Zeri's face had paled considerably as Keiko brewed the girl a hot, strong cup of tea. The brunette's heavy exhalations were the only audible sounds in the room as her dark eyes dulled. Gia had sat Zeri down, chewing on her lower lip, as she remained standing. Her fingers curled into her palm, so tightly that her blunt nails broke the skin.
"What exactly did you hear?" asked Botan softly, the only one able to break the ice. Zeri pursed her lips, her hands gripping the porcelain cup so hard that the tips turned white. "Hikari screaming," she answered, yet her voice wavered with an underlying emotion. "I could hear her screaming in my head. Like she was in a lot of pain. I don't know what the feeling is, but I know deep in my bones that Hikari is suffering right now."
"This is becoming insane," muttered Yusuke in irritation at something he couldn't understand, nor wouldn't even come close to comprehending if only there was a physical villain whose face he could bash in. "Just after you saying that, we all could hear Kari screaming."
"Do you think she screamed like that when she died?" asked Kuwabara, who looked visibly shaken at the very thought. Gia shook her head furiously as though trying to dislodge Kuwabara's question from her mind. "Don't even go there, Kuwabara. Please," she muttered, her body trembling.
Silence hung over the group like a heavy blanket before Gia shook her head again and walked outside. The group looked after her before Yusuke asked, "What's her deal?"
Kurama glanced at the former spirit detective before heading to the door. "I'll go speak to her," he said as he stepped outside. Gia was bent over, hands on her knees, as her body shuddered. Kurama caught scent of tears and waited a few beats before approaching Gia.
"Stay back," she called softly and he stopped, waiting once more before Gia straightened back up and wiped at her eyes furiously. "I can't fucking take this. First was Hikari's murder, then seeing her ghost, and now Zeri's hearing things? Are we seriously losing our shit right now?"
Kurama sighed heavily, his hands in the pocket of his pants. "This is all too much for us to take in, Gia. The SDF had discovered Hikari's body and we were unable to give her a proper funeral, only to realize that our friend's ghost is tainted and we are no closer to bringing her to her final peace than we are to finding her."
"Which brings me to earlier, when you said you were in contact with her for the past few months." Gia turned to look at him, attempting to glare yet the unshed tears ruined any effect for conveying anger. "Why didn't you tell the rest of us? Zeri and I, especially, since we knew her far longer than any of you."
"Hikari asked me not to," answered Kurama, his eyes fixed on Gia's violet orbs. He kept his voice steady, feeling his composure dancing on the razor's edge at the topic. He knew this answer, this truth, would anger Gia. However, in spite of Kurama's own opinions of Hikari's secretive behavior, he respected her wishes because that was the only way she would continue to trust him as her confidante. "I knew, as you should know, that if she wanted the others to know her whereabouts then she would tell you or come to us all to save us from being concerned."
"But why go to you?" asked Gia softly, her eyes glimmering in muted anger. "She trusted Zeri and I. She's told us more of her secrets than anyone else. After months of her acting weird, why choose you out of all of us to confide in?"
"Unfortunately, I do not have that answer." It was true. Kurama had no idea why Hikari chose him as a confidante. The fox knew he was the wisest of the group and was often the peacemaker, but he and Hikari weren't close in spite of how tightknit the group was. They conversed of course, but the conversations were never deep. After Hikari had become despondent and disappeared in her sudden bouts of isolation, Kurama was surprised to even find a letter addressed to him in Hikari's handwriting.
Gia's glare was heavier with irritation and Kurama released another sigh. "I assure you, Gia, I have no idea why Hikari chose me to confide in. She truly didn't at first during our correspondence. I had asked her where she was, as her letters did not have a return address, and she had refused to tell me for weeks before I finally received a letter with a return address. In that letter, she begged me to not tell the rest of you where she was. She did not clarify as of why," he explained.
The fire in Gia's eyes died as she closed her eyes with a shaky inhalation of breath. "Do you still have those letters?" she asked in such a soft voice, Kurama was surprised he picked it up on the wind at all.
"Yes. I had been rereading them in hopes to finding some sort of clue as to why Hikari's soul was in this state. Though I believe we all may become biased if we had put this into the hands of the SDF," he answered. "Hikari's behavior was unusual, I admit, but when she and I were writing to one another, she seemed like herself until…"
"Until she died," Gia finished for him, her eyes opening. "I have a request of you, Kurama, though you're not going to like it."
Kurama raised an eyebrow at the girl, prompting her to proceed with the request.
"Take me to Kari's apartment," Gia said. "I want to do my own once-over."
