"Hiraku Yuumei…"
The sand bag hung in front of me limply as I landed another forceful blow to it, the steely color of my eyes not lessening in their intensity as I threw out another fist to make contact with the slightly heavier bag. A few more rapid punches landed on the inanimate object before I spun around and kicked it with the top of my ankle, straightening my posture slightly in order to pull it back in front of me and resume the process all over again.
"Wanted for many reasons… but not able to pin anything on. She disappeared about a hundred years ago… and we can't find a trace of her."
My mind was forced somewhere else whenever I trained, always allowing me to focus on just the task at hand instead of something trivial that would mean very little to me. Like what I was to do now, where would I go when the year ended, what would I tell those that I allowed to get close to me in the short time I have been here, would I ever allow anyone to get close enough to me to know just what I was… Another kick to the bag cleared my thoughts. Those questions weren't things I needed to think about. Not now… and probably not ever.
"Recently we have been looking over various descriptions of a young woman who fits her report perfectly in many different crimes. Murder, theft; take your pick. I'm almost sure she's done something of everything."
The sound of contact between the tightened leather-covered knuckles and the practice object were the only things I heard while the only words being chanted in my head – just like a mantra – were 'just one more time', 'just one more time', 'just one more time'. Over and over again. Hit once, mantra repeated, hit twice, mantra repeated, finishing kick, mantra, mantra, mantra. If there was one thing about me, it was how I did things. Once I created a schedule for my life, I didn't change it unless untold changes were made… then I simply made a new one. Currently, it was training… again… and again… and again…
"Your mission is to find her… and bring her in, kill her if necessary."
The blaring of the chorus of 'I'm Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?' by A Day To Remember – one of those American bands I had gotten into listening to – brought me out of my training daze, drawing my attention away from the abused sand bag to the ringing cell phone I had resting on the lone bench of the seemingly empty room. Only one person called that phone with that ringtone set… Walking over to it in a few long strides, I flipped open the small contraption and placed it to my ear; waiting patiently on the person on the other end to realize I had answered and speak first.
"Rosuto?" I heard my best friend's voice on the other end. "I need your help…"
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"You called me out here for something I really shouldn't know anything about… how will you explain where you got your information from?" I questioned Yusuke once he arrived at the designated meeting spot and sat beside me on the secluded park bench. He said nothing for a few moments and – considering who he was – I began to worry. "Yusuke… What do you need me to do?" I questioned him.
"They've got Keiko." He finally said softly, his voice barely a whisper as I felt a glare come to my face at the statement and knowing exactly what he felt on the predicament. Then again, it might've been because I had linked myself briefly with him whenever we were together but I ignored that fact.
"And you want me to find her for you?"
"I want you to bring her back…" His demand made me turn my gaze over to look at him, noticing how he was looking at me at the same time and was waiting on my reaction before continuing. "They're watching the team and they're going to kill her should we get anywhere near the place. I want you to bring her back."
"Is this the last request?" He always knew about my leaving habits and knew that I wouldn't stay around forever. I always told him that when the time came I would give him one last request and that it would be the last thing between us. I was asking if this was all he wanted left from me before I disappeared from his life.
Yusuke caught and held my gaze; his chocolate eyes bore into my steeling silver gaze before he hesitantly nodded his head. "As long as I get to see you one last time before you leave… yes. This is my last request."
"I'll make sure to have her home uninjured… Just tell me who it is you pissed off this time around."
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The castle was fairly large, an older building with some of its walls already crumbling to the ground without much added assistance. I gazed around the place and found carcasses lying about, most missing limbs and body parts that would've been needed for general survival. My hope went out that Keiko wasn't a part of that still growing mass of bodies.
"Move." I said shortly to the guard standing in between me and Keiko Yukimura, finding his expression humorless before he charged at me. He obviously didn't know who I was to his master if he dared to raise his blade to me…
By the time I walked into the main room, my black gloves were beginning to have a red hue to them with all the blood accumulated on the rough worn leather; blood splatters lightly decorating my form because of how 'heavily guarded' the castle was before I walked in. Hiraku Yuumei must be in a pretty desperate situation if she had not only kidnapped a human but also threatened Spirit World and its Detectives.
