Disclaimer: I don't own yyh or any of its characters.

I truly apologize for not having this chapter up sooner but there are several reasons for the delay, one being the fact I had to reboot my computer without saving any of the files as the computer would not start otherwise and I had this chapter about halfway done when it got deleted and then I barely had anytime to do anything because of school. This weekend I actually had some time so I decided to write and it turned out to be a fairly long chapter. So, anyway, I thank you all for the many great reviews. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 11

Torment

Kurama let out a soft moan as he awoke, instantly being aware of a throbbing headache that he had. 'Where am I?' After quickly observing his surroundings, Kurama figured he was in a dungeon like room. It was made of grayish brick and the room itself was fairly small though not extremely tiny. As he tried to move, the redhead found he couldn't as he was chained to the wall, by energy draining bonds most likely. The chains were slowly sucking away all of his powers. Kurama snorted at the chains that bound him. Was this woman truly so dumb that she did not realize that he could easily pick his way out of these within several minutes? It was child's--

"Onii-chan?" Mumbled a voice that was in the room.

Emerald eyes widened greatly as they looked towards the far corner of the room where Shuichi was also chained to the wall. Kaori purposely kept him here just to make sure he wouldn't escaped or else Shuichi'd be killed. 'Damn her.'

"You're finally awake. Good as it would be no fun to torture you while you slept." Said Kaori as she entered the room.

Kurama hatefully glared at the approaching woman, "Do what ever you wish to me but release Shuichi."

"Oh now why do such a foolish thing? If release him, you can easily free yourself but while he is here, you are my little puppet." She said as she reached behind her back, "Do you know how long I have waited for this?" When she brought her hand forward, a black leather whip was now firmly clutched in it. "How long I have waited to torture you. I shall truly enjoy doing this."

Shiori was slumped against the wall in the hall, in her lap Naomi's lifeless corpse was laying. Unwilled tears still ran down her checks though the amount of tears had decreased greatly but the pain she felt had not. She was still in denial about the death of her sister. Her eyes seemed blank, almost dead, as she kept on telling herself that it was all a dream. 'None of this could be real. A dream. That's right. It's all just a bad dream. Right sister?' Mused Shiori as she focused her gaze on the corpse, gently brushing away a few loose strands of hair from her face.

The clock began ringing as it struck some unknown hour.

How long she had been sitting she truly did not care. It may have been minutes, hours, or even days for all she cared. Time didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. One sister was dead, the other loathed her, her mother attempted to kill her, and her son was the demon who murdered her father. Truly, how could this be real? And if it were all indeed a reality, why bother existing anymore?

For a brief instead, the psychic's eyes shut closed and upon opening them she found she was staring at someone's feet. Her head snapped upwards only to see Naomi standing in front of her, staring down at her with a hard yet gentle gaze. Wide chocolate eyes stared up with disbelief at the figure standing before her before glancing down at the lifeless body in her arms. 'How can this be?'

"Shiori." Began Naomi who strangely appeared as if she were aglow, "Stop crying for me."

Wearily Shiori lifted her head up, "How can I? It's my fault you died."

"Shut up and stop thinking in such a childish manner!" Shouted Naomi, startling her younger sister, "I died of my own fault!"

Shiori broke eye contact as she lowered her eyes to the ground, "But had I listened to you about mother's and Kimiko's true nature, none of this would've happened."

"It was unpreventable. Even had you listened, this would've occurred eventually." Stated Naomi before letting a small smile show, "It is not your fault so stop worrying about it. You should be more concerned about Shuichi and Kurama."

Once her son's name was spoken, Shiori's eyes widened as she realized that her sons were both gone, "Oh gods! Shuichi-san! I didn't even notice he was gone! And Shuichi must've gone after Kaori! She.. set this up.."

Naomi nodded. "Yea. Getting Kimiko to kill me, kidnapping Shuichi, all just to get an ounce of vengeance for her late husband."

"I have to go save him!"

Naomi smiled and nodded, "Once you wake up that is."

Shiori's eyes parted slightly as she awoke. She blinked as she looked around, the ghost of Naomi having vanished while her body still rested in Shiori's lap. 'It was all a dream then.' Shiori then shook her head as she smiled softly, 'No. It wasn't.' With gentle hands, the woman gently picked up Naomi's upper body off of her and carefully placed it down on the ground. The woman then stood up and promptly headed for the door, no longer concerned about the corpse on the ground but for the safety of her sons. She just prayed that nothing truly bad had happened to them.

The whipped cracked loudly as it struck Kurama's flesh yet again, causing crimson to explode from the already open wounds. Kurama's upper body was blood-soiled with dozens of whip-inflicted injuries covering him. The blood had dripped off of him and formed a small puddle beneath him, which was growing larger by the minute.

Kurama flinched slightly as the whip struck his torso yet again though he barely felt the pain anymore as endorphins have finally began to kick in, diminishing the pain quite a bit. Though this was quite a beating, he had been through far worse before. This was almost nothing compared to a few other times. If she could not even make it truly painful, he would never giver her the satisfaction of hearing him scream.

Kaori snarled as she struck him again. "Scream you bastard!" She struck him again, "Fucker! Why won't you shout in pain!"

Emerald calmly gazed at her as a small smirk appeared on Kurama's face as he ever calmly said, "Is that honestly the best you've got? Honestly, I expected more from a psychic who promised to get revenge on me."

