Rirī turned at hearing Youko call her name and hit the ground, dogging a blast of energy.
"What on earth?" She breathed, then quickly leapt up to her feet and unsheathed her sword.
Yomi appeared before her, beside him stood Kasai. Youko was suddenly at Rirī's side and he growled when he saw Yomi.
"Kurama, it's good to see- I mean, meet you, again." Yomi said, a finger tapping his temple next to his closed, blind eyes.
"What is it you are after Yomi?" Youko demanded.
Yomi grinned, flashing his fangs and Kuronue sprang into view, standing next to Youko.
"O look what decided to crawl out of hiding." The bat said.
"Good, now you are all present. Welcome to our happy circle Kuronue." Yomi said.
Kuronue rolled his eyes and when he saw Kasai he gave a gasp.
"That's Kasai's other half? She's so creepy!" He exclaimed.
Kasai's eyes narrowed at him and she turned to Yomi.
"Can I kill him?" She asked.
Yomi chuckled.
"Not yet."
"What is it you are after Yomi?" Youko demanded again.
"It's simple really. I want to make you suffer like I have; to live the rest of your life in darkness. You allowed my light to be taken from me, now I will take yours from you." Yomi said.
Youko growled and Rirī tightened her grip on her sword, stepping forward. The thought of Youko never seeing again pained her. Those beautiful golden eyes deserved to see the world and all of its beauty.
"If you think you can blind Kurama, you have another thing coming!" She said.
"I'm with the human on this one." Kuronue agreed, stepping forward next to her.
Yomi chuckled and Kasai gave an amused smirk, causing Rirī and Kuronue to exchange questioning glances.
"You think I meant his eyes? How blind of you! Can you not see that the light in his world is the both of you?" Yomi said.
"Foolish, even I could sense that." Kasai said to Rirī, making her feel inferior.
Youko growled.
"You'll leave them out of this Yomi." He said.
Yomi folded his arms over his chest.
"I think it's perfectly fair. I have to live the rest of my life without being able to see, and you will live the rest of your life knowing that these two, who you care about most, are dead because of you." Yomi chuckled.
'I can't allow him to do that. Both are powerful fighters. But Rirī in her weakened state and her other half as venerable as she is, she doesn't stand a chance. And Kuronue, he will risk his life for me, he's done it before.' Youko thought as he growled at Yomi.
Rirī took a defensive stance, glaring hard at Yomi and Kasai.
"That is enough. I have had it with you Yomi. Your assaults have cost me almost everything and if you think you can use me against Kurama you are wrong." She said.
Yomi laughed at her.
"You forget slave, I own you." He said.
Kasai ran the blade of a knife over her own arm and Rirī clenched her teeth in pain, falling to her knees, a hand coming up to stop the blood flow. She fixed her glare on Kasai's untainted skin, and then smirked at her and Yomi.
"I don't belong to anyone." She said in a hard voice.
She grabbed a knife from her bag and stabbed herself in the throat.
"Rirī!"
Youko ran forward, falling to his knees next to her and gripped his hand over hers, tears in his eyes, trying to remove the knife when he noticed she wasn't bleeding. A chocked scream filled the air and he turned to see Kasai squirming violently on the ground, hands at her bleeding throat, screaming passed the blood in her mouth. Yomi backed away from her, a disgusted scowl on his face as he listened to her die.
Kasai's soul flouted back to Rirī and was reunited with her. The swordswoman removed the knife from her throat; a tiny cut the side of an infant's fingernail was all that was present. Youko held her, an arm tight around her shoulders, confused more than he had ever been in his life. Rirī stood, leaving a shocked Youko on the ground, pointing her sword at Yomi, who wore an amused expression on his face.
"How very interesting." He said. "How did you know that you wouldn't have killed yourself?"
"The effects of Akio's soul split were the same for me as for Kasai. I believed before that it would only work for her, and that it would be impossible to kill her. But earlier today, a man tried to strangle me and I felt nothing. That was when I realized we shared the same curse. I would have done this sooner, but I feared soul collectors and soul eaters would have captured the soul before it could return to me. So I decided that after going to Tokyo, I would hunt her down. However, you saved me the trouble and brought her right to me." Rirī said.
"Damn, Kasai, that's nice! Next time, would you mind sharing that with the rest of the class?" said Kuronue, who was still grasping the fact she hadn't died.
Youko still hadn't moved and she regretted not informing him sooner, though she had planned on it when they finished business in Tokyo. But after seeing how scared he was for her, she knew she should have said something about it the moment she had any information.
"How clever, but you know this only makes me want to kill you and Kuronue even more now." Yomi said.
Youko was in front of Rirī in an instant, his aura flaring out aggressively.
"You will not touch them. Go Yomi, before I loose what little grasp I have on my self-control." He growled darkly.
"That's scary Kurama. Fine, I'll go, but only for a while." Yomi said, and then disappeared.
Rirī gave a sigh of relief and sheathed her sword.
"We should get moving, in case he goes to Tokyo." She said.
The air around Youko had changed. He didn't answer her and his aura barely let up.
"Youko?" She asked.
He turned to her, his fierce and angry, making her step back in fear.
"Youko, you can calm down now. Yomi left, he's gone now." Kuronue said shakily, trying to move in between them but was too afraid of Youko to do so.
The fox demon kept his angry eyes on Rirī.
"What didn't you warn me about that?" He demanded.
"I was going to-"
"If you were going to you would have! You had plenty of time to tell us! Did you enjoy toying with my emotions? Did you get a kick out of seeing my heart break?" He yelled.
Rirī stepped back again, fear ticking her spine.
"Youko I didn't mean to-"
"Didn't meant to kill yourself? I watched you do it! I watched you gamble away your life like it was nothing, like I was nothing! Damn it Rirī, why would you do that?" He said, emotion choking out his yell.
Rirī felt her heart break as she realized the obvious: Youko was in love with her. 'If we weren't enemies, I would love you.' He had said that so long ago and had spoken truthfully. The signs were everywhere. When he would hold her, told her how much he cared about her, the time he had kissed her forehead, how protective he was of her, and how he wanted to make her value her life. He had tried to show her and tell her in his own way. 'Strange indeed' had been his way of saying 'I love you' and she was too foolish to see it. And now he felt as though she had played his emotions just for fun.
"Youko, I didn't know." She whispered, hanging her head in shame.
He ignored her and let his aura subside. He looked to Kuronue, who stared wide eyed at the two.
"Let's go Kuronue." He said, turning away.
The bat nodded and followed, glancing back at Rirī and moved his head to get her to follow. She nodded and began to walk after them.
"Not you, Rirī." Youko's hard voice said.
She stopped, looking up after him, his back turned to her, Kuronue staring at him, shocked but silent.
"Youko-"
"Don't say my name human. You will address me as Kurama and forget my true name, understand?" Youko interrupted his voice cold.
Rirī wanted to protest but stopped herself.
'I deserve this for hurting him.' She decided.
She nodded, hanging her head down sadly, unable to answer due to the lump in her throat.
"Good. Let's go Kuronue." He said.
"Please don't leave me behind!" Rirī cried despite herself.
He seemed to flinch at that and he stopped.
"Do not follow us, human. If I see you again I will kill you." He said, and then he continued on.
Kuronue looked at Rirī, pitying the girl greatly, giving her an apologetic look and then turned to follow Youko.
Rirī didn't break as she watched them leave. She didn't cry when she saw Youko leave her life forever. As their silhouettes faded from view, she fell to her knees, staring into her hands.
"I'm so sorry…"
End of Part Four