The Forgotten Child chapter 19 part b
"Don't worry, Yukina. This blanket was
designed to withstand and deflect temperatures up
to two thousand degrees. Come here and feel for
yourself, you can't even tell he's hot."
Yukina tentatively reach out her free hand
and touched the blanket over Kyuukai's leg. Even
with Yukina's sensitivity to heat she couldn't
feel any of the radiant energy she knew her nephew
was generating. She pulled her hand away when
Shiori repositioned Kyuukai so that he was safely
nestled on her shoulder. For the first time all
evening the infant relaxed from his tight fetal
possession and gave a small contented sigh.
"Yukina, why don't you clean up in here and
I'll go help Arashi with the boys' room," Shiori
suggested just as Mechiko came in with the last of
the food.
"Mechiko dear, come with me and we can get
this done a lot faster."
Once again left alone in her chaotic kitchen,
Yukina first found the crystal flower vase Kurama
had given her and Kazuma at their wedding and
placed Shiori's roses in it. After carefully
arranging the perfect, thornless roses, Yukina
placed them in the center of the table so that
everybody could see them.
Yukina started cleaning the kitchen by
picking up the pots and pans and rinsing them
before putting them away. She put all the food in
its appropriate place and on several occasions she
had to avoid running into Arashi and Mechiko as
they started moving bedding and clothes out to the
dojo. Somewhere along the line Kiseki and Fuyu
got into the act and suddenly the house was a blur
of activity as Shiori directed the children with
military precession.
After the kitchen was straitened to her
satisfaction Yukina moved to the boys' room to see
what the tiny army had done. The room was cleaner
than Yukina had ever seen it. The boys were never
very messy, Maryoku made sure of that. In fact,
the boys where normally neater than the girls, but
now the room was immaculate. Not one stray paper
could be seen anywhere. All that remained in the
boys' normally crowded room were their dressers,
one futon and the posters on the wall.
The remaining futon was Maryoku's and
replacing the midnight blue bedding he usually had
where pristine white covers. Shiori was sitting
on the corner of the bed closest to the window
rocking Kyuukai on her shoulder singing a human
lullaby that Yukina was unfamiliar with. The two
of them made such a peaceful picture that Yukina
didn't even notice that her husband and brother
were back until the yelling started.
"YUKINA!"
It was the first time Yukina had ever heard
her brother say her name quite like that. It was
clearly a command that Hiei fully expected her to
answer to. The tone of his voice was dangerous
and threatening but underlining that was a touch
of fear.
"I'm in the boys' room , Hiei!" she called
out to him as she readied herself and the bed.
Yukina had just flipped back the covers to
receive its patient when her brother came through
the door. The look on Hiei's grim face made her
heart leap. Even though Hiei and Yukina had been
separated for most of their lives, Yukina felt
that she knew her brother reasonably well.
Hiei was like a tree made of iron that never
bends until there is something out there strong
enough to knock him on his butt. Nothing ever
seemed to shake Hiei up, until now. Yukina could
find none of her brother's normal rock sure
confidence that he usually radiated when he walked
into a room. Instead she saw a man that was
deeply worried.
Yukina had very little time to reflect on her
brother because Kurama quickly followed and she
got her first big surprise of the evening. Not
only was Kurama in his youko form, which was
highly unusual, but the young lady that he had
cradled in his arms was his mirror image.
Kitsuryuu hung limp and lifeless in Kurama's
gentle arms and from the irregular rise and fall
of her chest Yukina new the girl's breathing was
severely hindered. Yukina quelled her desire to
ask her brother-in-law why this young girl, that
he previously knew nothing about, was practically
his twin and directed Kurama to place Kitsuryuu on
the bed.
Kurama gave a quick nod and then careful
placed the unconscious youko where he was told.
The tenderness with which Kurama placed Kitsuryuu
on the white sheets spoke volumes to Yukina. The
silver haired youko treated the young girl as if
she were made of finely spun glass ready to
shattered at the slightest wrong move.
Kurama moved away with reluctance and Yukina
knelt at the girl's side and closed her eyes to
focus. Yukina had always been an accomplished
healer, but it wasn't until she had found her twin
that she was able to concentrate on the arts of
healing. She had learned many techniques from
Genkai and Botan, and she had learned that it
really didn't matter how much power a healer had,
but how they used it.
Confident that she was ready, Yukina placed
her small hands on Kitsuryuu's forehead and got
her second and third big shock of the evening.
