(Here we are! The big TEN O! Chapter ten! Man, I never thought I would have made this many chapters but I have been getting such amazing reviews from all of you guys that my drive for this fanfic has seriously gone above and beyond my expectations. No worries though, I can't stop now that this story has become so much deeper than planned. So don't be worried abut this going on hiatus, or me just up and disappearing off the face of the planet ;P I know wayyy too many awesome fanfics whose authors pulled that crap and I still wonder to this day what the heck was going to happen! - huff !- I know that it has taken a while for this chapter to come out but that is only because I only write when I am very enlightened and in the mood for writing, and lately both of those have been avoiding me. So, thank you for your wonderful patience, here is my gift for you all for being such awesome readers and reviewers. - blows a kiss, winking - )
'Wha?!' kept running through my mind. It would have escaped my mouth if I hadn't been in such utter shock at what was happening before my eyes. Mizuki was confronting Akura ... and Akura-Ou was about to attack him for it. I could not help but notice the feeling of relief in my heart knowing that there was at least a chance that I was not going to get dragged off by Mizuki yet. I know that Akura-Ou was telling me that he would kill Mizuki if he got in our way but... he really was going to kill him. Don't get me wrong, I now loathe Mizuki. Akura was exactly right in everything he had just said. He had betrayed me... multiple times on different levels. But I never wished that he would die, or that his life would be in danger. I just wished that he would disappear and leave Tomoe and I alone...
"Now, Now, Akura-Ou-Sama... I really do not want to have Nanami watch me kill you. You have her hair, the gateway is opened for you, just go ahead by yourself and I will take Nanami with me." Although you could tell that Mizuki was attempting to be his usual carefree self, I could not help but hear the shaking in his voice as he ended his sentence. "Besides, we agreed that Nanami would be mine after you had gotten your body back so she was never yours to begin with, remember?" An aura began to grow around Mizuki as well at this point. Yes, he was still afraid, but the more he talked the more you could see the anger in him come to life. His eyes turned to slits and his smile became more cruel. A shiver ran through my entire body as his gaze slid over Akura's shoulder and met mine.
"Nanami-chan..." He unclasped his hands and opened his arms as he began to speak directly to me. I could not help but take another step back, feeling myself gulp under his attention. "You don't want Akura-Ou to get hurt... I know you care for him, and seeing that he is still in his weakened human state, he has no power that could even possibly compare to mine." I heard something that almost sounded like a snarl come from Akura-Ou as Mizuki continued, his voice turning soft and smooth, making goosebumps rise on my skin.
"Just come here, Nanami... I will take good care of you."
Biting my lip, I suddenly bowed my head, clenching my fists and staring at my feet. How dare he... Was he so insane that he thought I am just going to willingly walk towards him?No I did not want Akura-Ou to get hurt, but I also knew that Akura could hold his own, even in his human body. I looked back up at him, shocked that he would even think that I would willingly go with him. Just before I was about to speak, Akura-Ou suddenly tilted his head to the side, eyeing me with one eye, his expression cold and calm.
"Nanami... Jump into the opening. Now. I do not want you to watch this."
My eyes widened automatically, my gaze averting to the gateway into the land of the dead. He... wanted me to jump? Was it truly because he was wanting to keep me safe and didn't want me to watch him attempt to kill Mizuki? Or was it his selfishness... making sure that he would be getting into the land of the dead safe and sound. But wait... Mizuki said he still had my hair. I squeezed my eyes shut, putting my hands up to my head for a moment, the sudden decision making it hard for me to even think. If I go down there... I would be stuck there alone with Akura-Ou... and what if Mizuki does end up killing him? Then... What would I do? Sit there and cry until Tomoe might show up? What if Mizuki is strong enough to go in after me and take me for himself still? I couldn't deal with Akura-Ou getting hurt, let alone di- "NANAMI! NOW!"
My eyes snapped open at Akura-Ou's sudden shout. Mizuki was straining against him, his arms outstretched in my direction over Akura's shoulder. He looked like a child who was having his toy taken away from him. His once evil demeanor was suddenly broken down into desperation. The look in his eyes was so glazed and insane looking that I felt like my knees were about to give out underneath me.
