Author's note - a big thank you and a hug to yuki san1, WorldsAngel, Graphospasm & LilyMoonstone for Reviewing; NightWindAlchemist & Amore Vampiresv-v for Favoriting; bLaHBuR for Author Favoriting; and Azaneth for Author-Alerting! And another round of thanks to everyone reading this story! i truly appreciate all the support! I'm glad so many and more continue to read this story, even after that month-long hiatus. Again, sorry about that and as i said before, i will try and update more often. But though i still have a whole month of summer left (yes i start school VERY late) i don't know if i can update every week as i will be spontaneously loitering around my hometown w/ friends - it's what we do. Sad, right? So please hang tight and be patient w/ my random-side. Anyhoo, i hope you all enjoy this new chapter and let me know what you think! Reviews always inspire me to write, especially when i hit writer's block ;) ~chow!
Chapter 9: Terrace Tidbit
Kikume sighed as she played with her plate of food. She had decided on ordering a random appetizer off the menu and had been waiting for Botan to come back ever since the reaper ran off an hour ago. At first Kikume had felt famished, like she could eat a whole cow, but when she bit into the onion rings it was like the food turned to ash in her mouth. She immediately lost her appetite and had to refrain from spitting the whole thing out in disgust. The waiter would have kicked her out for sure if he saw her do that.
What in the world is wrong with me? Hmphf… maybe I just ordered the wrong thing. I guess I should wait for Botan to come back. She'll know what's good to eat around here…
Kikume sighed again and absently twirled the onion ring on her index finger as she watched the crowd below. It was a sea of black heads as the humans moved about the ground floor. Occasionally, she'd spot someone with brown or blond hair and follow them with her eyes until they disappeared from sight. Once she even spotted someone with bright purple and pink streaks in their hair and half thought it was a demon, but it turned out to belong to a girl dressed in all black with heavy makeup on her face.
What was it humans called them? Goths?
But then Kikume just shrugged the thought off and continued to people-watch. She saw a couple bleached haired boys wandering around in a pack with their chests puffed out like they owned the place. They had their school uniforms untucked and hanging out haphazardly and their pants were worn low, making them seem baggy. The boys were probably trying to look intimidating and ruthless but Kikume just thought they looked rather comical.
Probably delinquent high-schoollers, thought Kikume absently. They think they're all tough but that's because they don't know what's out there… demons would have those chickens for lunch in a heartbeat.
Kikume chuckled to herself and the momentary distraction made her accidentally fling the onion ring she was twirling over the railing.
Kikume cringed. "Opps!"
Peering cautiously over the railing, she looked to see if she hit anyone below. She couldn't see the onion ring anywhere but no one was looking around, confused or shouting obscene profanities up at her so she probably didn't hit anyone.
Relieved, Kikume slumped down on the rail, leaning her head on the bar, and continued people-watching. Among the sea of black she spotted another island of color. This time it was a girl with long red hair who was passing by the group of bleach boys and Kikume noted that the color reminded her of a rose. It was beautiful and vibrant. Kikume wondered what kind of hair dye the girl used – or was it possible it was her natural hair color?
"Either way it's better than this depressing rag," muttered Kikume, lifting up the end of her braid like it was some scrap of dirty laundry.
Kikume sighed again and turned back to her table, not believing she had resorted to looking at people's hair in order to entertain herself.
"Argh! I'm so bored! Botan come back!" she groaned and semi-gently smacked her head on the glass table, half-hoping it would somehow bring back her elusive friend. But no luck. Botan was still MIA and Kikume was dying of boredom and impatience.
I could be out exploring the Human World right now but noooo she said to stay put, like I'm some sort of obedient little puppy…
Kikume leaned back in her chair and folded her hands behind her head, gazing up at the underbelly of the red umbrella. She closed her eyes and decided to try and take a nap to pass the time. At least that way she'd stay put without ripping her hair out of her skull in frustration.
The murmur of the crowd below was an odd and dull melody that somehow managed to lull her into a state of apathy with nothing much on her mind. She was content to dwell in her state of numbness, her mind blank of thoughts, when suddenly she heard a faint crackling sound… like the sound a radio would make when it was trying to get a signal. And it was coming from above her –?
"What's your status?" crackled a faint voice.
"The – Caw – target is in sight – Caw – sir," came a croaky voice.
"Good. Make sure you don't lose sight of him."
Kikume opened her eyes and looked up. The voices were coming from above, which meant they were probably sitting on the umbrella.