And, by doing so, myself as well.
Tugging at the black material I had wrapped around my bust to keep it out of my way, I tightened the fabric to keep blood from getting over me anymore before doing the same to the leather spike-studded belt over the skin-tight matching black mini shorts I wore. The outfit wasn't so much worn for seduction as it was for flexibility. I didn't care for appearances… I cared about performance.
"Isn't this a pleasant surprise," A voice I hardly recognized because of the years that had gone by had shouted out in what appeared to be excitement. Allowing my gaze to lazily move over to the source, I was thoroughly disgusted by what had become of my half-sister. "It's so good to see you again, Rosuto Meian."
The smile on her lips made my skin crawl because of the elderly and rather decaying exterior she had, even if she did have the same child-like personality she had when we were children.
"I'm not here for pleasure, Hiraku… You have something of mine that I expect to take back."
Hiraku's old appearance of her long wavy blond hair with dazzling pearl eyes, high cheek bones, fair skin, and bright teeth was long gone. I knew the way she had always kept her youthful façade was by stealing the souls of other younger women. I had no need to do so because of not having her mother's blood in me. We only had the same father… and her mother's blood was what turned her into this hideous creature.
Now she was an elderly hag: crooked back, bent over, long bony fingers, musty-looking gray hair with knots visible, her pearl eyes appearing to be blind instead of all-seeing like they used to be, wrinkles and warts and lord knew what else freckled her skin in all sorts of places.
Yet she continued wearing the clothing she loved: skirts, heels, and tank tops.
"What are you talking about, Rosuto; I have nothing of yours."
"As a matter of fact, you do. You just didn't realize that she was mine."
"She…?" Hiraku's expression showed that she finally understood what I was talking about and wasn't pleased in the least with the discovery. She thought she belonged to the Detective team… and that was what had kept them at bay for so long. "What is she to you, Rosuto? What meaning does she have in your life?"
"What she is to me has little meaning to you; we both know that it doesn't matter what she is to me. You have two options: give her to me, or lose a limb trying to attempt to keep her from me. You won't look very pretty missing an arm." I knew that Hiraku cared more about her appearance than someone else's life and I knew very well how to play that card whenever she was involved.
"She belongs to a male, Rosuto; a Mazoku male at that. Let me have her because of her being tainted by those beneath you."
"Are you telling me that you would rather I take her by force? Because that is what it's beginning to sound like." She did not look ready to give Keiko up just yet. "I know that she is with a Mazoku boy, that is one of the reasons I have decided to keep her around. She… amuses me, to say the least. And I know for a fact that you can obtain plenty of other girls just as youthful as she with much less effort than it should require."
I hated having to explain myself to this wench… even when we were children growing up with our other half-siblings; I had hated her with a passion. Yet I knew her every flaw, one tiny detail that made her bend to my rule in our younger years. Yet as we aged, she began to bend to my will simply because she knew better than to deny me what I ordered; I was the stronger one in the family, second only to our father.
And he was a man that neither one of us wanted to upset.
"This is true, Rosuto… this is true." She gazed at me for a moment longer, taking in my crimson splattered form, before gesturing to a guard off to the side. "Very well, I will give you the girl. She wasn't all that beautiful to begin with so you will be ridding me of an inconvenience, Sister." I hated being called that…
"Be quick about it, Hiraku; I have a schedule to keep." Saying so only to make her think that she'll have a few days to finish her little ceremonies before the Spirit Detectives come bursting through her gates and charging in to kill her.
"But, of course." Just as the words left her lips was Keiko pushed harshly into the room. Her human clothing muddy and torn, yet intact enough to cover most of her and show very little. Her expression changed from fear to shock as she took notice of me standing in front of Hiraku calmly, my look much like how it usually was whenever she had seen me train with the exception of the spike-studded belt and the blood all over me.
