Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I've been out of town for a long time, but I've got 3 or 4 chapters ready to be typed, so here's the first one!!!
Chapter 6 "A Burning Sensation"
"So if you don't have spirit awareness; what do you have?" Yukina asked Akemi as they both finished cleaning up the small mess from lunch. The afternoon passed by very slowly for some reason, Akemi was eager for the others to visit again.
Start Dream
"Mother, why do we have to run?""Because walking's too slow.""Where's Sayori?" Akemi's mother gulped at her daughter's question then grabbed her hand and kept running."They're coming," Akemi stated."What?""They're coming." Her mother stopped running."How do you know that?" She asked, placing her hands on Akemi's shoulders."I don't know--" Her eyes widened."What is it, Akemi, what is it?!" Her mother asked urgently."Now I know why we have to run," Akemi said slowly. Her mother looked over Akemi's shoulder then grabbed her hand again and started running again. After running for a few minutes, they stopped. Akemi's mother took something from her pocket."Akemi, I want you to take this," She shoved something into Akemi's hand and closed it, "Don't lose it, put it on and never take it off.""Ok."
End Dream
"Akemi! Akemi, wake up!" Akemi opened her eyes as she felt someone shaking her to wake her up. She looked up and saw Yukina looking down at her worriedly."Are you alright?" Yukina asked."Yeah, I just had a bad dream," Akemi answered, holding the back of her head as she sat up."Do you have a headache?" Yukina asked her, noticing that she was holding her head."Just a small one, no big deal. I get them all the time. It'll be gone in a few minutes.""Well, ok, if you're sure," Yukina stood up and offered Akemi a hand, "Everyone is going to be here in about twenty minutes.""Oh, ok," Akemi answered as she took Yukina's hand. She swayed a little at first, but caught her balance with Yukina's help."Are you ok?" She asked. Akemi shook her head before answering."Yeah, I just have to wake up.""Ok, well, I'm going to be in the kitchen if you need me.""Thanks, Yukina." Yukina smiled at her, then walked out of the room. Akemi sighed, then walked over to her mirror and just stared at her reflection.There was always one way to tell her apart from her sister. Akemi always wore a necklace, the same necklace. All it was was a simple gold chain. There was nothing decorative about it, but she wore it anyways. She never took it off; it was the necklace her mother had given her. She didn't know why her mother wanted her to keep it on, but she did. She stared at it for a minute, then stepped away from the mirror and walked silently out of her room."Yukina?" Akemi called out, searching for her friend."In here!" came the answer. Akemi followed the voice into the living room. She found Yukina sitting on the couch."Oh, hi," Akemi greeted quietly as she saw an unfamiliar blue-haired girl sitting next to Yukina."Oh, Akemi, this is Boton," Yukina explained. Boton merely nodded towards Akemi, then turned back to Yukina."Anyway, I'll fill you in on the rest later because I doubt Hiei will," Boton said, then stood up."Well, thank you very much for telling me what's going on. I appreciate it," Yukina answered, standing as well."No problem," Boton said smiling. She moved to the door, "See you later!" She opened the door and walked outside, closing the door behind her. Yukina turned to Akemi."Boton just came to say that Koenma just called a meeting. So the boys are going to be gone for a while. I'm not sure how long," Yukina explained. Akemi found herself disappointed to hear this. She wasn't sure why. "She just left to see when Keiko and Shizuru are planning on coming over. She should be back a little while if they are," Yukina said. She stared at Akemi, who was plainly gazing at nothing. "Akemi?" Akemi shook her head, regaining her senses."What? Oh, yeah," she replied, "I'm just not fully awake yet.""Ok," Yukina answered, "Well, dinner's already made, we can wait for a few minutes longer for the others. But we can't wait too long or it'll get cold." Akemi nodded, and not five minutes later Boton, Keiko, and Shizuru walked through the door."Hi, Yukina! Hi, Akemi!" Keiko greeted cheerfully as Shizuru closed the door behind them."Hello, Keiko," Yukina said back, "Akemi, this is Shizuru, Kuwabara's older sister."
Akemi and Shizuru said their silent greetings. Yukina pressed on, "Dinner's ready so we might as well set the table." They all agreed and started to do as Yukina suggested.
