Mashin: Heyo! It's another chapter.
Honorifics will be taken out of this chapter, seeing as it was written on a school computer. And I don't like explaining to the staff why there's Japanese words they don't understand on the damn Microsoft.
"Mommy? Mommy, where are you?"
"Mommy?"
"Mommy…?"
"MOMMY!"
Botan's blue eyes snapped open in an instant, widening as her pupils dilated. Slowly, she looked around to find herself still inside the darkness of Shippo's mind, said kitsune napping somewhere a few meters from him, Youko beside him patting the auburn kit's head.
Sighing, her tiny hands held onto the opening of her kimono, as if to try and get her beating heart to calm down. Her eyes closed, recalling the horrible nightmare still playing inside her head.
--
The little girl had skipped into her house, not noticing the small bloodstains on the walls, or how the rooms seemed dead silent. Oblivious to all this, the girl had looked around the house calling for her mother.
"Mommy? Mommy, where are you?"
--
Sighing, Botan brushed a hand through her locks of blue hair, and glanced around once more. Nope, Youko was still paying attention to Shippo. Subconsciously, she wondered how old Shippo was in youkai years.
"Nightmare, Botan?"
Whipping her head quickly, her pink eyes laid on Youko, who was still sitting besides the snoring Shippo, staring at her with piercing golden eyes.
--
After a while, the girl had gotten worried, unknown that there was someone behind her, holding a rather large and bloody machete.
The girl opened the doors to all the rooms, except for her mothers', and the figure still continued to shadow her.
"Mommy?"
Botan merely watched from the sidelines sadly as the girl hard a creak, and turned around. She already knew what was going to happen, it was written in the girl's book. Still, the girl saw the shadowed figure; not knowing it was one of the wanted criminals in Japan.
"Mommy…?"
--
She let out a breath, continuously running a hand through her bangs.
"Y-yeah…I guess."
Silence. She twitched as he continued to stare at her for another good 4 seconds, and then went back to staring into nothing.
"…Is it hard, to be a ferry girl?"
Sighing, Botan looked down at her lap, her left hand twirling a lock of hair that came out of her ponytail. "Yeah…I guess…" She sounded like a broken record, repeating it while trying to forget that one soul retrieval.
"Are you used to death?"
--
Clenching her eyes shut and turning her head, Botan stood off to the side as the killer raised the machete. She heard everything; heard the sound of the machete cutting through the air, the sound of something sharp piercing skin, the sound of blood spilling out through major wounds, that would eventually kill an innocent little girl, no older than 5.
"MOMMY!"
All because she was looking for her mother.
--
A shake of the head. "No…not yet."
"…I don't think you should be. I don't' think any of us should be."
Botan's head snapped up, and she looked at Youko again. Now, the silver kitsune was standing up, facing the darkness as Shippo curled himself into a ball below him.
"If people like you got used to Death, there really wouldn't be much innocence in the world, would there? Even some mikos are tainting themselves, so it shows there isn't much hope for the world now…I guess."
Softly giving a bittersweet smile, Youko leaned down to pet Shippo's head. "I guess the only ones truly pure now are children, and even some are loosing their innocence too early, being trained to kill without mercy."
Botan smiled, looking up at the sky. Well, if you could call it a sky, it was still darkness above. "What would it be liked…if it were another world? If everything changed? Would adults be happy, children running free, youkai and humans living peacefully? What would it be like…?"
Youko shook his head, his body silently disappearing. "We should not wish so. It will never happen."
"I guess."
It was silent again, Youko's form becoming more transparent.
"Youko?"
"Hm?"
"We'll see if we can bring Kuronue back, we haven't seen his soul in Renkai yet. There's a chance he's alive."
The thief gave one more smile before disappearing. "Yeah, maybe…"
Something was coming. And fast.
With a shock, Hiei woke up in a flash, swiftly drawing his sword out in front of him and crouching down in front of Shippo's prone body.
It took him another few seconds to realize that there was a silver kitsune looking down on them, two feet from him with a rose in his hand.
No sound came from the duo, as the forest animals around continued to move around.
Lowering his gaze to the ground, Hiei quietly sheathed his sword and sat crossed-legged besides Shippo, never letting his gaze look up.
The kitsune stood there for a while, before he crouched down and reverted his rose into a seed.
"Youkai, why do you sheath your sword and retreat?"
Snorting, Hiei perched an elbow on one of his knees, letting his chin rest on his hand.
"And you expect me to win against the Youko Kurama? As if."
Youko smirked. Sitting down in front of the two children, he idly twirled the seed in his hands. "You're smart for someone your age, smarter than some rogue youkai here. But why are you and Shippo out here in the open forest, with barely any protection?"
