Well, here's another chapter. Thank you, everybody who read this, and reviewed it! It makes me happy. My special thanks to Neko-Koorime, for her review that asked me to put the next chapter up, and blackmailed me into doing it with the promise of a sequel to An American YYH. Anyway, here's the disclaimer.
I own Gyna, her friends and family, and Satoshi. Neko-Koorime owns Sumiko Takashi, and Tolea-String-PurpleChoco-Mage owns, um, the eyes that belong to the wolf, who's name I still have not mentioned. (Mucho thanks to you both!) I own nothing that has been licensed. Now enjoy!
Cursed Blessing
by hanyou-samurai
Chapter 10
Gyna needed a shower. Her muscles were stiff, and she was dirty from the roof. Yawning again, she headed to her bathroom. It was already occupied, as Gyna found out as she opened the door, and a huge cloud of perfumed steam billowed out of the bathroom. Gyna coughed and choked, her heightened senses overloaded with the horrible scent of too many hair products.
"What do you want?" Jackie asked irritably, doing her hair in front of the mirror. She was wearing too tight jeans, and a skimpy tank top showing her overweight stomach.
"I need to take a shower." Even just having woken up, and wearing her rumpled clothes from the day before, Gyna was very pretty. Beautiful even, if you went for the dangerous, half-demon types.
"No way. This is my bathroom, so back off, freak." Gyna grew angry. She always had a temper, of course, boiling right beneath the surface, but now all her rage in the past twenty-four hours boiled out of her.
"Your bathroom? This is my house. You demand that I leave?" she hissed. The air lowered a few imperceptible degrees in the overly hot room. Jackie laughed hollowly and slammed the door in her face. Gyna took a step back and glared at the door. In a few moments, you could feel the cold emanating from under the door. Jackie threw open the door, face white with fear.
"What are you doing?" she cried. Gyna flitted past her and closed the door, locking it quickly. The room was cold, and Gyna threw open the window, commanding the perfumed steam out. Soon, the air was icy and clear. Gyna balanced all of Jackie's products and perfumes in her arm, and managed, with great difficulty, to open the door. Jackie was still staring stupidly at the now cold room, her mouth hanging open. Gyna dropped them on her feet.
"Keep your stuff out of my bathroom, or else I will flood your room."
"Flood my room? How could you do that?" Jackie scoffed, after jumping back as the bottles landed on her feet.
Gyna raised an eyebrow. "Do you really wanna know?" The door closed before Jackie could formulate a reply. Inside the bathroom, Gyna inhaled a deep breath of fresh, cool air, and then wrinkled her nose. The faint smell of perfume still lingered. Jackie pounded on the door.
"Let me in!" Gyna turned on her radio to a loud rock station, and turned the volume up. Jackie's protests were drowned out by the soul wrenching lyrics, and the running hot water.
Stepping into the shower, Gyna took her time, leisurely washing her hair until the silver locks shone. Stepping out of the shower, humming along with the song, she wrapped herself in a towel and combed her hair. The steam in the room was comforting now, instead of perfumed and hard to breathe in.
Picking up her clothes, she opened the door and practically danced to her room. Jackie wasn't standing outside of the bathroom any more. It seemed she had given up.
Smiling, Gyna walked into her room and stopped short. Her father was in there, facing away from her. She set her clothes down slowly, and silently began to make her way to her closet, where her mother's katanas rested.
"Gyna." She froze; arm still outstretched to pick up the sword. "There have been demons in this room."
Gyna was shocked. "How do you know?" she asked hoarsely. Samuel whirled, rage twisting his features.
"I can smell them! I can smell their disgusting scent from all the way down the hall! Who are they and what are you doing consorting with them? I already forbade you to even speak of demons!"
Gyna glared at him. "They weren't my choice! They just kind of came! How can you even say any of that? You're a demon yourself! And you married a human who had the powers of a demon! Not only a demon, but a dragon demon! The royalty of the demon world! The most powerful!"
"I know who I married, thank you very much!" He strode forward, hand raised to slap Gyna. A tentacle of water wrapped around his torso, and thrust him back. Gyna glared triumphantly at her father, who was trying to keep his balance.
"My powers have reached their maturity. Notice the all-silver hair? It's because my powers are completely developed. You can't touch me anymore, so don't even try." Samuel glared back at her, then stormed out of her room, slamming it behind him. Even though he was a very powerful demon, he couldn't beat his daughter in a fight. She was too powerful.
Samuel was a water/ice wolf demon. He was a full demon, unlike Gyna, but he was not a dragon demon. He was also full Japanese.
While Gyna's mother, a human named Kiname, had been pregnant with Gyna, she had saved a dragon demon from death. She had been a doctor, and had had the training to save him. In exchange, he had granted Kiname with demonic power. He had made her into a dragon demon. Gyna, who had been in the womb, had retained not only the human part of her mother, but had become part dragon demon as well.
