Hey, people! I finally have a story for you guys. There isn't a character biography for you and I'm not going to tell you what she is. You'll find that out in a later chapter. Anyways, for you people who don't like gore lots of gore don't read this. This will be rated T for teen so be warey. Just a warning. And I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho in any way, shape, or form, but I do own any new characters that come up. That means no stealingmy characters OR my ideas without consent. OK? Thanks! Please rate when your done. Thank You! Gives out cookies.
Chapter One
It was a warm day in Demon World, but Akai could only feel the burning of the iron on her exposed skin. By now, she had gotten used to it, not really caring if all the skin on her wrists was seared off or that she barely had gotten enough food that day to keep her alive. Her clothes hung in tatters around her slim form, dried blood crusted around her wrists and back from the lashings she got from the guards.
Her cell is barely livable. The floor is covered with rotten, stinking hay and wood chips. There are no windows in the small cell, making it dark and gloomy, but her eyes are used to the dark and she can see every stone along the walls and ceiling. Doubtless, she knows every single one by now. The only other thing in the room besides her and her chains is a small chamber pot in one corner that gives off an appalling stench. She scrunches up her nose and shifts on the stone floor.
She lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, wrapped tightly in a thin blanket, the only kindness she would get from these merciless guards, her black hair matted and tangled. Usually, she wouldn't mind the cold, her inner fire keeping her warm, but she has been here for almost five years now and that fire has greatly decreased both due to the iron shackles around her wrist and near starvation.
Hatred fills her when she looks back on that fateful day five years ago. That King Yama would surely pay for what he did to her. He took away her life, her home, and the only chance she had at being even remotely happy. For what? To secure his position as the ruler of Spirit World or to prove that he was the ultimate being and can never be challenged? Hell if she knew, but she wasn't about to give up just yet because as she lay here her charge, the one she swore to protect, was being held somewhere in Spirit World as a hostage, probably about to die herself. She had to get out of this dump and fast, but she couldn't, not when she was shackled to the wall making it almost impossible to walk let alone evade several guards at once.
A scowl crosses her face in frustration. There just had to be a way to get out of this damned-to-Hell dungeon.
Suddenly, The thick wooden door, that was the only way in and out of the stone cell, slammed open causing her to nearly jump. She stays still, her eyes closed, too tired and weak to make any sort of outburst that would earn her a lashing. A heavy thump sounds from across the cell as something heavy is thrown in with her. She cracks an eye open to see a man looking only to have seen fifteen years, his wrists shackled and his hair ragged and messy, and his eyes held a ferocious determination that brought a touch of respect and sympathy into her chest. She knows that once he's been here for a while that determination will fade and he'll be nothing but a lump of useless flesh.
"I'm sure you'll be quite comfy in here, half breed." The guard sneers and slams the door before he could make a retort. The mocking laughter of the guards can be heard as they walk down the corridor.
Then it hit her, the sweet, rich scent of his blood with a slight tang of demon. The very scent made her stomach rumble. Half breeds were a delicacy among her kind. Lucky for him she is chained to a wall across the cell, unable to even lay a claw on him. If it were any other way, she would have ripped him to shreds in seconds though her honor forbade it for he is in as much crap as she is. She closed her eye again and relaxed her muscles as much as she could.
The clanking of chains roused her from the little sleep she had as the man moved on the other side of the stone cell. She kept her eyes closed and listened as he moved from his original position. Evidently, he is moving toward the door. Probably going to get himself killed. She thinks and sighs inwardly at his stupidity.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." She says, still with her eyes closed. The man's chains clank loudly as he jumps in surprise.
"And why not?" He says that same determination in his eyes portrayed in his voice along with arrogance.
"Do you want to end up like me?" Akai retorts and sits up slowly, her iron chains barely making a sound. Her gold, slitted eyes pierce his, compelling him to sit down. "I'm chained to a wall and I have lash marks up and down my back. It isn't fun." She adds.
"Lashes?" He asks, confusion and a little fear in his voice and eyes.
"Flog marks, whip marks, welts, wounds. Whatever the hell you want to call it." She says with a slight shrug that pulls her wounds and makes them fester.
"They whip people?"
"Of course, most of the time it's just those who try to escape, raise a rebellion, or just plain talk back to them. One time, they took a guy, smeared him with bigs blood, chained his hands and feet, and threw him into a pit for the rats to feast on. You could hear the screams of agony for hours." She says,her lips twitching with the effort to hold back a smile of amusement as he turns pale.
"That's gross." He says with a shiver.
"Welcome to the Demon World, half breed. There are worse things done out there than what is done in the prisons."
"It's Yusuke."
"Hm?"
"My name is Yusuke, not half breed."
"Yusuke, huh? Just call me Akai." She replies and shifts her blanket around her shoulders to try and stave off the cold. She winces slightly when the iron rubs her seared wrists and starts to bleed again. She lifts it up to her mouth and licks off the blood, her saliva sealing over the wound to help it heal.
"That looks like it hurts." He comments upon seeing her bloodied wrists. She just shrugs it off as 'not so bad'.
Boot clicks echo outside in the hall making both their heads turn toward the sound. The small opening on the bottom of the door opens and a tray with two bowls of a disgusting looking, sloppy soup; two bowls of relatively clear, cool water; and two small loaves of hard, crusty bread. "Dinner time, bitches." A guard says and slams the door over the small opening.
Akai inches over to the tray, careful not to pull the wound on her back or damage her wrists any more. She picks up the bowl of soup, which appears to have a greenish tint to it, and slurps it down without tasting it and follows it up with the water. She grabs her loaf of bread and inches back to her place.
"You better eat, Yusuke. This is the only food your going to get until morning." She says, ripping off small chunks of bread and swallowing them.
"We're supposed to eat that?" He asks, disgusted.
"You should see the stuff they give the guys in solitary confinement. This stuff isn't so bad, once you get past the taste." She says with a shrug and another bite of bread.
He tentatively picks up the bowl of soup and sniffs it causing his expression to change to one of greater disgust. Yusuke quickly chugs it down then gags on the taste. He grabs the water and washes it down and coughs. He picks up his loaf of bread and moves back to his spot.
"You'll get used to it. Eat your bread, it'll save you from getting diarrhea." She says and finishes the last piece of her loaf. He looks at the bread and tears off a small piece that has mold on it and starts to eat the rest.
"What are you in here for anyways?" He asks bringing back the memories of the night she was taken.
"I got in the way of someone with a lot of influence and power." She says, giving the severely edited version. "I've been here for five years now." She adds.
"Five years? I would go crazy after just one day."
"Then let's hope something eventful happens. I'd hate to have a crazy person in my cell." She says with something akin to a smirk on her face. She rearranges her blanket and lays down using her arm as a pillow and begins to doze off. The last thing she heard before she drifts off to sleep is the clanking of chains as Yusuke settles in for the night.
