Summary: For Mika, life is a constant struggle for survival. After some very unfortunate situations, she has isolated herself and is dangerously close to losing her sanity. That is, until she meets Kurama who turns her life upside down. But things begin to get out of control when it is discovered that she could have some strange connection to a mysterious legendary force that could be plotting a major takeover of all three worlds! Could her misery be nothing more that a cruel twist of fate or is this all connected to something even bigger?
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho; I do, however, own all the original characters and this plot. No copying!
Angel's Cry
Prologue
"Memories"
Far away and above,
past the clouds in the bright blue sky,
past the stars in the great space above,
where the streets are paved of gold,
and the atmosphere glows of gold and silver
everyone is happy and free.
The sick are healed,
and the broken put together again.
Here,
an angel's cry sounds.
A cry strangled with greif.
Her tears fall from the Heavens,
her screams shake the Earth.
She sacrificed herself for him,
only to be forgotten and replaced.
Her bright smile twists into a scowl,
her bright eyes darken,
her thoughts are evil filled with malice,
and her heart turns black with hatred.
"Enough."
She refuses to listen,
and instead begins to descend to Earth,
seeking revenge.
"Do not give in to the evil lurking inside of you."
Her wings disappear,
she begins to fall from the heavens.
Back to Earth.
"You have given in."
An angel's cry sounds.
A cry of hatred and fury,
as she vows revenge on the world.
A young woman sat huddled in the corner of a dark room. Her knees were pulled to her chest and her pale arms were wrapped tightly around her legs. Her long silvery hair spilled over her shoulders; her uneven bangs shrouded her face in darkness.
A bright jagged fork of lightning flashed across the night sky, and the loud boom of thunder followed suit, catching her off guard. She stifled a tiny scream, and the tears that poured down her face bagan to tumble down her cheeks faster as awful memories consumed her and took over her senses.
5
"What's wrong, Mika?" A woman with short pale hair snickered as she pushed the small child towards the open front door. "Are you scared?"
It was raining.
"Stop, Mommy!" The child cried out as she pushed against her mother, trying to escape to the safety of her room.
"Are you scared?" The woman questioned again before she pushed the child through the door frame.
The young child had begun to screech in fear as lightning illuminated the dark sky, and the thunder roared loudly, drowning out her cries for help.
"The rain is like acid, Mika!" The woman's husband stepped through the door behind them; his chapped lips were stretched into an wicked grin. "It's going to eat your skin!"
"Why don't we go out into the rain, Mika?" The woman shrieked in laughter as she pushed her daughter down the steps of the porch.
"No, Mommy! Please stop! I don't want it to hurt me!"
The woman laughed before she pushed the girl into the rain before she bolted up the porch and into the house after her husband.
The young girl cried out and ran after her mother who slammed the door in her face. She grabbed onto the doorknob and jiggled it until finally she realized that she had been locked out.
"Mommy!" She cried out, tears tumbling down her flushed face as she pounded the door. "Daddy! I'm scared!"
Laughter could be heard from the inside of the house as the lights were extinguished, bathing the young girl in darkness. She now let out loud wails as she slid down the door and onto a heap on the damp porch. Fear gripped her fragile heart as she was left to cry outside in the humid summer air...
All alone.
6
"Mika?"
The young girl looked up from her perch on a lone swing to see her teacher watching her. The woman's dark eyes were filled with concern as she approached the young girl. She kneeled beside her, placing a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?"
The child remained silent, her brown eyes empty and dull.
"Are the other children being mean to you?"
She shook her head 'no,' as she kicked her legs back and forth.
"Alright, dear. If they start being mean to you come tell me, okay?"
The girl nodded and watched as her teacher turned and walked away. She turned her attention to the group of girls who were gathered around the sandbox. In their hands they held pretty dolls. The melodious notes of laughter rang in her ears and stung her heart.
How she wished to be over there. To be able to play like a normal girl. To have friends like a normal girl. To have a loving family like a normal girl.
To have a happy life like a normal girl.
She looked down at her own ragged doll made of old fabric scraps that lie in the dirt. She jumped from her seat on the swing and grabbed her doll.
"C'mon, Nanako." She whispered sadly as she turned away from the playground.