"So, Akemi, how was your first day of training?" Shizuru asked. 'Kuwabara must have told her,' Akemi thought to herself."Um, well, I didn't really do much actually. We went through the exercise once. Then Genkai said there's a different training exercise I have to do. Then I was allowed to leave," she paused as they finished setting the table and took their seats, "Kuwabara did a lot more than me. Genkai had Hiei help so he was really happy when it was over." They all laughed softly. (A/N: Once again, I'm not going to describe what they're eating because I don't think it's important.)"Sounds like you got off easy," Keiko stated."Yeah," Akemi replied, "for now." There was a moment's silence, then Yukina said something to Keiko, but Akemi wasn't paying attention.Start Flashback (Akemi's)
"Where are we?" Akemi heard her terrified sister ask the question as the two large men stopped, then told them to stay where they were. They did.They were in a different room. It was slightly lit up and smaller than their previous prison. Akemi remained silent, then, "Who is that?" Sayori looked around, she didn't see what her sister was talking about. Akemi kept staring straight ahead."There." Just as Sayori looked to where her was motioning towards a voice came out of nowhere."Akemi and Sayori, is that right?" The girls looked around the room, searching for the person that had addressed them. They had been looking towards the back of the room, but when they turned around they could see the faint outline of what looked like an ordinary man."Wh-who-" Sayori started to ask."Who am I?" The man asked, he moved closer to them, but no more than an outline was still visible in the poorly light room. "Not important," he paused, "Which of you is Akemi?" The girls didn't answer. They knew why he asked that. They knew Akemi possessed...something, something everybody seemed to want. Akemi opened her mouth to answer when Sayori spoke up."I-I am," she said, "Why?" The man didn't answer, just kept looking at the real Akemi. His eyes fell upon the necklace around her neck, the one her mother had just given her. The gold chain was glowing and red."Because I wanted to see how bad you are at lying," he finally replied. The girls still couldn't see anything but an outline, but as he walked closer something else came into view."Ah, yes, your mother swore she'd give you it one day," he said, referring to Akemi's necklace. The necklace glowed even brighter as Akemi could see the man walking towards her, his full green eyes beating down on her. She took a few steps back as they got closer. He laughed, making Akemi shiver. "Scared?" Akemi didn't answer. She could see her necklace start to glow as well. One of then men that had brought Akemi and Sayori in came back and restrained Sayori from going to her sister."It's a shame your mother couldn't join us," he taunted, causing Akemi to step back again and run into the wall, cornered. She knew why her mother wasn't there..."Do you know what this is, hm?" Akemi knew he was talking about her necklace. Akemi remained silent. "I said, 'Do you know what this is?'" he asked again, much louder than before. Akemi slowly shook her head, her eyes wide with fear."No? Allow me to show you." He backed away from the wall. He smiled an evil-looking smile, but Akemi and Sayori couldn't see it anyway. Akemi looked down at her necklace to see it glowing bright red. She touched it to pull it out of her shirt. But as she did so, she noticed it was hot and gasped, quickly pulling her hand away. Then it started burning around her lower neck where was hanging. She squeezed her eyes shut and gasped again as it grew hotter and hotter. She tried to bring her hands up to take it off, but she couldn't move them. Not knowing what else to do, she felt the tears start to stream down her face as her necklace grew hotter. She screamed, hoping it wouldn't get any worse. It did. Her necklace suddenly became tight, not enough to choke her, but enough to make it circle around her entire neck. She screamed again, and stopped trying to hold back the tears that were now flowing uncontrollably. Akemi could hear her sister calling out her name as she fell to the floor, but Sayori couldn't do anything with the henchmen holding her back. Akemi just wanted it to stop...stop...stop.
End Flashback
"Akemi! Akemi, are you ok?!" Akemi gasped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Yukina, Keiko, Boton, and Shizuru staring at her."I-I'm fine, I just zoned out for a minute. I'm fine," she repeated. Everyone continued to stare at her."Well, ok," Yukina said, then continued to talk to the others, but still glancing at Akemi every so often. Eventually, Akemi excused herself from the table, and walked to her room.Meanwhile, the others stayed at the table. They all watched Akemi as she left the table."Akemi's been really tired lately hasn't she?" Keiko asked Yukina. Yukina nodded."Yes, I wonder if she's always been like that," Yukina wondered out loud. They shrugged.
"Maybe she's not getting enough sleep at night," Keiko suggested.
"Why wouldn't she sleep well?" Shizuru asked."I don't know, but I hope this doesn't continue much longer. If she's not sleeping well and she's tired all the time. And if she's tired all the time she won't be able to concentrate on her training," Yukina stated, a touch of worry in her voice."Why are you so worried about her training all of a sudden?" Keiko asked."I-I'm not, I just think-" Yukina started."Are we missing something?""No.""Yes, you are," Boton said, everyone stared at her. She had been quiet throughout their whole conversation, "When I stopped by the day Akemi arrived, I kind of told Yukina some stuff you guys don't know about.""What is it? Tell us, Boton," Keiko insisted. Boton sighed, then looked at Yukina who nodded in consent."Ok, listen up because I'll only explain this once, Akemi doesn't know so don't let her find out.""Get on with it!""Ok, listen closely..."-----------
Akemi closed her door behind her as she walked into her room. She stared at her reflection in her mirror. She was sweating and pale. She slightly pulled down her neckline and observed the circle that went all the way around her neck. Her scar. Her necklace couldn't ever cover it so she relied on shirts without low necklines. Her necklace hadn't glown red sine the she got her scar. After that demon had burned her with her necklace she found it very difficult to use her powers. Not that she had known exactly what they were anyway. She rubbed her neck, then put her necklace back in her shirt.