Beyond All Illusion
Chapter 3
Keiko's Loss
Kurama rubbed a hand over his face and stared into the bathroom mirror. He scowled unhappily at the dirt and dust that had settled in a film over his usually pristine features. He had spent the night walking through a familiar part of the demon realm. It was his old territory...the paths and secret places of a famous fox spirit. Littered with memories and past dreams, Kurama had gone searching through his old stashes and hoards of stolen items to find a specific gem. The one jewel that he had not taken forcibly from another. It had been his mothers, and was his one honest possession.
It had taken him all night and most of this morning to remember where his had hidden it. It was small, far smaller than the priceless items and magic artifacts that he had managed to thieve for over four hundred years. In fact, when compared to some of the jewels and pieces that he had managed to collect, it was unremarkable. But it held a significance to him that none other did. It was honest. It was pure and untainted by his past. It was as the only treasure that he had that would be worth giving to her...no matter what her response was to what he was going to say to her.
He glanced through the door to see the glowing red numbers of his alarm clock and noticed that school would be out in about half an hour. He had not seen Keiko since lunch time yesterday and cursed at himself for taking so long to find that single stone. He had wanted to see her as soon as possible so that he could apologize for his rudeness and brash words that day before. He had felt the weight of guilt and remorse settle on his shoulders moments after his outburst that morning, but had not had the courage to face her until he had straightened out all the issues he needed to speak to her about, in his own mind.
As time had passed, that weight had grown heavier as well as the strange feeling he was getting that warned him of trouble to come. But he brushed this aside as a side effect to the fear that she would reject him completely and that he would not only lose any chance of a future with her, but also the friendship they shared. Though it was an honest concern, he couldn't hide what he felt forever and this had to be faced.
He felt disgusted with himself when he remembered that for the first time in a long while, he had left Keiko on her own without warning her that he would be leaving. He wondered if she had waited for him to walk with her to school this morning and if she had felt his absence as much as he felt hers.
He had time for a quick shower before he would meet her at the school gate to walk her home at least. That way, they could talk, uninterrupted and she would have an escort to protect her from the many dangers that threatened them.
Keiko woke up abruptly and completely. She had spent the entire night in terror of what her captor had planned for her before finally falling into an exhausted sleep only a few hours after sunrise. She clenched her teeth over the dirty gag shoved into her mouth and worked her numb fingers where the ropes had cut her circulation down. She glanced around, trying to find a sign of the creature that had kidnaped her the evening before and saw that he was still missing. She was beginning to think that he had tied her up only to abandon her.
Keiko took a more thorough survey of her surroundings and discovered two things. She was still in the park...and there was no one here to save her. Keiko felt the burning tears in her eyes and let her spirits drop. She should have known better than to take that path home. She should have been more cautious. Kurama was right. She was more of a liability to them than a help. And it hurt just as much, inside, to finally realize that, as it physically hurt to move.
The demon had not been gentle with her. Of course, she had not exactly come willingly either. It had been a struggle the whole way and Keiko had done everything in her power to distract, throw off, and piss off the filthy creature as he had dragged her through the woods. He had finally dropped her here, in this deserted clearing. He had sneered at her as he had tightened her bonds and laughed about his "plans" for her before disappearing. And here she remained...almost a full twenty four hours later if the sun shining in her eyes through the tree trunks was anything to go by.
The cracking and snapping of brush made Keiko flinch from the unexpected sound. It sounded as if something were crashing through the brambles with all the grace of a landlocked hippo. Praying it was a rescue, Keiko stared hopefully toward the trees where the noise was coming from.
She only widened them in disbelief when her despised captor made his glorious return. She growled at him through the gag and glared at his knees when he knelt at her side to snigger at her helplessness.
"I found what I was looking for," he informed her cheerfully. "Do you want to see?"
Keiko snarled a muffled "NO!" through the constricting cloth. But he just grabbed her shoulders and sat her up roughly against a convenient tree as if her protest had meant nothing...which it had.
Keiko glared at the creature that had identified itself as a fox demon to her last night. She would never have believed it to look at him. He was nothing like Kurama, or the ethrical beauty of his Youko form. This creature was the exact opposite of the spirit fox that she knew. The muddy colored fur, the ugly half animal features, the stringy tails that hung limply from his back, the amazing lack of grace and stealth, and the dark eyes with a dark mask of tatty fur around them was nothing like the glowing features she would give anything to see right now.
Once he had her seated to his own satisfaction, he had proudly lined up a sting of plants and herbs in the dirt. She glanced at the dying vegetation and narrowed her eyes at the implications of them. They were nothing special to her. She couldn't even identify one of the leafy green things he seemed so gleeful over. By their bedraggled condition, she assumed that he had little of the growing power that Kurama had and she gave a silent laugh on her part for that observation.
The fox demon scratched his claws through the dirt in silent contemplation. " It took me all evening to find these all. Most don't grow here in this realm as well as they do in the Makia."
Keiko stared at him while he let his arms dangle across his knees. She waited until he looked up and met her eyes before she rolled them in response to his explanation. It was one of the only gestures left to her that he had not restricted and it was one that he would at least be able to comprehend.
She was unprepared to see the grin on his muzzled face while he let out a satisfied snort. "What took me so long to get was this," he casually went on and reached behind his back. He pulled a struggling and thrashing animal in front of him and jerked his hands away from the snapping jaws of the wild animal.
Keiko stared with widened eyes into the fear crazed gaze of a wild fox as it struggled tiredly against the strip of cloth tied around three of its four legs. It flopped about until exhausted again where it remained panting in the dirt, its breaths blowing up tiny gusts of dust while it lay. Keiko saw that it had a light fur that was almost a creamy tan while its underbelly and muzzle were white. Its four paws were dark chocolate brown, leading to black toes and claws. Its tail was white tipped like most foxes and resembled the bushy silky fur that she associated with the only other fox of her acquaintance. This wild animal was more like to the man she knew then the demon fox that had snared it.