I held out my hand to her and said "Come" as if she was nothing but a slave in my life. In a demon's eyes that was what it looked like, but to a human it looked like I had just saved her soul from Hell. I would much rather play the villain than the hero in these circumstances. Keiko rushed to her feet and quickly moved to wrap her arms tightly around my middle as if I was her ticket to freedom and survival; although I was I would never tell her that. Let the humans have their delusions while they lasted; none lasted long enough for their thoughts and fantasies to matter much to our kind anyway.
"Let's go home," I said to her emotionlessly, being careful how I acted around her because of knowing that Hiraku was watching closely to see if I was doing all of this simply because of owning Keiko. I didn't… I was still somewhat bonded with Yusuke and that made his intentions rub off on me; forcing me to tip my hand and put my own half-sister to death.
I'll admit; I didn't mind the thought of her dying in the least.
Resting one arm over Keiko's shoulders as a show of ownership to Hiraku Yuumei and the rest of her pathetic excuses of guards as we left, they would know better than to attack Keiko at any other time later on because of knowing just who she 'belonged' to now. Yusuke owed me for all of this. It was beginning to become too much of a pain in my ass… Even if this was his last request before I disappeared from his life forever, his and Keiko's both.
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Keiko still had yet to say a word since we had left the castle and, from there, the Demon World; silently staring at me the entire time we walked, even when I opened my own portal and walked her home; not even bothering with my own appearance as we walked past very – very – few people in the dead of the night.
The night hid the blood on me well…
"This is where we go our separate ways," I finally told her; pointing down the sidewalk in front of us, I continued, "Just keep walking and you should see your house within the next few minutes. Yusuke's waiting on you."
"Where are you going, Meian-San?" She questioned suddenly when I started walking down a different path than the one I instructed her to go down. She reached out as if to grab my wrist or arm but stopped halfway and pulled her hand back to herself. "Aren't you going to come with me?" Looking back at her, I felt a twinge of regret at our last meeting being like this; with this horrible memory being the last one she would have of me.
Nothing I could do about it though.
"I doubt I'm in any kind of shape to be talking with people right now, eh? Don't worry about it though… I'll make sure no one bothers you until you reach Yusuke… I owe him that much at least."
Keiko caught my gaze and held it for a brief moment before turning and hurrying down the path I ordered her to earlier, not tossing another glance in my direction. Understandable; the last thing I saw in her eyes was fear. And not only of the unknown, either.
I waited for her spirit energy to meet with Yusuke's and the rest of his friends before turning back towards the gym that had been home to me for so long, intent on cleaning this blood off of me before Yusuke came by. I would need to be ready by the time he came… I would need to leave immediately afterwards so he won't be able to try and change my mind if he came back later.
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"Glad to see you came tonight; just finished cleaning, actually," I said whenever I sensed Yusuke's spirit energy, along with his four other companions that I chose to ignore completely; at least he didn't bring Keiko along with him. "I returned Keiko to you just as promised… and waited for you one last time, as I said I would."
"Is this really it, Rosuto? … Do you really want to leave?"
"That's not up for discussion, Yusuke… You know my ways."
"Fuck your ways, damn it," His outburst made me finish locking the equipment room in order to withdraw the key and look over at him silently, waiting on him to continue like I knew he would. The fury and intensity in his gaze would've made any lesser person cave in and show some relative form of shock… but I knew that it would come to this.
"Rosuto… you're my best friend… You saved Keiko even when you never really liked her at all; you protected both of us from things I probably will never understand in the least; and you connected with me in ways I never thought was possible." The bond I had formed with him was what he was talking about, even if his companions looked confused and somewhat surprised by the statement. "Why do you have to leave…?"
"Though I would rather discuss all of this in private… and I had hoped we would've been able to, I suppose I will have to do this with an audience that simply won't understand." I looked at each different colored set of eyes before settling my gaze on Yusuke's chocolate orbs. "I've been doing this for years, as you well know, and I do this to protect you and everyone else who has come to know me in this short amount of time."
"I can protect myself; I've been doing it from demons for years now… You know that."