Ruby eyes widened as Hiei's head snapped up to face Youko, glaring at him as his hand rested on the hilt of his sword.
"How the hell do you know Shippo's name?"
"Kagome, are you sure there's a jewel shard this way?"
"I'm positive Sango. Either that, or there's something with a lot of power nearby."
The Inu-tachi continued to trudge along the dirt path, locals passing by them and staring at the odd group. It wasn't everyday you saw a hanyou with ears, a monk with a red handprint, a tajiya with a giant boomerang, or a miko in weird clothing.
"I hate this. Why couldn't we just go through the forest? The damn villager's stares are starting to piss me off."
"Inuyasha, did it ever occur to you that some people can't just as high as you, and the fact that Kirara is tired?"
"…."
Kagome sighed as she continued to walk, this time at the edge of the road, where grass and greenery met dirt road filled with footsteps.
Silence consumed the group once more as they eventually started walking in the forest, the dense greenery causing all the noises to echo. Now the group was more on-guard, with every sound causing someone's eyes to move quickly to the source.
Sighing, Kagome took a left, too lost in her thoughts to see that her group had gone right, towards a river. While she was walking straight into a clearing filled with blood-splattered bamboo.
In a flurry, Botan continued to throw the files out of the cabinets, hitting passing people, as her gaze remained focused on the top of the files.
"Not here, not here. Definitely not that one…"
Sighing and stopping for a second, she used her right hand to massage her left wrist, which was hurting painfully at the moment.
"Darn it…Now where is that file…"
Sighing, she went back to throwing files just as Koenma came in.
"Botan, what are you-"
"AHA! GOT IT!"
Poor Koenma was ran over by an enthusiastic Botan as she raced out of the stuffy room, muttering something along the lines of 'Youko's gonna love this'.
Groaning, the demigod clutched onto his head and slowly got off the ground, watchful of his protesting back.
"Ugh…what's Botan doing now…?"
--
Racing down the halls of the palace, Botan's feet made loud noises across the place as she continued to race for her life, clutching onto a single file in her arms.
"Hah…. Youko…. hah…. Better thank me for this…"
As she continued to run with a smile on her face, she didn't notice a slip of paper fall out of the file and onto the ground, laying there as Botan got farther and farther.
Kuronue, Bat youkai:
Occupation: Thief, and partner to Youko Kurama
Known Family: N/A
Status: Living.
Botan's mind was wandering, as she quickly got on her oar, doing a small flip before flying down past the clouds.
"This is wonderful news! It's perfect!"
Kuronue's alive! There's still a chance!
He's alive!
He's alive!
Kagome looked up in the clouds for a second, her head craning as far as it could, as she watched in awe a girl in a pink kimono fly across the sky with an oar.
"What the-"
Looking around her, she realized that she was alone. Alone, in a forest filled with who-knows-what.
Okay, now she was scared.
"Geez, of all the times to get separated from the others…"
Shivering, she took a small step forward, noting the blood on the bamboo.
"Blood…?"
Her eyes widened as she heard a crack nearby, her head swiveling in all directions, trying to pinpoint the source.
Get a hold of yourself Kagome, there's nothing there. It's probably some rabbit or something…
Biting her lip, she turned left and continued to follow the bamboo. It continued the block the sunlight from her view, leaving her with the feeling of fright and nervousness.
"There's nothing there…the blood is fake… There's nothing there…"
She turned a corner again, as the blood splatters got bigger and thicker.
"Don't worry, there's nothing…"
She stopped mid-sentence as she looked in front of her, a bloodied body lying against a patch of bamboo. The body continued to drop blood from its bat like wings, making a sound whenever it hit the leaves below. The eyes were closed, shadowed by the torn hat and mattered hair.
Plip. Plip.
A clawed finger twitched.
Kagome screamed.
Mashin: Okay, so I ended really badly! Sorry 'bout all this, I haven't had a good time to type for a while, with the ending of our play production and our trip to Tofino. –sighs-
Sorry about the content in this chapter, I've tried re-writing the thing 4 times! You wanna know when I thought of this? When I was walking off-stage. Shot into my head, I screamed, and fell down the stairs. Thank god it was only rehearsal. And that was what, a month ago? I'm sad.
Review Responses:
Sunoiunita: -backs away from the squealing girl- Err, did Joyce give you sugar? -Shakes head- Anyways, thanks for reviewin'!
Disneyrulz23: -hug- Thank youz!
Kagome Yuki Niwa: I made you happy? Yayz!
Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary. I promise to make it up to you guys for this short chapter!