Yu Yu Hakusho: The Next Stage
Chapter 14: A Daughter's Rage
Mayumi felt instantaneous cold as she landed in the soft white snow. Shivering, she stood up and gazed around her, arms wrapped around her bare shoulders. The four Stones hanging from her neck grazed her skin, which felt uncomfortable in the blizzard. Drawing in a deep breath, she began to make her way toward the last Stone: Takashi's Water Stone.
Everything around her was a pale blue, so she felt a little uneasy at the sight of her red dress. Through the snow, she was able to make out buildings. A city, perhaps?
As she drew closer, she could see that she'd guessed correctly. A city lay before her, the color of ice. The main street was barren; no one was outside, and a layer of snow blanketed the road. Did anyone live here?
After wandering for some time, Mayumi came across three women standing in a circle in the middle of a clearing. The snow fell softly around them, but they didn't seem to mind the cold. Mayumi, however, was beginning to lose feeling in her body. Her torn dress did little to generate any heat for her. It barely reached her knees now, and one glove was missing. The other had holes. Her shoes were strapped heels, so they did nothing either.
Hiding behind a small house, she began to listen in on the conversation.
"Did you hear about Yukina?" asked the first one. "She's the girl who abandoned us to find her fire demon brother, Hiei."
"Hina had twins, Yukina and Hiei," explained the second.
"But," cried the third, "if she's had a boy, then that means she was with a man!"
"Yes," said the first solemnly. "Our rules forbid such meetings with men. Only violence has come to our ice apparition race when men have been mixed in."
"Yukina has married a human man," whispered the second, looking around her.
The third gasped.
"Now she's gone and had a son with that oaf," the first said.
"His name is Takashi," the second said.
"He is cursed?" asked the third.
"Yes," said the first. "He is damned for coming into existence."
Mayumi narrowed her eyes. The first two women left, leaving the third standing in the snow. Her ice blue hair was parted into two long braids down her back, and her white kimono swayed with the wind.
"Come out, girl," said the ice apparition. Mayumi walked out slowly from her hiding spot.
"We do not believe in violence here," said the apparition. "If you want the Water Stone, it is yours to take."
"In exchange for what?" asked Mayumi, not moving.
"You must let me tell you a story. Come, you must be freezing."
The girl offered Mayumi a heavy blanket, and she accepted it. Putting it around her shoulders, Mayumi gazed over at the girl, who sat down in the chair across from her. They had gone to her home, where she lived with her mother.
"I am Hana, an ice apparition. Our people do not believe in contact with men. They bring only violence. That is why courting a man is looked upon as disgraceful. If that has happened, the apparition will bear a son. We can only create daughters by ourselves. Yukina's mother, Hina, did that, and had twins: Yukina and Hiei. Hiei was exiled from our kingdom. As a baby we wrapped him up and cast him from our city in the sky."
"Who would do such a thing?" Mayumi cried.
"My mother, Rui. She was Hina's best friend, but was ordered by the elders to do it. It broke her. She was never the same. As atonement, she asked the baby Hiei to come back and kill us all."
"Hiei probably doesn't remember that," Mayumi said defensively.
"Not true. They can hear and remember everything, even when in the womb."
"I had no idea."
"Yukina has married a human man. What is his name?"
"Kuwabara."
"And their son is Takashi."
"Yeah, and they have a younger girl named..." Mayumi broke off.
"Yes?" asked Hana.
"Hina," whispered Mayumi. "I didn't realize..."
"Well, I do not worry about the girl. It is Takashi I do worry for."
"Why?"
"Just like Hiei, he is cursed. His life will be filled with great pain, I fear. I just have one small request in exchange for this Stone. That is why I stole it, in order to get you to come."
"What do you need me to do?" asked Mayumi, straightening in her chair.
"Look after Takashi, and take care of him. Do not let him suffer more than he already has to."
Mayumi stared. She rested her head in her palms. Without looking up, she continued.
"Who is your master?"
"How did you find out?" asked Hana, surprised.
"That last girl was a blab. She mentioned him."
"I do not know his name. I only said I would help him in order to travel through time to the masquerade. It is in the future, you know. You are in the past."
"I am? But you spoke about Takashi..."
"He is only a baby right now." Hana stood from her chair.
"Here is the Water Stone," she said, offering it to her. Mayumi took it.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"And my request?"