Yukina immediately felt the collar around the
girl's neck pull and drain the power from her
fingers. It seemed the collar could not discern
the difference between the power that Kitsuryuu
generated and an outside power. The greedy strap
of warded leather was indiscriminately pulling
energy form the strongest source, which just
happened to be Yukina.
Yukina had to pull her hands away quickly, or
risk having it drain her completely, but in those
few brief moments she had seen something
incredible and unbelievable. Kitsuryuu was
Koorimei. Yukina knew it in every fiber of her
being, but she still couldn't believe it. The
idea was so overwhelming that all she could do was
sit and stare.
The Koorimei where a race of demon created by
the goddess Yukionna. Yukionna hated men so much
that she had created a race that was entirely made
up of females and she was vain enough to make all
of them in her image. All Koorimei were her
descendants and followers and therefor they kept
her laws. Which included killing all males born.
What Yukina saw before her was an impossibility, a
female Koorimei that didn't look like a Koorimei,
that didn't act like a female Koorimei and
certainly wasn't built like a female Koorimei.
"Yukina, what's wrong?!" Hiei demanded when
she didn't move.
"The... the collar is draining me. I can't
get around it," she told him after a brief
hesitation.
Hiei came to the end of the futon where
Kitsuryuu's head rested, having to push Kurama out
of the way to do so. At first Kurama seemed
unwilling to move but Hiei left him no choice, the
fox demon either moved or got knocked down.
Yukina watch Kurama's shoulders slump just
slightly as he turned away from Kitsuryuu and
headed towards his mother. He changed to his
human appearance and stood beside the human woman
that had given him his second life. Shiori
reached out her free hand and stroked her son's
face lovingly as she continued to rock Kyuukai.
Probably for the first time since he entered
the room Kurama really looked at Shiori. A small
smile curved his lips as he reached out and
fingered the silver material that his son was
wrapped in. Shiori leaned forward and whispered
something in Kurama's ear and his smile grew a
little wider.
"Yukina!"
Hiei's impatient demand shocked Yukina out of
her dream like state and into action. She turned
to find that Hiei was bypassing the collar
allowing her to work on her patient. The
irregular breathing Kitsuryuu had displayed
earlier was gone. Yukina swept the hair from the
girl's face and was struck again by how much she
resembled Kurama.
"I need a place to start. Where was she
hurt?" she asked her brother.
When she didn't get an immediate answer,
Yukina turned to find that Hiei was lost in his
own thoughts. It was evident by the way he was
gazing down at Kitsuryuu and by the way he
continued to lightly rub his thumb against the
girl's throat that he had not heard her. Yukina
desperately wanted to ask him who this girl was
that had captured not only the children's fickle
attentions but her brother's as well.
"Hiei," Yukina said a little more forcibly to
get her twin's attention, "Where was she hurt?"
"Kurama's brother said she broke her left arm
and leg, and Yuusuke hit her in her abdomen."
Yukina nodded her understanding and started
to work. She placed her hands on Kitsuryuu's left
leg and waited for the collar to react. When she
felt nothing happen, Yukina slowly started to
implement her powers. At the first level she
could feel the young girl's knife edged pain
cutting across the mid point of her thigh and
repositioned her hands directly over the site.
When Yukina went to the next level, however, she
didn't find what she had expected.
As far as Yukina could tell there was nothing
wrong with Kitsuryuu's leg. Puzzled she tried
harder to find a brake or even a healed fracture
but could find nothing. Saying nothing to the
group of concerned on lookers she moved on the
girl's arm and found the same thing, great pain
but no brake. Yukina knew that nobody could
possibly heal so completely that no sign appeared
even under the surface.
Yukina continued on to Kitsuryuu's stomach
and once again found the same thing. Her
curiosity peaked and her puzzlement growing,
Yukina continued on to where she *knew* Kitsuryuu
was injured. As close and as carefully as she
could Yukina placed her finger tips on the girl's
throat next to the collar. This time she found
what she expected.
The skin around the collar was badly bruised
and burned. Yukina gently used her powers at
first to see if the collar would react, but
apparently Hiei was keeping it well occupied.
Increasing her effort Yukina quickly healed the
damaged area. Not knowing what else she could do
for the girl, Yukina decided to check out the
badly cropped youko ears she had noticed earlier.
The scaring on the edges of the ears was very
old and thick, not allowing even the coarsest of
hairs to grow. If the damage had of been new she
might have had a chance of coaxing them to
regenerate, but as it was they were beyond her
abilities.
