This is the part 2 and the last part. Thanks to Rui Amano who edited this story for me. I really had the difficulty encoding this because my keyboard is malfunctioning. Good thing, I bought a new one now.
Comments and suggestions are very much welcome. Violent feedbacks ( just deliver it nicely) are also welcome..
II. The prey's heart.
The youkai jumped. The sounds of the crushed leaves are nerve wrecking. Shizuru targets his eyes because it will cripple him tremendously. But the demon's hungry face curled up.
"What's that smell?" He asked while covering his nose. His saliva dried at an instant he lost his appetite.
Shizuru noticed that the smell of the cigarette conquered the inviting smell of the leaves. She is about to attack while the youkai is disturbed. However, it quickly crawled up again to the well. She didn't catch him.
"He's leaving", she told the man.
"Good… good", the man seems out of breath. He is panting so hard. The wall finally shows some cracks especially around the hole.
"Thank you very much. If not for the cigarette…" Shizuru didn't finish what she wanted to say when she heard something.
"This one smells nice" She heard the voice in not so distant place. It seems coming from the other side. "The youkai is there?!'
"Yes, but this is the one who looks very… much like you." The man said with prominent exhaustion in his voice.
"Don't worry, the cigarettes, they don't like it. You're smoking a while ago."
"It doesn't smell that much anymore…"
"Here's the knife", she returned it to the hole but unfortunately he didn't get the chance to get it. The youkai landed and threw him to the other side. She peeked to the hole but to her dismay, the moon was covered by the clouds.
She has an idea. She holds the knife stationary to the hole. Its whole blade exposed to the other side. "Throw her here!" She shouted hoping that her man was winning the struggle and he got her point. "Here! Here! Here!'
The wall that divides shook and the ground quaked. Momentarily uproar of dust followed. It made her coughed. But she has to stop when she felt something good has transpired. The knife has stung the flesh! She almost celebrated, only, to her horror, it was the voice of her man whom she heard was agonizing for pain afterwards.
She helplessly withdrew the knife. Then the clouds freed the moonlight. It is brighter than before. The knife was stained with red blood, the human blood. "No, what have I done?!" Her heart exclaimed. The tears start to fall.
"Hi there…" said the youkai. Through the hole, his face entered the view. Ironically, the shape of his eyes, nose and lips still closely resembles with that man. It makes her mind more blown into pieces. "Thank you so much. I almost gave up but you killed him. I can now eat and I will let you watch."
He pulled the man by his back collar. The youkai stood up and the head of the man bowing down comes into sight. It was pain after pain; Shizuru doesn't know what to do now. He dragged him further from the hole so she can see everything clearly.
Surprisingly, the head of the man moved. The scarred face looked at her. He is in pain. But that eyes showed that he still has the strength to protect her. In split seconds, the real Shizuru resurrected. She knew what to do.
The man pulled both the youkai's heels. Its body fell with its chin smashing the floor. He bends his arms and crushes his head. In the last energy that he possessed, he made it stand then push him to where the knife is desperately waiting.
One pigment of the wall fell. The cracks became longer. There were sounds of bones breaking. Shizuru ended it with one powerful kick. It shattered the half of it, burying the body of the youkai with wall pigments turned into stones.
She ran to him. He was lying on the ground, unconscious. His black suite was full of dust and has severe variety of cuts. His hair was messy as it can get but still as long as before. Fortunately, his face only had few scratches.
There was profuse bleeding at his right leg. She effortlessly cut her long sleeves and wrapped round the wound.
"Yuhuu… Shizuru, are you there?!" Her heart leaped upon hearing the familiar voice. She looked above and saw the dark shapes of three persons.
"Yes, it's me. I need help over here."
The three girls rejoiced. It was obvious that they have been searching for her for such a long time.
Botan summoned her oar and went down the well. "We were very nervous because I had to ferry a soul from here and you were missing …hey…is that Sakyou?" She was already at the bottom when she noticed.
"Sakyou?" Shizuru found out his name at last. "Sakyou. " It echoed in her head.
"Is he dead? But the aura that perished seems not human."
"He's still alive" Shizuru exclaimed, sounding offended about the idea of Sakyou being dead which was almost her fault. "The youkai over there, he captured us and wanted to consume us." She pointed at the pile of stones.
Botan went towards the dead. "This place smells nice", she can't help complimenting the soothing olfactory sensation the leaves make. She removed the stones and recognized the youkai.
"Its Ondiku…He really likes eating humans. We've been hunting him for years. He's really good in hiding and we don't know how he can get in and out of the ningen's world. At last he's dead!"
"But why does he look very much like Sakyou? Are they somewhat related?" Shizuru asked. There was evident irritation in her voice.
"HE LOOKS VERY MUCH LIKE SaKYOU TO YOU?" Botan was very surprised.
"Why?" Shizuru finds Botan's reaction as somewhat alarming. It made her stood up and focus her attention to Botan's answer.
"Actually, Ondiku has the power to create an illusion to look very similar with the person" and Botan paused for a while to let out some giggle "his prey's heart… longs to see."
And Shizuru sees the ferry girl giving her very suspicious and questioning look. She was silenced by that. She looked again to the youkai. "But he looks different to me now!" She cried seeing the lifeless body now looks like a giant lizard with wings.
"It really works that way because he's dead." Botan seems to point out something. Her eyes were so wide and bright. It anticipates what she's going to say this time.
Thinking on how to escape Botan's indefinite interrogation, she was lost at the thoughts of Sakyou's words. "The youkai who brought me here..she looks like you."
Her mind went blank. She doesn't see Botan anymore.
"The youkai who brought me here..she looks like you." Those lines repeated on her mind like crazy.
Botan's eyes narrowed out of waiting.
"Heyy, Yukina would like to go down there to heal Shizuru's wounds." Keiko shouted. Botan showed some mercy. She rode on her oar and sailed up. She came back with Yukina.
Shizuru noticed hesitation at Yukina's eyes while looking at Sakyou. It's like she's afraid of him. She looked at Shizuru's eyes and that cleared out something in her mind. She knelt down and untied the temporary bandage. She touched the wound. The bleeding stopped. Moreover, the cells regenerated and in just a minute, the wound was now just like a part of a finished nightmare.
"Toguro is here." It was Keiko's voice again.
"What?" they were all disturbed. Before they can react more, Toguro landed at the bottom like fallen giant stone. Small earthquake occurred. The lightweight leaves and dust flew in any direction. When it subsided, Toguro was already carrying Sakyou on his back. The girls were speechless. They are wide eyed un-reactive.
"How about you? Do you need a lift?" Toguro asked. His voice sounds deep and mean as usual. It made them feel that the offer was a joke.
It was Botan who pulled herself up first from facing their greatest foe at the competition, and to his unexpected gentlemanliness. "Aaah.. don't worry. We have the means" She was referring to her flying oar.
He didn't say anything anymore and took his antigravity jump.
"Botan take Yukina up first", Shizuru told when they're already gone. Up there, Keiko was asking if Toguro did something wrong. "We're Okay", Yukina shouted.
When the two were taking the flight out of the well, Shizuru picked up two leaves that have Sakyou's blood in it.
"Is that true?! Do you want to see me badly as I want to see you?" She asked silently while caressing the leaves. There was a clue and in some way, it answers. It makes her smile.
But it lacks concrete confirmation. It gave her unbearable desperation.
Shizuru put the leaves in her pocket. She wishes that the dark tournament would end immediately.
Botan saw it and smiled. "Something is going on." She told herself.