This is the first time I write a Song-fic, One-Shot, and a Vocaloid fanfictions all at the same time! Wooohooo *jumping crazily*
Well, the Dark Parade by Megpoid Gumi is a mystery to me. So, this One-shot is an experiment for me.
Warning:
English is not my native language, so expect some errors! And I antagonize Gakupo! Don't worry, he actually isn't evil though.
Disclaimer : I do not own the song, Gumi, or Gakupo. Yeah, reality sucks *cried in the corner*
(Of course I , Listened to "Dark Parade" by Megpoid Gumi while writing this, and Outer Science by IA to!)
The Parade of Darkness
"Where is the Kitsune?", the leader of the Demon Council asked. Whispered hung up in the heavy air.
The female fox demon, Gumi, plays an important part in the society. But she also a proud and powerful demon, many feared and respected her because of that.
"She is nowhere to be found!", somebody shouted.
The leader growled in anger. "The Chimimouryou have appeared in the north. The festival is coming soon, if they attacked in that time, we are in a dangerous situation. We need every demons to fight them!"
"Knowing Gumi, she definitely fight them alone", the Inu Yokai muttered thoughtfully.
"What?! But it's dangerous for her to do that! If she dead then this organisation with fall and Chimimouryou will took over our territory"
Numerous shouted can be heard all over the shrine that was their meeting spot. The debate grew heater and heater as the time passed by.
Meanwhile, on the top of a cliff, Gumi stood alone.
Below her, a calm river flowed slowly, mirroring millions of red and blue gradation as the sun sets and gradually turned the blue sky into fiery color and then the dark color of the night.
She sensed them, the evil spirit of the river that only visible in the night. She can felt their corrupted souls.
The Chimimouryou is a mindless yokai, only depends on their instinct to survive. They consumed the energy in nature and sometimes deceived humans to collect their souls.
She is a lone yokai, she doesn't need anybody to survive, she can live on her own. But, she knew the importance in balance of nature, and the over-growing Chimimouryou disturbed it. The faster they reach the East Yokai territory before the time of the festival, the higher possibility the human village consume by them.
The East Yokai has set an agreement with the humans, if the Chimimouryou succeed in taking over their territory, the humans won't trust the East Yokai again.
As the last sunshine disappeared into the bottom of the earth, numerous black figures of a beast with human heads slowly appeared . Twisting, stretching, crawling and slithering in disgusting ways.
In a flash, Gumi appeared in the river banks. The demons suddenly stopped moving and turned their deformed heads to her. Like a fly smelt a two week meat, they moved toward her, hungry for her immense power.
Gumi sneered at them. Her hand moved to open a light blue fan. With a swift of motion, she swung it to them.
Second later, multiple body parts fell from everywhere. Dark bloods dyed the river and coloring the rocks nearby.
But more demons appeared, replacing their fallen comrades.
"This was getting troublesome", Gumi grunted to herself.
She jumped to the cliff wall, shifted her fan numerous times ans she jumped from one wall to another, pierced and ripped to the flesh of large number of Chimimouryou.
Many of them fell into the river before they dissolved into nothingness, a thick dark aura filled the air around the river.
But even that is not enough, they were too many for her alone to handle them.
Gumi didn't care, she was an eight-tailed Kitsune after all. Yes, she only have eight at that moment (the wiser and powerful a Kitsune, the more tails they have), but she was too proud and stubborn to bother that.
A countless attack she gave them, another countless times the Chimimouryou increased their numbers.
She panted in exhaustion, while the corrupted yokai narrowed their distance to her. They growled, their human mouth dripped a thin string of saliva from hunger.
They were too many for her. She get a numerous cut, number of bite mark, and scratch marks. But she was to arrogant to stop, even for a minute.
A silver moon hung in the dark night sky, pure from the clouds that were trying to swallow it.
The Kitsune started to loose her conscious from the lost of blood and strength she used. "No..don't...!", she begged, but to no avail.
The last thing she heard was a series of hurried footsteps before the darkness pulled her away
That was her dream in her confused minds, she doesn't know what real and what not. A dream from forgotten past, her past.
A series of pain came to her as she opened her eyes, like a pack of wolf bite and clawed their helpless prey.
As her eyes started to focus, the first thing she saw was a wooden ceiling, the a red lantern hung up in far corner of her eyes.
