Last day on earth
Kal Kally
Disclaimer: All YYH characters don't belong to me.
Pairing: Kurama/Hiei, Yusuke/Koenma
Warning: Death.
Hiei stood silently by a broken window in the highest floor of a tower in Mukuro's land. Looking from here, one could see a vast part of Makai. Vaguely, Hiei knew sometime before, he had stood here watching the land that welcomed yet abandoned him. Makai had no deep blue sky as Nigenkai. The sky of Makai was always red as blood or dark as night. Under that sky was endless strange, dangerous and charming forest.
But now, looking in all direction, he only found a barren and torn land. Hiei's sensitive nose could only caught the smell of blood and hot ashes; his ears could only hear dying screams and sounds of getting-near fire. Makai was dead. Makai had been dead for a long time.
Hiei suddenly laughed. His laughter was short, violent and full of pain. He was a fool. The whole Makai were fools. Makai, Reikai, Nigenkai... There was a time when they actually believed that the pain and hatred were indeed cured among the three different worlds.
The lands of the three most powerful youkai, Yusuke, Mukuro and Yomi once were peaceful.
Until Reikai had turned their back to them all...
When the nightmare began, Yusuke was the first one to fall. Hiei never knew what happened in the night Koenma, who had thrown away his childish appearance a long time ago, paid Yusuke a visit. But for an S class youkai like Yusuke, he had died not in battle, even the smallest. That was what made Hiei bitter most.
Reikai had used Yusuke's land as a home base to build up their power in Makai. They kept Yusuke's death a secret so that nobody would find it suspicious. By the time Reikai attacked, everything was just too late. In this war, on Makai's side there was a human, Kuwabara had used up the last dropt of his blood to protect his wife's homeland. After he was killed, Koorime land was quickly destroyed. Hiei pressed his right hand to his heart, until now, the memory of his sister's dying scene was till lacerating the heart he used to claimed that he didn't have.
A strong wind passed through the broken glass of the window, its icy breath cold on Hiei's face. He and Kurama both had shared many hopeless battles, only to barely escape from death just in time. Finally, the survived gathered here in the last lively part of Makai, Mukuro's home. They all knew they were at the dead end when Yomi came to ask for Mukuro's aid. But it had been Makai's last hope.
The wooden door to the top of the tower swung open. Hiei turned his head to the source of the sound and nearly cried out. Kurama was standing there, one hand clamped tightly on the doorframe for support, the other hand pressed to a spreading stain of blood on his chest. Between his fingers, an arrow penetrated deep into his flesh. Hiei appeared on Kurama's side in a flash of motion. "What happened?" Hiei asked, his voice never louder than a whisper.
Supported Kurama to get into the room and lowered the youko to the ground, Hiei quickly tore his black cloak for bandage. But Kurama's hand shot out to grab his wrist. The youko whispered. "There's no point in doing that Hiei, the arrow was aimed at my heart, and it didn't miss."
Outside, the sound of weapons meeting weapons and screams became louder and louder. But in the room on the top of this tower, all Hiei could hear were silence and Kurama's heavy breath. Hiei had seen the last minutes of too many beings, both humans and youkai to not realize that expression on his beloved's face. He felt as if the arrow penetrating Kurama's heart was tearing his own heart as well. "No, it couldn't be Kurama. I cannot lose you. I've already lost everything else, if I lost you, I would..." He groaned painfully, staring at the bloody fingerprints on his wrist.
Kurama stopped the words by pressing his hand on Hiei's mouth. Hiei felt dizzy tasting that sweet and bitter blood. "Don't say that Hiei... there's till hope for you. Our battle was lost... Reikai's fighters had broken the barriers... They're coming nearer... Can you hear it?"
Hiei took Kurama's hand and tightened his fingers around them. For the first time he realized the air was filled with battle sounds and the falling noise of the invisible barriers they had built.
"Forgive me, Hiei..." Kurama leaned to his strong chest, his body getting limp. "We had always been together... but from now on...I no longer... can..."
"No, you're wrong, Kurama, we'll be together forever. You promised me, you must not break your promise. You cannot do that to me!" Hiei embraced his lover tighter, pain and loss built in his heart to the point he could no longer bear. The emotion he never knew he possessed got out from his throat into a denial howl.
