Here's the next chapter for you guys! Hope you enjoy it. It's a little shorter than the last one, but still good. Again, I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of their characters, but I do own my own characters and this plot line. Any usage without my consent will be frowned upon. Please rate well!! Gives everyone a cookie.
Chapter Two
The banging open of a cell door jostled her from her sleep and made her gold eyes snap open, the slitted pupils adjusting their size to the gloom of a morning in the dungeon. She looks at the door with out moving her head and sees a burley guard as he strides into the room toward the drowsy form of Yusuke.
"Come on half breed, the commander wants to question you." He says with a glare in her direction warning her not to move.
"What if I don't want to come?" He retorts, the arrogance form last night back in his voice.
"You'll come when the commander calls or be tied to the whipping posts." He snarls and grabs him by the arms and drags him up onto his feet. Yusuke struggles and tries to pull his arm away to no avail.
The guard ends up pulling his past her towards the door, but Yusuke makes his halt in his tracks as he tries to wrestle him forward making his right foot in front of her face. Akai's acute hearing picks up the jingling of keys on his belt over the commotion and a plan starts to form in her mind.
She bares her teeth in a smile, showing her sharply pointed canines. The guard's foot moves so his Achilles tendon is near her mouth. Quickly she reaches out with her neck and rips the back of his ankle, right at the Achilles tendon, with her teeth and pulls off a small chunk of flesh. The tang of demon blood floods her mouth as the screams of the guard fill her ears. She swallows the chunk of flesh, relishing the long forbidden taste, and smirks, her teeth covered in blood. "What the Hell?" She hears Yusuke say as the guard falls conveniently near enough for her to grab his keys. She quickly unlocks her shackles and lets them slip off her wrists with a happy sigh of relief.
The guard's screams have stopped by now, whether from lack of blood of from the poison on her teeth, she didn't know, but she wasn't about to stay around and find out. She staggers up, her strength returning after the iron shackles have been taken off, and quickly unlocks Yusuke's shackles.
A feeling of great urgency fills her as she hears the running of several guards coming down the corridor. She keeps hold of the keys and runs out of the small cell, that has been her home for the past five years, and grabs Yusuke's arm on the way past, dragging him with her.
They both stop dead in their tracks as three guards come down the hallway towards them. Akai snarls and charges them, gutting one with her talons, the blood spilling out of him at her feet, and tearing out the throat of another. Hearing his breath gurgle in his throat, she smiles. She quickly ducks to avoid a slash from the guard's double edged sword and comes in close to him, so his sword, that relies mostly on distance, will be ineffective. She thrusts her taloned hand into his chest and pulls out his heart, still beating. He crumples to the ground in a heap and is dead in seconds. She drops the heart next to him and continues down the hall. Yusuke following close behind, his pale face almost luminescent in the gloom of the torch lighted hallway.
The sound of more running guards fill her ears. Her mind turns over ideas in her head quickly and she stops in front of one of he many cells. She whips out the keys from her only whole pocket and shoves the skeleton key into the hole. She yanks it open fast and sees an emaciated man in the doorway looking completely perplexed. She shoves the keys into his hands and pulls him roughly out of his cell.
"Get everyone out of the cells and run for the door in the kitchen. Quickly!" She says and watches him scurry off to the other cells. His manner reminds her of a little mouse or rat meekly doing whatever anyone tells him. She shakes her head and moves on down the hall.
"What are you doing?" Yusuke asks coming up next to her.
"Creating a diversion so we can get out of here."
"Your letting criminals go free."
"Most of the people her are just unfortunates who got in the way of the demon overlord or didn't follow his rules. I doubt they did anything serious. Besides, the probability of most of them surviving is slim." She says and roughly pulls him into a darkened hallway as guards pass by them. She peeks her head out around the wall and watches as they turn around another corner heading towards the prisoner cells. She, still holding Yusuke's arm, dashes down the hall and runs into a room, slamming the door behind them.
"Where are we?" He asks in a whisper.
"The supply room. I need to get something." She replies in an equally soft voice and release him from her firm grip.
"I'm guessing you've done this before?" He asks, looking around the small storage room.
"Many times, but I stopped after about three times in solitary confinement. Now shush." She answers and goes over to the shelves, all of them stacked with boxes labeled with names. "Good thing they keep this organized." She mumbles to herself and pulls out a box and sets it on the only table in the small room. Inside was a folded black cloak still in good shape, a gold pendant with an engraving of a soaring eagle on it, and a sword belt complete with sheathed sword. She grabs all of these, throwing the cloak over her shoulders and around her battered and bruised body, the necklace she puts around her neck, and the sword belt she straps tightly around her skinny waste. She smirks at Yusuke and strides to the door, a new sort of confidence in her step, and opens it a crack. She peeks her head out into the torch lighted hall. Seeing that it was all clear, Akai and Yusuke dash down the hall, her worn and dirty leather boots slapping against the stone.
She keeps her ears and eyes open for anything and hears the tramping of boots on the stone floor down the hall. She mentally curses and turns down another dimly lit hall and up some narrow stone steps. At the top of the stairs is a thick wooden door, much like the ones leading into the cells. She pushes it open, the hinges protesting their usage slightly, and goes quickly down the next hallway.
"Do you know where your going?" Yusuke asks, a little out of breath.
"Mostly." she responds.
"That just makes me feel so much better." He says sarcastically.
"Shut up. If I knew you were going to complain, I would have left you in the cell." She growls and he shuts up.
Suddenly a group of guards round the corner right in front of them making them stop dead in their tracks. The guards pull out their swords, some slapping the flat side against their hands, and stand ready to fight them. Akai's lips curl up in frustration, knowing she doesn't have enough strength left to fight all of them. Her eyes shift back and forth looking for a way out through the shadows. She finally spots a window and grabs Yusukes tightly by the arm and pulls him against her. She leaps for the window and, shielding their faces, crashes through into the fresh air of morning.
They plummet through he air down a sheer cliff face, the rock littered sea comming closer. She grabs and holds Yusuke closer, making sure he doesn't slip out of her grasp. His wailing of "We're going to die!" reach her ears over the whistle of the wind past her ears. Grey smoke drifts from her back and elongates. The wind carries it away leaving behind two crimson red, leathery wings. They catch the wind and jerk them both up and over the roiling sea in mere second before impact. She pumps her wings, feeling the ache in her back muscles from unuse. They sore into the graying clouds and away from the castle-like dungeon that has been her home for the past five years courtesy of King Yama.