Suddenly, a bolt of pain came to her, make her gasped in agonizing moan.
"Slow down", someone said as everything around her spun madly.
She grimaced while trying to clutch her head to ease the pain, but a hand held her in place.
'Hold still, or your wounds will get worse'
And right at that moment, a smell of two legged creature filled the unfamiliar room.
"Human!", she hissed. The Kitsune tried to pull the hand that hold her left arm with her right, scratched the human's hands in the process.
The human startled for a moment, and Gumi used the very moment to break free from his grasp.
But the human just used both of his hands to held her more firmly. Exhausted, the Kitsune unable to struggle again.
A surge of pain stroke her, make her gasped and let out a soundless scream.
She opened her eyes. A pair of deep purple eyes looked back at her. H e was a young man, his long purple hair tied up in a messy pony tail, leaving strands of untied hair hanging in his face.
"Get. Away. From. Me", she hissed through her pain.
The human seem hesitated, before releasing her and sat besides her. Gumi didn't say anything, she was busy trying to calm down and reduce the pain.
After the pain reduce, she glanced to the human beside her, who was staring her curiously from the start.
"You're.. a human", she whispered quietly.
"Huh? Of course I am. Wait, are you not?"
She shifted her gaze to the ceiling above. "I am not as weak as you two-legged pitiful creature"
"You are... a yokai then?"
"Call me whatever you want, I don't care"
Then there was a brief silence, before the human said something she didn't expected.
"Then call me Gakupo, Kamui Gakupo. You are?"
Shocked, the fox demon tilted her head toward him. Why this man..? After she said she wasn't human? Fine then, she will play his game.
"Gumi"
"What kind of yokai are you, Gumi?"
"That is none of your business"
She had enough of experience with humans to knew that every one of them is untrustworthy.
"Oh, a stubborn fox, are you?", the man said with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
She widened her eyes in shock.
"You know, little Kitsune, I've been tracking you for a long time. In the Kyoto, many noblemen seek for a heart of a fox demon that said granted an immortality. Then they hired me..", the purple haired human smirked at this. And Gumi's experience proved itself once again.
"I'm just a regular omnyouji, but if they will give me enough payment, I will hunt the legendary Kitsune. And what a fortune, I saw you wounded and dying with all the Chimimouryou going to eat you. See? I treated you to kill you later"
"Is that so? Revealed your plan to early to your prey, What a foolish human you are!", she snapped, trying to sat down, much to her suffering.
Gakupo laughed at her, "Too early, you say? You wounded and have little strength only to defend yourself. I just let you live until now because of pity".
"DIE !", she growled, sending him a blast of blue Fox Fire.
The omnyouji manage to avoided it just in time. "What? Even with all that wounds...", he muttered to himself.
Used the Fox Fire as a distraction, Gumi fled from the room in her weakened state.
She panted as she stop under a large tree. A forest such as this was her specialty, but she is wounded while the Omnyouji has hos full strength.
She put her hands in her wounds, the white bandages begun to tinted in red paint, a.k.a her blood. Her wounds started to open again.
She must find some shelter to heal her injuries, but at the same time she is being hunted and she must leave if she values her life. Hunted by a human! Such disrespect for a great yokai like her.
The only way to survive the hunt is being the hunter, and by being the hunter mean being the upper hand.
So she took out her Hoshi no Tama, a powerful gem held by Kitsune Yokai only. The Hoshi held many powers, and she will use the gem to heal her wounds.
She swallowed her Hoshi no Tama again, as it her most valuable things beside her tails, it was the source of her power, as many Kitsune were.
Now, she will hunt the foolish human before he finds her. If one of them get caught, he/she will surely dead.
"Where are you Gakupo?", she hissed silently to herself. She spoke the last word as it was a dog barking at her, all foxes hate dogs.
The night air was flowing slowly, cold winds breezed through the hundred-years-old leaves among the trees. She sniffed the air, trying to sensed the smell of the Omnyouji.
"Found you", she whispered triumphantly as she find a traces of smell hung in the air. Her inner predator rose up as she change into the hunter mode, all foxes love games and tricks, especially the one that let the fox experienced the thrill of hunting; game of hide and seek. She prepared her claws as her fan fell out in the fight with the Chimimouryou earlier.