Rage flashed in Kaori's eyes briefly at his words. Then she smiled. Not a kind smile by any means. It was a sadistic smile. The kind of smile that means I'll make sure you suffer dearly for that comment of yours. Calmly, the woman reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small vile filed with a with violet liquid, "Ever heard of the Devil's Dawn? Well, I'm sure you have as you a master of plants but just in case, allow me to refresh your memory. The Devil's Dawn is a Makai plant found in only a select region of Yomi's territory. It is a dangerous plant as it is covered in a toxic slime that burns whatever it touches. Even a single drop is said to be so painful that normal humans will die instantly from it. The toxins in the slime painfully kill the victim, tormenting them with hallucinations and nightmares as they slowly approach death. The slime extracted from the plant is very rare as few dare attempt to get it but I have managed to get my hands on it and I have always longed to use it."

Of course he'd heard of this plant, though he never personally cared for it much. It was too messy and a hassle to manipulate into a weapon.

Kaori took out the cork at the top of the glass vile, held the vile over Kurama's wounded chest, and tipped it over every so slightly so that only a single droplet spilled out from it.

Whatever pain Kurama had expected the liquid to cause, he truly had not expected this. The pain was immense, so immense that Kurama out howled in pain the instant the droplet touched his skin.

A devilish, triumphant smirk appeared on Kaori's face at the sound of Kurama's scream. Oh how much fun she would have with him now.

Shiori quickly ran through the demon realm, running as fast as her legs could possibly carry her. Her mother had killed one person she'd cared for dearly and no way was she about to let her kill another one.

"Ms. Minamino?"

The psychic spun around on her heel only to find that Yusuke was watching her from his place up high in a tree. "Yusuke-san."

Chocolate eyes were focused on the woman. She was different from before. Her aura was demonic and her scent was similar to that of Kurama's. Somehow she'd become a demon, but he wasn't going to bother questioning her about it as she seemed very troubled by something, "What's wrong?"

"My older sister was killed by my younger sister a few hours ago and Shuichi went down to kill her as well as my mother but she also took the younger Shuichi, most likely holding him hostage and using him as a shield so Shuichi won't harm her, leaving her free to torment him as she pleases and I think Shuichi is in real danger." Quickly explained Shiori.

Yusuke's eyes narrowed upon hearing that his friend was in trouble and instantly jumped from the tree and landed on the ground right by Shiori, "His grandmother really is a bitch. Well, I can't just let him get killed. I'm going with ya."

The demoness nodded, "Let's hurry then."

Kurama found himself standing in the middle of a darkened forest. Emerald glanced around as their owner wondered where he was. Cautiously, he wandered ahead until he reached a clearing. As he walked to the center of it, he heard people approaching him. Three shadowed figures began to appear through the dense forest, with Kurama's eyes widening upon seeing them.

One was Shiori, standing there in her demonic form with crimson orbs rid of any trace of emotion. The next was Kuronue, soiled in in blood with puncture wounds form the bamboo stalks that killed him. And the last was a beautiful woman dressed in an elegant violet kimono, her silky silver hair reaching the ground while her amber eyes were blankly staring at Kurama. A silver tail swayed gently behind her while two fox ears were perched atop her head.

Kurama gazed disbelievingly at two of them, 'How can they be alive!'

Kuronue smirked as his amethyst eyes looked upon the human form of his previous partner, "Surprised to see me alive, eh 'partner'? Well, no thanks to you, ya prick! You fucking left me there to die while you ran off with the treasure!"

"No! I--"

"And you saved yourself instead of me when those demons attacked being too afraid to attack them. You left your own mother to die. What a wonderful son you are, Youko." Calmly stated the woman, cutting Kurama's sentence short.

"I--"

"And because of your selfish wish to keep alive, I suffered! I lost a mother, a sister, my humanity, and a son." Added Shiori.

Kurama was at a lost of words as he fell to the ground on his knees and tightly clutched his head with his hands. "No.." Softly whispered the former thief as he tried to block out the voices. "It's not true..."

"Traitor."

"Coward."

"Lier."

Chorused the three of them simultaneously as they closed in around Kurama who was trying to tell himself that it wasn't real and that none of it had happened that way but he did not believe his own words any longer.

Kaori stared upon Kurama's unconscious form chained to the wall, pain easily visible on his pale face that was covered in both blood and sweat. An empty vile was clutched in the elder woman's hand as she happily grinned down at the redhead, staring at his blood-soiled torso, the wounds had a nasty shade of green around them from the toxins which were ever slowly spreading through his body. Well, she'd start up this torture again once he regained consciousness, that is, if he ever does. A hearty laugh left her upon hearing Kurama whimper meaning his little nightmare must be quite a good one. How she wished she could witness the nightmare but seeing him in this much pain was already more than enough. Ah, this was truly a good day to be alive or at least Kaori thought so as she headed for the door and left the room.

Shuichi stared at his brother laying there on the ground, motionless, with crimson everywhere around him, soaked into his clothing( what remained of it that is), in his hair, and all over his body. Shuichi visibly winced as he heard a yet another soft whimper come from Kurama. He cursed at himself for being so weak and unable to get out of these bonds.

Yusuke and Shiori hurriedly raced towards the castle, with the latter actually being happy she was a demon as her speed had greatly increased because of it. As they neared the castle, a figure began to come into view.

Shiori's eyes narrowed dangerously as her sister's form appeared in their direct path. She was obviously sent as a distraction, "Kimiko..."

"Who's she?" Asked Yusuke.

"Younger sister." Replied Shiori.

"Evil?" Inquired the former spirit detective as he came to a halt.

Shiori nodded as she too stopped. "Yea."

Kimiko smirked devilishly as she approached the two, "Good to see you, Shiori. I knew you'd come eventually. Now, if you want to get to mother you'll have to kill me and I have Naomi's power which makes me the strongest in the family!"

And that is the end of this chapter. I apologize if there are many grammar errors but I can barely see straight at the moment as I am very tired. After this chapter there should be one or two more chapters and perhaps a sequel as I have a fairly good idea for one though it might take me a while to get it up. Well, I do believe I should go start on my homework now so I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. Please review! Ja ne!