Kurama coughed out blood, his blood had soaked Hiei's cloak. His breath became quicker and weaker. The world was fading; he had nearly used up the last of his strength to come here, just to speak to Hiei these last words. "Too late..." He tried to smile but found himself lack the strength to. "Everything has come to an end for me... But you still have the chance... With your power and speed, you can still... escape... Escape to Nigenkai and never come back... There's nothing to do here in Makai... Makai is dead. Makai is really dead."
Hiei had to resist the urge to shake Kurama back to his sense. He nearly screamed. "Is it what you want? In these minutes, all what you want is to leave me?" Hiei stared straight into those familiar eyes. They were no longer bright and lively but cloudy, dead and sorrowful.
"No," Kurama's words were barely audible now. "That's why I still had one final wish... I wish to be dead... by your hands Hiei..."
Hiei froze. Never could he imagine Kurama would ask him a favor like that. He tried to say something but Kurama raised a finger to his lips, silencing him. "That way... my spirit would be with you forever... For all the time we're... together, couldn't you grant me this... final..." Kurama couldn't finish his sentence as the last of his strength was leaving him. Finally, he gave up and begged Hiei with his eyes.
Something broke inside Hiei when he looked into those eyes. That breaking sound overwhelmed all other battle noises. He could only vaguely feel that the battle was being drawn near; the footsteps and clashing noise of weapons could be heard from the other side of this door. Reikai's people were going to get inside the top of this tower.
Kurama's pale lips formed a word silently... Quick...
Hiei's arms around that delicate figure tightened. Suddenly he smirked. He knew what was happening outside. Reikai wanted to bend their will in the way those sick bastards desired. But in the end, all what they gained would only be a vast dead land. They had lost the battle, but never conquered. An old saying of Makai came to his mind.
If we cannot exist together, we will be destroyed together...
"We promised each other." The sad smile on the fire youkai's lips was not quite sane. "So I would help you to make this last wish come true." One of his arms supported Kurama, his free hand took the sword he had dropt to the ground when seeing Kurama badly wounded. He drove it violently into Kurama's back.
A smile reflected in Kurama's eyes. It quickly turned into shock. Hiei didn't stop even when the sword came out of Kurama's chest. Its sharply blade thrust deep into Hiei's own heart.
"Because we promised each other.." Hiei whispered, a tear escaped his eyes. It transformed into a tear gem red as blood, falling to the ground with a single sound. A drop of water fell onto it some seconds after, and trailed down to the ground.
Hiei felt himself smiling, not that cold smirk he usually wore but a sad, true smile. He and Kurama had shared God-know-how-many battles, pains and even some rare moments of happiness. It just felt so right to share these first and last tears together.
They both fell to the cold stone floor of the tower. How strange, the icy coldness of death reached none of them, only a faint warmth of being completed.
***
Koenma stood on a hill watching the last alive part of Makai. Botan was standing beside him. The Reikai ferry girl didn't smile. There was no tear in her eyes either. But she knew that somewhere deep in her soul, she was crying.
"Is that what you want, Koenma-sama?" She whispered.
Koenma laughed. "Of course. Those fools think that by death, they can escape my hands. But they don't understand their souls will come to Reikai eventually. Rebuilt Makai as I want is only a matter of time."
There was a sudden outburst of ki, strong but it died down as quickly as it had appeared. "What was that?" Koenma frowned and turned his head to look at the towers. The ki had faded completely, but from the broken windows of the highest tower of Mukuro's land, there was a cloud of some kind of crimson mixed with white smoke coming out. The cloud turned thick after several minutes. They flew up into the sky above the tower, swirling, red and white dancing together. Slowly, it became shapes.
Botan clapped her hands on her mouth to prevent a shock cry. The cloud had shaped into a giant bloody red dragon and white as snow fox.
Koenma snorted slightingly. "What do Hiei and Kurama do this time? They should have known all their efforts would be in vain. They will still lose."
The shapes intertwined then blurred. It faded into a tiny red-white light sphere, at first dimly then the light grew brighter and brighter until it was painful to look at.
Her legs refused to carry her any longer. Botan fell to her knees. Koenma didn't sense it, but being a guidance of the souls, she felt. She felt the call that the orb of light was sending to the lost souls of Makai, and maybe to the human souls as well.
"What's that, Botan? What... " Koenma looked down but the ground suddenly shook under his feet, cutting his words off.
Waves of mixed emotions invaded Botan's consciousness. There were so many emotions, but she could only make out the two strongest ones, fear and strange satisfaction. "Don't you see, Koenma-sama?" she whispered, "It's Makai. Makai is answering the call."
