Chapter Four: The Invitation
Shinka had reached home. It was late into the night and she was in her room, bandaging the wound on her shoulder. She decided that early tomorrow morning, she would go out to fetch some herbs to help it heal faster.
"Damn Toshihiro… always showing up at the wrong time. Always ruining my day…." She snarled. Once finished with her shoulder, she proceeded in re-bandaging her arm. When that task was completed, she preformed her nightly rituals of brushing her teeth and hair.
Half an hour later, Shinka crawled into bed. The only light in her dark room came from the moon. Its beams cast eerie shadows around her room, shadows that many would be frightened of, but Shinka took comfort in them. As she lay there, staring at the ceiling, memories of her former life came to her.
Shinka remembered the farm she once lived on with her family. She remembered riding her horse, Kenshin, through the forests and the fields on the property. She remembered racing with Aki and his horse, White Phoenix, during the summer. What she would have given to be able to go back to those days. Back when she lived peacefully, free of the pain and suffering she endured in later years.
Then, images of the day Toshihiro attacked her village came to her consciousness. The images of the mangled bodies and blood, the houses and shops up in flames. She could still clearly hear the frightened screams of the villagers. Then the horrible images faded.
Shinka suddenly bolted upright. She had heard something: a light tap on her wall. Tap, tap, tap. There it was again. Her eyes darted around the room.
Nothing. There was nothing there. She couldn't sense any energy of any kind. Then, just barely, she saw something move in the corner of her eye. Again, nothing. The tapping persisted for a few more seconds before it was followed by a ghostly soft voice.
Hush, little sister. Don't say a word. Never mind that noise you heard. It's just the beast under your bed.
Shinka smiled. She recognized that voice. It was her brother, Aki. He had always sung that little verse before Shinka went to bed when she was little. His intent was to frighten her, but after a while, it became something of a lullaby to her. She wasn't sure why, but it was reassuring, knowing that if indeed there was something under the bed, at least someone wasn't breaking into the house.
"Thank you, Aki…" she whispered as she lay back down and fell into a dreamless sleep.
The next morning, Shinka woke to her alarm clock blasting in her ear. She attempted to shut it off, but gave up and threw it across the room. She looked out the window. It wasn't yet light out.
Yawning and stretching, she stood up and went through her morning routine. Fifteen minutes after her shower, she was downstairs beginning her breakfast, once more fully clad in black.
Shinka finished her breakfast and went outside to the nearest of the five old barns. She heaved the old wooden double doors open. On the wall hung an old oil lamp. She summoned a flame to her fingertip and lit it. For such a little lamp, it cast a great deal of light.
Shinka went to the back of the barn where she was greeted by a whinny.
"Hey there, Akio," Shinka said. The Frisian horse within the stall nickered happily. Within a matter of minutes, Shinka had the huge black equine saddled and was leading him out of the barn. On her way out, she grabbed hold of her saddlebags.
She fastened the saddlebags behind the cantle and mounted. Shinka urged Akio forwards and he began a fast paced walk towards the large field that divided half of Shinka's property with the forest. Akio began trotting as he walked into the tall grass, his hooves pounding on the ground and the blades of grass swishing as he passed by.
By the time Shinka reached the edge of the forest, the sun had barely begun rising. The eastern horizon was still dark, but there was a small, thin line of pink that was hardly distinguishable outlining the distant mountains. Beyond the first layer of trees, everything was completely dark. Before her was an old, worn down path leading into the darkness. Akio slowed to a walk as he passed by the first few trees.
The path wound its way through the trees, eventually ending at a river that cut through the property. On the banks of this river were certain plants that Shinka often used to concoct different healing potions. One of these plants she had brought back from the Makai. It was called Esthar and it was very poisonous. However, through Yukio's teachings, Shinka had learned how to use it correctly and tap into its healing properties. This knowledge was the only thing Shinka was glad Yukio had taught her.
Shinka brought Akio to a halt once she reached this river. She dismounted and went to its banks. She knelt down and began carefully picking what seemed to be a deep violet flower. This was Esthar. It looked like some kind of foreign flower that one might find in a garden. The petals were a deep violet and had royal blue streaks that led to the center. However, unlike an ordinary flower, Esthar had to have its roots dug up in order to be pulled out. If not, the acid-like foam within the stem would spurt out and slowly begin dissolving whatever it touched.