Kikume glanced around the terrace and was glad to see that she was alone at the moment. Moving as silently as she could, she pushed back her chair so she could climb onto it and stand up to try and see over the top of the umbrella. There, almost directly across from her and crouched on the edge of the cloth and overlooking the terrace, was a black crow with two long, flowing tail feathers. The crow cocked its head to one side while surveying the humans below and Kikume noticed that it had three beady red eyes on each side of its head and sharp, jagged teeth in its beak.
That's definitely not your ordinary crow… is it from Demon World?
There was a silver collar around the bird's neck. It looked like it was made of some sort of metal and she should faintly see some buttons blinking, like the collar was a piece of machinery or something.
What the hell?
"Caw – Sir, the target is – Caw – leaving," said the crow.
"Follow him you fool. Don't lose the fox!" snarled the other voice, which emitted from the collar.
Fox? They couldn't mean –
"I'm in pursuit – Caw – sir. Yoko will not escape me –Caw," said the crow and it spread its wings to prepare for takeoff.
The second the bird said "Yoko" Kikume's body immediately reacted without a second thought. Just before the spy flapped its wings, Kikume lunged for the demon bird. She managed to grab hold of its two tail feathers but somehow the bird was still able to take off – and it dragged her along with it!
"Wahhh!"
Both she and the crow exclaimed in surprise and the bird tossed and turned in the air, trying to throw her off. In the chaos, she heard the sound of glass shattering and metal crashing on stone as they created a mess on the terrace – knocking over tables after tables while the bird continued to ascend. The bird's struggles only made Kikume hold on tighter as the terrace fell away and there were now more than three stories between her and the ground.
"Caw – Let me go!" screeched the demon crow.
"Not …on your …life!" she snarled through gritted teeth, wrapping her other hand around the bird's tail feathers to decrease her chance of being thrown off.
The crow thrashed in the air futilely and finally decided to take drastic measures. It flew headlong into one of the ceiling glass panes, showering her in glass. Kikume felt numerous cuts mar her arms and face but her gripped never loosened.
"Let me go you insolent human! Caw – Let me go!" shouted the crow.
"Not until you answer my questions!" shouted Kikume. "If you're monitoring Yoko then you can tell me where he is. Answer me! Where the hell is Yoko Kurama?"
The crow screeched an ear piercing cry that shattered all the car windows in the parking lot as he flew over it and in the direction of the city. The stubborn demon tried to shake her off by slamming her into the buildings but Kikume was determined to hang on. She wasn't going to give up that easily, especially when the information she wanted was literally in her grasp.
But Kikume had to hand it to the demon crow, he was really resourceful when he was desperate. He'd tried to use oncoming traffic to make her let go. Five times she had to swing and roll along the sides of trucks in order to avoid being splattered like a dead bug on the vehicles' windshield. She didn't know how long she spent hanging on for dear life – it felt like an eternity and she had the bruises to prove it – but finally she heard the crow's radio crackle with new orders.
"What's going on Yami? You've lost the target!"
"Sorry boss! I have to – Caw – abort the mission! Interceptor – Caw – on my tail! Returning to headquarters – Caw!" said Yami, sounding winded.
The crow picked up speed and flew desperately through the city towards the neighborhoods and swung into an alley. It seemed the crow had used up all his energy and the two of them ended up crash landing into half a dozen rusty trashcans.
Kikume grimaced in pain and disgust but managed to gingerly sit up. Her hands and knees stung and she realized she had scraped them pretty badly on her landing. Kikume grunted, pushing black bags full of trash out of her way as she struggled to her feet. She then glanced around for the demon crow, Yami, but lost him in the dimly lit alley.
"Hey!" snarled someone from behind her.
Kikume turned to see two figures in dirty brown coats step out of the shadows. They're faces were wrapped in dirty scarves and hidden under woolen Fedora hats. At first she thought they were homeless humans until she caught sight of a green tail twitching behind the taller of the two figures.
So these are the crow's cohorts…
"Yami, is this the interceptor? It's just a human girl!" snarled the shorter demon as he picked up the exhausted crow from among the garbage.
"S-sorry boss. Caw – I c-c-couldn't s-shake her off my t-tail – Caw…" croaked the demon weakly.
The demon cursed under his breath and tossed the crow into the brick wall.
"You're useless, Yami. Now the surveillance mission is a complete failure! Lord Yomi will not be pleased."
"I – I'll do better next time, sir. Please give me – Caw – another chance," begged Yami.
"Feh, I'll deal with you later. First we have a human to take care of." The two demons took a step forward into the light and withdrew their hands from their coat pockets, revealing deadly claws two inches long.
