Chapter 9: Old Home
I closed my eyes as I felt it was the best thing to do and tried to visualize the dragon on my side as a real creature with it standing in front of me. I stood there, feeling like an idiot as I attempted to summons something I hardly could believe in. I peeked open an eye to look around me only to see nothing had happened; as I expected.
"You're useless." Hiei's snide voice filled the clearing.
"Oh for the love of…" I snapped as I glared at him. "I am sick of hearing you demean and belittle me."
"I only say what the truth is."
"That's it." I growled as I rushed the tree, smacking both of my hands together as I summoned up the powers I had slowly begun to understand. As the plasma and the gravity well collided against each other as I clapped my hands a large crescent of fire shot out hitting the tree from basically root to half way up the trunk lighting it on fire instantaneously.
Hiei sneered, but had no choice but to immediately vacate the tree as it turned to ash around him.
That was so worth whatever I'm about to receive from him. I thought with a smirk as I watched him. An image of the dragon I was trying to summon eating him made me snicker, that is until said dragon I had been struggling to summon actually appeared and attempted to eat him.
"Whoa, wait, don't do that!" I cried as I ran up to the dragon's maw.
"Is this not what you wanted me to do?" The large dragon questioned in a booming voice.
"Well… yeah I did think about you doing that but no, I don't actually want you doing that." I muttered.
"If I knew all that was needed was to annoy you enough to think about your protector eating someone I would have had one of the boys annoy you earlier." Amira said as she came around the dragon. Her eyes were sparkling with laughter as she crossed her arms over her chest and attempted to not laugh out loud.
"Ha, ha, very funny." I complained.
"Well it worked, you summoned your protector." She answered with an elegant shrug though she was still trying not to laugh.
"What do I do with… I don't even know what to call it." I said as I gestured at the dragon.
"You may call me whatever it is you wish to call me." The dragon answered.
"That does not help. You have a name don't you?"
"To say my true name would be to destroy you but in this reality I am called Seiryuu."
I blinked. "Huh…" was all I could say.
"I wasn't lying about that." Amira said with a smirk; I resisted the urge to stick out my tongue at her.
"Is there something you needed from me, little Guardian?" The dragon, Seiryuu, caught my attention with its loud voice.
"Uh… well… Honestly I didn't think this would even work and both Amira and Hiei kept badgering me until I tried so I honestly hadn't thought that far ahead…" I admitted weakly; Hiei snickered somewhere behind me.
"I think you should take her home." Amira suggested quietly.
"I can walk home, its right around the corner." I protested.
"Not that home, where you came from before you lived in the house you own now."
The dragon, Seiryuu, shook its massive head and lowered itself to the ground. "I will take you to your home."
"I'm supposed to just climb on and you're, what, going to fly me there?" I questioned suspiciously.
"Well you're welcome to walk but it's quite a ways away." Amira answered as she hopped onto the dragon's back and held a hand out to me. After a moment I took her hand and got on Seiryuu as well.
"You should join us Hiei." She said as she caught the demon's attention. "There is something you will certainly need to see."
"I doubt that." He answered snidely but joined us on the dragon.
Seiryuu stood slowly and leapt into the sky and began to wind its way through the air and across the land far faster that anyone could possibly travel. As we flew across the sky towards a location I could only imagine the sudden feeling of dread washed over me. Suddenly, I no longer wanted to return to the place of my origin and the closer we got the more the urge to run away, to run far away threatened to pull me under. I started shaking, I couldn't control it. It was like a primal fear that had been ingrained into me and it kept me from wanting to return. My breathing became ragged as I started to panic. I tried to will myself to calm again but it was no use and Hiei began to notice.
"You're shaking woman." He snapped into my ear.
"Go away." I answered back.
"You're going to fall off." He grunted.
I opened my mouth to respond then realized he was right. If I couldn't get myself under control I would slide right off when Seiryuu turned again. I gripped the kimono in my fists as I bit into my lip and tried to calm myself. I tried to get my breathing under control but it was difficult. It was like the closer we got to where we were going to more the fear took hold.
Hiei growled. "I don't understand what you're so afraid of female."
"I don't either." I admitted as I looked at my hands. "I can't remember anything about where we're going but somehow I'm afraid to go back… It's almost like my body remembers something bad that happened there even if I don't."
Amira looked at me from over her shoulder. "It's all in the past now." She said to me with a small smile.
"That's not helping." I muttered.
She turned back to look over Seiryuu's head. "We're here." She pointed to a ruined city not too far before us.
I stared at it and suddenly the image turned.
Fire spewed forth from the buildings as screams from the dying and survivors alike tore through the air. Black smoke blotted out the sky throwing the world into utter darkness.
"Yuzuki!" A female voice screamed into the chaos as she searched for someone.
"We have to leave! Hurry! Take our daughter and go! I'll follow you soon… Go!" A male said as he handed something, someone off to the woman who had been screaming.
"Dada!"
"There's no time! Leave, now! He can't find her!"
"Yuzuki!" A voice broke through the images of death that I saw. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand as I could still smell the stench of blood and burning bodies; I was going to be sick.
