SingMyLullabySweet666: Uh.... :D I finally wrote a sequel(?) to Flight of Freedom. Yay me!!! Though this probably one too many years overdue. So... Yeah... This is another one-shot in continuation with the An Angel That Will Sing No More series. Umm... Has anyone else noticed these keep getting shorter and shorter? XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters featured in this story. I do not make any profit off of this work. All right are reserved by Yoshihiro Togashi.

Chapter Warning(s): Angst, Gore, and Violence.

Chapter Rating: PG-13


~*~ To perceive is to suffer. –Aristotle~*~

They entered his cell, clockwork on the wall, emotionlessly, snarling faces adjoined by a vision of blurred motion… They came to him, like boundless memories of the 'once more' 'before then' and 'then after'. His woes lifted, rattled with abuse, singing hellish cries of the damned as they fell, forgotten, to the sterile linoleum floor. Rattling bones carried him upwards, joints locking, ligaments stretching into a perfect picture of attention, poster erect, back stiff: tension filled his core. He stood and for the briefest of moments, the shifting feeling of freedom overcame his senseless, swept him away to a brighter moment, then they swarmed. Pesky insects encompassed him, caged him, and bound him like a filthy animal set for extermination.

Then it all began to move, an endless tunnel of bright, florescent white. He was blinded by the false beauty. He loathed it. They, with their picture perfect smiles, blank plastic grins stretching full over their faces, stretching so far that the vermillion ripped, wet skin dripping so beautifully with garnished, precious life as that smile… That fake plastic smile sought to overcome them, become them… And ever-so careless eyes of sorrows unknown, preaching like senseless buffoons in the town square, begging for attention yet no one turns to stare. They, in all their picture of glory, sterilized sin disguised behind the uniform of care.

How he envied them.

Motion stopped and the world fell center on nothing, stillness creeping in slowly, purposely. Grey became his vision, for a moment, before it gave-way to the impassioned white once more. Motion erupted and he was being released shoved into the hard, solidness of reality; they restricted him once more before silence was all he knew: breathless, aching silence.

"Shuichi Minamino?"

Such a sweet melody that touched his ears… Caressed them in the gentle form of a whisper, singing lightly in rich tones of promises. Yet, melodies lied. They always hide behind the softest tenor, drawing you closer, invoking a deep, burning ember of wanton inside the soul. Then it strikes, hard and merciless, leaving you aching, suffocating under your own self-righteous burdens. It left you empty. It always did.

"Shuichi, hun, would you please look at me?"

Can't bear the lies, don't want to. Can't breathe already. Can't think… I'm already drowning.

"I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't wish to. If you'd rather not look at me that's fine but I would very much like you to."

Don't fall for it… melodies lie. Always lie. Can't bear them anymore… Nothing left to break.

"Well, I guess I should start off. Hmm? My name is Riona Fukuoka, and I'll be your new counselor here. I don't know if you heard, but Dr. Echles was transferred to Akagi-kohgen.*"

He left me…

"Should I tell you about myself? Would that make you more comfortable to talk to me?"

No point… You'll leave. They always leave… HE left me.

"Well, I'm the daughter of Taiyou Kodou… Do you know him? Mmm, he's a big shot lawyer, did a lot of those largely, media-oriented cases. Anyway, I have two brothers, Umito and Yuuichirou. I also have a younger sister, Hosuzu; she's an aspiring artist. Dad is always telling her to get a real job but I told her to ignore him and do what makes her happy… Do you have any siblings?"

I…

"Your file states…"

Stop… No more.

"… It must have been frustrating having a sibling with the same name as you. It must have driven both of you…"

Such cruel words… Please, I can't… No more.

"…Would you like to tell me about Shuichi, the other Shuichi that is? What was he like? His favorite food? Did you mind suddenly becoming an older…"

Why… Stop… No one else… Why you? I can't… Please. I can't!

"… What about your…"

"Stop… I can't. Please stop."

"Shuichi?"

"Please…. Please stop."

"Stop what? Shuichi, did I do something wrong? Did I say something? Shuichi?"

All wrong… Not suppose to… No one does. They never did. He doesn't… Why… Why you?

"Shuichi, hun, tell me what's wrong? I can't help-"

"No… Stop. Just stop."

All lies… Such beautiful lies. No more.

"Please, tell me. I'm worried-"

"No! Liar! You don't care! No one cares! Stop!"

"Shuichi… That's not true. I do care; I care-"

"Stop lying…"

"Hun, I'm not ly-"

Why are you doing this? Stop pretending… I can't… Not this… It's too much. There's nothing left…

"I want to go back to my room."

Just let me go back… Let me drown. Why won't you let me drown?

"Okay."


Silence now. Bittersweet silence. A comfort, the only comfort, in the blackened cage. His beacon, his moment of bliss. Then the thoughts came, rushing like rapid waters through his mind, slamming through the withering dam and cascading into a typhoon of anguish. He couldn't breathe… It was all too much.