7
Laughter echoed through out the dimly lit living room. The room smelled of sweat, beer, and cigarette smoke.
A group of rowdy men sat on the couch before the television whooping and yelling. Dirty dishes were piled on the table, and empty beer bottles lay at their feet.
"'Ey, man," one man slurred as he tapped the host on the shoulder. "Lemme have some more of that vodka."
"Sure thing," his friend grinned as he propped his feet up on the low-table in front of them. "GIRL! Get in here!"
A young girl with silver hair braided into a long plait hurried into the room at the sound of her nickname. "Yes, Daddy?" She questioned as she kept her eyes on the filthy carpet at her feet.
"Go into the kitchen," he instructed, "and get that big green bottle out of the refrigerator. Got it?"
The young girl nodded and turned away to fetch the beverage.
"And don't drop it, ya hear?"
"Yes, sir!" She called out as she walked across the dirty carpet and into the kitchen. She hurried to the old tan-colored freezer and yanked the door open. She instantly spotted the stark green bottle...
On the highest shelf.
She began to rock back and forth on the balls of her feet, preparing to jump for the bottle.
"One, two, three!" She chanted aloud in a soft voice and jumped as high as she could for the bottle. She reached out and touched the neck of it but wasn't able to grab onto it.
"Oh no!" She cried out as the bottle began to wobble dangerously. She covered her mouth with her hand as she watched the bottle fall forward.
CRASH!
"What the HELL was that!?!" Her father's furious voice sounded from the living room. The sound of heavy footsteps reached the girl's keen ears and she knew that her father was coming for her.
The girl knelt down and began to pick up the pieces of glass, cutting her small hands in the process. "I'm sorry, Daddy! I'm sorry!"
"You stupid little girl!" He roared as he reached down and seized his daughter by her braid. "You can't do anything right, can you? That was my last bottle of vodka, damn it!"
"I'm sorry!" She cried out, tears streaming down her young face. "I'm sorry, Daddy!"
"You're sorry? We'll see how sorry you are when I'm done with you!"
8
"Can't you do anything right?"
"I'm sorry, Mommy."
A woman in her late twenties was stretched across the couch, a remote in her left hand and a lighted cigarette in the other. Bags of dark purple were gathered beneath her charcoal-rimmed eyes.
The girl sat between the couch and the low table at her mother's feet. She had a rag in one hand and in the other a bottle of stain remover. An empty bottle of cheap wine lay next to the massive stain that the girl was currently scrubbing.
"It doesn't take that long to get a stain out of the carpet. Hurry it up; I've got company over in ten minutes."
"But, Mommy," the young girl cried out, "I've been trying for a long time. It's not coming---"
"Are you talking back to me?" The woman screeched as she sat up. She snubbed the end of the cigarette out on the girl's bare shoulder and smirked when she let out a yelp. "Well? Are you?"
The young girl lowered her eyes which were filled with tears. She shook her head wildly, "No, ma'am."
"You better not be," the woman growled as she tucked a loose lock of bleached hair behind her ear. "Now, HURRY UP!"
9
"Mika, do you have your seat belt on?"
"Yes, Grandmother," the girl squeaked. Her silver hair was pulled into two pigtails and she had her arms wrapped tightly around her shaking body.
The old woman's wise eyes examined her granddaughter in the mirror of her small car. She let out a deep sigh and shook her head. "Mika dear, I don't understand why you're afraid of the rain. It won't hurt you."
"B-But, Mommy and Daddy said that..."
"That the rain would eat your skin?" The woman finished for her and shook her head. "Don't listen to your parents. It's not true."
"B-But," the girl stammered as she stared at the sheets of dark rain that beat against the window.
The old car shook and quivered beneath them as they traveled across the slick black streets.
"Don't listen to them. The rain won't hurt you. Watch," the old woman said as she rolled down the window. She took one hand off the wheel and stuck it out of the window, ignoring the screams of her granddaughter. "See, Mika? There is absolutely nothing to---"
The young girl's world became nothing but a blur of colors. Everything around her was spinning---spinning so quickly she wanted to vomit. The screeching of tires could be heard and the honking of car horns. But the world around her continued to spin like a spinning top---never slowing, never stopping. Her screams mingled with her grandmother's, and before she knew it...
