Melissa: I know, I know it's been a while…but I've really had a hard time writing this chapter! It's so angsty, and the beginning of it was so easy to write.
Keesho: So, are you gonna get back to my fic now?
Melissa: Yep! Let's start!
Disclaimer: Sugar is my friend… ^^;; I mean, I don't own YYH.
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Chappyter 6: The truth
Keesho was lying in Yusuke's arms, unconscious but stirring in a strained motion. Sweat beads were appearing on her forehead and she was breathing heavily. Her hair was moistened heavily from the sweat and tears she was producing. Keesho began to writhe around in the tantei's arms, lashing around wildly.
"Get out, get out!" she was muttering subconsciously. "Leave me alone!"
Yusuke turned to the two youkai, looking worried. "Do you know what's wrong with her?" he asked. Kurama shook his head.
"No, but if I could look into her mind-" The Youko was cut off by Hiei, who negated the action.
"You'll get trapped in there," he told them, showing just a slight bit of sympathy for the struggling Keesho. "Besides, she doesn't want to be interrupted right now. She's with Kitayu."
"K-Kitayu?!" Yusuke spat, unsure that he had heard what he thought he heard. "She's in Kitayu's mind?!"
But before Hiei could answer, Keesho answered for him. Not with speech mind you, but with a definite action. Her eyes sprang open, revealing a passionate anger that none of the tantei had ever seen Keesho express before. The only strange thing about her was that her eyes weren't their usual sparkling sapphire blue, but now a dull shade of cobalt that showed no life. One thing was for sure; Keesho had been possessed.
She stood up, wobbly but strong. Her electrifying green energy was swarming around her, a hundred times more intensely than it had during the training session prior. Her breathing was still heavy, like she was having a hard time maintaining control of her fierce reiki. Then her short black hair started to slowly levitate up, as did the rest of her body. Yes, strange as it may be, Keesho was floating. Her body was engulfed in a furious and vengeful aura that seemed to be split into two entities, each one fighting the other.
Then she let out a bone-chilling shriek. It was an enraged cry, full of pain and misery. The longer she held the eerie note, the further up she levitated. Winds picked up around her, carrying her higher into the air. Said winds were not only blowing around Keesho, but also forcing their way through the training area, turning the cases upon cases of lethal weapons over and hurtling them towards the tantei, who used their energies as shields.
With another blast of energy, Keesho's scream climbed not only an octave, but a couple of decibels as well. But this time her cry was not the wrathful screech as before. It was now filled with excruciating pain, like it was actually being caused by mortal means. Keesho took another deep breath, and then shrieked again, letting out an unrivaled mass of energy. This blast of ki, colored an odd purple, settled on the ground and started to stir, bubbling and rippling outward.
As the energy mass continued to act maliciously, Keesho's vibrant energy started to falter, and she fell to the ground in a slump. Slowly but steadily, she got up, her posture hunched and her knees bended inward as if she was bow-legged. Her arms simply hung down in front of her and her head dangled down as well, almost as if it was too heavy to stand erect. She lifted her head just in time for her to see the mass of energy she had released take an oddly feminine, humanoid form. Features such as green eyes that were devoid of pupils and an arrow quill slung over 'her' shoulder became more visible with each passing second. Soon enough, the mass took on a distinct form that both Keesho and Yusuke recognized with ease. A familiar soul had taken on a solid form and was now standing before them.
Meiosutai Kitayu was back among the living, though not quite alive.
Kitayu gave her usual maniacal smirk and directed it at Keesho, her so-called "best friend". "You put up a very good fight, Kee-chan," Kitayu spoke, her voice dripping with malice. She reached up and wiped a small drop of blood off of her lip, and then licked it off with her tongue. "Then again, I should have known that you would be harder to possess than the others. You're just like me."
Keesho let out a low growl and lifted up her right hand, revealing an extended middle finger. "I'm nothing like you," she spat back.
"Well then, we'll just see about that." Kitayu took two arrows out of her quill and fed her energy into them, making the tips grow to be about a foot long, each slightly resembling a kodachi.
"Let's go." Keesho initiated the fight by bending down and picking up a kitana that had been carried over by the ferocious winds. She twirled it around by the hilt in her left hand and then got into a battle stance with the hilt poised right in front of her right breast.