Yukina increased her powers a step farther
and looked deep into the actual functioning part
of Kitsuryuu's ears. She remembered that the
children had said Kitsuryuu was deaf and she
wanted to see if she could help since she seemed
unable to do anything else. She found the same
disheartening news.
Kitsuryuu's ears had been damage far too long
ago and too severely for Yukina to help the young
girl now. Some kind of nearly fatal infection had
scared and destroyed the functioning portions of
Kitsuryuu's ears, making it impossible for her to
hear. A feeling of regret and sympathy flowed
through her for the youko in front of her. How
could someone heal so completely from the kinds of
injuries Hiei had described, but not be able to
fight off a simple infection? Maybe it was the
difference in her age from then to now, but
somehow Yukina didn't think so. There was
something else going on.
From the opened window to Yukina's left she
heard Mechiko yell 'There here!' moments before
the back door slammed open and shut. That was
quickly followed by another series of slams and
Yuusuke's very loud and very irritated voice.
"Maryoku! Get your ass back here now!"
Yukina turned to find Yuusuke's son pushing
himself past Kiseki, refusing the younger boy's
offer of help. He quickly scanned the room and
then locked eyes with Hiei. Yukina was surprised
by the way the two of them seem to communicate
without speaking. Maryoku gave Hiei a questioning
look and received a slight negative shake of the
head in silent response.
"Isn't there anything that you can do for her
Aunt Yukina?" Maryoku pleaded with a barely
audible whisper.
Yukina could hear the fear and tears in young
man's voice. She was the only one that saw the
single tear fell from behind the short feathery
bangs of Maryoku's mussed up hair. It landed on
one of the blood soaked bandages clumsily wrapped
around his palms, soaking in quickly. Kiseki
knelt in front of his friend and gently took
Maryoku's hands into his own and began to heal
them.
"There isn't much I can do. I can't find
anything physically wrong with her other than
exhaustion. Her only problem is the collar. With
it constantly draining her there's no way she can
recover her strength," Yukina told him.
"Then we'll just have to take it off," Hiei
stated bluntly as he curled his fingertips under
the collar.
"NO!" Kurama, Kiseki and Maryoku yelled
before he had a chance to grip it firmly.
"If you take the collar off there will be a
backlash of power," Kiseki told Hiei and his uncle
relaxed his fingers.
"Hiei, the collar was designed so that
another youkai can't take it off. If you try and
remove it the collar will use your own powers to
kill her," Kurama informed them.
"When we took the other wards off it nearly
killed both us and Kitsuryuu. The only one of us
that wasn't hurt was Arashi," Kiseki told his
other uncle.
"That was because he's human."
"So is there no other way to get the collar
off of her? The longer it drains her powers the
worse she will get," Yukina said.
"There is a way!" Maryoku said excitedly as
he grabbed Kiseki's shoulders, "All we have to do
is make her change forms."
"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that!" Kiseki
said, sharing Maryoku's excitement.
"What are the two of you talking about?"
Yukina asked.
"Kiseki can *make* Kitsuryuu change forms,
and that way her collar won't hurt her. He's done
it before."
"So do it," Hiei demanded.
Kiseki gave his mother a nervous glance that
she returned with a reassuring smile. The young
boy took a deep breath and knelt next to
Kitsuryuu. He quickly placed his hand on her arm
and Kitsuryuu's body shimmered and then changed
shape.
Silver-blue hair changed to dirty, blood
encrusted red-black tresses. Kitsuryuu's cropped
ears formed into the delicate shells of two
perfect humanoid ears. The girl's body shrank in
size and all the injuries that Hiei had described
earlier appeared. Yukina couldn't help and cringe
at the obvious severity of Kitsuryuu's wounds.
Her brother pulled slowly away with blank shock
clearly on his face. Shiori gave a gasp of
surprise and quickly excused herself from the
room.
Kitsuryuu looked horrible. Her long
red-black hair was matted with dried blood and
dirt. The pale flawless skin that Yukina
remembered form the photo album was covered in hot
pink, half healed scars over blue-black bruised
skin. All the clothing on the left side of her
body was ripped or cut and drenched in blood. The
exposed areas of Kitsuryuu's left leg and arm had
the same grotesque bruises and the right side of
her stomach was an open sore.