Her hands hung stiffly as she stalked her prey silently. A chill ran through her body. Her fingers continued to dance from her hands from excitement, if she were writing kanji right now, the lines will be very uneven.
Yes, the Omnyouji surely screamed this if he knew she already playing the hunter. A bloodthirsty fox that was defending her honor and her life.
"Demon, be gone!" he screamed when he saw her, sent numerous of his spell towards her.
Growled in anger, she let out her eight tails, aiming to take the life of the human.
Now, it was the human's turn to be wounded. Hundreds drops of blood fell from his flesh. His power wasn't enough t defeat her. He ran away.
Gumi let him. She owed him her life after all, and although foxes always devoted and kept their promises, the Kitsune hated to owe her life to a human, especially the one who tried to kill her.
"Gumi! Where have you been? And look are you, bloodied and wounded all over the place!", the Leader of the Yokai Council shouted at her. He looked worried, angry, and relieved at the same time.
"You must have been fighting those Chimimouryou alone last night, haven't you?", the Inu Yokai asked calmly.
She shot out a sharp glare to the dog-shaped demon. Although the Inu Yokai is one of the oldest and well-respected yokai, she always hated his wise-man-gonna-be attitude.
"That is none of your business", she snapped.
"Really? I am one of the elders and it is my duty to watch every yokai in this society"
"You know what? I really don't-...!"
"That is enough, two of you!", the leader growled before there will be a blood bath in that morning. "Now, here is the plan for all that Chimimouryou", he nodded to the Hebi Yokai
"As you all knew, those foul demons already crossed our borders last night. We can guess they will emerge on the side of the Eastern Hills tonight. Gumi, what information did you learn on last night... erm ... massacre?" said the Hebi Yokai, looking towards her in hesitation
Gumi started to spoke her experience from last night with a loud and clear voice, didn't hesitated to told them about the human Omnyouji.
But this apparently cause an uproar.
A series of barking, yelling, shouting, growling, barking, you name it, filled the air.
Only Gumi stood in silence with a boring expression. "This is why I rather do things on my own", she muttered to herself.
"SILENCE!", the leader growled, making everyone shut their mouths.
"Really, what's with this lowly human that made you screaming like a bunch of hungry chickens?", she snarled to them.
"Gakupo is a powerful Omnyouji. It's said that his only family is his sister and she killed by a yokai. Making him despise us all and fueled his power with revenge, his presence in our territory can be dangerous", the Hebi Yokai explained.
"Bah! I survived my encounter with him, surely that is no worry for all of you?",the Kitsune asked with a boring expression. Despite what she said, she felt a little pang of guilt deep inside her heart. So, he lost her sister, she lamented.
Hundreds of deformed limbs emerge from the darkness. Crawling and slithering in disgusting ways.
"Yuck!", said the Neko Yokai in disgust.
Gumi silently huffed to herself while the yokai were hiding in the bushes around the hill.
Suddenly, a long and loud howl pierced into the night, brought the attention of all yokai and stopping the Chimimouryou from their..erm...stroll.
"It's our signal! CHARGE!", and then they let out their battle cry, slaying every single Chimimouryou as much as they can.
The large lake on the bottom of the hills now dyed in a tint of black. They made an agreement with the Kappas, and the water demons agreed to cleanse it later. Gumi only stared in distance, pretend to watch the fireflies that float around the pool.
The whole thing is confusing for her. The battle might be over now, but the Chimimouryou will emerge again and again and the yokai will be fighting endlessly, something have changed and triggered the foul demons appearance. But what exactly?
The large number of Chimimouryou gathered can be mean that they chase something that powerful but have great deal of pain and suffering that it started to consumed the said thing and it will be one of the Chimimouryou, until other Chimimouryou begin to devour it.
"Get clean up! Don't let these foul remains corrupt the earth, water, and sky, cleanse everything!", someone commanded.
Gumi just stared from a huge chunk of rock were she sat, watching another yokai cleaned up messes they made.
The Chimimouryou started to appear few weeks ago. Foul demons lurking for corrupted souls to devour them. A corrupted soul that consumed by pain and grief... pain and grief... pain and grief... like a death of someone they only have? Then... Gakupo!
Gumi shocked in this revelation. If the Chimimouryou succeed in devouring one's soul and then the entire East Yokai territory will be swarming with them!
