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The King of Makai Chapter 4 Scream

I stared at the huge crowd of people sitting at the table. The overwhelmingly giant table engulfed at least three-quarters of the room. I felt like an ant on the face of the earth when I was sitting at the table. I looked around at everyone who was clapping their cups together with glee and shoving food down their throats. The victorious plates of food were piled massively on the table, filling every corner and empty spot left on the table. Everyone was smiling and happy and this environment made me glow with gladness. Even though I had been here for less than a day, I feel as if I have been here for an eternity.

That inner-glow was shattered when I heard the bone-shaking sound.

Someone was screaming.

The scream was deathly. The very sound broke my very being into pieces.

I pushed my chair back quickly and stood up from the table. However, no one noticed. How had no one heard that awful scream? Everyone was probably too busy eating. On instinct, I decided to try to find the source of the sound.

I wandered through the rooms and eventually found myself in a great room with mirrors coating the walls. Then the scream came again. It chilled my bones and made my stomach spin with nausea.

Where was it coming from? My body told me to turn back and leave the noise alone. Someone else would take care of another time. But my mind said to follow the noise. I made a left and a couple of rights until I found the source. A small girl lay on the floor weeping and puking next to…what was that? There was a deformed lump of darkness on the ground next to her. It was slightly bigger than she was. I slowly edged closer to the little girl and put my hand on her shoulder. She jumped back from my hand and screamed that horrible scream again. I tried to calm her down and eventually she cried herself into slumber in my arms. As I held the girl and let her head rest on my shoulder, I looked at the deformed piece of darkness on the floor. I still couldn't see what it was. I squinted my eyes and gasped in horror as I realized what it was.

A woman.

The sight made my stomach and soul twist around in my body. The woman's body was mutated to the point where I could barely recognize what it was. Blood was spread in a red sheet across the grass. Tears wrenched at my heart and fell out of my eyes onto the girl's head, but I kept myself silent in fear of waking her. I'm assuming the woman is her mother.

I slowly got up and carried her through the palace and into the dining room. Thankfully, by now most of the people were gone and only Yusuke and his co-rulers were left in the room. When they saw me and the limp body of the small girl tucked away in my arms, their eyes widened and they ran quickly to me. I gave the girl to a servant and fell to my knees and broke down right in front of the king and his friends.

"Keiko! What happened?" Yusuke gasped in astonishment.

I don't know how I managed it, but I babbled some words speaking of the dead woman's body through my sobs. Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara quickly ran to the location that I mentioned. Yusuke stayed with me. In the cold, dark pool of blackness, I felt warmness around me. I peeked out and realized that Yusuke was holding me and stroking my hair and telling me it would be allright. Somehow, in that dismal place of horror, I found the will to sleep.

Morning

I found myself in a downy bed, enwrapped in sheets and fluffy pillow in the color of pink. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and gradually stretched out of the comfortable bed. I sat up and saw that Yusuke was sitting in a chair with the small girl from yesterday in his arms. He was fast asleep along with the girl. The whole thing was quite sweet: they were both so peaceful. The King's eyes fluttered and he opened them and found the girl in his arms. He smiled softly and looked up at me. I looked at him in admiration and I found myself trapped in his gorgeous chocolate eyes. I felt like I was melting into the very pits of deep dark chocolate.

"Keiko? Are you okay?"

There goes the chocolate. I blushed deeply and quickly said, "Yes I'm fine."

"Do you mind if she sleeps in your bed?" He motioned to the peaceful little girl.

I shook my head. "No not at all."

He set her down in the pool of pink and led me out of the bedroom. When I walked into the dining hall, Yukina quickly hugged me and asked me if I was allright.

"Oh dear…how are you? Are you okay? What happened?" she persisted.

"I think I'm fine. I'm actually not quite sure what happened though." It was true. I had no idea why the girl and her mother were there. The brief image of that dark form popped into my head again and a wave of depression came over me. I shook it off and turned to Yusuke in question.

He quickly explained, " To put it briefly, it seems that the demons are forming a rebellion against me. They are killing off humans in the nearby village one by one." He sighed. "I thought that maybe under rule of both humans and demons that Makai would be able to live in a unity between humans and demons." Sadness reflected in his eyes.

Hiei spoke up. "That will never happen as long as the gap created by the differences between human and demon still exists."

Yusuke sighed again, a long sorrowful sigh. "I know that. I can still try." He paused for a long time, leaving an awkward silence. "I'm going out there to find the cult or whoever's doing this. If I don't stop this, the whole country's going to break out in riot."

"We're going with you Yusuke." Kurama took a rose out from his hair and smelled the fragrance.

"No! Someone has to stay here and protect the castle."

Kurama said, "Kuwabara can do that."

Hiei snorted. "Oh please…like that goof can do anything."

"HEY watch what you say shorty!" Kuwabara raised a fist in defense of himself.

Yukina giggled. "Why don't you all go together? I'm sure the castle will be fine. It's well protected."

Kuwabara grinned a huge smile and said, "Of course! You're so smart Yukina! You're always right!"

Everyone else groaned in agony and Yukina smiled.

I have a horrible feeling in the pits of my stomach. Something's wrong with this picture.

As I watched the group of four walk away through the gates of the palace, my heart reached out for them to come back.

I'm falling in love with her. I'm in love with the way her hair rests on her shoulders and her gorgeous eyes. I'm in love with the way she blushes if she is caught looking at me.

I think Kurama knows. But then again, he knows everything.

As I'm walking out towards the village, I wonder if falling in love with her would be a mistake. I can't help the way I feel towards her, but her social status isn't the highest.

Kurama and I fall back from the other arguing guys. "You shouldn't care about social status."

I looked at the redhead in shock. Had he been reading my mind?

He laughed with glee. "Oh c'mon Yusuke. It's written all over your face."

"Oh." I looked at my feet. He really did know too much.

"Be prepared Yusuke."

"Prepared for what? Keiko?" He was making me more confused by the moment.

"No. I have a weird feeling about this village. Somehow I feel like the trouble's not here, but shifting. Be prepared for shock."

I sighed. I thought being a king meant sitting on your fat butt and ordering people around. Too bad for that idea. "Whatever you say Kurama…"

I should've known that Kurama was entirely too correct.

End

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