Yukina quickly got over her own shock and
started working on the girl. Her first priority
was healing the still bleeding wound. She placed
her hands on either side of the opening and
stopped the bleeding first , then assessed the
situation. The damage to Kitsuryuu's stomach was
worse than Yukina had first thought. The young
girl's kidney, intestines and part of one lung
were crushed and non-functioning, but besides that
there were other internal injuries that Yuusuke's
blast should have never caused.
It seemed to Yukina that every part of
Kitsuryuu's body had been beaten from what felt
like the inside. She began to worry that her
powers would be insufficient to help the youkai.
There was so much that needed healing.
Kitsuryuu's broken arm had healed on its own
without any trouble, but her leg had fused
slightly crooked. Yukina could feel bruising
around Kitsuryuu's once broken ribs making it
painful for the girl to breath.
"Kiseki, I'm going to need your help. Kurama
go get Fuyu quickly."
Yukina could see panic fill Kurama as he ran
from the room. Hiei just sat in stony silence at
Kitsuryuu's head, not moving. Yuusuke tried to
gently move his son out of the way to give the
healers more room. At first Maryoku didn't
respond, then the young man awoke from his shock
and he jerked himself from his father's grasp. He
willingly retreated to a corner of the room, but
refused to leave.
"Where do you what me to start mother?"
Kiseki asked worriedly.
"Just start healing her. She has too many
small injuries to focus on any one thing. I will
start with her stomach."
Kiseki did as he was told and Yukina was
relieved to see that he was more than able to
tackle the task she had set before him. She
placed her own hands over Kitsuryuu's stomach and
concentrated her powers. She was vaguely aware
that Fuyu had joined them when she heard her
daughter gasp, but right now all of Yukina's
attention was focused on the girl in front of her.
Slowly, minute by minute, Kitsuryuu began to
heal. For the next few hours the three of them
worked to bring Kitsuryuu back to her previous
health. Exhausted, the children had to stop
before Yukina but they had ready done a phenomenal
job. Kitsuryuu was past the critical stage and
with a lot of rest she would recover fully on her
own.
Yukina gave a tired sigh and slumped next to
Kitsuryuu. The young girl was sleeping deeply,
almost to the point of being comatose. Yukina
stretched out her hand and laid it over
Kitsuryuu's leg and shook her head sadly.
"What's wrong Yukina?"
Kurama's gentle question startled her.
Yukina snapped her head up to find that she had a
much bigger audience than when she had first
started. Shiori was still out of the room but
everyone else was here. Mechiko, Arashi and Koori
were in the window watching, Yuusuke and Kazuma
stood at the door trying to stay out of the way
and Maryoku, Fuyu, Kurama, Hiei and herself were
huddled around Kitsuryuu in a semi circle.
"I have healed what I can, but she is still
in bad shape. She needs time to rest, but that
isn't my only concern. Her leg was badly broken
and it has healed crooked, if it is not straitened
then she will always limp."
"How can we fix it?" Maryoku asked as he
pulled a cover over Kitsuryuu's sleeping form.
"We brake it again," Hiei stated bluntly,
drawing a gasp from Fuyu who sat beside him.
"That *is* the only way, but not now. She is
too weak and the added shock to her system would
only make her worse," Yukina said quickly.
"Please, everyone, just leave her to rest for
now. We can discuss how to fix Kitsuryuu's leg
later when she is more fully recovered."
Slowly one by one everybody left. Kurama,
Hiei and Maryoku were the last to leave. Kurama
escorted the upset young man from the room with
his arm around his shoulders, reassuring Maryoku
that Kitsuryuu was going to be fine. Yukina
turned back to her patient just in time to see
Hiei place his hand lightly on the top of the
sleeping girl's head and then quickly withdraw it.
"She's your daughter, isn't she. Yours and
Kurama's that is," Yukina stated.
Hiei would not meet her eyes and turned away
from the bed. He left the room without answering.
Yukina didn't need her brother to confirm what she
already knew to be true. She didn't know how Hiei
could have possible done it on his own but he had
a Koorimei daughter.
There were many questions that Yukina had no
answers for. Like how injuries to one of
Kitsuryuu's forms did not carry over to the
others. All youkai that she had ever heard of
that had multiple shapes, including youkos, had
only one physical body that changed in shape. It
would appear that Kitsuryuu had different bodies
to go along with each form, but only one
consciousness. Kitsuryuu truly was an outstanding
young lady, with more questions than answers.
Yukina made sure that her 'new' niece was as
comfortable as she could make her and then quietly
left the room. Hopefully by the time the girl
awakened most of her unanswered questions would be
satisfied.