"Don't do it Nanami! Please... Please don't leave me alone. I don't want to be alone again!" Tears began to form around Mizuki's eyes as Akura-Ou pushed him back hard, making Mizuki stumble backwards, barely avoiding Akura's outward slash from his katana. My confusion worsened... What was happening inside that mind of his? Was he really alone for so long, Without Yonomori Sama, that his insanity was finally showing? I never liked to see Mizuki cry, even if it had been fake. Why did I get the feeling that this was not him being fake. I could feel something tearing in my heart. I didn't want to leave Akura-Ou alone up here... I didn't want Mizuki to get hurt, even after everything that he had done. Everything that he was still doing... but I couldn't bear to watch this anymore. Turning in the direction of the hole, I wiped at one of my eyes, not even noticing that I had started crying at some point.
"NANAMIIII!" Mizuki's screams sounded behind me, making it hard to tell if it wasn't the screaming of a mad-man, or a man whose heart was truly cracking at this very moment and time. Taking one final breath, I looked back one more time, seeing blood seeping through Mizuki's sleeve of his arm, once again outstretched towards me. Akura-Ou did not miss his mark this time. I looked away, down into the yawning hole before my feet, and let myself fall forward, down into the Land of the Dead, knowing that if I did not jump right then and there, I would have ran straight towards them both and attempted to keep them both safe.
…...
"Hehe... You really are an idiot for thinking she would have willingly walked into your open arms." Akura-Ou's cold voice broke the empty silence between him and I. She jumped... she never even spoke a word. How could she do that to me... I thought she understood how lonely I was. How much I love her... She left me alone and went to a place I can never enter. Like Yonomori-Sama...
A soft pattering sound resounded off the leaves beneath my feet as I dazedly looked down to find red seeping into the earth beside me. Blood?... My eyes slowly traveled up to the source of the blood. My sleeve... it was soaked in the stuff.
"To be honest I expected more from a holy snake such as you. You always gloated about it so much that I began to believe that there might have been some strength in those holier-than-thou bones of yours." Akura-Ou sighed as he began to step towards me. "You are such a disappointment in so many ways, Mizuki-dono." A grin began to spread across his face once again. "No wonder she never loved you."
I could feel my heart beating in my ears as he spoke his final words. Slowly I pushed myself up, clutching my bleeding arm, as an ache began to come to life within it. My master... she did love me. I know she did. I just had to be more patient with her... how dare this dead boy make such cruel accusations. I smiled back at him as he raised his sword above his head, planning to put me down with the final blow so he could get back to Nanami down in the Land of the Dead. But I was not going to make it so easy for him.
"You act like you think you deserve her, Akura-Ou. You think you are better than me. But I think you forget that Nanami knows who you were in the past... the masses of people you slaughtered out of whim. The women you violated and tortured before allowing them death. You were a vile plague of the land. Nanami-Chan could never love a man who has no heart. And you..." I suddenly poked my finger against his chest, seeing the confusion arise in his eyes, his sword above him faltering slightly. "Have no heart, Akura-Ou. Never did, and never will. You will destroy Nanami-Chan. And I hope that it eats at you from the inside out."
His grip on the handle of the Katana tightened, and his smirk turned into a contorted expression of anger and fury. "Damn you, snake...!" Just as he brought it back, swinging it straight at my neck in an attempt to behead me, I let out a pulse of my power, pushing him back so far the he hit the ground a few yards away, his sword dropping into the soil a few feet away from him. Snapping my fingers, my snake appeared at my side. Lifting on leg and settling myself on him, we glided forward just as Akura-Ou was pushing himself up, grunting from the pain of the fall. Within a flash I had his throat gripped beneath my hand, squeezing so hard that I could feel his esophagus bending inwards.
"You will always be alone, Akura-Ou-Sama. Just as I have been. But at least I do not have deal have the crushing weight of thousands of human lives on my heart every time I go to bed at night." Just as I began to squeeze harder in order to break his pathetic neck, a sound suddenly reached my ears.
"-Hate having to walk on this mild-scented soil! Why don't you two just go on ahead and I will go back home to my wife. I am too old for chasing around on land!" A hiss escaped my throat, glancing at Akura-Ou, seeing the same surprise in his eyes. They caught up to us... I will just leave Akura to Tomoe. Once they get Nanami out, and have dealt with Akura-Ou, I will wait for my chance to take her. Sneering, I threw Akura-Ou back down into the dirt, immediately urging me and my friend forward, disappearing into the brush within less than a second.
…...
