Kokoro No Kaitou : Youko's Story
Chapter 1
~*~
She certainly didn't turn out to be the way she seemed.
She looked like a little girl, but she held an unfathomable power.
One that stole my heart.
Yes, she stole the heart of a thief.
~*~
It all started when I was out, checking out the place that Kuronue, Hiei and I would be raiding the next week. I was in my human guise, and I wore a hooded cloak so that no one would recognize me.
Normally, everyone does.
Silver hair, fox ears, a tail and all white robes.
That's what the great Youko Kurama, the legendary bandit, looks like. What I look like.
The place that we were to be raiding was the Takahashi Estate, home of the shogun by the same name. Hiei had heard some of his men bragging about a recent trade that their lord had made, and about how rich they were. And about how much more rich they were going to be once their lord married off his youngest daughter.
So, we had decided to help ourselves to this wealthy lord. We figured that he probably had too much on his hands anyways.
It was a nice estate, one that was huge and sprawling.
I couldn't wait to raid it and steal all of its treasures, and maybe even a woman or two. I stopped my planning to look down from my spot in the tree overlooking the estate. Three samurai had just gathered beneath it, and were boasting about how many demons each of them had slain.
"I've killed thirty!"
"But I've killed fifty!"
"I've killed a hundred!"
I frowned. Should I go down there and kill all three of them? They were quite the nuisances. The question was, would anyone notice if these three mysteriously disappeared?
"Ha! Well, I bet you that I could beat Youko Kurama!" Boasted the one that had claimed to have slaughtered one hundred demons.
That was the final straw.
I jumped down from my tree, landing next to the samurai that had dared to utter my name. I made quick work of him, slitting his throat with my bare hands before rising and turning to the other two.
They both looked terrified, and I couldn't blame them.
Who wouldn't be scared looking into the eyes of their murderer?
But as I went to kill them, an arrow shot into my upper back, near my left shoulder. I yelped in pain, and spun around to see a boy standing there. He couldn't have been older than twenty, with get black hair and eyes. He was rather tall, and wore a samurai's armor. But the way he held himself told otherwise.
I figured that he had to be Kenji, the son of the lord here.
"Oi, who are you to murder my men?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.
I smirked and pulled the arrow out of my shoulder. "Quite bold of you to be making demands to me, boy."
He glared. "I asked you who you were!"
I looked at the arrow that had been lodged in my flesh, covered with my blood. I snorted.
"You, ningen, are quite lucky that this kitsune is in a good mood." I said, before looking up at him. "Because otherwise you and your entire estate would've been destroyed by now."
This seemed to further enrage him. "Draw your weapon, fool! We fight!"
I shrugged, trying to ignore the strange burning in my shoulder. I silently wondered if there had been some kind of poison on the tip of that arrow.
I turned to face him, tossing my cloak to the side, and so began our battle.
As we fought, I noted that he moved like he had fought against a demon before. He knew when I was going to strike. He was also pretty good with a sword, and dealt quite a bit of damage to me.
It wasn't that I was weak or anything like that, but I felt more and more sluggish as the battle drew on. I started to see trails behind him as he moved, and he got a few more good blows in before I fell to the ground.
I didn't understand what was wrong with me, only that my body didn't seem capable of moving on its own.
The boy crouched down in front of me, grinning in a sinister way.
"Like the poison on that arrow? My father makes it himself. It causes all sorts of nasty side effects. You'll be lucky to be able to move tomorrow, or even for the next week." He said.
I growled, and he stood. He gave me a quick kick in the side, then started to walk towards the estate.
"Boys, go ahead and bring him to the dungeon. It seems as though we've caught ourselves a kitsune."
Two of the samurai picked me up, and started to walk me across the lawn to the home. I could hear the shouts of some samurai up ahead, yelling about how they had caught a kitsune. I felt to weak to fight against the men who were directing me. I could barely walk, and my entire ached and felt numb at the same time. My left leg had gone completely numb, so I favored my right leg as we went along. I felt my consciousness slipping away from me, and I struggled to stay awake as the halls blurred around me.
I suddenly sensed a strange presence, and I weakly looked over.
It was a girl.
She was kneeling by her door, peeking sheepishly out. She wasn't necessarily the most beautiful woman out there, but she had a definite attractiveness to her. Brown hair that came down to her shoulder blades, and sea-green eyes. She wore a white yukata, which looked like that of a servant girl. Her expression was of sadness, as though she felt sorry for me. Her eyes widened slightly as soon as I looked at her, and she seemed surprised. One of the samurai with me suddenly lashed out, hitting me hard in the stomach with a wooden stick. I cried out and fell to my knees, coughing up some blood as I did. I could smell the girl's distress in the air, but I couldn't bring my gaze to hers again because the samurai started to drag me down the hallway.