==========
end chapter 19
"Don't worry, Yukina. This blanket was
designed to withstand and deflect temperatures up
to two thousand degrees. Come here and feel for
yourself, you can't even tell he's hot."
Yukina tentatively reach out her free hand
and touched the blanket over Kyuukai's leg. Even
with Yukina's sensitivity to heat she couldn't
feel any of the radiant energy she knew her nephew
was generating. She pulled her hand away when
Shiori repositioned Kyuukai so that he was safely
nestled on her shoulder. For the first time all
evening the infant relaxed from his tight fetal
possession and gave a small contented sigh.
"Yukina, why don't you clean up in here and
I'll go help Arashi with the boys' room," Shiori
suggested just as Mechiko came in with the last of
the food.
"Mechiko dear, come with me and we can get
this done a lot faster."
Once again left alone in her chaotic kitchen,
Yukina first found the crystal flower vase Kurama
had given her and Kazuma at their wedding and
placed Shiori's roses in it. After carefully
arranging the perfect, thornless roses, Yukina
placed them in the center of the table so that
everybody could see them.
Yukina started cleaning the kitchen by
picking up the pots and pans and rinsing them
before putting them away. She put all the food in
its appropriate place and on several occasions she
had to avoid running into Arashi and Mechiko as
they started moving bedding and clothes out to the
dojo. Somewhere along the line Kiseki and Fuyu
got into the act and suddenly the house was a blur
of activity as Shiori directed the children with
military precession.
After the kitchen was straitened to her
satisfaction Yukina moved to the boys' room to see
what the tiny army had done. The room was cleaner
than Yukina had ever seen it. The boys were never
very messy, Maryoku made sure of that. In fact,
the boys where normally neater than the girls, but
now the room was immaculate. Not one stray paper
could be seen anywhere. All that remained in the
boys' normally crowded room were their dressers,
one futon and the posters on the wall.
The remaining futon was Maryoku's and
replacing the midnight blue bedding he usually had
where pristine white covers. Shiori was sitting
on the corner of the bed closest to the window
rocking Kyuukai on her shoulder singing a human
lullaby that Yukina was unfamiliar with. The two
of them made such a peaceful picture that Yukina
didn't even notice that her husband and brother
were back until the yelling started.
"YUKINA!"
It was the first time Yukina had ever heard
her brother say her name quite like that. It was
clearly a command that Hiei fully expected her to
answer to. The tone of his voice was dangerous
and threatening but underlining that was a touch
of fear.
"I'm in the boys' room , Hiei!" she called
out to him as she readied herself and the bed.
Yukina had just flipped back the covers to
receive its patient when her brother came through
the door. The look on Hiei's grim face made her
heart leap. Even though Hiei and Yukina had been
separated for most of their lives, Yukina felt
that she knew her brother reasonably well.
Hiei was like a tree made of iron that never
bends until there is something out there strong
enough to knock him on his butt. Nothing ever
seemed to shake Hiei up, until now. Yukina could
find none of her brother's normal rock sure
confidence that he usually radiated when he walked
into a room. Instead she saw a man that was
deeply worried.
Yukina had very little time to reflect on her
brother because Kurama quickly followed and she
got her first big surprise of the evening. Not
only was Kurama in his youko form, which was
highly unusual, but the young lady that he had
cradled in his arms was his mirror image.
Kitsuryuu hung limp and lifeless in Kurama's
gentle arms and from the irregular rise and fall
of her chest Yukina new the girl's breathing was
severely hindered. Yukina quelled her desire to
ask her brother-in-law why this young girl, that
he previously knew nothing about, was practically
his twin and directed Kurama to place Kitsuryuu on
the bed.
Kurama gave a quick nod and then careful
placed the unconscious youko where he was told.
The tenderness with which Kurama placed Kitsuryuu
on the white sheets spoke volumes to Yukina. The
silver haired youko treated the young girl as if
she were made of finely spun glass ready to
shattered at the slightest wrong move.
Kurama moved away with reluctance and Yukina
knelt at the girl's side and closed her eyes to
focus. Yukina had always been an accomplished
healer, but it wasn't until she had found her twin
that she was able to concentrate on the arts of
healing. She had learned many techniques from
Genkai and Botan, and she had learned that it
really didn't matter how much power a healer had,
but how they used it.
Confident that she was ready, Yukina placed
her small hands on Kitsuryuu's forehead and got
her second and third big shock of the evening.