Koenma grabbed Botan's arm forcefully and dragged her up. "What call?" His question was threatening, his hand tightened on Botan's arm hard enough to leave bruises there. He didn't like his plan to be interrupted.
Botan didn't answer. She didn't need to. From the corpses scattering everywhere escaped small colorful lights. The souls. They flew towards the floating orb above the tower and mingled with it. The sphere became bigger and bigger, eventually, it engulfed the top of the tower. But then, it didn't stop there and continued to enlarge its size.
Koenma made a step back, hearing the screams of his men from the tower that was being lost in the light. "What's the hell was that?" he cried, "It isn't supposed to be that way." From behind, thousands of small light spheres flew past him towards the huge light sphere. A light, brighter than others flew right through his body. For a moment, a burning feeling overwhelmed him. A soul so familiar, so fiery, so strong...
"Yusuke..." He choked on his words, his hands flew up to press on his heart as a sudden pain shot through it.
One of the Reikai fighters appeared on the hill, looked shaken and exhausted. "Koenma-sama. There's something wrong with Reikai. The souls, both human's and youkai's keep flowing out and we can't stop them."
The light was spreading, Koenma seemed to be frozen as he watched it. That soul was calling him, pulling him towards the light. A look of lost appeared on his face as he made a step forwards.
"Koenma-sama!" The man behind him cried, made him snapped out of his trance. "The situation is urgent." The man continued. "We must get out of here and dealt with the problem at Reikai before it got out of control."
Koenma nodded and ordered. "Call everybody. We're temporarily getting out of here." He turned and walked away, but then, he stopped and looked back sat Botan, who still sat on the grass, eyes locked with the light.
"Botan. Don't you hear me? We must go back to Reikai," he cried.
Botan turned to him with a vacant expression. "But koenma-sama..." She said, her voice sounded like a lost child. "They're calling me. It's Yusuke. It's Genkai-san. Everybody is there. I must..." She trailed off and stood up shakily.
"This is my order, Botan. Leave." Koenma ran to her, suddenly had an idea of what she was about to do next.
Botan gave him a sad smile, yet still full of joy and happiness. She summoned her broom. Koenma reached his hands out to hold her back, but only grasped the empty air. Botan had gotten on her broom and flew straight towards the light. Several seconds after, she disappeared into it.
Koenma turned away from the scene; a wave of sadness swept through him then vanished completely, leaving in him only a sense of numbness. He ordered his men to leave Makai through the way connected the two worlds. The souls continued to escape from Reikai and flew in the opposite direction with them.
Crossed the boundary between the two worlds, Koenma sighed in relief, he was safe now, but a cry erupted behind him showed him how wrong he was. The light was spreading with an incredible speed. It had gone past Makai and now was about to get to them.
A threat to his world.
Gritting his teeth, Koenma turned back abruptly. He was a God himself, he would not back up from anything that dared to cross his way.
A golden light surrounded him. Koenma's Reiki flared as he released his godly power to create a barrier preventing the light from enlarging its self. It was not as difficult as he thought. The light was stopped easily. It was still bright, but Koenma's barrier prevented all the souls from joining it.
The light was only some kind of energy after all. He could do this. He could use his own energy to nullify the hostile one. Koenma put more of his power into the barrier and further, he attacked the light.
Suddenly a part of the light split out of its body and seeped through his barrier. The light formed a vague shape of a human. It wrapped its arms around Koenma's neck, its breath warm on his face.
The Reikai fighters around him were calling his name, but Koenma saw nothing except the blinding light, heard nothing except a familiar voice coming back from the past. "I told you eventually, you would come back to me."
The light seemed to dim. Koenma saw himself in a dark hallway.
He knocked at a large door. "Come in," said a voice from behind it. Koenma stepped in and saw a young man with dark hair and eyes. "Hi, Yusuke."
Yusuke nodded in acknowledgement. He was sitting cross legs on the floor. The entire wall behind him was made of glass; Yusuke leaned to it, looking out. Koenma had asked him once about it, and Yusuke said he had ordered to have his wall made that way so that he could have a clear view of Makai always. Since his mother died, he had never came back to Nigenkai once, and Yusuke had learnt to love this land very fast.
Walk to the young man, Koenma kneeled down in front of him. "Miss your girlfriend again?"
"No." Yusuke smiled. Suddenly he grasped Koenma's face with both hands, pulled him down and kissed him passionately. Yusuke's hands slid under his clothes and roamed over his body possessively.
They broke away only when they needed air to breathe. Yusuke placed a light kiss on Koenma's check. "Just miss you."