The two darted around the room, only to be seen when their blades clashed against each other. Every once in a while, a spurt of blood would fall to the ground, and no one was really quite sure whom it belonged to.
"Hey, is it just me, or has the training really paid off?" Yusuke asked, turning to the two demons. "Keesho's gotten a lot stronger."
"No." Kurama spoke without even turning away from the fight. His eyes remained focused on the flashes of light that came from the clash of metal. "Keesho's fighting with pure anger and with the scars of betrayal on her heart. That's why she can actually keep up with Kitayu."
"Look," Hiei ordered. "They've stopped."
The boys turned their heads back to the fight in session. Kitayu was crouched on top of a large wooden cabinet and Keesho was on the below her, standing her ground on the floor. With an impish glint in her eyes, Kitayu sprang forward, flipping off of the cabinet and starting an aerial assault. She used the force of her weight to push her blades down on Keesho's and they stayed in a deadlock for quite the while.
CLANG CLANG CLANG!!
Using her ki, Kitayu called another one of her arrows and held it in her mouth. She swiped at Keesho several times before Keesho decided she needed another weapon and manifested a green arrow in her open hand. With both fighters evenly matched, they got into another deadlock.
"You're not gonna get the better of me!" Keesho cried out, forcing Kitayu off of her. She pushed with so much force that she broke all four of the metallic blades. The recoil sent Keesho sliding backwards, and she placed her hand on the cold cement to bring herself to a halt. Kitayu was thrown up into the air and she landed on top of the cabinet once again.
"You really would have been the perfect body to possess," Kitayu stated, grinning her psychotic grin as usual.
"Enough chatter," Keesho demanded, standing up and discarding her broken blade. She brushed herself off and brought her hands into her usual fighting position, the reiya stance. With her right arm extended before her and her left hand over her elbow, she looked right into Kitayu's eyes and showed her that she meant business.
"I'm shooting one last arrow, and it will have every bit of my reiki in it. I'm expecting the same of you. Whoever survives gets my body. Got it?"
Kitayu nodded and took another arrow out of her quill. She set it on her bow, and both the bow and arrow suddenly burst into flames. However, it kept it's shape and didn't even singe the skin on Kitayu's hands. "This is the Tiger Flame Arrow," Kitayu announced. "The flame is a direct reflection of myself; the stronger I am, the hotter it burns. And needless to say, should the flame go out, I will go out as well."
And so, the two entities summoned as much energy as possible, their energies clashing against each other like the ki was actually alive. Keesho's lime green reiki danced around her, biting and hissing like a King Cobra. The flames Kitayu possessed were flitting around like Keesho's ki, albeit that the flames had a malicious vibe to them. Angry and vicious, yet sensual at the same time, just like Kitayu.
Then it happened. Both women let go, upsetting everything in the room, even the very air.
"TIGER FLAME ARROW!!"
"REIYA!!!"
The flames and lime mass collided, creating a huge explosion of smoke and spirit energy. The gray air blinded all sight, and no one was quite sure who was standing…or if anyone was still alive. That is, until one more voice rang out.
"SPIRIT GUN!!"
The blue orb shot out of Yusuke's right index finger, blowing away all of the smoke and clearing the area. But the sight in front of the tantei was not the one they expected. In fact, it was very far from it. Kitayu was less than an inch away from death…and she was lying in the comforting arms of a teary-eyed Keesho.
Kitayu lifted her now-faltering eyes to Keesho. "I-I wasn't really going to hurt you… I just needed a body…"
Keesho nodded with absolute sympathy. "I know. I never doubted that."
But Kitayu hadn't heard the last sentence. Her eyes had closed peacefully before Keesho had even started to speak, and they would never open again. Her body had gone limp, and her head fell back, only supported by Keesho's hand. Kitayu had returned to the living for less than ten minutes, and was gone in the blink of an eye. She would never return.
She was dead.
"Yusuke, you bastard!" Keesho cried out in pure anguish. Tears were flowing freely from her blue eyes, falling onto the weakened body of Kitayu. "You weren't supposed to kill her!"