I soon forgot about her, and tended to more important matters.
The samurai took me down a set of dark, dank stone steps that smelled of strong mildew. In my human form, my sense of smell was greatly diminished, which was saying a lot about the condition of this place. I wrinkled my nose.
"Somebody needs to clean this place." I said, smirking. "It smells worse than you guys do."
The samurai that had hit me earlier suddenly threw me to the ground and started to beat me with the same stick that he had used earlier. I couldn't fight back at all, because of the poison in the arrow. I silently cursed that boy, and vowed to break out and kill him once I did.
He would pay with his life for this whole situation.
The other samurai hauled me up again, and dragged my now heavily bruised and bloodied body into the cell all the way at the end of the hall.
They roughly tossed me inside, and I cried out when I landed on my side, where I knew I had three broken ribs.
"These will be your living quarters for a while, demon. Learn to like them." The samurai said gruffly before slamming the door.
I glared after him, and considered summoning my plants to swallow him whole. But, the effects of the poison also made me feel ill to my stomach and extremely tired. So, I tried to make the best of the place by leaning against the wall in a sitting position, getting comfortable enough to sleep.
If I was going to break out of this place, I'd need my strength.
~*~
Author's Notes: Yay! There's the first chapter from Youko's point of view. I thought that it was pretty funny about how his arrogance got him captured. ^____^
Hieiscarf : Weird? How so? Well, I'm just glad that you said you loved my story!
Explosion : That's okay, because an idea hit me the other day! There will be a sequel!!
DarkVixenNisha : Sure, I'll check out your stories as soon as I get the time! Thanks for the review!!
Katie E. : You should write a story! And don't worry - there's still this story and its sequel!!
Youko : The best? *blushes* Thanks! There will be a part two, as soon as I'm done writing this one.
Abby : Well, I've already got my idea for the sequel, but thanks for the suggestion!! And for the review!!
Kelly : Hey, Kelly! I really enjoyed talking to you! I've decided not to follow LuckySpirit's advice, so don't worry!! Thanks for the review!
Review!!
Chapter 1
~*~
She certainly didn't turn out to be the way she seemed.
She looked like a little girl, but she held an unfathomable power.
One that stole my heart.
Yes, she stole the heart of a thief.
~*~
It all started when I was out, checking out the place that Kuronue, Hiei and I would be raiding the next week. I was in my human guise, and I wore a hooded cloak so that no one would recognize me.
Normally, everyone does.
Silver hair, fox ears, a tail and all white robes.
That's what the great Youko Kurama, the legendary bandit, looks like. What I look like.
The place that we were to be raiding was the Takahashi Estate, home of the shogun by the same name. Hiei had heard some of his men bragging about a recent trade that their lord had made, and about how rich they were. And about how much more rich they were going to be once their lord married off his youngest daughter.
So, we had decided to help ourselves to this wealthy lord. We figured that he probably had too much on his hands anyways.
It was a nice estate, one that was huge and sprawling.
I couldn't wait to raid it and steal all of its treasures, and maybe even a woman or two. I stopped my planning to look down from my spot in the tree overlooking the estate. Three samurai had just gathered beneath it, and were boasting about how many demons each of them had slain.
"I've killed thirty!"
"But I've killed fifty!"
"I've killed a hundred!"
I frowned. Should I go down there and kill all three of them? They were quite the nuisances. The question was, would anyone notice if these three mysteriously disappeared?
"Ha! Well, I bet you that I could beat Youko Kurama!" Boasted the one that had claimed to have slaughtered one hundred demons.
That was the final straw.
I jumped down from my tree, landing next to the samurai that had dared to utter my name. I made quick work of him, slitting his throat with my bare hands before rising and turning to the other two.
They both looked terrified, and I couldn't blame them.
Who wouldn't be scared looking into the eyes of their murderer?
But as I went to kill them, an arrow shot into my upper back, near my left shoulder. I yelped in pain, and spun around to see a boy standing there. He couldn't have been older than twenty, with get black hair and eyes. He was rather tall, and wore a samurai's armor. But the way he held himself told otherwise.
I figured that he had to be Kenji, the son of the lord here.
"Oi, who are you to murder my men?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.
I smirked and pulled the arrow out of my shoulder. "Quite bold of you to be making demands to me, boy."