"Really? Ah..." Koenma cried as the hungry mouth moved to his neck and bit down gently. Yusuke tore his shirt away and his touch got bolder.
All thought flew out of the window. Yusuke drew the curtain close. "Love me." A whisper drifted in the air, followed by moans and cries of pleasure.
Time flew so fast to midnight.
Koenma had been staring at the glass on Yusuke's desk for a long time, his hands clutched over a tiny bottle and his sleeping clothes hang loosely around his body.
Koenma turned to the sound of water falling. Yusuke was still cleaning himself, unaware of the storm in his lover's head. Tremblingly, Koenma raised the bottle and opened it. No order, no color, no smell, such a wonderful poison. He hesitated, and then scolded himself for his cowardliness. More determined this time, he poured the fluid in the bottle into the glass.
A few minutes later, Yusuke stepped back into his room, drying off his hair with a large towel. Koenma turned abruptly to him; heart beat wildly in his chest. He barely had time to throw the bottle away and rearrange the glass into its original position.
Yusuke dropped the towel and walked to him. Nervously, Koenma stood frozen, waiting for Yusuke's next action.
Yusuke just wrapped his arms around the Prince of Death and held him tightly, his head rested on Koenma's shoulder. "You know that I love you very much, right?"
Filling the air was the smell of soap and a very special smell, the sweet smell of Yusuke that he had always love. For a moment, he was overwhelmed with emotions, but he pushed them back, and pushed Yusuke away from him as well.
With steady hands, he grabbed the wine bottle and poured the red fluid into the two glasses. Holding one out for Yusuke, his face betrayed only calmness while his heart was screaming inside, half of him wanted Yusuke to just drink it, half of him wished Yusuke would refuse.
"For what?"" Yusuke asked and took the glass.
"Just for tonight." Koenma answered. "But if you don't want to drink, we won't." He hastily continued.
Yusuke lifted the glass up and watched the fluid intensely for a moment. "I see. So powerful. How long did you have to search for this poison?"
Koenma should have backed away if his back hadn't touched the desk's edge already. "How... how do you know?" He stammered.
"You can't hide from me anything, my dear prince. So you want me dead, right my beloved?"
Koenma winced at the accusation, feeling both panic and relief that Yusuke had found out. "I must admit that it's really a surprise, but..." Yusuke closed the space between them. Koenma tensed, waiting for his next action. His eyes widened in disbelief as Yusuke raised the glass to his lips and drank the whole of it in one gulp.
A moment after, Yusuke fell into his arms, coughed up blood. They both slid down into a sitting position on the floor, Yusuke leaned heavily to Koenma.
"Why? Why did you do that?" Koenma cried. "You... Why? Why didn't you kill me instead?"
Yusuke smiled. "I promise I'll always give you what you want. So go trying to conquer the world as you desire, but remember this..." He pulled Koenma's face closer, their lips nearly touched. "... eventually you will come back to me." The final words died out as Yusuke stole one last kiss.
The kiss tasted of blood, so bitter yet still so sweet. Koenma tried to hold his lover closer, but as Yusuke's lips left his, his body went limp and he dissolved into white light.
The scene blurred and faded into light, too. He soon found himself standing in a sea of white light. "... you will come back to me." Yusuke's words kept returning to him like echoes.
Someone was calling him from far away, but their voices were only weak breezes knocking at the door of his mind. Yusuke's voice became louder and louder. Koenma pressed his hands over his ears tightly as the familiar voice turned into roars. "No!" He cried. "Stop this."
Suddenly his mouth was filled with the taste of blood that night. Someone whispered warmly on his lips. "You resist me too hard, my prince. Just return to me. Just drop your barrier and let me in."
Koenma could no longer think straight. Even in the roars, the whisper was still very clear. The voice kept calling, attracting, welcoming... and...
... and Koenma dropped his barrier and stopped controlling his ki.
All the Reikai fighters cried in horror as their leader dropped the barrier and was pulled into the light.
No one could stop it now that their God had given up the fight. The light continued to spread, reached out to both Reikai and Nigenkai. Soon the three worlds were all filled with it.
Burning brightly, the light destroyed everything, returned everything to emptiness. It lasted for a long time, then slowly dissolved into millions of tiny spheres of lights.
Those brilliant spheres floated high above the barren ground. Some drifted alone, some in pair, but they all illuminated the dead worlds like flames of candles. Then one after one, they faded.
Ruled everything were only silence and darkness.