Yukina immediately felt the collar around the
girl's neck pull and drain the power from her
fingers. It seemed the collar could not discern
the difference between the power that Kitsuryuu
generated and an outside power. The greedy strap
of warded leather was indiscriminately pulling
energy form the strongest source, which just
happened to be Yukina.
Yukina had to pull her hands away quickly, or
risk having it drain her completely, but in those
few brief moments she had seen something
incredible and unbelievable. Kitsuryuu was
Koorimei. Yukina knew it in every fiber of her
being, but she still couldn't believe it. The
idea was so overwhelming that all she could do was
sit and stare.
The Koorimei where a race of demon created by
the goddess Yukionna. Yukionna hated men so much
that she had created a race that was entirely made
up of females and she was vain enough to make all
of them in her image. All Koorimei were her
descendants and followers and therefor they kept
her laws. Which included killing all males born.
What Yukina saw before her was an impossibility, a
female Koorimei that didn't look like a Koorimei,
that didn't act like a female Koorimei and
certainly wasn't built like a female Koorimei.
"Yukina, what's wrong?!" Hiei demanded when
she didn't move.
"The... the collar is draining me. I can't
get around it," she told him after a brief
hesitation.
Hiei came to the end of the futon where
Kitsuryuu's head rested, having to push Kurama out
of the way to do so. At first Kurama seemed
unwilling to move but Hiei left him no choice, the
fox demon either moved or got knocked down.
Yukina watch Kurama's shoulders slump just
slightly as he turned away from Kitsuryuu and
headed towards his mother. He changed to his
human appearance and stood beside the human woman
that had given him his second life. Shiori
reached out her free hand and stroked her son's
face lovingly as she continued to rock Kyuukai.
Probably for the first time since he entered
the room Kurama really looked at Shiori. A small
smile curved his lips as he reached out and
fingered the silver material that his son was
wrapped in. Shiori leaned forward and whispered
something in Kurama's ear and his smile grew a
little wider.
"Yukina!"
Hiei's impatient demand shocked Yukina out of
her dream like state and into action. She turned
to find that Hiei was bypassing the collar
allowing her to work on her patient. The
irregular breathing Kitsuryuu had displayed
earlier was gone. Yukina swept the hair from the
girl's face and was struck again by how much she
resembled Kurama.
"I need a place to start. Where was she
hurt?" she asked her brother.
When she didn't get an immediate answer,
Yukina turned to find that Hiei was lost in his
own thoughts. It was evident by the way he was
gazing down at Kitsuryuu and by the way he
continued to lightly rub his thumb against the
girl's throat that he had not heard her. Yukina
desperately wanted to ask him who this girl was
that had captured not only the children's fickle
attentions but her brother's as well.
"Hiei," Yukina said a little more forcibly to
get her twin's attention, "Where was she hurt?"
"Kurama's brother said she broke her left arm
and leg, and Yuusuke hit her in her abdomen."
Yukina nodded her understanding and started
to work. She placed her hands on Kitsuryuu's left
leg and waited for the collar to react. When she
felt nothing happen, Yukina slowly started to
implement her powers. At the first level she
could feel the young girl's knife edged pain
cutting across the mid point of her thigh and
repositioned her hands directly over the site.
When Yukina went to the next level, however, she
didn't find what she had expected.
As far as Yukina could tell there was nothing
wrong with Kitsuryuu's leg. Puzzled she tried
harder to find a brake or even a healed fracture
but could find nothing. Saying nothing to the
group of concerned on lookers she moved on the
girl's arm and found the same thing, great pain
but no brake. Yukina knew that nobody could
possibly heal so completely that no sign appeared
even under the surface.
Yukina continued on to Kitsuryuu's stomach
and once again found the same thing. Her
curiosity peaked and her puzzlement growing,
Yukina continued on to where she *knew* Kitsuryuu
was injured. As close and as carefully as she
could Yukina placed her finger tips on the girl's
throat next to the collar. This time she found
what she expected.
The skin around the collar was badly bruised
and burned. Yukina gently used her powers at
first to see if the collar would react, but
apparently Hiei was keeping it well occupied.
Increasing her effort Yukina quickly healed the
damaged area. Not knowing what else she could do
for the girl, Yukina decided to check out the
badly cropped youko ears she had noticed earlier.
The scaring on the edges of the ears was very
old and thick, not allowing even the coarsest of
hairs to grow. If the damage had of been new she
might have had a chance of coaxing them to
regenerate, but as it was they were beyond her
abilities.