"Absolutely not," was Kurama's quick response, recalling all-to-well of the strange and agitating aura that permeated the entire living space. It riled his instincts, alerting him of danger. He was not even going to think of taking Gia to that place and to see the disarray of the final moments of Hikari's life.
"Kurama. Please," she pleaded, her eyes shining.
He shook his head. "I will not. You don't understand how dangerous it will be."
"Either you take me there, or I'll go without you." The tone of her voice proved that, yes, she would certainly make due with that promise. Kurama sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose, before exhaling.
"Fine," he told her, lowering his hand. "I'll take you to Hikari's apartment. However, do not say that I didn't warn you."
Gia crossed her arms with a faint, triumphant smirk on her face. "Yeah, yeah, something we've always told you jokers."
"What about Zeri?" asked Kurama, voicing another thought that had just occurred to him. When Hikari was alive, she, Gia, and Zeri were hardly apart; they had gone everywhere together. He knew that if Gia were going to Hikari's apartment, she would be bound to bring Zeri.
"I'm not bringing her," Gia answered, her eyes dulling a bit. "Zeri took Hikari's death the hardest; she's not ready for that…"
"She proved to be well capable of handling the matter."
"That's because she's numbed herself. That's not handling it, that's running away from it."
"I think you give her less credit than what's due."
"How do you know that, Kurama? You've known us—what—going on three years?"
"That's more than enough time. Wouldn't you agree?"
Gia didn't bother gracing that question with an answer and instead opted to shake her head, a sign that Kurama recognized as her conceding the fact that he had a point and wouldn't admit it.
Koenma sat at his desk, frowning down at the Hikari Tsukiyomi case file. Botan had returned from the Ningenkai and had reported to him that Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei had gone to Hikari's apartment to find clues on why she was murdered. The Prince of the Reikai had hoped that the group would only want the murderers caught and punished for taking Hikari's life, but his hopes hadn't been that high. To harm any dear of his former group of detectives would be a death warrant signed and executed.
However, there were things about Hikari even her dear friends didn't know, things Koenma knew from reading her file on how she lived.
To start with, when the girl had been attacked and met spirit detective Yusuke Urameshi, her surname had sparked something in Koenma's memory. He was sure that the name "Tsukiyomi" was involved in a past case, yet he couldn't put his finger on it—until he read the names on Hikari's family tree.
Hikari's older sister, Chika Tsukiyomi, was her only family. The sisters were estranged from their parents and, according to Hikari's file; Chika had died when Hikari was a tender ten years old. That was when Koenma's memory finally landed on why the surname was familiar. There was a reason that family name rang repeatedly in his head. "Botan," Koenma called, his tone as brisk as it never had been before.
The peppy, blue-haired guide had come into his office immediately, dressed in her pink kimono. "Yes, sir?" she asked, her pink eyes wide.
"There's a soul that I need to speak to," he told her, his eyes still on the file on his desk, his eyes stoic.
"Which soul?" asked Botan, frowning slightly at the prince.
"Chika Tsukiyomi."
"Chika? As in…?" The guide paled, her eyes widening more. "Oh, Koenma, you don't mean...She hasn't crossed into paradise after all this time and we've been monitoring her activities! Why would you want to talk to her?"
"Because, Botan, Chika Tsukiyomi might fill in some gaps on the reason why her younger sister was suddenly murdered six years after she was." Koenma's tone was firm and Botan knew that this matter was far too serious for him to just leave be.
Botan nodded before leaving the office. She had an inkling of where Chika would be—and to, hopefully, finally convince the woman to come to the Reikai for judgment.
"This place is a wreck." Gia's expression was dark as she surveyed the apartment.
Kurama had taken her to Hikari's home, in spite of being a tad against the idea to begin with. He noticed Gia's reaction shifted from disgust to horror, her violet eyes taking in the torn walls and the strewn debris. "What could they have been looking for?" she asked softly.
"We've asked ourselves that when we were here," murmured Kurama, his stomach twisting at the sight in spite of it being his second time in this place. Hikari had lived here, slept here, and isolated herself here—yet she decided to reach out to Kurama in her moments of solitude. Gia touched the torn wallpaper, her eyes softening. "It feels like she's here," she mumbled. "Like she's with us."
The redheaded fox looked at her. "That's why being here is dangerous," he said. "Hikari's soul is not well."
"Because that voice or whatever is hurting her," hissed Gia, her brows drawn in anger and helplessness. "You were there, you heard Hikari's voice screaming in pain. You, of all people, should be sympathetic to that fact."
