Kokoro No Kaitou : Youko's Story
Chapter 9
~*~
When Amaya and I arrived at the kitchen, Hiei and Kuronue were already eating. A nice meal of eggs, rice, miso soup, and even some tofu had been served. We sat down on the cushions across from the two, and she served me and then herself. We started eating in silence until Kuronue asked the question that we had all been wondering.
"Whatever happened to Akira?"
She stopped eating, and set down her chopsticks. "Didn't you see? He ran away after…after Kurama was killed." She said quietly.
Kuronue looked surprised. "Oh. That's right. I'd forgotten about that."
I looked up from my meal. "What are we going to do about him?"
She snorted. "Nothing. He ran away - he wouldn't dare to fight us again."
"Baka." Hiei said. "He will try to attack again, after he's gathered more followers and more power. We may not be able to defeat him then. We need to take the initiative, and track him down. Then, we kill him."
"We don't need to kill him, do we?" She asked. She looked hopeful, as though she didn't want us to fight.
"I need to kill somebody soon, to satisfy my bloodlust. Otherwise, I'm going to kill the next person on my hit list." Hiei looked pointedly at Amaya as he said this.
"Um, would that be Kuronue?" She said nervously.
"Hey!" The chimera protested.
Hiei smirked at him. "No. He's about fifth on my list. For being so damn annoying."
He glared at Hiei.
I thought about it for a minute. If we didn't kill Akira, he would try to take Amaya again. And this time, he may resort to hurting her. I couldn't have that.
"Hiei's right." I said.
"What?!" Kuronue exclaimed.
I rolled my eyes. "Not about the annoying thing, Kuronue! About the fact that Akira will regroup and try to take Amaya again when he's strong enough."
She spoke up. "But even if we do want to fight him, how will we find him?"
Hiei smirked again. "Baka onna. I have a way to find him."
Amaya looked confused, and Hiei pulled off his bandana, revealing his jagan. She gasped, and backed away slightly.
"Wh-what is that?!" She exclaimed.
"My jagan eye. I can use it to find anything that I want to." Hiei said, putting the bandana back on. "Including Akira."
She nodded, and started to slowly eat her fried eggs.
"So, when do you guys want to go fight him?" Kuronue asked.
"After we're done eating." I replied. "I want to kill him as soon as possible."
She looked surprised, most likely because of the anger in my voice. Like hell I was going to let anyone hurt Amaya!
We all finished our meal, each of us thinking about the upcoming battle.
~*~
After breakfast, Amaya went into my room and changed. I waited outside for her, and she eventually came out in her outfit from the day before.
Kami-sama, I loved that outfit on her.
She smiled at me, which meant that she probably had no idea what I was thinking about her. "This time, I'm not going to let you guys leave me here. Who knows when you might need to be healed."
I rolled my eyes. "Amaya, must you keep pointing that out?"
She kept smiling at me. "I like to think about the fact that you needed me."
I was confused. What was she talking about? "I do need you."
She looked down at her feet. "It doesn't feel that way."
I gently tilted her face up to look at me. She looked upset, almost like she was going to cry. "Why not?"
"Because I have no use at all. I'm just…here." She said. "And you've been acting as if nothing happened after you kissed me. Did it even mean anything to you?"
Ha! Mean anything? It meant everything!
I leaned down and gently kissed her. I then pulled away by a mere inch.
"It did. I just didn't know what to think after you pulled away like that. I didn't know if you were suddenly having second doubts, or if you just didn't like kissing me."
"No! That wasn't it! It was just…" She looked like she was looking for the right words. "It was a little…too passionate. Do you know what I mean?"
Too passionate? Well, that was a first. Normally, women wanted me to kiss them like that. Then again, was Amaya really that normal compared to other girls…?
"Kurama?"
I snapped out of my daze. "Sorry."
"For?"
"For spacing out and for making it too passionate for you."
I kissed her again, and tensed when I sensed a familiar presence behind us.
"Uh…did I miss something, guys?" Kuronue asked.
She turned around, while I remained still. Kuronue was standing there, with Hiei next to him. The former looked a little surprised, and the latter bore an amused smirk.