Yukina increased her powers a step farther
and looked deep into the actual functioning part
of Kitsuryuu's ears. She remembered that the
children had said Kitsuryuu was deaf and she
wanted to see if she could help since she seemed
unable to do anything else. She found the same
disheartening news.
Kitsuryuu's ears had been damage far too long
ago and too severely for Yukina to help the young
girl now. Some kind of nearly fatal infection had
scared and destroyed the functioning portions of
Kitsuryuu's ears, making it impossible for her to
hear. A feeling of regret and sympathy flowed
through her for the youko in front of her. How
could someone heal so completely from the kinds of
injuries Hiei had described, but not be able to
fight off a simple infection? Maybe it was the
difference in her age from then to now, but
somehow Yukina didn't think so. There was
something else going on.
From the opened window to Yukina's left she
heard Mechiko yell 'There here!' moments before
the back door slammed open and shut. That was
quickly followed by another series of slams and
Yuusuke's very loud and very irritated voice.
"Maryoku! Get your ass back here now!"
Yukina turned to find Yuusuke's son pushing
himself past Kiseki, refusing the younger boy's
offer of help. He quickly scanned the room and
then locked eyes with Hiei. Yukina was surprised
by the way the two of them seem to communicate
without speaking. Maryoku gave Hiei a questioning
look and received a slight negative shake of the
head in silent response.
"Isn't there anything that you can do for her
Aunt Yukina?" Maryoku pleaded with a barely
audible whisper.
Yukina could hear the fear and tears in young
man's voice. She was the only one that saw the
single tear fell from behind the short feathery
bangs of Maryoku's mussed up hair. It landed on
one of the blood soaked bandages clumsily wrapped
around his palms, soaking in quickly. Kiseki
knelt in front of his friend and gently took
Maryoku's hands into his own and began to heal
them.
"There isn't much I can do. I can't find
anything physically wrong with her other than
exhaustion. Her only problem is the collar. With
it constantly draining her there's no way she can
recover her strength," Yukina told him.
"Then we'll just have to take it off," Hiei
stated bluntly as he curled his fingertips under
the collar.
"NO!" Kurama, Kiseki and Maryoku yelled
before he had a chance to grip it firmly.
"If you take the collar off there will be a
backlash of power," Kiseki told Hiei and his uncle
relaxed his fingers.
"Hiei, the collar was designed so that
another youkai can't take it off. If you try and
remove it the collar will use your own powers to
kill her," Kurama informed them.
"When we took the other wards off it nearly
killed both us and Kitsuryuu. The only one of us
that wasn't hurt was Arashi," Kiseki told his
other uncle.
"That was because he's human."
"So is there no other way to get the collar
off of her? The longer it drains her powers the
worse she will get," Yukina said.
"There is a way!" Maryoku said excitedly as
he grabbed Kiseki's shoulders, "All we have to do
is make her change forms."
"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that!" Kiseki
said, sharing Maryoku's excitement.
"What are the two of you talking about?"
Yukina asked.
"Kiseki can *make* Kitsuryuu change forms,
and that way her collar won't hurt her. He's done
it before."
"So do it," Hiei demanded.
Kiseki gave his mother a nervous glance that
she returned with a reassuring smile. The young
boy took a deep breath and knelt next to
Kitsuryuu. He quickly placed his hand on her arm
and Kitsuryuu's body shimmered and then changed
shape.
Silver-blue hair changed to dirty, blood
encrusted red-black tresses. Kitsuryuu's cropped
ears formed into the delicate shells of two
perfect humanoid ears. The girl's body shrank in
size and all the injuries that Hiei had described
earlier appeared. Yukina couldn't help and cringe
at the obvious severity of Kitsuryuu's wounds.
Her brother pulled slowly away with blank shock
clearly on his face. Shiori gave a gasp of
surprise and quickly excused herself from the
room.
Kitsuryuu looked horrible. Her long
red-black hair was matted with dried blood and
dirt. The pale flawless skin that Yukina
remembered form the photo album was covered in hot
pink, half healed scars over blue-black bruised
skin. All the clothing on the left side of her
body was ripped or cut and drenched in blood. The
exposed areas of Kitsuryuu's left leg and arm had
the same grotesque bruises and the right side of
her stomach was an open sore.