Kikume smirked, unafraid. "Nice nails, boys. Did you get them done today?"
"Insolent human, I'm going to enjoy tearing out that smart mouth of yours," snarled the short demon.
Kikume pointed her index finger at them in warning as a small spark of yellow light shimmered at the tip of her finger. "I suggest you two stay where you are or I won't hesitate to blow you guys into oblivion. I have a few questions for the crow that I need answered so if you guys so much as twitch, I swear I'll blast your head off."
The two demons laughed, obviously not taking her seriously.
"Hah, your spirit energy couldn't even kill a demon parasite," said the taller demon. "Let's get her boss. I've been craving human flesh all day and I can't stand passing up an easy meal like this."
Oh, the number of times demons had tried to eat her… after the tenth one, the whole thing just got old – even laughable. Just let them come, thought Kikume. She'll blow them all to Hell.
The shorter demon nodded at his partner and the two of them charged.
"I warned you…" Kikume concentrated her spirit energy into her finger tips. The yellow light flared brilliantly, causing the demons to stumble and hesitate. Yup, they'd underestimated her – just like the hundreds of other demons in her past and they can all have a little pow-wow together with these two losers in Hell. One shot and they'd both be blown to bits.
"Spirit Arrow!" shouted Kikume – but nothing happened. No bow or arrow formed. The light just gave one final flash and then winked out.
Shit! Don't tell me I still haven't recovered my Spirit Energy!
The demons laughed again.
"You had us going there for a minute, human, but it's over!" smiled the taller demon. The two of them charged again, claws out and twitching for flesh to tear into.
"Tsch." Kikume balled her hands into fists, annoyed with this huge setback. "Fine, time to make Shunjun proud," she muttered. She punched the taller demon across the cheek, causing him to smash his face into the brick wall, but when she gave the shorter demon a right hook to the side of his head, she felt her fingers crack and pain shot up her arm.
She bit her lip, forcing her screams of pain down as she stumbled back. Tears gathered at the edge of her eyes and she tasted blood from biting down on her lips too hard. She clutched her wounded hand as it shook violently. Three of her fingers were broken and she probably sprained her wrist. Her entire right hand was quickly turning a sickly purple and swelling up.
"Fuck! What the hell is your head made of?" she snarled furiously, turning her pain into anger.
The demon smirked and removed his disguise. Brown, ruggedly skin covered the demon's face with yellow hair spewing out in a drooping Mohawk. "My skin is hard as stone. A human like you can't even put a scratch on me," he sneered.
"Damn…" Kikume took a bitter but weary step back. She was in deep shit now. She couldn't beat these two D-class demons… not in her current state. And this may be the first time she really took that eating-threat seriously.
I gotta make a run for it. But she really didn't want to leave. The crow knew where Yoko was. She needed to get the information out of him, somehow.
But if I stay here, I'm going to get myself killed. And dying wasn't going to get Kikume her body back. Time to run to fight another day –
Kikume charged the two demons, catching them off guard. They gaped stupidly for a second, giving Kikume the chance she needed to escape. She leaped-frogged over the shorter demon, dived between the second demon's legs, rolled and got to her feet – managing to get into a sprint as she ran out of the alley.
She heard the shorter demon shout, "After her!" and she picked up the pace, running down the sidewalk. She had no clue where she was going but anywhere was good enough for her as long as it was away from those two.
Kikume glanced behind her and saw that the demons were still in hot pursuit and slowly starting to gain on her. She stretched her legs as far as they could go, running through neighborhoods, leaping into the middle of traffic to try and lose the demons. She avoided alleys, afraid to be caught at a dead end, and eventually, after running through several blocks of neighborhood, came to a grassy slope with a river running through the city. There was a bridge that led to the other side about a half a mile away and she ran for it, not sure how that would help her in any way.
Unfortunately, she was losing speed as her aching body pleaded for her to stop. Her lungs burned from the chase and her legs were growing heavier and heavier. She was not used to such strenuous running. The most she ever did was spar with Shunjun and that had been, at most, only three hours. But fear kept her going, even as her body begged her to give up. She could hear the demons' pounding footsteps behind her. They weren't far behind now.
She felt a clawed hand brush against her lower back, making her jump and put on a burst of speed. The bridge was in sight. If she could make it across –
–I'd just keep running. This is pointless! I'm never gonna out run them! Where's an oar when you need one?
Kikume panted, desperately trying to draw oxygen into her tired lungs and felt her foot stumble as she took her first step onto the bridge. She held onto the metal railing and pulled herself forward. She made it halfway across the bridge when suddenly the taller demon leaped over her and landed in front of her.