Owari.
Kal Kally
Disclaimer: All YYH characters don't belong to me.
Pairing: Kurama/Hiei, Yusuke/Koenma
Warning: Death.
Hiei stood silently by a broken window in the highest floor of a tower in Mukuro's land. Looking from here, one could see a vast part of Makai. Vaguely, Hiei knew sometime before, he had stood here watching the land that welcomed yet abandoned him. Makai had no deep blue sky as Nigenkai. The sky of Makai was always red as blood or dark as night. Under that sky was endless strange, dangerous and charming forest.
But now, looking in all direction, he only found a barren and torn land. Hiei's sensitive nose could only caught the smell of blood and hot ashes; his ears could only hear dying screams and sounds of getting-near fire. Makai was dead. Makai had been dead for a long time.
Hiei suddenly laughed. His laughter was short, violent and full of pain. He was a fool. The whole Makai were fools. Makai, Reikai, Nigenkai... There was a time when they actually believed that the pain and hatred were indeed cured among the three different worlds.
The lands of the three most powerful youkai, Yusuke, Mukuro and Yomi once were peaceful.
Until Reikai had turned their back to them all...
When the nightmare began, Yusuke was the first one to fall. Hiei never knew what happened in the night Koenma, who had thrown away his childish appearance a long time ago, paid Yusuke a visit. But for an S class youkai like Yusuke, he had died not in battle, even the smallest. That was what made Hiei bitter most.
Reikai had used Yusuke's land as a home base to build up their power in Makai. They kept Yusuke's death a secret so that nobody would find it suspicious. By the time Reikai attacked, everything was just too late. In this war, on Makai's side there was a human, Kuwabara had used up the last dropt of his blood to protect his wife's homeland. After he was killed, Koorime land was quickly destroyed. Hiei pressed his right hand to his heart, until now, the memory of his sister's dying scene was till lacerating the heart he used to claimed that he didn't have.
A strong wind passed through the broken glass of the window, its icy breath cold on Hiei's face. He and Kurama both had shared many hopeless battles, only to barely escape from death just in time. Finally, the survived gathered here in the last lively part of Makai, Mukuro's home. They all knew they were at the dead end when Yomi came to ask for Mukuro's aid. But it had been Makai's last hope.
The wooden door to the top of the tower swung open. Hiei turned his head to the source of the sound and nearly cried out. Kurama was standing there, one hand clamped tightly on the doorframe for support, the other hand pressed to a spreading stain of blood on his chest. Between his fingers, an arrow penetrated deep into his flesh. Hiei appeared on Kurama's side in a flash of motion. "What happened?" Hiei asked, his voice never louder than a whisper.
Supported Kurama to get into the room and lowered the youko to the ground, Hiei quickly tore his black cloak for bandage. But Kurama's hand shot out to grab his wrist. The youko whispered. "There's no point in doing that Hiei, the arrow was aimed at my heart, and it didn't miss."
Outside, the sound of weapons meeting weapons and screams became louder and louder. But in the room on the top of this tower, all Hiei could hear were silence and Kurama's heavy breath. Hiei had seen the last minutes of too many beings, both humans and youkai to not realize that expression on his beloved's face. He felt as if the arrow penetrating Kurama's heart was tearing his own heart as well. "No, it couldn't be Kurama. I cannot lose you. I've already lost everything else, if I lost you, I would..." He groaned painfully, staring at the bloody fingerprints on his wrist.
Kurama stopped the words by pressing his hand on Hiei's mouth. Hiei felt dizzy tasting that sweet and bitter blood. "Don't say that Hiei... there's till hope for you. Our battle was lost... Reikai's fighters had broken the barriers... They're coming nearer... Can you hear it?"
Hiei took Kurama's hand and tightened his fingers around them. For the first time he realized the air was filled with battle sounds and the falling noise of the invisible barriers they had built.
"Forgive me, Hiei..." Kurama leaned to his strong chest, his body getting limp. "We had always been together... but from now on...I no longer... can..."
"No, you're wrong, Kurama, we'll be together forever. You promised me, you must not break your promise. You cannot do that to me!" Hiei embraced his lover tighter, pain and loss built in his heart to the point he could no longer bear. The emotion he never knew he possessed got out from his throat into a denial howl.
Kurama coughed out blood, his blood had soaked Hiei's cloak. His breath became quicker and weaker. The world was fading; he had nearly used up the last of his strength to come here, just to speak to Hiei these last words. "Too late..." He tried to smile but found himself lack the strength to. "Everything has come to an end for me... But you still have the chance... With your power and speed, you can still... escape... Escape to Nigenkai and never come back... There's nothing to do here in Makai... Makai is dead. Makai is really dead."