It was a jab and he knew it. She targeted his humanity in her frustration and he couldn't fault her for that, not when he understood implicitly how she felt. Gia was helpless to save her friend and was hurt that Hikari had turned to someone she wasn't even close to instead of the one of ones she trusted above all else. No, Kurama couldn't blame Gia or Zeri for their feelings—especially when before he and Gia had left, Zeri was an emotional mess, bursting into tears at feeling Hikari's pain, that she had to be calmed by Keiko.
A sudden spike of unfamiliar energy coated the air that had Gia and Kurama turned their heads to see a spirit standing by the window. Her body was silver, hair in lank, loose waves. A thin, pearly tear trailed down her transparent cheek.
There was something familiar about this spirit, yet they were aware of never seeing her before. Only when the spirit was aware of being watched and turned to look at them as when they were struck dumb with surprise. The character of the face strongly resembled Hikari, yet there was a much older, regal bearing about her. Ghostly strands of her hair were in her face, but she stared the demon and the human down. "I know you," she murmured, her voice softer than anything they've ever heard. Gia's body began to tremble, her eyes wide as she took in the spirit of the woman.
"You have us at a disadvantage in that regard," Kurama replied calmly, reaching to place a hand on Gia's shoulder in hopes to calm her. He could feel her trembling and he squeezed her shoulder in reassurance. Unlike the tainted soul of Hikari, this spirit meant no such harm; he could sense it.
"You're two of the group that was always with Hikari," the woman said, drifting away from the window to the middle of the room as she looked around the apartment. "She was often lonesome here, yet I believe she was in contact with you."
"You know Hikari?" whispered Gia, her voice catching in her throat. Kurama caught the scent of tears that were beginning to brew in her eyes and he hoped Gia, the strongest of the three human girls close to the group, wouldn't crack in grief.
The woman nodded. "Of course I know Hikari. She is my baby sister."
If shock had been a physical action, it would have been a brutal slap to the face. If there was one thing that none of them had known, it was that Hikari had an older sister. The woman must have noticed the surprise in their eyes, for she continued in that soft, gentle voice of hers. "I take it Kari has never told you."
"Kari didn't have a sister. There's no way…" Gia breathed softly, stepping forward. "How do we know you're not just some ghost who decided to follow her everywhere?"
"I will not deny that I've watched over her, but I am not surprised that Hikari hasn't told you of me." The woman turned away, her ghostly fingers interlocking together. Her expression was somber, yet there was a faint smile on her lips. "I expected such of her. Hikari has always been a private person, as I am sure you knew."
"Then you are aware that she is…" Kurama trailed off, his eyes fixed on the woman.
"I am aware that demons murdered my sister, demon fox." The woman's hands dropped, her tone terse as if she wasn't in the mood to beat on the bush. "I hate myself for not being here to protect her, but my sister had put wards to block high-level spirits, not demons."
"What do you mean by that?" Gia's lips were pressed into a thin line as she gazed at the woman with glistening eyes. "Tell us who you are!"
The woman's eyes flickered to Gia as she rest a hand over her chest. "My name is Chika Tsukiyomi. I was also murdered by demons six years ago, when Hikari was ten years old. I was nineteen at the time of my death and I refused to go to the Reikai because my sister was all alone." Chika bowed her head only slightly. "I know who you both are." She leveled her ghostly gaze towards Kurama. "You are Kurama. In your human skin, you are known as Shuichi Minamino in spite that you are the infamous King of Thieves, Youko Kurama. Yes, my sister was quite wary of you, and with good reason I am to understand.
"And you-" Her gaze went to Gia "—are Gia Hanabi, one of my sister's closest friends. Hikari always spoke highly of you and the Miss Sanzeris Myoji. My sister treasured you being in her life and being the shield she should have had from me." There was sorrow in Chika's eyes, sorrow tinged with regret, as she kept her gaze on the two.
"I hope you do not mind my forwardness in using your first name, Chika-san, but we have questions to ask about Hikari's murder and why her soul is the way it is," said Kurama, internally reprimanding himself for using the spirit's first name in spite of the honorific attached to it. However, it was important for them to retrieve this information quickly in case Hikari's tainted soul returned to her home while she lived and attacked them with her energy.
"I do not know specifics about my sister's murder. I did say she put up wards and I was not present," replied Chika, her voice low with resignation as she turned away. "My sister would have been powerful, had our family not been cursed."
Gia frowned. "What do you mean, Chika?"
Chika's expression twisted into confusion, her sharp eyes narrowing only slightly. "My sister didn't tell you anything, did she? When she had asked me to leave her be while she was with you all, I thought she would tell you everything. I was wrong to assume this, I see."
