Chapter 19: Foiled Plans Within
Disclaimer: I don't own YYH, it belongs to some rich Japanese guy in Japan.
…Kurama…
"He's got her! He's got Bri!" I broke through into Genkai's kitchen. The first person I saw was Yusuke, who looked like he'd just been hit in the stomach. I grabbed his shoulders to scream at him. "Yusuke, he's got her!"
"Hold up, Kurama, you're not making sense. Who's got Bri?"
"Gun Wa!" I grabbed the front of his t-shirt. "They have Bri!"
"All right, all right, calm down!" He unwrapped my hands from his throat. "We gotta get everyone else. Think, Kurama! If he could get past you, we've got to have everyone else with us!"
For once in his life, Yusuke was thinking far more rationally than I was. What had this girl done to me? All I could think about was that Gun Wa had her, and what he'd said he would do with her…
Would she be strong enough to last until we got there?
Botan burst into the room.
"Yusuke, Kurama, come quick!" She opened a portal into Koenma's office, where his screen was showing thousands upon thousands of people.
All of who were dead.
In exactly the same manner.
Koenma turned to me in his chair, though no one else seemed able to look at me. It was my fault. I'd let Gun Wa take her. I grabbed at the blank air behind me, trying to catch hold of something. I was going to fall. If Bri…
I'd let all of those people die.
And Bri…Was Bri dead?
"Kurama, it's not your fault," Koemna said quietly. "No one could have predicted how strong he is—"
"No. Bri was with me. He tracked down my spirit signature. He would not have found her, had I not been with her."
"Kurama…" Koenma sighed. "Whatever you believe, the rest of us know it wasn't your fault. However, it seems that I erred in my belief that Bri's ability to control her powers would solve anything."
A dead child in her dead mother's arms showed on the screen.
"It seems that they found a way around it. Kurama, how did Gun Wa fight you?"
"I don't really know…" I said, thinking to myself. I had to collect my thoughts. If I didn't, who knew what would happen to Bri. If she wasn't already…"Suddenly, I couldn't move. I could only see and hear, and limitedly so. He called Bri to him, even though she was running, she appeared in h-his arms. He caught my Rose Whip as if it were nothing."
"Hmm…Botan, fetch me the Wolf family records." At my curious glance, he spoke again. "We managed to find the records. They were merely misplaced."
What a lot of good it does now…
"Yes, Koenma sir." Botan was only gone for a few minutes before returning with a thin blue envelope. She handed it to Koenma.
"I thought so," Koenma sighed. "Gun Wa Wolf was Bri's father's brother. Her uncle. That would make him an Empathe as well. Therefore, he would know all about the workings of another—"
"But what about her mother's side?" Botan asked. "Tsuki Sawaguchi?"
What did this matter now? Bri was in trouble!
Or worse…dead…
But I'd know if she was dead.
Wouldn't I?
"Her mother is half cat demon," Koenma answered. "Making Bri quarter cat demon."
"Wait a minute, she's a cat?" Kuwabara pushed off the wall.
"Exactly," Koenma nodded gravely. "She has infinite 'lives' after her encounter with lightning. It is part of her cat demon's heritage."
My eyes grew wide. She wasn't dead! "So even if they keep on killing her…"
"She won't die. No matter what they do to her, she won't. But if her Empathe skills are on, others will," Koenma growled. "There's no way of telling where they'll strike next! The Vacant Lot is a powerful circle of demons—"
"I know where."
It was Shizuru, Kuwabara's sister. How she had come into the Spirit World in the first place will always be a mystery to me.
But I will always be grateful to her.
"The port, where we set off toward Hanging Neck. That's where they're going."
"How do you know, sis?"
"Just trust me on this," she snapped at her brother. "Get going! Now! Pier 13, in a ship called the Field. Room 13."
I didn't care where she'd gotten the information, I grabbed Kuwabara and Yusuke by their shirts and ran out the door. Hiei wasn't far behind. In the hallway, Gina met us with Gunner running at her side.
"Gunner will guard you," Gina said. "I'm going to get someone else to help, too!"
She disappeared down another hall.
I didn't question at all how they'd gotten there. Nor did I want to know. I wanted Bri, safe and sound.
"Hey, kid," Gunner said to me. "Listen, sorry about the woods."
"Huh?"
"I said, sorry about the woods. You remember, when I turned Bri 'up'? I didn't know anything about what Gun Wa was planning."
I faintly remembered Gunner back in the woods, just after Bri had been hurt by my dream about Karasu. It had been so long, I must have forgotten about it.
"Apology accepted," I said. "Just as long as we get Bri out of there."
"Don't worry. We will. My niece needs our help."
I nearly stopped, but the urgency kept my feet moving. "Niece?"
"Yes. Didn't anyone tell you? Gun Wa is my brother. So was Marion. My last name is Wolf, too, but I didn't want Bri recognizing me. Stupid old woman, eh, kid?"
"No," I said.
Hold on, Bri, I thought. We're coming.
…
…
…
The five of us raced down the pier toward the only ship that seemed to be on it. The side read: MS Fild. Suddenly, I could feel Bri's mind and body, already in pain and beginning to grow more and more. An anger raced through my veins, an anger I hadn't known in over thirty years. I barely was aware that I'd turned into my past self, the Youko Kurama of silver hair and twitching tails.
"I'm putting up the shield!" Gunner yelled. After a few minutes, I couldn't feel Bri anymore. But I knew she was there. She was alive. She wouldn't die on me. That's all that mattered at the moment.
