Disclaimer: As always I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho
Pen Name: sarahh86
Small Chapter Insight: His eyes stared at her until she did the only natural thing to do. Faint.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I'm right here beside you. Don't ever let go of my memory. Even if it's the only thing you can live on now...
She awoke with a startled gasp and glanced around her anxiously. For a minute that had sounded like...like Kurama.
Hiei and Youko had buried him yesterday in Yomi's territory a short distance away and Relli found no rest. She had visited his grave the night before and stayed there for hours, refusing to leave him. Eventually, she had fallen asleep and now she was on top of warm grass with faint violet scent. One of the boys must have brought her back.
Youko didn't blink as he saw Relli awaken. His mind was running calculations. Kurama wanted to make his attack as stealthy as possible. He had sent an urgent message to someone who would almost certainly come, given the circumstances and he was sure that he would make a great addition. True, he had a good family and a child but still...he would gladly allow himself a couple of days to avenge his dead friend. If only he would arrive...Youko was aware that from his territory it was quite a long journey but he was practically the strongest demon here. Surely he would be able to arrive before-
"Hey guys, I'm here."
His tone was off, as if not fully quite over the shock Youko's letter had brought him.
Hiei, who was resting against the bark of the tree, merely nodded, acknowledging his presence.
Youko did likewise and spoke to him in his low voice. "It took you long enough."
"Well I wasn't exactly across the street." He looked around him and saw Relli sitting down and he winced. He'd taken it badly but it was little compared to how she was handling Kurama's death.
She barely acknowledged his presence. Her gaze was fixed on a distant star that was in the sky.
"You alright?" he asked, sitting beside her.
"No," she answered quietly. Her voice sounded slightly hoarse from all her screaming and crying. "He's gone..."
He shrugged, leaning back against the bark of the tree, closing his eyes slightly.
"He was such a good person, he didn't deserve to die, not like that."
"Life is fucked up like that. Ev- Yusuke paused suddenly as he caught a very particular scent invaded his nostrils.
The scent was familiar, as if he'd sensed it before. It had a very particular odor, as if it was mixed together.
That's strange...it smells human...but at the same times it smells like a demon. I'm the only half-breed around here. Unless...
He glared at her, realizing the truth. "Mind telling me why I'm sensing that you're a demon?"
She crumbled and under his stern gaze she realized that telling lies was out of the question. Besides, did it truly matter anymore? The whole reason she had decided to keep it a secret was so that Kurama wouldn't find out that she was related to their enemy.
"I'm-I'm Tekkan's niece."
"WHAT?"
"Keep it down!" she whispered loudly, noticing how Hiei and Youko both turned to look curiously at them.
"Does Kurama-I mean, did Kurama know?"
"No." A feeling of remorse started to sting in her chest but she tried to ignore it. She hadn't told him anything at all. "I didn't want to tell him. Only Sunia, Genkai, and now you know."
"The old hag? How come she knows?"
"She...saved me...a long while back and she could sense my aura even though I had just found out."
He was about to ask another question when Hiei stood in front of them.
His eyes seemed sad but it was hard to tell with the darkness. "It's time. Mukuro's soldiers are taking the left wing of the fortress. The rest of us are taking the right."
"Alrighty then." He stood up and took a deep breath, hiding his plentiful energy.
There was no moon and it turned out to be quite appropriate. It made them more sightless in the darkness.
The tall fortress loomed ahead, though its outline was barely visible to most of them.
The sentries were alert and ready. In less than two minutes they would switch with other guards for relief and then would be the time to strike.
Relli's muscles were tense from being held in a still place for so long. They were starting to interfere with her concentration. They had to be very quick.
Without so much as a whisper of wind the sentries exchanged places and as soon as the new ones were in their place they were attacked.
They fell to the ground unmoving and they quickly entered the fortress without a second glance backwards.
"Where are the prisoners at?"
"Under the main part of the castle. It's a bit farther down."
Sunia's head throbbed but she ignored the pain. It wouldn't do it any good if she complained. Besides, it wasn't like she could leave Realeza off to her own with something like this.
