Welcome to HFBF: HTLWMY - Chapter Four - When Tempers Cause Conflict.
Sorry to those who saw the update time posted on my profile. Never had a chance what with chores and having to get ready for work. I'm actually typing this in work so be glad!
This Chapter outlines the worst part of the Youkai inner workings. It also outlines how other Youkai will always be amused by two very temperamental friends when they come to conflict.
Youko had not only been right about the rather dull and routine riling Mayoke up further, he has actually underestimated how irritated it would make her. Kuwabara, who is quite enthralled with Mayoke and the fact that she lets him stroke her ears, actually cowers every time her hard, irritated icy blue-green gaze so much as passes over him. Even Yusuke, who is known to be so idiotically brave and so up for a fight that he would probably taunt even a Youkai five times his strength, flinches, only very slightly, but Youko notices it immediately, and so does Hiei.
Now Hiei, who is always ready for a fight, but who would never taunt someone he knows he couldn't defeat, seems to have switched places with Yusuke's usual self, and he is actually trying to irritate the Cat Youkai further, and it is working, every little sly comment about her or Youko drives her further into the pit of agitation.
Youko just watches all of this with a smirk, laughing on the inside, just waiting for the moment that Mayoke can stand no more and she beats Hiei to a pulp, unfortunately for him, Mayoke has learnt how to keep herself under control. Even well past the point where once she would have snapped and ripped someone's head off with just her claws and been done with it, and Youko supposes that she had tried to be a little more like him, cold and impassive while around others.
Finally after getting back to the Reikai Palace, and in the common room where Mayoke is diligently creating her complex shapes while Youko sits on his own in the corner to watch every movement that goes on in the room, Hiei takes it one step too far, moving across to her and yanking on the string so hard that three of the frayed areas all snap at once.
That is what happens inside Mayoke's head at exactly the same moment, all at once her pupils shrink to vertical slits and she bares her fangs in an angry hiss, then she launches on Hiei and manages to claw at his face and rip out a tuft of black hair before Hiei escapes across the room. Youko's amused smirk widens into a grin, there is the feral Youkai that Youko remembers as being Mayoke, and as Mayoke is pushing herself upright, her tail thrashing back and fore behind her, her ears held well back and her eyes narrowing, Hiei suddenly utters damningly, for him that is.
"Hn. You couldn't even keep me in one place for long enough to do any damage"
"Hiei. That was a mistake" Youko has time to say before suddenly Hiei is on the other side of the room, flat against the wall and sliding downwards headfirst, his head hit's the floor hard while Mayoke is now crouched in the same position that Hiei was in only moments before, and the Fire Youkai is once again out cold, and the plaster from the wall is slowly crumbling and falling on top of him. Youko raises an eyebrow before he turns his attention back to Mayoke, asking reasonably. "Mayoke. You couldn't have thrown him with a little less force?"
"He broke my string" Is Mayoke's only answer as her tail settles behind her and she checks her claws before moving across to inspect the tattered and broken remains of her string and Youko just shakes his head slowly before she finally utters. "No one breaks my string and my concentration without waking up with a headache and at least two shattered bones"
"Shattered bones?"
"I heard ribs crunching" Mayoke utters with a smirk while picking up the pieces of string and then she sighs as she sits down, and her ears flick forwards as she gazes down at the string forlornly. "And I was finally starting to calm down when he decided to break my string"
"Mayoke-sama. You used to be far easier to irritate to snapping point"
"I was a kitten then. I am no longer that young Youkai, although I am more dangerous than I used to be when I do eventually snap"
"You'll always be the same kitten to me, as you well know" Mayoke glances at Youko before she stands, a single flick of her tail signalling that she wants out before she leaves and Youko moves to lean over the sofa between Kuwabara and Yusuke who have been sat, open mouthed in shock since Hiei hit the wall. "That is the reason that you never, ever break Mayoke's concentration unless you have a death wish. I suggest that Hiei be taken up to the infirmary. I heard the crunching of ribs also. Demo, someone needs to go after Mayoke"
Youko leaves the room to follow his friend, worrying about the way she had left without making any comment about being called a kitten, before either of the two boys stir, and then Yusuke shakes himself and shakes Kuwabara before they get up and between them they carry Hiei up to the floor that is the infirmary and they allow the doctors to examine the unconscious Fire Youkai.
Mayoke is beneath the Sakura Trees before Youko catches up with her, and she is pulling her peach haori off, having already discarded the black obi that she was wearing for the day, leaving her dressed in a white form fitting strap top and white three-quarter leg trousers that are as form fitting as her top and her tail curls around her waist as she stands amongst the falling blossoms. Youko can almost sense his friend seeking serenity in the blossoms and he walks across, slowing as he comes up behind her and he wraps his arms around her shoulders as he mutters softly.
"Let us carry on from where we left off Mayoke. What happened after you found her dead?"
"I lost all sense of time for a while, I remember sinking into the smaller throne that was mine beside hers, and I remember staring at her milk pale skin and her long dark hair, her features distorted in pain and the horror of the realisation that our clan was going to fall into ruins… I remember tear stains down my kimono yet I do not remember crying… I remember feeling the burning pain of my throat yet do not remember screaming myself into that hoarse state"
"What do you remember?"
"Killing three of the guards, who should have been watching over her, myself. Getting the clan together to inform them of the loss of our Queen, and to allow the Elders to announce that as the heir to the throne I was too young and that my aunt had vanished mysteriously only hours before I returned"
"Then?"