Suddenly, numerous pf shouts can be heard as two yokai seem to carried something with not so gentle movements, they then throw it in front of Gumi, which it started to gasped and coughed in pain.
"We found him near the edge of the bushes, one of ours attacked him. Apparently, he is that legendary Omnyouji", one of the yokai explained.
"You...Gakupo!", Gumi hissed.
Although he suffered from many almost fatal wounds, he lifted his head toward Gumi and smirked.
"Well, we meet again, little fox", after that he coughed, the ground beneath him instantly colored in red stains.
Then he started laughing, despite all the wounds, he continued to laugh, not helping himself at all.
The soon he die the soon his soul consumed and attract more Chimimouryou, and more pain he suffered the more corrupt his soul will be and the more Chimimouryou that soul will produce.
She might be using this as an excuse, but deep inside, she just don't want the human to undergo such painful process, an unfair fate -in Gumi's opinion- after suffering much grief from losing his sister, his only family.
"Maybe we killed that human now?", the other yokai asked.
"Stop it!", the Kitsune commanded, uncaring for the attention of many yokai around her. "And no, don't kill him"
"Make me , little fox", the human half-grinned half-grimaced, before laughing again.
"Fine then, if that's what you want, in a flash, she flipped the man's body so he lay on his back, making Gakupo gasped and coughed more blood, at this moment Gumi can see how severe and deep his wounds is. She then covered his mouth with her hand, successfully stopping him from his laughter.
"There, I already made you, now don't try that again", she said almost pleadingly.
The human started to struggle but to no avail in Gumi's grasp.
"Kitsune, someone said. Gumi looked up, it's turned out to be the Inu Yokai.
"What?", she asked quietly.
The Inu Yokai didn't answer, but a glint of understanding flared in his eyes. He knew, he knew what lured the Chimimouryou to the East Yokai territory.
"Freed him from his suffering", the Inu Yokai suggested.
Gumi felt the Omnyouji's body tightened, and when she look down to him she saw his eyes widened in both surprise and fear. She felt at the moment she just can't do that.
What is the best way to erase someone grief? Is to erase the grief itself, in other word, their memory.
Two days later...
"Good morning", said Gakupo when he saw a green haired woman that wore loose kimono and a white fox mask in the side of her face. He didn't know who she was but she visited him yesterday, and he felt she can be trusted.
"Hn, formal greeting isn't my thing, but well, Good morning too", she answered halfheartedly. "How is your wound?"
"Fine, they seems better"
"Good"
And there was silence.
"I'm sorry, but I think I didn't catch your name yesterday", Gakupo mentioned.
"Because I didn't say my name, it's Gumi", she replied, hoping there was at least a little bit of recognition in his face, but there was nothing.
A pain of guilt started to filled her heart. But she accepted it, because it was her decision to erase his memory.
She remembered two days ago, how Gakupo struggled so hard when she said it. He must want his sister even if he suffered from it. But, erasing his memory was better than killing him. Still, she felt guilty.
"Gumi, report!", the leader of Yokai Council commanded.
It's been six hour since that morning greeting with the human Omnyouji.
Apparently, yesterday, she gained the ninth tail, making her a full Kitsune. The reason to this was unknown, but she guessed that it because she took pity on that human and gained some...what was the human word for it?...love..?...yes, love, she gained it.
"The Omnyouji didn't remember all his grief at all, his wounds almost healed and he said he will go to a city in the north. Since two days ago, after the festival ended, all the Chimimouryou reduced to only eight to ten and by now they disappeared at all", Gumi replied lazily in slow tone.
To everyone shock, she turned away and walked away to the way out of the meeting place.
"Gumi, where are you going?", asked the Bakeneko.
She turned around again and found that all yokai in the meeting have the same question in on their face.
"To the West Riverside. Wake me when the next festival came, or when there trouble you all can't handle", she said with a little smirk before turned again and continue her walk toward the exit.
"The Riverside? Isn't that the place where she fought those Chimimouryou alone and first met with that Omnyouji?", the Hebi Yokai asked to no one in particular, but all yokai heard that.
All of them, watched the nine tailed Kitsune disappeared into the darkness of the night.
THE END
A/N : How was it? Yes, I know its a long One-Shot and the ending is a little absurd, but its my first time and I am a crazy author! cough cough excuses cough
Will you, dear readers, kindly enough to put review? I hope so! ^_^
With love,
Nata