Keiko shot her eyes back up to the gloating demon and glared at him for doing such a heartless thing to an innocent creature.
"It is difficult to catch a fox," he laughed. "I had to chase her all day. Foxes are very smart," he preened as if this observation included him. He prodded at the still animal and sent it into another frenzy of effort to free itself. "Do you like her?" he asked knowing that Keiko couldn't answer him. "I hope you do because you are going to be getting very well acquainted very soon.
Keiko wasn't certain what he meant, but it did not sound good for either of them. She felt the beginning stirring of fear settle in her gut again. Why hadn't anyone come for her yet? Surely someone had realized that she was missing by now. Why wasn't Yusuke here to save her? He had always known when she needed him in the past. Why didn't the spirit detectives hunt down this demon? Surely Koenma knew that he had escaped the barrier. Keiko didn't have any answers, and she began to fear that when they did come, which she had faith that they would, it would be too late.
"This," the fox demon said and grabbed her chin with one hand to force her to look at the herb he was clutching in the other clawed fist, "is one ingredient to a very interesting potion. You see, certain types of foxes have different abilities," he went on when Keiko glared at him. "My specialty is in potion making...of the transformation variety." he grinned that toothy smile at her again before holding another plant under her nose. "Do you understand?"
Keiko noticed that he was waiting for her to answer him so she refused to give him the satisfaction. Instead, Keiko closed her eyes and ignored the painful tightening on her chin. She couldn't ignore the stinging pain of the slap he gave her and her eyes shot open when she felt the abrupt contact of his hand on her cheek. She cringed slightly when the wet trickle of blood informed her that he had not held back those lethal claws when he had struck her. She turned her face to him again when he spoke again.
"This is important Keiko," He said. He deliberately used her name to see her glare daggers at him again. "You see," he said with a casual shrug, "it is your mate that stole mine from me. Now, I get to return the favor."
Keiko blinked in confusion. Her mate? She thought and puzzled it out. Yusuke had taken this demon's mate and now he was getting his revenge by using her against Yusuke?! Keiko snorted at that. There were several things wrong with that idea she would have loved to point out if she had been able to talk. First of all, Yusuke wasn't her 'mate', as the demon put it, not yet anyway. Second, she had been down this 'get revenge on Yusuke' road before and it had yet to prove successful. Third, she had known everything when she had walked into her relationship with the spirit detective and had told him long ago that should anything happen to her, it would not be his fault. She was there of her own free will and knew the consequences that her proximity with the tentai could bring trouble her way. Fourth, she had faith that Yusuke would come for her. He had never failed her in the past, and she knew that he cared enough for her to do his best to make sure that no harm came to her.
The demon fox tilted his twisted face to the side at an angle that appeared almost painful as he regarded her defiant expression. "This will hurt," he told her. "But I will have my revenge. I could just kill you...but this will make his suffering last so much longer..." He glanced around himself and pulled a few tools from random hiding places. He situated himself back in front of his two captives and grasped a large bowl in his clawed hands and placed it between his knees to keep it from moving. "The first ingredient..." he told the human as he reached for the prone fox resting once again in the dirt.
Keiko watched in horror as he lifted the struggling and shrieking animal up by its tail, avoiding the sharp teeth nipping at his fingers. A final yip marked the slashing of the wild fox's throat, but not the end of its fruitless struggles. Keiko felt tears well up in her eyes as the poor creature thrashed for a few more moments before dangling over the bowl that was catching the steady dripping stream of fresh blood.
When the last few pattering of crimson drops slowed, the demon discarded the corpse with a fling of his hand. Keiko watched the limp body hit the ground with a thud and felt her own heart squeezing in sympathy for the innocent creature. She saw the monster reach out a clawed hand to her face and she automatically balked from his touch. The tree at her back stopped her from flinching further and she felt the rough pads of his fingers stroke upward on her cheek.
Keiko stared at him when he pulled away and grinned at her with that twisted smirk again. "The second ingredient..." he told her and held up that clawed hand that now sparkled with her tears on the tips. Keiko ground her teeth into that gag again when she saw him shake those lone drops into the warm pool of blood.
He silently prepared plants that he had, each one glowing eerily with his youki before he added it to the bowl. When he had all the greenery mixed to his liking, he licked his fingers slowly and savored the taste of blood and magic on his claws. "Now the most important part," he grunted and held the bowl up to the light.
Keiko watched in disgust while her captor calmly poured his demon energy into the mixture and scoffed at his boasting about being a powerful fox demon. The weak trickle of his powers was nothing compared to what she had seen others do. Stronger demons than him had attempted to get the best of Yusuke and failed. This attempt would be no different.
He put the bowl in one hand and reached out to snap her gag off with his claws. Keiko snarled as soon as the dirty cloth fell from her mouth and opened her mouth to yell at the disgusting creature and his evil potion.
Before she could even inhale the big breath to begin her tirade, she felt the rough wooden texture of the bowl at her lips and heard the softly spoken command. "Drink...while its still warm."
Keiko pinched her numb lips together and refused only to feel her nose being pinched between strong fingers and her breath was cut off... Keiko panicked when her air began to run out and she found her eyes landing on the dead body of the fox when her strength finally failed and her lips parted. Keiko only got one panted breath in before the taste of blood overpowered all of her other senses and sent her lurching toward unconsciousness.
Keiko's last sight was of the triumphant grinning demon fox before the first wave of pain consumed her and she went under...