That, and keeping anyone else in the area alive.
"Hurry!" Gunner shouted. "They've got Karasu doing it this time!"
This time, I did stop.
"Karasu!"
"No time, Kurama, get going!" Yusuke shouted from ahead. "Bri needs us—now!"
I leapt ahead of Yusuke and Kuwabara, onto the ship's plank. They caught up quickly and the five of us raced down the hall.
"Take a right!" Gunner shouted. "He's playing with her for now, but I don't know how long he's going to do that!"
"Knowing Karasu, a long, long time," I muttered.
"I forget that you're the one who gave him his untimely death," Gunner glanced at me. "I think you might want to stay out of this. Karasu isn't exactly the tender loving kind of person. He fell in love with you on sight."
"He's attacking the one that I love," I snapped back. "I'm not about to leave her in his hands."
She nodded silently.
"Stop." Gunner pushed her arms to stop us all. Everyone waited for her to explain. "I'm going to block her powers to the confines of the room. Maybe we can get the others in there that way."
"It might just work," Yusuke said. "Do it."
"He's surrounded her with bombs," Gunner glanced at me again. "His final attack. Karasu wa shindekudasai!" (Translation: Diepolitely, Karasu!)
An instantaneous procession of anguished screams came from the door at the end of the hall. Gunner frowned at it.
"We got some, at least. Karasu, Gun Wa, Une, and Matsu remain. We have our work cut out for us."
Bri screamed.
"Bri!" I broke into a run and burst through the door. Her body was drenched in her own blood, running onto the floor in rivers. Karasu stepped in front of me.
"Hello, Kurama. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
I felt a growl leave my throat. "Get out of my way!"
"Your precious girlfriend will live. I'm not so certain about you, though."
"Karasu, this isn't the time for pleasantries," Matsu (the math teacher) said. "Gun Wa, freeze him, we've got work to do."
"No," Gun Wa smirked. "I've a better idea. Une, heal her, we're getting out of here. Karasu, have fun."
"Oh, goody," Karasu smiled. "I get to have my Kurama to play again! You won't beat me so easy this time, my little fox."
"Rose Whip!" I swiped the rose from within my hair, aimed it in his general direction. He fell off to the side and I followed Gun Wa's energy signature out of the ship.
I lost the signature on the flattop. Karasu, however, had found me.
Delightful.
…
…
…
…Bri…
Forget ever being rescued. Karasu wanted Kurama and me dead. He loved us both; therefore he wanted us dead. I don't know where he gets his logic. I turned my Empathe abilities up myself, so I could see what was going on. Kurama dodged all of Karasu's attacks.
I smiled inwardly. That was my Kurama.
"Why do you like him? He's a fox." Sakyo had opened his mouth again. How utterly depressing. I let a faint growl fall from my lips.
"And I'm an Empathe halfling. I don't care what he is."
"You're also quarter cat demon."
I shrugged. I wanted to focus on Karasu and Kurama, not this idiot. "Explains a few things. What's it to you?"
He sighed and leaned against a tree. If I'd only been strong enough, I would have punched his lights out. I would run toward Kurama and together, we'd beat Karasu. Somehow, I guess. I don't know. My brain isn't functioning correctly. Was it something Sakyo had done?
"I know this may come as a shock, but…I really had nothing to do with any of these plans."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Go on…"
So much for my theory.
"They were all made by Gun Wa. He wanted to get revenge on Marion…for stealing Tsuki from him. This isn't what he looks like, either. I changed his face in your vision."
Sakyo's face morphed and stretched and shrank. When at last he remained the same again, I saw a very familiar face.
Keiko Sawaguchi's father's face.
"After he met you, he didn't want to go through with the plans. But Matsu, Une, and Karasu heard that he was backing out and found my soul. They wanted to go through with these plans and my original plans that I made with Toguro."
"So they forced you to return from the dead, too. I get it now. Peer pressure. Gets 'em every time."
I don't know why, but I trusted Sakyo. Maybe it was just that he had told me everything, even though he apparently wasn't supposed to.
"What do I do?" Sakyo pressed his hands against a tree. "Matsu and Une are going to find us soon, if your friends don't beat them first."
"Why'd you leave Karasu to Kurama? And why's Karasu alive in the first place?"
"No one knows exactly how he came back to life. I saw Kurama kill him myself. Karasu hasn't had a chance to really train since he and Kurama faced off in the Dark Tournament," he said. "Kurama will beat him easily."
There was one thing more that I had to know.
"Why weren't you at Keiko's funeral?"
He seemed taken aback by this.
"K-Keiko died?"
My turn to be shocked. "You didn't know?"
"Tsuki hates Gun Wa," he shook his head. "She wouldn't tell him anything."
"Why'd she hate me?"
Gun Wa smiled. "She didn't expect to get pregnant by Marion. It made her a little upset. After Marion died, you were a terrible reminder of that mistake."
I smirked sadly. "Yep, that just about defines me. A series of unfortunate mistakes." I brought up Kurama's mind in my own again, and a smile crossed my face. "He beat him. Like you said."
"Yes. Now we only need find Matsu and Une."
"Not to worry, Sakyo. We found you."
Matsu and Une were right behind us.
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Um…Don't worry, peeps, I'm uploading both chapters. The next chapter is the last one! And then, SEQUEL! I'll upload chapter 1 of Wolf's Last Cry this time round, too.
