Oh, look another update. ouo My college course has me spilling out updates faster than a bunny on carrots! Of course I was inspired by two songs that had me write this chapter. In case you want to listen to them, one is called "Hunger" by Amaranthe and the other is called "Innocence" by Tarja.
"You don't remember what happened before then, Zeri?" Gia watched her friend with concern in her eyes as she and Keiko bandaged the girl's fingers. Zeri's behavioral change was sudden; Yusuke, with his clenched fists and wide eyes, was completely shaken at his violence toward Zeri when she had begun to talk as if she were a demon within the depths of Hell.
Zeri shook her head. "When I opened my eyes, Yusuke was over me with a furious look on his face and you were pulling him away from me," she mumbled, hanging her head. Her skin had regained some color after the episode, but she wasn't in what anyone would call great shape. Her dark hair was lanky and damaged, tangling around her face from neglect as well as her debilitating reactions to things. Her eyes were becoming more haunted, too large for her face. Gia's eyes flew to Yusuke as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "What the hell is going on?" he growled and Gia could only wonder the same thing.
"Done," Keiko murmured, finishing the last of Zeri's fingers. Zeri gave the brunette an apologetic nod. "I'm sorry, Keiko. I'm causing trouble for you and Yusuke and you guys are just taking care of me like I'm a kid," she sighed.
"This is has been hard on you, Zeri." Keiko squeezed Zeri's hand gently. "This has been hard on all of us, but you and Gia feel it the most."
Gia wished Keiko hadn't said that. Yusuke's woman had good intentions, she always had; however, it was just too much at the moment. Not when they were no closer to finding Hikari's parents than they ever were, even armed with the precious notebook Hikari would never let anyone read to save her life—
She paused, her eyes widening. "…Son of a bitch."
Yusuke, Keiko, and Zeri looked at her. "What?" asked Yusuke, crossing his arms.
"Hiei." Gia looked to the former spirit detective, her eyes widening impossibly farther. "He's the only one who read Hikari's journal. He know."
Yusuke's brows creased over his eyes before, slowly, comprehension dawned on him.
"He knows where Hikari's parents are."
Kurama caught the scent of the fire demon long before he even appeared in the fox's window of his home. "I wasn't expecting you, Hiei. Has something happened?" he asked, shuffling through the papers on his desk. He had been going through what he could of what little correspondence Hikari had with him, to find some clue in order to put this mystery to bed.
Hiei was silent as he slid into Kurama's room through the window, crimson eyes fixed on the scraps of paper the older demon was shifting through. "…Those were all hers, weren't they? Letters from the girl?"
"Hiei, you've been closer to her than even her best friends, the least you can do is say her name when we are alone." Kurama turned to look at the younger demon, jade eyes narrowed slightly at his behavior. Hiei met Kurama's gaze, arms crossed and expression colder than the winter winds. The silent standoff lasted only for a moment before Hiei averted his gaze with an almost bitter sigh. Kurama could almost decipher the root of Hiei's current mood, but if said aloud, the fire demon would deny it.
"They'll look for me soon enough," muttered Hiei, uncrossing his arms so that they fell to his side. "After all, she bared her soul to me through that book."
"Hikari's journal. You read it through its entirety?"
"Of course I have. The foolish girl was by my side, watching me the entire time."
"Has she written about her parents at all?"
At this question, Hiei remained silent, his eyes not meeting Kurama's at all. Kurama was prepared to chalk it up to Hiei's pride before noticing his fingers flexing in agitation. With a frown, Kurama reached for the tiny box he had taken from Hikari's broken apartment, opening it and shifting through the small scraps of things she had kept folded inside.
"What are you doing?" Hiei spat out the question as though he tasted something foul on his tongue.
Kurama's eyes flicked to him briefly. "I believe you need a reminder, Hiei."
Those crimson eyes flew to the fox, a flash of irritation searing through them. "Of what?"
"On why you could never truly dismiss the girl as nothing."
"I don't know what you believe, Kurama, but you can't possibly think the girl means a damn thing to me."
"I don't think, I know she does, Hiei." Kurama's fingers brushed against something that lay flat at the bottom of the tiny box before wrapping his fingers around it and pulling it out. It was a small USB drive in the shape of a turtle—such a strange thing for Hikari to have, for no one has ever seen her use a computer before.
Hiei narrowed his eyes at the tiny thing in Kurama's hand. "What is that?"