He glared. "I asked you who you were!"
I looked at the arrow that had been lodged in my flesh, covered with my blood. I snorted.
"You, ningen, are quite lucky that this kitsune is in a good mood." I said, before looking up at him. "Because otherwise you and your entire estate would've been destroyed by now."
This seemed to further enrage him. "Draw your weapon, fool! We fight!"
I shrugged, trying to ignore the strange burning in my shoulder. I silently wondered if there had been some kind of poison on the tip of that arrow.
I turned to face him, tossing my cloak to the side, and so began our battle.
As we fought, I noted that he moved like he had fought against a demon before. He knew when I was going to strike. He was also pretty good with a sword, and dealt quite a bit of damage to me.
It wasn't that I was weak or anything like that, but I felt more and more sluggish as the battle drew on. I started to see trails behind him as he moved, and he got a few more good blows in before I fell to the ground.
I didn't understand what was wrong with me, only that my body didn't seem capable of moving on its own.
The boy crouched down in front of me, grinning in a sinister way.
"Like the poison on that arrow? My father makes it himself. It causes all sorts of nasty side effects. You'll be lucky to be able to move tomorrow, or even for the next week." He said.
I growled, and he stood. He gave me a quick kick in the side, then started to walk towards the estate.
"Boys, go ahead and bring him to the dungeon. It seems as though we've caught ourselves a kitsune."
Two of the samurai picked me up, and started to walk me across the lawn to the home. I could hear the shouts of some samurai up ahead, yelling about how they had caught a kitsune. I felt to weak to fight against the men who were directing me. I could barely walk, and my entire ached and felt numb at the same time. My left leg had gone completely numb, so I favored my right leg as we went along. I felt my consciousness slipping away from me, and I struggled to stay awake as the halls blurred around me.
I suddenly sensed a strange presence, and I weakly looked over.
It was a girl.
She was kneeling by her door, peeking sheepishly out. She wasn't necessarily the most beautiful woman out there, but she had a definite attractiveness to her. Brown hair that came down to her shoulder blades, and sea-green eyes. She wore a white yukata, which looked like that of a servant girl. Her expression was of sadness, as though she felt sorry for me. Her eyes widened slightly as soon as I looked at her, and she seemed surprised. One of the samurai with me suddenly lashed out, hitting me hard in the stomach with a wooden stick. I cried out and fell to my knees, coughing up some blood as I did. I could smell the girl's distress in the air, but I couldn't bring my gaze to hers again because the samurai started to drag me down the hallway.
I soon forgot about her, and tended to more important matters.
The samurai took me down a set of dark, dank stone steps that smelled of strong mildew. In my human form, my sense of smell was greatly diminished, which was saying a lot about the condition of this place. I wrinkled my nose.
"Somebody needs to clean this place." I said, smirking. "It smells worse than you guys do."
The samurai that had hit me earlier suddenly threw me to the ground and started to beat me with the same stick that he had used earlier. I couldn't fight back at all, because of the poison in the arrow. I silently cursed that boy, and vowed to break out and kill him once I did.
He would pay with his life for this whole situation.
The other samurai hauled me up again, and dragged my now heavily bruised and bloodied body into the cell all the way at the end of the hall.
They roughly tossed me inside, and I cried out when I landed on my side, where I knew I had three broken ribs.
"These will be your living quarters for a while, demon. Learn to like them." The samurai said gruffly before slamming the door.
I glared after him, and considered summoning my plants to swallow him whole. But, the effects of the poison also made me feel ill to my stomach and extremely tired. So, I tried to make the best of the place by leaning against the wall in a sitting position, getting comfortable enough to sleep.
If I was going to break out of this place, I'd need my strength.
~*~
Author's Notes: Yay! There's the first chapter from Youko's point of view. I thought that it was pretty funny about how his arrogance got him captured. ^____^
Hieiscarf : Weird? How so? Well, I'm just glad that you said you loved my story!
Explosion : That's okay, because an idea hit me the other day! There will be a sequel!!
DarkVixenNisha : Sure, I'll check out your stories as soon as I get the time! Thanks for the review!!
Katie E. : You should write a story! And don't worry - there's still this story and its sequel!!
Youko : The best? *blushes* Thanks! There will be a part two, as soon as I'm done writing this one.
Abby : Well, I've already got my idea for the sequel, but thanks for the suggestion!! And for the review!!
Kelly : Hey, Kelly! I really enjoyed talking to you! I've decided not to follow LuckySpirit's advice, so don't worry!! Thanks for the review!
Review!!
