Author Speak: Hey everyone, I had this story up before, but I found a lot of inconsistencies and errors, so I fixed them and reposted. If you have read this story before, then you may like to read it again, many things have been changed. This new version should also be a lot easier to read. Thanks a bunch, also, please review, flames accepted.
Disclaimers: Yu Yu Hakusho does not belong to me. The character Zel belongs to SilentDignity who writes Inuyasha fanfiction (Check her out). All other characters BELONG TO ME, and so do most of the ideas (some ideas where helped greatly by SilentD)
Two years ago, there was a terrible crime committed against the Takuya family. The loving mother and father of Knox, Nyx, Styx and Trix were brutally murdered by a fellow demon. Trix, being ten at the time and youngest of the siblings, witnessed the murder, but cannot remember the killers face. The only thing she could say about the murderer was the attack the demon used, Shadow Fire. The personalities of the four siblings changed radically as they had to take care of themselves and handle the loss of their parents.
A month after the murder, the youngest sibling, Trix, sensed that somebody was outside and had suffered heartbreak. Her brothers wouldn't let her go alone and followed her into the clouded night. Not far from their house was a demon, but this demon was odd. It was crumpled against a tree, crying. This demon called herself Echo, and somehow Trix knew this demon had been torn apart from the inside and wouldn't allow her to suffer. She begged her brothers to help this broken girl. This lead to the orphaned demons letting Echo live with them and become part of their family, but a lot changes in a couple years.
The kitchen was filled with the normal sounds of sibling fights, in fact the only one missing breakfast this morning was Echo, and none of the siblings dared wake her up. She might have been weak and crying when they found her two years ago, but now, she was cold and near emotionless, mercy was even gone from her mind. When in training she often pushed someone too far. Luckily, Trix was a healer, and a very good one at that. The only time nobody could deny the fact she had feelings was when she slept. Echo would wake up screaming some mornings, then try to act like nothing happened.
Nyx put a small bowl of applesauce in the middle of the table and went back to making pancakes. Knox looked over at Trix then back at the applesauce. A smile widened on Trix's face as she saw what her brother was planning. Knox silently reached for his spoon and scooped up some applesauce. He then pulled it back like a catapult, but when he released nothing happened. Then he looked at his spoon, the applesauce had been frozen onto the mini-catapult.
"Just cause my eyes are closed doesn't mean I'm vulnerable. Remember that." Styx said with his eyes still closed, arms folded across his chest and tipping back in his chair slightly. Knox looked at the frozen applesauce and simply put the spoon down in defeat. Everyone sat in silence waiting for the food to be ready, when over the sound of flipping pancakes one word could be heard clearly.
"Bastard!" The word carried down the stairs and four pairs of eyes were looking at the ceiling.
"Must be those nightmares again. She's been getting them more and more frequently." Nyx said as he returned to cooking.
"Any idea why? I mean, we know why Trix has 'em" Knox said staring sadly at the table.
"Sometimes, when I can't sleep I listen at her door, but everything she says is so jumbled up. It's hard to make any sense out of it." Trix said as a figure dressed in all black stumbled into the door. Echo's long black hair was pulled back off her face into a low ponytail, and her pale blue eyes had anger settled deep into them.
"I just love to be the topic of discussion at the breakfast table," Echo said sarcastically, and took a seat next to Styx," And from now on, I would like my personal life to stay personal. Is that understood?"
Styx nodded slightly, Trix looked guiltily at her clean plate,and Nyx set a large stack of pancakes down on the table and quietly said," As you wish," then sat in his own chair. Knox decided to be smart about it.
"Okay, Mom. Have it your way." he said sarcastically.
"Normally I would slit your throat for such a smart assed comment, but unfortunately I don't have a spoon yet." Echo says without any signs of a bluff, no smile, no sign in her voice saying she wouldn't do it. Then she got up, grabbed some silverware and a plate, and sat back down.