"Looks like we've interrupted them, Kuronue." Hiei said. "Shall we come back in about, oh say, three hours, kitsune?"
I growled, and straightened.
"Hiei, do you want to die?" I asked angrily.
The koorime smirked. "Really, it's no problem. We can go fight Akira ourselves."
She glared. "Like you could ever get a girl, Hiei." She smirked and put a hand on her hip.
That was part of the reason that I loved her. She could burn Hiei so badly sometimes!
Kuronue started snickering, and Hiei growled.
"Hold your tongue, onna. Even if you are a tennyo, you can still die."
"Let's just go, okay?" She said. She didn't seem worried at all.
Hiei turned on his heel and started walking down the hall, seemingly eager to get away from us. We three followed him, and she fell into stride between Kuronue and I.
The raven-haired youkai scratched the back of his head. "So…how long have you guys, uh, been, you know…together?"
"Since he was revived." She said. "So about three days."
"Oh…you were planning on letting me know soon, right?" He asked.
"No." I said. Like hell I was going to tell him!
At the same time, Amaya smiled and said, "Yes."
She looked over at me, and I shrugged.
"And have him tease me till the day I die? Well, really die anyways." I said. "No thanks."
She looked over at him. "You'd tease him?"
He shrugged. "It's what guys do. It has nothing to do with you though - you're by far the best girl that he's ever been with. And so far, the only girl that hasn't been an obnoxious bitch."
She seemed slightly surprised. "Um, thank you, I guess."
We walked up the stairs, and into the clearing, where Hiei was waiting impatiently.
"Hurry up. I found him." He said.
"You…don't expect me to travel at the same speed as you guys, do you?" Amaya asked tentatively.
"What are you talking about?" Kuronue asked.
"When I followed you to battle, I had to go through these woods. I ended up scratching myself pretty badly."
Hiei snorted. "Figures."
"Well, let's just get going before he moves." Kuronue said, starting to dash off into the woods. Hiei followed him.
She opened her mouth to say something, but I scooped her up into m arms before she could. I started dashing after Kuronue and Hiei, and she buried her face into my chest and tightened her grip on my shirt. I chuckled.
We ran on for about five more minutes, following Hiei as he ran to the place that Akira was hiding. He eventually stopped in a clearing, and we all stopped behind him. Amaya peeked out, and tensed when she saw Akira standing in the middle of the clearing. I set her down. The demon chuckled, and said, "I'm surprised that you're alive, Kurama." He slowly turned back to look at us, a hideous smirk on his face. Amaya seemed shocked, and I knew why. His eyes had turned to gold, and his pupils were now narrow slits.
Snake's eyes.
"I didn't realize how far the little witch's powers had progressed." He continued.
I wanted to kill him so badly.
"We're here to fight." Hiei interrupted. "So don't hold back. Show us your true form."
Akira's smirk turned to a grin, his pale lips curving up over two canines, which were steadily growing longer and sharper - like the fangs of a serpent. His body started to glow and his aura pulsed lightly, before the clearing was engulfed in light, and we all covered our eyes.
When I opened my eyes, I wasn't at all surprised by the transformation. Akira was, of course, a snake demon, and thus when he transformed into his true demonic form, he looked like a gigantic serpent. Just the same way that my 'true demonic form' was that of a white fox.
He was a dark, the color of a starless midnight, that same pitch black. He was that solid color, with the exception of his underbelly, which looked more like the color of blood. He had a cobra's hood as well.
I smirked. "So, Kuronue, Hiei, are you ready?"
They nodded and started to fight the giant snake.
Amaya grabbed onto my arm as I started to turn away, and I gave her a quizzical look.
"Kurama! What about me? I can fight too!"
"Amaya, you need to stay back for this fight. When I tell you to, shoot him in the heart with an arrow." I said.
She glared. "You're bossing me around! I don't appreciate-"
"Look, you wouldn't be able to keep up with a demon's pace anyways!" I exclaimed. I pointed my finger at the fight between my two friends and Akira. Her eyes widened, and I sighed.
"You see now? Just do this, and you'll be doing the most important part of the battle. Killing Akira." I said.
