Chapter 4
Reiki and the fox demons reached an eerie canyon with lava rushing through the bottom of it. On the other side of the canyon was an even more ominous castle that appeared to be made of a black stone. The sky was grey and storm clouds were rolling in. The group stood a few feet in front of a rickety old bridge that seemed to whisper "Death" as the wind blew through it.
"Looks like we barely made it in time," the General joked, "Who wants to go first?" One of the younger demons started to tip toe onto the creaking, swinging bridge. The General turned to Reiki, "You go next and I'll follow behind you." Reiki was not about to be stubborn about being ordered around, she nodded with a hint of hesitation and started the tip toeing. After the General were the last two demons.
About half way across the bridge, the wind picked up and the bridge started swinging violently. "General!" the young demon in front stopped, "The rope is about to snap!"
"Then go stop it!" the General replied as he tried to keep his balance. The young demon tip toed a few more steps to get close enough to jump to the ground at the end of the bridge. He then used his ability to manipulate plants and reinforced each line of rope with vines. "Thank you!" the General shouted as Reiki continued to tip toe.
Reiki was almost to the other side when the planks of wood beneath her gave in. She gasped. The General caught her by the wrist before she plummeted down the canyon. "Hold on, Reiki," he huffed as he pulled her back up with one hand.
"General," Reiki started, but she was a little shaken up.
"Get to the other side, now," The General commanded. Reiki ran to the end of the bridge and straight into the arms of the first young demon. He didn't seem to mind.
When they all had finished crossing the bridge, the wind was wild and a drizzle had started. "Made it by the hairs on my chin, eh?" the General laughed and elbowed one of the young demons in the arm.
"Where do you get your endless supply of bad humor?" the young demon retorted. The General just laughed.
Reiki stirred in her sleep and awoke to the sounds of destruction. She threw on a white silk robe to cover her body and looked out the window. The underground city was under attack! An older fox demon with grey hair burst through Reiki's bedroom door, "Reiki, hide!" he said out of breath.
"What's going on?" she asked as she grabbed the white cloak Kurama had given her the first time he took her out of the city.
"Bat demons!" he replied as he grabbed her and opened a giant trunk with some fabrics at the bottom of it.
"Bat demons?" Reiki asked as the fox demon forced her into the trunk.
"No time to explain," he replied as he closed the trunk. Reiki heard bashing and clanging and then the final grunts of the elder fox demon. Reiki held her breath, hoping it would help conceal her from the bat demons. She heard them talking to each other; then one started approaching the trunk she was hiding in.
The bat demon opened the trunk and stared down into it, "This isn't a very good hiding spot," he said to her, his red pendent dangling violently from his neck. His ears were extremely long and pointed; his fangs resembled a vampire's. His clothes were dark and splotched with fox blood and he wore a tattered black hat with holes for his ears to fit through.
He reached down and pulled Reiki out of the trunk. He started to say something, but was interrupted by Reiki. She panicked and did the only thing she thought might help her. She screamed, "YOKO!" at the top of her lungs, hoping Kurama's sensitive fox ears would pick up on it.
Reiki walked through the giant doorway into a throne room with a massive fire pit that lied before the throne. The smoke filled the room with herbal smells and gave off a dim light. She slowly walked up to the fire and saw something move a little behind the flames.
"Dear child," a raspy old woman's voice came from behind the fire, "You came all this way on your own two feet; you must be troubled." She teased with an ancient, all-knowing tone.
"I'm sorry, Muthera. I didn't know who else to turn to," Reiki bent down and sat on her legs politely.
The old voice laughed, "Why would you make this journey for anything other than my help? It's not exactly a walk you'd want to make just to have tea and crumpets," She mocked. Reiki gave a faint smile. The old voice sighed, "Don't worry, I already know of your dilemma. So allow me to share a vision I had with you," the old woman's voice seemed to start have a cooing effect. "Close your eyes and take in the smells of the smoke, child," she said in a softer voice. Reiki did as she was told, the woman continued talking softly and slowly for a moment but Reiki couldn't understand what she was saying. Reiki started to feel lightheaded when she heard Muthera's voice come in again, "Tell me, what do you see?"
As Muthera asked the question, Reiki began to see flashes of a fight Kurama was in. The flashes of images came and went fast and disoriented. A faint, annoying voice was announcing something about the fight in the background. "Yoko is fighting another demon," Reiki paused, her eyes were still closed and she took in a few more deep breaths to help her out. "He keeps switching between his human and demon form, I don't understand," Reiki wanted this magical illusion to stop.
That's alright child, take in another deep breath," Muthera said in a soothing voice.
Reiki reluctantly repeated the breathing process and her head became filled with her own voice that screamed, "YOKO!" She jumped and opened her eyes. "Muthera—"
"Do you still not understand this vision?" Muthera said in her raspy voice.
"I," Reiki lost her words, "I think I do now," she hesitated.