Hiei had to resist the urge to shake Kurama back to his sense. He nearly screamed. "Is it what you want? In these minutes, all what you want is to leave me?" Hiei stared straight into those familiar eyes. They were no longer bright and lively but cloudy, dead and sorrowful.
"No," Kurama's words were barely audible now. "That's why I still had one final wish... I wish to be dead... by your hands Hiei..."
Hiei froze. Never could he imagine Kurama would ask him a favor like that. He tried to say something but Kurama raised a finger to his lips, silencing him. "That way... my spirit would be with you forever... For all the time we're... together, couldn't you grant me this... final..." Kurama couldn't finish his sentence as the last of his strength was leaving him. Finally, he gave up and begged Hiei with his eyes.
Something broke inside Hiei when he looked into those eyes. That breaking sound overwhelmed all other battle noises. He could only vaguely feel that the battle was being drawn near; the footsteps and clashing noise of weapons could be heard from the other side of this door. Reikai's people were going to get inside the top of this tower.
Kurama's pale lips formed a word silently... Quick...
Hiei's arms around that delicate figure tightened. Suddenly he smirked. He knew what was happening outside. Reikai wanted to bend their will in the way those sick bastards desired. But in the end, all what they gained would only be a vast dead land. They had lost the battle, but never conquered. An old saying of Makai came to his mind.
If we cannot exist together, we will be destroyed together...
"We promised each other." The sad smile on the fire youkai's lips was not quite sane. "So I would help you to make this last wish come true." One of his arms supported Kurama, his free hand took the sword he had dropt to the ground when seeing Kurama badly wounded. He drove it violently into Kurama's back.
A smile reflected in Kurama's eyes. It quickly turned into shock. Hiei didn't stop even when the sword came out of Kurama's chest. Its sharply blade thrust deep into Hiei's own heart.
"Because we promised each other.." Hiei whispered, a tear escaped his eyes. It transformed into a tear gem red as blood, falling to the ground with a single sound. A drop of water fell onto it some seconds after, and trailed down to the ground.
Hiei felt himself smiling, not that cold smirk he usually wore but a sad, true smile. He and Kurama had shared God-know-how-many battles, pains and even some rare moments of happiness. It just felt so right to share these first and last tears together.
They both fell to the cold stone floor of the tower. How strange, the icy coldness of death reached none of them, only a faint warmth of being completed.
***
Koenma stood on a hill watching the last alive part of Makai. Botan was standing beside him. The Reikai ferry girl didn't smile. There was no tear in her eyes either. But she knew that somewhere deep in her soul, she was crying.
"Is that what you want, Koenma-sama?" She whispered.
Koenma laughed. "Of course. Those fools think that by death, they can escape my hands. But they don't understand their souls will come to Reikai eventually. Rebuilt Makai as I want is only a matter of time."
There was a sudden outburst of ki, strong but it died down as quickly as it had appeared. "What was that?" Koenma frowned and turned his head to look at the towers. The ki had faded completely, but from the broken windows of the highest tower of Mukuro's land, there was a cloud of some kind of crimson mixed with white smoke coming out. The cloud turned thick after several minutes. They flew up into the sky above the tower, swirling, red and white dancing together. Slowly, it became shapes.
Botan clapped her hands on her mouth to prevent a shock cry. The cloud had shaped into a giant bloody red dragon and white as snow fox.
Koenma snorted slightingly. "What do Hiei and Kurama do this time? They should have known all their efforts would be in vain. They will still lose."
The shapes intertwined then blurred. It faded into a tiny red-white light sphere, at first dimly then the light grew brighter and brighter until it was painful to look at.
Her legs refused to carry her any longer. Botan fell to her knees. Koenma didn't sense it, but being a guidance of the souls, she felt. She felt the call that the orb of light was sending to the lost souls of Makai, and maybe to the human souls as well.
"What's that, Botan? What... " Koenma looked down but the ground suddenly shook under his feet, cutting his words off.
Waves of mixed emotions invaded Botan's consciousness. There were so many emotions, but she could only make out the two strongest ones, fear and strange satisfaction. "Don't you see, Koenma-sama?" she whispered, "It's Makai. Makai is answering the call."