"Wha-what?!" Yusuke almost screeched his question. How could she say that? They both had reasons to want Kitayu dead; Kitayu had brutally killed Keiko four months prior, and she wanted Keesho's body for her own devilish purposes. What in the four worlds would make her want to spare the demon that had caused them both so much pain?
"I was never going to kill Kitayu." Keesho spoke so softly that she was barely audible. In fact, if she had been looking Yusuke in the eyes, her voice would have surely cracked. The only possible reason that she hadn't collapsed in a fit of uncontrollable depression was because the shock of Kitayu's death had come so suddenly that it numbed all of the pain.
"The arrows were supposed to cancel each other out, and since Kitayu would have been to weak to struggle, Hiei was going to use his Jagan Tie Curse on her so that we could bring her to Reikai with ease."
Yusuke turned to the Jaganshi, looking for any type of reassurance as to Keesho's statement. The youkai merely nodded.
"You knew?" Yusuke asked, hardly able to believe it.
"Yes," he replied. "Keesho told me about her plan when I entered her mind. That's how I knew that she was with Kitayu."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, until Keesho spoke again. She sighed heavily, placed Kitayu's body gently on the ground, and then fidgeted her fingers around a bit.
"I never really intended to kill her," Keesho said meekly, looking at the ground the entire time. "I couldn't do it…not after what she'd been through."
"You think she went through Hell?!" Yusuke asked, clenching his fists to hold in his inner turmoil. "She killed my best friend and she was going to steal your body! And you're not the least bit mad?! What the Hell is wrong with—"
"You never knew her!" Keesho screamed, taking Yusuke aback completely. "No one knew her, no one gave her a chance. Not even her own father cared about her! I was the only one who took her in and helped her out!" Keesho's revelation brought more tears to her eyes, and she dropped to her knees, sobbing without any chance of an end. She looked so pitiful there, crying and defending someone that had earned everyone's hatred.
"Keesho-san," Kurama said, trying to be as sympathetic as possible. "How do you know about Kitayu's past? Did she…?"
Keesho nodded through her tears, not needing to hear to hear the rest of Kurama's question to understand. "She would use my dreams to show me her memories, hoping that they would help me understand her more."
*~*~
"Kitayu!"
A young, purple-haired tiger demon turned around to see the loving face of her mother, Inayu. Inayu had long purple hair that she wore down in no particular fashion and kind meadow green eyes. Clearly Kitayu had received most of her features from her mother, having had only gotten the orange stripes on her cheeks from her father.
"Hai, Kaasan?" Kitayu ran up to her mother, grinning as her silk pink dress swayed along side her legs. She jumped into her mother's arms and gave her a hug so full of love that it could only have been given by an innocent five year-old such as herself. Both reveled in the embrace, until a gruff and unfeeling voice broke them apart.
"Kitayu, you are a princess, and you are not to be running! You should know that by now." The voice came from a boisterous tiger demon with short denim blue hair, cold gray eyes, and orange stripes on his cheeks. He was clad in royal robes of red, and stood in a posture that showed off his authority. He was Kitayu's father.
Kitayu nodded with her eyes lowered in embarrassment. "Hai, tousan—Your Majesty," she said quietly. He held out a bejeweled hand to his young daughter, and she kissed a large ruby set into one of his many rings without complaint.
Kitayu had been born the princess of a small region of the Makai that specifically belonged to tiger youkai. She attended daily lessons on "How to be a proper princess" that bored her to no end, spent very little time to herself, and none at all with her father, the king. It was a hard life, but she managed. As long as she had her mother with her, she would be okay. Inayu was the beacon of Kitayu's young life; her sweet and benign smile able to cheer up her daughter no matter what the situation. Even without a father, Kitayu was happy with Inayu.
Then Inayu got sick. Strangely enough, an epidemic was going around and striking down even the strongest of the demons. It was like a demon version of Tuberculosis, except lethal enough to take down a demon. Day after day Kitayu would stay by her mother's bedside, waiting on her hand and foot. She was willing to do anything to make her mother well, no matter what it was. Until one day, when her mother told her to stop.
Inayu turned her head toward her daughter, now seven years old, and smiled as always. She couldn't bear to leave her beloved daughter with a memory of her in pain. In a strained motion, she held out her hand and touched her daughter's soft cheek, damp from tears. She knew this would be the last time she would get to speak to Kitayu, and she had to make it count.