"Why do things always dissolve into fights and death threats when everyone is in a room together? If mom and dad were here we wouldn't be fighting, we would be happy. We should all be happy." Trix said with tears in her eyes. Echo tapped the end of her fork rapidly on the table, her jaw was tense.
" Why does everyone tell me to be happy all the time!Whose business is it? I'll be pissy if I want to, dammit!" Echo slid back in her chair, then stabbed the table with the fork as she stood and left.
"Well, if that isn't normal, I don't know what is." Knox said and took five pancakes off the stack and started drowning them in syrup.
"This coming from the King of Random." Styx says as he decides he doesn't want pancakes and gets a bowl of cereal.
" Why do I even make breakfast for everyone, when only three of us eat it in the end?" Nyx asks as he dumps applesauce into a small bowl.
"Because I'm a bottomless pit that can't cook." Knox replies in between mouthfuls.
"And because I tell you to." Trix adds with a sugar coated smile. Nyx looks at his baby sister in disbelief.
"How can such a sweet child be so evil?" He wonders aloud.
"She's female, that's how." Styx says sitting back down.
"What's wrong with being cute and bossy?" Trix asks while suppressing a smile.
"Nothing, until you're like Echo; then every thing's wrong with it." Knox says stabbing the last of his pancakes with his fork.
"About that, what could have happened to her that causes her to act like she does? I mean, I try to shut things out when I'm training or sparring, but it's all there. We've lost our parents and we can't stop feeling," Styx slams the side of his fist on the table, "I want to stop feeling."
"Styx, if you stop feeling you stop living,and you I won't let you kill yourself like that.," Nyx paused for a moment before continuing, "I have no clue what could have happened to her. Echo's life before Trix found her is a mystery." Nyx said taking a drink of milk.
"And she's definitely older than us." Knox says as he dumps raspberry jam on a new set of pancakes.
"Why do you think that? Isn't she sixteen like you three?" Trix asks the triplets. Nyx laughs a bit.
"She's right, if Echo was older than us then she would have more of a sense of responsibility," he frowns, " I mean seriously, the only thing she cleans is her room, and that's usually really clean."
"Actually, I agree with Knox," Styx says pouring another bowl of cereal," There's no way you can have such an awareness and control of your powers at our age. Echo's the one who trains us, she's constantly pushing us to see our potential, and if she has the ability to train three different Elementals and a Healer with different learning methods then she's had to of been through many kinds of training herself."
"Wait, go back to the part where you agree with Knox." Trix says with a baffled frown.
"Yeah, you never agree with me. Usually you're the one who says I'm stupid and a bad influence on Trix."Knox says with a mouthful of pancakes and jam.
"You actually listen to me?" Styx asks in disbelief, "Anyway, yes, I agree with him. Knox is an idiot, but he does have some sparks of intelligence every once in a while."
"Ha! You just said I'm smart! You admitted it! Now can't never call me stupid again!" Knox exclaimed, and almost knocked over his chair when he started to dance around.
"Sit back down, I said 'sparks', and sparks fade and die quickly." Then seeing his brother fall heavily back into his chair started to wonder how many of Knox's actions were his way of dealing with the murders.
"I thought I told you guys to stop talking about me." Everyone in the room jumped and looked at Echo.
"We weren't talking about you, we were talking about how smart I am!" Knox said a bit too quickly.
"I'm not stupid Knox." She said in a bored tone.
"You've been there for awhile haven't you?" Nyx asks in a please-don't-kill-me tone. Echo taps the side of her katana sheath on her shoulder and glares.
" I didn't know my age was a big deal, especially since age is just a human measure of time. Now if you have a problem with me training you, then I suggest you tell me now, because I thought that I was helping you get stronger, which is what I thought you wanted," Echo waits for someone to say something, then mutters, "I'll be training." She walks back out of the room and a few seconds later they heard the back door slam.
"Since I like my head on my shoulders, I'm going to respect her demands." Styx says as he puts his bowl in the sink.
"Old people are bossy," Trix says as she puts her plate in the sink too.