They all hid themselves in the shadows, moving as a synchronized brush of shadows as they neared the stairs leading downstairs.
There were more guards in this part of the fortress but like with the first pair of guards, they were quickly disposed of, and they were nothing to fear.
Slowly, Youko opened the door.
Hushed, anxious, excited whispers flew all around them as they crawled in the spaces between the prisoners trying desperate to get to the other side. They didn't know if the people entering were their jailers or their saviors.
"We need all of you to keep quiet. If you make so much as a sound when we release you then you'll get us all killed. Is that understood?"
There was no response.
"Go ahead." he whispered at her and Relli pulled down the switch as quietly as she could. The only sound was the rapid beat of the human hearts around them.
She pulled it down.
Nobody said a word as the prisoners unanimously stood up, some shaking, some nervous, some happy, all thankful.
"We'll lead these people out." Hiei commenced. "You three take care of the rest."
By three, he meant Relli, Youko, and Yusuke.
They separated themselves from the group and began to climb back up the stairs, traveling upward towards the main part of the fortress.
Silence invaded much of the atmosphere for the guards were mysteriously absent from this part of the fortress and the absence caused all three of them to tense in an obvious sense of wariness.
And of course, it didn't take long for the silence to be drastically interrupted.
A dozen or so guards, none of them human, all stood before them as a cloud of mercenaries ready to fend them off. At first glance they seemed vaguely easy to fend off but then Relli had to clutch her stomach to keep the nausea down. Their energy practically exploded from their bodies.
Youko gritted his teeth. I should've seen this coming...
It was much to late to think about any last-minute plans they could've possibly come up with because they suddenly attacked, all at once.
Yusuke cursed under his breath and then called out to his companions, "Just go on ahead without me, I'll take care of them."
"Are you sure you can handle them all?" Youko asked, his normally emotionless face overwhelmed itself with pain for only an instant as a fellow demon hurled a sword almost directly into his arm.
"Yeah I'm sure. Besides..." he trailed off with a wide grin that Youko knew all too well from Kurama's memories. It was the same smile the kid got before somebody got pounded.
"Besides", Yusuke continued. "I need to kick some demon ass."
It figured.
Instead of arguing with the stubborn ex-detective, Youko tugged Relli to him and fought his way through the demons.
As soon as they were far enough Yusuke aimed his finger at all of the injured demons ready for another round of torture.
"Spirit Gun!"
Tekkan had obviously known they had been planning on sneaking in and had given them a false sense of security by letting them liberate all the prisoners.
He drunk his drink as the full moon glowed overhead. It was only a matter of time before he completely got rid of those annoying friends that his niece had managed to make.
And it was only a matter of time before he got to see his beloved Relli.
A dark smile settled over his features. Don't keep me waiting...
Their footsteps sounded loud and blatant in the darkness of the staircase until finally they reached the top and then they froze.
"Now where do we go?"
Youko frowned as he tried to remember which way it had been. "Right, I'm sure it's right."
So they went right and scant seconds later, in the tallest part of the fortress they came across two doors, no doubt the entrance to the biggest enemy that Relli had ever known.
She cleared her throat as she pulled open the doors and saw a man, who had looked so much like her father, sitting in a chair, sipping a drink.
It was amazing that he could manage to hold that calm look, when it took almost all of Relli's willpower to keep from attacking him.
"It's about time you arrived." he murmured and set his drink down to look at them to see just exactly what he was up against.
Youko neither moved nor answer and instead he studied Tekkan with an arrogant expression in his face, already planning the best way to take him out.
"Not even a hug for your dear uncle? You've become very cold-hearted."
"You made me that way." she answered a slight crisp of anger escaping her otherwise aloof tone.
He smiled and turned to her companion with wary eyes.
"You must be Youko Kurama...since the other Kurama died."
Youko didn't say a word and shook his head and within seconds lunged at Tekkan with a heavy dark vine that came from his arm.
Tekkan narrowed his eyes and Youko flew back, slamming directly into the thick wall.
