Earlier that day…

Kurama prowled the sitting room like a caged tiger, feeling restless and annoyed. Thoroughly annoyed. He'd wanted to go see the trials. He'd made that as clear to Hiei as he possibly could but the little lord had refused to take him.

A pile of books sat on the table before the sofa, probably some kind of peace offering from Hiei. A way for him to fill his time. But Kurama ignored them. His frustration with Hiei left him unable to focus. He would much prefer to spend his time simmering in his anger. It was far more satisfying, if unproductive.

The door slid open with a soft sound. Startled, Kurama turned. He'd been sure it was locked. Had Hiei changed his mind? Was he going to take Kurama after all?

Kurama's hope turned to ash as he saw who entered the room. Karasu stepped inside, a smirk on his cruel face.

"Hello, Shuichi," he said, shutting the door behind him. The snick of the lock sounded much too loud in Kurama's ears.

Kurama started to back away as Karasu approached, his heart hammering in his chest. He could feel the wards pulling on his skin, their burn intensifying.

Karasu glided forward like a tall, dark spectre, his violet eyes never leaving Kurama. Kurama felt his knees give way beneath him. He was dead. He was sure that he was dead. Why else would Karasu be here now?

Long fingers slid gently through his hair. Kurama shook beneath them. They felt like spiders crawling across his scalp, searching for the perfect spot to sink their poisonous fangs into. His breaths came in short, harsh gasps.

"I missed you, Shuichi." Karasu's voice was deceptively sweet and tender. He sounded like he was talking to a long-absent family member, not a boy he'd abused and tortured.

A hand slid beneath Kurama's chin, lifting his face. Kurama was forced to meet the horrible man's eyes as he was too terrified to close his own. Karasu traced his thumb over Kurama's lips. His thumbnail pressed lightly in. It wasn't hard enough to break the skin but it was enough to heighten Kurama's fear.

"It's a pity that I couldn't keep you," Karasu continued. "But it really would have been very inconvenient." He slipped a finger between Kurama's lips. Kurama didn't dare bite. He'd tried that once. The small amount of satisfaction he'd gained from causing the bastard pain had not been worth the punishment he'd received.

Karasu pressed down on Kurama's tongue. Kurama thought that he was going to vomit.

"I was very surprised to see you again," Karasu said. "It's a pity you were bought by someone too honourable to make good use of you."

He removed his finger from Kurama's mouth and grabbed a fistful of his hair, pulling his head back. He rose to his full height, dragging Kurama's head up with him. Kurama rose up on his knees, trying to lessen the burning pain in his scalp. Karasu pressed Kurama's nose into his crotch. Kurama gagged at the feel of the material, tears starting to spill down his cheeks and soaking into the cloth.

"People are asking too many questions," Karasu told Kurama. "I've got to get rid of you now. But we can have a little fun first. I've been wanting to do this ever since I first saw you."

Kurama was abruptly flung back as if he were nothing more than a doll. He sprawled on his back on the carpet, stunned. The room seemed to grow darker around him as he stared up at Karasu. It was as if the man were sucking all the sunlight into his body. His eyes glowed brightly blue.

And then he started to change. Kurama thought that perhaps his vision was blurring but as the change grew more obvious he realised that there was nothing wrong with his eyes.

Black clothes were shifting to become sleek black feathers. Karasu's facial features remained the same though his skin turned a sickly grey. Behind his back, large black wings rose up, curving forward to frame him. They looked like the wings of a swan but there was nothing refined or majestic about the creature they belonged to.

Kurama's gut twisted sickeningly. This could only be a demon. A demon, like the one his mother had supposedly laid with. The one who had fathered him.

But his mother would never have consorted with someone who's eyes were so cold and cruel, no matter how beautiful he was.

And there was nothing beautiful about Karasu now. Even the bones of his face seemed sharper. His slender fingers were now tipped with long, wicked-looking talons. Kurama's eyes slid to his feet. Karasu's toes were long and ended in the same sharp talons as his hands.

Kurama's mouth opened but no sound came out. Though his body was rigid with terror, he couldn't scream. All he could do was stare with wide, horrified eyes at the monster looming over him, his eyes glittering with predatory satisfaction. Karasu's lips curved into a smile that sent a fresh shiver down Kurama's spine. His teeth were long and sharp.

Kurama couldn't wrap his mind around what he was seeing. How could Karasu have hidden this secret for so long?

A demon. A demon. The words bounced around in his mind like a rubber ball. None of the books he'd recently read in Reikai's library could prepare him for the sight in front of him.

Did this mean that Karasu's sister, his step-mother, was a demon as well?

"You look shocked," Karasu said. "I suppose you're wondering whether or not your little half-brother is a demon too. Let me assure you, the little brat is only half-demon, like you. My sister is completely human. And not my sister."

He stepped closer to Kurama, sunlight shifting over the black feathers of his wings. They made a soft, whispering sound as he moved.

"She's just a gullible girl I bribed into helping me," Karasu said. "If you had been female, the ruse wouldn't have even been necessary. I could have just married you."