Damn!
Kikume skidded to a stop, panting as sweat rolled down her forehead and neck. She was exhausted and she wasn't sure she even had any strength left to fight.
"Sorry, human, but I got tired of playing cat and mouse. Time to eat!" The tall demon removed his disguise and revealed a lizard-like green face with rows of sharp teeth in his long mouth. His dull, piss-yellow eyes were wide with excitement and anticipation as his forked tongue peeked out and wetted his lips.
Kikume took a step back and heard the brown demon laugh. "Nowhere to run now, human"
Now that she thought about it, if Lizard Man had piss-colored eyes, then this short one was brown like shit.
Kikume balled her hand into a fist as she glared at the two demons.
Like hell I'd lose to a pair of toilet rejects!
"Hiyaa!" Kikume delivered a swift roundhouse kick to Lizard Man's face, knocking the bastard to the side. The demon regained his footing almost instantly and countered with his claws.
Kikume ducked his first slash but wasn't fast enough to dodge his second one so she was forced to use her right arm as a shield – it was useless anyways but it still hurt like a bitch. It was like blades of fire had cut her rather than claws and she couldn't help but let out a scream of pain.
"Gaahhhh!" Screaming was making her light-headed. What little oxygen was in her lungs was being wasted on her screams.
Kikume staggered. She clenched her teeth together to try and force herself to stop but it only muffled the sound. Blood dripped profusely from the three gashes in her arm and trickled onto the ground. Both demons licked their lips in anticipation as the smell of blood permeated the air. She could see their nostrils flare and pupils dilate as they moved in for the kill.
Kikume didn't back down. She gave Lizard Man a left uppercut, causing him to choke as he bit his own tongue, and kicked him in the groin, forcing him to back off. She then continued her attack by trying to deliver another roundhouse kick to Turd Man but the bastard caught her by the ankle and smirked.
He yanked her off her feet and threw her against the metal railing. Kikume saws stars as darkness threatened to take her but she managed to shake it off. She felt blood trickle down the side of her head and had a vague suspicion that she just got a concussion.
Great.
Her whole body felt numb from pain and she wasn't sure she even had a drop of energy left to move. Yet, by some miracle, she managed to pull herself to her feet using the railings. Her legs were shaking uncontrollably now and she was backed into a corner. The demons were closing in and she had no where left to run.
The demons chuckled and bared their teeth. "We're going to make this as painful as possible, little human. I always liked to savor my victim's pain as I slowly eat them alive," said Turd Man.
Well then, shit…fuck this.
It didn't take much energy to throw herself off the bridge. She just backed up and toppled over the railing. Kikume covered her head as she fell head first into the rushing currents. She barely had time to take a deep breath before she plummeted into the cold, dark waters and was swept under.
Kikume struggled to the surface while the river's current seemed to only want to drag her deeper into its depths. She kicked as hard as she could and swam desperately towards the glittering surface but she might as well have been tied to a rock. The light was fading and the current was getting rougher – tossing and turning her in random directions.
She needed air. She couldn't hold her breath for much longer.
Damn it, I'm the Pilot of the Acheron! There's no way in hell a stupid Human World river is going to be the death of me!
Kikume fought the currents with everything she had. She could barely make out the sunlight dancing off the surface of the river.
I'm going to make it. I have to. I won't give up!
Kikume swam with everything she had – pouring all her strength into her arms and legs. She couldn't feel the pain from her wounds anymore – her mind was consumed with the need and determination that was driving her closer and closer to the surface. Her hand was inched from the surface now – she could feel it.
Almost there… Yes!
Kikume felt her hand burst through the surface, grasping at cold empty air and her heart danced in relief.
Suddenly, something wrapped around her left ankle and dragged her forcefully back into the water.
NO!
Kikume struggled but it was no use. The light was gone and the dark murky water was pressing down on her. There was no more oxygen in her lungs and she unconsciously started gulping down water. Water rushed into her mouth and nose, choking her.
Desperately, Kikume reached down to try and dislodge whatever it was that had grabbed her ankle. Her mind – now devoid of oxygen – didn't even register that it was a cool, smooth and human hand holding her ankle in its iron grip. Her hands weakly pried at the fingers as her eyesight darkened and the last of her air escaped her mouth in a trickle of tiny bubbles.
She couldn't feel anything anymore. Not the cool hands that had moved from her ankle, trailing gracefully up her body, and was now wrapped around her throat, choking her already water-filled body; nor did she take note of the sapphire blue eyes that gleamed in the darkness, burning with retribution.
The only thing she knew was darkness and then nothing.