Yukina quickly got over her own shock and
started working on the girl. Her first priority
was healing the still bleeding wound. She placed
her hands on either side of the opening and
stopped the bleeding first , then assessed the
situation. The damage to Kitsuryuu's stomach was
worse than Yukina had first thought. The young
girl's kidney, intestines and part of one lung
were crushed and non-functioning, but besides that
there were other internal injuries that Yuusuke's
blast should have never caused.
It seemed to Yukina that every part of
Kitsuryuu's body had been beaten from what felt
like the inside. She began to worry that her
powers would be insufficient to help the youkai.
There was so much that needed healing.
Kitsuryuu's broken arm had healed on its own
without any trouble, but her leg had fused
slightly crooked. Yukina could feel bruising
around Kitsuryuu's once broken ribs making it
painful for the girl to breath.
"Kiseki, I'm going to need your help. Kurama
go get Fuyu quickly."
Yukina could see panic fill Kurama as he ran
from the room. Hiei just sat in stony silence at
Kitsuryuu's head, not moving. Yuusuke tried to
gently move his son out of the way to give the
healers more room. At first Maryoku didn't
respond, then the young man awoke from his shock
and he jerked himself from his father's grasp. He
willingly retreated to a corner of the room, but
refused to leave.
"Where do you what me to start mother?"
Kiseki asked worriedly.
"Just start healing her. She has too many
small injuries to focus on any one thing. I will
start with her stomach."
Kiseki did as he was told and Yukina was
relieved to see that he was more than able to
tackle the task she had set before him. She
placed her own hands over Kitsuryuu's stomach and
concentrated her powers. She was vaguely aware
that Fuyu had joined them when she heard her
daughter gasp, but right now all of Yukina's
attention was focused on the girl in front of her.
Slowly, minute by minute, Kitsuryuu began to
heal. For the next few hours the three of them
worked to bring Kitsuryuu back to her previous
health. Exhausted, the children had to stop
before Yukina but they had ready done a phenomenal
job. Kitsuryuu was past the critical stage and
with a lot of rest she would recover fully on her
own.
Yukina gave a tired sigh and slumped next to
Kitsuryuu. The young girl was sleeping deeply,
almost to the point of being comatose. Yukina
stretched out her hand and laid it over
Kitsuryuu's leg and shook her head sadly.
"What's wrong Yukina?"
Kurama's gentle question startled her.
Yukina snapped her head up to find that she had a
much bigger audience than when she had first
started. Shiori was still out of the room but
everyone else was here. Mechiko, Arashi and Koori
were in the window watching, Yuusuke and Kazuma
stood at the door trying to stay out of the way
and Maryoku, Fuyu, Kurama, Hiei and herself were
huddled around Kitsuryuu in a semi circle.
"I have healed what I can, but she is still
in bad shape. She needs time to rest, but that
isn't my only concern. Her leg was badly broken
and it has healed crooked, if it is not straitened
then she will always limp."
"How can we fix it?" Maryoku asked as he
pulled a cover over Kitsuryuu's sleeping form.
"We brake it again," Hiei stated bluntly,
drawing a gasp from Fuyu who sat beside him.
"That *is* the only way, but not now. She is
too weak and the added shock to her system would
only make her worse," Yukina said quickly.
"Please, everyone, just leave her to rest for
now. We can discuss how to fix Kitsuryuu's leg
later when she is more fully recovered."
Slowly one by one everybody left. Kurama,
Hiei and Maryoku were the last to leave. Kurama
escorted the upset young man from the room with
his arm around his shoulders, reassuring Maryoku
that Kitsuryuu was going to be fine. Yukina
turned back to her patient just in time to see
Hiei place his hand lightly on the top of the
sleeping girl's head and then quickly withdraw it.
"She's your daughter, isn't she. Yours and
Kurama's that is," Yukina stated.
Hiei would not meet her eyes and turned away
from the bed. He left the room without answering.
Yukina didn't need her brother to confirm what she
already knew to be true. She didn't know how Hiei
could have possible done it on his own but he had
a Koorimei daughter.
There were many questions that Yukina had no
answers for. Like how injuries to one of
Kitsuryuu's forms did not carry over to the
others. All youkai that she had ever heard of
that had multiple shapes, including youkos, had
only one physical body that changed in shape. It
would appear that Kitsuryuu had different bodies
to go along with each form, but only one
consciousness. Kitsuryuu truly was an outstanding
young lady, with more questions than answers.
Yukina made sure that her 'new' niece was as
comfortable as she could make her and then quietly
left the room. Hopefully by the time the girl
awakened most of her unanswered questions would be
satisfied.
==========
end chapter 19