"You really think I doubt you, Yusuke?" I felt a pained expression cross my face at the thought of Yusuke confronting the problem I had been running from for years now. "I'm not leaving because I think you won't be able to protect yourself… It's because I know you won't be able to anymore than I would be able to protect you… Keiko needs you; I can take care of myself."
"Doesn't look that way to me," the light brown haired male beside him state as he caught my gaze when I lazily rolled my eyes towards him. "It looks like you're just running from your problem."
"Be that as it may," I stated, turning my back on all of them long enough to grab the backpack I had leaning against the wall behind me beside a duffle bag only half filled. I usually would have only the backpack… but there were some things I wanted to take with me that I had accumulated over the year with Yusuke. "I made up my mind when this year had started… and was still decided when Yusuke called me earlier. I should be leaving."
"So that's it? You're just going to run away? What happened to the head-strong chick I met months ago who would kick my ass for even thinking of such a thing? What happened to the one that told me to never let go of something I couldn't live a day without?" Rosuto knew what happened to that girl and even said so.
"She's better at giving advice to those that she knows will listen to it than listening to it herself. You have a life to live, Yusuke, and although I'll always be there to keep you alive… this is the last time you will see me."
"I can make you stay."
I tossed my head back and let out a bark of a laugh that I was sure sounded all too much like my father's to be comforting. I was always the oldest… and the one that took after him more than any other… I was his clone, in a way.
And I was ashamed to say so.
"You could try… but I'd still leave in the end. Question is: are you going to let me leave my own way… or are you going to force me to leave without getting a goodbye?" I asked him, tossing the duffle bag easily over to the exit and looked at him expectantly; waiting on his answer while shrugging the backpack shoulder straps into place comfortably.
I adored this kid more than I should have… and that was probably why it hurt to look him in the eye right now.
Yusuke had a few tears gathering in his eyes that I felt a deep amount of sadness upon seeing, I wondered if it was because of the bond or if it was because I cared a little a too much about him.
Yusuke stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around me after a moment or two and I only reached around and returned the embrace almost as tightly as he was giving it; knowing how the show of affection was making the other of his party uncomfortable.
"I'll always be looking after you, twerp."
"I'll always miss you, too… evil hooker." A smirk came to my face at how he was still able to crack a joke, even at a time like this. I stepped back and released Yusuke from my embrace, walking towards the exit with the gym key still loosely clasped in my hand; Yusuke trotting along behind me.
Everyone watched as I lifted the duffle bag with my free hand before looking back towards Yusuke and tossing him the ring of keys that opened everything in the gym. "I don't know of anyone else I'd rather look after the place; just make sure it doesn't burn to the ground any time soon." Yusuke just looked down at the ring of keys and stared at them in his hand, not saying anything as his watery eyes just took in their jagged details.
Grasping his shirt collar and yanking him down to my height suddenly, I planted my lips on his own; knowing the action shocked him just as much as it did the others around him. I knew his emotions as well as I knew my own.
Releasing him and starting to walk away, I called behind me, "Maybe one of these days I'll tell you everything… Maybe one of these days you'll see things through my eyes… But right now, you're still human. We'll see each other again… Maybe," I smiled at his shocked expression over my shoulder before disappearing from his sight completely by using my ability.
The same ability my father was able to use…
The same ability that I would always use from here on out…
If using these cursed powers would help Yusuke out in any way, I'd use them. Maybe when his human life was over and he continued to look as youthful as he did now while those around him aged and died, he would come to the Demon World with the rest of us… and I'll be able to tell him why I've been running all this time. Maybe…
Maybe I was more in love with that idiot that I originally thought.
KM: I hope you enjoyed. ^^ Was originally going to be a story... But thought it was better as a ONE SHOT. Also if it was a YusukexOC story. ^^ Reviews Are Love! If you want to continue and turn this into a story, by all means, message me and I'll send you what I had in mind and such. ^^ You can twist and change to what you want, of course, but I would love to hear of it first... ^^ Otherwise, that's just mean. LoL Thank you for reading. ^^