She looked back at me, and closed her dropped jaw. "Fine." She let go of my arm, and I turned and dashed off to join the others in battle.
Kuronue and Hiei were busy slashing away at the snake. I joined in and summoned my rosewhip to fight as well. We fought for a few minutes, and each of us got slightly damaged by snakebites and such. We stopped fighting, because Akira was bleeding heavily. Which meant that it was Amaya's turn.
"Now!" I exclaimed while we tried to keep Akira from running away or attacking us.
Amaya drew her bow, and stood there for a moment. I wondered what was taking her so long to shoot, when I realized that Akira was a moving target, and therefore it was hard to aim for her. She let her arrow fly a minute later, and it was true. It hit Akira in the heart.
The serpent cried out in pain, and it sounded like both a screaming child, a hiss, and a shriek all at the same time. He twisted about for a minute, trying to get the arrow out of his chest. He wriggled about and fell onto the ground and his golden eyes rolled into the back of his skull. Blood covered most of his body, and dripped freely from his mouth.
He was clearly dead.
Serves him right for trying to hurt Amaya.
Kuronue ran over to her and pulled her into his arms and gave her a twirl.
"Amaya, you did it!" He exclaimed.
She smiled, and Kuronue set her down after hearing my loud growl.
"You guys did most of the work." She said. "I merely shot him with a puny arrow! I shouldn't get any credit for this at all."
"Damn straight." Hiei snorted, folding his arms across his chest.
I glared at him. "Hiei, you knew that the only way to pierce his heart was with a magically charged arrow. And you also knew that piercing his heart was the only way to kill a demon from his class."
She seemed surprised, and Hiei glared at me.
"Right. Whatever."
She smiled at me. "Is that true, Kurama-kun?"
I nodded, and walked over to her. I pulled her into my arms and smirked at her. "Very true."
I leaned forward to kiss her, but Hiei cleared his throat before I could indulge in her sweet taste. I glared at him.
"What?"
Hiei got an arrogant smirk on his face. "Suck face when we get home. We don't have time to wait for you two."
She blushed, and I growled.
Kuronue sighed. "Hiei…"
"What? It's only true." The koorime said. "If we let them suck face right here and now, we may not get home until nightfall."
He turned away and said over his shoulder. "I'm going now." He started to dash back towards the lair, and Kuronue ran after him, calling for the former to wait.
That left only Amaya and I by ourselves in the clearing. She took a step away from me and looked back at Akira's body.
I watched her as she seemed to be reminiscing, and I did as well.
She had changed my life greatly over the last few days. She had made me softer (perhaps a little more than I cared to be), and had become a friend and a lover.
She had even melted some of the ice surrounding Hiei's heart, and I knew that she had stolen Kuronue's as well.
And she was just one little girl…
No, not little. I mentally corrected myself. She is far from being little…
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her waist from behind.
"What are you thinking about, Amaya?" I asked.
"Everything." Was her quiet reply.
Everything, huh? Well, I had been thinking about exactly the same thing. I let go of her.
"Well, are you ready to go home?" I asked instead.
She turned to face me, and seemed to realize something.
"Yes." She said, smiling at me. "I'm ready to go home."
They say home is where the heart is.
I guess that means that my home will always be where Amaya is.
~*~
Author's Notes: That's it! The end of Kokoro No Kaitou : Youko's Story. There are two more stories after this, so watch out for them! Oh, and I'm sorry if Youko seemed a little OOC just now. I swear, he'll be back to his bad-ass self in the next story.
Is everyone getting bored with this series? It seems like nobidy really wants to review anymore. *sniffle* I feel so unloved!
By the way, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to suggest that you read the stroies that my friends posted : Heart of Atlantis, by LuckySpirit, and the untitled story by Kaze Tsukai. It'd be so cool if you reviewed their stories!!
And the last thing, I'll be posting the next story of this series soon - that is, if you're all still interested in it. Let me know if you are, okay? (And yes, it is an entirely new story - it's not this same plot from another character's point of view). It doesn't have a title yet, though. I'm workin' on it. LOL.
Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!
miyako14 : Thanks for the review!
DarkVixenNisha : Thanks for the review, Nisha-chan!