The impact shocked him but it didn't stop his reflex reactions from acting and he lunged again at Tekkan.
And the only thing he did was raise his eyebrows before the bones in Youko's limbs cracked and a hollow gasp erupted from his throat. He collapsed instantly on the floor. He didn't move.
The only thing Relli could do was stare in utter horror at the scene and she glanced up at him, biting her lip as she hurriedly tried to decide what to do.
A slow trembling hand lifted itself from her body and she extended her hand, palm up towards him. Instantly, her hand shone with a strong purple light.
All he did was slowly stare at her hand as the light grew brighter until it turned into a medium-sized orb.
Then he raised his eyes toward hers. "Go ahead. Try all you want and I'll have your friends killed just like I had Kurama killed."
"You didn't kill Suichi." she snapped at him and her throat with dry. Just saying his name was difficult.
He raised his eyebrows and she instantly tensed, expecting his unique power to arise once more.
It didn't.
"Oh...so you're saying that he deliberately let go of the vine supporting him and you...just for your sake?"
"Why would that be so hard to believe?"
"I know his kind. They don't do anything out of sheer good will. And I know how your mother was."
"My mother was-
"A whore." he streched out the word so that he could enjoy the expression on her face. "Just like you."
Her eyes darkened with frustration and years of built-up anger. "You know better than anybody that my mother only gave herself to my father."
Tekkan's jaw tightened. That comment from one of his officers wouldn't have bothered him but coming from his brother's daughter...It hurt. More than he would ever dare admit.
The purple light bounced off of her fingertips and without a second thought she flung it at her uncle and lunged towards him.
It proved to be a near-fatal mistake.
He deflected it with his fist and narrowed his eyes at her and instantly she collapsed on the floor with a soft cry, torn with pain in her leg.
He'd broken one of her legs.
"Make another move and I'll break your neck."
She glanced at him as she looked up from the fox's unmoving body. "You like hurting people don't you?"
He shook his head and looked down at her as if she was idiotic for asking him that. "I'm not the one who wants this Relli dear. It was your father that built up this hatred for humanity. Hatred for all the human race. If only he had stayed true to his people, true to Demon World, then all your suffering would have been unnecessary."
He paused a bit and glanced at her bruised and battered body and anger overcame him once again, the sereneness of his past words beginning to fade. "But no. He had to sleep with that ningen woman, not only a human but also the woman I had begun to have an interest in. It was wrong but then again," he shot her a dark smile as he continued. "I never liked my brother in the first place."
Her leg was broken so she couldn't stand up to even try an attack against him. "You killed him didn't you?"
"I did," he admitted proudly and her tears overflew but she didn't stop staring at him. "And it wasn't enough. I still hated them, hated both of them for betraying me. I hated knowing that they loved each other and that they had made you. My only choice for feeling happiness again was making you suffer."
"Wouldn't it have been easier just to kill me?"
"I considered it but," he turned away from her and whispered his next words. "You reminded me too much of her and I couldn't bear to do that."
She bit her lip until she tasted blood. "You can still escape this. If you stopped this right now and paid for your crimes-
"No. It's far too late and besides..." he paused for a moment and a slow smile spread over his features. "I like this."
Her throat went dry and she couldn't find anything to say.
Not that it was necessary.
He advanced toward her with menacing steps and she shrunk against the wall, fearing his next move. Killing to him was one of the most painless things a person deserved so he was obviously going for torture.
"Killing you would be too easy." he whispered as if reading her thoughts. "No, I'd rather see you covered in blood, suffering intensely...that would be extremely gratifying-"
"I hate you!" she screamed, startling him completely. He hadn't expected that she would even speak. "I hate you so much! Why you can't just kill me and get it over with? Stop this torture! Stop it now!"
And before he could say anything the world around them turned lavender.
Literally, because smoke was coming in from the door and it circled around them. Tekkan had been so distracted by Relli that he hadn't even noticed the person who was masking himself in the thick, light smoke that soon made it impossible for sight to function.