Koenma grabbed Botan's arm forcefully and dragged her up. "What call?" His question was threatening, his hand tightened on Botan's arm hard enough to leave bruises there. He didn't like his plan to be interrupted.
Botan didn't answer. She didn't need to. From the corpses scattering everywhere escaped small colorful lights. The souls. They flew towards the floating orb above the tower and mingled with it. The sphere became bigger and bigger, eventually, it engulfed the top of the tower. But then, it didn't stop there and continued to enlarge its size.
Koenma made a step back, hearing the screams of his men from the tower that was being lost in the light. "What's the hell was that?" he cried, "It isn't supposed to be that way." From behind, thousands of small light spheres flew past him towards the huge light sphere. A light, brighter than others flew right through his body. For a moment, a burning feeling overwhelmed him. A soul so familiar, so fiery, so strong...
"Yusuke..." He choked on his words, his hands flew up to press on his heart as a sudden pain shot through it.
One of the Reikai fighters appeared on the hill, looked shaken and exhausted. "Koenma-sama. There's something wrong with Reikai. The souls, both human's and youkai's keep flowing out and we can't stop them."
The light was spreading, Koenma seemed to be frozen as he watched it. That soul was calling him, pulling him towards the light. A look of lost appeared on his face as he made a step forwards.
"Koenma-sama!" The man behind him cried, made him snapped out of his trance. "The situation is urgent." The man continued. "We must get out of here and dealt with the problem at Reikai before it got out of control."
Koenma nodded and ordered. "Call everybody. We're temporarily getting out of here." He turned and walked away, but then, he stopped and looked back sat Botan, who still sat on the grass, eyes locked with the light.
"Botan. Don't you hear me? We must go back to Reikai," he cried.
Botan turned to him with a vacant expression. "But koenma-sama..." She said, her voice sounded like a lost child. "They're calling me. It's Yusuke. It's Genkai-san. Everybody is there. I must..." She trailed off and stood up shakily.
"This is my order, Botan. Leave." Koenma ran to her, suddenly had an idea of what she was about to do next.
Botan gave him a sad smile, yet still full of joy and happiness. She summoned her broom. Koenma reached his hands out to hold her back, but only grasped the empty air. Botan had gotten on her broom and flew straight towards the light. Several seconds after, she disappeared into it.
Koenma turned away from the scene; a wave of sadness swept through him then vanished completely, leaving in him only a sense of numbness. He ordered his men to leave Makai through the way connected the two worlds. The souls continued to escape from Reikai and flew in the opposite direction with them.
Crossed the boundary between the two worlds, Koenma sighed in relief, he was safe now, but a cry erupted behind him showed him how wrong he was. The light was spreading with an incredible speed. It had gone past Makai and now was about to get to them.
A threat to his world.
Gritting his teeth, Koenma turned back abruptly. He was a God himself, he would not back up from anything that dared to cross his way.
A golden light surrounded him. Koenma's Reiki flared as he released his godly power to create a barrier preventing the light from enlarging its self. It was not as difficult as he thought. The light was stopped easily. It was still bright, but Koenma's barrier prevented all the souls from joining it.
The light was only some kind of energy after all. He could do this. He could use his own energy to nullify the hostile one. Koenma put more of his power into the barrier and further, he attacked the light.
Suddenly a part of the light split out of its body and seeped through his barrier. The light formed a vague shape of a human. It wrapped its arms around Koenma's neck, its breath warm on his face.
The Reikai fighters around him were calling his name, but Koenma saw nothing except the blinding light, heard nothing except a familiar voice coming back from the past. "I told you eventually, you would come back to me."
The light seemed to dim. Koenma saw himself in a dark hallway.
He knocked at a large door. "Come in," said a voice from behind it. Koenma stepped in and saw a young man with dark hair and eyes. "Hi, Yusuke."
Yusuke nodded in acknowledgement. He was sitting cross legs on the floor. The entire wall behind him was made of glass; Yusuke leaned to it, looking out. Koenma had asked him once about it, and Yusuke said he had ordered to have his wall made that way so that he could have a clear view of Makai always. Since his mother died, he had never came back to Nigenkai once, and Yusuke had learnt to love this land very fast.
Walk to the young man, Koenma kneeled down in front of him. "Miss your girlfriend again?"
"No." Yusuke smiled. Suddenly he grasped Koenma's face with both hands, pulled him down and kissed him passionately. Yusuke's hands slid under his clothes and roamed over his body possessively.
They broke away only when they needed air to breathe. Yusuke placed a light kiss on Koenma's check. "Just miss you."
