Kokoro No Kaitou : Youko's Story

Chapter 8

~*~

What was happening?

I was standing there, looking down at my own body, and Amaya sobbing over it. Damn, I was a mess!

Blood everywhere, and Amaya pressing her cheek to my chest.

What was she doing? I was standing right here!

Then who was the guy that she had her cheek on?

I gently reached out, and tried to wipe her tears away.

But my hand went right through her.

My eyes widened. Why had...?

"Kurama, you can't leave me!" Amaya said in a hoarse whisper.

"I'm right here!" I yelled.

Nothing.

A presence appeared behind me, and I turned around. A woman was standing there. She had a black kimono with a red obi on, and she had straight black hair as well. Her eyes were dark blue, and her face was emotionless.

"Are you ready to go now?" She asked.

"What?" I replied. I growled. "I'm not going anywhere! Who are you, anyways?!"

"Atashi wa Ayame." She said calmly. "I am from Reikai, and I am here to take you there."

"So…I'm dead?"

She nodded.

I smirked, and put a hand on my hip. "I'm not going anywhere, little girl. So you even realize who it is that you're talking to?"

"You are Youko Kurama." She pulled out a little book, and I wondered what it was.

"It says that you are a kitsune, a thief, and that you've killed hundreds of innocent people. You're also a known womanizer, and-"

"Okay, okay, I get the point."

I could hear Amaya sobbing behind me, but I couldn't bring myself to look at her.

"Amaya…" I heard Kuronue say.

"Kuronue, he can't be dead." She whispered.

Hiei growled. "Damn it, onna! The fox is dead, and there isn't anything that you can do about it!"

I was surprised at the anger in his voice, and at the overwhelming emotions coming from them all.

"Kurama…Kurama, please. Come back." I heard her whisper again.

I looked back towards them one last time, and blinked in surprise.

Amaya's hands were glowing with a silvery light, and the cuts all over my body were closing up.

"Kurama, come back. Please, come back." Amaya repeated. I felt something tugging at my body - well, my soul.

Ayame seemed surprised at this. "H-How can this be?"

I didn't reply, and instead looked down at my 'hands'. They were flickering and becoming see-through.

My real body started to glow with silver light, and I felt the tugging again.

Suddenly, I couldn't see anything. I could feel Amaya's hands gripping the front of my shirt. My fingers twitched, and my eyes opened. I looked up at her.

"Amaya?"

"Kurama!" She threw her arms around me, and I tensed. My body still ached slightly, and she was hurting me with her hug.

"But…I was dead." I said quietly before pulling away from her.

She looked hurt. "Kurama, who cares how it happened, as long as it did?" She said, before smiling. "You're alive…this is a blessing from Kami-sama!"

She threw her arms around me again, and started crying again.

"Amaya."

She pulled away and looked at me. She looked confused.

"I shouldn't be here. I'm supposed to be dead." I said firmly. I knew that this wasn't right. I had wanted to be alive, sure, but I wasn't supposed to be.

Kuronue gave us an awkward smile as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, I say that we get back home."

She stood and walked over to the edge of the hill. She seemed angry, but it was true. I wasn't supposed to be here.

"The baka is right." Hiei said. "We need to get back home to take care of our wounds." He looked me up and down before adding, "Though it seems that Amaya has taken care of that for you, kitsune."

She turned around to face us. "I didn't do anything! My hands just glowed, and then he started to glow! I told you that Kami-sama was the one that did this!" She said, holding up her hands for emphasis.

I sighed. "He's right. Let's get back home. We can talk about this later."

~*~

It took us a while to get back home, because of Kuronue's wing, but we made it by dawn. Of course, by then, all of us were exhausted. I made sure that Hiei and Kuronue were treated for their wounds (apparently they had a healer there) while Amaya and I went back to the bedroom.

She seemed angry at me, but I didn't care. What I was concerned about was how she brought me back to life.

I didn't say anything more about the matter. I just started changing out of my bloody clothes, and she quickly turned around.

I chuckled. "Amaya, I've seen you naked, so why shouldn't you see me?"

"Because that's disgusting. I don't want to see you naked."

I was quiet for a minute before I told her that it was okay for her to turn around. I had changed into a clean pair of pants, but I wore no shirt. I held the bundle of bloody laundry in my hand.

She stared at me, and I raised an eyebrow at her.

Hell, I hadn't teased her in a while. Why not?

I smirked at her. "Bet you never had a dream quite so good as this, huh, Amaya?"

She glared. "I told you before - I would never dream of you in that kind of way."

I shrugged. "Denial." I looked over at her, realizing just now what she was wearing. "And what exactly is up with your outfit?"