"I will work very hard to make sure he's happy." Mayumi said, smiling warmly toward her.
"Thank you."
With that, Mayumi set the blanket down on the chair and made her way outside. She turned to Hana, who stood in the doorway.
"Bye!" said Mayumi, waving her hand wildly above her head. Within moments, she was gone.
Mayumi landed on the cold stone on her knees, which hurt rather badly.
"I'm back!" she sang, full of pride for her great deed. "And I have all of the Stones. They weren't too hard to get back, it just took up some time. Hello?"
No one was in the room. In fact, she wasn't back in the ballroom at all. She was in a long corridor, which stretched forever in both directions, falling into shadow. Strange columns lined the stone walls, and before her were great wooden doors reaching toward the tall ceiling. Curiosity taking hold, Mayumi approached the doors, which opened by themselves for her. She stepped into a brightly lit room, which had tile covering the floors. There were no windows in the room, but columns lined the walls, just like in the dark corridor. In the center of this massive room sat only one piece of furniture: a desk. Enormous stacks of papers reached up from the desk, leaving no space to see the surface, and behind this was a chair.
Mayumi could hear the doors opening once again behind her, but she was having difficulty finding a place to hide. The only object in the room was the desk.
"Ogre, I need you to pull down my television," said young Koenma, strolling into the room, followed by Jeorge. The blue ogre immediately ran over to the desk and grabbed a remote from underneath a stack of papers, which were sent toppling to the floor. Seeing the scattered mess, Koenma's face grew purple.
"OGRE! NOW I HAVE TO REORGANIZE THE PILES! I HAD IT ALL READY TO STAMP, AND YOU JUST MESSED IT UP!"
"I'm sorry, sir!" squeaked Jeorge, cowering underneath the television, which had just appeared in the wall. Koenma, with clenched fists, walked over to the desk and sat in the chair. With the remote control he had grabbed from Jeorge, he pressed the "Play" button.
Mayumi was grateful for Koenma's toddler form. Had he been in his older form, his legs would have reached the floor, and would leave no room for Mayumi to crouch beneath the desk. Suddenly, she could hear voices coming from the television. She leaned her ear against the floor, peeking through the gap between the desk and the tile.
What she saw almost made her gasp in shock.
It was her mother and her father, placing a baby in a crib. This baby had raven hair and eerie blue eyes.
"That's me!" she thought. "Why does Koenma want to see this?"
She saw Yusuke kiss the baby, then look lovingly at her before exiting the room. Yusuke closed the door and made his way down the hall to his room. He and Keiko climbed into bed, and before long they were fast asleep. Yusuke began moving around in discomfort, and began muttering.
Koenma pressed another button, and the view of the television switched.
It was downtown Tokyo, and it was in complete chaos. People were running and screaming, and buildings were smoking or completely on fire. Some had collapsed already. Massive televisions had panicked news anchors announcing the end of the world. Water flooded the streets, and cars were being taken along with it. People, being swept away, were not able to take notice of the tremors in the earth. Subways had stopped running, and telephone lines had broken.
Yusuke was lying in the park, his face bruised and bleeding, and his clothes torn. He struggled to stand, but was unable. His breathing was coming heavily, and his eyes held complete terror.
By simply raising her energy, Tokyo had been destroyed, exterminated, annihilated. The only thing the teen had left to do was to murder Yusuke Urameshi. Her eerie, unnatural blue eyes had a burning desire within them: The desire to kill. The evil fire in her eyes glowed brighter as she advanced, clutching a sphere of spirit energy in her palm.
"Goodbye, dear father," she snarled.
And with that, the teen shoved the energy into her father's heart, ruthlessly slaughtering the last man alive in the Living World.
Koenma hit stop. He breathed a heavy sigh.
"Um, Koenma sir? What was that?" asked the ogre.
"That was Yusuke's recent dream. He thinks it's foretelling the future."
"Was that his daughter?"
"Yes. She is only a baby right now, but Yusuke believes that when she grows older, she will cause the end of Living World. Nothing will be left."
Mayumi could feel her heart beating wildly. She was overcome with a chill in her spine that spread to the rest of her body.
The intercom on his desk buzzed. Koenma picked up the phone.
"Come, ogre. We have to check on the downstairs. There's been an accident. Dumb ogres have mixed up all of our incoming files."
They left the room. Mayumi, tears streaming down her face, began to chant in a chocked whisper.