Authoress: I do not own Yu Yu Hakuso. As all of you should know by now. Nor do I own the character Emiko. She belongs to my friend PenPusherM (Go read all of her stories, they're better than mine anyway!) I do, however own Chiyo and Romi and the plot of their past and how it ties in... blah blah blah.
A special thanks to Tamora Pierce for inspiring an idea for this chapter. Her books opened new doors and ways of thinking for me, and I owe her a lot of creativity. Nothing here is specifically from her books, but reminds me of them so I cannot claim total originality, even though I did not intend to have the use of fire relate to her books.
A quick warning, this entry contains a bit more blood, violence, and swearing than the previous chapters.
Kurama gently lowered his mother's body to the ground, closing her empty, staring eyes. He rose slowly to his feet. Anger and pain radiated from his eyes. His bloodstained hands grasped the knife that had slipped from his mother's fingers. "Romi!" The knife glittered, threatening.
The spirit in the girl's body sighed, "Yoko Kurama, I am hurt. You may not recognize me, but I know the one that killed my love!" She would kill him in the same manner that he had used on Mhasori. Ah, Mhasori! Her one TRUE lover, the only one who understood her... and the God who had helped her realize her potential powers. Blood for blood! As one scar upon the heart is avenged.
Or would it be?
Yoko Kurama had killed the most important person to her, would not the proper punishment be to kill the one he held most dear to his heart? His pathetic girlfriend! Kurama would have to be killed as well, for he had destroyed her life, but simply murdering his female mortal parent hardly seemed important enough. Chiyo needed the girlfriend to die in front of him, her life's blood draining out of her. But how to call her out?
Kurama was not so tied up in thoughts, the simple white fury that filled him had taken over. His one thought for the moment was to attack while the 'Goddess' seemed to be debating her next move.
Calling on all his reservoirs of strength, he gathered himself for the kill. He charged forward, speed and silence working to his advantage.
Chiyo broke herself from her thoughts as Kurama slammed into the swirling smoke around her. She smiled, ruthless, "Your feeble human strength in no match for the powers of a Goddess!" Fire gathered, once again, at her fingertips- she was gaining strength with each passing moment she spent possessing Romi's body.
Gasping for breath with lungs that would not cooperate, Kurama looked up. His eyes focused in and out. She was blinding to look at. 'If she's from my past, how did she get into the human world?' Kurama thought, sensible after impact with the equivalent of a brick wall. 'And she has to possess a human body to have a physical presence. But, if only her spirit is here, can I destroy her for good?'
At that moment, a person broke through the front door. The fire lit up her red hair and made her perfect complexion glow. She flicked her eyes around, quickly and efficeintly taking in the surroundings.
Kurama's heart was pained and joyful at the same time, Emiko had come to his help, but was in obvious danger. He tried to cry out to her, tell her to leave and seek a safer place, but breathing was still too painful to allow speech.
Emiko rushed to his side. "You're hurt."
She gently pried the knife from his hands and faced her new advisory, wary of the dark cloud around her and the fire ball in her hand.
The Goddess was amused, "You wish to fight me, mortal girl? Very well, and in the end, when your blood stains the ground, I will proceed in killing the demon bastard."
"Bite me, bitch!"
Emiko and Chiyo approached each other. Emiko, cautious of the woman who had knocked the breath out of Kurama and killed his mother in such a bloody and gruesome way, Chiyo, care-free and elated with the excitement of the fallen blood and chance at her revenge. Emiko's knife flashed around the swirls of darkness, nicking her opponent's ankle and drawing blood on the Goddess.
Chiyo glared. "Damn demons!" The fireball moved to float in front of her. With two fingers, she pulled out a strand of it, shaping it into a long cord.
Drawing quick symbols in the air rewarded the Goddess with a flare from the dark clouds. The swirls thickened until she was concealed completely- no holes to dart a knife through were apparent, even to Emiko's immaculate eyes. She tried tentatively to scratch at the barrier with the knife, but to no avail. Desperate, she slammed the knife into the darkness, using some of her demon powers to give her additional strength. The clouds cleared to reveal a fire serpent wrapped around Romi's body. Her eyes fluttered and the fire flickered. Sweat appeared all over Romi's body and she screamed. Her skin was burning without the Goddesses power to control the fire. Chiyo had momentarily lost control!
"Romi! Try to shut her out!" Emiko yelled, concerned. 'For all she's being possessed, she's still just a powerless teenage girl! And Kurama's friend!'
Romi shook her head, "I-I... c-can't... She's... angry!" Blood ran down her arms, legs and face. She was pale, eyes wide with fright and horror.
The girl was beginning to panic, her mental reflexes not enough to hold the evil spirit at bay, Emiko didn't have much time. "You can do it-!"
Romi's next scream was cut off. The calm, calculating look returned to her face, her wounds healed as the fire around her intensified in heat and light. The creature seemed to grow and became anxious, shifting and sliding around her body. She spoke to her creation. "Fly!"
Spines unfolded from the fire-creature's back, empty air in between. It took to the air above Chiyo, looking at Emiko with empty eye sockets. A unnatural roar came as it opened its mouth, exposing fiery teeth and a forked tongue. It dove, picking up speed as it hurtled towards Emiko. She flinched, frozen in her place, uncharacteristically. Her eyes widened as the heat grew near unbearable. The serpent was speeding towards her heart, and coming fast. A split second before impact, she was knocked aside, her heart's place taken by Kurama as he shielded her from the attack that would have ended her life.
The fire-dart disappeared into Kurama's chest and he slumped forward.
"NO!" Emiko clutched the dying demon to her, sobbing with love and hate. Even glaring at the murderess gave her no satisfaction. Chiyo had retreated, leaving Romi to fall to the ground. The energy that had possessed her had been of such a strong type that she was shattered without it, her body lifeless.
Kurama coughed, blood surfacing on his lips a testimony to his heart bursting. He was seeing nothing but darkness closing him off from Emiko. His last image was her face, crying and peering down at him. The last sound in his ears was the wail that issued from the lips of a woman who had lost her true love when she'd come so close to saving him. Kurama knew no more.
Well, my readers. It pains me and elates me to tell you that this story has reached its end. Please tell me what you think and read my other stories. Oh, I'm sad now! I liked writing this.