going to a catholic school because it ensured that you would care for grandpa and I is no longer the case."
Her father moved from his spot and walked over to her then past her, closing the door behind them. He made a movement with his wrist to the camera, and she was sure he was telling them to turn them off. She could see his chest heaving up and down and deep down, she hoped that he would have a heart attack in front of her so that she could pretend not to see it and not call the hospital.
There was silence. She could hear him lock the door as he paced back and forth around the room. He looked back at the corner of the room that he looked at earlier and started muttering something about being a great father, a wonderful husband, and a damn good son. Silence again then he stopped pacing and stood before his daughter, smiling. "Is there anything else you want to say?"
Rei shivered. Her lips moved but nothing came out. The shades came over the windows, and she heard the outside lock so that if she wanted to leave, she couldn't. Her father stood about a foot and a half taller than her with wide shoulders and even with a full suit on, it was evident that he worked out often. He took his black suit jacket off then walked over to his desk and laid it on his chair neatly.
As a child, Rei hated when her father was quiet. It was better for him to yell, allow him to curse out his frustrations, to say whatever he needed to say, but when he was silent, he was terrifying. She could see his biceps tensing, and his pecs heaving up and down. He was breathing hard, ragged breaths.
"Papa... I need to..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Rei found herself laid out on the ground, coughing and trying to catch her breath. She held her stomach where he'd suddenly struck her. "You..." He picked her up by the collar of her shirt. "Stupid..." She tried to move but he was faster and elbowed her in the chest. "Little bitch! You're gonna listen to whatever the fuck I say you do." She coughed up blood and tried to scream for him to stop, knowing the walls were soundproof. With one arm, he lifted her into the air by her neck, her body hanging against the bookshelf. She blacked out for a moment as he screamed obscenities at his daughter, calling her names that a pimp wouldn't call his prostitute, comparing her to demons and harlots.
Letting her drop from where he held her, she suddenly remembered the last night she'd spent with him before he dropped her off at her grandfather's home. Papa's never going to hurt you again. I promise, she remembered him saying with alcohol breath, tears brimming his eyes.
She fell to the ground, unable to breathe as he father used his leg, just for extra measure, to push her on the ground. He looked back at the corner he'd been staring at prior and frowned. "I will not force you to publicly apologize, but you will do whatever I tell you. It's for the best so that I can keep taking care of you. I'll worry about my father's burial, and you should keep going to that fine school." His eyes softened as he smiled at her. "Papa wants to make sure that your future is set."
Rei got up, holding her transformation oen, thinking about killing him but upon remembering her mission, she stopped herself. "I'm going to Sarayashiki High." She spat blood onto his nearly polished floor. "I'll worry about my own future from here on out."
In the mirror, she could see her body healing and his disgust unhidden. The young lady walked over to him, no longer afraid. He was the same man she'd always hated. "Thank you for making that easier."
She didn't need to do him any physical harm because going to one of the lower end high schools was harm enough. It would ruin him and the image of his so-called perfect image daughter.
Author's Note:
This is Neo, the original author and also the one remaking a story that I started in 2005. It was called "Fiery Rose," and it has always held a special part of my heart. There is an obvious difference in the writing style since back then and now as I'm older and more developed mentally and stylistically. It won't be totally different, but it is a remake, not a rewrite. As with the original, the main cast of the story will be from Inuyasha, Sailor Moon, and Yu Yu Hakusho with the latter two taking the cake for being the main set of characters that I will be using. The main coupling: Rei Hino x Kurama Rei Hino is a mixed of both the anime and manga version of herself. Personally, I do prefer the manga version for its story and the strength difference, but I love both versions and with both versions being used, I feel it'll make the story more complete. Yay! I'm finished with the first chapter! I'm thinking that the first few chapters will be similar to the original story that I made but there will be obvious differences in the versions also. Yeah, I know that Rei and Kurama have no interaction in this first chapter. Please review!