Samuel's powers could not compare to the powers of a dragon demon, even one that wasn't full blooded.
Gyna got dressed, in black jeans, and a black t-shirt that said 'System of a Down' in red writing, in a scrawl that looked like a murderer would write. She sliced her arms to ribbons with her knife. Blood dripped down her hand, but she controlled water to wash it away, washing it out the open window. She rubbed her neck, and sighed.
Putting her school things into her backpack, she slipped on her shoes. Kneeling by her mother's altar, she closed her eyes, and prayed.
Hey mom, how's it going? I miss you so much. Dad has been a jerk as usual. He tried to hit me again today. I wish you could, like, strike him down with divine power or something. I mean, I know you became an angel after you died, just because you were so wonderful, and such a great person. I just want Dad gone, and I wish he wouldn't hurt me. I guess I could run away, but I feel like I would be betraying your memory by leaving the house that you loved. I still have the same room. I haven't changed anything since you died. Gyna sighed. I gotta go now. I love you! Please protect me. Bye.
Gyna stood and headed out of her room. Sitting at the kitchen table, heavy black mascara streaked across her face, was Jackie, and Vivian, who was trying to calm her down. Samuel was standing behind her, rubbing her shoulder tenderly. Gyna felt a pang. She wasn't sure what it was from. Pain, loneliness, or the horrible longing for Samuel to be that tender and gentle with her. The longing was quickly pushed back by the utter hate she felt for the man in front of her. She didn't want him to be nice to her. She wanted a different father who would be nice to her. She wanted Samuel to die a horrible, gruesome death.
"Gyna! What is the meaning of this?" he yelled as soon as she walked in the door. Gyna ignored him and opened the cupboard, grabbing a box of rice crispies. She poured a bowl, and replaced the box, eating a handful of the rice crispies. They were a bit stale, but still edible. She went to the fridge, and pulled out a half gallon of milk. She opened it and sniffed, wrinkling her nose. That was definitely spoiled. She dumped it out in the sink.
"Gyna! Why on earth did you do that?" Gyna looked at them now.
"It's my bathroom, she tried to make me get my stuff out of there, there's a perfectly good bathroom downstairs that's actually closer to her room, and I was here first. Or were you referring to the milk? I dumped it out because it was spoiled." She finished with a nod, and went back to the fridge. She sighed. They had no more milk.
"Gyna-"
"We need more milk."
Samuel gaped at her, at a loss for words. Gyna raised an eyebrow, and waited for a few moments, but nobody spoke.
"Well, this has been fun, but I have to brush my teeth and go to school." Heading back up the stairs, she brushed her teeth, grabbed her stuff, and walked out the door. Out of her pocket she pulled a black cell phone. Flipping it open, she dialed a number from memory and held the phone to her ear.
"Hello?" a tired voice answered the phone, having barely woken up.
"Hey. Can I come over?"
"I'm not dressed."
"Are you ever? Anyway, you know I don't care."
"Yeah, I'm just a regular stripper. You always catch me at inopportune times. But sure. See you soon. Just come on in, the doors unlocked."
"Kay. Bye." Gyna flipped the phone closed with a sigh of relief. Of course he wouldn't turn her away. He was her best friend. There was no way he wouldn't let her come over when she needed it. He knew what her life was like.
In the same neighborhood, Gyna walked into a neat, light blue house, closing and locking the door behind her. He would still be in bed, which was fine with her. She loved his room.
Opening the door, she walked in. He was still in bed, laying under a thick, warm comforter, as she'd known he would be. Gyna sat on the foot of her bed after kicking her shoes off and dropping her backpack.
"Ugh…" he grumbled, repositioning the pillow under his head. Gyna reached over and pulled the blankets off his shoulders. Satoshi raised his tousled head from his pillow and looked at her before flopping down again.
"I said you could come over. That doesn't mean you can get me out of bed." Gyna laughed.
"Then can I talk to you?"
"Go ahead. Just don't ask me to get out of bed."
"Fair enough." Gyna sighed, tracing circles on his black and red bedspread. "They're back." Satoshi sat straight up and looked at her in astonishment.
"No!"
Gyna nodded. "Since yesterday. Now dad's sober and all nice to them, and acting as if I were an unwelcome house guest." Gyna glared at the floor. "Sometimes I think I might prefer him drunk."
Satoshi grabbed her shoulders. "Don't talk like that. You know as well as I that getting beat up everyday is not better than him being sober and them being back." Gyna sighed.
"I know. I'm just… I'm so sick of living there."
"Then leave. Come live with me." Gyna shook her head, smiling slightly. She loved Satoshi. He was her best friend, and she had a crush on him.
