Beyond All Illusion

Chapter 2

A Weakness

"Yusuke, you fool," Kurama muttered to himself. He had silently watched as Keiko raced from the cafeteria to her next class. He could see the effect of his callous words on the girl and cursed both Yusuke and himself for being the ones to hurt her. She had done nothing purposely to cause him to snap like that, but the stress of having her so close, and today, having her in his arms for even so brief a moment had made him say things to her that he should not have said. He had not meant them, but judging by the drawn and pained look on her face, he could tell that he had caused more damage to her fragile spirit then he would have thought possible.

He knew that Keiko had always been closer to him then to any of the others with the exception of Yusuke himself, but he had never really considered what that position in her life might mean to her. For him, it meant that he was given the opportunity to be in her company. It meant that he could be there to sooth her suffering when Yusuke once again proved insensitive to her affections for him. And it meant that he could protect her from the things in this world, and several others, that could and would hurt her if given the chance.

Now, he was the one causing that despairing expression to settle on her face. He was the one causing her to hurt. And she had trusted him with everything. This is what he did with that friendship...that trust.

"Kurama," he said to himself, "you are an even bigger fool..." he told himself and turned his own thought inside. He had the urge to leave and find a quiet corner of the world still untainted by modern men and their technology and think this through.

There were some issues here that would have to be brought up between him and the girl he watched with such care. There was a few deep subjects that he would have to address with her. Like Yusuke...or more appropriately, their relationship, or lack there of. Depending on her answer and her feelings concerned there, then perhaps he would find the courage to move to more personal topics. First, first he had to think the problem through and consider all the consequences and repercussions involved for both of them once he came out and said what he had been longing to say for so long now...Kurama had to face his own fears of her rejection, and Yusuke's anger, before he could face her.

She normally never walked this way alone. Usually she was accompanied by Kurama or Yusuke, when the latter actually showed up for school. The path way was twisted, passing several of the less reputable parts of town, a few secluded nooks where the more questionable members of society would hang about. But, when faced with the late hour, she had chosen the shorter route over the safer. She wanted to be home, and this was the quickest way there.

She had gone through the day distracted and crushed by Kurama's cold words and attitude. She felt the need to apologize again, but had not seen him. She waited beside the back gate of the school where they usually met and walked home together, but he never showed. Keiko had flinched unhappily as the time had slowly spun past and he never came to meet her...just like Yusuke. But as soon as that though came, she felt guilty. Kurama had never treated her with half the disregard as Yusuke managed to show. He had been the friend she could count on when all others failed her. She knew that Yusuke didn't realize that her friends were distant, if that, simply because of her association with him. The few she had, that would chance befriending her, spent half of their time checking over their shoulders in case her infamous boyfriend made a quick and unexpected appearance.

Kurama hadn't been like that. He had always treated her with respect and care. In the beginning she had a few reservations about Kurama's motives in becoming her friend. First she thought that perhaps Yusuke had simply put him up to watching over her. Then she wondered if it was pity with the way he seemed to notice how she sat and ate alone. Now she could only conclude that he had only been doing Yusuke a favor and the idea hurt.

She forced herself to accept the fact the Kurama was only helping his friend...helping Yusuke by keeping her out of trouble. And she knew that when he mentioned her ability to attract trouble, he was not lying. So she knew that she had reason to thank him...but she would not force her company on him more than that. And she was determined to tell him that too...if only he had shown up.

Walking these particular streets without one of her usual protectors was making her paranoid. Every sound, every movement, had her heart thumping in her chest. She made it halfway home before she heard something behind her.

Keiko silently cursed her hasty decision to come this way and quickened her pace so that she was striding along, seeming much more confident than she actually felt. It was ironic that she never spared a single thought to her safety when Kurama or Yusuke walked with her. Even when the occasional band of bullies challenged their right to pass, she never so much as blinked. It was not uncommon for her to sigh and demand that they hurry it up so that she could get back.

Now, here she was, practically sprinting for home because of the pattering of feet behind her. Keiko scowled at her own cowardice and suddenly whirled on her heel to confront her stalker. "Hey, you!" she shouted angrily and pointed a finger in accusation. "Quit following...me?" Keiko searched her surroundings carefully but there was nothing there for her to worry about. Actually there was no one around at all..a frightening enough observation on its own.

"Great, now I'm hearing things," she said to herself. Completely spooked now, Keiko turned around and slowly walked on. She made her steps as silent as she could, her concern for her safety not fading as quickly as she would have liked. After a few tense moments, she was able to make out the odd pattern of steps beginning anew. She had to forcefully calm her racing heart to hear over its insistent drumming.

