Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho
Deadly Games II: Time and Again
Prelude- Remember?
A small, cunning smirk appeared on his face as he walked around the circle. Bloodstained fingers twitched, sending flecks of crimson around the ground he walked. More blood continued to pour down his wrist and into his hand, eager to feed what lay below.
One eye focused on the she-demon as he moved; the other was a ruin of scars. An encouraging smile appeared on her face when she noticed his gaze. Her multicolored skirt swayed as she crossed long legs, giving the male ample view. From where she sat, she leaned back and traced fingertips down her neck, then her chest, and moved lower still.
A third demon let out a disgruntled noise as one black, furry ear twitched with annoyance. He shot out a hand to stop her display. A playful smile appeared on her face and a small knowing laugh escaped her as a result.
"Continue," he growled to the first demon, who had paused in motion because of her distraction.
The one-eyed demon sent a displeased look his way, but continued along. Faster he walked around, more and more blood pouring from his wound as his pulse sped. As the thick liquid flowed more demandingly, he bent down and touched his crimson hand to the floor.
For one entire round, he slid his fingertips across the rock ground of the dimly lit cave. He stopped when he finished the cycle and bit his claws into the ground, gathering a clump in his hand. Squeezing the rock as he closed his fist, he reduced it to small pieces in his grasp. His eye trembled and closed.
"Rise," he said, his voice a harsh whisper.
He blinked his eye open as he held his fisted hand over the center of the circle. His arm tensed and he dropped the debris of rock in an abrupt movement.
"Rise!" he yelled.
The earth began rumbling inside the circle and the demon jumped back to the safety of the circle's exterior. The she-demon gathered two handfuls of her skirt and suddenly stood, her eyes dancing with mirth. The furry-eared demon stood up straight, watching with anticipation, yet wariness.
All three shielded their eyes as light streamed out from the edge of the circle where blood stained the ground. It tore from the ground and rose until it hit the ceiling, then streamed inward, captive inside. An invisible barrier restricted the light while it blocked the demons' view of what went on within.
The light began to dissipate and from within, a scream was heard. The shaking ground stilled as the yell echoed throughout the cave. The light shattered the barrier that held it and spread outward to engulf all that surrounded it. It then scattered, finally permitting the demons to catch a glimpse of what lay inside.
From the circle's core, a boy rose.
One line.
One small line, hardly bigger than a few millimeters, was all that adorned the paper in front of him. The beginning of what letter it was or would be, he didn't know. His mind was distracted; his focus, completely gone.
Sighing in defeat, the college student put down his pencil. He was getting absolutely nowhere with the essay he was trying to write for his English course. Usually, he was very good with utilizing the odd language even with all its nonsense rules, but at the moment… it was elusive. His thoughts were just elsewhere, getting lost in the past as they had done so often lately.
Really, he had no reason to. He had stopped thinking about it since so much time had passed from when it had happened. Nevertheless, lately it had found its way into his mind and taken root there.
He turned his head to look out the window, but he was not actually seeing what was there. Memories that had so frequently appeared within the recent weeks came to mind, playing over and over again. But such recollections could be painful… and in his case, they certainly were.
In a desperate attempt to push them away, he returned to his paper, fighting a losing battle in his attempt to concentrate. His right hand moved gracefully over the page as he proceeded to use the pencil—since he was liable to make some sort of error—to write the odd letters.
There, his name was neatly written on the paper in both Japanese and English. Now for the essay—the topic of which was something as trifling as "where did he see himself in ten years".
"It is hard to predict where it is I will be ten years from the present." He murmured to himself in English as he wrote, trying to pick words he knew well and could be used in a comprehensible sentence. "However, I believe—"
"I don't want to have to regret never knowing your touch because I was afraid of what might happen or what I might feel."
The pencil tip broke suddenly under the massive amount of pressure he put on it; the action wrenched him violently back to the present. He slowly put the pencil down and reached for another one as he cleared his mind. He couldn't let distraction get the best of him.
"I believe that I will—"
"I don't want to go."
Her voice was distant in his mind and he could barely recall what it sounded like, though he did remember the warmth in it whenever she spoke to him. She had looked so sad that day… so hopeless… wanting anything to change their fate… How could they stay together?
Then don't.
He shook his head as though the action could remove the words that had suddenly resurfaced from his memory. Noticing a red strand of hair obstructing his vision, he tucked it behind his ear as he continued on. "That I will pursue a career that best fits my skills, whether that be—"
"You won't… you won't leave me like Yasuo did… will you?"
Stop, he thought to himself firmly. He didn't need to keep doing this to himself. What had happened, had happened. He could do nothing to change it. So why was there the eternal agonizing he put himself through when digging up these memories?
"You won't leave?"
But in the end… It was she who left.
"Not forever… just for a little while…"
A knock snapped him back to attention. His beautiful emerald eyes were drawn toward his door, where the sound had originated from. Well, that was one way to take his mind away from his self-torment.
The soft, gentle voice of his mother drifted through the closed door. "Shuichi, there's a young lady downstairs that would like to see you."
He could practically see the smile on her face, or at least hear it in her voice. She always enjoyed when girls wanting his attention came around since he otherwise kept to himself. After all, his mother just wanted her son to have a normal life. Too bad that had been out of the question since the day he was born.
Kurama sighed and rose from his chair, preparing to deal with another overzealous girl. It was not often one was brave enough to come to his home without any prior association with him, but it did happen on occasion. They always had some excuse or another, wanting the notes from a certain class, asking him to join their study group, or other nonsense.
He took his time walking down the stairs and then slowly turned into the hallway. There he saw the young lady in question, her back facing him as she observed some roses in a vase next to the door. Long black hair, only slightly waved in its descent, reached down to her mid-back, partially covering the girl's light blue blouse. A tan skirt adorned her legs, though it hardly did that, seeing as how it hardly went past mid-thigh. Both of her hands were locked behind her back, clasped together in what he identified as a nervous manner. However, her hands only stayed there until she bent over to smell the flowers, a hand reaching out to steady one in particular.
Kurama continued to approach her slowly. He might have opened his mouth to ask her politely what it was she was here for, if she had not beaten him to it.
"These roses are amazing," she said without turning. Although he had made no sound, she had still known he was there.
He froze a few feet from her. Her voice…
"The most beautiful I've ever seen. Then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Kurama."
His real name… And that scent… No, it couldn't be…
She turned around with a delicate smile adorning her face and a rose still held in one hand.
"Hello, Kurama."
Kagome.