Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Yu Yu Hakusho characters, but only Ynn, Kurisu, and any other characters that may happen to appear in this fanfic.
Review Replies:
To: Feather Black
Hai, vocab is good. You are an awesome writer, so don't stop! .
Ch. 8
Save the Dance for Me
I swear that I heard music in my head. It was fast. Violins, singing, drums, guitars, all playing to the sound of destruction and chaos that I was causing as I danced through the streets of Spain, wreaking havoc with my scythe. The living screamed and ducked. Those I hit never felt a thing and figured that I had missed. The dead writhed in agony before me and then disappeared into simple whisps of ghostly white, soon to disappear to the Spirit World. I laughed and destroyed all the dead before me: men, women, children, elders, babies, mothers, it didn't matter; they were already dead. I became quite famous in Spain in this way: most called me "acompañamiento de muerte" or "escort of death" and fled from me with such fear in their eyes that it set my heart aflame.
At first it was easy, killing the dead was something I found not troubling at all. I mean, they were already dead, weren't they? But then I started to feel like I was doing something wrong…something…unforgivable… It became harder and harder to do my job. I saw the living mothers clinging to their dead children with such love and protection, not wanting me to take them from them. Should I rip anew wounds thought to be closed long ago? Should I renew the pain in their hearts? Some would consider death a more loving friend, I knew, but that wasn't my problem…was it? How can you grow a conscience now? Something inside of me said. You messed with the art of Necromancy, how can you doubt now? But something inside me was in denial. I was trying to play God…and so far it was fine, but…what if I messed up? I may know everything about the dead or the living, but I could never know who people really were, their lives, pasts, futures? How would I know that I wasn't taking something away from them? Or even giving them something they should never have had in the first place?
I stood atop a building, staring down upon the city. The song had quieted, grown soft and quiet, sad even. Why did I feel this way? I never had problems with these kinds of feelings before. Why was I changing now? No, it wasn't then that I started to change, I reminded myself. It was when Kuwabara had asked me "why"; that one fateful word turned my entire world around, made me see things differently, and I didn't like it. I would like to state that after that point I truly tried to continue doing my job, really tried to do what I was told, but that would be a lie. The truth is that I turned away and walked on, not really paying attention to where I was going. Who could I trust if I didn't trust myself? I walked for days, nights, forgetting (or ignoring) hunger and thirst. Weeks went by and I grew steadily thinner, weaker.
Perhaps it was chance, perhaps it was destined, but whatever it was, it saved my life. I found myself staring at Hiei, cutting down the dead in what I guessed was Portugal. I wasn't quite sure, however, since I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going. He was carrying an enchanted katana. It seemed odd to me, but while I watched him cut down the dead, I found him quite…exhilarating. I watched him for some time and then finally decided to approach him.
I admit it wasn't the best decision on my part. When he sensed me coming up behind him, he immediately slashed at me with his blade. I just barely got by: the blade cut at my arm and my arm slowly began to turn into a ghostly whisp. I fell over onto the ground because of loss of balance when I tried to dodge his attack, but hardly noticed. I immediately began to whisper spells under my breath, concentrating the energies on myself. My arm reformed and I sighed deep relief. Hiei glared down at me.
"So you're one, too. Perhaps I should send you back as well. The dead do not belong on this earth." Hiei placed his blade threateningly to my neck, not letting it touch me...yet.
"If you send me back,
Koenma will be furious. Plus, I'll just come back anyways."
"That's
not possible. You have to be alive to bring back the dead."
"How do you know that? Have you researched Necromancy?"
"….Hn."
"Thought so."
I stood up and looked around us for what seemed like the first time. We were in a small town that was obviously overpopulated – overpopulated by dead.
"Did you finish Spain off?" He asked casually.
I sighed and was about to answer, but my stomach quickly and ruthlessly reminded me that I hadn't eaten in days. I felt like my head had just been emptied of all of its contents and I had tunnel-vision. I felt even weaker than before and when Hiei said something, it seemed like he was talking to me from a distant world. Then it all went blank.