The noise finally came close enough for her to distinguish the unmistakable clicking of claws hitting pavement. Keiko slowed her steps more so that she could focus on the faint tapping that echoed on the concrete behind her. As she shuffled her feet, she laughed in light hearted relief and slumped her tensed muscles. She looked over her shoulder, expecting the hungry hopeful eyes of some stray dog to be begging her for a scrap she did not have.

A flash of muted brown, low to the ground confirmed her suspicion that her stalker was of the four legged variety. Keiko breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to her previous path towards home.

However, the animal had apparently not given up and had gotten closer. The rasp of its panting was now audible to her human ears and Keiko smiled to herself. If the poor thing actually went to the effort to follow her all the way home, she would find it something to eat and drink. Keiko made it to the part of the trail that cut through the park and she obediently turned her feet onto its secluded paths.

She heard the rustling that assured her that the creature was right on her heels. She was afraid that looking back would scare it away, so she stared straight ahead. Its persistence made her giggle softly and she decided to allow it time to get used to her voice. "Are you coming with me?" she asked the presence softly.

She was surprised to hear it stop pacing behind her for a moment, but was delighted when she heard it bound toward her again. That is, until a restricting hand cuffed her wrist and pulled her to a halt at the same time a hot breath fluttered across her cheek. An unfamiliar voice casually informed her, "No, you are coming with me."

Yusuke stretched his muscles and yawned openly without bothering to cover for his fatigue. He had come home in the early morning hours after taking a last minute case for Koenma and had slept the day away. A glance at the clock informed him that school had let out an hour ago and he had once again managed to miss it. A momentary thought of Keiko and how pissed she would be that he ditched school again was shrugged away as he made his way to the kitchen. There was a lot that he did that he knew worried her, but he also knew that in her heart, she understood how important this job was to him...how important the work was...how important it was for him to be needed for something.

Another lengthy stretch and Yusuke finally felt awake enough to go make his usual rounds of the neighborhood. Just because he was gone most of the time didn't meant that he neglected his reputation here in the human world. There was always some bully to beat up, or some innocent to save. Yusuke smiled, quite content with his life after so many years of coming from nothing and going nowhere. Now he had a purpose as a Spirit Detective and he had a few true friends and a girl friend that understood him.

He thought about making a call to her house but pushed the thought away quickly. Since he had managed to miss school today, he knew that he was in for an earful when she did get her hands on him. She liked to lecture and rant and he usually ended up running from the temper that she insisted that she didn't have. It was either that or resist the urge to throw her in a closet somewhere gagged and trussed up until her nagging was done.

He followed the crooked line of the sidewalk for several blocks before he made it to the park that was situated nearest to his home. A faint trace of youki made him pause in his steps and stare unseeing at the wooded area before he shrugged it off and determined that Koenma would call him if there was a problem to take care of. It obviously wasn't an important concern since he had yet to hear from Botan about a new demon escape.

Yusuke ignored the taint of energy and moved on. Surely there was some trouble brewing somewhere that he could take part in...

Keiko remembered too late that not everything with claws was an innocent creature born of her own world. And this one, this one had claws and fangs and two stringy tails that were definitely not a common trait to the average human. Her attempt to scream was cut off by the rough handling of those clawed hands, one over her mouth and the other gripping her throat hard.

Twin trails of her salty tears escaped from the corners of her eyes as she worked desperately to breath. The animal-like snout of the demon grinning his victory at her was twisted by several scars that ran from the middle of his forehead to his chin. It looked like something with even bigger and sharper claws had slashed the muzzled demon and it had never healed correctly. The twisted scars curled the demon's lips up in a permanent snarl and lay pink and bare of the dirty fur that covered the rest of its body.

"Stupid humans," he sniggered at her pathetic attempts to gain her freedom. "I never would have expected this to be so easy. The Spirit Detective will pay...oh, yes! He will pay for his mistakes, with you. He was a fool to leave his greatest weakness unattended. Now, you are mine...Keiko..."

Keiko struggled harder until the blurring at the edges of her vision made her head spin. She bit at the hand cupped over her mouth but only succeeded in biting her own tongue when he jerked her head back. Her eyes widened further when a sadistic chuckle hissed through those fangs.

"Now," he said, "What to do to you? What would break that detective the way he tried to break me?" He grinned into her terrified face as some amusing idea gave him pause. "I know just the thing," he smirked and dragged her deeper into the forest. "Something that will make him think of me everyday for the rest of his life..."

Keiko's panic rose the further from the path she was taken until nothing familiar surrounded her and there was no chance of her being heard by a casual passer-by. Keiko had only a single moment of clarity before her world went black.