Thanks for the reviews! =^~^=
I think you know who's POV this is by now, right?
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I couldn't fight Youko's thrill at being free to continuously slice at this woman I treasured. I wanted to, but I felt so horrible inside, that I could only watch her exile at my expense.
The scent of pain was thick in the air. It smothered me. How could Youko stand it? How could anyone not smell it, as I was able to? It was maddening. Still, I felt helpless. A part of me still felt that Botan deserved this for not being completely open with me. I was merely a weak fool at the fox demon's hands-a puppet to kill these people.
She cried out as Youko made me bite deeper into her neck. I cringed. I was killing the two people closest to me. I couldn't let something stupid as this ruin my life, though it already had.
"Kurama," she gasped after Youko stepped back to admire his handiwork. "I-I can't love you for doing this to me and Hiei." Her voice was weak. "You're killing us . . . Why? Why are you doing this? Please, just stop this."
My heart fell. Youko growled and pushed the bit of me that came to the surface aside. I pushed him harder. I managed to gain control long enough to slip back into my human form.
I fell to my knees, struggling to maintain control against Youko's instinct-an instinct that screamed kill! Kill! Kill!
The throb of adrenaline pulsed painfully in my head.
Kill! Kill! Kill!"STOP IT! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" I screamed, clutching my head as Botan had done when she had caught the Living Death.
Botan fell to the ground at the base of the tree. Without Youko's Death Plant to hold her up, she had no support to stay against the tree. I couldn't move to catch her. Out of the corner of my eye, I noted that she didn't move when she fell. Her body bounced once, and then there was no movement. From the other end of my peripheral vision, I saw that Hiei also lay with no movement. A small pool of blood had collected around his neck.
Youko was pushing me to try and take control again. He wanted to finish the gruesome job he had begun.
"No!" I screamed at him. I pushed him further; trying to make him the way he was prior to this-the evil conscious that spoke to me. With each push, my Reiki grew. Soon I was aware that the trees and bushes were shuddering from the Reiki I was emitting.
"You want her to pay!" Youko hissed. "You want her to die! I can tell! I am stronger than you! Lets finish her off together!"
"Shut up!" I yelled back at him. "There's no way I'm letting you finish this off!"
"Fight it, fox," I heard someone whisper. I think it was Hiei that whispered it.
I could feel Youko's stubborn will fight against mine. I wasn't going to make it. He was too strong . . . I heard him laugh triumphantly, knowing that I was rapidly weakening against his strength. There wasn't a possible chance that I could fight him and win.
"Kurama . . ."
Was that Botan's voice? For her, I said to myself without a second thought. I had to do this for her, if not myself. I rammed his will and voice away with as much force as I could muster. My head felt as if it was going to split open with the pressure of two half-souls fighting against each other in one body-that of a fox demon and that of a human. I gritted my teeth, nearly backing down against the blinding pain. I ignored it and continued pushing Youko, shoving him, compressing his will down pact to the point of even more excruciating pain. My head seemed to explode.
Then there was nothing. After that, I don't remember exactly how I got here.
~*~Present day ~*~
(A/N: that means that Kurama's story was all in the past leading up to now, k? This is still Kurama's POV so don't worry!)
I heard Botan's voice calling me. At least I think that's her voice. I craved for it to be her voice, full of forgiveness. Of course, that's far too much to ask after I had been so weak to fight against myself. I moved over to one side of whatever I was lying on without opening my eyes. I didn't want to face anyone after what I had gone through and lost.
"Kurama, I know you're awake." Yukina's shy and gentle voice broke me out of my miserable thoughts.
I cringed slightly at the voice and made my eyes close tighter against her voice. I didn't deserve for her forgiveness either. I felt her hand on my shoulder. I finally sat up and looked into her ruby eyes so reminiscent of Hiei's. "I'm sorry. For everything," I said to her. My voice sounded strange to my ears.
She smiled at me and shook her head. "You're never going to learn, are you? I told you. I can't hate you no matter what you do. Even if you nearly killed me, I couldn't hate you."
I gave her a faint smile. "I wish that Botan could say the same."
"I don't know what she's thinking, Kurama. Talk to her."
I blinked stupidly at her. "T-talk to her? I don't think she'd even want to see my face." I paused. "Then, that means she's alive. What of Hiei?"
"He's fine. You didn't get too deeply into his neck. He was just playing dead so you won't kill him." She sighed and put her hands on my arm to tug me bit by bit out of the bed. "Just talk to her."
"I nearly killed her, Yukina!" I exclaimed. "If I hadn't pulled Youko away from it just in time, I would have killed her for sure!"
"Not to mention not having to pass out in front of Yusuke and the rest," she added. A teasing grin teased the corner of her lips.
I threw my hands up involuntarily in a sarcastic gesture. "And I wouldn't have made a fool of myself either," I reiterated in an agitated tone.
"That was nearly a week ago. Talk to her. Maybe she cooled down by now," she suggested.
I grimaced at the thought. "What if she won't forgive me? Or worse-ignores me?"
"At least you tried."
I suppose you couldn't have beaten that logic. I sighed and stood up.
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I guess you'll have to see the next chapter. This wasn't all that exciting, but I had a mild writer's block. I'M SO SORRY! Please review and I'm really sorry that this chapter was boring and short!
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