Chapter 9
~*~
When Amaya and I arrived at the kitchen, Hiei and Kuronue were already eating. A nice meal of eggs, rice, miso soup, and even some tofu had been served. We sat down on the cushions across from the two, and she served me and then herself. We started eating in silence until Kuronue asked the question that we had all been wondering.
"Whatever happened to Akira?"
She stopped eating, and set down her chopsticks. "Didn't you see? He ran away after…after Kurama was killed." She said quietly.
Kuronue looked surprised. "Oh. That's right. I'd forgotten about that."
I looked up from my meal. "What are we going to do about him?"
She snorted. "Nothing. He ran away - he wouldn't dare to fight us again."
"Baka." Hiei said. "He will try to attack again, after he's gathered more followers and more power. We may not be able to defeat him then. We need to take the initiative, and track him down. Then, we kill him."
"We don't need to kill him, do we?" She asked. She looked hopeful, as though she didn't want us to fight.
"I need to kill somebody soon, to satisfy my bloodlust. Otherwise, I'm going to kill the next person on my hit list." Hiei looked pointedly at Amaya as he said this.
"Um, would that be Kuronue?" She said nervously.
"Hey!" The chimera protested.
Hiei smirked at him. "No. He's about fifth on my list. For being so damn annoying."
He glared at Hiei.
I thought about it for a minute. If we didn't kill Akira, he would try to take Amaya again. And this time, he may resort to hurting her. I couldn't have that.
"Hiei's right." I said.
"What?!" Kuronue exclaimed.
I rolled my eyes. "Not about the annoying thing, Kuronue! About the fact that Akira will regroup and try to take Amaya again when he's strong enough."
She spoke up. "But even if we do want to fight him, how will we find him?"
Hiei smirked again. "Baka onna. I have a way to find him."
Amaya looked confused, and Hiei pulled off his bandana, revealing his jagan. She gasped, and backed away slightly.
"Wh-what is that?!" She exclaimed.
"My jagan eye. I can use it to find anything that I want to." Hiei said, putting the bandana back on. "Including Akira."
She nodded, and started to slowly eat her fried eggs.
"So, when do you guys want to go fight him?" Kuronue asked.
"After we're done eating." I replied. "I want to kill him as soon as possible."
She looked surprised, most likely because of the anger in my voice. Like hell I was going to let anyone hurt Amaya!
We all finished our meal, each of us thinking about the upcoming battle.
~*~
After breakfast, Amaya went into my room and changed. I waited outside for her, and she eventually came out in her outfit from the day before.
Kami-sama, I loved that outfit on her.
She smiled at me, which meant that she probably had no idea what I was thinking about her. "This time, I'm not going to let you guys leave me here. Who knows when you might need to be healed."
I rolled my eyes. "Amaya, must you keep pointing that out?"
She kept smiling at me. "I like to think about the fact that you needed me."
I was confused. What was she talking about? "I do need you."
She looked down at her feet. "It doesn't feel that way."
I gently tilted her face up to look at me. She looked upset, almost like she was going to cry. "Why not?"
"Because I have no use at all. I'm just…here." She said. "And you've been acting as if nothing happened after you kissed me. Did it even mean anything to you?"
Ha! Mean anything? It meant everything!
I leaned down and gently kissed her. I then pulled away by a mere inch.
"It did. I just didn't know what to think after you pulled away like that. I didn't know if you were suddenly having second doubts, or if you just didn't like kissing me."
"No! That wasn't it! It was just…" She looked like she was looking for the right words. "It was a little…too passionate. Do you know what I mean?"
Too passionate? Well, that was a first. Normally, women wanted me to kiss them like that. Then again, was Amaya really that normal compared to other girls…?
"Kurama?"
I snapped out of my daze. "Sorry."
"For?"
"For spacing out and for making it too passionate for you."
I kissed her again, and tensed when I sensed a familiar presence behind us.
"Uh…did I miss something, guys?" Kuronue asked.
She turned around, while I remained still. Kuronue was standing there, with Hiei next to him. The former looked a little surprised, and the latter bore an amused smirk.