She blushed. "Oh! One of the female thieves, Leiko, let me have it. I think it's a bit too revealing."

I let my eyes trail over her body. It was a nice outfit, and it fit her perfectly. A sleeveless black shirt with a low neckline, which stopped right below her breasts. She also wore baggy black pants that were secured above her ankles. It definately sjowed off her figure, which was a major plus. "No. It looks good on you."

She blushed again.

"Amaya…"

"Hm?"

"Did I ever…thank you?" I asked awkwardly.

"Thank me? For what?" She said, obviously confused.

"For…reviving me." I said, looking anywhere but at her.

She smiled. "I told you that I didn't do that. I couldn't have. I'm human, remember?"

I looked over at her and sighed. "Right. I forgot. Now come on and get changed so we can go to bed."

She looked down at her feet, and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, fine. I'll get out." I said, walking past her and out the door. "Nothin' that I haven't seen before." I grumbled as I went past.

A minute or so later, she called me back in. She wore her usual yukata, and I was slightly disappointed at that. We got into the futon, and I laid on my side with my back to her. She suddenly reached out and hugged me from behind, pressing her cheek to my back. I tensed, but she didn't let me go.

"Kurama…I'm glad that you're okay." She whispered.

I rolled over and faced her in the darkness. "I am too." I whispered back.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her even closer to me, and she relaxed into his embrace.

I decided that now was perfect.

I kissed her, in a way that was much to chaste for my liking. But I didn't want to scare her.

She seemed shocked at this, and I pulled away. I rested my forehead against hers, and started tracing the outline of her lips.

"Amaya…you know that I care about you, right?" I said.

I tilted her face up towards mine, and kissed her again, a bit more fiercely. She put her hand behind my head and pulled me to her. I slipped my tongue into her mouth, which seemed to surprise her. I let my tongue wander, and I could hear her whimper slightly. She tasted sweeter than I had imagined that she would. I could feel the lust growing, but I tried to subdue it. If she hadn't pulled away, then I probably would've taken it a step further. She was gasping for breath and I was panting lightly as well.

She smiled at me through the darkness. "Kurama-kun, we should probably get some sleep."

I sighed. I had been hoping for something more tonight…

"Fine."

She pressed her cheek to my chest, and I put my arms around her waist. We fell asleep like that, and I felt satisfied that I had least gotten a kiss.

~*~

The next morning (technically it was evening - we had gotten back at dawn, and had slept through the entire day) I tried to get Amaya up. However, every time that I got her to wake, she would fall back asleep again. I sighed, and instead tucked the covers up around her, placing a gentle kiss on her lips before heading back to the library.

There, I started trying to find an explanation for what had happened. I started with a book on death, and found no explanation there. Hiei and Kuronue joined me towards noon, and helped me look for the information.

We searched all that day, and discovered something odd.

Tennyos…

Amaya fit the description.

And tennyos were heavenly creatures, so that would explain the crescent moon.

~*~

Amaya slept for two full days, and all we could do was wait until she had enough energy to stay awake. I figured that after reviving me, almost all of her ki would have been used up.

So when Kuronue finally woke her up, I was eager to talk to her. He brought her into the library where Hiei and I were already waiting.

She still looked drowsy, and I wanted to let her go back to bed, but this was incredibly important.

She slowly walked towards us (we were sitting at the table towards the back with our feet propped up on it), with a nervous look.

She smiled awkwardly, and avoided eye contact with me. So, she looked to Hiei instead.

"Hiei, you seem a lot better now. How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Hn."

This was just ridiculous. She was completely ignoring me!

"Amaya…we need to talk." I said. She looked over at me, a scared look in her eyes.

"We think that we may have found an explanation as to what happened." Hiei said.

"What…happened?" She repeated.

"My revival." I said. "From two days ago."

"Two days? Have I been asleep that long?" She asked. She seemed surprised about that.

I nodded. "Yeah. For about that long."

"Kitsune, get to the point." Hiei snorted.

"Right, right. Relax, Hiei." I said, glaring at him. I then turned back to her. "Amaya…we have reason to believe that you may not be entirely human."

"What do you mean, 'not human'?" She asked, obviously confused.

Kuronue spoke up. "While you were sleeping, Kurama here tried to find an explanation to what happened. He stumbled onto a book about-"

Hiei cut him off. "Tennyos."

"Tennyo?" She repeated.

"Celestial maidens, heavenly maidens, they have many names that mean pretty much the same thing." I explained.

"So you think that…I'm a tennyo?" She asked.

I nodded and pointed to the book laying on the table, closed. Heavenly Creatures. She looked over at it.