He drew Relli closer to him, guessing that it was one of her friends, coming to help her but an uneasy feeling overcame him. The demon aura coming from this person...it was almost nonexistent!
Footsteps echoed in the room and both of them tensed instantly, wondering who it could possibly be.
Suddenly, Relli felt rough hands around her neck.
She screamedand Tekkan leaped back, startled, and steadied himself ready to attack.
His preparations came too late for a long vine twisted itself around his body, until he could no longer move.
And all Relli could do was stare.
Oh, she saw her uncle perfectly but what confused her the most was the fact that the person holding him wasn't any of her friends.
And it definitely wasn't Youko because he was still unconscious beside her.
It was all over very quickly. Tekkan broke free from his captor and turned around instantly to face his attacker but the surprise he showed was undeniable.
It was truly a pity that Realeza hadn't seen it.
"So you're back from the dead are you?" Tekkan began in a harsh voice as he narrowed his eyes.
The attacker uttered not a word and stood still and silent as Relli desperately tried to look through the thick smoke enveloping her vision.
"No matter. I'll be sure to send you back." And with that statement Tekkan lunged at him and an all out war began. He was using his brute strength since the offender obviously had next to nothing considering demonic energy.
It went on for the longest, aching time. Neither side seemed willing to back down and while both seemed evenly matched, Tekkan's pants of exhaustion were evident that his body wasn't going to resist much more struggle.
Tekkan swung his fists occasionally landing on a body part but the attacker held himself strong. The attacker lunged a blow directly at Tekkan's stomach and landed with a satisfactory thump. He then used both of his arms to wrap them around Tekkan's neck and easily flung him down harshly to the ground.
He wiped a streak of blood across his face that Tekkan had made and looked down at him with an expression of pure hate as he whispered a couple of words that left him stone cold.
"It's over for you," he murmured, in a low, gentle voice, deeply contrasting his actions for he was currently holding onto Tekkan by his own neck, "You won't be hurting anybody else."
The rest was history as a tangle of God knows what flew up from the attackers' body and wrapped Tekkan's body in a maze of utter madness. The attacker himself barely had enough time to escape the tangle before Tekkan's body was swallowed up.
The tangle flung Tekkan's body almost right next to Relli and she heard her uncle's low groan of agony as whatever was entangling him ate at his body.
Her next action was unpremeditated.
She didn't think as she slowly gathered what was left of her energy and swiftly lunged her purple orb towards her uncle's barely visible head.
The explosion was immediate and the results were final. When the small puffs of smoke dissipated she found that his body no longer had his head attached and so the tangles continued to feast on the visible flesh.
Bursts of nausea overcame her and she quickly looked away, horrified at what she'd done. She hadn't come here to kill him in a brutal way, but in the end it had been her, not the attacker who'd ended Tekkan's life.
And speaking of... Relli turned to face her protector and as the smoke cleared she could only stare.
Those arms, and those lips looked so familiar. His tall frame was certainly bigger than her own. His hair was an amazing shade and as she looked up into his eyes and their brilliant gem tone she stood up, shaking, as she fixed herself for a closer look.
As the smoke cleared completely she let out a low gasp and her eyesight became blurry. It went against all logic for her eyes to be seeing what they were seeing now. It wasn't true, it couldn't be true!
The pain screaming in her legs went unnoticed as Realeza opened her mouth but found herself unable to say a word.
He, on the other hand, looked at peace. His lips raised themselves to a shaky smile.
"Hello Relli."
As his eyes stared at her, she did the only natural thing a woman in her place would do. Faint.
Don't kill me. Please.
This chapter was meant to go up more than half a year ago but because of difficult circumstances here I am, giving it to you all a year later. Sigh. But no worries. This just means that my muse has returned at that you all will be hearing from me at least once a month now. After this there's not much more to go on. The chapters will range from 3-5 more and then after that 'Trust In Your Heart' will be completed and done with.
As always reviews, tips, and helpful comments are always appreciated as the final chapters of TIYH are being edited and revised as I type this.