Everything went black.
The young woman's eyes snapped open, and she let out a withheld breath. She put her hand to her heart and began to breathe quickly.
Tears streamed down her face as she remembered that horrible night. How her grandmother had lost her life... How she had lost control of the wheel... How it had been raining and she had died.
The only one that cared for her. The only one who truly loved her.
And now... she was dead.
Her mind had finally come up with the answer. Like a flock of ravens circling high in the sky, like a black cat crossing an unfortunate person's path, the rain was a bad omen. And whenever it rained... something bad happened.
13
She stood in front of the place that she had called home. She was older now. Beside her was a worn duffle bag stuffed with what little possessions she owned. She stared at her parents that stood on the porch before the open front door.
"What are you waiting for, girl?" The woman yelled. Her fried and dyed hair hung lifelessly around her face as her sunken eyes narrowed in a glare. "Don't tell me you're getting scared now! I thought you were going to leave!"
"I-I am!" The girl screeched as her face reddened. She reached down and seized the strap of the duffle bag and swung it over her shoulder.
"Good!" The man called after her as she turned on her heel and started down the dirt road. "And don't come back, ya hear?"
The girl ignored her father, and she continued on her way; she did not dare to cast a last glance at her longtime prison. She ventured further along the dirt road for a good ten minutes before she entered the small country town square.
She stopped in front of a small playground that was enclosed with rusty metal bars. Connected to the playground was a quaint little school. The young girl set her bag on the ground and stared at the deserted playground. Horrible memories flooded back to her. She remembered how the other children had teased her, talked about her, and laughed at her--- humiliated her.
She shook her head in anger and stooped down to retrieve her bag and continued on her way. It was as if she were walking down memory lane. Everything about this tiny little town brought back memories, many unpleasant and little cheerful.
She now had been walking for at least two hours. The sun had set and the moon had taken its place, bathing the tiny town in its somber light as the stars studded the velvet sky and twinkled from above. She let out a sigh and took a seat on a fragile looking bench and set her bag beside her.
Now that she thought about it, she realized that she had never actually thought out her plans to escape. She hadn't thought of where she would go, where she would stay, what she would eat. How would she get money? How exactly did she expect to survive?
Suddenly, lightning flashed through the sky causing the girl to jump and scream. Before she could even blink, droplets of rain were starting to fall from the pitch black sky.
She quickly seized her bag and ran as fast as she could, dogs sounding at the sound of her screams. The rain started to come down harder and the girl tried to dodge the droplets although in the back of her mind she knew that that was impossible. She could feel the rain sizzling and burning on her as it made contact with her pale skin---or was she imagining it? She didn't stop to see if she was. She could care less. At the moment, all she wanted to do was escape.
The rain clouded her vision and she ran blindly off the dirt road and towards the unknown. She was thrashing through was seemed to be trees and bushes. She felt something slash her cheek, but she didn't stop. She continued on her mad dash, not knowing and not caring where she was going. She let out a loud screech as she felt her feet leave the ground as she tripped over what seemed to be a tree root. She flew threw the air and landed face-first in a pile of wet sticky leaves. She jumped to her feet quickly and shook her head and rubbed at her face frantically, trying to get all the mud off her face so she could see.
When another flash of lightning illuminated her surroundings she saw standing before her what appeared to be an old wooden cottage. She breathed quickly, contemplating her situation when another flash of lightning and the roar of thunder quickly made her decision. She ran blindly towards the cottage and her hands rubbed against the wood searching desperately for the doorknob. When she felt her hand touch the cold slippery knob she grabbed onto it and wrenched the door open and shut it closed behind her. The old cottage stunk of rotting wood and was pitch black. She moved carefully through the dark, careful not to trip over anything and felt around.
She felt something soft touch her palms and after further investigation she came to the conclusion that it was a couch. She collapsed onto it and relinquishing the grip on her bag, she unzipped it and pulled out a tiny ragged blanket. She wrapped it around her shivering body and cried herself to sleep.
The rain had finally stopped. The young woman let out a hiccup as she rubbed her irritated bloodshot eyes. She took a deep breath and let it out, fatigue quickly overtaking over her. She slowly stood up and crossed the room before she collapsed on the couch and fell into a somber slumber.