When I awoke, it was to find myself in my bed with a cool cloth on my head and a soft comforter on top of me. I felt quite groggy. I looked around and saw Kuwabara snoring in a chair by the door. I tried to sit up, but got dizzy and resigned myself to lying down. I looked to my left-side night-table to find several glasses of half-emptied liquid sustenance. I figured that they had been feeding it to me while I was asleep, but I wasn't sure for how long that had been. I considered drinking some of it, but found myself nauseous at the idea. I turned onto my side and fell into blissful sleep, wondering in the back of my mind how I had got here and who had taken me.
When next I awoke, it was raining hard outside, making it hard for me to hear, but I enjoyed it. I loved the rain. What I didn't love was the odd, bitter taste in my mouth. I turned to the chair where Kuwabara had been sitting to find it empty. Confused, I stood up too fast and found my head swimming. Fortunately, at just that moment, Kurama came in bearing a tray of liquid food. When he saw me, he immediately placed the tray on the chair and caught me before I fell down. He then placed me back in bed.
"Miss Ynn, you're awake! We've been worried. How are you feeling?"
I thought a moment. "Weak…and light."
"You've lost fifteen pounds…" said Kurama, explaining. When I did not respond, he then added, "You've been asleep for two months."
"Two months..?"
"If you don't mind my asking, what happened to you before you met up with Hiei?"
I explained everything to him, down to the last detail that I could remember. When I finished, Kurama looked shocked.
"You're…dead?"
"Hiei didn't tell you?" I would have thought Hiei would have told everyone, but it seemed he had not…
"No. He hasn't told any of us, I don't think. Well then, you might want to keep that from the others for now until I find out Hiei's reasoning, it might be something that could endanger us all, I do not know."
"Don't tell Koenma. He doesn't know. Or Botan." My voice was urgent, but he needed to know.
"I promise, I won't, now calm down and get some rest."
I obliged, but I didn't like it. Now I was nervous. If Koenma and Botan found out, they could lock me up for a long time, and even though I thought myself tough and one with a lot of patience, I had absolutely no tolerance for being locked up. Soon, however, my drowsiness overcame my anxiety and I found myself once again in the sweet nothingness that is known as deep sleep.
The next time I woke up, it was to the sound of voices outside my room. I crept over to the door and opened it slightly, listening intently.
"He calls himself Kurisu, but he is not the one we caught, I still have him here with me." I heard Koenma's voice say. "He is older than the first, although he greatly resembles him. As one of the dead, he is already wreaking havoc in the first place, but he is also a power hungry, evil demon. He is killing off hundreds, both living and dead. Yusuke, I want you to –" Koenma stopped talking and stared at me. I had entered the room silently, pale and shaky. Koenma never got to tell Yusuke what he wanted him to do.
"Save the dance for me."
"What?" the question was asked by several in the room.
I stared at them all: Koenma, Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama, Botan. They each wore an expression of utter surprise on their faces.
"I'll take Kurisu. None of you will touch him." It wasn't a suggestion and they all knew it.
"Now hold on just a moment, Ynn, you're not really in…a….position…"
He stared up at me, his eyes very big. I was glaring at him with such intensity that, had I not been quite weak and had Hiei not been holding onto my arm, I would have attacked him. Fortunately for me (and oddly enough) my chaotic powers did not go out of hand at that time, and the moment passed as quick as it came. I felt myself go weak again and Hiei had to support me when I almost pulled him over. He sighed and then swung me over his shoulder, taking me to my room. He then placed me in my bed and told me to "Go to sleep. Now." I wanted to roll my eyes at him, but I was too tired. He then added, "In your state you couldn't take on a toddler, much less a full-grown, already dead demon." I responded that he didn't understand, and he stared at me a moment, then left the room, closing the door behind him. I stared after him for as long as I could until my heavy lids closed over my dry, red, scratchy eyes and I fell at once into dreams.
