Chapter 7

What do you see, you people? Looking at me

We traveled long into the night. Touya wasn't as talkative as Jin, and I had to do a lot of goading and asking questions to get him started. He answered them like a champ, even if some of them were one word responses. We had stopped only once. It had been late evening with the sun just sinking over a mountain range. Everybody ate quickly. I saw Jin but didn't try to talk to him. Touya was right, he needed his space. I only hoped that he wouldn't stay away for too long.

I felt sick when Hokushin and his men fed the wyrms. They were unhooked from the carriage and given a live rat-like creature that was the size of a small pony. I don't know where Hokushin had gotten the animal, because this was the first time I had ever seen it. The wyrms rushed it and attacked with teeth and claws. The rat screamed like a rabbit, almost hauntingly human. My hands flew over my mouth when I realized that the wyrms were taking their time with the thing. They were eating it alive from the rear first. "Dear god, put it out of its misery!" I whispered.

"That is not their way." Touya said and continued to eat. "Watch and learn. This is Makai, weakness is not tolerated nor is it forgiven. Death rarely comes swift and mercy is a figment of your imagination."

The rat's suffering ended with a vicious crunch. Rib bones snapped as the things tore into the chest cavity, after its vital organs. I stood up, unable to watch anymore. I got myself into the carriage and hid my face in my hands. For the first time I wondered what kind of hell I had ended up in.

We continued on our way not long after that. I didn't feel like talking anymore. Touya didn't seem to mind.

I woke when I felt the carriage stop moving. Dawn was poking its head over the horizon. I rubbed my eyes as Touya stood up and got out. I grabbed my cane and followed. The sight that met my eyes was amassing. We were standing in the courtyard of a large old styled Japanese castle. The courtyard was cobblestones and lead up to a large wooden porch. I gasped when I saw what was on the porch. It was my dad.

"Dad...DADDY!" I was running. The cane clattered to the ground. My shoes came off my feet, not meant to be run in. I didn't care. My dad sprinted off the porch, long legs carrying him to me in a matter of moments. I threw my arms around his neck and laughed when he lifted me off the ground and spun me around.

"Carrie, oh Carrie." He put my feet on the ground and held me at arms length. "Were you hurt?"

I didn't have a chance to say no before I was crushed to his chest and he held me. It took me a moment to realize he was crying. I had only ever seen him cry once before, when my grandma had died.

"Daddy, its okay. I'm not hurt, see." I said in shock.

My dad fell to his knees and looked up at me. Tears making his brown eyes swim.

"I hate to break up the festivities, but aren't you going to introduce me Kurama." A gruff voice said.

Kurama? Who was that? I looked at my dad as he bit his lip and wiped a tear away with the back of his hand. His voice was gruff and sounded pained. "I was just getting to that Yusuke. Give me a moment, please." There was something in the conversation. A weight that I didn't understand.

My dad looked up at me, eyes filled with pain. "Carrie, darling. T-There is someone I want you to meet."

A boy, not that much older than me in fact, stepped forward. He radiated confidence and general bad-ass-ness. He wasn't smiling and the look he gave me was filled with an emotion I didn't recognize. I wasn't sure if I liked the way he was looking at me. Dad brought my attention back to him when he squeezed my hands.

"Carrie. What I'm about to say...I want you to know, I love you. I have always loved you. You are my daughter, but..." My dad looked over his shoulder. "Yusuke...please." My dad's voice broke.

"No, Kurama." Yusuke said voice hard.

My father barred his teeth and looked up into my eyes. I was suddenly afraid and I didn't want to hear what he had to say. Before I could tell him to stop he continued.

"You are my daughter, but...Yusuke. He, is your father." My dad's voice broke on the last word.

"What?" I asked, then my voice grew hard. "No. NO! There is no way that kid could be my father." I said and pointed. "H-he isn't that much older than I am! He's what, twenty! Daddy, lets go home."

My dad shook his head and suddenly his hair grew long and ran red. It looked like somebody had pored scarlet paint over his head. Youth washed over his tired features, painting them young again. I felt my mouth drop open and my knees grew weak. I was kneeling in front of my father and staring up into a pair of strange, yet hauntingly familiar green eyes. The color wasn't familiar but the expression was. The way the skin wrinkled in worry and how he held his eyebrows in a pained expression. Even the set of his lips. I would know those facial features anywhere.

"Carrie, breathe Carrie." My dad said and shocked my breath into me by hitting my back.

I pulled away from him and staggered to my feet. I felt numb. My legs got tangled in the fabric and I almost lost my footing. Suddenly somebody was beside me catching my elbow. I looked up into a pair of brown eyes. I reacted without thinking and swung my hand out. My fingers and palm collided with his cheek and sent him stumbling away from me. I got my feet under me and backed away, clutching my hand.

The man named Yusuke looked at me his hand going to his face. He looked shocked for a moment before a smile spread over his face. "Wow. I never thought I'd get hit like that again. Your mom would never admit it, but you hit almost as good as she did."

"I don't know who you think you are Yusuke, but don't you EVER touch me again." I hissed.

Yusuke grinned from ear to ear. "You even sound like her too. If you didn't have my hair and nose, I'd say I was looking at her again."

"Don't act like you know my mother. She's dead! She died in a car crash after I was born! How could you have known her." I almost spit the words.

Yusuke flinched at my accusations and crossed his arms over his chest. "He didn't tell you."

"Jin. What happened to my mother."

"I don know if its my place ta tell ya."

I gritted my teeth suddenly thinking of the conversation I had with Jin. My breath was coming in pants. Yusuke continued.

"She didn't die in a car crash, Carrie. She was murdered." Yusuke looked at the ground. "I couldn't protect her."

I felt the first hot tear slide down my cheek. I growled and wiped it away so hard it felt like I had punched myself. I would not cry. I would not shame myself in front of these people. I bit back my cries and let anger chase the last of my tears away. I felt hot. I was bitter and angry. My hair and kimono sleeves started to flutter in a wind that didn't touch anything else. I was so angry I couldn't speak.

"LIAR!" The word tore itself from my throat so hard it hurt.

"Carrie." My father's bark broke my anger and I looked at him. My hair fell around my shoulders again. He didn't look like my daddy, but at the same time he did. Changing his eyes and hair couldn't hide the fact that his was a face I had loved since childhood.

"Carrie, its the truth. I am not your biological father. Yusuke looks the way he does because he is a demon. They age much more slowly then humans do."

I turned and walked away a few steps. My eyes darted over the carriage and to Jin's face. He didn't look at me. Touya was by his side. He did look and his face showed nothing. It was as if we were talking about the weather. The fight and anger went out of me in a rush and I felt truly alone. My father had lied to me. Jin didn't want anything to do with me. And Touya didn't seem to give a rats ass. I am not proud to admit what happened next. I wish it hadn't. I like to think I'm stronger than that.

I passed out.

End chapter 7

DUN! DUN! DUNNNNNNNNNN!

I know this chapter was short for me, but I think the situation called for one. We'll all be back soon.