"Looks like we've interrupted them, Kuronue." Hiei said. "Shall we come back in about, oh say, three hours, kitsune?"
I growled, and straightened.
"Hiei, do you want to die?" I asked angrily.
The koorime smirked. "Really, it's no problem. We can go fight Akira ourselves."
She glared. "Like you could ever get a girl, Hiei." She smirked and put a hand on her hip.
That was part of the reason that I loved her. She could burn Hiei so badly sometimes!
Kuronue started snickering, and Hiei growled.
"Hold your tongue, onna. Even if you are a tennyo, you can still die."
"Let's just go, okay?" She said. She didn't seem worried at all.
Hiei turned on his heel and started walking down the hall, seemingly eager to get away from us. We three followed him, and she fell into stride between Kuronue and I.
The raven-haired youkai scratched the back of his head. "So…how long have you guys, uh, been, you know…together?"
"Since he was revived." She said. "So about three days."
"Oh…you were planning on letting me know soon, right?" He asked.
"No." I said. Like hell I was going to tell him!
At the same time, Amaya smiled and said, "Yes."
She looked over at me, and I shrugged.
"And have him tease me till the day I die? Well, really die anyways." I said. "No thanks."
She looked over at him. "You'd tease him?"
He shrugged. "It's what guys do. It has nothing to do with you though - you're by far the best girl that he's ever been with. And so far, the only girl that hasn't been an obnoxious bitch."
She seemed slightly surprised. "Um, thank you, I guess."
We walked up the stairs, and into the clearing, where Hiei was waiting impatiently.
"Hurry up. I found him." He said.
"You…don't expect me to travel at the same speed as you guys, do you?" Amaya asked tentatively.
"What are you talking about?" Kuronue asked.
"When I followed you to battle, I had to go through these woods. I ended up scratching myself pretty badly."
Hiei snorted. "Figures."
"Well, let's just get going before he moves." Kuronue said, starting to dash off into the woods. Hiei followed him.
She opened her mouth to say something, but I scooped her up into m arms before she could. I started dashing after Kuronue and Hiei, and she buried her face into my chest and tightened her grip on my shirt. I chuckled.
We ran on for about five more minutes, following Hiei as he ran to the place that Akira was hiding. He eventually stopped in a clearing, and we all stopped behind him. Amaya peeked out, and tensed when she saw Akira standing in the middle of the clearing. I set her down. The demon chuckled, and said, "I'm surprised that you're alive, Kurama." He slowly turned back to look at us, a hideous smirk on his face. Amaya seemed shocked, and I knew why. His eyes had turned to gold, and his pupils were now narrow slits.
Snake's eyes.
"I didn't realize how far the little witch's powers had progressed." He continued.
I wanted to kill him so badly.
"We're here to fight." Hiei interrupted. "So don't hold back. Show us your true form."
Akira's smirk turned to a grin, his pale lips curving up over two canines, which were steadily growing longer and sharper - like the fangs of a serpent. His body started to glow and his aura pulsed lightly, before the clearing was engulfed in light, and we all covered our eyes.
When I opened my eyes, I wasn't at all surprised by the transformation. Akira was, of course, a snake demon, and thus when he transformed into his true demonic form, he looked like a gigantic serpent. Just the same way that my 'true demonic form' was that of a white fox.
He was a dark, the color of a starless midnight, that same pitch black. He was that solid color, with the exception of his underbelly, which looked more like the color of blood. He had a cobra's hood as well.
I smirked. "So, Kuronue, Hiei, are you ready?"
They nodded and started to fight the giant snake.
Amaya grabbed onto my arm as I started to turn away, and I gave her a quizzical look.
"Kurama! What about me? I can fight too!"
"Amaya, you need to stay back for this fight. When I tell you to, shoot him in the heart with an arrow." I said.
She glared. "You're bossing me around! I don't appreciate-"
"Look, you wouldn't be able to keep up with a demon's pace anyways!" I exclaimed. I pointed my finger at the fight between my two friends and Akira. Her eyes widened, and I sighed.
"You see now? Just do this, and you'll be doing the most important part of the battle. Killing Akira." I said.