"All the signs, everything, was in there." I said.

"Like…what?" She asked quietly.

"Well, there was the clairvoyance." Hiei said.

She looked over at him. "What?"

"Seeing the future." Kuronue said. "You did have a dream about Kurama getting killed, right?"

She nodded.

"And then there was mental dominance." Hiei said.

I knew that she wouldn't know what that meant, so I went ahead and explained it before she could ask. "That means that you can give people a little push so that they do what you want them to. You used it on Hiei when you made him eat your food, and on Kuronue when you asked him where I was."

"Also, tennyos can heal at incredibly high speeds. Faster than demons." Kuronue said. "That's why your bruise was gone even before Kurama's was."

"And lastly, healing powers." I said. "You healed my body after I died, which made it able to house my soul again. And apparently, you also have enough power to pull a soul back from limbo into the living world."

"You mean…that glowing light…was coming from me?" She asked.

I nodded, then smirked. "Oh yeah, and have you heard about the legends?"

She shook her head.

"Heavenly maidens are also supposed to be incredibly beautiful. You fit that description as well."

She blushed, and looked down at her feet. "H-How is that in a legend?"

"The legend of the celestial maiden is of a fisherman. It varies from story to story, but the fisherman finds three really beautiful women bathing in a spring. He realizes that they're tennyos and takes one of their heavenly robes, which allow them to travel back to heaven - which, by the way, happens to be represented by the moon. He shows himself, and two of the maidens fly away, leaving one in the spring. He takes her home to be his bride, they have a few kids, she learns where the robe is, and she flies back to heaven leaving the man all alone - just like a typical woman." Kuronue said.

She glared at him and folded her arms over her chest. "I still don't see how all of these coincidences make me a celestial maiden."

"Face it, onna. You're a tennyo." Hiei said.

Kuronue stretched. "Well, my part's done, so I'm going to go get me some breakfast."

Hiei got up as well. "Wait for me, you oaf. I'm sure as hell not going to eat that crappy tofu again."

They left the room, leaving Amaya and I alone. She sighed and sat down across from me, running a hand through her hair. We were both silent for a few minutes. She seemed to be upset, so I decided to ask her.

"Are you okay?"

She glared at me. "Well, Kuronue woke me up from a very nice dream to find out that I'm not human. Oh yeah, I'm just perfect."

I smirked playfully. "Another dream, Amaya? About what?"

She rolled her sea-green eyes. "I swear! Will you ever stop being such a hentai?!"

I chuckled. "Probably not."

She smiled, but stopped when her stomach rumbled loudly.

I smirked at her. "Will you ever stop being hungry?"

She stood and put her hands on her hips, giving me a playful glare. "Probably not."

I started to stand, when suddenly she said, "Oh!"

I looked over at her. "What?"

She was silent for a minute - perhaps thinking - then said, "Kurama, the other day…after the whole scythe incident, I kind of…" She drifted off.

"Kind of what?" I asked.

"Um, well, I had seen that you were reading a book, and I wanted to know what it had been so I…came back here and read that page. The page about the tsuki." She said, wringing her hands.

I waited for her to continue.

"Well, I was wondering…you didn't know that I was a tennyo before, so why were you reading that?" She asked.

"Mainly because of the fact that you had been having dreams about the moon. Also, because the time that you made Hiei eat your food, a very faint symbol appeared on your forehead." I pointed to my forehead to emphasis my point. "And it was the same symbol that was on that page. A crescent moon."

She nodded. "But why would that appear on my forehead?"

"Probably because it's a symbol of your powers or something." I shrugged. "I don't know everything."

"Oh."

"Let's stop talking about this tennyo thing and get some breakfast." I said. "I'm hungry too."

She smiled, and we walked to breakfast together.



~*~

Author's Notes: T___T The next chapter is the last, sadly. *sigh*

There is also another story after this, and yet another one after that. It's a quartet. ^___^

Thanks to those who reviewed!

miyako14 : Amaya's story is the first story in this series. It's basically the same story as this, only Amaya is telling it. It explains some things that this one doesn't. You really should read it. Otherwise, some things in this fic won't make sense.

Story Weaver1 : Youko was a little MORE than hurt. He was DEAD. She technically already is a heavenly being, so there won't be any transforming. But, her powers do start to awaken. It goes more into that in the second story (which I'll be posting soon!).

DarkVixenNisha : Nisha-chan, thanks for the review!!

Katie E. : Yeah, he gets a little confused about that. Like, he thinks that he may be dead, but denial kicks in, and he gets really really confused again. Poor Youko.

Suzaku no miko : There you go! Don't worry, he's okay now!!




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