Shinka straightened up, having collected what she needed. As she was packing the herbs away into the saddlebags, she took notice of something and smirked.
"I know you're there, Hiei."
There was a moment's hesitation before Hiei leapt down from a nearby tree. Akio snorted and Shinka began stroking his neck in comfort.
"What are you doing out here this early in the morning, onna?" Hiei inquired.
"I could ask you the same question," Shinka replied. Hiei said nothing, but began watching her as she fastened the buckles on the saddlebags. She looked up and her eyes met his. His gaze sent chills through her.
What the hell? That's never happened before. Shinka though, tearing her gaze away from Hiei.
"Well?" Hiei asked.
"Well, what?"
"Are you going to answer the question?"
"I'll think about it." Shinka enjoyed toying with Hiei, mainly because he would often get upset about it, and she loved nothing more than to see him beaten. Hiei waited for an answer impatiently as Shinka finished packing the herbs she had collected. She took notice of this.
"What does it matter to you, anyways, oni?" she asked harshly as she began untying Akio's reins from a sapling. "Unless you actually care now. Is that it? Is your conscience getting to you?" Hiei glared at her as she swung herself into the saddle. She could feel his anger rising. "Oh no. Did I make you upset?"
At this, Hiei snapped. He lunged at Shinka and Akio leapt forwards as she yelled out the command. Akio galloped back down the path. Hiei was now following her, leaping from tree to tree in an attempt to grab hold of her.
"Perhaps you should look into anger management, Hiei!" Shinka shouted. "Or at least a psychiatrist!"
Akio burst out of the trees, still at a fast gallop. However, once out in the open, he broke into a full run. Although Hiei was indeed abnormally fast, Akio was faster. Shinka never told anyone, but Akio was not just a regular, mundane horse. There was a certain quality about him. Something that made him stand out. Well, stand out at least some of the time.
Akio came to a skidding halt in front of Shinka's house. She leapt off his back and hurriedly began removing the saddlebags. Suddenly, something collided with her and slammed her into the ground. Hiei had her pinned, his hand on her shoulder, applying pressure to her wound. Shinka winced as the wound reopened. She brought her legs up and kicked Hiei in the chest, causing him to fly backwards. She sat up, clutching her shoulder.
"Damn it, Hiei! You suck!" she shouted angrily as the blood began to seep through her shirt. Shinka quickly grabbed her herbs and went inside. Hiei followed, curious as to what she was doing.
By the time Hiei walked into the house, Shinka was busy boiling a small pot of water in the kitchen. As he walked in, Shinka grabbed a knife and sat at the table, pulling out an Esthar plant.
"What the hell are you up to, onna?" Hiei asked inquisitively, sitting at the table across from her. Shinka didn't answer, but carefully began scraping off the layers of the stem. She went through five of her Esthar plants before the water started boiling. She went to the stove with the Esthar scrapings and placed them in the water. She then returned to the table with a bowl and began searching through the saddlebags, pulling out a few other strange looking plants. She began grinding them up. Hiei watched with a vague curious look on his face.
Minutes later, Shinka retrieved the Esthar from the boiling water and added it to the bowl, grinding it up as well. Then, she added a small amount of water, just enough to make the strange mixture into a purplish paste.
"Do you really think it's wise to be experimenting with a poisonous plant like that?" Hiei asked as Shinka slid part of her shirt down her shoulder, revealing her bandages.
"I'm not experimenting, Hiei. I know what I'm doing," she answered, removing the bandages.
"This is going to hurt like hell," Shinka said before taking a deep breath. Dabbing her fingers into the bowl, she applied the strange paste to her wound. Immediately, it felt as if her skin was being ripped from her bones. Slowly, that pain began to spread throughout her. She gritted her teeth and held onto the edge of the table, her knuckles beginning to noticeably white, which was rare, for Shinka had extremely pale skin.