She looked back at me, and closed her dropped jaw. "Fine." She let go of my arm, and I turned and dashed off to join the others in battle.
Kuronue and Hiei were busy slashing away at the snake. I joined in and summoned my rosewhip to fight as well. We fought for a few minutes, and each of us got slightly damaged by snakebites and such. We stopped fighting, because Akira was bleeding heavily. Which meant that it was Amaya's turn.
"Now!" I exclaimed while we tried to keep Akira from running away or attacking us.
Amaya drew her bow, and stood there for a moment. I wondered what was taking her so long to shoot, when I realized that Akira was a moving target, and therefore it was hard to aim for her. She let her arrow fly a minute later, and it was true. It hit Akira in the heart.
The serpent cried out in pain, and it sounded like both a screaming child, a hiss, and a shriek all at the same time. He twisted about for a minute, trying to get the arrow out of his chest. He wriggled about and fell onto the ground and his golden eyes rolled into the back of his skull. Blood covered most of his body, and dripped freely from his mouth.
He was clearly dead.
Serves him right for trying to hurt Amaya.
Kuronue ran over to her and pulled her into his arms and gave her a twirl.
"Amaya, you did it!" He exclaimed.
She smiled, and Kuronue set her down after hearing my loud growl.
"You guys did most of the work." She said. "I merely shot him with a puny arrow! I shouldn't get any credit for this at all."
"Damn straight." Hiei snorted, folding his arms across his chest.
I glared at him. "Hiei, you knew that the only way to pierce his heart was with a magically charged arrow. And you also knew that piercing his heart was the only way to kill a demon from his class."
She seemed surprised, and Hiei glared at me.
"Right. Whatever."
She smiled at me. "Is that true, Kurama-kun?"
I nodded, and walked over to her. I pulled her into my arms and smirked at her. "Very true."
I leaned forward to kiss her, but Hiei cleared his throat before I could indulge in her sweet taste. I glared at him.
"What?"
Hiei got an arrogant smirk on his face. "Suck face when we get home. We don't have time to wait for you two."
She blushed, and I growled.
Kuronue sighed. "Hiei…"
"What? It's only true." The koorime said. "If we let them suck face right here and now, we may not get home until nightfall."
He turned away and said over his shoulder. "I'm going now." He started to dash back towards the lair, and Kuronue ran after him, calling for the former to wait.
That left only Amaya and I by ourselves in the clearing. She took a step away from me and looked back at Akira's body.
I watched her as she seemed to be reminiscing, and I did as well.
She had changed my life greatly over the last few days. She had made me softer (perhaps a little more than I cared to be), and had become a friend and a lover.
She had even melted some of the ice surrounding Hiei's heart, and I knew that she had stolen Kuronue's as well.
And she was just one little girl…
No, not little. I mentally corrected myself. She is far from being little…
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her waist from behind.
"What are you thinking about, Amaya?" I asked.
"Everything." Was her quiet reply.
Everything, huh? Well, I had been thinking about exactly the same thing. I let go of her.
"Well, are you ready to go home?" I asked instead.
She turned to face me, and seemed to realize something.
"Yes." She said, smiling at me. "I'm ready to go home."
They say home is where the heart is.
I guess that means that my home will always be where Amaya is.
~*~
Author's Notes: That's it! The end of Kokoro No Kaitou : Youko's Story. There are two more stories after this, so watch out for them! Oh, and I'm sorry if Youko seemed a little OOC just now. I swear, he'll be back to his bad-ass self in the next story.
Is everyone getting bored with this series? It seems like nobidy really wants to review anymore. *sniffle* I feel so unloved!
By the way, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to suggest that you read the stroies that my friends posted : Heart of Atlantis, by LuckySpirit, and the untitled story by Kaze Tsukai. It'd be so cool if you reviewed their stories!!
And the last thing, I'll be posting the next story of this series soon - that is, if you're all still interested in it. Let me know if you are, okay? (And yes, it is an entirely new story - it's not this same plot from another character's point of view). It doesn't have a title yet, though. I'm workin' on it. LOL.
Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!
miyako14 : Thanks for the review!
DarkVixenNisha : Thanks for the review, Nisha-chan!