Kurama's stomach turned. If he had been female his father probably would have agreed to the marriage. He would have wanted to marry Kurama off as soon as possible to secure a proper heir. All Karasu would have needed to do was to show up looking sufficiently respectable and he would have had Barasono on a platter.

Kurama scooted back until Karasu stooped and wrapped his hand around Kurama's ankle. He dragged him forward across the carpet by the limb, then released him and stood. He pressed his boot into Kurama's stomach.

"But I suppose it turned out to be fortunate in the end," Karasu said. "Once I marry Princess Botan, both kingdoms will be under my control. With two armies under my command, Tourin will fall easily. And Aleric even more so."

Kurama shuddered, appalled by the beast's plan. He really believed that he could control all four kingdoms. He was insane.

But, then, he was also correct. So maybe he wasn't insane.

Karasu flexed his fingers, studying his long, curved talons in the rays of the sun, like a woman admiring her freshly-painted nails. "Now, we have all day together," he said. "Isn't that lovely? Where should we start?"

Kurama had an answer for that. Absolutely nowhere. But Karasu obviously wasn't interested in what he thought. The question had been purely rhetorical.

Kurama stared up into smouldering violet eyes, seeing only unfeeling cruelty there. If demons were gods and Karasu was a demon, then surely he was the god of death?

-0-

Kurama coughed up blood as Karasu dragged him across the floor. His blood dyed the carpet red in his wake.

Kurama had tried to fight in the beginning, despite the pain of the wards trying to force his submission, but it was useless. Karasu was far too strong for him. Kurama's nails slipped over feathers like they'd been coated with oil. Their sharp ends cut his hands to ribbons.

Those damn feathers weren't normal. They were made from some kind of tough, metal-like substance. Though they looked soft as a dove's feathers, their ends were wickedly sharp, slicing through vulnerable flesh like a butcher's knife.

Karasu found Kurama's pathetic attempts to resist amusing. He mocked Kurama's weakness, delighting in his power over the slave.

But, then, this was nothing new. He'd always enjoyed having power over Kurama. But now, he'd taken it to a whole new level of cruelty.

He ripped into Kurama's body with casual brutality, tore at his hair with harsh yanks, twisted his limbs with vicious hands. Kurama was long past his limit. He just wanted the pain to end. He couldn't endure any more.

"I liked it better when you could scream," Karasu grumbled. He released Kurama's collar and let him flop to the carpet. Kurama's head banged against the floor. His vision swam nauseatingly.

Karasu licked Kurama's blood from his talons as if he were a cat licking his paws.

"You taste like spring," he said. "I've always liked that flavour."

Kurama had long since given up hope of rescue. Everyone was at the trials and, as Karasu had alluded to before, the festivities would last all day. Kurama was unable to scream and even if he could, no one was around to hear him.

The fact that he was going to die had cemented itself in Kurama's mind. He didn't see any way out of this. His life was no longer measured in days or even hours. It was measured in minutes. Each one felt like an eternity but passed by too quickly. Soon, Kurama was certain, those minutes would turn to mere breaths.

Kurama's bare chest bled from deep cuts. His mouth felt numb and all he could taste was blood and bile.

The wards felt like living snakes writhing beneath his skin. He was certain that Karasu was manipulating them somehow, using them to cause him further agony.

Karasu finished cleaning Kurama's blood from his talons and smiled down at him. Kurama coughed again, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. That smile didn't belong on the face of such a hideous creature. It was tender, like the way a father might look at the child he loved. It was so wrong.

"Your master won't be back for another few hours. By that time, you'll be cold and stiff," Karasu said. He bent and lifted Kurama up as if he weighed no more than a mouse. His talons dug into Kurama's back, bringing him fresh pain. Kurama screamed silently.

Karasu carried him into the bedroom and set him down on the bed. He smoothed Kurama's hair over the pillow. "You'll make such a lovely sight," he said as he arranged Kurama's limbs. Kurama made a small, pained sound as broken bones were carelessly pushed into place.

Then Karasu slid his hand around Kurama's neck. His fingers slid beneath the collar and squeezed, cutting off Kurama's air. Kurama struggled weakly but he'd lost too much blood to put up a real fight.

Karasu's wings enclosed them, blocking out the sunlight from the window. "Close your eyes, Shuichi," he cooed. "Go to sleep."

Kurama choked uselessly, saliva and blood sliding from the corners of his mouth. His lungs burned as his heart laboured to pump what little oxygen he had left to his failing organs. All he could see was Karasu's horrible face. He looked gleeful, as if he were getting some kind of sadistic gratification from the act of choking Kurama. Of killing him.

Kurama's eyelids fluttered closed. He conjured up an image of his mother in his mind's eye. Her sweet face, young forever in his heart. He wanted that to be the last thing he saw. Not the face of the monster who killed him.

Shiori smiled in his mind's eye and reached for him. Kurama reached back but their hands never touched. Something dark curled around Kurama and dragged him down into the endless shadows. His mother faded away above him. She was still smiling.