Gasping for air, clutching my throat, my eyes slid in the direction of the noise. Someone was coming... No. I had to get my body back this time. I was so close. Nanami was already down there... Pushing myself up as quickly as I could, I stumbled in the direction of the hole, diving forward and slipping off the side into the sickeningly sweet air of the Land of the Dead. Clutching my wrist with Nanami's hair wrapped around it, I closed my eyes and waited to hit the ground. My sword... it was still up there. I would have to keep myself and Nanami safe with some other means. That snake was going to pay with his life... After I get my body back he will not have known pain before I get through with him. And what was he talking about... Nanami.. deserving her? I already knew such a thing was impossible. But then why did this heavy feeling in my heart suddenly stab at me whenever his words repeated inside my mind?
…...
Pushing past the last bit of brush, I made it into the familiar clearing I had been in this exact spot a year ago. Nanami had been lying on the ground, passed out from not having eaten in the Land of the Dead. And there had been that dead boy... it still felt like it had been yesterday. Mainly because both of their scents were very strong here.. but one was even more overpowering than theirs. That snake... My eyes immediately fell upon the blood stained patch of earth. Someone had managed to make him bleed... as I walked over to the spot, I crouched down, touching the soil, my eyes widening in surprise that the soil was still wet. Immediately my head snapped up, eyes searching the entire clearing in hope that Nanami would be standing there waiting for me. Gritting my teeth, and pushing myself back up from the disappointment in knowing that she was already gone. Someone had pushed the rock aside that kept the Land of the Dead closed to the living... my eyes scanned the ground, looking for anything. Honestly, I was afraid that I would find more blood but it would be Nanami's... I could not help but smile coldly. At least someone had taken a literal stab at that goddamned, traitorous snake...
My eyes landed upon something shiny lying within the dirt just a few yards from the opening. Stepping forward and picking it up, I saw the blood on the now dirty blade and connected the dots within less than a second. The scent coming off of the blade and the earth here reeked of a dead human. That boy...Akura-Ou... he stabbed Mizuki? I could feel my eyebrows furrowing as footsteps sounded behind me. But I thought they had made some sort of agreement... why would they have fought? And who won? Were they both down there with Nanami, or just one of them? Obviously no one had died or else they would be lying here along with the scattered blood and the katana. That means that one of them was still up here eyes still examining the blade thoroughly, wishing it would just tell me what happened, I finally reverted my gaze to the black opening before me.
"Whoa... what happened here? A battle? Gah, I always miss out on the best things." Ryu-oh blathered on as a more silent pair of steps walked right up beside me. Being taken aback, I could feel a cold, rather dainty hand brush across my own as they took the blade out of my grasp. Turning my head, and glaring at the red-haired tengu beside me, I crossed my arms impatiently.
"It looks like more than one person has strong feelings for Nanami other than you, fox." Growling, I bumped my shoulder against the Tengu's own shoulder, hard enough to make him stumble to the side.
"Go die."
"Well... it's very obvious that they are no longer here with the living. How do you intend to get Nanami back from the Land of the Dead?" Kurama continued on, holding his straight stature with patience and dignity, completely ignoring my order for him to die.
"I have gone in there before to get her... but we had used the Head Kami's hammer of luck to turn me back into a full yokai so I could survive and breathe the air down there without dying... I am not sure if my position as a ShinShi would keep me from eroding as soon as I hit the ground down there. But I can't just stand here..." This whole time it had taken every ounce of my patience to try and keep calm with the knowledge of what was happening to Nanami. She had been kidnapped again... not just by Mizuki this time though, but Akura-Ou as well. They both ended in death for her, depending on who ended up with her alone and how much time it would take. She was not dead yet, as far as I knew, but my patience had finally run out. I could feel my kitsunebi come to life around me, as I headed straight for the opening into the Land of the Dead.
"Before you go, what the hell do you expect us to do? I am most certainly not going down there, and the Tengu is too weak and young to survive. What if you die? I do not want to have to go down there and get that little brat myself!"
Stopping right at the edge, I turned my head, gazing back at them for a few seconds before jumping. "Find Mizuki. He is around here somewhere. Don't kill him. That is something I want the pleasure of doing... And I will not die. Not as long as Nanami is alive." With that, I jumped, the only thought in my mind being that even if Akura-Ou does find his body, I will send it straight back down here, once and for all. Anyone who dares think that they can lay a finger on my master and get away with it will feel regret the moment before I have killed them.