"Chika-san," Kurama interjected. "Why would Hikari be powerful? What is this curse you mentioned?"
The woman sighed as she drifted forward and Gia backed away, yet moved closer to Kurama. At an arms-length distance, the resemblance between Chika and Hikari was irrefutable; they were definitely related.
"Our entire family was cursed ever since the first of our ancestor's made a pact with a powerful entity," whispered Chika, her eyes hooded. "Cursed to lose our minds if we live longer than we are supposed to, like Mother and Father. I could control it, but my sister hadn't yet blossomed in that ability and so she and I had run away in hopes that I would be able to keep my sister safe."
"What does this have to do with Hikari's murder?" asked Gia apprehensively.
"The entire Tsukiyomi family had been considered Prophets, yet we weren't any such thing. We didn't see futures of other human beings. We saw the shadows of the world."
"Demons?" inquired Kurama.
"Entities," clarified Chika. "The Tsukiyomi family saw the darkest entities that haunted humanity since before demons began to devour us."
"What did your ancestor do to cause this curse?"
"I only know that a pact was made with one of those entities, the strongest of them all, who haunted the family for generations. Our parents are insane; they will not help you find the answers you seek. The entity haunted me for the final moments of my life, and yet it left me be once I was murdered by demons."
Gia and Kurama exchanged a glance. Chika's explanation filled in a few holes of Hikari's behavior before her murder. Gia and Zeri had said that Hikari began to mumble about things, which in turn caused Kurama to think of the spectre and strange wordings on the piece of paper he had found. Hikari was seeing the entity that had haunted her family for generations. Yet the only reason was a curse that not even Chika knew the exact detailing of.
"I would tell you more, but unfortunately, I know nothing else," Chika said, interrupting their thoughts. "You will have to dig into our family's history and maybe, just maybe, you will find the answers you are looking for."
The woman tensed, her eyes flying to the door right as a familiar voice rang out. "I had a feeling you would be here."
"Botan?" Gia and Kurama turned around as the guide walked to their little group, her eyes solemn as she met Chika's gaze. "Hello, Chika. I had a feeling you would be here," she said.
"I'm not going." Chika's voice became cold, her eyes narrowed. "I will not go to Reikai, not with my sister's soul in a bad way on this earth."
"You have been long dead, Chika-san," Kurama told her. "You no longer have a reason to remain bound to this world."
It was the wrong thing to tell her. The windows shattered as a strong energy spiked throughout the room, slicing the air. Chika's ghostly locks were flying in the charged air, her eyes burning with fury. "I am bound to my flesh and blood. I am bound to this world as long as my sister's soul is suffering on this world. I will never rest in peace!" Her voice was rising in her anger, that it was almost hypnotic. The scattered debris rose into the air and launched at the three. Kurama, relying on impulse, drew a rose from his hair, changing it into the Rose Whip to cut the debris down before it made contact with either him, Gia, or Botan. With a sudden distraction, Chika had vanished. The only traces she had ever been there and not a product of some mass hallucination was the faint Reiki that was steadily fading after her disappearance.
"What the hell?" Gia whispered after a moment.
"I should have warned you both about Chika. She is very volatile and refuses to cross over," sighed Botan, rubbing the back of her head. Gia whirled around to face the guide and her facial expression was pure anger. "You and Koenma knew Kari had a sister?" she asked.
"Of course we knew. I was trying to guide Chika to the Reikai, but she refused and kept running away! Koenma had paperwork upon paperwork after her murder and Hikari, the poor girl, was only a child!" cried Botan defensively, her pink eyes wide. Kurama moved to interject immediately, sensing Gia was on the verge of a temperamental collapse.
"Botan, Hikari was ten years old; I am sure her sister's murder would stand vividly in her mind. However, now is not the time to dwell on hidden information and to be angry about it," he chided.
"Kurama-" Gia began indignantly, but Kurama cut her off.
"Gia. I know you want answers. I do also, as well as Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei. We cannot lose our heads right now. You know we can't afford to."
Gia bit her tongue, her eyebrows drawn, her purple bangs in her eyes. "Fine," she bit out. "I know Kari needs our help and now, so does Chika."
"Chika will only cross over with Hikari," said Botan, her voice solemn. "She's made that very clear. In her entire life, all she was devoted to was her sister."
Kurama's eyes narrowed in thought. He didn't want to voice it aloud, but Chika reminded him of himself, prioritizing his human mother and aspects of his human life as the most important things. Chika, however, prioritized Hikari, made Hikari the only reason she lived and devoted herself to being her sister's protector. It also begged the question of how Hikari survived for six whole years and what this family curse was that had taken the last of the Tsukiyomi bloodline.
