Whiskey Lullaby
We watched her drink her pain away...a little at a time...
My hand shook violently. I looked down at it, drunk and dazed...I didn't know what it meant. My weak fingers couldn't hold onto the bottle, slippery with amber whiskey. It dropped to the floor, with an ear- splitting clang, shattered into a million pieces. The alcohol flew everywhere, raining down on my dull brown hair.
I didn't care. I barely felt it sting my eyes as it ran down my face.
My hand hung in midair, twitching and shaking with muscle spasms.
There was a dull, throbbing pain in my head. I choked back a sob and chewed my lower lip, tasting the bitter copper of crimson blood on my tongue...
But she never could get drunk enough, to get him off her mind...
That was it.
I angrily snatched another bottle from my nightstand, draining it all in no time flat. My whole body went into violent convulsions...I fought to keep hold of the empty bottle...
"Why'd you do it, Sakyou..." I heard myself mutter, my words slurring so badly, I hardly knew what I said.
Until the night...
I screamed, not caring who heard. It was too much. I felt my heart beat faster, pounding in my ears, and still I screamed. I screamed my pain. Why did he leave!? Koenma had given him a choice! He could've stayed, stayed with me! I begged him too!
I broke into loud, painful sobs, the salty tears mixed with the whiskey on my face.
I smashed the empty bottle onto the floor with an enraged, drunken yell, and grabbed the last one.
I drained that one. I was now shaking so badly, my fingers felt numb. Like the others, this bottle clattered to the floor and shattered. My mind felt like a whirlwind as the buzz that most found so pleasant tortured me. I hated it! I hated this! I wanted to...but I couldn't forget...I couldn't stop this.
I had to forget! Or die trying...
Tears streamed down my whiskey-soaked face, burning the cuts the flying glass had sliced into my cheeks. I started to shake even worse, and I could feel my heart straining to pump. It hurt...this all hurt...
I clutched the sharp pain in my chest, squeezing my eyes shut. I held Sakyou's lighter in my other hand, holding it so tightly my numbness was forgotten and my fingers whitened.
I screamed again as the pain in my chest reached an unbearable level. I suddenly felt numb all over, and didn't notice the corners of the lighter cutting into my skin. I watched my own blood slowly drip to the floor...in a daze, unblinking...
Before it went cold and black...I felt thousands of tiny, whiskey-soaked glass shards stab my flesh...
She put that bottle to her head, and pulled the trigger...and finally drank away his memory...
Life is short, but this time it was bigger, than the strength she had to get up off her knees...
"How is Shizuru doing?"
"Not good. She's drunk all the time..."
Kurama eyed Kuwabara, shifting his book bag on his shoulder as the strap cut into him.
"Do you know why she has become so depressed?" he asked.
"Nah. Ever since the Dark Tournament...she's always holding this gold lighter in her hand, too."
"Wait...what was that?"
A heart-wrenching scream rang through the house, and immediately Kurama was alarmed. "That's Shizuru!"
Dropping his bag, Kurama rushed to the source of the scream, with Kuwabara on his heels.
He kicked open the woman's locked door, and what he saw, stopped him in his tracks.
There was Shizuru, sprawled out on the floor among thousands of glinting glass shards. Blood and whiskey soaked her face and hair...and a golden lighter was clutched in her hand.
Kurama rushed over, picking her up in his arms and setting her on her bed. He ran his fingers along the side of her neck, feeling for a pulse.
Kuwabara, stunned, just stood there for a moment, but as Kurama set his sister down on her bed, he was pulled out of his stupor and sat beside her limp body.
He coughed pointedly, noticing she was wearing the same outfit she'd been wearing the day the Dark Tournament ended. But that shirt was ripped all over, where she'd clutched the pain in her chest so many times. Even for a human like him, the stench of whiskey was overpowering. He noticed Kurama's eyes were watering, and the fox looked like he was fighting to keep consciousness.
"She's gone, Kuwabara," Kurama managed to choke out.
We found her with her face down in the pillow...clinging to his picture for dear life...
None of the tantei heard the eulogy Shizuru's mother had prepared.
None of them heard any of it, each own caught up in his own sorrow. Hiei was even there, resting in a tree, his eyes closed, but Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara knew better than to think he was asleep.
Kuwabara was sobbing quietly in his hands, Kurama's hand resting on his shoulder, his emerald eyes staring ahead, blank and stony. Yusuke stood with his hands in his pockets, his eyes shut tight. Neither allowed tears to fall.
All the men wore black tuxedos (Hiei in his normal black cloak), and the women wore black kimonos. Shizuru's body had been washed and she was dressed in her most beautiful kimono: made of silk, it was bright silver with pale pink sakura clusters all over it. The obi was navy blue. She shone like an angel in the sunlight.
Kurama tossed a blood red rose into the coffin, and Kuwabara gently placed Sakyou's lighter in her hands. Yusuke just stared down into her dead face, and Hiei stayed hidden.
Koenma had shown up near the end. He was the one who arranged the funeral, so she was buried on Hanging Neck Island...where Sakyou died.
We laid her next to him, beneath the willow...
While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby...
Shizuru eyed the place around her, hardly believing what she was seeing.
The place around her...was beautiful, at the least. Words could barely describe it. Sakura trees grew in thick, pink clusters everywhere, and the grass was short, thick and a dark emerald green. A long, sparkling stream ran through the area, and the sun shone brightly...but it wasn't hot. A slight wind rustled the tree's leaves, gently whipping up Shizuru's light brown hair around her beautiful face.
She then noticed what she was wearing. Her most prized kimono.
'I'm dead'
She smiled and just started walking...slowly...wanting to savor the beauty, though she knew she'd be here for eternity...
"I hope baby bro will be alright without me." She nodded silently to herself, remembering...she killed herself with whiskey.
Shizuru suddenly noticed her voice had lost the extra roughness from all the alcohol she'd consumed. She liked it much better now...it no longer reminded her of burning cigarettes and whiskey...
Sakyou's lighter was still clutched in her hand. She gently stroked it with her thumb, the sun glistening off its golden surface. She safely tucked it into her navy obi, when a familiar voice called her name.
Her breath caught short in her throat, and she stopped dead. Her eyes open slowly, and she was afraid to turn around. What if it wasn't him? She took a step forward, when the voice called her name again. She heard steps coming closer.
She gasped as an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her backwards into a warm embrace. She smiled, immediately knowing whom it was.
"Sakyou," she muttered softly, closing her eyes and melting into him as his other arm wrapped around her as well.
They stayed like that, unmoving, for some time, before Sakyou gently turned her around and planted a soft kiss on her lips. At first it was rough, but as she complied, it became much gentler. Single tears of joy slowly ran down her face. Her body felt warm, and all that she noticed, was him.
Before he could pull away, Shizuru wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, almost crying as he wrapped his arms around her. She felt his hand travel to the back of her neck.
He gently licked her lips, and she tilted her head, deepening the kiss even more. Moaning softly, she pressed herself even deeper into him, feeling her legs go weak as his other hand held the small of her back. They both just melted into each other...in heaven, playing out a love that should have been in the first place...
Sakyou stepped backwards, purposefully throwing them both off balance, and she fell on top of him in the lush grass.
Shizuru stared down at him, her soft brown eyes locking with his brilliant blue ones. Heaven had made him different...so much happier...those eyes were no longer distant ice...they were warm, but still calm. She felt his hands wrap around her, pressing her tightly into him...she didn't protest, she wanted to be close to him, like this...
Neither wanted this paradise to end, and he pressed his lips against hers again, and didn't break away.
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la....
And the angels sang a whiskey lullaby...