"Yuzuki." It was Amira. She had turned her body around to look me in the eyes. She had my face in her hands as she made me look at her. "What is it? What did you see?"
"Death…" I answered softly. "The death and destruction of an entire race of people that is what I saw."
Amira sat back letting go of my face. "It was a long time ago." She murmured softly as if she was soothing a child.
"If I can remember it wasn't that long ago." I nearly snapped.
Amira pursed her lips, but instead of answering she looked forward. "We're landing." She said lightly then hopped off Seiryuu's back.
I grumbled then attempted to get down as well until I noticed I was firmly anchored in place by an arm. I followed the arm back to Hiei, whom I had almost forgotten was sitting beside me.
"You were going to fall off." He answered. "Next time you wish to die I will let you do it." With that he too disappeared from the back of the dragon.
"Wonderful." I muttered. "How much more can I make him hate me?"
Carefully, I slipped from the back of the dragon that was supposed to be my protector and stepped down on the broken rubble of what was once a large and thriving city.
"This is the city where you were born." Amira stated as she gestured to the ruins. "Right now we're standing in the Day Village, across the way is a river that splits the two sides and on the other bank will be the Village of the Night."
"And I'm supposed to be the child of one from each side. I'm not seeing how this would have happened with so much segregation of the two. I mean where would they even live?"
"There is one location that is a mutual location for both sides; that would be the temple." Amira started walking the streets well even with half the buildings were destroyed and covered the path. She scaled one of the large buildings that had toppled over to block our path and scanned the area. "We're almost there."
"I'm not going to be able to climb that." I huffed.
"You're weak." Hiei muttered as he approached the building.
"And you're an ass." I stated. "Thanks for pointing out the obvious. I mean I did basically die recently and this is the first day I've been able to walk around anywhere at all since I woke up. So excuse me for being a "weak female". Maybe next time I'll make sure you get caught in a world altering blast of energy and see how you feel afterwards."
Hiei glared viciously at me before taking a step towards me, I stepped back involuntarily.
"Do you want to get up that building or not?" Hiei snapped angrily.
"Depends. Are you going to drop me off the side when we get up there?"
"I'm seriously considering it."
"Then I think I would rather stay right where I am."
Hiei looked furious and I almost stepped back from him again, but I didn't have a chance as he darted forward, snatched me up and ran up the collapsed building quickly. Once he reached the top he dumped me unceremoniously on the rubble in front of him.
"Great…" I snarled as I stood up slowly on the unsteady surface and brushed the dirt off of me. "Now I'm stuck on the top of a collapsing building. You do realize there's no way I can climb down either, right?"
"Your friend can take you down." He muttered.
"Amira is already at the end of the road." I stated pointedly.
Hiei looked furious as he turned to look for Amira. I sighed and shook my head as I turned away from him to look for a way down the toppled building we stood on. Carefully I made my way over to one side that didn't look nearly as dangerously as the rest of it and tested my footing, when it didn't give away right away I stepped downward. A few steps down and I was feeling pretty good, that is until the window I was trying to cross carefully gave away under me. As I fell I reached out to try to grab the lip of the window in a small attempt to stop my descent. Glass cut into my hand as I grasped the edge before it pulled loose and I lost my perch.
"Crap." I muttered as I watched my hand slip from the ledge until a hand shot in and snagged my wrist.
"You are a pain in my ass." Hiei's voice met my ears as he pulled me from the hole.
"Then why didn't you let me fall?" I asked as he set me down carefully beside him on stable footing.
He scowled at me and inspected my hand. Shimmering blood pooled in my hand from where the glass had cut in and slivers of glass glinted in the sun. He picked the pieces out as carefully as he could then pulled something from his coat that he proceeded to wrap it around the wound.
"Don't do it again." He snapped.
"Do what? Walk?" I questioned as I stared at my hand; he had been so gentle with it, it has surprised me.
"Go off on your own like an idiot."
"Well excuse me for trying to get off the building without being a "burden" on you." I complained.
He made a noise, somewhere between a snort of laughter and a sound of disgust, before he swept me up quickly and climbed down the building.
"Better?" He asked as he sat me down.
"I didn't ask you to do that." I growled as I stalked away from him.
"You could be at least a little grateful."
"You could at least be less of a dick."
"You're being childish."
"You're being an ass." I swiveled to look him in the eyes. "I don't know what I might have done to you in the past, because I can't remember anything, but you have been nothing but rude to me. It's like, that's all you're able to do around me. So excuse me for being testy and I'm sorry I'm not more grateful, but it's extremely hard to be when you don't treat me well more often than not."
I spun back around and stomped off in the direction that I had seen Amira go off in. Thanks for leaving me alone with him. I snarled to myself, I'm sure she was thoroughly enjoying it. I turned the corner and came to a halt. There before me was a large building perched over the river. In front of the building was a large statue of an elegant looking woman with large wings. Her face looked familiar, but I wasn't sure if I was remembering seeing the statue before or if it was something else.
"That's Selene." Amira said as she walked over to me. "She's the Originator."