"I can't. I feel like… I'm betraying my mom's memory." Satoshi sighed, running a hand through his hair and stretched, bare muscles rippling in the dim light. Gyna watched. She definitely had a crush on him. But Haru interested her as well. Gyna's eyes narrowed. And I don't even want to think about Hiei. The black haired Japanese boy lay back down on his back, arms behind his head.
"So what's the daughter doing to get to school?" Satoshi asked airily.
"The spoiled little brat gets a ride to school," said Gyna with an eye roll, lying down on the foot of his bed. Satoshi laughed.
"Would you rather she rode the bus?" Gyna was silent for a moment.
"Well… no." Satoshi usually rode the bus as well, but the day before he'd overslept. However, this day, they had an hour before they needed to leave.
"Exactly." Gyna sat up, rolling her eyes again. She crawled over him, ignoring his shouts of protest, and grabbed a small remote on his bedside table. Going back to her spot on his bed, once again ignoring him, she clicked a button. His large, expensive, and very fancy stereo system turned on, playing loud rock music.
"Ooh, you got the new Disturbed CD," Gyna said, delighted. "You gotta burn this for me."
"Okay," Satoshi said drowsily. Clicking a few more buttons, she turned the radio on, and turned the radio station to 104.9, the Monkey. On it was playing the song 'Open Wounds,' by Skillet.
In the dark with the music on
Wishing I was somewhere else
Taking all your anger out on me, somebody help
I would rather rot alone
Than spend a minute with you
I'm gone I'm gone
And you can't stop me from falling apart
'Cause my self-destruction is all your fault
How could you, how could you, how could you hate me?
When all I ever wanted to be was you?
How could you, how could you, how could you love me?
When all you ever gave me were open wounds?
Open wounds
Downstairs the enemy sleeps.
Leaving the TV on
Watching all the dreams we had turn into static
Doesn't matter what I do
Nothing's gonna change
I'm never good enough
And you can't stop me from falling apart
'Cause my self-destruction is all your fault
How could you, how could you, how could you hate me?
When all I ever wanted to be was you?
How could you, how could you, how could you love me?"
When all you ever gave me were open wounds?
Tell me why you broke me down and betrayed my trust in you
I'm not giving up,
giving in, when will this war end?
When will it end?
You can't stop me from falling apart
You can't stop me from falling apart
You can't stop me from falling apart
'Cause my self destruction is all your fault
How could you, how could you, how could you hate me?
When all I ever wanted to be was you?
How could you, how could you, how could you love me?
When all you ever gave me were open wounds?
How could you, how could you
How could you, how could you
All I ever wanted to be was you
All you ever gave me were open wounds
Both Gyna and Satoshi were silent as the last strains of the guitar faded into nothing.
"That's my song," remarked Gyna quietly.
"Except you never wanted to be him." Gyna didn't answer. Satoshi looked at her sharply. "Did you?"
"No… never."
"You did," he said shortly.
"When I was little. When my mom was still alive. I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to be able to-" Gyna broke off. She had almost revealed that she'd wanted to be able to control her powers as well as he could. She'd almost revealed that she was a demon! She had to be more careful.
"Yes?" Satoshi prodded gently. Gyna hopped off his bed, shaking her head.
"Never mind. Want some breakfast?" Satoshi nodded eagerly. He loved her cooking.
"Okay. Come down whenever you get the motivation."
"Okay." Satoshi watched as she left his room, humming lightly. He liked her as well. He'd had a crush on her since he was ten and had moved into the neighborhood. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. She could never like him back.
He got out of bed, and followed her downstairs. His parents were divorced, and his mom was almost never home. Gyna was already cooking eggs and bacon. He stood right behind her and put his hands around her waist. She turned.
"Satoshi…? What-"
He shook his head and let go. "Never mind." He took a seat at the wooden table. "So, what's for breakfast?" Gyna turned back to the stove slowly. That had been… weird.
"Eggs and bacon. And either pancakes or waffles."
"What kind off eggs?"
"Scrambled."
"I want fried."
"Sucks to be you. I want scrambled."
"Fine. I want pancakes."
"Too bad. I want waffles."
"How come you get everything you want and I don't get anything I want?" he whined, setting the table. Gyna laughed, waffle iron already cooking the first batch.
"Because I'm cooking, and therefore my wants are more important." Satoshi rolled his eyes as she finished breakfast.
They ate quietly, both lost in their own thoughts. Both helped with the dishes, cleaning up quickly.
"Have you showered?" Satoshi asked, stacking their plates in the dishwasher.
Gyna nodded. "Yeah. Why, do I smell?" Satoshi shook his head.
"No. You just have blood on your neck." Gyna's hand flew to her neck and she mentally winced. She had cut this morning. She looked at Satoshi pleadingly.
