"You are not taking him!" She screamed again, refusing to give up.
"I think that you will find I can do what I damn well please." Yoko replied calmly.
"I can take care of myself." I injected.
"Are you implying my son could not?" she growled in my direction.
"No, but that was his first mission. I used to go with the bandits all the time. I know what I'm doing."
She looked at me for a moment. She knew I was right but couldn't force herself to say it.
"To hell with my opinion then. You'll do what you want come hell or high water!" she shouted, slamming the door as she left.
"Don't fear. She's angry with me, not you." Yoko said, standing up from his seat. "Regradless, I think you're ready."
"Are you sure this is a good idea with her so furious?" I asked.
"It will be fine. You do want this, don't you?"
"I do, but I thought I was supposed to what Aiko says? Isn't she my master?"
"She is, but so I am. And I say you're going." Yoko informed me.
"Fair enough." I agreed, nodding.
I went back into the front room to find her crying. My young heart ached for her. This must have been so hard for her considering all she'd been through. She was probably seeing her son's life flash before her eyes. I approched her carefully and quickly found myself locked in her tearful embrace.
"You shouldn't have to go! Your place is here with me. You belong to me!" she sobbed.
"I want to go. I think I'm ready for this."
"Tenzen thought he was ready too and look what happened!"
"But this is different. That was his first mission and he wasn't ready. This isn't my first mission ever. I've been on dangerous missions before and only come back with a scape or two." I assured her.
She stared at me for a moment and then wiped her eyes. "Promise you'll come back to me. Promise you won't get killed."
"That's a silly thing to promise. You don't have to tell me to stay alive." I said.
She seemed satifitated with that which surprised me. When it was time to go, Aiko removed my collar and handed me a sword. That didn't surprise me. I needed a weapon to protect myself. What did surprise me, however, was the kiss she laid on my forehead. I looked up at her to see her smiling a little.
"You'll do great." she said, kneeling down. "I know you will."
"I'll come back." I told her. I felt as though she needed to hear it.
"I believe you." she assured me.
I followed Yoko and Kuronue outside. I caught myself looking back once (maybe twice). Part of me wished she went with us.
"We'll be back soon." Kuronue said.
"I know that." I snapped defensely. "So what are we stealing?"
"Just some valuables from an old castle. Should be a fun first time for you."
Arriving at the castle, we realized it wasn't as easy as we expected. It was rigged with booby traps. Despite me being as careful as I could, I got knocked down by one of the traps. It wasn't a fatal blow by any means but it did hurt. As I picked myself up, I hear Kuronue behind me.
"You gonna make it?" he asked.
"I'm fine. Just caught me off guard." I replied.
"Good. Don't get killed. I don't wanna see Aiko cry."
He took a step forward and I noticed that a tile had sunk into the floor. Before I could say anything, a barage of bamboo sticks suddenly shot out of the floor, impaling him from every angle. His screaming filled the hallway and some of his blood splattered on my face. I covered my mouth to keep from vomiting. I'd seen people be killed and upclose. But this was different somehow.
"Kuronue!" Yoko yelled as he ran back to us.
I remained quiet. I wasn't sure how he'd react to this and I didn't want to say the wrong thing. He went up to Kuronue's body and kneeled to down pick up a necklace. I recognized it was the one that Kuronue had on him at all time.
Regardless of what happened, I expected Yoko to want to continue anyway but to my surprise, he wanted to turn back. The walk back was quiet. I realized that Yoko was clenching the necklace tightly and looked at it occisionally. It seemed he was very bothered by Kuronue's death deep down, though he didn't show it much on the outside.
"Hiei, you're back!" Aiko said happily. Her smile faded when she got to me. My expression must have been dark. "Where's Kuronue?"
"He's dead." I said softly.
"What?" she said, sounding like I'd knocked the very breath from her lungs.
She studied my face, hoping for an answer, before running to Yoko desperetely. He quietly handed her the necklace and she quickly fell to her knees with sobs racking her thin body. He kneeled down to her and touched the back of her head.
"It's true." he said. "He was killed in an ambush."
"No, my Kuro! No!" she screamed as she covered her face.
"I'm sorry, Aiko." Yoko said before walking away. I guessed he wanted to be alone.
I went up to her and touched her arm. She looked at me and sniffled. She wrapped me in her arms and sobbed into my shoulder. Everything would change now.