"Originator?"
"She is the person from whom your entire race came."
I turned to look at Amira. "One person started an entire race of beings?"
"That's how the legend goes. She was the first. In fact the only other person to summons the dragon you have was her."
"She was the summoner of Seiryuu?"
"Well, I'm not sure if she actually summoned the dragon or if they were always companions but, yes. She was the only other person. She's also the only one that was the like you."
"What do you mean?"
"She was the only one that of both Night and Day. After her there were no others."
"Why not?" I looked at the statue again. "Did she not allow it? And what happened here? Why is it ruined, why am I the last one?"
Amira shrugged. "I don't know."
She lied, I could tell. She didn't want to tell me something.
"Am I not supposed to know?"
She just smiled. "We should go back, it's late."
I watched her as she turned around. "Why did you bring me here? What did you want to show me?"
She shrugged. "I thought you should see where you're from."
"But you haven't shown me anything. I'm just looking at the outside of a temple and I haven't even seen my home. You haven't shown me anything." I stalked off towards the temple.
"Where are you going?"
"To see the temple." I answered. "You brought me all this way to see this place I should at least go look at it. Besides, you said there was something you wanted to show Hiei and you haven't done that so I might as well go looking around myself."
"It's not good idea; it's not structurally safe in there. There's nothing to show you."
"Then I'll find that out for myself." I snapped as I made my way up the stairs. At the top of the stairs I slid my way past the crumbling doors and into the interior of the temple. The room I entered appeared to be the main chamber for daily prayer. Another statue that mimicked the statue outside stood against the far wall on a raised dais and at the feet of the statue were two flowers. I made my way across the uneven floor, climbing over the chunks of ceiling that had fallen down and avoiding the large cracks I could see until I could approach the statue. Below the dais was a basin where offerings were most likely made.
"They really did look at her like she was some sort of Goddess." I muttered as I looked up at her.
"To them that's what she really was." Amira's voice called out from the doors. "You should really come back now; it's not safe in there."
I looked over to Amira as she spoke and out of the corner of my eye I saw what appeared to be a person running around a corner and the sound of giggling met my ears.
"Did you hear that?" I asked as I spun around.
"Hear what?"
"That laughter?"
"I didn't hear anything."
"It came from over here…" I murmured as I made my way to the right side of the statue you. A large column had toppled over. "I'm sure this is where I heard it coming from."
"There's nothing over there, come on we should go." Amira's voice was coming closer.
I shook my head as I squatted down. "There's an opening behind the pillar." I hitched the kimono up and shimmied my way under it and into the other room.
"Yuzuki!" Amira called, but I didn't turn around. Instead I continued forward into the small room.
"There's a room back here." I answered as I looked around. The small room looked to be an annex where rituals would be held, there was an alter table off to one side of the small room. An image flashed through my head and the sensation of many hands holding my arms and legs down against my will suddenly kept me from moving. A phantom hand wrapped around my neck and started to choke the life out of me. I struggled against the phantom hands holding my arms and legs as my vision began to fade and a voice echoed in the room.
"You just need to die! If you die we can all live! With you dead the curse will stop!"
Tears formed at the corners of my eyes as I struggled against a phantom assailant.
"Yuzuki?" I voice called to me but I couldn't answer. I could barely even make a sound.
"Yuzuki?!" The voice was panicked now, but still the phantom hands continued to strangle me.
"Move woman, you're not helping." A gruff male voice reached my ears as the sound of someone trying to come through the hole I had made my way through a moment ago.
"What are you doing?" Hiei, it was Hiei's annoyed voice that questioned me, but I couldn't answer.
"Crap." Amira's voice reached my ears as she forced her way through. "I was afraid this would happen. We need to wake her up."
"Wake her up? What are you talking about?"
"Shit, she's going to die with we don't do something." Amira's voice was colored with concern. "Yuzuki, I know you can hear me. It's not real, what you're feeling, what they're doing, it's not real."
I tried to focus on her words, and though it felt as though the hand had loosened it was still wrapped around my neck. I struggled with my arms, but no matter how much I told myself it wasn't real, I couldn't make them go away.
"Tch… Move." Hiei moved in front of my hazy vision and slapped me, hard across the face.
My neck wrenched as my face turned to the side, but the burning pain of the slap caused the hands around me to disappear; I was free. I gasped, choked, and coughed heavily as tears flooded from my eyes and down my cheeks.
"There are hand prints on her wrists and neck." Hiei noted.
"What… happened…?" I asked my voice hoarse.
"You remembered something that happened to you a very long time ago." Amira answered slowly.
"They tried to kill me. Why didn't you tell me? Warn me that something like this could happen?"
"I wasn't sure… You took your memories away. I couldn't be sure if there was something here that would make you remember. I'm so sorry." Amira reached out to touch me.
"Don't." I snapped as I moved away from her touch. I realized I had taken hold of Hiei's coat and quickly released it as my cheeks reddened in embarrassment; again he sees my weakness. I quickly run out of the small room, shimming under the column before making a dash across the large hall and out of the temple. Running to who knows where.