"We should head back," Botan said to Gia and Kurama. "I'm sure whatever Chika told you, the others might want to know."
"Yes, though after our first perusal of Hikari's home, Hiei had gone back to Makai. When he decides to pay the Ningenkai a visit, I will be sure to inform him of what we know," added Kurama. If he knew Hiei as well as he thought he did, Kurama knew the fire apparition would come to pay him a visit sooner or later. Hiei may loathe humans, but Hikari seemed to be the only exception to his complex code of conduct as well as his demonic instinct.
Gia shook her head. "He's not going to give a damn, fox," she told him before she moved toward the exit of Hikari's apartment. Botan looked after the girl, her expression changing from serious to sympathetic. "She still takes Hikari's death quite hard, doesn't she?" she asked.
"As unfortunate as it sounds," answered Kurama in a low voice.
"What do you think needs to be done?"
"Even if I were inclined to do anything about her grief, I wouldn't. It's something she and Zeri, as well as the rest of us, must deal with."
He could scent that metallic, agitating tang of blood even when he didn't desire to. It was so achingly, agonizing, irritatingly familiar that he wished he could rid himself of the madness.
He could see her now, free from her taint, with her fiery eyes and a mask of stone upon her face. There was no quiver of emotion in her eyes; in fact, it was the same expression she had given in within her very last moments, before her sanity was called into question.
"How long are you going to be a spectre in the recesses of my mind?" he snarled at her, longing to stain his hands red with her blood.
She said nothing. She merely gazed at him with those hateful eyes and he went to her, anger vibrating throughout his body.
When he was within striking distance, he raised his arm before he began to chastise himself. He may not be loathe to fight an opponent regardless of who they were, but within his core, he knew he could never strike her.
That knowledge was cemented by the fact that she continued to gaze at him, but this time, her eyes wavered with some kind of emotion. The irises flickered, glistened, and yet she barely trembled.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
No answer.
Yet her next actions would shock him to his very core.
Soft palms rested on either side of his face, the slender fingertips tangling in his hair before he felt her lips upon his.
It took his mind half a moment to realize what she was doing.
It took the other to realize that her skin, her lips, were cold as ice.
He shoved her away violently, baring his fangs at the unexpected action that took place without his consent. The stupid girl dared to touch him this way!
She began to change then, into the tainted form he had witnessed fleetingly in the Ningenkai and in the compound: her skin became deathly pale; her body ripped and mangled like a devoured carcass; eyes deep onyx pools; and her lips sewn shut. Her ruined visage was forever burned into his mind among the twisted bodies of those he ever slain. Her taint was a sin of her very existence, yet he felt as if it were his own sin made flesh in the body of a girl he so long wanted dead.
"That is your sin," a sinister voice murmured in his mind, not his own. It dripped with evil and he wasn't sure where the source of it was coming from. "You long for acceptance, love, and yet you push away the very creature who is all too willing to give it to you. You long to spill the blood of a mere mortal because she can and will accept all as you are."
He could see it, a being he never before witnessed.
It was a spectre, its face hidden beneath the hood of its cloak, yet its decaying, demonic hands had wrapped around the ruined throat of the broken female before him. The claws dug into the slit upon the flesh of her neck, drawing silvery blood. It dripped over its fingers in a steady waterfall, yet the girl's spirit did nothing to repel it.
That was when he saw the girl's eyes fill with tears and they fell slowly. A sign, but of what?
"This child of the Tsukiyomi blood now belongs to me. Now that I know what she desperately tries to protect, you are powerless. I will come for you all. I will spill your blood. And you will belong to me."
The spectre dragged the girl away by her throat before he could do anything to stop it.
A ragged breath ripped from Hiei's lips as he opened his eyes, his back against the rough bark of the tree in Makai. His chest heaved from the dream he had just now.
No, not a dream; a vision.
He had seen what had taken Hikari's ghost and twisted it into a broken shell of the human she had been. The girl's tears in that state was a sign of something he could not place just now, and he knew he couldn't keep this within himself.
The girl of Tsukiyomi blood…Why did that spectre seem so gleeful at the idea of having her? What was the reason for this? Why did this being, whatever it was, want to hunt them?
His mind had come up with only one answer: the girl's blood must have been tainted. Yet there was another question upon the heel of the answer.
Why was she tainted?
I think I just made a few fangirls want to kill a dead girl -
That, or you guys wanna kill me for cliff hangers.