"Kitayu, my dear, dear daughter." Inayu spoke softly, making Kitayu tense. She shouldn't be wasting her energy by speaking! But she did anyway. Inayu had something very important to say.
"Take care of yourself, Kitayu. Do what I can do no longer. Take care of your father because I love him and cannot guide him from where I am going. He may not have shown you compassion before, but he does care for you. He cares for you because I care for you. He loves you because you are my daughter."
Inayu's hand went limp, and Kitayu had to hold her hand against her cheek. Tears were pooling in her eyes, and they fell with speed unmatched. She was crying not only for her mother, but also for the smile she would never see again.
*~*~
Kitayu poked her head into her father's quarters, fearing for her punishment. She had beaten up another local boy, which was certainly not lady-like. Before her mother's death, her father would have just grinned at her and ask if she had hit them where it hurts most. But that early gentleness was gone. Now that Inayu was no longer alive, the King had turned even colder than before.
Kitayu shuffled in front of her father, keeping her eyes on the ground. "Your Majesty, I—"
"Silence!" the King roared. He lifted a large hand and backhanded Kitayu, sending her flying across the room. "You are a disgrace to the Meiosutai name! Get out of here! I don't even want to see your face!"
Kitayu got to her feet and backed out, making sure to not turn her back on the King. Once out of the room, she ran to her quarters, tears streaming from her eyes.
How could her mother have told her to care for her father, as a death wish no less? It seemed impossible to Kitayu. She couldn't possibly stay; if she did, she would undoubtedly disappoint her father further. As much as she hated to break a promise to her late mother, she had leave. Her father had never cared for her anyway. He wouldn't mind. He wouldn't even mind if she went on a killing spree for fun with the weapon skills that he had hired tutors to teach her. With this new idea, she founded her new belief. Everyone would pay for the happiness that they had found in their parents, the happiness that she had been robbed of.
But in truth, her father had never really meant to spurn her so. It was that he loved her mother so much that the sight of Kitayu enraged him so greatly. Kitayu looked just like her mother, save for the orange markings on her cheeks. She reminded him of Inayu, and of the loss of his soul mate. But he never got a chance to tell Kitayu this, for he died before he ever found her.
Kitayu was left alone, and so she turned to a life of murder, of vengeance, and of pain that could never heal.
*~*~
Keesho took another breath and dried her eyes on her sleeve. "Kitayu was right; I was a lot like her. My mother had died when I was four, and my father buried himself in his work. That's why I have so much, and yet no father. We had a lot in common."
Her eyes drifted to the corpse of her deceased friend. "And now she finally has peace…though I have pain to deal with."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Melissa: (tearing up) Whoo… That was a tough chappy to write… (sniff)
Miyu: Keesho's currently unavailable at the moment, due to reasons that she'd really rather not talk about.
Melissa: Time for review responses! Miyu-chan, you better start running XD
Miyu: Eek! (runs)
kuruna icefire-
Melissa: (pulls over a bound and gagged Miyu) Go right ahead! ^_^
Miyu: (gets whacked by the battle staff) @_@
Melissa: Thankies for reviewing! ^_^
Keeper of the Apocolypse-
Miyu: (gets whacked by Kuwabaka and a bokken) x_x
Melissa: (snickering) I sure know how to annoy my twinlit… XD Oh, and Arisa-chan, here's the money Miyu owes you. Thankies for reviewing! ^_^
Kojiro-kun-
Miyu: Thank Kami he didn't wanna hit me…
Melissa: (takes away his brain cell re-growing feature) NYA!! =P And besides, it's not like you can really beat me up. I mean, I hurt you on a daily basis! Thankies for reviewing! ^_^
BreAnna's Brain-
Melissa: Someone thought my fic was nice! ^^
Miyu: And she didn't wanna hurt me! YAY!! ^-^
Melissa: Thankies for reviewing! ^_^
Miyu: My head hurts…
Melissa: Good! Anyway, tell me what you thought of this super angsty chappy. I'd like your comments, onegai. Reviewers get a dictionary! Review and have a nice day! ^_^