A final jolt of pain went through her as the wound began to glow with a violet and the shredded tissues began to mend. The pain began to ebb away, leaving her arm numb. Shinka sighed with relief.
"He found you, didn't he?" Hiei asked.
"Who?" Shinka asked, dabbing a damp cloth on the small white scar that had once been an open wound.
"You know who."
"Oh. You mean Toshihiro. Yes, he did."
"So? Did he tell you anything?" Hiei probed.
"Of course he did!"
"Would you mind sharing with the rest of the class?" Yusuke's voice startled Shinka. She jumped and fell out of her chair.
"Yusuke! Don't do that!" she shouted, quickly standing up. She noticed Kurama and Kuwabara standing behind him. "Since when do you guys just walk into someone's house?"
"Well, we were going to call, but…." Yusuke began.
"Your phone's broken," Kuwabara finished. Shinka rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll get to fixing it later. Judging from the look I'm getting from Kurama, I suppose you want me to explain, huh?" The group nodded. Shinka led them into the living room and sat down on her couch.
"Well, last night, I was in the park, just hanging around. When I decided to finally go home, that's when Toshihiro appeared," she began explaining. "He started talking, just giving away what he was after."
"Which was…..?" Yusuke asked.
"Me. Turns out, he's after my power."
"Then why all of the killings? He knew where to find you and you said you'd met him before. He knew what you looked like," Kuwabara said stupidly.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure, but my guess is he figured I died sometime after he did. He knew my power was out there somewhere, and he may have thought I had been reincarnated. So he began killing all possibilities. But now that he's found me, he's going to continue killing just for the fun of it," she elucidated.
"How do you know that for sure?" Kuwabara asked.
"Because he told me so himself, dumbass! Now shut up and let me continue!" Kuwabara fell silent. "Anyways, after that, we began fighting. In the end, he stabbed me in the shoulder. However, before he left, he told me that the reason he didn't kill me then was because he wants me to become more powerful. He wants my power to reach its full potential. Now I'm debating whether or not to try it. If I don't, he may get impatient and just kill me. But if I do, I may lose and he'll take my power. Either way, all three worlds are doomed if I can't defeat him."
"So that's what you were doing with that weird purple stuff!" Yusuke said.
"Yeah. Although thanks to Hiei it was much more painful than it needed to be." Shinka shot a glare at Hiei.
"Hn," he said before staring back out the window. Shinka stood and went back to the kitchen and began cleaning up. Once finished, she returned to the living room. Yusuke and Kuwabara were one again watching TV. Kurama sat on the couch, deep in thought. Hiei still remained in the windowsill.
Suddenly, Shinka heard Akio let out a shrill neigh. Her eyes widened and she rushed outside, her friends following her. Akio was rearing, his deep brown eyes wide. Shinka rushed to him and took hold of the reins.
Again, she was met with that cold wind. However, the fog she had experienced before never appeared. Instead, dark clouds quickly filled in the sky, blocking out the sun. A few feet off, a black circle appeared on the ground, and from it rose swirling black smoke. The icy wind blew again and the smoke disappeared. Someone now stood where the smoke used to be. He looked almost exactly like Toshihiro, only slightly shorter and his eyes were black instead of yellow.
"Kenji…" Shinka snarled. Kenji laughed.
"Ah, Shinka. So we meet again. It's been a long time. I was thrilled when my brother informed me of your existence. I thought for sure you had been killed."
"Enough with the reunion! What the hell do you want?" Yusuke demanded, stepping on front of Shinka.
"Yusuke, don't. I can handle this," Shinka protested. Yusuke ignored her.
"So I see you've befriended the Spirit Detective. Impressive. You were able to convince Koenma to let you live? Even after all the demons you killed and the crimes you committed?"
"Shut the hell up, Kenji. That's none of your concern! Now, tell us what you want or else I'll just kill you where you stand," Shinka said darkly. Kenji sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out an envelope.
"Toshihiro wishes to invite you to attend a little tournament he's putting together," Kenji said, shoving the envelope into Yusuke's hand. "Personally, I think it'll be quite interesting to see what you can do now, Shinka. I hope to see you there." With that, Kenji disappeared.