It tore from him… The crippling song of misery, dancing off thick concrete walls. The howling lyrics of affliction echoed hollowly in the worn walls of the prison, bouncing to and fro without a moment of care. It rang loud and long, hearts clenching in trepidation, eyes glazing as the ears beheld the woe of a broken soul.

Thundering now… A stampede. For him. Never before was it for him but now, they came, like sin tainted angels haloed by grief, and shadowed his cage, faceless masks of horror danced wickedly about his vision. The hands glistening playfully in the fading light… Blood stained hands reached for him, grabbed his rattling bones and held. Snickering flesh-worn smiles swamped his sight, razor teeth of canines glistening playfully in the dull light. They came for him, like all the others… Here they will show no mercy… they will destroy him.

The walls wept red, spilling the tears of the forgotten, of him. Such a deep, passionate red. Impotent red. A sea of blood, just for him. Walls shook in with shuddering sobs. The groaning evaded him, tore through his mind and bounced off his skull. Veins ignited… It was hot, such a scorching temperature. He was burning…

He was burning.

Their weapon of illusive sanctity tore a hole and the flood stop. The echoing songs of misery mercifully silenced. The darkness came and conquered and before he knew it… He was numb again.


Time is elusive here. It means nothing in this hell. Time is nothing more than the clock on the wall and when the batteries grow old, the clock dies. Time dies. It is an endless motion of one in-cohesive moment after another. A routine. A simplistic, cold routine.

They come for him. They release him, and he always feels the rush of momentary freedom. Then they bound him, chocking him of life before leading him to the questions. The false sincerities, the plastic promises and withering hope.

The same routine, day in, day out. Nothing changes, nothing will ever change. An endless motion of movement, of eluded awareness that he must follow.

Time is elusive here. It means nothing in this hell. Time is broken.


Emerald green shifted indifferently, staring numbly around at the warped world surrounding him, foreign sounds of twittering weightlessness filter through obstinate ears. A gentle wind kissed his pallid skin, knotted waves of crimson fluttering about on the soft breeze. The light of the sun warmed his (far too long) cold skin. It was all a silly illusion of freedom that paraded in front of him, taunting him but forever remained out of his reach.

He knew this trick. He would not fall for it. Not again.

Steel grey eyes searched the emerald green, looking, begging for recognition, and a sign of awareness, of life. Dead gazed unwaveringly into Life, bore into it savagely, seeking to tear it asunder, break it and steal it. Life shuddered at the breeze grew cold, spiking a chill to crawl up her punctuated spine, forewarning of a shadowed past raging forth. Dead portrayed no acknowledgement of the miniscule victory it had just claimed, remaining a stoic mask of nothing… Inside, a vicious smirk took hold.

Soft fleeting words were spoken, more deceiving melodies sputter in an attempt to obtain and perceive. A foolish attempt. Had no one warned Life, taught it nothing? Life should never seek to perceive the Dead… It only brought suffering. Soul-numbing suffering.

Silence collapsed the peaceful mind-set once more. Life shuddered as the breeze blew harshly, kicking up dust and tearing sweet petals from their branches. The air grew thicker as ominous clouds rolled in; galactic, dark, giants looming like Hell's fiends as the ground bemoaned a jarring roar from the Titans.

Soft words spoke again, a nod, and the men of false purity came again. Chains dropped and for a moment, the rush overcame him once more. It beckoned him, wickedly taunted his tortured soul.

This time, he could not ignore it.

Hesitation… Then he clocked one guard, rendering him unconscious. The other charged, barking orders, before he too fell, a twisted corpse. Eyes wide in sudden pain, glazed over with the sweet embrace of a bitter death, mouth agape in a soundless cry of torment. Quick kill… Clean kill.

Dead and Life locked gazes once more, one trembling in dread, the other a still-photo of a caged animal. He struck, like Death… Swift and ruthlessly. Life sputtered, mouth opening to scream before a wet, gurgle burst forth and her sweet essence stained her lips a violent red, her eyes dimming with the pain before rolling backwards, fainting away from the miserable sight of her purity caked in blood.

The courtyard was alive. The screeching sounds of wailing sirens were engulfed as the sky exploded with a rolling thunder, Earth shuddering under the after vibrations as the enclosing blackness alit with the rocket lightning scraping across the momentous clouds. Wind howled with a thousand anguished souls, bellowing lively of their abuse. Trees swayed ferociously in the fury of the wind, branches cracking while petals soared, like fatal rubies, on the violent current.

For the first time in many years, Kurama came alive.

Emerald eyes flashed a stunning gold. When the wind swept through the courtyard again, it took the battered soul with it.


SingMyLullabySweet666: I probably could have done better than that... maybe. How many years has it taken me to write this? Two? And I go and leave you all hanging. D: I'm sorry.... I went brain dead after this. lol I promise to not take so long with the next continuation.

A/N: Akagi-kohgen is a mental hospital located in Akagi village. It currently has 107 beds for in-patients, including nine in a secure-closed ward (i.e. think maximum security). The hospital specializes in alcoholism, though it does treat other illnesses, such as drug abuse and eating disorders. --- That's right! It's a real hospital... Oooh! Whose doing research? :D