Theme #9 (Lost) – Gone
by morgankit
Disclaimer: Didn't think of the themes, didn't make the anime. No touchie, no suie.
Summary: Yomi's apparent childhood past, and a sudden encounter with two notorious thieves.
AN: This actually threatened to take a life of its own. It spans at least three pages, so… I kinda went out of control. XD

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His first memory as a child was the hard sound of a whip cracking and echoing along the air.

Yomi was born a bastard child by mine workers. Fornication was normally frowned upon, and in the worst case scenario, there would be horrible consequences. As far as Yomi understood, his father was executed after proof of his lover's pregnancy, and Yomi's mother was forced to bear a painful child birth alone.

Younger children were almost useless to the master's whom owned the mines and instructed the workers. They were nuisances, and the routine was that newborns were either killed or abandoned. Yomi was allowed to live and grew up working in the mines with his mother. He grew up quite well. There was no particular reason he knew of that the master's thought to keep him alive.

And Yomi didn't ask many questions. He didn't even ask how his mother had died.

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The area's around all of his bruises and wounds itched like hell, and the major slits and cuts stung in the hot night air. Moving his arms made him feel like he was lifting weights. Yomi managed to dip his hands in the cooler mountain stream and splash the remnants of dirt and dried blood away. Now if he could only get his sticky tunic off…

Being beaten daily by the master's and officer's looking over the mine workers was a common thing. Yomi would have screwed up an instruction or some other menial work, and was often pulled aside and chastised. The officer must have beaten him so hard that Yomi passed out and they mistook him for dead. The horned youkai woke up in a ditch next to the river.

Yomi tried not to cry out when he moved his sore arms to peel away his messy tunic. He felt exhausted.

Not trying to shed his nasty tunic and knickers, Yomi rubbed at his face and fell onto his stomach, his shoulders and face hitting the surface of the running water. He slipped into unconsciousness again when he felt himself being carried away by the current.

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The river didn't let him die, and Yomi awoke again on his belly at the river's edge. The water lapped at his face, and he hacked away the salty liquid and tried to force it out of his lungs and stomach. He could breathe easier, and he could move a little more freely, even with his arms still sore and his back still harshly cut.

While Yomi's senses were still dull and weak from his journey through the water, he thought he heard murmurs and soft laughter from the woods that backed the river flow, a rustling in the brush. He froze, kneeling on his hands and knees in the middle of the shore, pink eyes wide and broken lips trembling.

Something humanoid – large, dark, and wispy bounced out of the brush. A leg caught on a thorn branch and the figure jumped and jerked his leg to get it free.

Something pale – also large, lanky, and extraordinarily glowing followed the man in black and hit him on the back, releasing him from the horrendous thorn.

Light hearted laughter broke the night air, and Yomi felt his ears twitch just a bit. The white figure – with his back turned, showing a fox tail – spoke lowly, brushed off his own tunics and robe and removed an item from the arms of the man in black. The other spoke boisterously, loudly but somehow quiet enough for Yomi to misunderstand.

Yomi, feeling awkward and still in great pain, splashed a little bit in the shallow water in order to move his legs.

The sound caught the attraction of the white figure, and Yomi wasn't fast enough to see the demon's hand jut out with a blade enclosed in his fist.

The dark man cocked his head from around and peered at Yomi, his blue eyes suddenly bright in the night light.

"Hey kid," the darker clothed man called to him. "You lost?"

The fox gave his partner such a look that Yomi thought might turn the other man to stone. His perfectly shaped head turned to look in Yomi's direction, and suddenly, Yomi had forgotten how to speak.

The dark one raised his eyebrows and dipped his head only so much so that Yomi could hardly make out his eyes in the dark night, and also with the demon's particular appearance – a strange feathered hat and thick hair pulled to the back of his head. The demon strode to Yomi with a joyful look on his face.

"Can you get up?" He said, with the hint of a strange accent, and extended his hand to Yomi's face.

The white fox huffed a name that Yomi couldn't make out, his posture said he was extremely annoyed.

"What?" The dark one asked innocently. "Come on, can you stand?"

Yomi's mouth shuddered, and a jumbled sentence emitted from his sore throat: "Yeah…I think…"

The dark one grabbed Yomi's shoulders and arms and helped him lift himself from the water, mumbling: "Okay, come on, let's get you on dry land, eh?" Yomi tried to not crush the other demon and soak him as well, but he was gripped rather tightly. He was taken to a large bolder near the white fox and was almost tossed from the dark one's hands, after he was smacked in the arm by his partner.

The fox's syllables were enunciated: "Kuronue… what are you doing?"

Kuronue patted Yomi on the shoulder's, and he turned his head towards his companion. "Kurama, knock it off, it's just a kid."

The white fox – Kurama – shook his head in detest and started to walk away. Kuronue tried to make eye contact with Yomi.

"You okay?"

Nod.

"What's your name?"

He shuddered from the cold.

Kuronue sighed through his nose. "Come on, I'm taking you with me."

"Uhm…!" Yomi stuttered as he was yanked from the ground. Kuronue kept humming good wishes and pleasantries as he tried to lead Yomi away.

"No, come on, I'm taking you with me." Kuronue insisted.

Yomi's eyes watered – but not from the wetness from the river – the horned boy whimpered quietly. His arms were sore, his stomach screaming in hunger, his skin cold and clammy. He was tugged from the shore and into the arms of a large, winged apparition, who was humming in hushed tones. Brought away from the coal mine, and from great abuse, he was away from ignorance.

His eyes grew red and sore; he began to see unwanted things.

…The white fox?

The notorious Youko Kurama ran from them. For a moment, Yomi thought he disappeared like a ghost.

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Reviews? Please? XD