"I returned to my throne and watched over my mother until her burial was underway, when I left wearing the respectful white of mourning and took nothing but the seed for my mother's whip which I as you know I now use myself and several of the royal bracers and hand guards. All of which I lost over the years"
"Kitten. If you no longer wish to speak on this"
"I need to tell you Youko. I have told no one this in all these years and I cannot be free of the grief which keeps me so sober until I have recounted the events"
"As you wish. Mayoke-sama" Youko states calmly having heard those words come from Mayoke herself, Mayoke who would never have said such a thing when she was young, the creature that he had always thought of as a close friend, and perhaps even a substitute sibling.
Now he rests his chin on her hair, careful to ensure that he is breathing between her ears and he feels Mayoke relax in his arms, and the two of them, so close together would always give the impression of lovers close and intimate as they are, so finely adhering to the borders between friends and lovers.
"That evening one of the Guards told me that they had seen my aunt and I began my search for her, she led me down into the darkest and deepest places of the Makai, she who had killed her own sister when she had become so bitter and angry about losing out because of my birth that she no longer cared if the clan survived, and no longer cared that she was going to meet her death in the form of the youngest member of the royal line"
"How long did that search for her take?"
"A long time. After I had finished that I vanished into the depths of the Makai, deciding it may be better to allow the Sakurain clan to fall to itself without me watching my own noble world crumble and fall around me while I was helpless to stop it"
"My dear kitten, my poor White Spectre, my lovely Mayoke. How I wish I had thought of looking in those dark and dangerous places for you. I could have been by your side to support you and help you grieve. I could have been there to protect you from your own sobriety in the face of such pain and sorrow"
"Every time I thought of you my heart lightened for a few moments. I thought of you often in those dark times and places so that I could find a little of my former joy and careless self"
"You can return to that now Mayoke"
"I can never fully return to it, nor do I want too. I will be happy with a few moments" She says softly and Youko tightens his embrace around her shoulders, squeezing gently for a few long moments before he settles his arms a little lower on her shoulders and she relaxes against his chest and he can now feel as well as hear the firm, but slow pulse of life within her as he whispers.
"Then take a few moments now"
"Arigatou. Youko-san. You are such a comfort to me, you calm my mind and soothe my soul to the way it should be" Youko smiles and looks up as the pretty little sakura blossoms start to swirl around them for a few moments on the lazily drifting spirals caused by Mayoke's youki before they return to their former drifting patterns and Mayoke utters softly. "I would be grateful if you stayed out here with me"
"I would never leave your side if I had the choice"
"You have the choice now"
"While Shuuichi still sleeps like the dead at the very back of my mind" Youko murmurs, tickling her ear, but she merely twitches it and shows no other irritation at the sensation before they move away from the Sakura Trees and place themselves beneath a large dark tree where they sit in silence, side by side, both gazing out over the grounds, as dark as the shadows beneath the tree for there is no moon.
The next morning shows a completely different side to Mayoke as she races past Yusuke and Kuwabara who are making their way to the arena, having assumed that she and Youko would be there sparring again, yet as Youko passes them with a chuckle they turn and realise that the two are playing childishly.
Mayoke launches to the side as Youko lunges forwards, trying to catch her, and he lands in a low crouch, both hands touching the ground before he launches after her again and Mayoke laughs happily, her platinum hair flowing like a shining banner behind her.
When she twists to change direction in order to keep Youko from getting too close to her, her hair becomes a glowing white aura around her face, shoulders and waist for a moment then she is on the move again and Youko is racing after her.
"What the hell?" Kuwabara asks just as Hiei appears beside him, glaring towards the platinum haired Cat Youkai as she launches upwards and lands on a low tree branch of one of the Sakura trees, then she bounds along the branches, darting around a trunk and coming back the way she had gone in such a swift moment that Youko misses the change of direction for a few seconds allowing Mayoke to get a good lead on him again.
"Oi! Neko! What the hell are you doing?!" Hiei yells and Mayoke stops dead for a split second, then steps to the side as Youko lunges, landing face first on the soft ground beside her, and she jumps away from him as his arm flashes out, trying to catch hold of her ankle and he growls when he misses and he lifts his head before getting up and he brushes himself off.
"We were having a little fun. Is that not allowed?" Mayoke asks as she walks back across to Youko and she helps him by straightening his hair and pulling his hair back into place gently while he is busy brushing off his white clothing and Yusuke and Kuwabara suddenly realise that Mayoke is not wearing her peach haori, and they finally get to see her slender frame in all her glory.
It is then that they realise that Mayoke's skin is milk pale, and her white hair only enhances her pale complexion, her blue-green eyes are full of pure joyful serenity and she looks somehow different, more vibrant in a way that only Youko could possibly explain.
"Have we missed something? That's surely a different Youkai stood beside you Youko"
"Ie. She's just finally put past pains where they should be and decided to return to her old playful self for a short while before she becomes the grown up cat she actually is again" Mayoke nods in agreement with a smile before she pulls a leaf from Youko's shoulder and he looks down at her for a moment before they both smile at each other and finally Youko looks back at the Detective and his companions before he rolls his eyes.
In the same moment both Youko and Mayoke start to head inside, Mayoke deviating for a moment to pick her haori up from beside the white rose bush before she rejoins Youko while pulling the peach material on and she ties the obi around the material but leaves it without tying it into a bow so that it flows around her legs to billow behind her.