"Can I…?" Satoshi nodded.
"Of course. You know where everything is. You go first, and I'll finish up here."
Gyna nodded, and started to go, but hesitated before stepping out of the kitchen.
"Are you sure?" Satoshi nodded.
"Yes. I have done dishes before, you know. Just don't take all of the hot water!"
"I won't!" Gyna disappeared back upstairs, and went into his bathroom. Satoshi was a neat freak everywhere but his bedroom and his locker, which he shared with Gyna.
Gyna got into the hot shower and proceeded to scrub every inch of her skin, double-checking to make sure there was no blood left anywhere. On one of the shelves in the shower was Satoshi's stuff. On the other shelf was Gyna's stuff. She bathed there semi-frequently. She also tended to sleep there when life at home got really bad.
Getting out of the shower, she got dressed, quickly running her brush through her hair. She had everything to get ready for the day there as well. Getting dressed, she noticed blood on the neck of her shirt. She was angry. Not just at the now stained shirt, but at herself. How could she have been so stupid?
Opening the door, she stormed into Satoshi's room. He was making his bed. Even though the rest of his room was messy, he always made his bed. Heading straight for his closet, she thrust open the door, and sorted through the shirts hanging there until she found the section of her clothes. She also kept a wide collection of clothes, not only in the closet but also in the dresser that stood at the bottom of his closet. She pulled out a black AC/DC t-shirt, and stripped off the one she was wearing.
"Gyna, do you have no modesty?" Satoshi drawled, trying to sound relaxed and uncaring.
"No, I don't." She pulled on the other shirt, and turned to him. The hemline barely brushed her jeans. She rolled her eyes and pulled off the shirt. This time she put on a long, white see-through t-shirt, and the other shirt on over it. She turned to Satoshi, who was facing away from her, at his computer.
"What do you think?"
"Gorgeous, as usual." He hadn't looked up.
"I'm dressed now, you dolt."
"I know." He looked at her and grinned. "Smokin'." Gyna laughed as he went to the bathroom. She followed him in. He jumped into the shower, and undressed in there, turning the water on and throwing his pajamas out of the shower. They often did this, when it would be easier to talk when they weren't face to face.
"So what's up?" asked Satoshi.
"Toshi…" she had called him by his old nickname as a kid, when she didn't want to call him by his full name.
"Gyna, you can tell me." She sighed. She knew that. As she opened her mouth to speak, he yelped loudly.
"What's your damage?" she asked.
"I just got a huge glob of shampoo in my eyes." Gyna winced. She knew from experience that that hurt. After he had rinsed his eye out, he held his hand out from behind the shower curtain. "Towel." Gyna handed him one of the fluffy white ones. He stuck his head out as well, and wiped his eyes.
"Sorry about that. So, what's going on?" He disappeared behind the shower curtain. Gyna took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Toshi… I cut." There was silence behind the shower curtain.
"How long?" he asked quietly.
"Since my dad started beating me up. So, that's about… four years."
"Where?"
Gyna shook her head. "I can't tell you."
"Why not? You've told me this much. How embarrassing could it be?"
"It's not that. It's just… I have another secret. One I can't tell you."
She heard him sigh. "Alright. But Gyna… why didn't you tell me this before? I could've helped." He was hurt, and she could tell.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She buried her face in her hands, sobbing quietly. The shower turned off, and she handed him a towel behind the shower curtain. He stepped out, trying to tie the towel around his waist.
"Gyna…"
"I'm a demon!" she blurted out, looking at him. He froze, and dropped the towel. She turned around just in time.
Gyna snorted wetly. "Smooth."
"I've got it done." His voice was quiet. She turned, face wet with tears. He was looking at her oddly. He jerked his head. "C'mon." They went to his room. Gyna lay on the bed, and flung an arm over her eyes as he got dressed.
The silence was tangible for a few moments.
"I'm a demon too." Gyna sat bolt upright, looking at him sharply.
"Don't screw with me Satoshi!" she cried. He had been doing up his jeans, bare torso gleaming slightly. He turned to her, abandoning the process.
"You think I'd lie about something like that?" he asked, horrified.
"You're just trying to make me feel better!" she cried, kneeling on his bed. "Well, it's not working! So just stop screwing with me!"
"What do I have to do to make you believe me?" he yelled back. Gyna gestured wildly.
"You don't smell like a demon, and I can't even sense your presence, if your are one, which you're not!"
Satoshi glared at her and then closed his eyes. Out of his back unfolded large blue dragon wings, shot through with purple. The colors of a royal dragon.
"Oh… shnikeys…" she breathed, eyes wide.
Oh yes, that's right, I'm stopping it there. Review, please. The next chapter's written, I'm just lazy and don't want to put it up. But reviews will motivate me!