"Kurama needs to be reminded of what he continues to live for," Muthera answered her own question. Reiki looked at the fire pit, drained of energy and emotion. "I have something for you, child," the old voice said as movement began behind the fire. "Come."
Reiki stood up and walked around the fire to be face to face with Muthera. She was small and frail; Reiki could barely make the distinction between her skin and clothes. Her facial features were sunken in and her hair was wildly scattered across her face. In short, she looked like a raisin with a bad hair day. The old woman came around her throne and presented a white cloak, "I believe you lost this a while back, my dear."
Reiki's eyes widened, "Where did you get this?" she asked as she accepted the present.
"I gave it to a young, silver fox demon a very long time ago," Muthera answered, "I told him he would meet a girl who would need it and that it masked the scent of human."
Reiki nearly dropped the robe as the connection was made, "Muthera, I—"
"No need to thank me child, you have more important placed to be right now," the old hag gave a toothy grin.
Reiki threw the robe around her shoulders and thanked Muthera as she ran out of the throne room. "General!" she shouted as she ran out of the castle.
"Yes?" the General turned from the young demons to face Reiki.
"Where would I go to watch demons fight?" she asked as she reached the fox demons.
"What?" the General asked, "The tournament arena, I guess," he said on a whim.
"What is that?" Reiki demanded more information.
"I don't know much, it's some sort of tournament to determine the Ruler of Demon World. Why?" the General answered reluctantly.
"We need to go there," Reiki commanded, "Immediately. Has it started yet?"
"Yes, today. Why are we going there?" The General questioned further.
"Yoko," Reiki answered shortly.
The General sighed then saw the expression across Reiki's face, "Climb on my back," he knelt down in obedience.
"Thank you," Reiki replied as she climbed on.
"Sure thing, just don't be too upset when he disappoints you, or I'll have to fight him."
Reiki came to in a cell, chained to the wall. She was covered in blood and sweat, her robe was nearly transparent and her cloak was missing. She could barely hold her head up as she heard voices in the distance. What's going on? Have I been poisoned? The voices came closer and she tried to lift her head again.
An obese bat demon came into view and stood beyond the cell bars, "Is this the healer girl you were speaking of?" he asked to someone who seemed to be a guard that nodded. The hug bat demon grinned, "Perfect. Bring her to my chambers and put something nice on her," the huge demon said as he walked away. The guard unlocked the cell then released Reiki's arms. She fell to the ground, unable to move herself. The guard picked her up and took her through corridors to a massive bedroom that smelled of sex and blood.
Reiki cringed, damn, no noble intentions here, I'm screwed… literally. She made a small sound as the guard threw her on the bed and started talking to someone. Reiki managed to turn on her stomach and started to lift herself when a ripped female bat demon approached her with dark green cloth, "Wait," was all Reiki cold squeeze out before the demon stripped her and started dressing her in the green cloth. The green cloth turned out to be a sleeveless lingerie cover that barely covered her privates. It was made out of silk and very transparent with a Victorian design. The bra and thong matched the cover up. The demon set Reiki back down on the bed and gave a seemingly sincere apology before disappearing.
Why can't I move? I had to have been poisoned, I can't even speak! Yoko, where are you! Reiki screamed inside her head as she tried to lift herself again. The doors to the bedroom swung open and the fat bat demon strolled in and stopped at the bedside to gaze at his present.
"You're in my way," a deathly angry voice came from behind the fat demon; and the bat demon swung around to face the voice. "She belongs to me," and with those words, the bat demon was split down the middle and fell away. Reiki noticed that she had been crying as she sighed mentally in relief. Kurama walked over to the bedside and sat Reiki up to lean against his chest, "Are you hurt?"
Reiki couldn't control the tears that flowed down her face at this point. It took everything she had to speak, "Poison." Kurama laid her back on the bed and vanished only to return a few seconds later with a cup full of liquid. He helped her drink the serum and then picked her up into his arms and calmly took her away from the bat cave. When they were about half a mile away, Kurama turned back to the bat cave to watch it blow up and burn. Reiki was asleep in his arms.
This is my one and only author's note (at least for this story). I dislike writing author's notes, so pay attention please and thank you.
For all of you who are pissed off at me for not using words like "Makai" and spelling "Youko", I'm sorry. I'm writing in English, so why the fuck would I not say "Demon World" instead of Makai. If I wanted to write in Japanese, I'd write the entire fucking thing in Japanese. So if this displeases you, go fuck yourself with a razor dildo. Plus, it's not "Youko", it's "Yoko" ever heard of of the music artist? It's spelled "Yoko", same fucking name; yes, Togashi gave Kurama a girl's name. Who the fuck came up with "Youko?" so don't get pissy with my choice of words and spelling, if you don't like it, look it up or GTFO. No hard feelings.
For those of you who did not have a tissy fit reading the above paragraph, thank you for understanding. This is the first time I've been on this site in 5 years and that is the kind of shit that pissed me off and stopped posting all those years ago. I love you guys :D
(OH, and Explicit content in the next chapter)