"Precisely what I want to know." Kurama looked toward his desk at his computer before awakening it from sleep mode and plugging the tiny turtle USB in. He sensed Hiei's approach, his wonder at this strange device the humans have, before Kurama moved to click onto the prompt to see what was inside the drive.
There was only one file on the drive. A video file, the date signifying that it was made months before Hikari died and yet it was not too long after she had completely lost contact with everyone else. If it was a possible clue, they had to know what was in it, so Kurama clicked on the file. The video popped up its loading screen before the camera flickered on. It was extremely grainy and hard to make out, but it was clear that it was dark. There were sounds of someone breathing before it slowly focused on a face.
Wide, fiery eyes glistening with tears gazed into the camera, almost obscured by strands of raven-colored hair. Lips were parted slightly as heavy breaths escaped, the sound almost louder than possible due to the speakers. Sweat clung to her skin as she raised a shaking hand to push her hair from her face—a hand that was marred by deep cuts, blood staining the pale skin a deep red. She raised the other hand, in the same state as the one that, to push back the strands on her left side. There was terror in her eyes as tears fell down her cheeks, the blood stained on the right side of her face mixing with the tears. Her breaths were becoming shallower, almost as if she were trying to catch her breath, trying to be calm, as she dragged her hands down.
"What's happening?" Hikari's broken voice whispered through the speakers, her eyes flickering left and right. "I don't know what's happening…I feel something growing inside of me and…" She paused, her entire posture still. There was no sound at first—they couldn't even hear Hikari's breaths through the speakers—before the video buffered for briefest second. In that second, however, it was made plainly clear due to one fact: a grotesque, demonic hand—the skin scabbed and decayed as though it were underwater for decades—with long, tapered claws crept into view on Hikari's right shoulder. Hikari sucked in a breath as she breathed "Azazel". Slowly, she turned her head to head to the right—right as the hand on her shoulder tightened, the claws digging deep into her flesh. The video lost focus the moment Hikari let out a bloodcurdling, bone-chilling scream. The noises that accompanied the screaming were sounds of things being torn, shredded, thrown—and yet nothing could be seen. Kurama strained his ears, picking up something underlying all the hysteria Hikari was making.
There was laughter—cold, mirthless, demonic laughter—that rang out beneath the horror Hikari was experiencing at that moment before the video ended.
Kurama could scarcely breathe at the moment. He had seen his fair of horrors in the Makai, but with what he just watched…
He dared to look at Hiei, knowing the male watched in spite of his earlier words of not caring about Hikari. Hiei's face was pale, his eyes still fixated on the screen as though the video would start where it left off. His lips pulled back, baring his fangs as a low growl escaped him. Kurama didn't have a Jagan Eye, but even he could see that Hikari's distress had upset Hiei greatly. With another growl, Hiei turned away, moving toward the window before pausing. "You want to know where her parents are, right?" he asked softly, his voice cold.
Kurama wasn't one to beat around the bush by this point. "Yes."
"The girl's mother…she is in the asylum not far from here."
"You've found Hikari's mother?"
"Yeah, I did. What of it? I don't need to be involved in this."
"Hiei, you are just as involved as the rest of us."
Hiei turned to glare at Kurama. "Because of what? Your theory that I behave like a mated demon when it comes to her?"
"Do you truly despise her because of the fact that she's human? Or is it something else?" Kurama asked, meeting Hiei's glare without any shaken resolve.
"Take the information and do with it what you will." Hiei turned away, vaulting himself out the window before Kurama could say another word. Within one heartbeat, his phone rang and Kurama answered it swiftly. "Hello?"
"Kurama?" Gia's voice broke through the connection, her breaths heavy as if she ran a marathon, but the fox suspected otherwise. "Where's Hiei? I think he knows where-"
"He knows exactly where," Kurama interjected quickly, effectively silencing Gia. "He just told me."
She was curled into a ball, tears streaming down her cheeks after this…power, dare she call it…was unleashed. She was in the dark alone, her throat ripped by her screams and no one was there…Yes, she knew that memory. She could feel the tremors through her ghostly body of something snapping. Her spiritual tie to Hiei was growing tighter and she could feel the madness she was inflicting upon him through it.
She made herself into a disease, a contagion of insanity that even spread to Zeri.
She dug her thin fingers into the stone she lay upon, the fire that created her eyes slowly dripping over a pale, damaged cheek. She had no breath to release. All she had was the curse she left behind that tainted those she's ever touched and still shackled her in the afterlife.