"Really? Ah..." Koenma cried as the hungry mouth moved to his neck and bit down gently. Yusuke tore his shirt away and his touch got bolder.
All thought flew out of the window. Yusuke drew the curtain close. "Love me." A whisper drifted in the air, followed by moans and cries of pleasure.
Time flew so fast to midnight.
Koenma had been staring at the glass on Yusuke's desk for a long time, his hands clutched over a tiny bottle and his sleeping clothes hang loosely around his body.
Koenma turned to the sound of water falling. Yusuke was still cleaning himself, unaware of the storm in his lover's head. Tremblingly, Koenma raised the bottle and opened it. No order, no color, no smell, such a wonderful poison. He hesitated, and then scolded himself for his cowardliness. More determined this time, he poured the fluid in the bottle into the glass.
A few minutes later, Yusuke stepped back into his room, drying off his hair with a large towel. Koenma turned abruptly to him; heart beat wildly in his chest. He barely had time to throw the bottle away and rearrange the glass into its original position.
Yusuke dropped the towel and walked to him. Nervously, Koenma stood frozen, waiting for Yusuke's next action.
Yusuke just wrapped his arms around the Prince of Death and held him tightly, his head rested on Koenma's shoulder. "You know that I love you very much, right?"
Filling the air was the smell of soap and a very special smell, the sweet smell of Yusuke that he had always love. For a moment, he was overwhelmed with emotions, but he pushed them back, and pushed Yusuke away from him as well.
With steady hands, he grabbed the wine bottle and poured the red fluid into the two glasses. Holding one out for Yusuke, his face betrayed only calmness while his heart was screaming inside, half of him wanted Yusuke to just drink it, half of him wished Yusuke would refuse.
"For what?"" Yusuke asked and took the glass.
"Just for tonight." Koenma answered. "But if you don't want to drink, we won't." He hastily continued.
Yusuke lifted the glass up and watched the fluid intensely for a moment. "I see. So powerful. How long did you have to search for this poison?"
Koenma should have backed away if his back hadn't touched the desk's edge already. "How... how do you know?" He stammered.
"You can't hide from me anything, my dear prince. So you want me dead, right my beloved?"
Koenma winced at the accusation, feeling both panic and relief that Yusuke had found out. "I must admit that it's really a surprise, but..." Yusuke closed the space between them. Koenma tensed, waiting for his next action. His eyes widened in disbelief as Yusuke raised the glass to his lips and drank the whole of it in one gulp.
A moment after, Yusuke fell into his arms, coughed up blood. They both slid down into a sitting position on the floor, Yusuke leaned heavily to Koenma.
"Why? Why did you do that?" Koenma cried. "You... Why? Why didn't you kill me instead?"
Yusuke smiled. "I promise I'll always give you what you want. So go trying to conquer the world as you desire, but remember this..." He pulled Koenma's face closer, their lips nearly touched. "... eventually you will come back to me." The final words died out as Yusuke stole one last kiss.
The kiss tasted of blood, so bitter yet still so sweet. Koenma tried to hold his lover closer, but as Yusuke's lips left his, his body went limp and he dissolved into white light.
The scene blurred and faded into light, too. He soon found himself standing in a sea of white light. "... you will come back to me." Yusuke's words kept returning to him like echoes.
Someone was calling him from far away, but their voices were only weak breezes knocking at the door of his mind. Yusuke's voice became louder and louder. Koenma pressed his hands over his ears tightly as the familiar voice turned into roars. "No!" He cried. "Stop this."
Suddenly his mouth was filled with the taste of blood that night. Someone whispered warmly on his lips. "You resist me too hard, my prince. Just return to me. Just drop your barrier and let me in."
Koenma could no longer think straight. Even in the roars, the whisper was still very clear. The voice kept calling, attracting, welcoming... and...
... and Koenma dropped his barrier and stopped controlling his ki.
All the Reikai fighters cried in horror as their leader dropped the barrier and was pulled into the light.
No one could stop it now that their God had given up the fight. The light continued to spread, reached out to both Reikai and Nigenkai. Soon the three worlds were all filled with it.
Burning brightly, the light destroyed everything, returned everything to emptiness. It lasted for a long time, then slowly dissolved into millions of tiny spheres of lights.
Those brilliant spheres floated high above the barren ground. Some drifted alone, some in pair, but they all illuminated the dead worlds like flames of candles. Then one after one, they faded.
Ruled everything were only silence and darkness.
Owari.